The Summer Of Love…. by Nancy Brophy

1967 was the summer of love.

But not where I lived. For me the sexual revolution was not all it was cracked up to be. In the summer of 1967 I was the only teenage girl in America not having sex. At least that’s what I believed.

Here’s the sad part, it wasn’t for lack of trying. I don’t think I need to go so far as to say that I was building a freeway ramp for easy access to my bedroom or that I had acquired a ticket machine in my front yard that dispensed sequential numbers.

Real frankly there was no need – because I had no takers.

I dated. Saturday nights did not find me at home in front of the television. I was out and about. But I rarely saw three dates with the same guy. It wasn’t that I was picky, but even back then I bored easily. I also had the ability to shuffle old dates aside when a new one came on the scene. I don’t remember exactly why I couldn’t manage serial monogamy, but it didn’t happen.

So I made changes. In the fall of 1967, my senior year in high school I dated a man who managed to hang around the entire year. I guess it goes without saying that I was a dork, but what does that say about a guy in college who dated me for at least nine months and we never got past first base. (To be perfectly honest I’m not exactly sure what getting to first base entails, but trust me our make-out sessions involved more lip-work than hand-work.)

The good news was: I learned to be a first class kisser which turned out in real life not to be the asset I’d envisioned.

The long and the short of this story is that I entered college a virgin. And to compound the problem I chose an all-female school which boasted a pioneer woman statue in the court-yard. Rumor went that if a virgin graduated, the statue would fall over. Would I be the cause of the destruction of school property?

I re-doubled my efforts. Once again fickle behavior contributed to my downfall. I dropped from three dates to two or one, discarding men like used tissues without a backward thought.

Something was wrong with me. I went back to my only long-term relationship. A man, whose father had advised him to marry before he got too much money into me. (Some of this story is exaggerated, unfortunately that part is true). We became engaged. Still nothing….

Woodstock came and went.

I dumped the fiancé who wasn’t getting the job done.

Finally I met the one – the guy who was going to solve all my problems because during our make-out sessions he understood hand-work. This was it.

Saturday was the day – the big day. Oh, yeah. I was ready.

But let me backup and remind you, this was also the sixties on other fronts than just sex. Friday night prior to the BIG DAY he and his buddies got busted for weed. The night of my liberation, he spent in jail, talking to his lawyer, I assume, because he wasn’t calling me.

As will not surprise you since I’m on my second marriage, things eventually worked out.

This is the point where Author Susan Lute reminds me that all this is well and good, but what does it have to do with writing. And this, first and foremost is a writing blog.

So, in a seventh inning stretch that would make any baseball fan proud here’s what I learned. I wrote this blog to remind myself of the desperation that all of us feel about love and sex when we are just learning the wheres, whys and hows. The hokey-pokey dance we as woman endure when we dare to put the right foot in, followed by an instant need to pull the right foot out.

That is the emotion we try to capture in our writing because I’m not the only woman for whom early sexual relationships did not go well. If you can remind the reader of the awkwardness of their past and the wrenching of their heart, you will have a reader who loves your story. And doesn’t that give us all a happy ending.

Author Platform Building, Part 2 by Cassiel Knight

Did you do something about your strengths and challenges? Did you learn any revelations you’d like to share? Maybe a strength you didn’t realize you had or a challenge the surprised you?

Before we move on to talk about applying strengths and weaknesses, I want to share with you something I got out of this book I totally forgotten I’d gotten recently – Create Your Writer Platform: The Key to Building an Audience, Selling More Books, and Finding Success as an Author by Chuck Sambuchino (ISBN#978-1-59963-575-0). I haven’t finished it yet but I figure, these things are interesting and useful enough that I’m incorporating some thoughts into these sessions. It’s tailored, in large part, to non-fiction but that’s not problematic since the general concepts on platform remain the same.

