PNWA – Beth Anna Cook

PNWA 2016

I knew I’d go back to the PNWA conference again this year. I didn’t have an agent, so I needed to pitch my book again. I wanted to make new friends and reconnect with the ones I’d made last time. I missed the electricity of three wonderful days in the company of hundreds of fellow word nerds.AndContinue reading “PNWA 2016”

Summer ILC, Week 7: The Skill of Receiving Feedback

I’ve gotten a lot of feedback this week. Learning how to give feedback that is stage-appropriate, respectful, and insightful is of course a really important skill to have when you’re working with fellow writers. But we don’t often talk about learning how to receive feedback, which is also a skill that must be learned andContinue reading “Summer ILC, Week 7: The Skill of Receiving Feedback”

Summer ILC, Week 4: PNWA Conference

What an adventure! I knew that at PNWA I would learn about the industry and make some professional networking connections. What I didn’t know was how much FUN I was going to have! Anything where a bunch of people who are all geeks about the same thing get together specifically to geek out about thatContinue reading “Summer ILC, Week 4: PNWA Conference”

Summer ILC, Weeks 2 & 3: PNWA prep

These past two weeks I’ve been preparing for, as my friend and fellow novelist Heather over at Things I’ve Killed calls it, “the electric hurricane vortex that is PNWA.”Things I accomplished:– Met up with Heather on Tuesday and got a lot of my questions answered. She assured me that even though it’s stressful, all the prepContinue reading “Summer ILC, Weeks 2 & 3: PNWA prep”

Summer ILC, Week 1: What’s an ILC again? So many questions!

Two weeks ago I walked at graduation, but I have one more quarter left to go at Evergreen before I officially receive my BA! This last project is an 8-credit Individual Learning Contract (Evergreen-speak for doing whatever you want (with faculty support) and getting credit for it.) called A Novel Publication: Learning to Navigate the World of Professional Writing.Continue reading “Summer ILC, Week 1: What’s an ILC again? So many questions!”

Spring ILC, Weeks 7-9: Being OK with it

Week 7 I started mildly freaking out about how much work I had to do and how impossible it seemed to get it all done by the end of the quarter. I said as much to my faculty sponsor who replied, “Yeah, that’s ’cause you’re trying to do 24 credits’ worth of stuff.” For onlyContinue reading “Spring ILC, Weeks 7-9: Being OK with it”

Spring ILC, Week 5: Panic

How is the quarter half over already? And why does that happen every single quarter? This week was another tough one. On Wednesday morning on my way to work, I had a panic attack on the bus and had to go home sick, losing all potential productivity for the day. I sometimes feel like I’mContinue reading “Spring ILC, Week 5: Panic”