Parisian Phoenix Publishing

This one is for the writers, the authors, the wordsmiths.

Now that winter is upon us, (first real cold snap here in the Northeast and while I used to walk my daughter to school every day, I can’t take the cold now. Gone are the days of walking in -10 wind chills with two winter coats, a scarf, gloves, hat and a hood.) I know it’s harder to leave the house.

Skies are often gloomy. The weather uninviting.

So, I tried opening myself to new opportunities online. Thank you pandemic for that.

Reedsy Master Class

The first was a “master class” presented by Reedsy, who hosts a variety of free programs which in turn serve as commercials for their paid offerings. The free sample version of marketing and everybody likes a test drive before you commit.

The class featured Ashley Tate. Now, Ashley has a debut thriller novel, 27 Minutes, releasing in January. My first question is this: If your debut novel hasn’t even released yet, how can you be teaching a master class already? The novel concept sounds delightful, but we don’t know if it’s going to sell or be popular.

It’s like the MFA-holder who never published anything but now is magically qualified to teach (but only as an adjunct, in most cases).

This initial free session was more or less an interview and conversation between the Reedsy representative and Ashley about the process of becoming a published writer and the grief that led her to write this book. Or so I think. Because despite the fact that I was punctual and logged in as person 585 on the “call,” I was kicked off 15 minutes into the call when the attendee level reached 1,000.

Reedsy quickly sent out a replay and a discount to apologize for the technical difficulties. Next week, I’m attending a session on book coaching.

Local library memoir group

If you’ve read any of these posts, you’ve heard me mention the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (GLVWG). I joined the group, at the time with Darrell Parry, when I was a young print journalist and he was still editing his short story collection, The Rat of Linden Boulevard.

That was more than 15 years ago, but during that time Jerry Waxler taught me the difference between a biography and a memoir. (To check out Jerry’s memoir, click here.)

Jerry hosts a memoir writing group through a local public library in Emmaus, Pa., that has now gone virtual (again, thank you pandemic) and I’ve been putting off starting my medical advocacy/disability memoir for almost two years now. Since I know Jerry to be a good listener, a kind soul and an encouraging memoirist, I thought maybe visiting his group would be the kick in the butt I need.

It turned out to be a lovely group. Everyone read a small portion of something with the idea in mind that writing something, anything, regardless of how small a story eventually gels into a larger format or, at the very least, preserves stories until one decides what to do with them.

It’s always an adventure to explore what opportunities are out there for writers and not all of them require a financial investment. There are times when investing in a coach or an editor or a class will help your writing exponentially, but if you’re in the early phases of a project, free inspiration and motivation is often the best place to start.