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Archive for March, 2020

Retreat
03/162020

Why Writer’s Retreats are Essential

Conference, Inspiration 1 by

I went to my first writer’s retreat with a proposal I wanted to finish.

First off, let me say this: the word retreat is somewhat misleading. There’s no spa treatments or beaches involved. Sure it’s fun and hopefully you’ll come home with fresh inspiration, but there’s a lot of work to do. It’s the kind of work, however, that brings tremendous satisfaction. A sense of I can do this.

There’s something about the commitment you make when you carve out a weekend to write. The money set aside to invest in your project is a compelling cheerleader. All bunked up with other writers with similar hopes and instructors whose diehard optimism rivals parents at a little league football game, an invisible challenge melts into the room.

You. Are. A. Writer.

You have something important to say.

I went to bed the first evening electrified with encouragement and ready to meet with my instructor the next morning about the proposal I’d sent in for review.

Cheri stirred her coffee and took a quick sip.

“Who is your target audience?” she asked.

“Christian women in their 30s to 60s.”

She slid her readers down her nose and looked at me. “You’ve got to be more specific than that. Is she married or single? Does she work or stay home? What are her hobbies? Where does she shop?”

“Do I need to know who she voted for too?” I joked.

“Christy, the more you know about your reader, the more your book will speak directly to her fears and desires. What is she afraid of? What are her felt needs? What is missing in her life? And how will your book help her remedy her fears and bring her closer to achieving her dreams?”

Clearly I had some work to do.

“I’d also like you to recraft your elevator pitch. Out of your entire manuscript, this will be the hardest twenty-five words you’ll ever write, but it’s the driving force behind every chapter. And it is what will sell your book.”

Straight after lunch and dinner I had a date with my laptop.

Cheri Fuller is the proposal queen. She doesn’t wear a crown, but I think she should. Her attention to detail is sharper than the thorns on a rosebush. I left the retreat with a lot more confidence in my ability to pitch my ideas to an agent.

And a few months later at Write Well Sell Well’s annual conference, I did. I signed up for a pitch session with a presenting agent with a well-known literary agency.

Greg motioned me to sit down. “Tell me about your book.”

“Controlled: Ripping the Mask off Manipulation is for Christian women caught in toxic relationships and needing a way out. The book will teach her to be strong, an acronym for spot manipulation, trust your gut, resolve conflict, overcome vulnerabilities, negotiate boundaries and guard your heart.”

I hoped for a gracious nod. Instead a long pause followed.

“That’s kind of a small niche market. What else you got?”

My stomach did a couple of flip flops while I bit my lip.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to write a book on forgiveness. I guess I’ve assumed that topic has been overdone, but God taught me a lot about forgiveness through my first toxic marriage and the death of my youngest son.”

Greg leaned forward and put his chin on his hand

“My ex was driving under the influence of several narcotics. The joy God gave me in the midst of my sorrow, however, was profound. I spoke at Jake’s funeral and forgave my ex-husband from the pulpit. Somehow I knew the joy was not just for me, but for me to share with other women who have wounds from toxic relationships. That’s when I felt the urge to write.”

“My wife has struggled with forgiveness too,” Greg said. “Her ex-husband had several affairs and she’s never quite been able to completely let go.”

Greg tapped his pen back-and-forth on the notepad in front of him. “What about a book called Forgiving Men?

My eyes widened. “I love that idea! What woman wouldn’t relate to that title?”

“Sounds good. Get a proposal together and send it to me.” Greg handed me his card. “If I’m able to find a publisher, we’ll see how it does. If it does well, we might be able to focus on your other idea later.”

Because of what I learned at a writer’s retreat it caused even an accidental pitch to land an agent. That one idea has also birthed two successful coaching programs that are creating a bigger platform for my books. All because I was challenged to identify my target reader and to be intimately acquainted with her felt needs.

Writer’s retreats teach you to be prepared. To not give up.

They teach you that…

You. Are. A. Writer.

And you have something important to say.

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guidepost april 2019
03/092020

Believe in Yourself

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If I could give new writers any advice, it would be to believe in yourself. I didn’t, and it cost me decades of time I could have been writing.

Other people in my life believed in me. When I turned sixteen, Dad gave me a book on writing. Don, my husband, lovingly badgered me to write throughout our marriage. Before my  best friend, Carol, passed away, she wrote me a goodbye letter predicting that someday I would write for Guideposts magazine. After her death, I received Guideposts in the mail. Her parting gift to me was an annual subscription.

In 2018 Don forwarded me information about the WriterCon conference to be held over Labor Day weekend. He has sent me information about writing retreats and conferences throughout the years, so I barely glanced at it before coming up with a handful of excuses, but they sounded lame even to me. Finally–I agreed to go.

The first day of the conference intimidated me. The instructors and attendees were friendly, but I heard snatches of conversations about published works and agents and previous conferences. Was I the only one who had never published anything? Many people recognized each other. I sat towards the back in each session, trying to absorb as much information as I could while scribbling furiously in my notebook. The schedule was packed with several classes going on in different rooms at the same time each hour.