For today, I’d like to start with:

The Twelve Fundamental Principles of Platform

Chuck says that “no matter what platform options you engage, the guiding principles of effective visibility remain the same.” He says if we apply these twelve fundamentals to everything we do, the specifics of what we do won’t matter – we’ll have a good chance of building our platforms faster.

It is in the giving that we receive – about getting people to like you – to engage with you BEFORE you start asking for them to buy

• You don’t have to go it alone – work with others and share the load.
• Platform is what you are able to do, not what you are willing to do – we might be willing to do a lot but aren’t able to. Focus on what you are able to do.
• You can only learn so much about writer platform by instruction, which is why you should study what others do well and learn by example.
• You must make yourself easy to contact – this means make sure your links work for people to find you. If you are published, are you website links from your publisher page good? Make sure you can be found and links are good. If readers click on a link and it doesn’t work, most times they won’t work to find you. Don’t make it hard to find and connect with you. An author with Champagne Book Group, gave this analogy: Links are like bridges and websurfers hate to use boats.
• The goal is to work incredibly hard at first, then let your platform run on autopilot – this is hard to encapsulate but basically, you have to do a lot of work to build your platform and make it run then at some point, you’ll do less but will still get maximum visibility from your platform.
• Start small, start early – and hope for tipping points – while it is easier to start a platform WITH a book, building a platform from scratch is possible, just difficult. Get on Twitter, build a simple website, begin now. This is something I wished I’d done. Now I have to work twice as hard playing catch-up.
• Have a plan, but feel free to make tweaks.
• The world is changing, and the goal of platform is to look forward, not back – it’s less important what you did in the past then what you do NOW.
• Try your best to be open, likeable, and relatable – all the things under platform will help build your platform but Chuck says that overall, it matters who you know. He’s a strong advocate for networking. So am I. It’s opened doors for me I never would have had otherwise.
• Be part of your community and understand the needs of its members – be involved. Don’t just post about your book or links. Be actively involved with your tweeps, friends, members, etc.
• Numbers matter – so quantify your platform – this matters more so in non-fiction but it is helpful to know how effective you are in genre fiction or if you self-publish and want to break into commercial publishing.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?

Story Structure… by Nancy Brophy

Why is the inciting incident of any story the easiest to write and the hardest part to perfect? I spend a lot of time fantasizing about how a new story should begin. As the queen of 50-100 pages, I know if I want to continue the story long before the first turning point. Some characters/situations discourage me and that version is shelved. Sometimes it get woven into a later story.

I have author friends who get fan letters. I don’t, but I do get advice. Usually it involves creating a story for a minor character that I never can make happen.

Over the years I’ve compiled a list of what every story intro needs. Every story requires a good foundation. Whether you are a pantzer or a plotter, there are certain story requirements that must be introduced in the first fifty (given or take) pages.

If you think of more, let me know.

The hook – the first paragraph sets up a story question and makes the reader keep going.

Engaging characters – according to Michael Hague characters must have at least 2 of the 5 charactistics – 1) likeable, 2) good at what they do, 3) victim of undeserved misfortune, 4) funny or 5) in jeopardy.

Internal and external goals – The beginning of an external arc that carries the story and internal arc that shows the emotion. If the goal doesn’t matter neither does the story, so not meeting the goal must carry consequences.

The ticking time bomb – if it can be done in 2 months rather than today – not enough urgency and readers quit reading

Hero/heroine must have conflict between them. What is keeping them apart?  If that answer is nothing then where are you going after Chapter Two? Hero/heroine must have courage to meet the challenge and fortitude to see if through to the end.

Conflict – must be resolved by characters – not external coincidence. To sustain conflict, the author either tightens the screws or heaps on additional problems (Hear the writer’s macabre laughter in background)

Must have a call to adventure. Must have a response to the call. (90% it is a refusal)

Answer the following questions

Who – characters

What – goals

Why – motivation

Why not – conflict

Evoke emotion through details

Show – don’t tell

Visceral reactions

5 senses

No talking heads

Setting –

I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. All I wanted to do when I started was write a good story. So the old quote is true. Writing is easy all you have to do is sit down at a desk and open a vein.

