Rochester MN Writers Festival 2011
Posted on February 21st, 2011
The Third Annual Rochester Writers Festival will be held on April 9 at Bethel Lutheran Church. For those who sign up for a full day session by March 9, you get a $10 discount!
Don’t want to go all day? We also have the option of signing up for just a half day.
New this year:
- Networking session after the main event. It’s a great opportunity to meet local writers and talk with instructors.
- Yours truly will be the keynote speaker!
- One-on-one critiques are available to help you improve your work (separate registration, only 12 spots available)
Sign up soon…space is limited!
For more details and to sign up, check out the Community Education site.
Please forward this to any other writers who may be interested.
2011 Resolutions
Posted on January 1st, 2011
I’m doing something I haven’t before:Â putting up my resolutions for 2011 on my blog.
My hope is that this helps keep me accountable. I expect to write up my results in December 2011.
I have printed off a shorter version of this list and posted it in my office. By doing so, I hope to remind myself to make daily progress towards these goals.
Get serious about chasing dreams
I’ve long said that I would like to publish a novel. This year, it’s going to happen (at least to the point of being accepted by an agent and–hopefully–sold to a publisher).
How can I say that? There are a few reasons:
- I wrote approximately 60% of the novel (both in terms of planned length and planned events for the characters) in the second half of 2010. I should have little trouble writing the second portion because I now understand my characters and the world they live in so much better.
- I’ve created/joined a novelist group where I work with three other writers to finish our novels. Since we review about 3000 words every week, this should motivate me to finish the rest.
- I’ve completed the synopsis for the novel, which is actually the more difficult job. Now that I know the direction the novel will take, I have less to think about as I write–I can focus on the prose, not the direction.
- I’ve arranged to reduce my volunteering commitments in order to create more time for writing and (after our baby arrives) my child.
I’m not sure how to do this one yet, but I have some ideas for a new method of educating children (they’ve been baking for about 6 years). I’ve shown some success for this through the ILEO robotics program I created. However, creating a program is one thing, creating a school is quite another. A program like ILEO can be started by one person (Note: that’s start, not run–we use about a hundred volunteers to run the program). A school requires a team of experts to be successful.
With all of the other events coming, I don’t believe I’ll succeed at creating a school by the end of the year. However, I’d like to have something to show for this by the end of the year. This may result in a new blog focused on spreading my ideas and encouraging dialogue with educators, or forming a panel of like-minded individuals to help me better formulate this idea into a plan. I’m sure more will come on this later.
For part of our baby’s education, I want to be able to point to a plethora of examples (the ILEO robotics program, a master’s degree, novels I’ve helped get published, etc) when I tell my child that they can achieve their dreams–if one applies oneself.
Focus on family
With Brenda’s pregnancy, I’ve found myself focusing more on spending time with family. As a part of this, I am preparing to invest my energy in helping our little one be everything they want to be.
We hope to spend a good portion of our vacation this year traveling to see family with our new tiny addition. We want our parents to be able to see their grandchild.
Also as a part of this, I want to resume writing monthly letters to our nieces and nephew. I love these kids, but haven’t spent as much time as I’d like with them. Through writing letters, I can help them to get to know me better. With luck, they’ll write back (as they have once already) and help me get to know them better as well.
It may be some time until our newest niece can write back. She’ll start writing coherent letters by what, 18 months or so, right?
Get our financial house in order
This goal sounds more dire than it really is. It’s not like we’re in any serious financial difficulties–I simply want to improve our financial picture.
Due to some medical emergencies and one of our vehicles breaking down in the past two years, our emergency fund isn’t as large as I’d like it to be. My goal is to do whatever we can to cover at least six months of our new expenses (considering extra costs associated with the baby).
I expect this will take a combination of reducing unnecessary expenses and generating additional income from my writing and editing business. Perhaps I’ll also be successful in supplementing our income with some money from my novel, but I’m not going to count on that yet.
As a part of this, we’re sweeping through our house looking for things we don’t use anymore. Even though the items might be sitting idle, there are hidden costs associated with keeping things we don’t need. For example, we still have to clean them, or work around them, or (eventually) might have to move them.
Instead, we can donate them to places that might find a better use, sell them in a garage sale, or toss them out.
Focus on building relationships and future opportunities
One of the things I’m quite proud of from the past year is taking over the Rochester Writing Group. I’ve met lots of wonderful writers through the group, and these connections will help me to be successful in the new year.
I want to continue to build on these relationships so that I and other writers can develop new opportunities over the next several years. The neat thing about making connections is that you don’t know where they’ll lead.
As an example, last January 1st, I had no clue that I’d be involved in (much less leading) the Rochester Writing Group. I had no clue that I’d help out with the work for creating the Rochester Writing Festival.
However, I’ve always been good at recognizing an opportunity and seizing it. I hope to continue to do so over the course of the next year.
The other major collective I want to continue working with is the local entrepreneur group. While I’m not quite ready to dive in, the connections I build there and the support I can give to help the local entrepreneurs will pay dividends at some point in the future. I can also learn from their successes and missteps as they progress down that road.
So that’s it: my resolutions for 2011. Feel free to ask what progress I’m making. Keep me accountable.
New Leader of the Rochester Writing Group
Posted on August 12th, 2010
This month, I’ve taken over the Rochester Writing Group from Helen Chen. Helen’s focused leadership has helped dozens (if not hundreds) of writers succeed in life and business, and I hope to continue in her tradition.
I’ve created a new area that discusses the Rochester Writing Group, and will be maintaining the area to ensure all information is current. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to directly impact so many writers’ lives.
As a word of advice to all writers, there are two mistakes that you can make:
- Change your work in response to every critical remark
- Not change your work in response to any critical remark
Instead, writers should look at each critical remark, decide if the suggestion or criticism has merit, then decide whether the work should change. It’s okay to recognize a remark as valid, but then not make a change.
This has come up at all of the meetings so far. It’s one of my favorite tidbits of advice, so I thought I’d pass it out into the void.
Anyway, if you happen to be a writer and are in Rochester, feel free to join us at the library or at a coffee shop! Dates and times
Article Published in the MN Writers’ Alliance Newsletter
Posted on May 28th, 2010
As a result of linking up with the Rochester MN Writers Group earlier this month, I was asked to write an article for the Minnesota Writers’ Alliance monthly newsletter.
I talk a bit about giving yourself permission to mess things up a bit in the first draft, and that the most important piece is … well, I guess you’ll have to read the article to find out. Enjoy!
Newsletter, 10-06 (PDF version)
