Last minute writing chances & a look toward 2027

Hot enough for you, writers? Luckily, here are a couple of writing challenges to take your minds off the heat.

The first is one I’ve mentioned before—the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, September 11-13, in laid-back Austin, Texas. But don’t delay—entries are due August 10!

Cost: $179, which includes full ArmadilloCon membership (Friday, September 11 is set aside for the workshop). There are morning sessions on craft, with small-group critiques in the afternoon led by experienced writers/editors in your field. See the site for manuscript how-tos, and registration.

The second writing challenge is one that just came across my desk, for writers of historical fiction. The Historical Novel Society North America (HNSNA) is accepting guest blog post submissions through August 16.

Basics: blog objectives are to educate, entertain, excite and help new people find HNSNA. Articles must be between 750 and 1000 words, and not include author’s name, bio, photo or other identifying information. Free, but submission doesn’t guarantee acceptance. See the site  for details and to submit your post!

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Finally, here’s a writing conference/winter dream vacation option for the upcoming year: the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival, February 10-14, 2027, themed Uniting the World Through Stories.

I’ve resisted writing much about this event, which I’ve attended previously, but why not dream again? The list of keynote speakers starts with Amor Towles (Rules of Civility) and goes on from there. Distinguished faculty includes Adrian Chavez (How to Lie on the Internet), and again, goes on from  there. Sessions in both Spanish and English.
 

The conference is hosted in the Hotel Real de Minas in San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage city. It’s a small city and a great place to start begin an acquaintance with Mexico. I’d be happy to share some of my experiences on best ways to get there and get around. Note, if you are coming from outside the country, you will need a passport!

Early bird (August pricing) is $1,700, or choose from a variety of individual panels, workshops, agent pitches and more. See the site for details.

Six months of literary conference at our fingertips

 I’ve posted before about the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference, typically held each February in the lovely Mexican World Heritage City. I’ve attended, it’s marvelous – and now it’s virtual, and starting next month. I don’t usually devote an entire post to a literary conference before it even begins but consider this a homage not only to the San Miguel event, but to the imagination and ingenuity such events are increasingly demonstrating in the face of adversity.

 Here’s what is the most special about the SMA conference: It runs not for a weekend, not for a week but for six months! Yes, during one week, every month from October 2020 through March 2021, subscribers will be treated to a buffet of events – two keynote speakers, two purely literary events such as live poetry and storytelling, and four writing workshops (with the option of individual consultations with the instructors.

 

Joseph Boyden

October’s lineup includes keynote speakers Margaret Atwood, best known for her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Joseph Boyden, who writes about the First Nations people of Northern Ontario. Oh, and feel free to submit questions for them during the live-streamed Q&A sessions to follow.

 

Also, in October, workshops with Angie Abdou (life story), Annie Tucker (all fiction), April Eberhardt (publishing and marketing), and David Corbett (fiction). Plus, a late night of fusion poetry and a life story/fiction panel on choosing the best way to tell our stories.

 

And so on, though the following months, with the likes of presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco, the youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role; Yuri Herrera, whose novel has been described as an entrance to “the golden gate of Mexican literature” (in Spanish with English subtitles); Diana Gabaldon, known for her Outlander series of novels; and New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester. And on and on.

 

Cost of a season pass for writers, which includes all 12 keynote speakers, six in-depth workshops for writers, seven special literary events, and six late night literary events is $795 (what we might pay for a single-week – or weekend – literary conference). A season pass for readers, which includes everything except the writing workshops, is $435. And a month pass (two keynote speakers, one writing workshop, one special literary event and one late night event) is $125.

 

Tickets are also available for single events – typically $25 for keynote speakers, $15 for special literary and late-night events, and $70 for writing workshops. Please note that the writing workshops have limited seating and are likely to fill up quickly.

 

This early, several of the December events, as well as one of the keynote speakers each for January and February are still to be determined. Some of the keynote speakers and literary events beside Yuri Herrera’s will also be offered in Spanish with English subtitles. Check the site 

Margaret Atwood

for details and to register.

