Getting the most from a Writing Workshop
You have committed time and money to attending a Literature Festival, a Writing Weekend or a programme of Writing with other people, so how do you prepare for the event, and what do you do when you are there?
Assuming that you are going to a residential programme where you will be working through facilitated exercises and processes around the topic of Book Creation, Authorship, Chapter Structure, or Writing a Book proposal, you know that there will be an onus on you to produce work within a timeframe. You also would expect to have your work assessed or even critiqued by the Host or faciliatator of the workshop.
What I want to address here is that you also should expect to engage honestly with other particiapnst or delegates of the event so that you give to them as much as they give to you. Think of it like this - when you commit pen to paper and begin to craft a chapter within your book do you hold back on giving the reader what they are expecting? No? Well how can it be possible then that some participants on a Writing Workshop want to take for themselves and not contribute the ideas they might be holding onto and by such with-holding effectively be taking from other participants?
I can’t get my head around this one. If you go to an event like this in order to grow your skills, build your abilities, and hopefully sell more of your work, then surely you should go with the frame of mind that says “I am here to learn and to share.“
Why might we hold back from sharing our own contribution?
It could be simply that we do not consider our ideas to be worthy, in which case why do we want to see our words in print? It might be that we worry about other’s opiniions of our work, and again I would counter this by asking you to be clear about what you think is going to happen when your first or your third or your sixth book is out there on the bookshelves? It may come as a shock, but for every book you sell that someone comments on positively, there will be some other reader who just doesn’t get the benefit from your work. Live with it.
Another thing that always strikes me as odd at such events is that many delegates will sit there all day and not even make notes! When you invest your time, take back as much as you can to your own home for after the event is long gone, and also long forgotten! The notes you take, the memory joggers that you write on the programme handouts or the backof your own rough draft will all somehow convene to help you a month or a year down the line when you are sitting at your desk and thinking about some angle on a manuscript you will then have in front of you.
Finally, let me comment on the process of engaging with the hosts and facilitators at such an event. If you can offer help then do so. This might simply be in setting up the room because you get there early to sit up front, or in passing on hand-outs, or by offering your help as an active participant when exrecises are being done during the programme. On the basis that the veent is being run by people who are specialists in their field, if you want to shorten your learning time (and maybe this is one of the main reasons for you to be the sytudent at such an event) then these same people may be able to help you in your journey towards better writing output and better published sales figures.
Take this ideas on board and engage, participate, be a helpful resource, and then you will recognise the same helpful souls in the audience when you are running your own events in the future!
Nick Sturgeon facilitates a Non-Fiction Writers’ Retreat each year. In November 2008 it is on the Yorkshire coast close to historic Whitby.
For more information visit www.smallbusinessbigprofit.co.uk and see Events