I’m sure that many of you will have other things to add to this list. Please makes comments so I can edit.

Everyday Words…. By Nancy Brophy

English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

I see this a lot on Facebook, maybe because most of my friends are writers, but each time I laugh. Obviously, they do, too.

English is tough. One word can have multiple pronunciations and entirely different meanings. Did I tear the book only to have a tear run down my cheek? Yes, I know this is a lousy sentence, but the point is good.

Lots of words I grew up mispronouncing. Harass is such a word. Until recently I pronounced it with the accent on the last syllable. Ha RASS. It seems I am wrong. The word is HAR ass. Pecan is another one. Pecan is not a Pee Can – that is something you keep under the bed.  Yet, Rachel Ray mispronounced it on her show last week.

Martha Stewart, on the other hand, makes me crazy when she talks about herbs (using the pronunciation with the H).

There are some who question if English is my first language. Believe me, I have no other options. And I lack the ear to learn Spanish, French or Swahili. Languages with different alphabets like Greek leave me completely baffled unless the letters are on the front of a sorority house.

Then there are words that are simply wrong. Say this sentence out loud. “I parked across the street.” Here’s how it sounds when I say it. “I parked acrosst the street.” When did across get a T? The phrase ‘for all intents and purposes’ turns out not to be ‘intensive purposes’. Who knew?

Every year new words are added to the dictionary – like sexting, aha moment and – everyone’s favorite – f bomb.

There are redneck words like initiate.  “My wife ate two hot dogs and initi ate a pound of fries.” And southern words (which are a subset of the redneck category). impa tickler “Whatcha doin tonite?” “Nuttin impa tickler.”

I doubt we’ll be seeing those words in Webster any time soon, but you never know.

If you are a reader, your vocabulary is large, but some words still surprise you when spoken. Quinoa is pronounced “keen wa”. Some words I love saying because of the way they roll off the tongue like “Quixotic”.

If you are author you are both blessed and cursed by auto-correct. Those of us who can’t spell frequently choose one word when we mean another or autocorrect chooses for us – frequently to our horror.

How do you say the word – wash? Or creek? Do you drink pop or soda? The part of the country where you were raised influences your language. Do you say – you guys, or you all or y’all?

My parents would have had a fit if I said, “me and Johnny”. Yet recently I’ve come to hear that usage a lot.

Since I started with a language joke, I’ll end with one. “Let’s eat gramma. Let’s eat, gramma.” Punctuation can save lives.

As writers, words are our life and it’s imperative we set the bar high. Jokes on Facebook are as good a way to do it as I know.

Publishing – Still A New Frontier… by Nancy Brophy

As we frequently say in this blog – self-publishing isn’t for everybody.  I read an interesting article in the book section of the Huffington Post, called Unpublished? You Don’t Actually Suck.

The gist of the article was that despite more options, it is still difficult to get published. Not because you haven’t written a publishable book, but because the opportunity is so tiny. She quotes some interesting statistics.

Each year, a publishing house can expect to receive about 10,000 unsolicited manuscripts. Out of every 10,000 manuscripts submitted, about 3 are published.

My husband has always maintained it is just as easy to win the lottery if you don’t play. That’s what these figures tell us.

She justifies publishing houses decisions with: Publishing houses can’t take a risk on everyone. They can only print the people who come with an advantage, the ones who have a guarantee to sell. That means taking on books by pets and memoirs by reality stars and sex scandal anecdotes by famous athletes. Quality isn’t always compromised but there’s no shortage of compromising decisions. It’s the catch-22 of a brand that has two conflicting goals: reputation and profit.

I don’t know that her statistics on self-publishing are right, but she claims: Unfortunately, on average, a self-published book sells about 10 copies in its lifetime.

