WRWA Conference In Pictures

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association's fall conference in pictures.













WRWA's Youth Member Services Coordinator, Cassie Hansen, and Board of Director (BOD), "Boone", conduct serious WRWA business.











The future of the industry.

Note to Barbara Poelle: Expect queries from these folks any day now.
















Books on tape are expensive so we had LaMoine McLaughlin read his poetry for us.

If I only understood poetry.

















Hellooooo ladies.

I wish I had names.

If names are left in the comments sections, I'll update the post.














Barbara Poelle, agent extraordinaire at the
Irene Goodman Literary Agency, spreads the gospel.

Amen, Sister Poelle!

What? A pop quiz? I'm outta here.




<---- is thinking "These Wisconsin people are so dear. I could just pack them up and take'em home with me.














Our Youth Member Services Coordinator is now running the show.






































Jean Feraca shares her wisdom and compassion.








Never point the camera at the floor while your finger is on the button.

Nice shoes.














Boyd Sutton, WRWA's secretary, is snuggled in between two lovely ladies. Mrs. King is to the right. Please provide full names and I'll update.




















James Boone? I hope I have the name right. WRWA BOD.



















Dave Rank, WRWA BOD. "You wanna take a poke at me? Go ahead, make my day."




















WRWA treasurer. Ohhhh, what a fine looking specimen he is. Looks familiar in a weird sort of way. I think I saw the guy in the mirror this morning.

Did he have more hair last week?





















Outgoing WRWA president, Robin Butler. He looks serious, but I've heard him read his material. He ain't that serious.

Thanks for your years of dedicated service. I think I speak for everyone in the organization when I say, we look forward to your guidance in the future.















All right class, face the front, hands on the table, and give us your complete attention.


It was a remarkable conference. See y'all at the spring conference.

Persistence

I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be successful at writing, accounting, farming, or any other endeavor. The urban legend that 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first year falls far short of reality. Many desire to own a business, but are ill prepared for the reality of running a business.

Of all the skills needed to start, build, and maintain a business, persistence seems to be the most important. It is so easy to quit when things become overwhelming. Challenges unimagined will arise. How you mentally handle these challenges will determine if you are successful or a statistic.

I have some experience starting businesses. You might even say a few are successful. Tax Prep & Accounting Services has been around since the mid 1980s and putting bread on the table all that time. I make a few dollars farming. Up to fifty steer grace the back yard at any one time and I turn a profit. Now I know what everyone says, you can’t make money farming. M’kay. But I do.

Now I am about to start another endeavor: writing. I have been writing since high school and love the process. About ten or fifteen years ago, Stan Schmidt, editor at Analog, liked one of my stories. He wrote a nice note on the rejection slip: “Too graphic in sex and drugs for our readers. Story is good otherwise. Good luck placing it elsewhere.” It was last time I submitted anything, until now.

You see, I sent each story out to one editor, and one editor only, and then shelved it. The truth is I didn’t think I could produce another salable story so why bother. I feel my skills have improved since and I can produce a steady stream of quality material.

Let me show you how persistence pays off in the tax office. The toughest cases are usually the inherited ones. Two clients stick out. The first came to me via a failed tax office. He owed over ten thousand and the taxing authorities were not interested in dealing straight. It took three years and tax court, but we got Revenue to accept our offer. Another client came to me from a Colorado CPA. This client owed over 1 million to Revenue and the IRS refused to resolve the issue. After four and a half years we got Revenue to declare the account uncollectible. After ten years it is out of stat and the client will owe nothing. And yes, the stat clock is running; we check every six months to make sure it is.

What would have happened if I gave up? Poor client would have been gutted is what would have happened. One thing I can guarantee you when you start a business: there will be days that test your constitution. It will happen.

And now I am submitting a short story. It will grace every editor on the planet, unless it sells first. I have a novel ready for an agent. I have article writing gigs in the pipeline from my WRWA conference contacts. Persistence, I tell you. I will never give up or quit. So my knuckles will be bloodied. Big deal. It will not be the first time.

WRWA Fall Conference, Part II

If you slept late Sunday morning, you missed the best speaker of the convention. John Lehman shared his thoughts on "10 Things I Think I Know for Sure About Writing and Getting Published." Lehman went into depth on each point. I will present the highlights here.

