Summer of Fiction Writing -- I'm Doing It!

Writing sage Holly Lisle is hosting something really fun AND useful this summer!  She calls it the Summer of Fiction Writing (SOFW), and I've joined it as a way to help me power through the last few chapters of my latest book.

I've mentioned taking Holly Lisle's writing courses a time or two here, but not for a while, so quick let me tell you about her stuff.  She's a successful author herself, and she's been teaching others about writing for the past what, twelve or fifteen years?  I don't even know.  I've taken a LOT of her classes over the past decade, and I totally recommend them.  I've learned so much from them, especially "How to Think Sideways," which revolutionized how I approach writing.  And I never could have gotten Cloaked out the door without her "Title, Cover, Copy" class.  That sounds like a bad infomercial, but it's true!

The SOFW event isn't a class, though, but a summer-long challenge that's all about setting and meeting goals.  For it, she's put together a bunch of free worksheets and downloads for all participants, including one for young writers who want to learn to create superheroes and supervillains.  I'm totally going to be using that with my kids over the summer.  My oldest and youngest love to write, so I think they'll especially get a lot from it.

If you've ever struggled with setting or meeting goals, then you might find this useful just for the parts where she breaks down how to make those work for YOU as an individual.  You know I'm big on goals and lists and so on, which is a big part of how I get so many things finished in my life.  But I've never really sat down and thought about why they work for me, or how to explain them to others, so I found her stuff about that really eye-opening.

If you're sixteen or older, you can create your free member account at hollyswritingclasses.com.  You'll get a free class on writing flash fiction, plus you can then sign up for the SOFW event and get the downloads for that.  (If you're under sixteen, you'll have to get a parent to create an account and they can download what they think is appropriate for you.)

Lisle does use some adult language and discuss adult subjects in some of her classes, just FYI.  As do writers in the forums, which is why she's so clear about age guidelines for joining. But her class on superheroes is squeaky clean and appropriate for all ages.  I've read it all the way through and can vouch for that.

If you want to keep an eye on my progress, I've added an SOFW button to my sidebar here with a progress bar under it to keep me accountable.