These figures may reflect the numbers of more mainstream books, but I do agree with her evaluation of why self-publishing is difficult.

Many writers simply shy away from self-publication because it seems too cold, too distant. There’s no one to edit the text and shape the writing and assure you it’s finally ready for the world to judge. There’s no guaranteed reader. There’s no one to spread the word. There’s no one at all.

In the end she suggests a solution may be Writer’s Blog, which she urges writers who wish to have a public forum join. I love this idea.

RWA (Romance Writers of America) has been tremendously successful in promoting romance, connecting writers with editors and agents and providing craft courses. Many things have been said and written about how the genre has changed and why we are no longer bodice rippers. RWA has had a big hand in changing the industry for both the writer and the reader. It is why the romance genre makes more money than baseball and is the most successful of all the genre categories. The money from our genre allows other genres to continue.

As my friends know I have decided not to continue my membership in RWA (Romance Writers of America) this year. I feel they are moving in a different direction than I am. As a result I have become disenfranchised. This is not a terrible thing nor am I sad to part ways. It is what it is in 2012.

Romance writers are unique and need a blog like the Writer’s Blog, but solely for romance. If anyone would like to take on this project I would love to help. And I know lots of other writers who would also. Think about it. Investigate. Make it work.

Writing As A Career…. by Nancy Brophy

This week I met with my writing friends. There is a small group of us whose numbers expand and contract with the seasons. We call ourselves The Hooligans. The great thing about these meetings that is every woman brings something different to the party. On Thursday the group was small, but the one thing we’ve learned – it is not the number of people, but the impact.

Put another way, it is not the size of the wand but the magic in it. Oh, wait. That’s on something else.

Questions that cause the general public to snicker or at least scratch their heads are seriously debated by your writing friends.

Which is darker – indigo or navy?

Would a man on life support be located in the same hospital ward as mobile functioning patients?

Would a woman whose child was rushed to the hospital abandon her cell phone?

If you are stuck in a story, plotting help is available. Need a quick read? You’ve got it. These are good friends who give you what you need not what you want. You’re having a pity party? One or more will take the time out of her busy schedule to slap you around. “Act like a man!” (Godfather reference). And they know you would do the same for them.

Linda Mercury (see Tuesday’s guest post) made an interesting observation. Everybody truly believes they harbor a novel inside themselves. She paraphrased Robert McGee’s book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting, when she stated, “Just because you listen to music doesn’t mean you can write an opera, so why do people think because they read, you can write a novel without going nuts?”

But words are different than music, aren’t they? Words are our life force. Everyday we express our thoughts, run businesses, campaign for office and convey emotions – all with words. Showing, not telling, because this is our real lives. The most common misconception I’ve heard is this: “If I can get the words on paper, someone else will edit them.”

No, they won’t.

Editors and agents don’t have time. The competition has studied craft and polished their manuscripts. If it is a choice between yours, which needs work and one than doesn’t. You will lose.

Learning to write a business letter or a newspaper article is not the same thing as structuring and completing a novel. Genre writing is unique in and of itself. Men, such as Larry Brooks and Michael Hague, who teach story structure find the rules of romance writing baffling.

There are those who believe good writing involves plotting and those who believe plotting ruins the story for the author. If she already knows what is going to happen, the excitement of writing is diminished. Instead of writing that story they will search for another idea.

Personally, I start with an inciting incident (sometimes known as a cute meet). If the characters interest me (and this is a big IF) I can continue to write by plotting from turning point to turning point. For every author, the path is different.

If you’ve got a story struggling to get out, I hope you find the way to get it on paper and I hope you find the time to study craft. But remember this, who would know the name of Mozart if he had only written Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major?

One story does not a career make. But it is the best way to start.

