#WriteOnCon & Helpful Links

As many writers know, WriteOnCon started yesterday and continues through today. Holy helpfulness, it's totally awesome and totally free. Agents, editors, and published authors all sharing what they know to help the rest of us improve our writing. There is always something to learn!

No travel expenses (Yay!) and you can watch and learn at home (Yay!). Even if you're busy shuttling kids to and from summer activities (Who, me?), the information is archived and can be absorbed at a later date.

In case you haven't been over there yet, here's what you can find:

• Schedule of events and archived posts are here.
• Live chats take place here.
• Help with opening pages, queries, and critique partner match-ups take place in the forums. New topics in the forums are here.

The founders/organizers and speakers are so generous with their time. Big thanks to them!

Something else awesome in the blogosphere this week. If you don't follow Elizabeth S. Craig, I highly recommend you fix that. Stat! I subscribe to her blog via email. Each of her posts are super helpful, especially since she posts about being a hybrid writer (traditionally and self-published). Each week she compiles a Twitter roundup of the best tweets for writers, and all this information is organized in her Writer's Knowledge Base (also linked in my sidebar).

Anyway, her recent post Using Blog Posts as Resources is a huge help. There were resources packed in this post that I hadn't heard of before. Elizabeth returns to these posts again and again, and that alone made me want to read each one. Check 'em all out. They're great.

Have you been consistently writing during the summer? Have you attended any writer's conferences? Are you hanging out at WriteOnCon? What's your favorite lesson you've learned from a writer's conference? Please share!

The Generous Writing Community

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. -- Mark Twain

As many of you know, WriteOnCon, the free writing conference, took place this past week. I'm still trying to absorb the vast amount of information that was handed to us on a silver platter. My head may explode, or I might become mushy with gratitude, so keep some tissues nearby.

First of all, I'm amazed at the brilliant concept. Writers, agents, and editors spent their time sharing valuable information with kid lit writers around the globe who sat in jammies and bunny slippers, gobbling it all up.

We learned about queries, synopses, revision, marketing, online etiquette, and so much more. I've only absorbed half of the information, and will spend time in the next few days reviewing the transcripts. Which is another clever idea...keeping the information up, blog style, for all time.

For writers who don't have the cash or opportunity to attend national conferences, this is such a fun way to collect advice and inspiration. And what amazes me is that each of these industry pros donated their time and expertise. Wow.

From the moment I set off on my writing journey, I've noticed how generous people in this community are. Whether their genre is kid lit, sci fi, romance, or nonfiction, each person shares what they know and helps others.

And talk about supportive--this community is like a comforting hug when writers need it, and a crazy mosh pit of excitement when someone shares good news.

So I'll use this blog post to plant a squishy wet kiss on your cheek, send a HUGE thank you to the creators of and contributors to WriteOnCon, and a big fat drunken "I love you man" to all you writers out there.

Were you able to attend WriteOnCon? What was your biggest takeaway from it? And what's your opinion of the generous writing community? Feel free to share your love in the comments.

photo credit

The Roller Coaster Ride of Writing

I don't know about you, but the writing profession is the wildest roller coaster I've ever been on. I live near Six Flags in southern California, so I've ridden some doozies (do people still say doozies?)

Thanks to the generous founders and participants at writeoncon, we soaked up a lot of greatness this past week. The awesome information blew me away. I was up.

Once it was over, I had the strangest reaction: I got the blues. Not the "I'm so sad it's over" blues. They were the "Who am I kidding? There's so much talent out there, how can I compete?" kind of blues. I was down. (I'm already over that, btw. Of course I can compete!)

Then I learned that my article was published in Scholastic Math Magazine's September issue--page 8. I was up.

Whew! Yes, it's a wild ride, but one worth taking. If I have to, I'll even wait in the long line in order to ride in the front seat. I'm strapped in and ready to go.

How about you? How's it going on your roller coaster?

photo credit: flickr

WriteOnCon!

A free writer's conference? No way!

Yep, some amazing gals are putting together an epic writer's conference for free. Check out their blogs for fun giveaways, and visit WriteOnCon for more details.

And the pay it forward gurus are... *drumroll please*

Jamie Harrington

Lisa and Laura Roecker

Elana Johnson

Casey McCormick

Shannon Messenger

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!

(temporarily abandoning the don't use too many exclamation points rule!!!!)