We’ve all heard that we should write what we know. But what if what we know doesn’t seem worthy to write about?

Have you ever sat listening to your friends and family tell stories and think, “If I had adventures (or misadventures) like that I would always have something to write about”?

I’ve listened to stories of traveling to Peru and hiking up Machu Picchu, whitewater rafting down the Colorado River, strolling the streets of Paris, and destination weddings. I know someone who survived a house fire and another who was stood up at the alter. Compared to all that, my life seemed pretty uneventful, certainly nothing book or story worthy.

But after attending a writing group a few months back and doing an exercise where we wrote down as many experiences we could think of, big or small, that others may not have experienced, I had a different outlook on my writing. I looked back on my childhood and the small town I grew up in. What could I have possibly experienced that others had not?

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Written by MVWG Member Jess Witkins

Grab a pen and paper, writers! Charge your laptop! The 2019 Great River Writes series is here!

Full of guest authors, workshops, and write-ins, the Mississippi Valley Writers Guild has been a founding sponsor and organizer of the GRW series since its launch in 2017. The series coincides with National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) in November and focuses on inspiring and educating area writers, as well as building a healthy writing community. 

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Written by MVWG Member Teri Holford

As the hair on my head changes to a new life season, I’ve found myself seeking out new writing experiences. I find that I simply enjoy the experience of encountering them. True, it could open a new door, but honestly, as I settle in to the early fall of my life, I realize that I’m not really looking for new places to linger, to invest my time, or to commit. This actually goes beyond the casual eavesdropping, too. I just want to see how I’m going to react--what it’s going to do for me. Let’s call it the tinder of writing. And so, this summer, I opened the door to a new writing experience--an online playwriting course with the Gotham Institute out of NYC, which offers a plethora of writing courses. Through some unidentified shift of the winds over the past year, the writing divinities had been presenting me with the Gotham’s various potential matches for quite some time, and when this playwriting course and I matched up, I did it. I swiped right. 

We lasted for ten whole weeks. As far as I understand the way tinder-land works, from observing the youngins around me,  matches can and usually do succumb to a few easy lies. In my metaphorical example here, the first piece of fiction that I was fed in this playwriting experience was that the class was a variation on the theme of Playwriting 101 for beginners. The obligatory class-bio-read-over revealed very quickly that it was a lie. Not only was I the only one west of Ohio, but the majority of my new classmates were actually living (and writing plays) in NYC. There were even a couple of people very far east of NYC. Like, London. They went to the theatres (go away, spell check) several times a week. Not only did they happily share their sophisticated and verbose opinions about our assigned weekly readings, and religiously write their homework scenes, but they also reported back on what they had attended the prior evening. In London. It was a bit overwhelming, but remember, I was in it for the experience (wink emoticon). 

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Written by MVWG Member Jess Witkins

The Mississippi Valley Writers Guild is pleased to announce its 4th Annual Wine & Words, Beer & Books event. Featuring nearly all new writers this year, and lots of brand new books, our fun and informal book fair will take place on Thursday, October 17th from 5:30-8:00pm at the Pump House Regional Arts Center. 

When we first launched Wine & Words, Beer & Books, we wanted to create an environment that celebrated the written word, supported local authors, and made getting to know the writers and their books a fun event. Book fairs can be overwhelming with so many options to choose from, and going up to an author at a table can be intimidating when you’re just trying to browse. We wanted to help with that! 

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By MVWG Member Tracy Schuldt Helixon

When I was five years old, my parents came around the corner to find me writing all over my two-year-old brother. When they asked me why, the answer was simple: Timmy thought he was a piece of paper. Over forty years later, you’ll still find me writing. (To Timmy’s relief, I now use a computer.) Like most writers I know, I’ve had a compulsion to put words together for as long as I can remember. Ask me to promote that writing, though, and you’ll hear a different story.

I’m a writer, not a salesperson! Can’t I just write, and let the rest take care of itself? I don’t have time for marketing. I’m not any good at it. I’m an introvert. I’m not built for this stuff. Besides, it all seems kind of fake to me.

Those were the words I had repeated to myself for most of my writing life. This past spring, though, I took a leap outside my comfort zone and registered for an online author branding course. I researched a few different options and decided that the best fit for me was Authentically Awesome Branding for Writers by Andrea Guevara.

