Who Needs Editing?  No Really…

Speaker: Brooke Warner

Date: Friday March 12, 2010

Time: 11 AM PST | 12 PM MST | 1 PM CST | 2 PM EST

If you have any questions, please email us at info@namw.org. We’ll be sure to post an announcement and send an email when the audio recording is available to you–as a benefit of membership in NAMW–as well.

And thank you again for being a member!

Below are the details you will need to connect to the call:

Telephone Number: 218-339-4300
Conference Call Code: 886417#

This teleseminar for our NAMW members will present several issues that arise when writing a memoir. A significant issue is to understand when the book simply needs to go through more layers of the writing process, and when it needs to be edited. We will address how self-editing and micro-analyzing every sentence you write is a hindrance to completing your work, and why, after you’ve completed your manuscript, you’re not really done.
This conversation is chock-full of strategies for writers at various stages of their projects. It’s both permission-giving and a reality check. Every writer needs to learn when to ignore the voice whispering that it’s not good enough and when to be open to outside feedback.

Writing is the most subjective enterprise most of us will ever delve into, and the boundary between staying true to yourself and being open to feedback that will truly benefit your book can be a very tense place to hang out.

We will also discuss the following questions:

1. What’s the difference between developmental editing and copyediting?
2. When should I seek outside help?
3. How do I know if I’m being overedited?
4. Should every writer get editorial help?
5. How do I know when it’s good enough?

Brooke Warner is a Senior Editor at Seal Press and a writing coach and publishing consultant with ten years’ experience in book publishing. She helps writers through the completion of their book proposals and manuscripts. She offers writing coaching and professional publishing consulting to a broad range of clients who are looking to build their author platforms, better understand the complicated world of publishing, and get published. Brooke works with novelists, memoirists, screenplay writers, poets, and artists.

Read more about Brooke and Warner Coaching at www.warnercoaching.com

10 Memoir Writing Tips Included!

Join Linda Joy Myers today, Wednesday March 10, 2011, on her blog tour stop with Meryl K. Evans, hostess of the Meryl’s Notes Blog. Linda Joy has written an article on Meryl’s blog about Interweaving Dark and Light Stories that includes as list of 10 writing tips. Learn more about writing for healing inside the Power of Memoir: Writing Your Healing Story, Linda Joy’s latest book.

Leave a comment on the the Meryl’s Notes blog and share the answer to Linda’s questions for you today: How does writing help you?

Linda Joy and Meryl are both looking forward to hearing from you!

You may be wondering, what is a blog tour? A blog tour is a virtual book tour. Instead of going to your local library or bookstore to see an author speak, you go to a website before an assigned date to post questions OR after an assigned date to read an author’s interview in the comfort of your own home. You can meet Linda Joy and learn more about her without even leaving your chair!

Dates	Featured Sites
March 5	Women’s Memoirs: http://womensmemoirs.com/memoir-writing-prompts/memoir-guest-blog-and-writing-prompt-linda-joy-myers-discusses-the-power-of-memoir/
March 8	The Muffin: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/blog.html
March 9	http://writerinspired.wordpress.com
March 10	www.meryl.net/blog
March 12	http://daybydaywriter.wordpress.com
March 15	www.pickthebrain.com
March 16 & 17	www.cathychall.blogspot.com
March 19	www.jodiwebb.com
March 23	http://shaicoggins.com
March 24 & 25	http://www.100memoirs.com/

Visit Mary Jo Campbell’s Inspiring Blog!

Join Linda Joy Myers on her blog tour stop with Mary Jo Campbell, hostess of the Writer Inspired Blog as Mary interviews Linda regarding the Power of Memoir: Writing Your Healing Story. Leave a comment on the Writer Inspired blog for a chance to win a copy of the book!

Linda Joy and Mary are both looking forward to hearing from you!

Visit:  http://writerinspired.wordpress.com and post your questions and comments today or following the posting of Linda’s written interview with Mary Jo tomorrow!

You may be wondering, what is a blog tour? A blog tour is a virtual book tour. Instead of going to your local library or bookstore to see an author speak, you go to a website before an assigned date to post questions OR after an assigned date to read an author’s interview in the comfort of your own home. You can meet Linda Joy and learn more about her without even leaving your chair!

