DIY MFA

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Dec 14-20, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 6 Comments

It’s Christmas Eve Eve . . . if that makes any sense 😀

K.M. Weiland on the difference between theme and message.

An excellent podcast by DIY MFA’s Gabriela Pereira on some of the ways you can outline.

Why a year-end review is important for writers. Jamie Raintree on thinking through our fingers.

And related to that, Dr. Jonathan Ball on how he uses Jamie’s awesome word count Excel spreadsheet to track his writing progress. Whether you think the post is sexy or not (I rather think Jonathan was being facetious with his post title), there are some great ideas in there. And that, to me, is sexy.

Why emotional excess is essential writing and creativity. Do you agree? Brainpickings explores the diaries of Anais Nin.

Common sayings you may be misusing. How stuff works.

The Lord of the Rings mythology explained in four minutes. CGP Grey.

 

Need something to tide you over until Outlander resumes its season? Here’s a sneak peek. E! Online.

That’s it for this week.

All the best of the season to you, whatever that means to you. To me, it’s still Merry Christmas 🙂

Tipsday

My first virtual conference #WANAcon Feb 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

This has been a week of firsts here at Writerly Goodness.

Yesterday, I posted about my first twitterview experience. Today it’s #WANAcon.

WANAcon

Over the last couple of years, I have attended several excellent online courses through WANA International, Kristen Lamb’s online writer’s university. Each course has been reasonable on the plastic, and I’ve invariably received great value for the money.

So, I thought, for the price of three or four individual courses, I could have the benefit of twelve, plus (!) It was a no-brainer, really.

Also, if I want, I have access to all the alternate sessions that I didn’t attend. Everything’s recorded, and I can view any of them any time I want (for a defined period of time).

I’m not going to give away any of the content, except to say that I recommend #WANAcon to anyone who wants an inexpensive alternative to a traditional conference. No travel, no hotel, no days-on-end of eating out, no time away from family or work. It really is a fabulous deal.

There were even pitch sessions, though I didn’t opt into them.

So here’s a quick rundown of the sessions I attended:

  1. Branding for authors – Kristen Lamb
  2. Self-editing for fiction writers – Marcy Kennedy
  3. OneNote: The solution to organizing your work – Jenny Hansen
  4. Writing effective inner dialogue – Lisa Hall-Wilson
  5. World-building 101 – Kristen Lamb
  6. An introvert’s guide to Twitter – Jami Gold
  7. Backstory: How your hero’s past shapes his future – Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
  8. Creating compelling, unforgettable characters – Shirley Jump
  9. Build an author website without getting burned – Laird Sapir
  10. 7 steps to a stronger love story – Gabriela Pereira
  11. Rock your revisions – Gabriela Pereira and Julie Duffy
  12. Blogging for authors – Kristen Lamb

As you can see, there was a smorgasbord of Writerly Goodness to take in. Added bonus: You can do it all in your PJs 🙂

I’m feeling pleasantly buzzed.

What courses have you taken recently that were good value for the money? Tried anything new that turned out even better than your expectations?

Do share.