Five "Fun Size" Pre-Writing Starters to Ground Your Story

How thrilling it is as a writer to settle your fingers on the keyboard and type “Chapter One.” But even when filled with the exhilaration of new-story-itis, starting a book-length endeavor can often be intimidating.

Whether you’re a plotter, a seat-of-the-pantser or something in between, it never hurts to launch out on a story journey with a roadmap in hand (or at least in your head). Yes, you might take some detours along the way, but giving serious thought to your destination in advance can pay off in the long run.

I find nailing down 5 core elements before I start writing helps immensely, and I try to approach them as FUN, not something that will strangle my story-telling freedom. In fact, I find working through “fun size” starters actually energizes my storytelling confidence and enhances my writing freedom.

·       Goal, Motivation, Conflict (GMC)

·       Story Concept

·       Story Premise

·       Moral Premise

·       500-Word Synopsis

For me, none of these “fun size” starters are stand-alones. I can start out with any of them and they feed off each other. If I’m trying to decide whether ideas have enough “umph” to carry them from beginning to end, I’ll run them through a few of these “filters” to see how they hold up.

It doesn’t take long to throw a few less promising ones back into the idea ocean—and for one or two of them to catch my imagination as possibilities. Once I’ve decided on the core idea, then I move back and forth among the five elements—playing, building, tweaking—until the idea solidifies into a story I’m excited to tell with an engaging beginning, rock-solid middle, and a satisfying end.

Goal, Motivation, and Conflict (GMC) – We all know how important it is for our protagonists to possess GMC. Lacking even one of them—or having a weak one—seriously sabotages our efforts. Into this GMC bucket, I like to throw giving thought to greatest flaws and fears—and the source of them, the worst that could happen if goals aren’t met, the lie my characters tell themselves, and how they will change by the end of the story. It’s fun, too, to give them a secret!

To get the juices flowing on GMC, I often simultaneously play around with the other 4 elements—and I do mean PLAY. This is a fun way to make the development of GMC somewhat less painful. I’m not one of those gifted writers to whom a full-blown story appears in my mind like a big screen movie and I just transcribe what I see. Coming up with a viable story can often be grueling, so anything I can do to break the struggle into more “fun size” pieces, the better things go.

Story Concept – There are a lot of conflicting definitions regarding concepts and premises, etc., but for my own purposes I personally like to think of the concept as the 1-liner idea that first sparked my imagination. The very high-level story question. For instance, this is where my upcoming April 2018 release, “Mountain Country Courtship,” started:

Can an abandoned-at-the-altar city guy and a small-town runaway bride find the home of their hearts in each other’s arms?

Not a lot of detail there, but it hints at conflict…and romance.

Story Premise – I think of the story premise as more detailed, involving a little GMC and plot. Again, this is not a “textbook” definition of the word – this is just what I do when I’m trying to get a grip on a new story that’s formulating in my mind. This was one of my first shots at it for the same book:

With opposing agendas and a mutual need to prove themselves, an abandoned-at-the-altar city guy and a small-town runaway bride are stuck working together renovating an old bed & breakfast inn as they race to beat the clock to accommodate an all-important wedding that could make or break their future—and their chance at love.

Just added some detail that made me give further thought about GMC and plot.

Moral Premise – I like to think of this as what the core of the story is REALLY about under the surface of the action and dialogue. Knowing this as you write can greatly strengthen the story as you subtly weave it into your scenes.

Wrestling the steering wheel away from God in order to control life’s outcomes leads to directionless confusion and distancing from love. Turning the wheel over to God leads to inner peace and room for love.

This moral premise established for me the characters’ current inward state—and how they need to change.

500 Word Synopsis – 500 words is about one single-spaced page or two double-spaced, so you must stick to the bones of your story. It forces me to pull the other “fun size” pieces AND critical plot points together to reveal if the story holds together for the long haul.

This mini-synopsis quickly spotlights areas that are weak, that haven’t been thoroughly thought through, and that aren’t yet solid enough to carry the story successfully to The End. Discovering those things early on with a 500-word investment (and performing needed triage) is so much better than getting blind-sided halfway through writing the book.

For a seat-of-the pants writer, this short synopsis on the page or in your head may be all you need to get rolling. For a plotter or planster (or a pantser who must submit a full-blown synopsis with a book proposal), it’s a great foundation for writing a longer, more detailed synopsis.

