I've been pouring over the workshops and ranking choices. I've changed my mind about a couple rankings and then changed it back again. It's so hard to decide! To help me decide, I looked up a lot of the presenters and accumulated a list of quotes that I liked. I decided to share some of them, plus a couple of links. They inspired me at just the right moment as I'm almost done with my first draft and I've come to the startling realization that it sucks. Ha!
No worries, I am "fearless" (not really, but sorta) and I know how to hang tough. Oh, and I definitely know how to fill a screen with bad pages. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read on--
First up a quote, actually several excerpts from an article, by Jane Porter.
I've learned to hang tough. . . If we want to make it, we have to dig in, hang on, and hang tight.
Some writers sell easily. Some writers write easily. And there are those of us who have to claw our way to the top and I don't mean by clawing over each other, but by clawing up, like a rock climber, hand over fist, inching our way up the impossible vertical slope, grappling with the cliff as though our life depended on it. And in a way, our lives do depend on it, our writing lives.
We as writers have to be willing to take risks. We have to be willing to strike out on our own. . .
We are artists AND businesswomen and in our line of work we can't separate the two, because frankly, we're not writing for vanity press. We're writing to sell. Most of us want to make money writing. We want careers as writers and we want to find our right niche.
Climbing the vertical slope to publishing can be miserable. It's exhausting, physically and emotionally. It's challenging. It's disappointing. So pick your climbing partners carefully. My real writer friends are all smart and funny, tough, honest, and more than a little gritty. They want to write and they want to succeed and they won't accept no.
The serious writer doesn't walk away from the craft or the challenge. The serious writer reaches deep inside, finds the courage, renews the vision, and taps into the heart. We write romance because we believe in the miracle of love.
Attitude in this business is everything. Those who look forward, those who challenge themselves, those who don't make excuses, those who believe, will succeed.
Ignore dismal market statistics (the market is always tight!).
Hard work pays off. Positive thinking is essential, as is sheer grit. Don't ever give up. Don't quit. Don't stop believing in yourself. Real writers hang tough.
Obviously, lots of good stuff in there that applies to me. I'm a grasping rock climber sort of writer -- I learn about my characters and their conflicts as I climb. Setting descriptions don't come easy. Dialogue flows, but I put in a lot of superfluous stuff. Sigh. Fortunately, I have true grit, so thanks Jane.
Here's some similarly fabulous writing advice from Cathy Maxwell --
My one piece of advice to anyone involved in a writing career is to be fearless. It takes guts to put yourself out there for everyone to read. And no, the crowd doesn't always roar approval . . . but when they do-it's sweet.
What exactly is involved in fearlessness? Well, here are the components I include in my definition of the word:
- Vision. Know where you are going and why you want to get there. Keep your eye on the prize and not on the grind of everyday ups and downs.
- Passion. Believe in what you are writing. Have something to say to your readers. Hold nothing back and do not flinch from the truth. Live for the moment when your story comes together--and struggle with the words until you get there.
- Optimism. Reach for the stars. Never give up. Believe in yourself even when all others are ready to count you out. . . Go forward with conviction.
- A strong work ethic. I know brilliant writers who've never gotten past re-working a first chapter over and over again. . . A book is written one painstaking, exasperating word after another. We write in fits and starts, in endless marathons, and when the rest of the world is living normally. Sometimes what is on the screen is crap; sometimes it's brilliant; sometimes it's passable. That's the way it is.
- Courage. Here's the heart of it. Don't be afraid of writing or life. Be willing to stretch yourself and to take risks. Nothing is more boring than a writer who doesn't challenge herself. Use your individuality to a competitive advantage and remember that whatever happens the sun will rise tomorrow.
I also love the following quote from SEP, on her ALL ABOUT ME page--
NORA ROBERTS SAYS, "I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." I found the courage to fill my screen with bad pages on those days when my mind was mush, then trust myself to fix them later.
Hello? Even SEP has mush mind days.
Last but not least, a quote from Joan Johnston, which provides a great reason to go to the conference--
A lot of what I learned, I learned from going to writing conferences where a lot of my favorite authors - like Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, LaVyrle Spencer, and Roberta Gellis - would give speeches. I'd go to seminars and learn how to write better conflict…how to write better characters…how to create better settings…how to keep the narrative together with the narrative, and the dialogue with the dialogue…how to speed up the book with dialogue and slow it down with narrative…how to do verisimilitude: don't just say 'the church,' say 'the First Presbyterian Church on the corner.' But I also read over 1500 romance novels before I wrote my first novel."
Also, check out this interesting interview with editor, Hilary Sares, at Dishing with the Divas AND this article on Honing Your Pitch by Winnie Griggs.
It's going to be a great conference with some great presenters, no?
Cheers, happy writing and happy conference planning,
Alyson
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