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Boot Camps Student Update Blog

What is the Lesson of Your Life?

How to Think Sideways Lesson 7 is a challenging workout: it can hurt, it’s certainly hard work, and the benefits are long-lasting and powerful.

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Have you worked through Lesson 7 yet? Or are you in the middle of it, wiping the sweat from your brow and feeling the burn? Log in and go here to see what others have discovered are the threads that runs through their lives, the cord that keeps it all together. If you’re ready to post on this one, jump right in!

New Kids on the Block

As many of you have probably noticed, the advent of HTTS ULTRA followed shortly by the free course on writing flash fiction have brought an influx of new members to Holly’s boot camps. Lots of them! And you know what that means: Lots of new friends to join us in the quest for writing careers! New resources from a wide variety of backgrounds (think “spies”–in Holly’s terms). Some of these are brand new to Holly’s courses, others’ initial efforts got interrupted and they’re back to work with us again. Some are already published–some more than once–and others are still looking for that first publication. And some live or have lived in many parts of the world–Bavaria, Sweden, Hawaii, Barcelona, and many others.

One new member is making the switch from non-fiction to fiction, while another holds a PhD in history.

Another shares her home with two bunnies and a poodle.

One works in Colorado as a GIS Specialist and Archaeologist, while another indulges in porcupine quill embroidery and wood carving.

Another, with his family, lived in Barcelona for five years, and yet another teaches martial arts.

We are in the midst of a growing and highly diverse group of creative and marvelous people. At our fingertips we have the knowledge and experiences of all these folks–and of “old-time” members, as well. That makes us some of the luckiest writers in the world.

If you’d like to see who’s joined and what unique backgrounds they bring with them, take a look here. I’ll warn you in advance, though–it’s addictive.

And for those of you included in this influx of fresh talent, welcome! We’re pleased as punch to meet you.

Flashy Characters

The writer exploring the New World of Publishing needs a quiver full of arrows, including very short ones.

The novel can take a year or more to go from idea to publication. In that year, dreams get dusty, bills come due, faster writers zip past on their way to success. Families bang on the door of the writer’s office, wondering when the heck that darn book will be finished.

Holly has you covered. (Did you ever doubt that?) How about putting together an anthology that meets the criteria for the big e-sellers? You can be on their virtual shelves in weeks rather than months or years.

Did you sign up for HOW TO Write Flash Fiction That Doesn’t Suck? Are you participating in the Flash Fiction Forum? Sign in and go here to introduce your characters and to admire the characters your classmates have brought to the wizard’s prom/aerial dogfight/dragonslayer world series.

What’s Your Scene Length?

Uh-oh. How To Think Sideways Lesson 9 mentions that word again. Math.

No slide rules required, but you need to divide scene length into novel length to figure out how many scenes your book needs. Breathe. You can do this.

What if you haven’t written any books yet? How do you know how long your scenes will be before you’ve written even one?

Good questions, and Holly has the answers. HTTS members, log in and go here to join the conversation. Wear boots.

Self-doubt and the Writer

We had a blast, didn’t we? We wrote our stories and submitted them for the first HTTS anthology. We held our breaths. Many were rewarded with acceptances, AKA Approval and Validation. Many others got the punch of rejection, AKA This Story is So Bad That You Ought To Rethink The Whole Idea of Writing.

Oh, boy.

Of course, the stories were not so bad. And no one here should rethink the idea of being a writer. No one is about to quit, really, truly. Honestly. Not because of one rejection. What about other issues that undermine us? Like this.

Even Holly Lisle has scary moments.

How do you handle those times when some evil interloper whispers bleak, horrible, self-doubt-inducing words into your ear?

One thing you can do is to post a link to your story that didn’t make it into the anthology. It’s an act of defiance. You’ll enjoy it. Then visit the links for other rejected stories. It’s an act of community. You’ll love it.

And for those in the US–comb your hair, tuck in your shirt, and go visit your mom. Today is Mother’s Day.

Holly Lisle's How To Think Sideways Writers' Boot Camps

For Writers Who Publish…Or Want To

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