Keep in mind that when I’m playing around with these “fun size” starters I’m not trying to make the elements perfectly written for anyone else’s inspection and critique (although I have at times polished up some of them to use in a proposal or to flesh out my publisher’s art fact sheet questions). For everything but the synopsis, I’m usually sitting somewhere away from the computer with a blank newsprint pad on my lap and letting my pen flow as the ideas come.

For me, spending a little upfront time solidifying the high-level plot and characters—while having a bit of FUN—can make all the difference in the world as to how I approach Chapter One…and journey successfully on to The End.

Please share with us today how much YOU need to know before you start writing in earnest. Do stories come to you full blown and ready to transcribe as the “movie” rolls through your mind? What, if any, pre-planning do you do? How do you get your ideas to “gel” enough to determine if they hold sufficient substance for a book-length story?

If you’d like to be entered in a drawing for a copy of my latest release, “Mountain Country Cowboy,” please mention it in the comments section!

Glynna

GLYNNA KAYE treasures memories of growing up in small Midwestern towns--and vacations spent with the Texan side of the family. She traces her love of storytelling to the times a houseful of great-aunts and great-uncles gathered with her grandma to share candid, heartwarming, poignant and often humorous tales of their youth and young adulthood. Her Love Inspired books—"Pine Country Cowboy” and “High Country Holiday”--won first and second place, respectively, in the 2015 RWA Faith, Hope & Love Inspirational Reader’s Choice Awards. Just out in May 2017 was ”The Nanny Bargain,” out now is “Mountain Country Cowboy,” and coming in April 2018 will be “Mountain Country Courtship” (the final story in the 6-book Hearts of Hunter Ridge series).

Mountain Country Cowboy. When he’s offered a job at Hunter’s Hideaway, single dad Cash Herrera immediately accepts. It means the former bad boy can start over and gain custody of his son, Joey. Still, small-town folk have long memories—especially Cash’s pretty childhood nemesis. Rio Hunter is now a lovely, courageous woman…and Cash’s new boss. Past betrayal makes them both wary, and Rio’s secret promise will soon take her away from Hunter Ridge. Yet working with Cash and teaching Joey about her beloved horses draw her closer to both. Can she create a loving family with the man who’s claiming her future?

BUY HERE NOW!

Using Natural Phenomena in your Novels

Sandra here to talk about using natural phenomena in our novels. Nothing like an unusual or significant event to trigger some tension in the plot. Right? 

Well we had a big event yesterday that brought the idea on for this topic. We are in Oregon now near Madras that is a small town where the full solar eclipse could be seen for the first time in the United States since its birth. I need to talk about this event because it may impact my presence today in the comment section.

We have been advised that thousands of people from all over the world are flocking to our area to experience the full solar eclipse. Madras is a small town-rural farming community on the edge of the Cascade Mountains. Consequently there are very few accommodations for all the people flocking here. Nearby Bend is a good sized city. So they are predicting hours of traffic jam delays on the few rural roads from the cities to this area on that day.  Farmers in the area are chalking off blocks of space and charging up to $1,000 for a weekend stay on their little block of space they lease. Great revenue for the farmers, but I’m not sure the cattle will be pleased. LOL

Because of the overload of people, we are also advised to stock up on food and water, keep your gas tanks full because the gas supply will run out and to try and not travel that day.  State government is shutting down for the day. Many businesses are closing up shop and many events have been cancelled due to the prediction of traffic jams. My pilates class was cancelled. Bummer. 

First responders will all be on alert. They have even called in the National Guard to help keep order. And most important to you and me is they expect the cell towers to be overloaded and hence no cell service.

So if you do not see any comments from me today, it means I can’t get through.  But check in later in the day because I may get online as tourists return home and I may be able to upload some photos of the event. My Seeker sisters said they would cover for me in the comment section if I can’t get through.

So fellow writers, has all of this hubbub spurred some ideas for your next plot? I can think of all kinds of things.  Maybe my hero is a first responder. Maybe my heroine owns a farm and the hero just has to see this event for some reason. Maybe he’s a scientist and needs the data and she really is annoyed because her life is getting disrupted in a big way. She might have scheduled a delivery that day before all the hype was considered.

