Sunday, January 21, 2018

Continuing Education - Part 1

Yesterday I discussed studying topics and learning about locations relevant to your story. There are a number of research avenues available but as I stated, I prefer to learn hands on. Today I have been thinking more about improving my craft and the continued education in the realm of writing itself. Several years ago I asked the question in a couple writers groups online about books I could read to help me improve my writing.

I got a list of nearly three dozen books to read, some of them are even workbooks to allow practical analysis and learning from doing which has always been my best learning strategy. I made a list of these and a few other books I found while Googling the subject but have barely made a dent in the list at this time. I do have thirty of the books on my reading list for the year along with just over fifty leisure reading books. I seem to keep adding books to this list though. It turns out I may be a little A.D.H.D.

Just last week I went to the library to meet with a wonderful woman who was looking for information on the charity event I co-founded coming up next month. While I was waiting for her to finish what she was doing I scanned the catalog for books about writing a business plan. Creating a business plan has a dual purpose, a subject I will be writing about here in the next week or two, and I wanted to find a book or two to give some pointers. While I was searching different keywords I found a book that was perfect for my business plan purposes but also a few other books on marketing that sounded interesting.

I wasn't at the library location near my house so I requested the books be sent there so I could pick them up when I was ready. When I went to retrieve the three books waiting for me I wandered over to the marketing section. By the time I walked out of the library I had the contact information for the person who arranges book signings and author appearances for peaking engagements, my business plan book and half a dozen others on subjects covering marketing and the self-publishing industry. Now not only do I have the original eighty-four books I intended to read this year but I apparently felt the need to add an extra level of learning to my reading list as well.

As I go through the books on improving my writing I will cover the subjects I am learning about such as story structure, character development, story arcs, and genre-specific topics. I will also write about any marketing, publishing, speaking, or book show information I discover along my learning course. If there are any specific topics you would like me to look into and post more about please comment and I will make sure to find out as much information as I can for you.

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