Life demanded too much time. I bade my time until my children were grown and retirement from work was feasible to begin again to learn the craft of writing and submitting for publication.
I joined Romance Writers of America, American Christian Fiction Writers, Christian Writers Fellowship Intl., and Oklahoma Writers Federation Intl. I attended conferences. I learned in workshops. I registered in online courses, and with three of my friends, I began blogging on this site.
Until about two years ago, the one thing I didn't do to improve my writing career was subscribe to Writer's Digest magazine. When I did, wow, what a treasure I found in that medium. Books and courses are sold online, but if you haven't subscribed to the hard copy magazine, you're missing out.
September's issue gave me the top ten genres and the secret to their success.
A sample of invaluable information I found came from the October issue. "Your first 50 Pages" broke down "4 Goals for your Beginning" by Les Edgerton, "Second Scenes" by Nancy Kress, and "4 Ways to Bond your Reader & Characters" by James Scott Bell.
I waited to get the November magazine to tell me about "Your last 50 pages," and I highlighted everything in the article "Spin Subplots like a Master Weaver" by Elizabeth Simm."
Now, I've received my December copy and guess what? I'm reading Steven James on "6 Secrets to Creating and Sustaining Suspense" (a problem I continually work with) and I can't wait to read "Timeless Novel Advice" from Stephen King and other giants in the business.
If you haven't taken a look at the newest version of an old learning tool, search out Writer's Digest magazine. I can't tell you how often I've read and refered back to the articles that purchased as separate books or courses would cost me many times more.
