Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Right writing
Last Saturday I attended a workshop for writers. One of the presenters encouraged us to consider ourselves professional writers, or to at least cultivate that mindset. I was in the room with 75 other aspiring authors and I wondered how many of us would take her advice. I don’t think of myself as a professional writer. I see myself as more like a dabbler in wordsmithing. But I have been a part of creating two books, one with a co-author. I’ve had an article published in an online magazine. Writing has become a part of my day to day life in my late sixties and now in my seventies.
The conference was really interesting. The presenters were all writers and/or literary agents. Their presentations were designed to open the world of publishing, offering pointers for getting manuscripts to publishing houses. There were offerings on how to find an agent, and how having an agent clears the way to have a book considered for distribution. There are at least twenty ways to find an agent.
As the day went on I was exposed to publishing and editing jargon. Just like in nursing, this profession has its own buzzwords. I learned about dialogue tags, conjunction starts, sticky sentences, and how to measure the glue index of a piece. The amount of information was overwhelming. I tried to take good notes. I also learned about software that will analyze what I write and point out all the buzzword items in my writing.
The price of the software is reasonable, so I acquired it a couple of days ago. I opened a couple of blogs for the program to tell me how to improve the writing. Good grief. I apparently love writing sticky sentences – ones that are too long and could slow a reader down. And, (see?), I use too many conjunctive starts.
I’ll have to learn how to moderate what the software says about my stuff. Otherwise, I’ll be too leary to string words together. I need to remember that I write for the joy of it. One thing the program likes is my “style” and “engagement potential”. I felt pretty good about that. But some of the grammar suggestions took me back to middle school when we learned how to break down a sentence into verbs, adverbs, and nouns. I didn’t really get it then, and I still feel like a grammar wannabe.
I got a chance to speak to two editors and got some pearls of wisdom. One of them was about using social media, namely Instagram, as a platform to get one of the books more attention. I have no idea how to use Instagram, but I’m going to learn. My co-author, Sheila, is way braver than I am when it comes to learning new technical stuff. She’s my hero in that regard and she is willing to try new things. I realize that using Instagram is not rocket science but so far it is over my head. I am a technology troglodyte.
Part of me wishes I had not gone to the conference. That way I could blissfully enjoy my writing without worrying whether or not my sentences are akin to concrete barriers. I could not worry about how “less is more” and how I secretly believe that “more is always better”. However, I did stay for the whole conference, something I don’t usually do. I stayed because I was learning new stuff, grateful that my mind is able to open itself to new material.