That first night I came home both exhausted and exhilarated. I got the schedule out of my notebook to view the classes for the next day and make my final decisions about what to attend. I circled the ones that caught my eye and went to sleep.

About 4 a.m. I woke up. Something I saw on the schedule tickled my brain. I grabbed the paperwork again and scanned it. A class on writing for Guideposts was on the list. How did I miss that? I crossed off the class that I originally planned to take and circled Guideposts instead. The instructions said to bring a pitch.  I fell asleep thinking of pitches, then woke up again at 5 a.m. and sat up in bed. I had a pitch! I knew I’d forget it if I went back to sleep so I rushed to my laptop and typed it out.

During the Guideposts class, I summoned up the courage to raise my hand and make my pitch. Jim Hinch, a senior editor at Guideposts, seemed intrigued. He asked me a few follow-up-questions and he must have liked my answers. He asked me to email him when the conference was over and remind him of my pitch.

My story, “Caring for a Difficult Parent,” about the difficulties of caring for my mother with Alzheimer’s, was published in the April 2019 issue. Guideposts did a photo shoot and a follow up video. The video ended up being the most watched Guideposts video of 2019. The editor was so supportive and really helped build my confidence. He told me I was a natural writer, just the kind that the Guideposts editors liked, because it made their jobs easier. It’s one thing to have your family tell you that you have a talent, but when a professional tells you that, it starts to sink in.

Guideposts

Soon after my first story was published, the senior editor shared my contact information with the Guideposts online editor and the editor of Strength and Grace. Almost a year after publishing my first story, Guideposts has published seven additional pieces online and  Strength and Grace has accepted eight devotionals to be published in the 2020 bi-monthly editions.

It’s amazing. Due to the loving push of friends and relatives, a writing conference and the encouragement of an editor, my writing career has taken off. There’s no stopping me now.  I believe.

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Unity
03/022020

What Happens When Writers Get Together

Craft of Writing 1 by

Recently I remembered a pivotal moment that occurred at a small writer’s gathering I attended in my early, fledgling writing career. I was a few chapters into my first book entitled HOMELIFE: The Key to Your Child’s Success in School. I didn’t have an agent or any connections in the publishing industry, nor even a writer friend to help me edit. So when I heard about a writer’s retreat, I signed up and was excited to attend.

There I met a quiet young woman with straight brown hair and brown glasses who looked very serious. When I went to her breakout session, she sounded like she knew what she was talking about—and she worked for a publisher! So after her session on editing, I introduced myself and asked if she would be willing to read my first chapter and give me some feedback.

“Any feedback, either negative or positive, would be helpful. I feel like I’m writing in a. vacuum,” I said.

Fortunately, this was a small enough gathering that she could sit down over a break and read my first 10 pages. I went into the kitchen and got her a cup of tea and then waited in another part of the room until she was finished.

After a while, she called me over to the table and I sat down across from her.

“Cheri, you have some very good ideas for parents,” she told me. “But here is what I advise you to do with every page and chapter you write: As you work in your office, picture a mom right across from you having coffee. And then share your ideas with her in a conversational way, not like the formal written English style you used when writing your graduate thesis. Not like you’re talking down to her since you know all about the subject, but horizontally in a warm, familiar tone.”

“You mean my style is pretty stiff?” I asked her. (Ha. Such an understatement, I learned!)

“It certainly is. And unless you can learn to talk to your reader like she’s a friend you’re meeting at a coffee shop, I think you’re going to lose her on page one. And any editor who reads your manuscript as well.”

Since she was an editor, I asked if she had any other tips for how to achieve this conversational style of writing.

“Well, first, write the way you talk. Avoid writing sentences or paragraphs that are too long. Use contractions whenever you can. Know who you’re writing for, what audience you’re hoping to speak to, and what her situation is. If that’s a mother, does she have five little children around her and she only has time to read a short paragraph at a time? Or if it’s a working mom who comes home exhausted, will she be able to engage in your content?

In either case, they’d appreciate seeing your tips on helping kids learn in bullet points she can apply right away. That will affect your style and you’ll discover your voice.  Always read your chapter aloud when you finish it to see how it flows.

And most of all, become more of a storyteller!”

As I flew back home and started revising chapters and writing new ones, I kept in mind what she told me. It didn’t happen overnight; it was a learning process. I attended a semester-long storytelling course on Saturdays at a nearby college (one of the best classes I ever took) and included more stories in my book. I even found it helpful to read a chapter to my husband or a mom next door.

What I learned in two short days at a writer’s gathering proved to be one of the most valuable things I ever did—and learning to write in a warm, conversational style became a hallmark of my future books. You never know who you’re going to meet or a key tool you’ll discover for your writing arsenal.

See you at the next WWSW retreat!

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