Experiencing these big events in nature give you a true feel for the ambience. You get a deep core of emotion for your characters. You better believe that one of my future novels is going to feature an experience of the eclipse. 

I’ve used events of nature in other novels. In Where The Eagle Flies, the hero and heroine are caught in a water spout which is like a tornado only it’s on the water. Their houseboat in Lake Powell is destroyed and they are stranded. I could really describe that event because my husband and I experienced one of those while out fishing in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area where the Green River is dammed. Let me tell you, I’ll never forget the noise and fear of watching that spout approach and hit and I think I captured it in my novel.

Love’s Miracles is set in the huge giant Redwood Forests of Northern California. We used to live in that part of the country, so it was easy to incorporate the amazing aura of peace and tranquility as you walk among those giants.

Hubby and I have climbed into an active volcano. This was an extremely eventful experience. Fortunately, I was too young and naïve to realize the danger I was in. We were in Guatamala where there weren’t any regulations at that time to prevent people from climbing into the dangerous situation. All the crosses at the top should have been a clue. But to this day, I can still hear the belching sounds of volcanic lava bursting forth and shooting up in the air. Now I know I’m going to have to incorporate that in a future wip.  In fact, my cousins all live on Christmas tree farms in Washington near Mt St. Helens. I have promised them a story set in their region, so my volcano experiences are going to be helpful.

This is Mr Hood, not either one mentioned but a photo I had of a volcano.

Mary Connealy has one of her books, Out of Control is set in a cave. Mary wrote that based on her venture into Carlsbad Caverns. Now there’s some experiences that are unforgettable. I remember clearly how it felt to be crawling under hundreds of feet of earth in the total darkness when we went spelunking in Wind Caves National Park in South Dakota.

I have been fortunate (or maybe just plain crazy) to experience many natural phenomenon. However, you don’t have to actually experience natural phenomenon to include it in your novel. With access to the Internet these days and communication so easy, you can write about a phenomena without actually having to experience it.

In my novel, Current of Love, the hero had to face his fear of drowning when a hurricane hit and he had to evacuate off a Steamboat in the middle of the Mississippi.  Hubby and I went on a steamboat cruise and we had many evacuation drills, which of course spurred my imagination. I was able to interview the crew and the captain shared some experiences and how to evacuate the steamboat in the event of a hurricane or flooding. This all happened before Hurricane Katrina so I didn’t have all of that horror in my story, but the hurricane did give my character more depth. And because of interviewing the crew, I didn’t have to actually experience a hurricane.

So folks, what natural phenomena have you experienced and how have you used it in your writing?  If you have used natural phenomena and haven’t experienced it, how have you researched it? We can always use helpful hints.

Readers, let us know how you feel about natural phenomena in the stories you love to read.

Those who comment will be put in for a drawing of their choice of any of the novels mentioned in this post.

Because some of these experiences are traumatic, I’m providing comfort food. You won’t be able to get pizza delivery today so I have baked several kinds of pizza for you to enjoy.

Sandra Leesmith writes sweet romances to warm the heart. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, bicycle and write. She is based in Arizona, but she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome and enjoy the outdoors. You can find Sandra's books here on Amazon. Three of Sandra's most popular books are also audio books at Audible. You can read more of Sandra's posts here.

Online Classes

Hello, Sandra here in Seekerville, trying not to be jealous that she isn’t in Orlando at the RomanceWriters of America (RWA) conference. So are there any more of you out there wishing you were at the conference?

It does happen. We have many reasons we need to be home instead of at the conference.  I always love the spotlight on the traditional publishing houses and the updates on the industry news.

Debby Guisti is there.  Waving at you Debby. Debby and I were roommates at the RWA Conference in Anaheim in 2012.

Studying the schedule of events

Do you recognize these Seeker friends?

I roomed with Ruthy when RWA National Conference was in Orlando in 2010.  Waving at you too Ruthy. Memories of super great times are racing through my mind.  smile

Ruthy loves Minnie

We explored the beaches in Florida the day before the conference.

But just because we aren’t at this conference doesn’t mean we have to miss out on the workshops on craft or tips on marketing. There are many ways we can obtain that information while wearing our jammies, drinking our coffee and sitting comfortably in front of our computer. 

