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| More caffeine please… Photo by Feliciano Guimaraes via flickr |
Wonderful weekend in Cocoa Beach for the Cocoa Beach Writers Conference, hosted by the Space Coast Writers Guild. I’m almost brain dead today, but it’s a wonderful zombi-ism, if such a thing is–well, of course it’s possible.
I sat in on some great presentations. My favorite was probably Mark Mynheir’s on character development. I always try to sit in on one of Mark’s, because he’s a local cop. You never know when you’re going to need a cop template. He recommended the book, How Can I Get Through to You by D. Glenn Foster, as a study in core personalities.
Bill Allen’s presentations on adding humor to your writing were very helpful. I sat in on two of those and got lots of tips to help my snarkiness.
I very much enjoyed Alex Hinojosa’s lectures on marketing, especially in social media. I learned things about Twitter I never knew…so I’ll be working on that. Hinojosa is vice president of public relations firm, EMSI in Tampa, which, I have to say, was very difficult to find on the tubes. That’s just funny.
But Alex was great and he gave us some very useful tips.
I actually sold some books in the bookstore…on the first day. But I sold more than I expected to, so the second day wasn’t so bad–it was like, downhill with a pleasant view, and conversation. And the store was only open for forty-five minutes each day, so I did pretty well.
The funniest workshop I attended was Chantelle Osman’s on flash fiction. She talked about it, and then at the end we got a prompt and were supposed to, you know…do it. So, naturally, I’m not one to follow the rules. I wanted to try to write some flash fiction using an idea I already had, and not a prompt (they were some very odd prompts anyway: an enormous fake dollar bill, a funky flash light, a purse-sized container of Listerine Strips).
So, I start writing, and writing, for the ten minutes we had. And at the end, she asks for volunteers. Well, no way am I doing it–I wasn’t going to advertise that I was a rule-breaker.
But these other people did read their stories and they were…well, stories. Beginning, middle, and end. In ten minutes. I’d just started.
I guess they actually understood the assignment! I can do flash fiction; I’m sure of it. I can write anything! But I’m probably not your go-to girl for flash fiction on the fly.
And kudos to the International Palms Resort for that potato salad. Well done! (But, what the heck? No chocolate for dessert on Sunday? Whose head should roll?)
And now, more caffeine…