Hunky Heroes …. by Nancy Brophy

Hunky men. We all love them. At dinner at a few nights ago I confessed I was not a big fan of The Notebook. My friend, Stephanie was appalled. Nathaniel wisely moved his chair further away from the table to protect himself if anything was going to be thrown.

Ryan Gosling

“What about Ryan Gosling?”

Which made me ask? Are we attracted to men for the roles they’ve played or their physical appearance? To me, Ryan Gosling looks young and he plays men who lack words. As a writer this worries me more than I can say. In Drive, he played a man who had maybe five-to ten lines of staccato dialogue. I understand the silent, brooding alpha hero. Ryan Gosling isn’t it. Sorry, dude.

Ryan Reynolds - Bradley Cooper

What does your hero look like?

Since I write for women, I balance a thin line when my hero takes center stage of describing a man who steps up to the place as hero material. We all have a certain look we prefer. Everybody has a type.

I like the superhero movies that are out now. But Green Lantern was my least favorite because Ryan Reynolds was miscast.

To me, Justin Beiber is just a kid. Thousands of women would tell me I’m wrong.

People magazine posted the sexiest man of the year, Bradley Cooper and there was an outcry that it wasn’t Ryan Gosling. Interesting….

Which is why I think the headless torso is such a big hit as a cover.  Now comes the real test. Do you write a different hero than you read? I know we use movie stars as physical types, but I find it poor writing when an author describes her hero in terms of a movie star. The heroine gulped. The man standing before her looked just like (Oh, let’s go for it) … Ryan Gosling.

I prefer an earthier type – Sean Bean or Clive Owen. But I once heard Rodrigo Santoro described as the sexiest man alive. Could be….

Rodrigo Santoro

Sean Bean

Then there is the romance hero. Who played the best Mr. Darcy?

Who best said the lines, “You have bewitched me body and soul…”

I guess it all gets down to who would you want to say the words to you.

Sabotaging My Career… by Nancy Brophy

Someone ought to do a reality show called 1000 Ways to Defeat Yourself. We all do it. And we all have our special little twist on how we take aim and fire at our own feet. You may think that I see myself as a sage, able to dispense advice freely because my life is so perfect. However, I didn’t write this for you, in truth I wrote it for me to remind myself to stay on the path and not wander into the woods.

1) Finish the manuscript. A story is easy to start. I am the self-appointed queen of 70-100 pages. I have the concept of a cute meet down. But a story is more than a cute meet and these characters are going to become my best friends. I have to like them. I have to be able to root for them even as I’m throwing them under the bus.

2) Edit. I am so excited when a story comes together and I can finally write the words ‘the end’.  If I’ve already won the gold, why am I re-running the race? The phrase ‘good writing is in the rewriting’ came about because editing is as difficult as writing the original draft. Cut, rewrite, reshape. Get feedback. Cut, rewrite, reshape.

3) Volunteer time. The writing community is fun. My friends are other writers.  People talk about their books, their successes and failures. It’s easy to rub shoulders with famous and almost famous people. I’m able to live vicariously through others. Plus everyone is so grateful that I’m doing the things they want to do, but don’t have the time – because they are doing productive things – they are writing.

4) Write. Write. Write – Write the blog. Write the website. Write on the Facebook wall. Tweet. I can spend hours writing everything but the manuscript.

5) Never take a risk. My favorite quote from 2011 was from best-selling author, Wendy Warren, who said. “I’m standing on the edge of the cliff waiting for someone to build a bridge and refusing to acknowledge that I can fly.” It is easier to wait for the bridge. It is safer to wait than to leap off the edge.

6) Never consider alternatives. E-pubbed? Self-pubbed? A different genre? A different length?

7) Never let others see your work until it is perfect because they might make a comment that re-enforces old insecurities and my secret belief that every story I written could have been better told by an illiterate five-year-old.

8) Stop doing those things I need to do, such as writing, sending work out, entering contests, going to conferences, interacting with other writers, learning and relearning craft.

