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Why You Should Take Part In A Writing Workshop
Before you should decide whether or not taking part in a writing workshop is right for you and your writing you should first understand just what a writing workshop is.
A workshop is an educational format where an expert shares information on a focused topic over a short period of time. Some workshops are intended to be simply informative while others involve more hands-on activities. Today there are many options for enjoying a workshop: you can attend workshops in person, view them on television or tape, or participate in an online workshop.
So now that you know what a workshop is you can see how this format can readily be adapted for writers. Writing workshops can cover the basics of writing, writing challenges, topics related to publication and careers in writing, or specific research subjects. Some of these programs are featured as part of larger events, such as conferences, while some groups or individuals offer them as one-time events. Some organizations, institutes and educational programs offer workshops to their students or members while others open those workshops to the community at large.
Why would a writer want to attend a workshop? What benefit could it be?
Join the writing community. One of the strongest benefits you can receive from attending such a gathering is getting to know other writers. Writing is a solitary profession and can be very lonely. Enjoying the company of other writers and talking about writing with people who really understand your joys and worries can be wonderfully energizing to you personally as well as your writing. You can also make contacts that may lead to support and growth of your writing or perhaps even professional advancement. You never know when the friend you make today might be in a position to recommend you to an editor or publisher down the road.
Learn something new. No matter what level your writing career there are always lessons to be learned from other writers. Sometimes there are research strategies and shortcuts or perhaps it is a method for dealing with writer's block. You can learn market news and contacts as well as important information about reviewing contracts. Workshops are generally geared toward a specific genre or market niche and offer a wealth of specialized information depending on whether you write about crime or food.
Improve your craft. Generating new work or revising existing pieces is often a large part of attending a workshop. Sometimes you must bring something with you, create a project as part of the workshop or are inspired by the gathering itself. Sometimes talking with others or listening to the presenters causes you to suddenly rethink a stalled project or inspires a new one. Whatever the impetus there is definitely an increase in production after attending a workshop and that is the surest way to improve your word craft.
If you have not taken part in a writing workshop in the past then perhaps you might consider doing so in the near future so you can join the writing community, learn something new, and improve your craft.
BONUS : Woo-woo Writing – Exploring The Paranormal In Erotic Romance
My next book, Take Me There is an erotic ghost story. It is scheduled for release in November 2007. This is the description from the back cover:
Imagine the man of your dreams reaching out to you in the nightÂ…from across centuries. And he isnÂ’t the only one. In this daring choose-your-own-adventure novel from the author of Sins and Secrets, hungry lovers separated by time and space come together to find physical passion in unearthly waysÂ…
Can one woman love two men? Journalist Presley Knowles is about to find out the answer to that very sensual question. Her sex drive zooms into the red zone after a near-death experience in a car accident – and between Dr. Daniel Hanson, the young doctor who saved her, and Vadim, a ghostly lover from another time, she’s about to experience the ultimate in physical pleasure. Wild and willing as she wants to be, Presley gets to explore all of her wickedest sensual fantasies when both lovers share her bed…
Woo-woo is not new to me. I have been a long time student of metaphysics and spirituality. My personal library of woo-woo books is extensive. The idea of weaving my background of paranormal study into an erotic romance seemed far fetched, until I happened upon a rerun of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. IÂ’m not talking about the television series. It is the 1947 movie with Rex Harrison as Captain Gregg and Gene Tierney as Mrs. Muir that rang my chimes. It is a remarkable love story.
When I watched that film, I got completely caught up in the story, and in the possibilities. I took the inspiration from that movie and stirred it into a pot with all the information IÂ’ve picked up over the years. What emerged has become Take Me There.
The study of metaphysics has been a hobby of mine for many years. My interest began when I had what are best described as psychic experiences. Being a rational and reasonable person, I figured I must have popped my cookies. These things donÂ’t happen to sane people, I told myself. Well, guess what! They sure do.
The simplest way to explain what happens is that I see pictures in my head. Except for one time, itÂ’s nothing really extreme. I can find lost things in my home, like keys, missing socks or jewelry. ItÂ’s not that I look for them. I see where they are in my mind, go look in the place I see, and there is the missing item. The most notable exception is the time I located a missing life insurance policy for a friend. Her husband had just passed away, and her family could not find the policy. I found it in the way I just described.
There is also a problem I have with small electrical appliances. I keep a supply of light bulbs on hand, because I frequently blow them out. I have also burned out several hair dryers and a vacuum cleaner. I have learned not to let such things throw me, although I admit, sometimes it gets a tad bizarre. I forgot to mention, I have also intuited passwords on occasion, which really freaked people out.
