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Coming Saturday,
October 25th 2008
CBW sponsors
All-Day
Writers Workshop with Best-Selling Maryland Author/Entrepreneur/Teacher, Loree
Lough
Loree's "SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
ALERT!!!: Best-selling, award-winning, multi-published
author with
66 books (fiction and non for kids and adults; 1
novel optioned for a TV movie; 59 short stories, 2,500+
articles) in print. Since 1990, I've stayed busy
developing and teaching writing-related courses and
workshops for area colleges, online (including Writer's
Digest). I'm frequently invited to speak to groups and
organizations (writing, educational, and corporate) on
numerous writing-related topics (hire me, I love to
travel!), and in 1999, at the prompting of former
students, I founded The Leading Edge Writers' Studios,
dedicated to helping writers of all genres and at all
writing levels improve their craft."
http://theloughdown.blogspot.com/
OR
 Click
an Icon at left for Registration form: Mail by
September 30
|
Interview with Loree (excerpted from her website)
Q: How
did you get your start as a writer?
A: I wish
I could say I’m one of those authors who wanted to write
since infancy, but the ‘bug’ didn’t bite me until I was in
my early 30s. It all started in Richmond, Virginia…when my
local paper advertised for someone to write newsy little
tidbits about my neighborhood. The pay? Free issues of the
newspaper. Well, the editor liked my style, and began making
regular assignments. Soon, editors of other newspapers and
magazines in the area were calling, and before long, I was a
full-time freelancer (paid in spendable cash!) with more
work than I could handle. When a job transfer brought the
family back to Baltimore, I showed my ‘clip book’ to a few
editors, who made assignments, and when editors of other
newspapers and magazines saw the articles….
So many
people—readers and editors alike—commented on my ‘voice’,
and asked why I hadn’t tried my hand at fiction. So I did.
My first novel, Pocketful of Love, was the result of my new
affliction: Fiction Addiction.
Q:
Where do you get your ideas?
A: Well,
there’s this little elf, see, who lives under my porch, and
whenever I need an idea, I just poke him with a stick. Once
he finishes jumping up and down, and cursing in his teeny
tiny voice, he’s usually good for an idea or two.
Seriously, I get my ideas from living life. Everywhere I go,
anything I do, if I’m quiet and look around me, I’ll see or
hear something that’s a potential book idea. Standing in
line at the grocery store, pretending to read in a doctor’s
waiting room, dining at a favorite restaurant, visiting a
friend in the hospital…ideas are everywhere!
Q: Do
you ever pattern your characters from real people?
A: You
bet I do (but I’m not naming names)! I find I’m drawn to
people who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get
their hands dirty, who don’t whimper and whine, who aren’t
permanently sidelined by life’s assorted traumas.
Consequently, my characters tend to be capable, independent,
and strong… and determined not only to acknowledge their own
flaws, but to improve themselves as well.
Q: How
do you research love scenes?
A: Well,
there’s this little elf who lives under my porch, and…. The
truth? Everyone, writers and readers alike, have heard that
old adage “Write what you know.” Need I say more?
Q: How
do you research the ‘bad stuff’ in your books, like illness
and murder and other things that kill characters?
A:
Today’s readers are intelligent and savvy…and extremely
well-informed on innumerable topics. That means to satisfy
them, I have to get my facts straight. The best way to do
that is, talk to the experts, which is exactly what I do.
(Yep, that means I’ve visited prisons to talk to the
inmates…)
Q:
What’s your advice to unpublished authors?
A: Read,
read, read. Write, write, write. Then write some more.
(Remember the old adage “practice makes perfect”? Well, it
applies to writing, too.) Attend conferences, so you can
mingle with your peers…published and non. Sign up for
writers’ workshops and/or classes…but make sure to
thoroughly check out your instructors. (Read alerts and
warnings on this subject and numerous others on my blog
(http://www.theloughdown.blogspot.com/.)
Q:
I’ve heard that your mentoring has helped more than 500
former students get their work into print. How is this
possible?
A: When
you’ve been teaching as long as I have (15+ years), you
teach a lot of people (in college classrooms, workshops,
seminars, etc.). Part of the job, in my opinion, is to
provide what I call “manuscript guidance”. I believe in
putting a lot of time and attention into my critiques. I
never attempt to change a student’s style or voice. My goal?
Make their work salable.
So I ask
questions, make suggestions, state opinions, offer advice.
Even when they choose not to incorporate this
learned-the-hard-way stuff into their scenes, they’ve picked
up a subtle how-to lesson, despite themselves, just by
reading my scribbles. If I had a dollar for every student
who said “Before you pointed out (this or that) in my
manuscript, I just didn’t get it…and when I read what you
said, it clicked!”, well, I’d have a little over five
hundred bucks…. "
OR
Click
Icon for Reservation form: Mail by September 30
For
more, go to
http://www.loreelough.com/ . For details about the
workshop,
Click Here
$35 for
CBW members, $45 for VWC Members, $55 for all others |