If you are a member of RWA, you can order audio recordings of all the workshops.  You can buy them yourself. Now they are pricey. I looked at past conference audios and they run around $270. But that is only a tenth of the cost of the conference. 

Many local chapters buy them and then members can check them out. If you attend the conference you can buy the set for half the price and I always do that when I go to a conference because I’m too busy networking to attend the workshops.

Also, if you are a member of RWA, you have a plethora of workshops available to you through RWA University and also through On Demand Education. These courses are free to members and can be used live when they are presented or in the archives at the writer’s leisure. 

In September the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) will have its conference in Dallas, Texas. You can order audios of their workshops also if you are a member of ACFW. The price ranges from $179.00 to $279.00 depending upon whether you order the Early Bird part of the conference along with it.

ACFW members have access to the archives of online courses and a blog that shares industry news and information.

Through both of these national organizations, writers can network and meet other authors writing in their genre.

What if you don’t belong to these National Writer’s Organizations? Not everyone wants to invest the money in membership to a professional organization.

Don’t fret. There are many other resources out there where writers can learn their craft and obtain industry news.

Tina (who is a treasure trove of information), Missy and Janet helped me with a lovely list of online classes to dig into.  And just so you know, our Tina offers an online class once a year. Her classes are real gems. She's already presented this year's class, but if you subscribe to Tina's newsletter, you will be kept up to date for next year's class.

1. Any Marie Force Class. The cost includes lifetime access.

2. James Patterson's Master Class. Tina was VERY SKEPTICAL and said, “It's a valuable class.  I took James Patterson Teaches Writing. The next one I will take is David Mamet Teaches Dramatic Writing.” The cost includes lifetime access.

3. UDEMY   First get on their newsletter list so you find out when classes are on sale. Never buy a class full price. Look for coupons online.  You have lifetime access to stream.

Tina’s Favorite classes so far:

Michael Hauge's The Hero's Two Journeys. To buy it from Amazon or his site is much more expensive. Although if you check at Storymastery.com, you can now stream them for 14.99. 

Screenwriting and Story Blueprint: The Hero's Two Journeys Right now it is still $10 

Tina’s other favorite is Acumen Presents: Chris Anderson on Public Speaking. Chris Anderson is the guy who is responsible for TED TALKS.

Other online courses

1. Lynda.com  A subscription service with over 600 courses.

2. One of the best RWA chapter online resources for classes is the KISS OF DEATH CHAPTER. Here is the schedule (you do not have to be an RWA member). 

3. Another resource is Savvy Authors. Get on their mailing list for access to upcoming courses.

4. Lawson Writing Academy has online classes with many published author instructors. Shirley Jump, one of our Seeker friends teaches classes with Margie Lawson's Academy. In fact, she is offering an Intensive on Show, Don't Tell in August. 

Best selling author Shirley Jump

5.There is the very popular Writer University.   

These classes vary in cost, but the advantage of paying for these classes is you have interaction with the instructor. Lurking is fine also, but you learn so much from the interaction regarding your homework assignments. WriterUniv.com also offers private lessons and you might be in a situation where you just need some personal help with a specific writing issue. 

Seeker friend and blogger, Laurie Schnebly Campbell teaches classes for Writer University. Laurie has posted with Seekerville several times and she is always packed full of information.  She has talked about fatal flaws to develop the hero, character enneagrams, productivity and motivation. Next month on August 11 Best of the Archives will feature The Dazzling Dozen, Plus One. This blog is a discussion on characterization for the heroine.  Watch for this excellent and informative blog post.

Laurie Schnebly Campbell teaches online classes.

Writer University is offering the class The Hero’s Journey, For Heroines by Laurie Schnebly Campbell, September 4-29, 2017.  Laurie’s classes are always excellent.

If you are really on a strict budget, you can get super online lessons right here in Seekerville. For ten years, the Seekers and their writer friends have been posting blogs mainly dealing with the craft of writing. We’ve also posted industry news, marketing tips, and shared our rejections and successes. One seeker posted in a past blog that she had printed all of the craft posts and put them in a binder. After reading them, she said she felt like she’d graduated from college. And there is truth to that statement. The Seekerville archives are a treasure trove of handy writing and craft tips.  AND THEY ARE FREE. 

