NiNoCon: A Free Online Writers Conference
Thanks to the fabulous Nicole Rivera, I attended a free online writing conference yesterday. This meant putting in a few hours of work today, but #NiNoCon was well worth it!
Don’t just take my word for it, you can check out the chat presentations online and lots of other great info from the writers conference over at The Writer’s Dojo.
Here’s a quote from the dojo which sums up yesterday’s presentations:
Sensei Jeff Vincent introduced the concept behind the writing dojo and author Sheralyn Pratt offered up the marketing myths we must defy in order to have success. Mark Peter Hughes talked about moving forward in your writing without waiting for perfection. Elana Johnson broke down some queries and helped us to see how they could be reworded more effectively. Susan Sipal blew our minds with her lessons on how we could write powerful, exciting books like JK Rowling’s HARRY POTTER series. We had an interesting discussion about indie- and self-publishing. Mike Mullin shared his secrets to awesome book sales, and book bloggers talked frankly about reviews, their take on author comments and many other interesting tidbits.
My Row80 Check-in
What I’ve done: I have transcribed over 70,000 words now from my diaries to use in my memoir – this covers the first 16 months that I lived on a tiny island in the San Juans with a population of seven people. A lot happened in that time frame, including nearly being blown up, nearly capsizing in rough water, a boat sinking, and lots of angst on my part as I adjusted to loneliness, in-laws and the challenge of being a stepmom.
As planned, I read back through the first four month period and decided which subjects to zero in on. I still have a bunch of loose pages that I can dig into if certain months or topics feel too sparse.
Some Writerly Panic is setting in: At the time I wrote my diary, it was just a diary, you know? No plans to ever publish it, let alone have anyone else ever read it. I wanted to be a writer, yes, but the diary was for writing practice. Even though I have always loved reading published diaries and memoirs, I never thought of publishing mine.
So today I had pangs of insecurity. These pangs weren’t fully formed thoughts, but the gist of it all was along the lines of:
Who am I to write a memoir? What if it’s utterly boring? What will my family think? What will so-and-so think? Shouldn’t I just pretend it’s all fiction and hide behind that? Because, in this case, if people don’t like the main character, then it means they don’t like me! God, I’m such a people-pleaser! This is a stupid, self-centered idea! (And so on!)
Do you ever get caught up in your inner critic’s downward spiral? If so, how do you pull yourself out of it? I think my inner critic lunged at me today because it was my day off and I wasn’t working on the memoir. Up until now, I have been so focused on transcribing, that the negative thoughts haven’t had time to pop up.
The Row80 Linky list:
Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
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