Dates	Featured Sites
March 5	Women’s Memoirs: http://womensmemoirs.com/memoir-writing-prompts/memoir-guest-blog-and-writing-prompt-linda-joy-myers-discusses-the-power-of-memoir/
March 8	The Muffin: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/blog.html
March 9	http://writerinspired.wordpress.com
March 10	www.meryl.net/blog
March 12	http://daybydaywriter.wordpress.com
March 15	www.pickthebrain.com
March 16 & 17	www.cathychall.blogspot.com
March 19	www.jodiwebb.com
March 23	http://shaicoggins.com
March 24 & 25	http://www.100memoirs.com/

A Truly Exciting Journey!

I have been enjoying the release of my new book The Power of Memoir. People were inspired to hear my agent Verna Dreisbach and my publisher Alan Rinzler talk about the progress of an idea to a finished book. Several of the students who were published in my book were able to come and share their powerful stories, which was so moving that there were some tears and quite a few intense conversations afterward. I’m pleased to discover that when people hear about the ideas and writing tips in the book, they feel supported and inspired to write their stories. In each audience, people wanted to know more about writing their truths, how to handle family secrets, and how to begin their memoir. The Power of Memoir addresses the path of writing from earliest desire to published book, and highlights the struggles that people have with truth, the inner critic, structure, and the psychology of writing a memoir. The chapter on how writing heals presents the fascinating research about writing as healing, and shows how beneficial writing brief vignettes can be. The Power of Memoir is available at all bookstores and can be ordered from Amazon.com. It’s a guide that any person who wants to write their stories can use—to create a legacy, to sort through the past, and to capture important memories, whether for the family or the larger world. We all connect with each other through our personal writing, and hold the light for others as they make their way on the path of life.

Get Professionally Published!

There are many ways to get your work into the world: being published by a large publishing house or a small press; using “self-publishing” companies to get your work into book form; or publishing yourself professionally with a guide and mentor so your work has a chance to shine and reflect your unique story.

We at NAMW are pleased and excited to be partnering with Susan Daffron of Logical Expressions, Inc. to help you get your book professionally published.  In addition to publishing her own ten books, Susan is a designer with more than 15 years of experience laying out books using industry-standard software, such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. You’ll receive a custom designed book cover and a professionally laid out interior at a special discounted rate to create a book you’ll be proud to hand out to people.

Her highly discounted fees will make it possible to take the stories in your memoir that you developed on your own or with the help of workshops and editors, and then be professionally guided through the publishing process to a finished book. While some of the so called “Self publishing companies” can be useful, many times they simply take a huge cut of your money, and offer you off the rack designs that don’t do justice to your work. Susan would work with you to create a book that reflects your unique temperament, story, and personality. I used this method to get my books into the world, though I wasn’t lucky enough to know Susan yet, and those books have had a good life having been carefully designed and published in a professional manner.

These days even the big publishing houses are paying attention to authors who had enough inspiration and determination to get their works into the world and market them. So it can be a great way to become known and birth your stories all the way into book form!

You will find out more about this great benefit in future newsletters and on the website, so stay tuned.

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.

Healing Memoir and Spiritual Autobiography with Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.

Schedule: Saturdays, 10am-1pm PDT
8 Sessions starting from Mar 27 to June 5, 2010.
Price: $380.00

As a group, we write about the important moments in our lives–childhood memories, careers, love and family, and spiritual quests. Some writers use poetry and prose to capture memories and to explore the richness of life. We write about important turning points–the lighter, humorous moments along with the dark nights of the soul. There is laughter and a few tears, and most of all the witnessing of our stories, an important part of transformational writing. People of every age learn from each other’s experiences and inspires each other to keep writing insightful and thoughtful true stories. You will learn how to choose your scenes, how to use fictional tools, and ways to keep the inner critic at bay. We write during class, and share our work in a supportive atmosphere.

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.

With Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.
Period: FRIDAYS, March 26 to June 11, 2010
Times: 8am pacific / 9am mountain / 10am central / 11am eastern

Intermediate to Advanced Workshops
If you have been writing for a while and enjoy the process of understanding yourself through memoir writing, contact Linda Joy. She will help you determine how you might fit into the level of workshop that meets that session. Various factors help to determine how you will fit into one of the ongoing workshops, and we like to help you find one that works for where you are in your writing life.

The format: write your story for that week, email it to the workshop members. Write your feedback to each participant, and email it to them. Gather on the conference call once a week to discuss the work, get feedback from Linda and others on the call, and develop new ideas for your stories. Handouts are sent by email for new writing prompts or lessons.