New Feature!

Ta Da! The kinks are worked out and today I get to introduce the roll out of a new feature of my blog today…the writing workshop.

We all tell stories, whether around the water cooler recounting the Big Play from the game last night, out on our daily power walk retelling the latest joke we heard, or in the break room discussing dreams for a different life. Telling stories is important to us and we all tell them.

But when it comes to writing stories down, many people back away and say, “Not me. I’m not a writer.” They understand that there are different skills involved in bringing a story to life on the page than when recounting their latest exploit to their friends. Finding the right words and creating a memorable story is part art and part skill. And both take practice.

Which is why, for the next several months, I’m running a writer’s workshop feature on this blog along with my regular (or is that irregular?) posts.

Professional writer or just beginning doesn’t matter. Genre doesn’t matter. Got a great mystery story? How about a true-life adventure? Want to tell the story of your family’s history? In these workshops you’ll find new ways of thinking about some of the skills necessary in crafting a story that will keep people reading and turning the page from chapter to chapter.

The workshops break into four general categories: writing skills, ancillary skills, inspiration and publishing.  Some workshops fall into more than one division. That’s okay, I’ll code each post with tags that’ll help you know what you’re expected to do.

Keep in mind: what you write is for you. I’m not providing a forum through which you can post your writing and because of my own writing schedule, I do not give feedback on manuscripts. Any stories sent to me will be deleted without being read. I’m not an agent or a publisher. I’m a writer who’s gained some insights along the way and who wishes to share them. That’s all. J

That said, there’s no reason we can’t have a good, spirited conversation about each workshop. If you have an additional insight, feel free to post it in the comments. Remember, writing should be fun…and so should talking about writing!

My qualifications

The contents of these workshops are actually my accumulation of several years’ experience teaching creative writing in real-life classroom settings. Each workshop has been tried and tested several times. Additional workshops came from my work in Second Life where I gave many of these workshops in the virtual world (as Diana Allandale). This is, however, the first time I’ve gathered all the various workshops I’ve offered in both worlds and published them in one place.

The nitty-gritty

A new workshop will be posted every Tuesday. Eventually we’ll have the contents of a book about writing. At that point, I’ll collect all the workshops in ebook (and maybe print) form for those who would like it all bundled into one nice, neat place and offer it for sale.

You’ll see a new button below. If you enjoy the workshops and find them useful, please consider sending a donation my way. When the final product is ready to go, those who have donated each time will get a free copy of the ebook as a gift from me. I won’t dun you twice for the content.

Watch for the first workshop coming on Tuesday, October 4th!