S. L. Gore

Great Workshop with Catherine Ryan Hyde

July 19, 2010 at 3:03 pm Leave a comment

I went to another workshop yesterday with Catherine Ryan Hyde (author of Pay it Forward and about 15 other books.)  What an intellect and great teacher. Catherine and Patricia Fripp of the National Speakers Association are the best I have seen to take a mishmash of information and condense it into something cogent and interesting – on the spot – using superior auditory skills as well as visual.

This workshop was especially privileged. We were 4 – y es – 4 authors who had her to ourselves the whole day, from 9 to 5. Working on our pitch, our synopsis and query letter, each of us got the advantage of her long career in one dose. (Even Catherine still has to write a synopsis from time to time.)  It was totally worth the $175. Stop apologizing Catherine – you are worth it! (I’d say “and more” except I don’t want her raising her fees…)

The other workshop on self-editing was two day on a weekend with 7 authors who each brought the first couple chapters of our novels.  Excellent as well. As Catherine edited each manuscript, I learned a lot about the technical alone – especially commas, semi-colons, dialogue and shortening sentences. Of course, the group gave valuable input too. It was especially fortuitous for me as I had just “finished” Isis. I went home and immediately started the first round of editing.

I would highly recommend one of her workshops in Cambria CA if you have the opportunity. She truly is a wonderful group leader and teacher (not to mention a skilled author with a beautiful command of  language.)

Entry filed under: Sandra's Comments. Tags: Catherine Ryan Hyde, Isis, National Speakers Association, Patricia Fripp, Pay It Forward.