* You already have the necessary ingredients
* Assembling your story board in perfect order (fiction and nonfiction)
* Writing your story for both the sacred and secular markets
3. Beginning Blogging (Michelle Rayburn)
Everything you need to know to start your own free click-and-build blog with easy solutions for even the blogger who isn't as techno-savvy. We'll talk about hosting companies, terminology and the basics of creating pages, adding photos, and posting content. We'll mostly focus on examples from the free program Blogger, but techniques will apply to other programs as well.
Are roadblocks keeping you from moving forward on your God-ordained project? Do you know if your ideas are from God, yourself, a sincere-but-wrong-friend, or the enemy? Whatever your level of progress, this session shows you how to distinguish between these various idea sources. You can enjoy more peace and productivity when you discard the dross and keep the silver.
Like parables told by Jesus, history offers much valuable material that can be crafted into metaphorical stories that enrich, inspire and impart life. Where do you go for research and how do you know when you've got enough? How do you utilize the research of others without plagiarizing their works? Learn about the many aspects of this genre.
Some people are poets and they don't even know it! Does all poetry have to rhyme? Does it have to make sense or evoke emotion? It just has to make sense and evoke emotion from the reader! If you love poetry and want to get your poetic messages out to the world, then join Dr. Gail Hayes in this informative session. Participants will discuss:
* Different types of poetry and their impact
* How and where to market your poetry
* How and when to use poetry
* Writing for both the sacred and secular markets
Once you have a blog, it's time to take it to the next level by customizing. Learn how to make your free blog connect with a low-cost domain name to make it easy for your readers to find you. Also learn how to make your blog match your personality and your brand. Learn how to add headers, additional pages, backgrounds, and sidebar content that makes your blog stand out. We'll venture into the tech side of blogging by editing the HTML code of a page to widen columns and margins. It's easier than you'd think! We'll work with a sample blog and edit live online for a practical tutorial on editing a design.
Is the 21st century woman really that different from generations past? If so, how does that affect your writing? Can we really lose a woman reader if we don't pay attention to who she specifically is? And how do we know who she specifically is? How do we understand and write to a diverse group of women? This class will help you understand how best to reach more than half the population!
Discover how to empower, equip and encourage one another with friendly, yet constructive critiques. Learn key components of starting, leading and growing a successful critique group. This interactive workshop illustrates sure-fire critique techniques.
Applying the techniques of the previous class, we'll work on one scene, taking apart the structure to add tension. We'll also work on overall plots, brainstorming with you to make them wider and more powerful.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Writing for children can be fascinating. One must have the ability to tell a story in such a way that children will find it not only interesting and entertaining, but the writing must also contain a relevant message or life lesson. Join Dr. Gail Hayes and discuss:
* How to capture the attention of children
* How to skillfully weave life lessons into your writing
* How to speak their language
* Writing for the sacred and secular markets
If you're ready to go beyond basic blogging, there are hundreds of great tools that you can add on to your blog for free. Learn how easy it is to add on widgets and gadgets that allow you to advertise on your blog, link to other bloggers, link to sites like Amazon, and much more. You'll also learn about tracking your web statistics and managing e-mail subscriptions and RSS feeds that increase your readership. To keep it practical and hands on, we'll walk through step-by-step examples as we change content on a live blog right in class.
What are you doing to create a following? Once a luxury, now a necessity, publishers require an established platform to market your book. This session explains why a platform is necessary, how to develop (or improve) yours, and increase your chances of being published, by growing your audience.
As writers, one of the best things we can do to connect with our readers is to remember the "so what?" factor-understanding who they are, what they want, and how not to waste their time. We'll look at tips on how to give a reader great takeaway from our writing-and make sure they read all the way to the end of the piece and remember it!
Self-publishing has never been easier and more affordable than today. It is sometimes the best and often the only choice to get a book into print. Learn the pros and cons of different publishing options so you can decide what best suits your needs.
3. Finding Your Niche as a Blogger (Michelle Rayburn)
Want your blog to be more than just a personal online journal? How does a writer create content that will bring in readers and keep them coming back? If you already have a blog, or you're ready to start one, but you don't know what to say, this class is for you. You'll learn about creating interesting content and blog posts that offer something that only you can. As with writing great articles, your blog content needs a good hook, an appealing title, and content that engages the reader. We'll brainstorm and help you find your niche.
Perhaps you haven't committed to a blog yet or it's under construction. In the meantime, how can you be found online? This session identifies three sites where you can discover and connect/interact with your audience and begin building your platform without a blog or website.
We all have stories to tell. But what makes some stories publishable and others "journal-only" options? We'll look at how to best shape your personal experiences for a number of different publishing avenues and how to think "outside the box" when sharing your stories.
Can we really learn about the writing life from characters who leap from rooftops and swing from spider webs? Absolutely! From the cape-and-long-underwear set, pick up a few Bang! Pow! tips guaranteed to make you a hero at the keyboard.