Give the Gift of Writing

Do you know a teen or tween who dreams of writing a book? Or, perhaps your spouse or best friend is a budding poet. Either way, Write2Ignite has the perfect gift opportunity!

Starting in January, Brenda Covert and I will be giving writing workshops in several South Carolina Hobby Lobby stores.

The cost for each two-hour workshop is $25.00. But, if you purchase a workshop by December 31, it is only $20.00. (See payment details below.)

Cracking the Core of Fiction Writing: Character and Conflict for Teens and Tweens

Date and Time: January 11, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Location: Hobby Lobby, 1511 Woodruff Rd, Greenville, SC 29607

Supplies: Notebook and a pen. Or, use a journal from Hobby Lobby and a special set of colored pens!

Description: If you’re between the ages of 11-17 and love creating stories, then this is the workshop for you. Join North Carolina author, Carol Baldwin, for a fun and informative workshop that will help you create memorable characters with conflict—the driving force of a riveting story. Whether you’re writing fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, or a contemporary story, the principles you’ll acquire will move you forward on your writing journey.

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Date and Time: January 18, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Location: Hobby Lobby, 7816 Charlotte Hwy, Indian Land, SC 29707

Supplies: Notebook and a pen. Or, use a journal from Hobby Lobby and a special set of colored pens!

Description: If you’re between the ages of 11-17 and love creating stories, then this is the workshop for you. Join North Carolina author, Carol Baldwin, for a fun and informative workshop that will help you create memorable characters with conflict—the driving force of a riveting story. Whether you’re writing fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, or a contemporary story, the principles you’ll acquire will move you forward on your writing journey.

From the Heart: The Gift of Poetry 

Date and Time: January 25, 1:30- 3:30

Location:  Hobby Lobby, 7816 Charlotte Hwy, Indian Land, SC 29707

Supplies: Notebook and pen, laptop, tablet, or whatever you're most comfortable writing on.  Or, use a journal from Hobby Lobby and a special set of colored pens.

Description: This poetry writing workshop is for teens and adults who want to craft the perfect poem for Valentine's Day. Brenda Covert, author of a teen poetry curriculum, will help you find your poetic voice so that you have a poem suitable for framing and gift-giving. A gift from your heart is the best gift of all!

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Date and Time: February 1,  3:30-5:30

Location: Hobby Lobby, 6007 Wade Hampton Blvd, Taylors, SC 29687

Supplies: Notebook and pen, laptop, tablet, or whatever you're most comfortable writing on.  Or, use a journal from Hobby Lobby and a special set of colored pens.

Description: This poetry writing workshop is for teens and adults who want to craft the perfect poem for Valentine's Day. Brenda Covert, author of a teen poetry curriculum, will help you find your poetic voice so that you have a poem suitable for framing and gift-giving. A gift from your heart is the best gift of all!

TO PURCHASE A WORKSHOP AND REGISTER

Email Cathy Biggerstaff.  Let her know which workshop you are purchasing and who will be attending. She will then send you a PayPal invoice. DEADLINE for the discount is 12/31/19 but participants can also pay when they come. Checks should be made out to Write2Ignite. Questions? Contact me or Brenda Covert.

Coming in March: Self-Publishing with Sandra Warren and Gretchen Griffith in Hickory, NC.

Date to be announced.

Write2Ignite 2019 Wrap-Up

Congratulations to Susan Rice who won Invisible Lizard in Love and Connie Saunders who won Back Roads, Country Toads from last week's blog.

The 2019 Write2Ignite conference is now history. Here are my highlights as well as photos and quotes from my friends who were first time attendees.  

MY HIGHLIGHTS

Besides being the Write2Ignite blogmeister, I am also the teen track co-ordinator. In other words, I get to spend time talking with teens about their stories and hearing their imaginative ideas for stories. I led three sessions and the most interactive one was "Out of this World Science Fiction and Fantasy." I put up this slide and led a discussion about the physical world, it's history, and some potential characters.

I loved hearing the teens' responses which included that this was a world where anarchists had taken over and didn't allow the citizens  to know the history of their queen. 

Time travel was thrown in as well as a prince who thought the anarchists were the bad guys, but as it turned out, they were preventing the citizens from an even worse catastrophe. And by the way...the arms were escaping from the gritty ground. I loved their use of Muscle Words!

