It's
the first Wednesday of the month, so you know what that
means ... it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group
meeting. IWSG was created by the awesome ninja captain Alex J.
Cavanaugh, and you can find out the other members of the group here.
Happy Wednesday!
On October 23, I drove up to Charlottesville, VA with my mom to give a presentation on writing horror to the Blue Ridge Writers. It was my very first time giving a workshop completely by myself. I'd been on panels before, but that's much different. I think the workshop went fairly well, although there were some problems too.
As for what I talked about, I started off mentioning fear and the unknown, transitioned to what drew me to writing horror, talked about horror subgenres and then the elements of writing horror, and lastly, I mentioned about publishing horror.
Here's what went well:
- People laughed at my jokes. Humor and horror isn't easy, but I got laughs in all the right places.
- For the most part, the audience seemed engaged in what I was saying.
- I know I inspired at least one person to try her hand at writing horror.
- I had good questions after the presentation, even though I didn't always know how to answer said questions.
- I sold five books and gave out some bookmarks afterwards.
- I was told by a writing teacher that I had excellent transitions to my speech.
- The idea of a half-day horror writing workshop where we'd work on writing horror was thrown out there, so I must've made a fairly good impression.
- Directions. Yes, I got lost. Several times. Charlottesville is a confusing city. Next time I would need to study the maps more.
- My Kindle became possessed. I wrote out my speech and put it on my Kindle. For some reason, when I would turn a page here and there, it wouldn't have the next line. I would have to skip forward 2-3 pages and then go back to find my place. This ate up time and created awkward pauses, since I hadn't had the time to be as prepared as I wanted to be. Of course, when I got home, everything was there as planned.
- A few places I noticed I was losing the audience because I guess what I was saying was a bit boring or not as exciting as other parts.
- Prepare more and try to memorize what I want to say. I would've done this, but September and the first part of October were crazy. By the time I got time to work on my workshop, I didn't have the time to memorize what I wanted to say, so I had to rely heavily on my notes. Next time, I will be better prepared.
- Cut out the boring parts. Try to make each little bit more engaging. I also need to make it even more my own voice. Since I was running out of time, some of the speech was a cut and paste from my notes.
- Create goodie bags to hand out from the start with my business card, bookmarks, and maybe some candy. After the Q and A section was over, most people left before I could hand out any of those items.
- Know where I'm going. Yes, I got lost and was late getting there, but next time I'm traveling to an unfamiliar place I'm going to leave earlier and study the maps around the area, so I am better prepared on where I'm going.
Do you like attending writer workshops/presentations? Have you ever given one?
Yolanda Renee over at Defending the Pen interviewed me on Friday about Magna's Plea, Reborn, and what I wanted to be before I became a writer. You can read the interview here.
NaNoWriMo is going well. I'm over 13,000 words in five days, and I'm enjoying writing Reforged and Reigned. If you're curious about Reigned, you can read the first chapter here. I've also finished through Chapter 9 of 38 in Reborn edits. And because I'm editing and writing a lot this month, it has to come first, so I'll be a bit slow in responding to emails and commenting on blog posts.
And today, I'm posting the fantastic cover reveal of Jay Noel's novel Dragonfly Warrior.
The Mechanica Wars: Savage Machines Are Afoot...At the age of twenty, Kanze Zenjiro's bloody footprints mark the bodies of those who stood in his way to protect the throne of Nihon. Now, the tyrannical Iberian Empire is bent on destroying his kingdom, and they send their steam-powered giants and iron spiders against him.
Zen embarks on a quest that takes him on the most dangerous journey of his life. To succeed, Zen must live up to his nickname, the Dragonfly Warrior, and kill all his enemies with only a sword and a pair of six-guns. He is called upon to somehow survive a test of faith and loyalty in a world so cruel and merciless, it borders on madness.
Dragonfly Warrior is a steampunk adventure like no other. It's a dynamic mix of Asian and European mythology, the Wild West, martial arts, traditional fantasy, and high powered steam action that will keep you turning the pages.
Dragonfly Warrior is the first book of The Mechanica Wars, and will debut on January 6, 2014.
About the Author: After doing some freelance writing and editing for more than a dozen years, Jay decided to stop procrastinating and pursue his dream of being a novelist. He's been blogging for over eight years, and even had a comedy podcast syndicated all over the internet. All of that was fun, but all the steampunk-inspired stories in his head just wouldn't leave him alone. Jay spends his days working in medical sales, but he can be found toiling over his laptop late at night when all is quiet.
He draws inspiration from all over: H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, Douglas Adams, and Isaac Asimov.
And Jay loves cookies.
Dragonfly Warrior is the first book of The Mechanica Wars, and will debut on January 6, 2014.
About the Author: After doing some freelance writing and editing for more than a dozen years, Jay decided to stop procrastinating and pursue his dream of being a novelist. He's been blogging for over eight years, and even had a comedy podcast syndicated all over the internet. All of that was fun, but all the steampunk-inspired stories in his head just wouldn't leave him alone. Jay spends his days working in medical sales, but he can be found toiling over his laptop late at night when all is quiet.
He draws inspiration from all over: H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, Douglas Adams, and Isaac Asimov.
And Jay loves cookies.
