It's All in the Workshop

As students shuffled into the room for my life and memoir writing class earlier this semester, I didn’t have to check my course calendar to know what the day’s schedule held. While the handful who’d taken my writing classes before held an air of confidence, the majority wore their uneasiness like an ill-fitting uniform. Heads hanging low, shoulders slumped in defeat, few made eye contact with me. It was the first workshop of the semester, and dread was a palpable presence in the room.

I secretly grinned to myself and reminded the students of the ground rules: be respectful of one another, offer honest and constructive criticism, don’t malign other’s work, no disclaimers or explanations from the writer of the piece being workshopped. It was time to begin, and I was sure my excitement exceeded my students’ fear. I knew what we were about to do would be crucial to the development of these budding writers.

Workshopping, or sharing your writing with peers for their critical review, is an invaluable tool for the writer. Why? Because, while writing is intensely personal, it is also a means of connecting with others. Workshopping gives us a public forum for sharing our words in a safe, non-threatening setting. When we workshop, we open our writing to differing viewpoints that can only strengthen us as writers and people.

I encourage you if you don’t already have one to find a community of writers you feel safe with and share your writing. Be open to receiving people’s constructive criticism, knowing that ultimately you have the freedom to choose which advice to accept and which to reject.

And don’t be afraid to establish some ground rules, just as I have done with the students in my writing classes. Remember, workshopping won’t work if you fear personal attacks when others review your writing. It also won’t work if the members of your writing group are too worried about hurting one another’s feelings to be honest. And one last thing, you must park your thin skin at the door. If you’re busy defending what you’ve written and taking offense over opinions you don’t like, workshopping is a waste of time.

So make up your mind today that you won’t be overly sensitive about your writing, and don’t be afraid to share with others. You’ll grow as a writer . . . and as a person.

--Cheryl

Recognizing Your Strengths (and Weaknesses) as a Writer

I was a typical young girl, thriving on fairy tales that took me to faraway lands and soothed my desire to be something other than what I was: the very much ordinary daughter of a middle class family living in suburbia. The most exciting thing I could possibly hope for was for my sister to hide herself in the dryer (something she did rather frequently) and make my parents call the police to file a missing person's report.

So is it any wonder that with such a fascination with this idea of fantasy that I'd decide to write my own fantasy bestseller?

Yeah, that worked out real well for me.

What I found, when I sat down with my "How to Write a Bestselling Fantasy Novel" reference manual, was that I couldn't do it. When I realized that the only name I could come up with for my make believe land was Emerica, I had to face a humbling fact.

I. Have. No. Imagination. At all. Seriously.

I still don't. No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine my way out of a paper bag. It's my shameful little secret.

Why should you care, right?

All of us are like that as writers. We have to accept that certain things are beyond the scope of our ability to do them well. I'll never have a "Harry Potter" fantasy masterpiece on the shelves. But that's okay because along the way, I learned the specific things I do well.

I put my characters in situations that mirror real life so I don't have to give myself an ulcer trying to invent fantastical plot lines that no one will believe anyway. I use humor to entertain. I focus on the nuances of the turn of a phrase.

So when I write, I play to my strengths. And I quiet the nagging unease of not being perfect.

--Mandy

I am not a writer [Cheryl]

I remember the first time I read William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech where he expressed his passion for writing stories about “the human heart in conflict with itself.” I found I had much in common with Faulkner. Like him, I was intrigued by human behavior and had an intense desire to understand what motivates us.


This obsession with the need to know why, to understand the inner workings of the heart that compel us to great sacrifice and great selfishness, first led me to a love for literature. So I spent many years enjoying other people’s writing and even pursuing degrees that would allow me professional credibility and a means of income for doing what I loved best, discussing the human condition as it is depicted in literature.

I never saw myself as a writer; it was enough for me to simply enjoy and seek insight from the words penned by others. But something has changed over the last few years. I find growing within my own heart a passion for the art of writing.


Always the teacher, I write as an avenue to share life lessons with others. Selfishly, I also write to purge, to vent feelings I can’t otherwise cope with or understand. I write for emotional healing and well being, to clarify what God is teaching me. And ultimately, I write because I believe, as pompous as it may sound, that God has given me something that He would have me share in this most challenging and rewarding of mediums.


So while I haven’t dreamed of writing from my earliest memories, or even identified myself as a writer, I suppose I am one.

My life--or lack thereof--as a writer [Mandy]

If you ask me, I usually say I’ve been writing since I could hold a crayon. If you ask my parents, they’ll say it started long before that. Apparently, even in my toddler years, I understood the value and the lure of a finely crafted story, and while I can’t remember much of my own work back then, I’ve been told that my stuffed animals lived quite the Peyton Place-esque lives.


Unfortunately, even though I had a pretty big head start on stardom and success, I’ve found that being a writer, and growing as one, is much less glamorous than I originally planned.


Shocking, isn’t it?


To date, no one has lobbed long-stemmed roses at my car as it drives by, and I’ve yet to receive even the smallest box of chocolate in the mail. In moments of frustration, I ask myself . . .


“Didn’t they read my article on teenage abstinence? How could they and not have been completely and irrevocably changed?”


“Okay, okay, but surely that piece I did on debt reduction must have ruffled some feathers. Where’s the complaint letters?”


“What about that website I . . . no? Nobody even read that?”


Being a freelance writer is a thankless (and often, poorly paying job). So why do I do it? Because I'm a glutton for punishment? Perhaps. But even beyond that, the reality is that stream of income helps finance my other, grander writing dreams. Truthfully, it’s the only reason you’ll ever catch me writing about Network Affiliate Marketing Programs or editing tutoring policies.

But, to be philosophical, it’s all part of the journey. I’ve learned that, unfortunately, I’m not always going to get paid for writing the stuff I want to. And sometimes, my work could be posted in Times Square, and still, no one would notice. That’s the business.

But sometimes, every once in a while, the passion and the payoff converge. I guess that’s why I do it. Because even when it doesn’t work, I can’t seem to find the heart (or the talent for anything else) to change careers, and when it does . . . well, I certainly couldn't imagine wanting to do anything else.

Welcome . . .

"The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first."
Blaise Pascal

Introductions are always difficult. Perhaps the hardship lies in trying to cram too much information into too little space. I'm not sure.

But since introductions, while excruciatingly painful, must be made, we'd like to say welcome. However you found yourself here, we hope you enjoy your stay. We'll even hope that you walk away from this site having connected with other writers, learned some new tricks, and shared some old ones.

So with the pleasantries out of the way, allow us a moment to introduce ourselves.

Dr. Cheryl Collier holds a B.A., a M.A., and a Ph.D in English. She is also a highly regarded professor, in which capacity she has been teaching American Literature and Writing for over 14 years.

Added to this list of accomplishments, she is a published and award winning author. Cheryl is also a member of several professional organizations: NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English); Conference on Christianity and Literature; South Carolina Writers Workshop; American Christian Writers; Association of Writers and Writing Programs

And Mandy Goff. Well. She's funny. Okay, okay. That's not quite all.

And in addition to a sparkling wit (not difficult to see who's writing this post is it?), she is a published author and also holds a B.A. in English. Mandy is a freelance writer, novelist, and the arch-nemesis of the comma splice. She has received the ETS recognition of excellence award in English, and she is also a member of several writing associations. Among them are South Carolina Writers' Workshop; American Christian Writers; and Romance Writers of America.

So, with that concluded, let us say welcome again. We're glad you're here.