Vibes, Atmosphere, NOLA, and New Books
Vibes, Atmosphere, NOLA, and New Books
Ending 2023 with an eye to LOTS of words in 2024
Beth here! My floor is covered in bits of tape and wrapping paper, boxes from toys are overflowing the recycling bin, and everyone’s still in a sugar coma from all the cookies and sweets of Christmas Day. But there are a few nebulous days between the old year and the new still to go, and there’s always more work to do!
Cristin and I are talking about new ideas, new retreats, and new ways to bring our writing community together. In case you missed it before, we’re also starting off early with our first retreat of the new year: New Orleans in February 2024! And while that number still feels impossible (24 years since Y2K?!), we definitely don’t want anyone to miss out on this retreat. There are only four spaces left, and beds are going fast!
If you’ve never done a Wordsmith Workshop, this is going to be a great introduction to what we offer! Join us for five days in the Big Easy—our retreat house is located in Mississippi on the beach, so we’ll have cold weather waves giving us delightful vibes, plus we’re doing a day trip to the beautiful city of New Orleans to delight in some beignets, visit some shops, and explore the historical town.
Included in the price is transportation from the airport at specified shuttle times, all your meals, workshops by both Beth and Cristin, and two critiques—Beth will analyze your overall story and help you come up with a writing or revision plan, and Cristin will critique your opening pages for an in-depth look at your prose.
Also included is our awesome community—our people are the best, and we don’t just drop you the minute the retreat is over! We have keep in touch with those who attended our very first retreat online and in person, and we truly have a community I’m thrilled to be a part of. It’s the people, the community, that I’m most proud of with Wordsmith. *group hug!*
If you’d like to find out more about the NOLA retreat or put down a deposit to join us, just click here! Put all that holiday cash toward an investment in your writing future!
More Success Stories!
We are so proud of our members who are seeing their dreams come true before the new year hits! Please join us in congratulating Kate Isabel Foley for signing with a literary agent and Andria Henry for releasing a new novel in December! (And stick with us, as we’ve got more members signed with agents and new Wordsmith books coming out in 2024!)
In Kate’s own words:
"I signed with a literary agent, just in time for the holidays! I owe so much of my publishing progress to the support of the wonderful Wordsmith community."
And you can also read Andria’s latest rom com, Accidentally in Love, out now!
Single mom Cate has started nursing school, but between her five-year-old son, her ADHD struggles, and her part-time job, her grades are already slipping.
High school football coach Adam has been head-over-heels for a colleague for the past year but is too scared to make a move.
As long-time friends, Cate and Adam make the perfect deal. He’ll help her study, and she’ll help him with his love life. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings get tangled.
Will they finally see what’s been right in front of them all this time?
Word Lab: New Year, New Times!
After polling our members, we’re going to try out a new time for Word Lab in January (all times listed in Eastern). The Sunday times remain the same: 2-4pm every Sunday. But Wednesday is going to be revamped to a slightly earlier time: 7-9pm. You can join us twice a week for both times, or pick and choose whichever days you’d like to attend for the partial time option.
Word Lab is truly a fantastic way to get words done and stay focused in your writing. We hope you join us, but if you’re hesitating, please reach out and let us know if you have any questions or concerns!
Video Lesson: The Promise of the Premise with Tropes
This month’s video lesson is slightly more advanced, delving into the promise of the premise, and how to use tropes that are popular with your target audience to create themes and scenes that really elevate your writing.
You can view all our videos here. Each is available a la carte, or you can subscribe to Beth’s Patreon and get all the videos in the archives as part of your subscription (plus additional weekly writing posts). Now’s a great time to join, as Beth has just begun a new serialized novel and is posting chapters each week, along with notes on how the book developed!
And, as always, we want to thank you. Wordsmith is now eight years old, with a list of success stories, pubished novels, agented writers, and a community of sharing, compassionate people putting their hands down to help lift others up. I could not be prouder of what we’ve made together. Thank you for being a part of our community!