By the way, the times listed as "Mexican time" are for the North American Central Time Zone. Most parts of Mexico (including San Miguel de Allende) change from daylight saving time to standard time on October 25, 2020, and from standard time back to daylight saving April 4, 2021. Check the World Time Zone site for time conversions. 

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 All of this leaves me wondering – why can’t we still have events this marvelous, and relatively inexpensive, even after the current pandemic wanes? I’ve already mentioned the possibility of being able to pitch literary agents in a virtual setting. And most of us have become used to online classrooms. Why not offer even more virtual options? What other unique formats are out there, still to be exploited by our human ingenuity?

 

Having more virtual literary events – either stand-alones or as accompaniments to in-person ones – would seem to benefit everyone. How about virtual book signings? Tune in, listen to your favorite author read, take questions – your questions – in real time, and sign a personalized copy of the book you’ve just bought online?

 

When can we expect hands-on, virtual reality presentations of skill such as those presented at the North Texas Writers in the Field, cancelled, alas, this year due to the pandemic?

 

And why can’t we consider all of these as incentives to bring internet connectivity to those who most need it?  

 

I would never expect virtual events to crowd out in-person events. There’s nothing quite like the hot, breathing, electric presence of a crowd; the in-person schmoozing; or the late-night bar hopping with your favorite agent or author at a live conference. But just as we’ve learned to appreciate filmed dramas and recorded music as artistic venues without eliminating their live counterparts, there’s room for something similar with virtual events. We can all raise a glass to that future!

Planning a literary getaway -- down Mexico way!

Earlier this week, I chatted with writing friends who just returned from a jaunt to the Mexican World Heritage city of San Miguel de Allende. Gorgeous town, wonderful weather, and shopping to die for, they said. So I asked, had they ever been to the equally gorgeous, wonderful and to die for writers' convention the city hosts each February? No? Well, why not?

Usually I confine literary discussions at this site to those in Texas -- preferably the North Texas area where I live. But my friends' discussion made me long to open the door to events further afield, especially since I can speak about the San Miguel Writers Conference from experience. Actually, I did, following my own trip there in 2016.

Winter in San Miguel

The February 13-17, 2019, conference boasts world-class keynote speakers, multiple writing workshops (I was lucky enough to catch one with nonfiction author/editor Gerard Helferich) for adults and teens, panel discussions, and literary agent pitch sessions. Oh, and there's an artisans marketplace, a bookstore, excursions through the historic city, and much, much more.

This year's keynote speakers include novelist/travel writer Paul Theroux, Canadian historical author Sandra Gulland, Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza (speaking in Spanish with simultaneous English translation), New Yorker staff writer/novelist Susan Orlean and others.

The Writers Package rate for the conference is $345 (less than many comparable U.S. conferences). Other options vary in cost from the aptly-named Whole Enchilada package that includes non-writing events for $875 to the party-only package at $105. Tickets are also available individually for the keynote speaker addresses.

The easiest (and quickest) way to visit San Miguel is by air. The closest large airport is in the neighboring city of Leon, approximately an hour's flight from Dallas-area DFW International Airport. Shuttle service from Leon is easy to arrange, and can bring you to the door of your destination in San Miguel in about another hour. (Remember to tip the helpful drivers!) I've found that for significant purchases abroad, credit cards are the safest means, but for my trip I also changed about $100 into peso before leaving the U.S. -- which covered small purchases, taxis, tips, and customs fees for some items brought for a family member.

Many of San Miguel's historic and architectural treasures are within walking distance of the conference's location at Hotel Real de Minas, whose courtyard garden boasts tree-size poinsettias in full bloom in February, proof of the city's balmy winter climate, thanks to its location in subtropical central Mexico.

The city is easily explorable even with minimal guidance. When I attended in 2016, local groups conducted walking tours of the city's historic central district, including its amazing baroque-style cathedral of pastel-pink stone for a modest fee. Taxis are also plentiful -- and inexpensive.

