October Letter From the Editor

Ah, October! Officially fall. Changing fall leaves, wood smoke pouring out of chimneys, crisp air, ghouls, ghosts, witches, and other creepy critters.

I'm delighted to announce that we have a new columnist, Jennifer Herbranson Lovett, who will be posting marketing tips. In addition, we have a new Sweet Success Coordinator! If you'd like to share your own Sweet Successes, such as book releases, placement in a publication, landing an agent, a book signing, or related news, email Kathie Scrimgeour at ppwsweetsuccess@gmail.com. You can find this information at the end of other Sweet Success posts, as well. Kathie will post occasional calls for Sweet Success news, but you don't have to wait for these calls to send your information in.

Welcome to Writing From the Peak, Jennifer and Kathie!

Don't forget our bonus Write Brain tomorrow night, online only. Information can be found on the Events tab, above. We've still got our usual Write Brain, third Tuesday of the month, next Tuesday, October 15, but it's at a different location than usual. Be sure to join Mario Acevedo an Jeanne Stein at the Business of Arts Center in Manitou Springs! Details can be found on the Events tab.

Pikes Peak Writers has some exciting stuff going on next month for NaNo. More information will be given out on that topic at the bonus Write Brain tomorrow. We'd love to see you at both Write Brains, both of which are free!

Speaking of free, have you taken advantage of our free Write Brain recordings? We record them each month and make them available online for those who wish to view them again or who might have missed them when they originally occurred. Thank you to our partners in this, Delve Writing!

Finally, The Zebulon writing contest is ongoing, and conference will soon open for registration. Stay tuned for more information about each here on Writing From the Peak.

~Shannon Lawrence
Managing Editor, Writing From the Peak
PPW Non-Conference Events Director

How I Delved Into Online Teaching

By Becky Clark

I was flattered to be asked to teach my time management class ‘The Faster I Go, The Behinder I Get" for the very techie, very cool Delve Writing. They just launched a month or so ago, but they’ve already given their members a couple dozen educational classes and interviews, many of which are FREE for anyone to view.

Delve Writing is an online community to support writers throughout their journey. They have different levels of access, starting at just $10/month. I don’t have any stake in this business, but I can absolutely vouch for the integrity, diligence and enthusiasm of the people who run it, all of whom I count as friends.

But enough about them. Let’s talk about me.

Despite the fact I blog, have websites and publish books electronically, I’m kind of a Luddite. Techie stuff tends to intimidate me. So when Aaron Brown and Chris Mandeville asked me to teach this class, I was, how you say, bumfuzzled. Seriously? Teach an online class? Make a podcast? Um, no.

I’m so glad they wore me down!

It was a terrific experience. Aaron held my hand, walking me through the technology, telling me which button to push — many, many times. (Apparently I’m not so good at the “remembering.”) But he was kind and gentle, always going off-mic to laugh at me.

We had a training session. And then another. And then one more, at my nervous request. Sure, stand me up in front of 400 people, no problem. But make me sit still in front of my computer for an hour? Ay caramba.

At any rate, the big day finally came and I got ready. I banished my husband from the house, I remembered to turn off the ringer on the phone, I shut down my ice maker, and I put on Real Clothes. Well, mostly. Because of the format, I was able to go with Chris’ recommended clothing mullet — business upstairs and party in the basement.

I set up shop at my dining room table in the most ridiculous set-up EVER… 

You’ll see my Purple Professional Podcast footstool holding my computer which had to be about halfway closed so the camera hit me at, ahem, a flattering angle and didn’t broadcast my wine glasses and deviled egg tray in the hutch behind me… two fat Harry Potter books… holding my notes cleverly printed on the top of the page so I didn’t have to look so far down while on camera (even though I did. A lot.)… scattered bunches of print-outs for various contingencies. And my iced tea (swear!) on my orange Splat Stan coaster.

Pay no attention to that girl behind the curtain because this is how it looks for broadcast…

  

This is just very, very slick technology. Because I needed a couple of slides for the presentation, Aaron plopped them into an easy format to click through, which he did at the appropriate time. My job was to sit still up in my little box in the corner while talking. Throughout the class, the attendees interacted via the chat box you see there. But they didn’t have to. They could sit quietly sipping wine at their computer at home. They could cook dinner while watching/listening. They could comfort a screaming baby. And their clothing mullet could be party in the basement AND upstairs.

