I’m offering TWO scholarships, one for each of the following classes that begin on Wednesday, February 22, 2012!

Each scholarship has a value of $275. (Pretty good, right?)

If you’d like to apply for a scholarship, you have to choose one. Please do not apply for both.

The first scholarship is for the newly updated Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff class.

The second scholarship is for the newly updated Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform class.

Be sure to make it clear in the subject line which scholarship you have selected. I’ve listed the guidelines for each below. First WPSS and then DYS&LYP.

Best of luck!

[Begin WPSS Scholarship Info]

One full scholarship is granted each time the class is held. Please read this post  completely and double-check your application before submitting. The recipient will be announced on Monday, February 6th in this blog.

Please feel free to spread the word about the scholarship, even if you do not intend to apply. This is a full scholarship. The recipient commits to participating fully in the class and delivering all six assignments on time.

Please do not apply if you cannot make the commitment to participate in the class, which involves reading the weekly workbook, completing your assignments, and learning from your classmates work. (To learn about what you will get out of the class, please read the full class description.)

No additional time or special coaching is offered with the scholarship. It’s up to the scholarship recipient to make the most of the class.

Please note that this is a scholarship, not a giveaway. This scholarship is only for moms and is offered by class instructor, Christina Katz (that’s me).

One scholarship is available per WPSS class. The scholarship is not transferable if you fail to complete the class. The scholarship is also not transferable in the case of illness, family emergencies, a move, etc. If you have already paid for the class, you do not qualify for the scholarship. If you have already taken the class, you also do not qualify.

What is written in your application is private and your personal information will never be shared or sold beyond announcing the name of the recipient. The only way to qualify is to apply each time. No one else will view your application.

The application questions are below. Copy and paste them into a Microsoft Word document (to take the class you must be able to create and read Microsoft Word documents—no exceptions). Attach your application as a Word doc to your e-mail. Please answer each question concisely and completely.

Send your application to: “christina at christinakatz dot com” – this the only email address for the scholarship. If you do not receive the scholarship, save your application for future scholarships and re-apply. Always add in your most current publication credits, since they are important. Put “WPSS Scholarship Application” in the subject line.

The scholarship recipient will be chosen based on the following criteria: demonstrated effort, need, and enthusiasm. The most important consideration is demonstrated past effort, so please don’t skimp on details of your past writing efforts. Applications accepted from U.S. residents only at this time.

Please Note: The Writer Mama Scholarship is only for moms who legitimately cannot afford class tuition for whatever reason. So if you work at home, earn money, receive money, or your spouse or partner earns enough money for you to afford the class, please expect to regular pay  price. My classes are kept affordable specifically so moms can afford them!

To register for the class as a non-scholarship candidate, please visit the registration page. Space in the class is limited.

Here’s the application:

[Copy and paste the following application form into a Word doc >>>]

Name

Address

Email

Phone

Have you read the book, Writer Mama?

How long have you been reading my blog(s)?

What version of Microsoft Word software are you currently using?

Have you applied for The Writer Mama Scholarship before?

Write a short paragraph in response to the following questions:

1. Please write one short paragraph about why you want to take the class, Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff.
2. Please list by publication name and date only, any publication credits you’ve accumulated thus far. Briefly list any other experience you think is relevant.
3. Please briefly state why you are unable to afford the tuition for the class at this time (see note below).

[<<<Stop copying this application form]

Thanks for applying for The Writer Mama Scholarship!

[End WPSS Scholarship Info]

[Begin DYS-LYP Scholarship info]

[End DYS-LYP Scholarship info]

Look forward to announcing the scholarship recipients on Monday, February 6th!

More kind words about The Writer’s Workout from reviewers:

I’ve taken several of Christina’s writing classes over the last few years and the skills I learned and the insights into the changing world of writing she shared have kept our public relations and freelance writing business current and earning during a very difficult economy. Her latest book takes all the tips, tricks, knowledge and the best of her coaching and motivating skills and turns them into actionable, doable, and valuable tasks writers can make to stay at the top of their writing game and organize their business to produce and sell. If your goal is to take your writing to a more professional, productive level and to increase your earnings in 2012, then this is an important investment in your writing career.

