Event Recap
Anyone who has ever sat in front of a keyboard to share the story in their head knows that writing is hard. But there are some amazing prolific authors who are able to write tremendous amounts and ORWA was lucky enough to have four of them share their secrets for our December workshop.
Eve Langlais, Mandy Rosko, Carey Decevito, and Lucy Farago’s panel on how to increase your word count and get your books out faster was full of great suggestions. Between them, these authors have more than 300 books published in the last five years.
Their main piece of advice was to find a writing strategy that works for you. Carey has learned to write whenever the opportunity presents itself. Eve sits down in the morning and keeps going until she’s hit her word count for the day. Mandy uses writing sprints and motivational apps to make sure she hits her daily word count. Lucy writes daily and creates detailed outlines so that she never has to waste time wondering what happens next. Each of them is different but there’s one element in common, making a commitment to actually writing instead of dreaming about the stories they want to tell or getting sucked into social media or research rabbit holes.
When they get stuck, they all have different ways of coping. Lucy likes to bake or physically write out the problem with the manuscript. Mandy plays video games or watches YouTube videos, or she will jot notes and outlines on the back of flyers if she’s away from home. Eve takes time to relax and let her mind unwind, or she brainstorms with other writers. Carey takes a break or shifts location to see what shakes loose inside her mind.
These four talented women had plenty of great advice and as they talked, the energy in the room rose. When the workshop was over, people were excited and sharing their favourite tips and all of us were eager to get to our computers or notebooks and put the suggestions to the test.
Next month, ORWA is hosting a free workshop with tables where you can brainstorm your WIP, practice your pitching, get a 1 page critique, or learn about the tools for independent publishing. WIP into Shape is a great opportunity to see how a writing group can help to make your writing dreams come true.
About the authors
Carey Decevito is the author of 10 books since 2013, including The Broken Men Chronicles, The Nightshade Series, and The Essence Extracted Trilogy. Carey writes contemporary romantic suspense and paranormal romance and is published by Emberlust Press.
Lucy Farago is our ORWA president and resident troublemaker. She’s released 6 romantic suspense novels with Kensington Publishing since 2015, including the Women of Vegas Series and the Search and Recover series.
Eve Langlais is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She’s published over 160 novels, spanning romance genres from paranormal to sci-fi to contemporary suspense. She’s a hybrid author, with her traditionally published titles released by St. Martin’s Press. She also somehow finds time to organize Ottawa’s annual Romancing the Capital event.
Mandy Rosko is A USA Today bestselling author with 275 books between her own name and her pseudonym. She indie publishes her own paranormal and contemporary romance, and is published traditionally under her pseudonym with Siren-Bookstrand, Inc.
Moderated by Jennifer Carole Lewis, author of the 4-book Lalassu paranormal romance series.
Event details
Sunday December 2, 2018 (2:30 to 4:30pm)
Location: Nepean Centrepointe Library: 101 Centrepointe Dr, Ottawa, ON K2G 5K7 (Room 1B)
Free for members | $20 for guests (to help pay for the venue rental)
Reserve your spot on our Eventbrite page or by emailing [email protected]
You can also join our Facebook Event Page to get Facebook reminders.
In consideration for those who have allergies and asthma, please refrain from wearing scented products at our workshops and meetings.