James River Writers Conference Session

I’m back.  For a few minutes.  Then I must rush off again.

This is a new year for everyone, including for James River Writers non-profit organization.  After celebrating 10 years at the Conference last October, change is in the air.   Oh wait, that was snow, then sleet then …70 degree weather. Really.  For couple of days.  Or hours.     [Is wind chill really 38 degrees, can that even be at 70+ degrees, or is the weather even messing with the Weather Channel too much?]       JRWs changes will last longer.

James River Writers very popular Writing Shows starts up again on this Thursday evening, January 31.  So hope to see you there!

Author Twitter Chats have already started back up - don’t miss them.

Writers Wednesday get togethers are going strong.  Second Wednesday of every month, check the locations to see if we’re near you.  But come anyway, no matter where.  Always fun.

And of course the Conference in October.

To keep up with everything going on be sure to sign up for the JRW newsletter, and check the website often.

Since this is a new year - okay so I’m still trying to clean up last year.   I don’t believe I’m the Only one still doing that.  I realized in all the hectic whirl that became my life last year I didn’t post notes and links, to one of my sessions from the Conference.

I do apologize for not getting to it before.  Since it was a Great session.   *Grin*

So here it is -

JRW Conference Part 4

Sunday, Oct. 20, 2012

Point of View
Erin Blakemore
Eleanor Brown
Allan Wolf

Explore issues of person, narrative voice, form, tone, and tense while discussing the narrators who carry your story.

Notes :

Overall -  Tell the story you have. that you need to tell, the way you need to tell it.  According to how many points of views you need, even if it's 24, or 48, or first person plural.

Erin Blakemore      

How she had to find it within herself to answer the question of who was she to write this book.

Eleanor Brown   

This is her actual query letter sent to get her agent.  With her agent’s comments.

"My query letter is actually here:

That’s what I used to find my agent!" 

And her agent she got from this query letter gives her comments there also.

Evidently 101 queries, or several more, is the charm, she said she queried hundreds.   So DON’T give up!

Allan Wolf 

RT @KPMadonia: @AllanWolf100   wish I had taken myself serious earlier.   Surround yourself with positive people.  Find & trust your voice    #JRWC12

There were Lots of Great things / info’ tweeted at the Conference at #JRWC12

And I’m sure there will be more things this year - including Author Twitter Chats. 

Tune in on Twitter      #JRWC13

So stay tuned - to JRW - and here!

Happenings This Week

Okay, sooooo.  Obviously it’s been busy around here.  Well, in my non-blogging life.  I see the wind whistling through the empty spaces here.

Sorry about that.  I do have really good intentions.  I even have some really good ideas stuffed in a file here to blog about.  Sometimes it just seems life careens its way in front of me.  Throws itself down in front of me sometimes.

Okay, so yeah, I have been writing also.  Yes, I have been stepping out on this blog.  I have been working on some new short stories.  And I have been getting an itch to drag out an old novel I wrote a few years ago to have another go at it.

Why is it that stories do things like that to us?

Or is that like asking why there are always clothes to wash and dust bunnies to eradicate?

Or like why our internet provider can’t stop all the dropping / outage that’s been going on with our internet services for over two weeks now.

For as much as they charge and all their hype and promises in their tv ads and how bad their service Really is.

So blame them at least in part for this empty blog!   And for the calls that aren’t answered because going with their hype and putting the phone service into their hands as well.    Yeah, so not conducive to writing a ‘nice’ blog post, about a lot of things.

And if service comes back again this will be posted.  Hopefully in time for you to see it, and take note of all the happenings this week in Richmond, Virginia.

Well I haven’t been looking at what’s happening around the town, just what’s happening in the writing town around James River Writers.   Which of course if you are a writer, aspiring writer, or do any thinking about writing you should be a part of.

Coming up tomorrow - Wednesday, July 25 - [or today depending on when you read this!] join in a Twitter Chat with one of the Conference speakers that’s going to be at the Conference in October!

Starting at noon EDT Wednesday July 25 on Twitter
#JRWC12
@JamesRvrWriter  and everyone else that joins in will be twitter chatting with 
@eleanorwrites   author of the book The Weird Sisters   

And Then Thursday - July 26 - the JRW Writing Show -

• I Tweet, Therefore I Am: Building a Platform and Finding Your Voice

Tune in to the JRW website for all the happenings and for more info’ …

Such as signing up for the Conference in October now — check out what you get if you sign up Before July 31^st.

Stories We Tell

Stories we tell ourselves - and, thus, directly or indirectly, others.

From the book The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown  [see James River Writers website for this years Conference information!]

“We all have stories we tell ourselves.  We tell ourselves we are too fat, or too ugly, or too old, or too foolish.  We tell ourselves these stories because they allow us to excuse our actions, and they allow us to pass off the responsibility for things we have done—maybe to something within our control, but anything other than the decisions we have made.”

“…..And it is past time, I think, for you to stop telling that particular story, and tell the story of yourself.  Stop defining yourself in terms of them.  You don’t just have to exist in the empty spaces they leave.  There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we cannot change it.  But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future.”

So…. As writers we all have stories to tell.  They might be short, or long, or as poetry, but they are ours to tell.  

What is the story you tell yourself about that writer within you?

Whatever it is…..is it time to change it?    For the better.

As in previous blog post I made about Noah Scalin comments from March JRW Writing Show [blog post on March 31^st if you want to look] - sometimes it’s good, sometimes okay.  And sometimes it’s just done.

The stories we tell ourselves shape our lives and our world….

What are you telling?