So there it is folks. Several ways to get some of the information we are missing by not attending the conference.

If you have any other sources for online classes or writer information, please share. Writers who share will be in a drawing for tuition paid for Laurie’s class in September. Laurie is offering one tuition. Be sure and indicate that you are interested in the class and check the weekend edition to find out who is the lucky winner.

Readers who comment will be in a drawing for a Seeker book available online. Be sure and mention in the comments that you want the reader prize.  

Because it’s hot this summer and we’re in Oregon right now, I have bowls of fresh picked blueberries, cherries, raspberries and strawberries. And some yummy vanilla ice cream or creamy Greek Yogurt from the famous Tillamook Farms in Oregon to pile on top of the fruit.

Permission granted from Tillamook Farms for photos

From Tillamook Farms.com website. Check it out and drool.

Sandra Leesmith writes sweet romances to warm the heart. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, bicycle and write. She is based in Arizona, but she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome and enjoy the outdoors. You can find Sandra's books here on Amazon. Three of Sandra's most popular books are also audio books at Audible. You can read more of Sandra's posts here.

Flying at Night: The Search for Your Story's Core

There you are, flying at thirty-five-thousand feet above the earth on a cloudless, moonless night, and even with interior lights dimmed you can’t see much more out your window than the blinking of a wing light or a single far off pinpoint glimmer below. Your own faint reflection obliterates the stars.

It’s a perfect time to think about your latest story idea--which for some reason just isn’t coming together.

Ideas are wonderful. Those as yet indefinite, unformed conceptions can be found everywhere around us and are limited only by our imagination. So many choices. So much potential to be tapped into! But sometimes, even after you begin to develop those brilliant ideas into plot points, to dream up scenes and wedge them into a logical order, to give the hero lovable quirks and a decent external goal to strive for, deep down you may sense something isn’t quite right.

Despite the twists and turns and quirky characters you’ve incorporated into what you’re thinking might even be a “high concept” idea, the story may feel wooden, flat, and ho-hum. It’s as if something vital is missing. Maybe the pieces are coming together on the plot, you’re applying the recommended craft “rules”--but where’s that spark that brings it to life? The ember that ignites your enthusiasm and generates the energy required to write all the way to The End?

Maybe you’re even beginning to fear that this uncertainty, this feeling that you’re flying in the dark will be picked up on by readers--readers who will lose interest halfway through the journey you’ve placed before them and reach for the remote.

There could be lots of reasons for this nagging impression. Maybe it’s an undercurrent of concern that the scope of the story is beyond your ability or experience to tell it. Perhaps it requires more research than you have the time or inclination to tackle. You’ve bit off more than you can chew.

OR MAYBE it’s just that you simply need to re-examine the CORE of your story. Perhaps you need to not only think about “all this stuff happens to them when Dick and Jane search for the treasure,” but what do Dick and Jane learn about themselves as they search for the treasure? How does this search change them, grow them? What can they do or be at the end of the story that they couldn’t possibly have done or been at the beginning? Maybe you need to spend time going deeper and thinking about what the story is REALLY about--what the “takeaway” is that will linger in a reader’s mind long after the last page is reached.

To do that, let’s fly a bit closer to earth. Get back down to a level where you were just beginning to gain altitude for a long writing flight where ideas--like lights sparkling below—appeared as endless handfuls of glowing diamonds scattered across a field of black velvet. As with basic story ideas, character growth ideas are endless. Again, so many to choose from, but choose you must to pin down the heart and sustaining substance of your story.

So where do you begin? I always ask myself questions.

- Who is it you most admire and why do they inspire you? Have they always been that way? If not, how did they get to where they are now? Share those insights with your hero.

- What specific issues and character flaws do you see the world around you struggling with? What would need to happen deep inside to bring about positive change? Are these things your hero could also struggle with, an area of needed change?

- What personal character challenges do you wrestle with? How would you like to change? What steps can you take—or what circumstances might lead you—to grow? What lessons has life taught you or is currently teaching you? Give those same challenges and life lessons to your hero.

- What truth is your hero blind and deaf to--something he’s rejected either consciously or unconsciously?  Are others aware of it?

- What lie / misbelief does your hero hold about himself? About others?

- What will happen to your hero, to others, and to the story itself if he doesn’t change? What will happen if he does?

