The Writers Alley: The Christian Writers Guild

Oh there are three top things I LOVE about The Writers Alley.

1. The Fabulous Alley Cats that make up our group - and encouragement I receive from each one.

2. The tips and advice that I desperately need to learn

3. The fact that they all like to PARTY!!!

Oh yes, ladies and gents, it’s our 300 subscriber party and we have two glorious weeks of prizes for you. We’ll keep giving you the writing tips, triumphs, and trials, but let’s throw in a bit of chocolate and a few lovely prizes to celebrate our 300 Alley Pals who visit us.

So - stop by EVERY WEEKDAY for your opportunity to win. Winners will be listed on our Saturday post!

What’s on the prize rack for today?

Leave a comment with your email address and three commenters will win one of three books:

1. Robin Lee Hatcher’s fabulous book A Matter of Character

2. Henry McLaughlin’s debut novel Journey to Riverbend

3. Patti Lacy’s gripping women’s fiction novel The Rhythm of Secrets

Okay – so what terrific tips do I have for you today? Let’s chat about writing education, shall we?

At some point or other, we come to the realization that we don’t know everything.

Shocker, I know. In fact, when I made this startling revelation at 10 years old, I had to double check just to make sure someone ELSE wasn’t wrong. (Boys usually don’t come to this realization until way past 20, if ever. ;-) Of course, I did go through a period of temporary amnesia between the ages of 14-19, but I was duly humbled back into humanity when I got married. For some reason, my husband didn’t think I knew everything either? Go figure.

As writers, there are many opportunities to learn and grow. Writing technique books, video series, online and offline courses, workshops…you name it. Some are more intensive than others. Some are more expensive than others.

I’m going to give you the spiel on the Jerry B. Jenkins’ Christian Writers Guild. Especially since we have CWG’s Operation First Novel contest winner a GIVEAWAY for today. Henry McLaughlin’s novel won Operation First Novel in 2009 and now he has the wonderful opportunity to see his book in print.

From August 2009-May 2010, I enrolled in the Journeyman course, which took me through various degrees of writing techniques, layering, rewrites, and lessons.

There are three basic CWG courses.

1. Apprentice

2. Journeyman

3. Craftsman

Each increase in their expectations, mentoring, and learning curve.

For all of them, you are assigned a mentor who will be your contact person for that year.

During the Apprentice course – you’re learning the basics of being a good writer. Here you delve into the nuts and bolts of writing, both fiction and nonfiction. You get the opportunity to discover the core of writing techniques, marketing, and editing.

During the Journeyman course – you choose your track. Fiction or nonfiction. I chose fiction, of course. Then I was assigned my mentor, Doug Hirt. He was a fantastic encourager through each of the lessons. Oh, did I mention it’s an 8-month long program? 16 lessons. Two per month.

The Craftsman Course is the most advance and gives you the MOST intensive guidance. You are assigned one of their mentors for a year long course. This is the 'fine tuning' program, to push you from the slush piles to a more publishable possibility. (not that you don't improve your writing at every level) This one also includes a four-day residency where you get to sit under teaching from authors Jerry Jenkins, DiAnn Mills, and more.

Pros:
- Individual attention (As a mother of five, I’ll take it anyway I can get it ;-)

- Great feedback and guidance – The specific feedback I received on EVERY assignment was invaluable and incredibly encouraging.

- Looks good on a writing resume – making an investment of time and money speaks a lot to how serious you take your writing

- Opportunity to make great contacts

- Opportunity for college credit
- You can choose to make payments or pay in full.

Considerations:

- It’s pretty expensive. This was a Christmas/birthday gift from my parents. That’s the only way I would have been able to do it.

- If you don’t have time, don’t invest in it. You’ll want to glean as much as you can from the opportunity.

- Though Doug Hirt was a fantastic encourager and author, I kind of wonder if having a romance author as my mentor would have fit my writing style better. I didn’t have a choice of a mentor, but all of them are supposed to be very good, though better fit might have been a better option for me.
It’s time-intensive- as far as being a looooong process. If you want a short-term thing, there are plenty of options out there for you.

- The Christian Writers Guild offers a critique service too, plus a newsletter with valuable info. You can get involved with their yearly contest, like Henry McLaughlin did, and have an opportunity to get published by Tyndale.

I’m glad I did it. It was a good way to get my writing to the next level and build some invaluable skills, but it’s certainly not for everyone. To learn more about it, check out their fabulous website at www.christianwritersguild.com

You can also glean daily wisdom for their blog at: www.christianwritersguild.com/blog

Have you gotten involved in a long-term writing course before? What did you think? Would you recommend it to others?

If you haven’t, do you want to? Why?