Final Day 3 of Sacramento Writer's Conference

I will post more about my impressions later, but other demands are making my time short tonight. The conference rocked and I'm very inspired to write because of it and the inspirational writers that attended who are published, not published or just learning. So here is what I've learned today in brief:

* The hero's journey plays on in variation through most of the successful stories and books most of us enjoy. It's a good thing to check current story against to see if elements are missing.
* Free writing works.
* Making new friends that share similar views is always wonderful. Linking their blogs to yours even better!
* Are you reading Richard Crawford's blog? Why not, it's amazing. Check him out.
* Ask questions
* Listen
* Set a goal and meet it: write one page or three pages a day, to a certain word count or during a certain time whichever works but be consistent. This is the way to discipline ::shudders::
* Revise, revise and then revise.
* Keep paper and pen ready to take inspiration at any time.

Good stuff. There's more but...later.

Sac Writer's Conference: Day 2

Some (not all) things I learned today:

* A lot about how to write well and structure
* Robin Burcell is a great mystery writer and an even greater person. And there is a difference between thrillers and suspense books.
* Romance genre is highly competitive and not as easy as it looks (luckily perhaps, thats not my focus)
* Researching, talking is NOT writing. Only writing is writing
* (Reinforced message) A good story is a good story no matter what genre so don't just read one genre, read everything.
* You cannot improve if you are not open to listening and learning constantly
* It may be possible even now that I can write and it won't just be a "book of pain"
* Everyone feels like their work is crap and they can't finish it. EVERYONE.
* YAY! I learned how to approach edits/revisions - look at a scene or sentence. What is the point? Does it help tell the story or forward the plot? Remove it. If you take it out does it take anything away from the story? If not lose it. Don't get hung up on it either.
* There is *always* something to write about

There's more but I'm sleepy...

Day One of Writer's Conference

Fun and interesting! More to report probably in roundup as I am very tired now.

But this was a good idea. To think, I almost didn't attend.