In answering some of these “core” questions as they relate to your own story, do you feel a little less as if you’re flying in the dark of night? Do you feel some substance to your story beginning to surface? A glimmer of light?

 

Of course on that final page of your manuscript you can’t simply wave a wand over your hero to make his inner transformation magically happen. You need to incorporate character growth into your entire story. What needs to happen to bring it about? Weave that in around the plot points you’ve given so much thought to. Readers want to experience the inner struggle as much as the outer one, to be a part of the change as it comes about. To see it illustrated at the end.

- At what point does the hero recognize his shortcomings, misbeliefs, the need to change?

- What events can you build into the story to bring about the hero’s needed change in behavior, attitude or beliefs?

- How can you illustrate this change as the story progresses and how will it make a difference in how the story ends?

Today please share in the comments section what, as a reader, your thoughts are on are on the importance or unimportance of character growth in the books you most enjoy. As a writer, do you consciously incorporate character growth into your story? Is it a forethought or an afterthought? What tips and tricks can you share with us regarding how you satisfactorily illustrate a character’s growth?

If you’d like to be entered in a drawing for a copy of my May Love Inspired release, “The Nanny Bargain,” mention it in the comments section, then check the Weekend Edition to see if you’re a winner!

Glynna

 

GLYNNA KAYE treasures memories of growing up in small Midwestern towns--and vacations spent with the Texan side of the family. She traces her love of storytelling to the times a houseful of great-aunts and great-uncles gathered with her grandma to share candid, heartwarming, poignant and often humorous tales of their youth and young adulthood. Her Love Inspired books--Pine Country Cowboy and High Country Holiday--won first and second place, respectively, in the 2015 RWA Faith, Hope & Love Inspirational Reader’s Choice Awards. “The Nanny Bargain” is on the shelves now, and coming in October is “Mountain Country Cowboy.”

Concerned for his orphaned twin brothers, outdoor-gear shop owner Sawyer Banks urges new employee Tori Janner to apply for the nanny position their grandparents are advertising…and spy for him. With plans to start over in Hunter Ridge and dreams of reviving her quilting business, Tori takes the job—but refuses to report to Sawyer unless the boys' welfare is in danger. But soon it's her own heart that's in jeopardy. Because after spending time with the committed bachelor, she starts to see the depth behind his easy charm—and begins to imagine herself as his wife…

9 Tips for Growing Your Writing Skills

Happy birthday, Seekerville! Myra here. Wow, just think—all this began nine years ago when many of us still resided in little grass shacks on Unpubbed Island! Look how our mainland village has grown!

For my part in our birthday celebration, I’m offering nine proven ways to take your writing skills to the next level. I hope you’ll share a few of your own tips as well.

1. Study craft books. Many excellent resources have been mentioned here in Seekerville. I listed several of my personal favorites in my post “The Writer’s Reference Shelf” (March 10, 2009). To that list I’d also add:

• The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success, by Stanley D. Williams
• Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between, by James Scott Bell

2. Take online classes. Writers’ organizations like ACFW and RWA offer a variety of online courses available to members at no charge or for nominal fees. I’m currently enrolled in an RWA course on author newsletters. ACFW’s online course archives are available for any member to peruse. Topics include self-editing, writing a novella, marketing, research, and many more.

Many writers have also benefited from taking one or more of Margie Lawson’s Writer’s Academy courses. Check out her offerings here, and also see what’s available under her menu tab for Lecture Packets, which are archived lessons from previous online classes. You won’t have the benefit of daily instructor feedback, but there’s plenty of valuable information to study and absorb at your own pace. 

3. Analyze good books. In my February 11, 2014, post, “Read Like a Writer . . . Then Write Like a Reader,” I offered several pointers for how to study and learn from  novels by other authors. 

Another method for analyzing a novel—a book you’re reading or your own work-in-progress—is described in the blog post A Taste of the EDITS System by Margie Lawson. Here, Margie describes how to use different colored highlighters and pens to mark various components of a scene. When you see all the colors laid out on the page, it can help you see where there might be too much of one thing or not enough of another. In analyzing a published novel, highlighting can give you visual clues as to the author’s style and technique, and you can judge for yourself what works and what doesn’t.

