My favorite take-away from the 2011 GCLS Conference came from Elizabeth Sims - Special Speaker on Friday. She is a Lambda Award winning author. Elizabeth is also a Contributing Editor at Writer’s Digest magazine. She gives workshops and webinars in the art and craft of fiction. I’ve personally taken one of her webinars and found it to be entertaining and helpful.

At GCLS, Elizabeth was talking with us about research. How all writers need to do research in order to find stuff out and make it real for our readers. We owe our readers that much. Elizabeth went on to describe “Call Reluctance” - a malady she said we needed to overcome, as writers conducting research. We’re afraid to pick up the phone and call people. Elizabeth summed up the cure for this malady quite well (IMHO) - “Just pick up the goddamn phone. Get the f***er done!” Yep, that’ll do ‘er, I thought. Laughter aside, Elizabeth provided informative guidance for writers. In order to make our stories real and hold our readers’ attention we need to conduct good research, portray all the senses (not just sight), extrapolate from our own experiences and think about maybe NOT tying things up so neatly at the end.

Witty and real, Elizabeth showed us how all of our experiences form our lives. We need to “BE BOLD!” And if you’re Elizabeth Sims, you also put down a dying llama using a
.357, for a doctor friend who can’t do it herself. Seriously.

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I attended a workshop in which Fay Jacobs (Publisher at A&M Books) was the presenter. Fay talked to us about marketing books using traditional methods of promotion and social networking. Fay provided hints such as, using characters or topics from our books when promoting; craft your image using one or two sentences that will grab people’s attention; use shameless self promotion via Facebook, Twitter, author website, blog, etc. Also, we should use old media: business cards and post cards, as well. Fay also spoke of helping each other succeed by talking about other writers on our own websites and/or blogs. “When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.” She said. Review books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble - go online and do this for other authors and ask friends and authors to do the same for you when you’re published.

Fay says that writers don’t know how to write about themselves. And this is an important task after a write becomes a published author. Fay recommends we write serious pieces, but make the headline catchy to grab readers’ attention. Maybe begin by writing a blog about GCLS (hmmmm...I’m doing that very thing right here!) Fabulous and funny, Fay Jacobs rocked!
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POV, Narrative Stance and Perspective. Damn, that’s a mouthful of intimidating language. I hid under the table (not really). “Overworked underpaid servant - POV,” said Lori Lake, presenter extraordinaire. Every author’s mission (should she choose to accept it) is to ensure nothing jars the reader from the vivid and continuous dream (i.e. your book).

So much goes into crafting and writing a story. The author needs to think about the narrative - details and order of events; point of view - will it be omniscient, 1st person, 2nd person or 3rd person? Maybe a combination? Perspective and viewpoint characters. It’s all so complex. There’s so much to think about. How will I ever remember it all? I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with the information Lori was throwing at us.

I finally calmed down and got into the zone. I listened, wrote and absorbed as much as I could. I realized that there is no way I could get it all down, after all I don’t have a brain like Lori Lake’s! No way was I going to remember half of what she told us. Instead of wigging out - I’ll just take another of Lori’s classes/workshops/webinars or whatever in the future.

One thing about writing that every writer should know - you’ll never know all there is to know about writing. It’s an ongoing learning experience. Writing is fluid. And the craft is ever-expanding. So, if you don’t get it the first time, never fear, someone will write a book or teach a class and you’ll have plenty of opportunity to garner more knowledge.

A couple of really good take-aways for me during these two sessions were: POV and perspective keeps the reader oriented to the story’s orbit; POV = tool and Perspective = who’s telling the tale (the eyes the reader sees through). As writers, we don’t want to jar the reader out of the story. If we do, we may lose them for good - they may toss the book in the trash instead of just across the room! Avoid perspective slips.
Lori is an encyclopedia on how to write (among many other topics). I swear there’s no need to Google anything ... just ask Lori! Awesome sessions!! (Thanks Lori!)

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Elizabeth Sims revisited: “Rough it Up: For a Better First Draft, Get Messy!” This workshop was very similar to the webinar Elizabeth gave through Writer’s Digest magazine several months ago. A writer’s first draft is sh*t ... Hemingway via Elizabeth Sims. In order to get to the goal writers have to wade through the sh*t; give themselves permission to make mistakes and realize that creativity is an organic process.

Sims is big on brainstorming. “Yes and ...” and “What if...” are two ways to get ideas flowing. Ask questions. Get the ideas out.

“Heart clutching moments.” These are the bits and pieces of the plot that readers will remember.

And as for that age old nemesis of all writers - writer’s block - Elizabeth says, “writer’s block is a mental construct - it does not exist.” Well said!

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KG MacGregor - a class act! Wow! What a powerful Keynote address given by KG. Last year I thought KG was aloof, stand-offish and not willing to give the time of day to anyone outside her inner circle of friends. I had little or no contact with her at the con last year. This year - I (and about a hundred other women) hugged the lady following her moving speech. KG talked about her journey, personal and professional. How she came to realize people, whether they be fellow published authors, aspiring writers or readers - people were important in her life. She brought the crowd to tears and to their feet for a standing ovation. The line to hug and congratulate her snaked around the room afterwards. I have a whole new lens through which I view this woman. She is amazing. Anyone who can stand before a room of 100-150 people and say “I was wrong” ... well, she earned my respect. Thanks KG!!

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Mentor/Mentee Program: I was lucky to be a participant in the GCLS Mentor/Mentee Program this year. I submitted the first five chapters of my manuscript to GCLS and one of the directors assigned two mentees to read my work. The idea being that at some point during the conference, the mentors/mentees would meet and discuss the submissions.

Laurel Mills and Susan X Meagher were my mentors. I am so appreciative of the time these two women spent reading and commenting on my writing. Everything from grammatical issues to over use of metaphors; making better transitions to varying sentence structure; showing via physical gestures to using italicized font in places.
Susan and I spoke a bit about self-publishing and publishing in general. We also chatted about editing and the importance of providing a squeaky clean manuscript to a publisher (aka - submit to publisher AFTER editing!)

I wrote notes after meeting with each mentor. Both women were extremely insightful and provided excellent feedback. Many suggestions and hints were given. I’m in awe of them both! I hope that some day I’ll be able to pay it forward and mentor someone and that if I do have that opportunity, that I’ll be as gracious as these two ladies. Many thanks, Susan and Laurel!

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The GCLS Awards - the grand finale, so to speak. So many brilliant and charismatic authors - so little time. The Ann Bannon winner: Georgia Beers could barely get through her acceptance speech. She was stunned to tears over her win. And Karin Kallmaker - her high fem-ness! Yes, Karin too suffered from shock and awe when she was presented with the Trailblazer Award this year. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!! What amazing women!!

Empowerment. Love. Exuberance. Fatigue. Fired up. Acceptance. Support. Encouragement. These and many many more words that I can’t even think of right now sum up the GCLS experience. I’m sad that it’s over. I’m excited for next year - 2012 in Minneapolis!! Woo Hoo!! (Visit my photo page to see pictures from the con.)

I encourage anyone interested in lesbian reading or writing: fiction, nonfiction, poetry whatever - make an effort to attend the GCLS Conference. It will be an experience well worth your time.

Most of all, I enjoyed being with other writers, readers and last, but not least - the BABAs (and partners!) I hereby dub Phyllis “BABA momma” as she kept calling us “little BABAs.” Phyllis is so dang cute! And so, I’m now trying to rest, recover, recuperate from the con ... and I’m fired up to revise my revised revision of the revision I revised (aka work on my manuscript).

Write on!