OC Schmooze: 9/29

Thanks to all that attended our first OC schmooze post summer. It was time to reconnect to our writing lives and we did! Topics covered:

*Current and past conferences: How to prepare (research, read, and put yourself out there. Be positive, and set one expectation: to walk away a better writer. If you make a connection, get a great critique, or win a contest, great. But improving your craft is a good, solid goal--one YOU can control!)

*How to Accept a Critique: Take it in and don't be defensive. Put the manuscript away for a day, week, month, and then go back. You might be surprised at how "right" your critiquer was! Take advantage of these critique opportunities at conferences if you can.

*Join a critique group, if you haven't! Contact Edith Cohn @ CritiqueConnect@yahoo.com

*Join the SCBWI/OC listserv: scroll down homepage of website to join. http://www.scbwisocal.org/index.html

*The state of industry: Still extremely tough out there. Just keep writing. It's a great time to work on your craft and write the story you truly want to write.

Assignment: We all wrote a one sentence logline for our story. It's tough, but absolutely necessary so you can pitch your story quickly and succinctly when someone asks, "So what's your story about." Rehearse your logline to avoid a rambling, incoherent 10-minute summary (that we've all experienced!)

We will be finding a new OC Schmooze location for next month.

Happy writing, and see you in October!

Lori