1. START

• S tory Ideas: Lehman feels you should have three or four ideas formulating in your mind at a time. Writing is the art of discovery and stories should lead to a greater understanding.
• T reatment: Don't limit yourself; write everything. A poem, short story, or essay, is a glimpse; the novel, a full look.
• A udience: Know who your audience is. Write what people are curious about. Spending time in a bookstore and watching people interact with the material can offer insight into what an audience wants.
• R esearch: Where will your book go in the bookstore? If it doesn't fit nicely into one section, it will not find any home there.
• T imeline: Set a schedule and stick to it. You need to write consistently and on a regular basis to build the writing muscle. When the time comes for you to produce quality material on short notice, you will have the skills to deliver and get paid for your skills.

2. Increase your circle of of identity to include editors and publishers. Lehman says we all have our circle of acquaintances and this circle must include those that can further your writing career. The right place at the right time is often knowing the right person when the time comes.

3. Journal your activities. Track your writing production and research. A good record mixed with solid goals leads to regular output.

4. Write in scenes. In every scene, each character has an objective. There is a winner and a loser.

5. Editors love metaphors. Editors want to see how characters deal with issues compared to other things.

6. Editors like titles and endings. Even though your title is unlikely to make to the final cover, a good title grabs agents and editors. Endings are the most important part of the story. If the ending is a disappointing, the story fails, and will not sell.

7. Who you know is important. Lehman enunciated he may catch flack for this point, but sticks to his guns on the statement. You need to build a circle of acquaintances in the industry. Editors buy, you need to know editors. Lots of them.

8. We are shaped by our early experiences and must move beyond these experiences. To be successful at writing, you must grow beyond your current comfort zone and learn.

9. There are stages to story development. First we absorb information, then formulate a story (a lesson learned), create the story, and finally, send it out into the world for other to see and learn (publication).

10. Writing myths and truths:

Truth:

• You are a writer.
• To give up is hard. To give up is like not breathing.

Myth:

• It is hard to succeed. In fact, it is hard to stop. You want to write, you must write. Continued effort will lead to sales. Quiting is impossible to swallow.

As you can see, Lehman provides powerful advice for all writers, published and unpublished. Never be afraid to write, send out material to editors, or get disheartened by a rejection. Your story will find a home in time.

WRWA Fall Conference, Part I

Two speakers stood out this weekend: Barbara Poelle and John Lehman. The remaining speakers were also good, but less suited to my tastes.

Greg Peck kicked off the presentations with a disheartening look at the downside of publishing. He spoke from his personal experience with a very small publisher.

Peck spoke at length about his book, “Death Beyond the Willows," and followed-up with his failed efforts to engage an agent and editing the original manuscript down to a manageable size. He admits if he edited his book down before sending to agents and editors, he may have published at a larger house. "My experience with a small publisher may be unique," Peck said. "Other small publishers could be easier to work with." When asked if he will look for another publisher to bring his book back into print, he said he had no plans at this time.

Barbara Poelle took the stage next. She spoke so fast at times, it was hard to follow. The upside: she got four hours of information out in an hour and fifteen minutes. Poelle provided information available on most agents' blogs and websites. She touched on word count, what she accepts, and mechanics. This blogger was out of breath after the presentation. Rather than laying out Poelle's entire presentation here, review the following blogs: Pub Rants, Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent, and Janet Reid, Literary Agent. These blogs will expand on her presentation. Poelle blogs here.

Cassie Hansen, a WRWA board member and Youth Member Services Coordinator, introduced three young writers from Wisconsin. She highlighted the challenges facing young writers and emphasized the opportunities available to the persistent. The differences between young male and female writers was also explored.

Many older members were glued to their seats as Jean Feraca talked memoir. Poetry was a large focus of the speech. Connections were made between memoir and the beauty of poetry.

John Lehman and Eva Apelqvist presented Sunday. Lehman had the most engaging program of all the speakers. Tomorrow I will have a long post on the "10 Things I Think I know for Sure (About Writing and Getting Published)" as offered by John Lehman. You don't want to miss it.

Update

I will provide a large post on the events at the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association conference Monday. The hours are too long for me to provide an adequate post today.

Early WRWA Conference Notes

Today was all business. This afternoon I attended the board meeting and will take the position of treasurer in addition to director. What happens in the boardroom should stay in the boardroom so I will not provide details of the meeting. The important detail I can share is that five new directors will bring new blood, energy, and expertise to the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association.

In other news: Barbara Poelle was picked up at 2:00 from the airport. All guest speakers are accounted for (always a good sign).

There were two reading groups tonight: poetry and prose. I enjoyed the prose group and shared my query. Boy, the quality of material is awesome. We have some great writers here in Wisconsin.

Tomorrow I'll provide details of the day's events.