Navigating Brainstorming

You’ve heard of beta-reading and critique groups, but your secret weapon is brainstorming. Use the group collective mind to unleash ideas and push you toward fresh choices in structure and characterization. Discover how brainstorming circles work to turn story problems into tantalizing twists and powerful page turners. Participate in a brainstorming session and walk away with tools to harness brainstorming and take your novel from boring to compelling. One-hour workshop, co-presented with award-winning author Julie Glover.

Support Your Writing Habit

“The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~Mark Twain

So you’ve discovered your destiny of writing stories to be published. You are an author. A mystical creature who creates stories and worlds and people out of pure imagination. But what do you do when you aren’t yet paid (or paid enough) to do this destined work?

In this workshop, we’ll use a diagnostic worksheet to uncover career opportunities that will support your writing habit both financially and schedule-wise. We’ll also use a strategy that will give you intensely profound answers to questions you’ve always had about your career path. By the end of the workshop, we’ll discover the intersecting point of your passions and your strengths with the end goal of forging a creative life that supports your writing habit. Participants will take home a tangible action plan and have a good grasp of their ‘life bank’ so they can move forward along their new path with confidence.

After spending ten years in the oil and gas industry, Christina left her successful career to start her own company with the goal of combining her interests, her passions, and her strengths to form a holistic creative life. She went on to form Cruising Writers, which met all her creative needs and allowed her the time and the freedom she needed to write award-winning stories. This workshop can be presented in a one-hour format or half-day.

Creating Character Emotion that Connects

Writing a great plot is one thing. Writing a great plot with a cast of characters that deeply connects with readers is an entirely different thing. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to write fresh visceral reactions and pinpoint the places in your WIPs that require specialized scuba gear to dive deep into the dark depths of your characters and discover the unexplored waters of your character’s souls.

If your characters aren’t connecting to agents, editors, critique partners, or readers, this is the workshop for you. Christina’s award-winning stories have been praised for intriguing characters that connect with readers on a deeply emotional level. One-hour workshop.