I just went to the Redwood Writers Conference this weekend and it was so inspiring. Talking with other writers, going to workshops, and enjoying camaraderie was uplifting and my mission statement for my writing is helping readers enjoy sleuthing and solving puzzles; keep writing!
Last post cliches:
All to the Good: Largely an advantage. Dates from when good was an accounting term=profit or worth-all to good meant net profit. Late 19th Cent. meaning more general and became a cliche.
Off the Beaten Track: well-worn path; not usual route or method. Origin obvious – a much-used path would be flattened by the tramp of many feet. Used in 17th Cent. Sam Johnson spelled it out in 1751 when he wrote, “The imitator treads a beaten walk.”
Batten Down the Hatches: Get ready for trouble. Nautical term dates from early 19th Cent.; meant prepare for bad weather by fastening down the battens, strips of wood nailed to various parts of masts and spars, and fastening tarps over hatchways (doors). Used figuratively as prepare for emergencies by late 19th Century.
Full Steam or Speed Ahead: Proceed with power and be rapid. Both refer to steam engines in ships and trains. “Full Steam” = boiler that developed maximum pressure. Popular when David Glasgow Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay (Aug. 5, 1864) – “Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!” referred to nonmilitary soon after, but resurfaced literally in 1989 with Greenpeace when order o day was the same as Farragut’s and the Navy collided with the Greenpeace vessel.
Back to my wonderful all-time high experience at the conference. Redwood Writers had good workshops, but the ones I attended featured Teresa LeYung Ryan whereby she taught me my mission statement. She’s very vivacious and her website Writing CoachTeresa.com is a wonderful place to get information.
Elisa Southard seems to have a finger in every pie and showed us all how to market our ideas and books and succeed when she gave her keynote morning speech.
Sheldon Segal has the gift of gab when he gave a talk in his workshop on dialogue and in his keynote luntime speech. He writes legal thrillers and hopes you finish his book on the airplane from SF to NYC!
Terri Thayer gave a great workshop on Mystery Writing.
Patricia V. Davis taught us how to be more creative with our verbs. Use words out of context like – “Her face looked like it had been dragged across the floor.” What a visual you get from dragged in this sentence.
I’m going to try and keep up with what I learned and write here on a regular basis and promote my writing.
Until Next Time,
Julie A. Winrich
Helping readers to Enjoy Sleuthing and Solving Puzzles; Keep Writing!
There were lots of other
Julie, thank you so much for blogging about the Redwood Writers Conference and my workshop. I like your mission statement!
As you go through my workbook Build My Name, Beat the Game, you’ll see how you can turn the phrase “Just another WordPress.com weblog” (in your blog banner) into your mission statement (what WordPress calls “tagline.” You’ll find the tagline box under the “Settings” icon and then under “General”). You can change your tagline anytime you want to by going to “Settings.”
Julie, I’m cheering for you. While your novels help readers enjoy sleuthing and solving puzzles, your rewriting each draft is the labor of love of putting a ten-thousand-piece puzzle together. Aah, the craft of writing a book. Are you also a member of Sisters in Crime?
Let’s link our sites. I’ll see you on facebook too!
Best wishes from Manuscript Consultant/Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan
Thanks, and yes, I’m a member of Sister in Crime as well as Mystery Writers of America. Linking sites sounds good.
Keep Writing,
Julie