Did you know that the Novel Revision Retreat is available in a book?

In 1999, I started teaching a retreat for beginning to intermediate writers, for those getting encouraging rejections, but could not quite get that acceptance letter. This year, there are four debut novels coming out of those retreats and so far, three more for 2012.

Podcast: Listen to a Conversation about Novel Revision

I recently had a conversation with Bridgette Mongeon (Bri jeet Mon zho), about the workbook for the retreat, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise, including tips for using it with a group. She taped it as a podcast, which is posted today.
Listen to the podcast.

Watch a retreat in progress

This video is from a San Francisco retreat.

Plan a Retreat in Your Area

Novel Revision Retreat in a Book

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Thanks, Texas SCBWI!

What a great time in TX last weekend. Here’s some blog posts about the retreat from the participants.

• Vonna Carter
• Shelli Cornelison
• Janet Fox

Lynne Kelly Hoenig

Yes, I’m booking for next year and have lots of open dates. Email me at darcy at darcypattison dot com.

Here’s more from Facebook Photos: What a hard working crew!

I did some video there and plan to do a new video soon. Meanwhile, here’s the video from last year in San Francisco.

*|YouTube:SK4pf5yyy1c|*

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

For an inside glimpse of the Novel Revision Retreat, here’s a short video podcast or trailer from the recent San Rafael, California retreat.

Read more from Lisa Gottfried of DigitalWeavers.com, who edited this video for me.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Speaking Schedule

Here’s an update on my speaking schedule for the rest of the year.

• Novel Revision Reteat. SF & North & East Bay SCBWI, San Francisco, CA. July 16-19, 2009 (SOLD OUT)
• Novel Revision Retreat. Louisiana SCBWI. St. Joseph Abbey, Covington, LA. Download flyer for the LA retreat.
• Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat, Ft. Smith, AR. September 25-27. This is one of the few retreats I’ll do where you do NOT have to have a full draft of a novel. S&S Associate Editor, Alexandra Penfold is the Editor-in-Residence. Download the pdf flyer for the AR-SCBWI retreat.

Interested in a retreat in your area, or having me speak at your conference? Email me at darcy at darcypattison dot com.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

What Do Writers Do All Day?

I’m just back from Illinois where last weekend, I taught a Novel Revision retreat to a fantastic group of writers. One of the humorous things that happened: One writer had a chapter in which a character wrote about a condominium, but the character couldn’t spell, so wrote, “. . . the condom. . .” When the author later decided to cut the whole chapter, it became a password for the retreat: Cut the Condom Chapter!

Then, I did a school visit at a local school yesterday.
Today, I’m trying today to prioritize what needs to be done.

• Speaking. I’ve been asked for proposals to speak at two upcoming events and those must be done today.
• Planning Fall Retreat. I’m still the director of the Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat. (The dates are September 25-27 — hold the dates and look for details soon!) Today, I will be talking to the editor we’ve invited to iron out details.
• Writing. Well, I’m still just a couple chapters away from finishing my WIP! And I have plans for another novel mss that I’m anxious to get to. Plus, there’s the odd picture book thrown in here and there. And a structured approach to finding ideas.
• Publicity. The paperback version of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman comes out in May and I need to do several hours work on publicity for that.
• Life. Oh, yes, I have a life! Besides grocery shopping, cleaning house, etc. there’s also the looming tax deadline of April 15, my daughter’s wedding in May, and my son’s graduation in May.

How do we juggle all this? And people ask me, what do you do all day, since you don’t work?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Why Some Distractions Are OK

I am distracted these days from writing my novel. It’s partly because I’m teaching a Novel Revision Retreat in Illinois this weekend. But I also find these things to be distracting.

• Family. Well, of course, family interferes. Katherine Paterson has said that family takes up so much time and energy, and yet they are the very reason she has something to talk about. It’s a good distraction.
• Critiquing. I don’t do critiques professionally, preferring instead to help writers learn to understand their own work better. But I do critique for my local group, a few online friends and a few writers I mentor. And lately everyone is working hard! I always learn so much by doing these and love to see how the feedback works out or doesn’t work out in their stories.
• Speaking. I’ve done several local school visits, a picture book retreat in Oklahoma, and the retreat in Illinois this week. Often writers need multiple income streams, so this is good.
• Reading. I binged recently on Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series of adult fantasy novels, reveling in the luxury of reading five books in a row that were all fascinating. Seems like reading time is one of the first things to go, but I need to take in language, so there’s something to give out, too. This was good.
• Internet marketing. I’m also studying internet marketing these days, with the idea that it’s the one kind of marketing within the control of writers. Our websites, blogs, Facebooks, MySpaces, etc. represent an opportunity to reach audiences and I’m experimenting, learning and trying out some new ways of doing that. I think this has potential to be very good.
• Fallow. Letting a manuscript cool off is one of the hardest things I do. I’m always excited and want to get it out! So, times like this are valuable for me to let a mss fallow, let me get some perspective on it before it finally gets three more revisions and THEN gets sent out. And this — is very good.

