Pre- Writers Conference Giveaway: NYRC 2013

Cross-posted to Operation Awesome:

Woot! I love it when Operation Awesome is operation: AWESOME!

It's time to spread the word about our upcoming online writers conference, and what better way than with an awesome online giveaway!

Enter using the rafflecopter form below.

New Year's Revisions Conference 2013

January 4, 5, and 6 

Totally free, totally online. 

You wrote the crap out of that book in November. Or maybe you've been working on yours even longer. The time has come... revision time. Pay the piper, meet the reaper -- all those lovely euphemisms for the real work of writing: revising. You do not have to do it alone. We have gathered a group of fabulous book lovers: the ones who write the books, the ones who represent the authors, and the ones who edit the books. They all want you to succeed in making your book as shiny as it can possibly be before you query/publish.

That's the focus of NYRC 2013.

If you love books, want to write, or have written a book, this conference will have plenty for you to love in the way of professional publishing advice, and yes, more giveaways. There will also be a critique partner matching service for those looking for a second pair of eyes for their work.

We'll be live-tweeting the events @OpAwesome6 and using the #NYRC hash tag. Hope you'll join us!

To recap:

• Professional publishing advice from our panel of experts
• Guest posts by literary agents, editors, and published authors - all with an eye toward helping you through the revision process
• Book giveaways - *happy sigh* mmm, books.
• Critique partner matching service (January 3, the day before the conference officially begins)

Giving away today via rafflecopter (giveaway runs from Dec. 21-24):
SHADOWS OF THE HIDDEN by Anne Riley (e-copy)
DEADWOOD by Kell Andrews (signed ARC)
AMAROK by Angela Townsend (e-copy)
A LITTLE BIT WICKED by Robyn DeHart  (e-copy)
GABRIEL STONE AND THE DIVINITY OF VALTA by Shannon Duffy (e-copy)
SHIMMER OF ANGELS by Lisa Basso (e-copy)

$10 amazon.com gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Chain: The Gift of Writing Advice

Source

Cole's question - Christmas is a time of gift giving. If you could gift aspiring authors with one piece of advice, what would it be?

When I was a baby writer, just starting out in this very complex industry, I was on the receiving end of a lot of very good advice. My critique group started Operation Awesome as a way to pay it forward, and we've been passing along good advice and writing insights there for the past two years. 

Coming up in January is our very first free, online writing conference, inspired by the awesome ladies of WriteOnCon and the need for a solution to the NaNoWriMo hangover. It's called:

New Year's Revisions Conference: January 4-6, 2013

NYRC is going to have a LOT of free advice for aspiring and experienced writers alike. We'll have Q&A's with literary agents and guest posts by editors, authors, and agents. There will be giveaways and critique partner matching. It's our way of using the connections and knowledge we've been blessed with as Operation Awesome and Mystery Agent administrators to help other writers sharing our journey. 

As you can see, I'm very excited about it! And I hope to see you there, blog buddies. 

But to answer Cole's question, here's the best writing advice I can think about in this moment. It isn't new, and it isn't profound. It's just the best thing I've ever remembered about being a writer. 

Writers write. 

Perseverance is the only thing all writers have in common. If you're querying, write. If you're releasing a book, write. If you're lost for ideas, write. If you're overflowing with ideas and can't focus on just one, write. The only thing you can control in this industry is you. I'm not published yet, but I will be. And while I wait for somebody else to recognize my unique brilliance, the one thing I have complete control over is how seldom or how often I do what I do. How often do you write?

I'm writing every day right now and loving it. I don't always feel like I 'have time' to write. That's why this piece of advice is the most important one to me. It reminds me that my dreams and aspirations are just puffy clouds in the sky unless I do something about them. 

WRITERS WRITE.

And when that's fulfilled, writers revise! See you in January at NYRC!

Also check out Christine Fonseca's blog for her answer. And tomorrow, Lisa Amowitz will answer this week's question.

Foray into Revision Forest

WriteOnCon did two major things for me: 

1) taught me a lot about good writing (amazing articles over there if you have some time)
2) helped me see yet more flaws in my own writing

So ever since, I've been tampering with my WIP's beginning and avoiding the revisions I know must now be done. Today I'll make the foray back into Revision Forest with my Leatherman multi-purpose pocket knife of words: aka, the writerly blogosphere. Yeah, you guys are my best tool to use in Revision Forest. I plan to use posts like Amparo's (about plotting!) and Martha's (about believable romance!) to infuse my WIP with more awesomeness than it can handle.

If you're doing revisions, join me in some revision prep by starting with Amparo's post and heading over to WriteOnCon's linky schedule for any gems you may have missed during the conference.

Warning: Foraying into this forest might make you feel a little lost, but maps are included.

Happy Monday, everybody! What are your writing plans today?
(I'm transposing my third person limited into first person.)

To all my friends at WriteOnCon...

A HUMONGOUS, MONSTROUS, EPIC THANK YOU for going above and beyond even what we've come to expect from last year's awesome debut!

I know it must have taken a lot of collaboration and hard work, and want to express how grateful I am. I'm sure I'm not alone in this...

Blog buddies can comment if you want to say thank you, too. :)

Also, my awesome blog buddies, don't forget to add me as a friend on WriteOnCon so we can see each other's forum posts/query letters, etc. and cheer each other along. WriteOnCon STARTS TOMORROW!!

And, of course, an epic THANK YOU to the industry pros who are lending their priceless experience and services to help keep this conference FREE and FABULOUS!

P.S. Don't forget to donate on the WriteOnCon website if you can afford it - help keep it free for everyone. Good luck to everyone participating in the query/pitch events and enjoy the live chats with agents and editors!

What are you doing August 16th? WRITEONCON!!

It's almost August!

Know what that means for all us writers across the blogosphere? The world's best, webbiest, and free-est writing conference is on its way!



You can register for this online amazing-ness right here at WriteOnCon.com. Registration will get you set for participating in the forums, which you will definitely want to do. Feedback from other writers, and lurking agents? Yeah, that's the place for that.

Just like last year, the conference is free (which is incredible and all kinds of happymaking). But you can and totally should donate what you can in the bottom right corner of their website.

Below you can read about last year's inaugural WriteOnCon conference from the perspective of each organizer-unit-thingy (mostly individuals, except for LiLa).

1. Author Elana Johnson of POSSESSION, about WriteOnCon
2. Creator of the famous Agent Spotlight, Casey McCormick, about WriteOnCon
3. Bookanista Shannon Messenger, also of WriteOnCon
4. Web genius and writer Jen Stayrook of WriteOnCon
5. Bookanista Jamie Harrington of the pink hair avatar, and WriteOnCon
6. Authors Lisa and Laura Roecker of THE LIAR SOCIETY, about WriteOnCon

Okay, words from Elana Johnson about this year's conference:

Trust me when I say you’re going to want to have your best behavior on, your query letter polished, and your schedule from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18 cleared.

You heard the woman!

p.s. August 1st will see a Mystery Agent contest at Operation Awesome. Standard rules apply (one-sentence pitch, completed novels only, first fifty to comment make it in). See the official August 1st post for details, but the range of genres is pretty wide and varied, so just polish that pitch and plan on entering if you're feeling ready. Can't wait to see what you've got!!