Writer's workshop

Hey Ya'll,
I have to let you know what happened at the Writer's Workshop that Anna and I went to in Macon, Georgia last Saturday. I have to tell you I had the most fantastic time and in that one hour I learned so much. Sarah Domet led the workshop and I am sure by what I learned about her that she must be a wonderful and enlightening teacher. She made learning sound like a fascinating adventure into Alice's Wonderland.
The people that made up the group were fun and constructive with their own information and writing foibles and, I have to tell you, I have never in my life met a group of strangers that I had that instant connection with. I suppose it's because this was my first workshop of this nature and I have never been with more than one or two people that had the same creative interests that I have. I guess you could say we were all of a like mind even though our writing interests were varied from Romance to Mystery to Science Fiction and more but we all had one thing in common: we wanted, no, needed to write. It is a part of us that we have to give free reign or lose a part of ourselves.

I've always wanted to write. Even as a child I would write odd bits of poetry that, as I grew older, became songs and developed into short stories and themes. I wrote to please myself and for the joy of seeing something of myself on paper. When my husband died over eight years ago my muse took a sabbatical. About three or four years ago she returned with a vengeance. Several times since then she has tried to escape but I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back; she is now bound to me with the unbreakable chains of creativity. Since that time I have completed two manuscripts and have the workings of at least six or seven more. However, I've never quite gotten the hang of the process of how to get the novel I am writing to flow as it should. Until Sarah Domet explained it to our group in simple terms that just finally settled in the corner of my brain and gave me that "ah ha!" moment. The one thing that always gave me the shudders . . . outlines! If you don't know what is happening how can you write about it? And character bios; if you don't know your character how can you tell others about them?

Needless to say, I bought her book 90 Days to Your Novel and I am studying it from cover to cover.

I have also started the character bios and an outline for a new novel that I am writing. I haven't gotten the other two published yet but I am still working on it. This new novel is a going to be better because I am going to follow the guidelines that have been working for years.

My advice to all of you is "Trust the process, it works for a reason".

Bye now and have a great day.
Kate Porter

It's a hot summer

Hi all,
yes it's definitely a hot one this summer. I have been trying to keep cool like everyone else but I draw the line at going to a public pool. Me in a bathing suit is not a pretty sight so I keep my cool by staying inside where it's air conditioned.

I have been doing a lot of work on my book, rewrites and revisions and I am almost finished with it. I am hoping to be finished by next weekend. I have rewritten my query letter, yes again, this makes something like . . . oh, maybe . . . thirty one thousand six hundred and twenty times, give or take. Okay, maybe not that many but it sure seems like it. I have very high hopes that I will be able to capture someones attention this time around.

I have found that writing the book is the easy part. It's the rewriting and revising that holds the key. The most difficult part is getting someone to read it that can put it in a publisher's hands. There is so much competition out there and the economy is in such bad shape that there really aren't a lot of people out there that would be willing to back someone that has never been published before so they tend to be very critical. I haven't lost hope though. The best way to success is to keep at it and don't give up.

Now, with that little tidbit of advice I think I will get back to my book. Right now it is over 125,000 words and 401 pages long. I am now on page 332 of my revision work. I can't wait to get if finished but I refuse to rush through it. Take my time and get it right.

I have already made notes on three other books that I intend to write but I needed to finish this one first. I know me, if I don't discipline myself I will jump from one to the other and never finish any of them. That was the trap that I had fallen into for so many years and that is why it has taken me until I hit my fifties before I finally finished a whole book.

Now I know better.

Take a lesson from someone that learned the hard way, go ahead and make your notes, but finish what you started before starting the next one.

Later to all of you,

Kathy