I was also inspired by Nancy Lohr's keynote on "Truth-FULL Writing." Her encouragement that if we are Christians our world view will be communicated in our writing will stick with me. 

• "Draw from your own faith well." 
• "Don't try to write like someone else." 
• "What is your readers's felt need? Write to meet that need."
• As in life, "You can't enjoy a good ending if you skip through all the hard parts."
• "Write as salt and light."

MY FRIENDS' HIGHLIGHTS

I had the privilege of critiquing Jarm Del Boccio's WIP, SOLI'S SAVING GRACE. Having received many critiques myself, I enjoyed coming alongside her and pointing out some aspects of her manuscript that were terrific and some areas that needed strengthening. Like many writers, she was too easy on her characters; I encouraged her to make her antagonist more of a bad guy which would bring more conflict into the story.

Here she is with her debut middle grade novel, The Heart Changer.

”Write2Ignite was a boost to my writing journey in many ways. The sessions were informative, and appointments enlightening and productive. What an encouragement to chat with those walking alongside me on the road to publication! Even though our journeys are unique, they lead to the same destination: a manuscript that brings glory to God.” Jarm Del Boccio 

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Several young adults who I haven't seen in a year, attended Write2Ignite for the first time.

Charissa Garcia (our NGU intern)
and
Olivia Rollins (a fantastic teen writer!)

Charissa said,  "All of the sessions were excellent, especially the key-note sessions, and I appreciated the emphasis on the fact that because we are Christians and because we are writers, therefore we are Christian writers. There isn’t something you need to add to have the magic formula in order to make your book a “Christian” book. If you have faith in Christ, that will come out in your writing." 

Olivia said,  "I loved Write2Ignite!! I learned so much in just two days. Each of the speakers was engaging and God-centered, and I loved the variety and being able to choose which one sounded the best. A few lectures in particular made me reevaluate aspects of my own writing in a way I hadn't before. Whether you're a young aspiring author, or experienced and published, the dynamic of being immersed in other writers and getting to meet them is so enriching. Overall, I think what made the longest-lasting impression on me was how encouraged I felt, to keep writing, and to glorify the Lord in my writing. And definitely to come back next year. " 😀

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Recently Karen Wallace and I have become friends bonding over shared life experiences, writing, and our commitment to the Lord. She showed me her guided journal, ABC's of What Children Need From Their Parents and asked me to help edit the introduction. Each attendee received a copy which was a great addition to our conference bags!

Karen said, "In Linda Phillips' and Daniel Blackaby's workshops, word and picture prompts were effectively used to draw out creative writing from each attendee. This got me excited for what might be be drawn out of each person who interacts with the word prompts in the ABCs journal."

I was glad that my friends, Hadassah and Kelilah Murdock, came.

Tessa Emily Hall, Kelilah Murdock, Hadassah Murdock

"Writing is not my forte. Yet as I went to the sessions and spoke with some of the accomplished authors and felt my interest being kindled; I was inspired to give higher priority to learning more about the art of writing.  After a long summer of complacency, I feel motivated to dive back into my school writing projects and sharpen my skills. I am already planning to go again next year and highly recommend this workshop to anyone who has or who needs to cultivate an interest in all things paper." Hadassah Murdock

"Here are some of the many things that I enjoyed about W2I:

• The presenters and speakers showed a genuine interest in the attendees, answering questions and taking time to talk personally about writing and story crafting with us.
• There was a broad range of speakers (authors of many genres, editors and agents) and themes.  From the nuts and bolts of word crafting to the imaginative scope of world building, there was something useful and interesting for everyone, regardless of ability or level of involvement." Kelilah Murdock 

Unable to attend this year? Mark your calendar for 2020!

Coming Up on Write 2 Ignite!

Congratulations to Deb Allmand who won the Audio book of Between the Lines on last week's blog.

I'm excited about several upcoming teaching opportunities. In September I'll be presenting three workshops at the Write2Ignite Conference. Geared towards Christian writers who want to write for the children's and young adult market, as well as to teen writers, Write2Ignite is a day and a half of learning, networking and encouragement. 

I hope these teasers will inspire you--or a writer you know--to register for the conference.

Strangers in a Strange Land

In Exodus 2:22. Moses named his son Gershom because he was a stranger in a strange land. As Christians, in some ways, we are also "strangers" in the secular publishing world. 