9) Refuse to pay someone to do what I can’t or won’t – copyediting, covers, formatting.

Refuse to take action – if my book isn’t selling, maybe it’s the title or cover or marketing needs help.

Refuse to face my fears. The voice in your head that says I’m not good enough, wins. What was I thinking of even trying?

10) Dream instead of working. I once read writers are liars. They make they stories up and manipulate the events to have the outcome they desire. Some of us believe we can do that with our own lives.

I am guilty of every of these. Not all at the same time. I like to trade off.

Each book I write is a challenge. This year I’ve set my goals and while this post might have been better served in early January, I find I need it more in March when my wanderings take me into the woods.

To my writing friends, I hope your writing is going well and you are on your chosen path.

Time, Money, The Godfather, and Sex…. by Nancy Brophy

The majority of decisions I make each day are based upon one question. What am I saving? Time or money? I always choose time. My personality operates best at full-tilt. The more things I schedule each day, the more I accomplish. Or so the theory goes.

This is a leap year. I have been given an entire extra day to accomplish all those things that I need to get done. For people like me who value time as a commodity this is a miracle. Yet every leap year, I find myself treating the 29th of February like another day. If you ask me what I did, I would have to admit I worked like it was Wednesday.

But this year is the 40th anniversary of the movie The Godfather. On Leap Day it was shown on AMC where they add interesting little tidbits about the movie and the making of it. During one of the commercial breaks, out of curiosity I Googled ‘most popular movies of all times’ and got a bunch of lists from people who have more time on their hands than I do. The majority of the different sites had the movie listed in the top ten movies of all time.

Why do we watch The Godfather? It isn’t to learn better ways to cut off a horse’s head or eliminate our enemies, anymore than watching Gone With The Wind is to get tips about the Civil War. We watch because of the strong inner connection between the characters. This year I watched from the perspective of a writer.

When Michael leaned over his father’s hospital bed and murmured, “I’m with you now,” and a single tear rolled down Vito Corleone’s face, I said to my husband. “This is the moment of no-return.”

Had the heroine in one of my stories shared her insight with the hero, he would have thought how fascinated he was by her every thought. In real life, my husband said, “I’m going to bed.”

And people wonder how the romance genre got to be a billion dollar a year industry.

The Godfather is a man’s movie. Only Vito Corleone’s wife fit the role of the perfect woman. She remained loyal to the end and never violated the sacred rule of “don’t ask about the business.”  The rest of the women did not fare as well. This is a story about power and none of the women have it. They are lied to and manipulated then the men are annoyed when their marriage isn’t going the way they expected.

Movies give us roles to help us define who we want to be. During the AMC tidbits a couple of the men talked about how much they identified with Michael and wanted to be him. I didn’t realize until that moment that I had written the perfect interchange in Hell On The Heart.

The gate finally moved, cranking open far enough to admit the vehicle. Cezi snarled and bared her teeth as the car rolled by three men lounging against a decorative fence. None looked even slightly disturbed by her annoyance.

“Do you know them?” John asked.

“Of course, I know them. This isn’t a Godfather movie. We haven’t gone to the mattresses and brought in a bunch of unknown faces to guard the homestead.” Her tone was harsh as her feelings bubbled to the surface.

“But if it were the movie, which character would you be?” He teased her to change the mood. “The feisty sister?”

“Give me a break.” She grinned for the first time in hours. Those deep dimples changed the shape of her face. She tossed her head with a flourish. “I’d be the slutty bridesmaid.”

Briefly John pictured himself as Sonny Corleone banging her against the door. Yeah, it’d be a fantasy he’d be willing to play out.

As you can see, everyone got to play the part of their choosing. It was a good Leap Day after all.

A Rant: Craft is Not Just for New Writers by Cassiel Knight

I want to state one thing up front. I have absolutely nothing against self-publishing and while my rant is based on what I hear self-published authors say, I’ve also heard this from traditionally published authors. However, right now, the source of the rant comes from self-published, and you’ll see what I mean below.