Admittedly, the city's altitude -- it's located in a 6,000-plus foot high mountain valley -- may require some adjustment. Although I hadn't suffered any problems during my own visit, one of my friends reported some initial shortness of breath. If you suspect the altitude may be a problem, consider arriving a few days early to acclimate yourself as well as take advantage of pre-conference excursions as well as the city's many wonderful restaurants and, of course -- shopping!

One more tip about getting around in San Miguel: wear comfortable shoes. The city is quite hilly -- more especially on the outskirts than in the city center, and its cobbled streets aren't high-heel friendly.

Sounds great, you say, but does the conference have a writing contest? Glad you asked! Yes, there is a contest, whose November 1 deadline is fast approaching. Submissions can be made for poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction (in English). For the new category of "International Short Story" submissions must be written predominantly in Spanish. Entry fee is $30 ($20 for the international short story category).

Four winning writers will receive the five-day full conference package as well as housing during the conference and a pitch session with a literary agent. See the site for details.

Happy writing! And maybe I'll see you there!

The writer who makes manuscript revision heavenly

For the last several posts, I’ve blogged about the horrors of manuscript revision. Now I’m introducing a writer who actually loves revision—editor/author Gerard Helferich—who I met two years ago at the San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival in the historic town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This post is an edited version of two I wrote earlier, shortly after that experience.

The class is one Helferich began teaching at the conference and refined (and expanded) in recent years as a college course. Unlike some (probably many) writers, Helferich considers the earliest drafts of a book the hardest part of writing, editing (with the help of his basic principles) the fun part. 

Lest anyone suspect Helferich of overdosing on the balmy air of San Miguel, let me mention that after spending 25 years as an editor and publisher at such major publishing houses as Doubleday and Simon & Schuster, he turned to writing his own books, including critically-acclaimed works of nonfiction such as Humboldt’s Cosmos, High Cotton, Stone of Kings, and Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin. A long-time instructor at San Miguel, he also reaches at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York and at Milsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

His secret is to writerly happiness is six-point philosophy of conciseness, precision, structure, vividness, readability, and voice. Writers who adhere to the “pantser” school of writing will be relieved to learn that even a nonfiction writer like Helferich is OK about ditching outlines—at least until after the first draft is completed. Writing, he says, is a combination of “madness and method.” It’s only after the “madness” of writing the creative first draft that the “method”—the editing—can begin.

Winter, San Miguel style

“I find it helpful to write an outline after writing,” he says, “to see if there is a logical order. Everything you write has to have a clear beginning, middle and end.”

Starting with the biggest pieces of the story’s structure first (chapters, passages, paragraphs, sentences), lets a writer place the story in its logical order, adding or moving pieces around as necessary so there’s no time spent rewriting a portion that won't make it into the final story. The question at this stage is: does the structure of this portion reinforce the story’s meaning and help the reader follow it?

With the story in order, we can start rewriting for conciseness and precision. And immediately realize that these principles—one concerned with taking words out, the other with putting words in—can be at odds. Which to favor?

“Only you,” Helferich says, “can provide the answers, depending on your skill and your own taste. This is not a formulaic task.”

Conciseness, he notes, is not a synonym for brevity. It requires a writer to ask the question: Is this (paragraph, sentence, word) carrying its weight, so that it strengthens the overall effect and makes the story easier and more pleasant for the reader.

Precision means writing exactly what the writer means. “Every piece of writing you intend to be read is a performance. You need to have in mind the effect you have on your reader.”

And that requires being both clear and specific. “If there is any doubt about the meaning of a word, look it up,” Helferich says. He urged his audience not to rely simply on the vocabulary of our word processing systems but to use a dictionary and if necessary a thesaurus (online or not). Choose the right noun, not a vague or weak noun you hope to help along with an adjective. As a corollary, don’t use an adverb to prop up a weak verb.

Lest he sound anti-modifier, he’s not. “A well-chosen adjective can pump up your writing (but) adjectives are often most effective when they are unexpected.” He’s not against them, only against their indiscriminate use to prop up weak nouns.