How do we honor Christ as writers in a largely non-Christian domain? What is our calling as Christian writers? What is our privilege?  How do we fit in--or don't fit in--to the secular publishing world? There are no easy answers. But in this interactive workshop we’ll examine ourselves, what this "strange" land is, the ways we can integrate our faith into our writing, and our presence in the secular world.

Fiction Writing (Teen Track)

I love teaching teens--they have out-of-this-world ideas for their characters and plots. True, sometimes their lack of inhibition has to be tempered by plausibility--but their enthusiasm is contagious and inspirational! 

For my part, I'll teach them to,

• Exercise their muscle words (all groans aside, this does involve actual EXERCISE!).
• How and why writers need to use mentor texts.
• How the red pencil is their best friend.
• How to jazz up their writing through "Show, Don’t Tell."
• How details make the difference when crafting genre fiction.

Writing Historical Fiction

I love historical fiction almost as much as I love teaching teens! 😁


This hands-on workshop will include: 

• R—Research. Should you read newspapers? Magazines? Books? Fiction or nonfiction? Microfilm? How do you know when your research is done? 
• E—Experts. How to find experts for your story? What do you ask? How do you use your expert's story to inform yours?
• A—Arrange. Create a system to keep track of notes, interviews, and photos. 
• D—Details and Drafts. What details do you need to create an authentic story? How do you move from rough drafts to honing on your story?

If you plan to attend this workshop, please bring your favorite historical novel. If you're working on a project, bring one or two pages of your work.

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Please share this post with a writer or teen who might be interested in attending the conference. And stay tuned. In a few weeks I'll share my other teaching opportunity coming up in October!

Write2Ignite Teens Ignite Me and Inspire a Giveaway!

It never fails. When I teach teens I feel as if I receive as much as I give. That was my experience teaching twelve teens at the recent Write2Ignite conference.

Picture courtesy Sean Earnhardt

We came together as a group of strangers- some more tentative than others- but we all had the same passion: a love for writing.




Picture courtesy Sean Earnhardt





Using activities from my book, Teaching the Story: Fiction Writing in Grades 4-8, students learned how to exercise muscle words, welcome revision, and jazz up their writing. Here is a sample of what they came up with:

The sentence, "I walked through a cemetery and heard eerie sounds."

Became, "I stalked through a graveyard and I heard bat wings flapping at the beat of my heart."

Pretty spooky, huh? I guess they had cemeteries on their brains because I said I was stuck on trying to create a simile for one of my scenes in Half-Truths. The setting is a graveyard that is being bulldozed to make room for houses. To a student they all said "eeew!"  and then proceeded to give me ideas on what they thought that toppled gravestones would look like. One student thought they might look like fallen dominoes, but nixed that idea because it wouldn't create the right mood. (right on!) Another said the graves would look like faces looking out on the cemetery. As we talked about the effort that goes into a writer finding just the right simile to convey an image, they got the point. Writing takes time, work, and revision.

Interspersed between learning how to create original characters, settings, and plots, the teens also did a variety of dramatic activites. When we discussed character they mingled like old people, kindergartners, and their parents; when we talked about settings they pretended to walk through a swamp, a busy street, and on a mountain. 

                                   They collaborated,

opined, 

Photograph courtesy Sean Earnhardt

                                                                       and wrote.

By the end of the day, we left as friends and co-writers who had a day of fun together.


Photograph courtesy Sean Earnhardt


That weekend I realized something profound. I am writing a book for teen readers but I don't have many teen followers on this blog. To rectify that situation, I am going to start giveaways that are geared directly to my intended audience. If you are between the ages of 12-16, start following my blog and send me an email at cbaldwin6@carolina.rr.com. On March 15 (the ides of March) I will pick a winner. That person will receive an autographed copy of Blue by Joyce Hostetter. 

Parents, please note that you can't enter...but your children can!

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Write 2 Ignite is Around the Corner!

 It's not too late to sign up for the Write2Ignite conference on February 18-19. Conference registration has just been extended to February 15.

I am looking forward to teaching teens the elements of writing a short story, encouraging the conference participants who seek to write quality Christian literature for children, and meeting Terri Kelly. Terri is a writer and editor of Devokids.com and we have been emailing one another for months. You can read her interview of me here.

For more information about me (that you were afraid to ask!) you can also read this interview posted on the Write2Ignite blog.

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