From the moment I attended my first writing conference and sat through my first writing workshop, I knew that in addition to the writing, I wanted to teach. I love giving workshops. I’ve done them in person at RWA chapter meetings, larger conferences (like the RWA National) and even on-line. I’m actually teaching an on-line class right now and I think it’s going fairly well.

For me, it’s a combination of loving to talk about writing and loving to watch other writers get those light bulb moments. I still have them on occasion, but they are few and far between now. But there was a time in my writing journey when I studied everything I could about the craft of writing and those light bulb moments were cause for much celebration. I remember the first time I “got” point of view, it was as if I could hear the angels signing.

To be able to give back to a writing community that gave so much to me is a true honor. The enthusiasm from students is contagious and there is nothing better than having one of them comment on how things are really making sense. I’m told that I’m good at explaining difficult concepts in easy to understand terms, but I think it’s less about my skill and more about the fact that the concepts aren’t nearly as difficult as we fear. Take character arcs, on the surface this is a seemingly very difficult concept to master, but in reality it’s quite easy. The key to learning the craft of writing is finding an instructor who speaks the same language as you.

There are many workshop presenters at the RWA National conference that give workshops year after year. They’re brought back for reasons and they’re all good instructors, but it doesn’t mean that they’ll all make sense to you. I remember once workshop, in particular, that I listened to when I first started writing and as much as I tried I could not figure out what she was trying to teach. I decided that the information was too advanced for me and decided to come back to it after I had a few books under my belt. I did that and listened to it again and still it did not work for me. Likewise, I have another workshop tape that I’ve listened to over and over again – it was the first one I ever had a light bulb moment in and no matter how many times I hear it, I learn something new. That instructor speaks my language. It doesn’t mean that the first didn’t know what she was talking about; it only means that her process of explaining just didn’t mesh with the way I think about writing.

There are so many elements in craft of writing that need to be tackled and it can be quite overwhelming if you try to do them all at once. My suggestion, pick one thing at a time and focus on that. Before you know it, all of those things you once struggled with will become a natural process of your writing.