A well-deserved honor! Kim Olgren has been chosen among the many artists and writers of the Pikes Peak Region as a Featured Artist of the Day during Arts Month by the Cultural Office of The Pikes Peak Region. She’ll be featured on October 22, 2022. Be sure to check out the virtual calendar during Arts Month to find out more about Kim and other awesome artists of all kinds in the Pikes Peak Region.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Olgren is the author of the internationally-selling cozy mystery, FLIPPED-A JILLIAN MCELROY FLIPPING MYSTERY (writing as Kimberly Olgren). Flipping houses can be murder. As Jillian soon finds out when she buys her first house for renovation, setting off a powder keg of murder, kidnapping, and worst of all, the necessity to hire infamous womanizer, Nathan Strong as her general contractor. When not writing Kim can be found in her local community renovating houses with her husband, volunteering with her local writers’ organization, crafting, or camping somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Visit her blog, ‘Round the Bend, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, former teacher, and compulsive dawn greeter. Her many books include DEL TORO MOON (middle grade fantasy series) and ON A GOOD HORSE (middle grade contemporary). She is the recipient of the Colorado Book Award, the High Plains Book Award, the Will Rogers Medallion Award, the IPPY Silver Award, and the Moonbeam Children’s Book Silver Award. A native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby can be found wrangling words. Visit the author at www.darbykarchut.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Is it a sunset, or a sunrise? For some, it’s both as they move out of one chapter and into another. One thing is for sure. It’s sure a beautiful image for the header of our soon-to-be-unveiled shiny new website. One of the many things your new board of directors and a host of other volunteers are diligently working to bring fresh and useful content to our members. As your new board president, I’m thrilled to be a part of the exciting changes happening with Pikes Peak Writers that will help us better serve our membership in so many ways.
Who am I?
I’m Kim Olgren. Some of you may have seen me around hosting non-conference events. These are the events we put on nearly every week and special events we put on once a quarter and the occasional pop-up event. We may have met at one of our previous conferences. If not, I’ll be at the 2023 conference. Be sure to say “hi.”
What qualifies me to be president of your PPW board? My background includes having worked several non-profits, including The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Goodwill, and The Retired Enlisted Association, Chapter 1. Where I worked closely with their boards and/or leadership. I’ve worked in HR for a few companies in the Pikes Peak area as well. Giving me the necessary soft/people skills to thoughtfully match people to the positions best suited for and in which they can flourish. I’m a maker, creator, author, and likely your best cheerleader. For me, creativity is life. Math and data entry are necessary evils to be executed as cleanly and quickly as possible (I said what I said). I’ve run non-conference events for PPW for the last couple of years, including budgetary responsibilities. I’ve been the editor of our newsletter, I’m a contributing writer for the PPW blog, handled PPW’s social media, and done some administrative work as well. But mostly, I’m passionate about PPW’s mission:
“Pikes Peak Writers (a 501(c)(3) organization) is committed to helping writers grow and thrive through education, outreach, and community.”
Pikes Peak Writers
We are an all-volunteer organization run by an all-volunteer board of directors. We run 100% on coffee and tea laden, wild-eyed (possibly somewhat feral) volunteers who are determined to fulfill our mission. Each one is precious to us, as are each of our members. Those in leadership positions with PPW have a special obsession for helping others. You’ll be meeting the rest of the board in future social media posts. Please be patient with us as we transition into new leadership positions and take on new tasks. We encourage every board member to take on some kind of responsibility within the organization besides their duties as a board member. I still wear several other hats for PPW. Our vice president is also the newsletter editor, one of our members at large is transitioning into the role of non-conference events director, another is taking over social media, and the board helps with conference in many hands-on, behind-the-scenes ways, just to name a few.
What are our future goals? Great question! Our biggest priority is to give you, our members, what we promise in our mission statement. The pandemic has been tough on all of us in some way. Many of us who rarely had too many issues writing found ourselves with too much time on our hands and too isolated to write. Others found they couldn’t find the time to write as spouses were suddenly home 24/7 and kids were attending school online from home. Some of us flourished during the pandemic and are having trouble adjusting to post-pandemic routines. If your train has jumped the track, we want to help you get back online. Attending some of our events and connecting with fellow writers again could be just what you need to find that spark again or you may find the desire to continue. My door is always open. You can shoot me an email at president@pikespeakwriters.com anytime. I will do my best to answer emails within 48 hours.
Who are We?
My job, along with the rest of the board, is to be responsible leaders, decision-makers, and stewards of Pikes Peak Writers assets in order to best fulfill our mission; whether that’s during our annual conference, non-conference events we hold throughout the year, our info-packed website and blog, or our anthology. We’re always working hard to inspire and help Pikes Peak area writers grow and thrive. Look for exciting new events and workshops happening every month culminating in one of the best writers’ conferences in the land, Pikes Peak Writers Conference, happening April 28-30, 2023. Volunteers are always welcome to help us serve our writing community. Email volunteer@pikespeakwriters.com to find out more.