But look out next week! I’ll be back writing like crazy, with no more speaking until July. (Well, a few local things here and there. . .)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Even if it is the week before Christmas, there’s lots of interesting discussions going on!

• Novel Revision Retreat. I’ll be teaching the Novel Revision Retreat in Illinois on February 27 – March 1 for the IL-SCBWI. Only nine spots remain! Register soon! See comments here from previous participants. Or see comments from Kirby Larson here.
• LeGuin movie. After her disappointment with the Earthsea movie, another Ursula LeGuin film?
• Ageism. Is there ageism in publishing?
• Ebook prices. What’s a fair price for ebooks?
• First paragraphs. Did you read the winner of agent Nathan Bradford’s first paragraph contest? Especially interesting is his discussion of WHY this one won. In discussing the top five paragraphs, Bradford twice says, “Normally I don’t like/care for. . . ” Fascinating that breaking his expectations made these do so well. Then, the list of three most common — and most unsuccessful — openings is enlightening. A post to ponder.

  Along those lines, here’s a post about query letter cliches.

• Newbery Medal in dispute. Have you been following the discussion about the Newbery Medal? It seems that some think it’s pointless because the committee selections are too difficult for kids, handle difficult topics, and would never, ever, be on a Children’s Choice award list. What do you think?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Newbery Honor for Kirby Larson

Our guest today is Kirby Larson, author of Hattie Big Sky, (Delacorte) which has received *starred reviews* in School Library Journal and Booklist; it was chosen as a December Borders Original Voice Pick and is on the Barnes & Noble Teen Discover list. It was recently named a School Library Journal Best Books of 2006, as well as being named as a Book Links Lasting Connections title. Best of all, this book won the 2007 Newbery Honor Medal.

Kirby has written about her experiences with this story in her blog. (Originally posted on December 6, 2006 on Revision Notes that was hosted on Live Journal. )

Q: What was your writing experience before Hattie Big Sky?

A: I had been writing for nearly 20 years and had 4 published chapter books and a picture book to my credit.

Q: What did you learn about revision while working on Hattie Big Sky?

A: I didn’t realize I didn’t know the first thing about revising until I took Darcy’s Novel Revision Retreat. I finally “got it” that reworking a manuscript is not revising. To revise something means to re-vision it, to see it through a new lens. The workshop moved me from wordsmith to novel writer and, one short summer after taking it, I had my young adult historical completely revised. Re-visioned.

Q:What exercise was the most helpful?

A: Though I was irritated as heck at her request — demand! — that we bring our manuscripts formatted in this very particular and seemingly crazy manner, I cooperated. And was I glad I did! The Shrunken Mss exercise worked.

Q: Specifically, what did the exercise help you to do while revising?

A: I restructured scenes so they contributed more to the story certainly, but what I carry away most is that the workshop gave me a way to take that huge novel and make it manageable. I could really get a big picture view of the work, rather than remain stuck on individual scenes, chapters, etc.

Q: How long did it take for Hattie Big Sky to sell?

A: The manuscript spent ten days on an editor’s desk before I got that wonderful phone call!

Kirby Larson Writes Foreword to Writing Workbook

The workbook for the Novel Revision Retreat includes a foreword by Kirby, in which she talks about her experience with Hattie Big Sky. Read more about the retreats and see a video of one in action.

Novel Metamorphosis: UnCommon Ways to Revise is the workbook for the retreat, the next best thing to being there. Order from Amazon.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Novel Secrets Series

Author Nancy Sharp has designed a series of three retreats, which is unique in the writing world. It takes writers from an initial idea to a finished manuscript and an evaluation by an agent or editor–in JUST ONE YEAR. Awesome!

Cynsations website is running a series of interviews with the speakers. One of the retreats will be my Novel Revision retreat.

• 
  Interview with N.L. Sharp, author.
• 
  Interview with Elaine Marie Alphin, author and teacher.
• 
  Interview with Darcy Pattison, author and teacher.
• Interview with Rebecca Sherman, agent at Writer’s House.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win