To Write or To Retreat? (or Enjoy the Silence*)

With apologies to Depeche Mode (XOXO)*

Tip of the day: There are four days left to register for this SCBWI novel-writing retreat in the Adirondaks!

The Falling Leaves Masterclass Retreat at the Silver Bay YMCA in the Adirondaks of New York looks lovely. (See link above.) Beautiful setting in fall, driveable location from home, five editors to chat with, one of whom will crit 20 pages of your novel....ahhhh! Bliss! I am SO CLOSE to just sending in my registration to hope I make it in. In fact, my fingers are twitching now as I resist printing out the registration form.

The reasons I'm hesitatnt to reply? Here's my thoughts:

1. The weekend before I will be in Albuquerque for the YALSA Symposium, so how many YA writerly/readerly/librariany indulgences do I need and/or want to travel to? Will things at work get crazy if I take off that much time when I know the end of the huge art contest is around then?

2. Will I be satisfied with just a 25-minute critique from an editor who may not even be interested in my type of writing (from the luck of the pairing draw)? Will it feel worth it when I have an agent who might be able to give me similar feedback?

3. Do I need to spend $350 or so to be surrounded by YA writerly folks and to actually get some writing done?

4. Would it be more useful to just block off that weekend at home for my own writing time, tell the manpanion to stay out of the Writer Room, or would I lose my drive and wish I was at the retreat?

OH MAN I WANT TO GO TO THE RETREAT!!!!

Readers, what helps you decide what events like this to attend?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Help me, please!

Tip of the day: Have a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend. It’s supposed to rain where I am. I plan on spending a lot of the weekend writing!

All right.

Dilemma time.

I need help!

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve been in a recession. A recession means less money for everyone, schools especially.

So, I’m getting e-mails quite often from teachers asking if I might donate a book or books for their classroom library.

Now, please understand – I love teachers! And I especially love that these caring teachers want great libraries of books in their classrooms, and want to include MY books in said libraries.

So I have said yes to these requests most of the time, because I feel like it’s something I should do.

But if I donate a book every week to a teacher or some other cause, and it’s a hardcover book at $16.00 that’s $832 in books! And for the record, let’s make sure everyone understands – that’s $832 out of my own pocket.

I mean, to me, that’s a lot of money! Money I need to be saving for my kids’ college tuition that is coming up in the not-so-distant future.

I hate that I may just have to start saying no. But I feel like saying yes has opened the floodgates and now I’m getting even more requests.

Yes, I want kids to read my books! But I also don’t want to be known as the author who is happy to give away books, because I can’t really build a career giving away books. Or can I? Do you think giving away 50+ books would help to sell many more books than that in the long run, because kids read one and then buy more later?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this! What do you think? Should I keep saying yes, or is it time to put my foot down?

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career