In order to understand the weird phenomena that seemed to follow me around, I studied. I read everything from Edgar Cayce, to Jane Roberts, to Alice Baily. Included in the many areas I studied were reincarnation, near-death experiences, channeling and mediumship. Certainly, I used personal discernment to separate the wheat from the chaff, classic metaphysics from. well, letÂ’s just say, things that didnÂ’t resonate with me.
My studies took an unusual turn when I entered an Interfaith Seminary in the early 90Â’s. I studied much more, and ultimately became an ordained Interfaith Minister. I have performed weddings and funerals. And, I have raised more than a few eyebrows when people find out I am ordained AND I write erotic romance.
I never expected to write a book where I could use any of this information. The personal need to understand is all I thought about while doing this research and attending seminary. But once again, fate intervened. When I proposed the idea for Take Me There to my editor, she bought it!
The synchronicity and dovetailing it took to combine my metaphysical and spiritual background with my erotic romance writing blew me away! Take Me There is certainly hot erotic romance, but the backdrop of woo-woo is solid. It goes to show, you just never know how things are going to come together in unexpected ways. As they say, what goes around comes around.
My next book, Take Me There is an erotic ghost story. It is scheduled for release in November 2007. This is the description from the back cover:
Imagine the man of your dreams reaching out to you in the nightÂ…from across centuries. And he isnÂ’t the only one. In this daring choose-your-own-adventure novel from the author of Sins and Secrets, hungry lovers separated by time and space come together to find physical passion in unearthly waysÂ…
Can one woman love two men? Journalist Presley Knowles is about to find out the answer to that very sensual question. Her sex drive zooms into the red zone after a near-death experience in a car accident – and between Dr. Daniel Hanson, the young doctor who saved her, and Vadim, a ghostly lover from another time, she’s about to experience the ultimate in physical pleasure. Wild and willing as she wants to be, Presley gets to explore all of her wickedest sensual fantasies when both lovers share her bed…
Woo-woo is not new to me. I have been a long time student of metaphysics and spirituality. My personal library of woo-woo books is extensive. The idea of weaving my background of paranormal study into an erotic romance seemed far fetched, until I happened upon a rerun of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. IÂ’m not talking about the television series. It is the 1947 movie with Rex Harrison as Captain Gregg and Gene Tierney as Mrs. Muir that rang my chimes. It is a remarkable love story.
When I watched that film, I got completely caught up in the story, and in the possibilities. I took the inspiration from that movie and stirred it into a pot with all the information IÂ’ve picked up over the years. What emerged has become Take Me There.
The study of metaphysics has been a hobby of mine for many years. My interest began when I had what are best described as psychic experiences. Being a rational and reasonable person, I figured I must have popped my cookies. These things donÂ’t happen to sane people, I told myself. Well, guess what! They sure do.
The simplest way to explain what happens is that I see pictures in my head. Except for one time, itÂ’s nothing really extreme. I can find lost things in my home, like keys, missing socks or jewelry. ItÂ’s not that I look for them. I see where they are in my mind, go look in the place I see, and there is the missing item. The most notable exception is the time I located a missing life insurance policy for a friend. Her husband had just passed away, and her family could not find the policy. I found it in the way I just described.
There is also a problem I have with small electrical appliances. I keep a supply of light bulbs on hand, because I frequently blow them out. I have also burned out several hair dryers and a vacuum cleaner. I have learned not to let such things throw me, although I admit, sometimes it gets a tad bizarre. I forgot to mention, I have also intuited passwords on occasion, which really freaked people out.
In order to understand the weird phenomena that seemed to follow me around, I studied. I read everything from Edgar Cayce, to Jane Roberts, to Alice Baily. Included in the many areas I studied were reincarnation, near-death experiences, channeling and mediumship. Certainly, I used personal discernment to separate the wheat from the chaff, classic metaphysics from. well, letÂ’s just say, things that didnÂ’t resonate with me.
My studies took an unusual turn when I entered an Interfaith Seminary in the early 90Â’s. I studied much more, and ultimately became an ordained Interfaith Minister. I have performed weddings and funerals. And, I have raised more than a few eyebrows when people find out I am ordained AND I write erotic romance.
I never expected to write a book where I could use any of this information. The personal need to understand is all I thought about while doing this research and attending seminary. But once again, fate intervened. When I proposed the idea for Take Me There to my editor, she bought it!
The synchronicity and dovetailing it took to combine my metaphysical and spiritual background with my erotic romance writing blew me away! Take Me There is certainly hot erotic romance, but the backdrop of woo-woo is solid. It goes to show, you just never know how things are going to come together in unexpected ways. As they say, what goes around comes around.
