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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Writing Life » Page 84

The Writing Life

Starting Your Own Writer’s Conference

By Dan Balowon June 9, 2015
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No, you don’t need to start your own writer’s conference, but the headline sounded attention-grabbing to me.

Every writer needs to intentionally put themselves in a position to learn and be challenged in a variety of areas. The formal environment for that is the professional writer’s conference. Click here for a list, but you need something more consistent and ongoing as well.

Not everyone lives in an area surrounded by publishing companies or a large number of writers or can attend more than one writer’s conference per year. So what I suggest is something applicable for anywhere you live.

Because authors are expected to be marketers, speakers, bloggers, social media gurus and reader customer service representatives, they should regularly get together with people who can help grow their intuition and expand their understanding in a wide variety of areas.

I am not talking about a manuscript review group or even something publishing-specific.

Once every few weeks, get together with a “challenge group”. (I just made that up so don’t look for any deep meaning in it) Again, not a manuscript review group, but a vision-building group with 3-5 people from diverse backgrounds. Think of friends who might be:

Someone who manages a website for a company

Someone who works in a retail store

Someone who is really good with Facebook

Someone who writes copy for an ad agency

Someone who works in customer service

Someone who has a great website

Someone who sells a lot of stuff on Ebay

Someone with 50,000 real Twitter followers

Someone with 50 Twitter followers

Someone who knows everything about Apple products

Someone who knows nothing about Apple products

Someone who loves eBooks

A youth leader (they love coffee)

Etc.

For years I have gotten together with the same three guys for breakfast, once a month. Each time we meet, we end up discussing something of common interest, even though we are not in the same type of work.

If you had a group that consisted of three friends other than yourself, let’s say, a youth director at a church, a web developer for a car dealer and someone involved in customer service with a company, you might end up talking about getting and keeping meaningful communication and engagement with people, from youth to adults. Each of you could point to a specific facet of the issue and learn something. You each would have a unique perspective.

The purpose of the group is to identify principles that are universal. The very best groups are when each member is open to the same kind of visionary, always- learning approach to life. One week, you might get more out of it than the web developer. Another time, the youth director learns something from the Apple geek.

This group is not about you, but about the group. The common bond being mutual education and illumination.

One time you might come away with new ideas how to interaction with people who are having problems and get an idea for your novel.

Another time you might hear about what youth are struggling with, which might inform the direction of your next book.

In the movie “The Karate Kid,” you’ll remember how a young teen wanted the sensei to teach him karate, but ended up painting the fence, sanding the floor and polishing his car. He felt like it was all a worthless waste of time until discovering that the same motions of painting, sanding and polishing replicated perfectly the various karate moves. When the real karate lessons started, the moves were second-nature.

The same principles apply for writers regularly having breakfast with a few friends.

 

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Category: Conferences, The Writing LifeTag: Challenge Group, The Writing Life, writers conferences

The Gerbil Wheel of the Writing Life

By Steve Laubeon May 11, 2015
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I saw the below video showing “wheel gymnastics” and, other than being mesmerized, I thought it an apt metaphor for the writing life. Do you agree? Read and watch and see what it evokes. A writer spends hours, months, and even years in isolation practicing their art. They go forward a few steps and back a few steps. They get turned upside down and spin often without result. While there …

Read moreThe Gerbil Wheel of the Writing Life
Category: Art, Career, The Writing LifeTag: Art, Craft, The Writing Life

Tools from the Front Lines: Quotations on Writing

By Karen Ballon April 15, 2015
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Okay, admit it, you love to read quotes about writing or writers. Especially if they’re from other writers. So do I. In fact, I keep a growing list of quotations that inspire me, or make me laugh, or make me think. And on those days when I’m struggling, or when I feel the right words are eluding me, I fix myself a cup of coffee, open up the list, and spend time just reading. So here, to get you …

Read moreTools from the Front Lines: Quotations on Writing
Category: Craft, Creativity, The Writing LifeTag: The Writing Life, Writing Quotes

It Really Is Like Riding A Bike

By Guest Bloggeron March 31, 2015
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By Michelle Van Loon Today, I’d like to introduce Michelle Van Loon as guest blogger for Holy Week. In 2016, NavPress will publish her new book focusing on the connections between Jewish traditions and our Christian faith. Michelle’s deeply-rooted faith in Christ and secular Jewish heritage are apparent in her creative, carefully-crafted storytelling. A focus on spiritual formation and education …

Read moreIt Really Is Like Riding A Bike
Category: Book Business, Career, Creativity, Get Published, Guest Post, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Memory, The Writing Life

Tools from the Front Lines of Life: Authenticity

By Karen Ballon March 25, 2015
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Some things have happened in my life in the last few months that, were I to put them in a novel, readers would say, “That’s just not believable. No way all that happens to one person!” Yeah. Wouldn’t that be nice? But here’s the thing: Hard times, good times…struggles, peace…abundance, desperate lack…sorrow, joy… It’s all gold for writers. Now, I’m not saying to go out there and experience …

Read moreTools from the Front Lines of Life: Authenticity
Category: Career, Get Published, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: authenticity, Success, Writing Life

Start the New Year Right

By Karen Ballon January 7, 2015
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I must have started this blog fifteen times. I’d write a word or a line, then delete it. All because I’m trying to think of something new and clever to say about the fact that we’re facing a new year. But you know what? There isn’t really anything new to say. Sure, publishing has changed, and will continue to change. Yes, books are being published and will continue to be published. How that …

Read moreStart the New Year Right
Category: Art, Career, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: story, The Writing Life

Joy to the (Writer’s) World!

By Karen Ballon December 17, 2014
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The Christmas season is upon us. A time of delight and good cheer. A time overflowing with laughter, when we’re restored to carefree children filled with wonder. Right? Um…not so much. In fact, a number of folks have said how frustrated they are, how they’re behind on everything, and overwhelmed with all they should be doing. After all, it’s Christmas! And if they don’t get things done, Christmas …

Read moreJoy to the (Writer’s) World!
Category: Get Published, The Writing LifeTag: Christmas, Expectations, The Writing Life

Tis the Season for Stories!

By Karen Ballon December 10, 2014
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December has to be my favorite month of the year. I love all the preparations and decorations and celebrations for the Christmas season. But two of my favorite things about the Christmas season are the books and movies we savor every year because, for those of us in the Ball household, it just isn’t Christmas without: Books The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. (“Hey! Unto you a …

Read moreTis the Season for Stories!
Category: Personal, The Writing LifeTag: Christmas, Stories

When Did You Know You Wanted to Be a Writer?

By Karen Ballon August 6, 2014
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Yesterday was my birthday. 57 years of life. It struck me yet again how quickly the days goes by. I swear it was just yesterday that I was a kid, canoeing on Diamond Lake, walking my dog to the used book store to buy my Thor comics (which I collected until my senior year in high school, and which, when I sold my collection, financed my first year of college), gathering with my pseudo-cousins after …

Read moreWhen Did You Know You Wanted to Be a Writer?
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Career, The Writing Life

The World Rages

By Dan Balowon July 29, 2014
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One hundred years ago this week, the Great War began. It was the war that was supposed to end all wars. The world decided it was about time to get all their anger out at once and then go back to living in peace.  Following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary and Serbia decided they had had enough of civility and started fighting.  A world war …

Read moreThe World Rages
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Faith, The Writing Life, Theology
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