~ ReadingMama in an Amazon review

The Writer’s Workout is a rare find in a world of quick fixes and new ways to conform to others’ existing standards. Ms. Katz at once nudges a writer to organically grow and develop her body of work while setting and maintaining high personal standards and an impeccable work ethic. I have not yet found any book on writing to offer an approach so pragmatic that somehow innately nurtures the soul of our work. I have no doubt that students of Ms. Katz will emerge as the visionary writers of our time, and I am happy to have discovered her work at this point in my career.

As I near the dissertation phase of my doctoral work, I now have a renewed sense of hope that I can find ways to join my creative and scholarly publishing pursuits to develop a portfolio that pleases both me and my readers.

~ Melissa Howell, rhetoric and composition doctoral student in an Amazon review

As I’ve been creating my resolutions and goals for 2012 this week, I’ve also been reading Christina Katz’s new book for writers, The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks, & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach. Over the years I’ve taken many online writing classes from Christina and read her other books for writers. Each one has boosted my writing career in just the way I needed it at the moment, and I expect it to be the same with The Writer’s Workout…

~ Read more of this review by Cynthia Hudson

The Writer’s Workout is now available everywhere books are sold. Email me your receipt by noon on January 9th — that’s just a week away — to attend my free Flash Class on Tuesday, January 10th. I’ll be answering your writing career questions all day.

Hope to see you there! More info here.

I’ve been feeling really grateful lately towards all of the folks who have helped me with my writing career thus far.

I can’t thank them all here because there are an awful lot of them (the proof is right here).

But I can thank them categorically, at least.

I need to do something with all of this gratitude I am feeling.

Thanks to…

• My husband and daughter
• My students
• My writer buddies (in real life and online)
• My mentors and teachers
• My editors
• My parents and family
• My readers
• The folks who help with and attend the Northwest Author Series
• The folks who inspire me over at our Writers on the Move FB group
• Writer’s Digest folks
• Jane Friedman
• Amazing women writers past and present
• Fellow author mamas
• Our pets
• And everyone who has touched my life in any kind of inspiring way over the past twenty years while I’ve been building a writing career from the inside-out

I really appreciate you. Thank you for every little act of generosity.

I feel like this is going to be a really awesome school year.

I cannot wait for it to get started…

~ Photo by mtsofan

What you are is what you are.

If you try to deny the truth of who and what you are, you will be in pain.

Worse, if you insist that others validate your untruths about who and what you are, they will probably not enjoy it much.

Isn’t it so much easier to just relax and be yourself?

Creative folks may have to go through an adjustment phase on this because we don’t exactly live in a world that embraces the creative process. So, you’ll have to embrace your creative side first, if you want others to embrace it, as well.

If a right-brain person is waiting to be more like a left-brain person before she can master anything, she is going to be waiting for a really long time.

But if she can explore and experiment with what works for her within her current context, and strive for her own definition of time-management success (assuming it harmonizes with those around her), then she will start to thrive because she takes who she is into account.

Accept yourself. Accept the way you are. And then go from there. Everything will work better. Does anyone else notice this?

~Photo by blvesboy

Look forward to seeing everyone at AWP 2012 in Chicago!

For me, going to a conference is not merely (or even nearly) about the programming (although strong programming is always a plus).

For me, a great conference is all about connecting with great people. And on that note, I had a great time at AWP 2011 in Washington D.C. these past few days, thanks in great part to the following folks:

For panel planning and steering, thanks to Jane Friedman. Jane is one of the brightest minds on publishing (past, present and future), in case you didn’t know.

For panel sharing, thanks to Dan Blank, Bethanne Patrick, Tanya Egan Gibson, Caleb J. Ross, Kevin Smokler, Al Katkowsky, and Andy Hunter.

I also was fortunate to spend some time with Kelly Messerly, Kate Travers, Randy Albers, Hope Edelman, Caroline Grant, Jen Henderson, Eric May, Shira Richman, Porter Anderson and Gwen Mayes.

I met a new wonderful bunch of writers, as well! I am catching up with all of them on FB and Twitter. I met many folks I look forward to connecting with again soon.

Here’s a blog recap of AWP including our Transmedia panel over at Fiction Writers Review: http://fictionwritersreview.com/blog/dispatch-from-awp-2011-an-intern-eye-view

Read @JaneFriedman ’s thoughts on AWP 2011 here: http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/02/04/WhosListeningToYouAWPThoughts.aspx

Hope to meet you at AWP in Chicago in 2012.

