Wants. Desires. Words.

[mmerriam]

So I had this car.

No wait, that's Larry Dixon's opening line.

So I belong to this workshop.

The Online Writer's Workshop is a damned fine organization. I've always felt it well worth the money. What the workshop has done for me is exactly what matociquala has told people it will do for you. It turned me into a solid, competent semi-pro in a short period of time. For that, I will be eternally grateful. But try as I might, hard as I work, I haven't been able to make the next level.

Now, I'm not saying that's the workshops fault. Skill level jumps are pretty much up to the writer and how hard he works. But I also feel that, at this point, I need something the workshop can't always give me. Consistency of critique. It is both the OWW's greatest strength and weakness that anyone can leave a crit and you can leave a crit for anyone. That means sometimes I'm left with crits from people who I have no idea who they are and (and this is the important part) if I can trust them. For a time I was in a circle of people exchanging crits, and I developed a great amount of trust in them, but that seems to have slowly fallen by the wayside, and that's as much my fault as anything.

Recently I've taken part in the Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Writers Network writing workshop, organized by the wonderful and highly capable wordswoman. I observed a round and I took part in a second round. It works fine, and there was some excellent advice given. The group is smaller than the OWW, of course, and full of working pro's and semi-pro's. We also have several graduates (or survivors) of the major workshops, such as Clarion and Odyssey.

But I still felt like something was missing. Again, this is likely more me than anything, and I plan to keep taking part in this group. I worry about that whole consistency thing, and if I will mesh with these folks over a long period of time.

The one nice thing about an online workshop is that you can't see your executor's face. That gives you time to lick your wounds and be objective about what they said.

However, the TCSFWN group seems like my best option for a face-to-face group, at the moment. I like the idea of getting critiques from other writers who have reached where I am trying to go. It could be that, since I've only been to two sessions, I haven't yet developed a feel for it. I know I felt like I gave some of the worst crits ever during the last meeting, and that was my fault. I was under-prepared because I did not decide if I was going until the last possible minute.

I suppose what I really want is a smallish group of the exact same people. I want to build relationships and trust with them as a writer and critiquer. I want a group of consistent individuals who I can meet with once or twice a month for tea and bloodshed.

Want, want , want.

1200+ new words on the novel.

The writing is on the wall, literally, as eight-year old Fay tells us her tale in interludes between the main chapters, scratching her story with a stolen pencil on the walls of her room.

Comments

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Can I make a wild-ass suggestion that worked for me?

Write stuff that scares you. And write a *lot.* The more words the better.

Also, if you can get a job reading slush for a semipro, take it. ;-)

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Those are all very sound wild-ass suggestions! ;-)

I'm wandering into uncharted, nerve-wrecking territory (at least for me) with the novel I just started, so that should help me both write things that scare me and write a lot.

I've been thinking hard about the idea of reading slush for one of the semi-pros. I've had several people tell me that if you want a quick education on why some stories work and some don't, read slush.

Reach. Grasp. Fail. Fall. Get Up. Dust Off. Try Again.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

That's the game. Amen.

*hug*

[maggiedr.livejournal.com]

If you have the resources (time and money) to attend Clarion or Odyssey, I say do it. It will make the difference that you are looking for. But I know not everyone can take six weeks out of their lives for it. I feel tremendously privileged that I could--and many of my classmates had to sacrifice far more to be there. Not a single one of us regrets it.

And I will now make my way over to the TCSFWN messageboard where I will give the Odyssey pep talk that I've been promising.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

In the past I've always shied away from the idea of doing on one the major workshops. It always seems to me that those workshops tend be a make-or-break for a lot of young (in the sense of new to the business) writers, and I was terribly afraid I'd be in the "break" section.

But now that I've proven I can write and sell, at least at the minor league level, I wonder if I would have enough confindence to survive one of those workshops.

[maggiedr.livejournal.com]

One thing that I can assure you about with Odyssey--it is Jeanne's mission to build you up, not tear you down. Yes, it is painful to face a group of strangers and open yourself up to their comments. Not everyone there is as diplomatic as Jeanne. But a pack mentality does take over and in the end, your classmates will become another source of support for your writing.

By pack mentality, I'm comparing it to dogs, as in everyone learns to be for the pack. It's pretty clear who the Alpha is. :)