You can see in the screen shot that Aaron kindly included the various links to All Things Becky in the chat box, but more importantly, he kept tabs on the chat for me. Not only would it have been impossible to read the scroll while I was presenting, my computer was far enough away (flattering angle, remember?) that I couldn’t possibly read it, even though he showed me how to increase the text size on my screen. I think I had it set at 525 point. During the class the attendees were able to ask their questions and share their ideas, which Aaron passed along to me verbally.

Everything about it was awesome.

If you’re a writer — especially if you’re in an area where it’s difficult to find a good writing community, or that you can’t get to easily — I wholeheartedly recommend what Delve has to offer.

If you’re a speaker, I highly recommend offering your expertise to them. Not only will you gain experience speaking in a new medium, you’ll increase your reach and sell some books.

And if you want to sample the technology — for FREE — and/or get some time management tips and/or see if I was able to sit still for an hour, Delve Writing has graciously allowed me to post the secret link for you. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep the link live (after all, people actually pay me to teach this class!) so if you’re the least bit curious, clickedy-click thelink …. HERE … soon.

You don’t have to watch the entire hour (although I simply can’t imagine why you wouldn’t) and you can’t join in the chat — because it’s not live anymore — but you can see what they were chatting about during the class. FYI, when Aaron pops the timer over my face for the 4 or 5 minute exercises, on the recording it says “15 minutes.” But it’s not; it really is only the 4 or 5. If you’re not doing the exercises, you can slide the bar at the bottom ahead to where the clock comes down.

What are you waiting for? Put on the mullet of your choice, go sit in front of your deviled egg tray and give it a look-see. Let me know what you think!

(Originally posted at Becky Clark Books July 12, 2013.)

About the Writer:  Becky Clark is a popular blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, and author of wildly divergent books — for example, An UnCivil War – The Boys Who Were Left Behind (middle-grade historical fiction);Reading Maniac — Fun Ways To Encourage Reading Success (a guide for parents of reluctant readers); and The Lazy Low Cal Lifestyle Cookbook. Her BeckyLand blog can be found at www.beckyland.wordpress.com and her healthy living website/blog is www.LazyLowCalLifestyle.com. She is a highly functioning chocoholic.

June Letter From the Editor - New Beginnings

June! Fabulous, sunny, green, beautiful June! Soon it will officially be summer (though I tend to consider it summer once school lets out). Various libraries will be launching their summer reading programs (Pikes Peak Library District started theirs June 1, so if you've got kids, hit any PPLD branch to sign them up for some great reading incentives).

June completes the vibrant changes that began earlier in spring. It furthers the new beginnings taking place. And in spirit of June's new beginnings, I'd like to welcome our newest Writing From the Peak columnist, Donnell Ann Bell. You can find a link to her website with her fellow columnists in the right-hand sidebar. Welcome, Donnell! We look forward to your contributions to Writing From the Peak.

We also have some exciting news about our Write Brain programming. Pikes Peak Writers has teamed up with Delve Writing to record our Write Brains so they can be accessed online, in their entirety, within a few days of the Write Brain. If you live too far to come down, weather causes a cancellation, or any other reason you can't attend the Write Brains in person, you'll now be able to watch them online. Not only that, but about once per quarter we'll offer one Write Brain that is broadcast live and recorded entirely online, which means we can now bring in speakers from all over the country, rather than limiting them to Colorado only! And even if you aren't able to get one of the limited live slots to attend that night, you'll have access to it online within a few days.

Want to try this out and see exactly what I mean? Page Lambert's May Write Brain, Manifestation of Yearning: The Flesh & Blood Factor of Good Storytelling, is available online right now! You'll have access to her speaking and her PowerPoint notes, simultaneously. Try it out by CLICKING HERE!

As part of this partnership, Delve Writing will also be providing a quarterly post here on Writing From the Peak. They'll bring you more great content on the craft of writing, and tips and tricks for writers.

Finally, Pikes Peak Writers is now offering a quarterly email with information on upcoming events. The first one will come out soon, and will include details on our June, July, and August Write Brains, and on some exciting events we're offering at the end of June! This is a trial to see how people like it, but quite a few have signed up already. If you'd like to sign up for the quarterly email, send an email to events [at] pikespeakwriters [dot] com, with "Quarterly Event Email" in the subject line, and the email address you'd like it sent to in the body of the email.

Here's to a wonderful month of new beginnings of all kinds for you and yours!

~Shannon Lawrence
Managing Editor, Writing From the Peak
NCE Director, Pikes Peak Writers