4. Join a critique group. Here again, your membership in a writer’s organization is the best place to start. ACFW members can access critique group information here. For RWA members, click here. Or, if you participate in a local writing chapter, that could be the best place to look for a critique partner or group.

Remember, critique groups or partnerships are not “one size fits all.” Tina Radcliffe shared her advice in “The Art of Critique” (May 23, 2013). Seekervillagers Naomi Rawlings and Melissa Jagears described their experience as critique partners in “CPFs – Finding and Keeping a Critique Partner Forever (or at least for 3 years…)” (September 11, 2013).

5. Attend conferences. In addition to the annual ACFW and RWA conferences, Debby Giusti described several others worth checking out in her post “Writing Conferences Across America” (July 18, 2012). If a national conference seems too overwhelming (or too expensive!), investigate smaller regional conferences, which may offer equally informative workshops if not quite as many choices.

Once you’ve decided to take the plunge and attend a conference, review Seekerville guest Kathleen Y’Barbo’s tips in “Making the Most of Your Conference Experience” (July 11, 2014). 

6. Follow industry blogs and websites. We love our Seekervillagers and want you to keep coming back, but you should be aware of other blogs and websites out there where you can glean additional helpful information on the writing craft as well as the publishing industry in general. Here are several you can check out:

• The Steve Laube Agency Blog
• Jane Friedman
• The Write Conversation
• ACFW Blog
• Seriously Write
• The Creative Penn 
• Writers Helping Writers 
• Writer Unboxed
• Story Mastery
• Author Earnings
• The Literary Entrepreneur 
• Helping Writers Become Authors
• The Ambitious Author

For even more websites and blogs that might be of interest, visit the Links tab at the top of our page.

7. Master basic grammar skills. As Grammar Queen reminds us every chance she gets, language and grammar are the tools of our trade. We owe it to ourselves—and to our editors and eventually our readers—to handle the English language with the same level of skill we apply to mastering point of view, description, characterization, plotting, and every other aspect of writing a book.

You can review all of Grammar Queen’s Seekerville lectures here.

GQ’s favorite grammar reference books include:

• Grammatically Correct: The Essential Guide to Spelling, Style, Usage, Grammar, and Punctuation, by Anne Stilman
• The Best Punctuation Book, Period: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson, by June Casagrande
• The Chicago Manual of Style
• The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White
• The Synonym Finder

8. Enter manuscript contests. Once you’ve gotten feedback on your manuscript from your critique group or perhaps a mentor/coach, you might be ready to enter your work in a contest. As so many Seekerville Contest Divas have said, manuscript contests can be a great way to get fresh eyes on your story, along with valuable feedback from the judges. Finalists may even get their manuscript in front of an editor or agent, and who knows where that could lead!

For a complete rundown of writing contests, check out Seekerville’s monthly Contest Updates.

9. Write every day. You know the old saying about how to get to Carnegie Hall . . . practice, practice, practice! Writing is no different. If you want to improve, you have to write, regularly and often! You can’t always wait for the muse to show up. Examine your daily routine and figure out where you can schedule in writing time. Treat it like an appointment—write it on the calendar if you need to—and honor that time as you would any other appointment.

If at all possible, create a place you’ll use just for writing—an unused guest room, a closet, a quiet corner of the living room, or even one end of the kitchen table if that’s the only available space. Have all your tools within easy reach—computer, tablet and pens, reference books, etc.—so you don’t have to go hunt everything down each time you’re ready to get to work. 

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Those are my nine tips for growing as a writer. What helps you the most? Any other suggestions about reference books, conferences, or habits to make or break? Join the conversation for a chance to win a copy of The Oregon Trail Romance Collection: 9 Stories of Life on the Trail into the Western Frontier (thought I'd continue the "9" theme for Seekerville’s 9^th birthday). The collection includes my novella Settled Hearts. 

About Myra: Award-winning author Myra Johnson writes emotionally gripping stories about love, life, and faith. Myra is a two-time finalist for the prestigious ACFW Carol Awards and winner of Christian Retailing’s Best for historical fiction. Originally from Texas but now residing in the beautiful Carolinas, Myra and her husband love the climate and scenery, but they may never get used to the pulled pork Carolinians call “barbecue”! The Johnsons share their home with two very pampered doggies who don’t always understand the meaning of “Mom’s trying to write.”

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