Ultimately, for two main reasons, the class surprised me:

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I am an educator by trade—my day job, as we call it. I teach 4th grade now, but in my more than 20 years of teaching, I’ve taught English as a second language, middle- and high-school French, and all the core subjects.

When I took a job teaching 4th grade after spending 8 years teaching middle school French, I was, quite literally, at a loss for words. I remember going into my new teammate’s room after we wrote our lesson plans for the first week, and saying, “Sarah? I know how to teach, I swear, but I’m looking at where it says, “Stop and jot” and I just … can you give me the actual words that I should use when I teach that? I know what stop means, and I know what jot means, but I’m not quite sure what this is getting at.”

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Written by MVWG Member, Heidi Blanke

Submitting fiction to anywhere can be an exhaustive process, made even more so if you’re unsure of your genre. On top of that, some genres have sub-genres. Consider the definitions below when trying to pinpoint yours.  It’s not an exhaustive list, but it covers the main types.

The general genres for fiction are romance, western, thriller, young adult, women’s fiction, literary fiction, science fiction, and fantasy.  However, there is overlap and even debate as to what qualifies for each of these. For example, some say speculative fiction is a subset of fantasy and science fiction, while others classify the two as a subset of speculative. Be sure to read submission requirements carefully so that you don’t misidentify your hard work.

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I’ve been writing sketch comedy for two decades now. I’m also an improv ninja. Quick thinking and adaptability is key to making this hobby into an award-winning group: the Heart of La Crosse Comedy Troupe. With the art of improvisation; listening, building on what you hear, and never closing an idea down, we can trade thoughts and go anywhere in the universe! Then we reel it back in and make it tidy and neat for real life use.

1. When you’re stuck with your writing, it really helps to have a Bouncy Buddy.

This is not one of those inflatables seen flailing in front of car dealerships – but rather a friend or family member you believe gets your style of writing (to bounce ideas off of) and can tell you when an idea is close… but not quite there. It’s important sometimes to verbalize instead of solely writing. Experimenting with a fresh viewpoint allows you to step back a tad and see the flow from another angle. It’s like when you drop your hairbrush, and while down on all fours you finally find that other sock. You win an ‘a-ha’ moment just because you changed your viewpoint.

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Written by MVWG Member, Amanda Zieba

Our Mississippi Valley Writers Guild Blog may be brand new, but I’ve been writing for my author website blog for the last three and a half years. Throughout the course of my 120+ posts I’ve committed over 80,000 words (equivalent to the length of a novel!) to the screen, and I’ve learned a few things along the way. Today I want to share them with you.

If you’ve been considering starting a blog, here are a few tips, tricks and techniques to keep in mind. 

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For the past two years writers, book lovers, fangirls, academics and general literature enthusiasts have gathered in Green Bay  for a wonderful event called UntitledTown. The fact that the festival name is wordplay itself (hinting to its shared roots as the home of famed hometown of the Green Bay Packers) will tell you just how much fun this event and the crowd of people it pulls really are.

This year was no exception. Below you will find a recap of ten takeaways from two author friends, and MVWG members, who hit the road with a trunk full of books and Diet Pepsi on Friday, and emerged on Sunday cheeks sore from smiling, hearts full of friendship and minds whirring with ideas and inspiration to put into practice.

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Looking to hone your writing skills or boost your creativity? We can help with that.

The Mississippi Valley Writers Guild is a proud member of Great River Writes, a collaboration of area arts and literary organizations in La Crosse and Winona, MN. Starting in 2017, our goal has been to pool resources to provide a variety of write-ins, guest author visits, and workshops for our community of writers.

We’ve been able to host several midwest writers through this collaboration, including Michael Perry, Blair Braverman, Wang Ping, and Dean Klinkenberg. We’ve offered workshops on plotting, poetry, memoir writing, setting, editing, archive research, and how to read out loud. We’ve even performed a staged reading!

This spring, Great River Writes is hosting two more guest authors, and both events are FREE! As part of our collaboration, we work with La Crosse Public Library and Winona Public Library to make our events as accessible as possible.

So join us! We’d love to see you.

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