Learning that Helferich’s synonym for the term “style” is “vividness,” which includes techniques such as imagery, metaphor and other figures of speech, helps explain why he thinks of this stage of writing as fun. Why write “yellow flowers” when we can write “daffodils” or “sunflowers” or, since we were in Mexico, “cactus flowers”?

Or why write that a car was “long” when we can you can write metaphorically that it was “as long as a summer’s day”? Or, given that we’re in an election year, “as long as a politician’s speech”?

Unintended repetitions, rhymes and alliterations can be ear grating. But when used intentionally by hands as writerly as Winston Churchill’s, the repetition of “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets” (reinforced by the strong parallel structure) can help win a war.

Helferich’s takeaway question about style is: should I make this (paragraph/sentence/phrase/word) more vivid using figures of speech comes with his also trademark caution against overuse, which is at odds with his next principle of editing: readability.

“What you don’t want to be is so clever that the reader forgets your story and starting thinking more about how clever you are! I don’t the reader to think about the man behind the curtain.”

Wordcraft – From San Miguel: revision after NaNoWriMo

Last Tuesday I promised to give readers the low down on submissions to cozy mystery publisher Henery Press. But after a weekend at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and a workshop with editor/author Gerard Helferich, I want instead to share his tips on manuscript editing and revision. They’re inspiring me to rev up my NaNoWriMo story and any other manuscripts I can lay hands on.

Helferich spent 25 years as an editor and publisher at such major publishing houses as Doubleday and Simon & Schuster. Then he decided to write his own nonfiction books, including critically-acclaimed Humboldt’s Cosmos, High Cotton, Stone of Kings, and Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin. He also reaches at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York and at Milsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

He has, he told a packed room at the San Miguel conference, a 6-point philosophy of writing: conciseness, precision, structure, vividness, readability, and voice. I’ll address the first three points in this post and come back to the remaining three later. And yes, eventually, Henery Press will get its due.

NaNoWriMo writers and others who adhere to the “pantser” school of writing: write what you feel and worry about how it fits later will be relieved to learn that even a nonfiction writer like Helferich is OK about ditching outlines. At least until after the first draft is completed. Writing, he says, is a combination of “madness and method.” It’s only after the “madness” of writing the creative first draft that the “method”—the editing—can begin.

“I find it helpful to write an outline after writing,” he says, “to see if there is a logical order. Everything you write has to have a clear beginning, middle and end.”

Starting with the biggest pieces of the story’s structure first (chapters, passages, paragraphs, sentences), lets a writer place the story in its logical order, adding or moving pieces around as necessary so there’s no time spent rewriting a portion that won't make it into the final story. The question at this stage is: does the structure of this portion reinforce the story’s meaning and help the reader follow it?

With the story in order, we can start rewriting for conciseness and precision. And immediately realize that these principles—one concerned with taking words out, the other with putting words in—can be at odds. Which to favor?

“Only you,” Helferich says, “can provide the answers, depending on your skill and your own taste. This is not a formulaic task.”

Conciseness, he notes, is not a synonym for brevity. It requires a writer to ask the question: Is this (paragraph, sentence, word) carrying its weight, so that it strengthens the overall effect and makes the story easier and more pleasant for the reader.

Precision means writing exactly what the writer means. “Every piece of writing you intend to be read is a performance. You need to have in mind the effect you have on your reader.”

And that requires being both clear and specific. “If there is any doubt about the meaning of a word, look it up,” Helferich says. He urged his audience not to rely simply on the vocabulary of our word processing systems but to use a dictionary and if necessary a thesaurus (online or not). Choose the right noun, not a vague or weak noun you hope to help along with an adjective. As a corollary, don’t use an adverb to prop up a weak verb.

Lest he sound anti-modifier, he’s not. “A well-chosen adjective can pump up your writing (but) adjectives are often most effective when they are unexpected.”

Structure, conciseness, precision—the beginning of a happy edit!

(Next Tuesday, Wordcraft looks at the last of Helferich’s six principles of editing.)