Thursday, July 18, 2013 began at 8:30 am with the workshop, Eight Essentials for your Self-Publishing Business.
I had decided that since I am published by small publishers that I would attend workshops as if I was self published. All published authors have to find ways to have the light shine on their books, some more so than others.
The first step in this workshop was “write the manuscript”. Check.
The next step was to set up a business structure. “Your writing career is your business and you are the CEO.” Hmmm, another wardrobe. Business suits and a brief case.
There were many good ideas in this workshop that I can use but other details are the responsibility of my publishers.

The next workshop I attended was “Publishing with Independent Presses: the New Black (Career workshop)
Savvy agents and authors discuss the ins and outs of publishing with a small press.
Some of the advantages of publishing with a small press can be larger royalties and faster publishing speed. The author has more input.
The cautious tale is that an author must ask about the editing process and what type of edits will be provided.
But the end result is to do your homework and decide if you as the author can live with the contract that is on offer.

I followed up the two career workshops with a craft workshop: The Contemporary Challenge: How to Write 300 pages of Romance without Demons, Death, or World Destruction.

In contemporary novels the characters are ordinary people in real settings. They are people who readers can identify with but the author also has to make them interesting so the reader will invest time in getting to know and like the characters. And research, research just because it is contemporary does not mean you can be lazy.

Finally, lunch with the Keynote from Cathy Maxwell surrounded by over two thousand other authors but at a table with other Soul Mate Authors and our publisher.

I thought about taking the workshop about The Tiny Art of Elevator Pitches but it took two hours to give this career workshop. I thought it was ironic that the minute pitch should take two hours to teach. I understand that brevity is a skill but . . .

My last workshop of the day was a craft workshop titled Double D’s: Dynamic Description and Delicious Dialogue by Laurie Schnebly Campbell. She provided a series of exercises which showed us how to turn our description and dialogue into fun for us as writers and for the reader.

The end of a day filled with so many things to learn and practice.

Time to find somewhere for a dinner and then to bed.