[We have two topics this time b/c I forgot to make a post for the second topic: wisdom. So just them here! Oopsie!]

When I talk about “security” in The Prosperous Writer this week, I am not talking about airline security. I am talking about something much deeper than mere travel inconvenience.

I’m talking about your sense of steadfastness moving through the world.

And if you were a subscriber, you would know all about what I said, because the e-zine would be sitting in your inbox.

E-zine readers have a chance to share their thoughts on the topic by responding to what I said in their blogs and then linking to their posts, here.

Anyone can share here, although I’m most interested in responses from subscribers to what wrote in the e-zine. (Yes, it’s like a secret club.)

To get in the loop, subscribe in the upper-right-hand corner of the blog to my weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer. You will be jumping in with the next issue.

In the meantime, check out the responses from TPW readers, who post a link below that will take you directly to their response to the topic.

If you missed out this week, I hope to see your response to the next prompt!

VALUE: $250.00!

VALUE: $250.00!

Warning: This post contains tough love.

Here’s a few points I hope to share about platform at the AWP 2010 Conference:

Understand what platform means. Here’s my official definition:

“A platform communicates your expertise to others. It includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership.”

“Basically, your platform is everything you DO with your expertise. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Once you establish a platform, it can work for you 24/7, reaching readers even as you sleep. Of course, this kind of reach takes time. If many others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then you likely have an active platform.”

“I find it helpful to define a platform as a promise writers make to not only create something to sell (like a book), but also to promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. This takes both time and effort, not to mention considerable focus.”

What is a legitimate platform? A big diversion I’ve noticed is that writers are willing to acknowledge that nonfiction writers need platforms but want to endlessly debate whether or not fiction writers, memoir writers, children’s writers, etc. need one.

I can clear this up: Every writer, who plans to publish or be published, needs a platform. It doesn’t matter what you write. As with most things, the sooner you get started the better. Because platforms take time to establish, cultivate and build. No exceptions.

Understand that platform applies to every kind of writer. Don’t get platform confused with what you’d like it to mean. Man, there is a lot of misinformation and quibbling about about what platform is and isn’t whether or not writers need to work on building one. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…in all the time spent debating, a writer could have actually built a platform!

To clarify, debating about whether or not you need a platform should not be confused with actually taking concrete steps towards building a legitimate platform. Get out of the debate club and get into the platform-building club instead. I hope you will all take the No Whining Oath (it’s in Get Known) and get to work building a productive platform that offers folks value.

Need examples? Here are a handful of writer/author platform examples. None of them are the super-fast, slap it together overnight kind because the staying power of those kinds of platforms has not yet passed the test of time. This explains why someone who is classified as a “Lift-off,” in my estimation, has actually been working at this platform stuff for years (I’m keeping things real because that’s what I’m known for):

Nonfiction (how-to):

Master: Eric Maisel

Up-and-coming: Cami Walker

Lift-off: Arnie Bernstein

Fiction:

Master: Sandra Cisneros

Up-and-coming: Joe Meno

Lift-off: Kristin Bair O’Keeffe

Poetry:

Master: Gary Snyder

Up-and-coming: Kim Stafford

Lift-off: Guy LeCharles Gonzales

Memoir:

Master: Dave Eggers

Up-and-coming: Kelly Corrigan

Lift-off: Cheryl Strayed

Remember, you won’t witness the sweat that these folks have invested into their writing careers over the years when you click on these links. Instead you view the results of all their years of hard and steady work. Don’t wish for someone else’s success. Roll up your sleeves and go do your own. Carve out your own distinct niche in the literary world.

Now go. Build your own darn platform. [Sound of whip cracking!]

And remember, no whining while you do it…except maybe to your closest writer friends, who are likely in the same platform-less boat.

So why not pull together and encourage each other to take concrete platform-building steps? You’ll find them in Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008).

And if you have taken concrete steps to start building an author-worthy platform, good for you! It’s a fun and expansive process, isn’t it? Almost as much fun as writing…if you let yourself have fun with it.

Resources:

How to Build A Marketing Platform by Christina Katz (Writer’s Digest magazine)

Excerpt from Get Known Before the Book Deal, Why All Authors Need Platforms

Online Tools Every Author Can and Should Master

~ Photo by Isolino