StoryWonk: Class has begun

Yesterday was the first day of class.  For those of you who don't know, or just don't remember, I am taking an online Revision class through StoryWonk.com.  I won it through a raffle held by NaNoWriMo, and am very very excited.

The first class was awesome.  Our teacher, Lani Diane Rich, is amazing.  Very sociable, very bubbly, and very well trained on the her teaching skills.  I have a good feeling that I am really going to like this class.  I took about two pages of personal notes (and yes, the image with today's post is a shot from the notes I scribbled) during her one hour lecture yesterday. And I even got some extra ideas for some of the add-ins I still need to do for PN.  Yay for inspiration!

Week one is focusing mainly on the Big Picture Pass, and dividing my lovely manuscript into the 4 acts, then into smaller scenes.  I grew up in theatre, even having it as a job for a few years when I was the co-director and sub-teacher for the middle school program where I used to live.  So this method that Lani teaches is PERFECT for me.  We are not supposed to edit too much, if at all, this week.  Instead, we are just supposed to focus on getting the overall picture of what our novel is, and then divide it all up. 

I am about half done. 

Notecards are being labeled, scribbled upon, and taped to the wall.  I have already discovered places that I could start a new chapter, enhance, potentially delete... this is awesome!  Thank you NaNo Gods for knowing exactly what I was needing.  And Lani... you rock.  I cannot wait for the next five weeks of this class!

To wrap up today's post, I just gotta post a summary of a quote of something Lani said.  When you hear her talk, you know without a doubt how much she loves the art of writing.  And she inspires me.

"People are going to line up 10-deep to tell you that you are a horrible writer.  Don't beat them to it.  You are capable.  You are amazing.  Say it:  I AM A GREAT WRITER!"