Okay.

On one of the many loops I follow, I heard a recurring comment from members of RWA chapters throughout the country. I have to admit, when I first read the comment, my jaw dropped.

What I read, and others chimed in and agreed they heard, is that self-published authors are leaving local chapters because:

“they don’t need to learn craft anymore.”

Yes, that’s right. You heard me. There’s apparently this movement out there that is supposed to support the idea that because someone chooses to self-publish, it automatically means that the author’s writing is perfect. That they can’t learn anything else about craft.

Sorry folks, they are dead wrong.

I talked to a publisher about this and her jaw dropped too.  And you can go to any number of higly respected blogs like Dear Author.com and a common note in the comments is readers fear self-published books because of the poor writing.

That’s the reality, dear readers.  Choosing to self-publish or being a published author doesn’t mean you don’t need to continue to learn craft. In fact, for self-published authors, I think it means you need to work that much harder at times because you’ve chosen to go at it alone. You don’t have the luxury of an agent or editor back-up. It’s you.

You think I’m wrong? Well, here are some quotes from those you might believe:

• Gina Ardito wrote a great blog post on this subject. She says: “A truly successful author seeks the new, the different, and dares to step to the edge of the precipice every single time. (S)he is always learning, always growing.” http://ginaardito.blogspot.com/2011/06/mid-week-rude-awakening-growth-is.html
• Marie Andreas: “But for any author to say, “I know all there is to know about writing”- FOR any reason is insane!…We have to keep learning. This is true in darn near all fields, but especially a world like publishing. I would be horrified if the book I wrote five years ago is no different than one I just finished. As authors we have to keep pushing the envelope, learning new skills, trying new approaches – EVEN if we don’t stick with them. Try them, keep what works, then move on.” http://www.castlesandguns.com/2011/04/never-stop-learning.html
• RITA Award winning author, Sophia Nash (http://www.sophianash.com): “I think writers grow and change, even if it is just in miniscule amounts, with each book they write. It’s only natural since the writing process is a learning experience. It’s what I like the most about the creative process. I’ll never get bored writing because I’ll never stop learning new things about the craft.”
• Bob Mayer, Who Dares Wins Publishing (http://www.boymayer.org) – Always learn to become a better writer. 
• James Scott Bell, bestselling suspense author and former fiction columnist for Writers Digest, says: “…never think that business knowledge and marketing can cover a multitude of writing sins. One still has to be able to consistently deliver the goods, and that means learning the craft by writing, revising, studying, getting feedback, and more writing.”
• Robin Perini (http://www.robinperini.com) of Discovering Story Magic fame says: “I think that the most important piece of advice that I can give is to NEVER STOP LEARNING, and to BE OPEN TO GROWING and CHANGING.”
• New York Bestselling Author Susan Mallery says: “Never Stop Learning.” She recommends that you master as much craft as you can so you don’t disappoint your readers. Figure out what you’re good at and what you’re bad at. Focus on your strengths and shore up your weaknesses. If you bring your passion and enthusiasm to a project, it will show up on the page. http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/5-great-bits-of-wisdom-from-a-new-york-times-besteller/
• Dean Wesley Smith – A self-published success story most who self-published know very well has this to say: “Learning and continuing to learn is critical. This business keeps changing and the only way to stay abreast of the changes is to go out and keep learning and talk with other writers and find advice that makes sense to you and your way. Go to workshops, conferences, conventions and anything else you can find to get bits of learning. Read everything you can find about the business. My goal on this is learn one thing new every week at least. I’ve been doing that since my early days and it has worked for me, and kept me focused on learning. Find what works for you…Keep learning. Keep practicing your art.”http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=1311

So, the point of this rant is, next time you don’t think you have anything to learn from craft workshops, think again.

I suspect you do.

BTW – isn’t that little girl up there absolutely adorable?