The all volunteer board of directors are:
Kim Olgren President
Deb Courtney, Immediate Past President
AJ Metzgar, Vice President
Charise Simpson, Returning Treasurer
Kathie Scrimgeour, Secretary
Laura Hayden, Returning Member at Large
Dustin Hodge, Member at Large
Sharon Manislovich, Member at Large
Leilah Wright, Member at Large
PPWC2023 Submission Portal
The 2023 conference workshop submission portal is open until October first, and there’s never been a better time to share your knowledge. Conference registration will open in November. Be sure to register early and reserve your room. They go fast! Our lineup of workshops is shaping up to be stellar and with keynote speakers like Robert Crais, author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels, Barbara O’Neal (who’s won more awards than you can shake a stick at), and Dave Chesson, creator of Kindlepreneur.com this conference promises to be one of our best. You do not want to miss this. Some attendees say one of the best things about conference happens in between and around the fabulous workshops when you might have the opportunity to rub elbows with your favorite author, meet a new favorite, or maybe even chat with an agent or editor. We are, after all, the friendliest conference in the U.S.
I look forward to seeing you soon. Until then, write on!
Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, you need to know about scene lists. This is a tool that can change your life as a writer. Pantsers don’t run away. I promise I’m not trying to convert you I’m trying to help you. Don’t be afraid of the big, bad spreadsheet program.
What Is a Scene List?
A scene list can be as simple or as thorough as you want it to be. As a pantser, you might just make a simple list of scenes in a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Docs just for quick reference as to where something happened. Especially if you’re writing in a program like Word where you looking at one, large, running document. I mean, scrolling through a 100k Word document to see where you first hinted at that smoking gun has to be one of the most tedious and unnecessary actions one can be bored to tears doing. On the flip side, plotters, you’re probably already thinking about tracking all those pesky little details floating around outside of your beautiful outline.
What Can a Scene List Do for You?
Your scene list can be so useful that it can assist you from the maze of the (gasp) outline and first draft, all the way through the bog of revisions, bypassing the junk fields altogether, and right up to publishing castle. A scene list can help with everything from character traits to timelines.
Here’s the hand-written scene list from Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.
Looks complicated? It’s not. Remember all these squares were filled in over a long period of time. As writers we all know this stuff takes time and odds are it’s not going to look the same as when you first started. However, a scene list can help keep you on track. Especially when you’re wandering around in the purgatory of the soggy middle. Your scene list can put you back on track and moving forward.
Finally, you’re down to the nitty-gritty. It’s time for editing. But wait! You know there’s some missing scenes and some that need to be sent to the abyss. But which ones? Never fear! Your handy scene list is here! Need to drop that meaningful backstory comment that foreshadows why Jane is so afraid to let anyone get close? Browse your scene list. You know you have to pull that scene where that one thing happens that, as it turns out, is totally irrelevant to the story? Browse your scene list. You can highlight what you want to keep or toss in different colors, or highlight POV so you can track how much page-time your characters are getting. The possibilities are endless.
Get the most from your scene list
Here’s some information you might want to include to get the most out of your scene list (you can do more or less, or do it completely differently, it’s all up to you):
Scene number
Chapter the scene is found in
Estimated word count
Actual word count
A short scene summary
POV
Other characters involved
The scene’s structure
Date the scene takes place within the story
The setting in which the scene takes place
You can use a spreadsheet, some kind of outline form in a word processing program, the cork board in Scrivener, sticky notes on a wall or in a folder, graphing paper, or some other helpful writing tool you prefer. Your scene list can be the map to your novel, showing you all corners of the world you’re building and everything within it at a glance. Your all-seeing eye gazing into your newly forming world.
May your pen be swift, prolific, and true!
K.A. Olgren has voraciously read anything she could get her hands on for as far back as she can remember. She’s always been a sucker for a good mystery in any form. By the time she’d entered elementary school she was writing her own stories and squirreling them away for her own eyes only. She’s worn many hats but writing has been her constant companion. When not wrestling with words or curled up with them (it’s a complicated love/hate relationship), she can be found flipping houses with her husband, volunteering within the local writing community, crocheting badly, traveling sporadically, or hanging out with her family and faithful German shepherd/lab mix in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Visit the author’s website.
Stephen King does jigsaw puzzles, plays guitar, and bowls. Emily Dickenson loved baking. Agatha Christie traveled with her husband. E. Cummings painted. Jackie Collins is into soul music and photography.
Hobbies. Every writer could use one or two.
“Why would I need a hobby? Don’t I have enough to do as a writer?” You may ask.
While writers do have full schedules (surprisingly, “other” people do too), spending time on a hobby can be beneficial in many ways.
A Healthy Hobby
Certain hobbies help keep you healthy. Stephen King is among may writers who have been know to take a daily walk. Here in Colorado many writers have outdoor hobbies such as hiking, biking, running, paddle boarding, skiing, and much more. Physical hobbies help your body release feel-good chemicals in your brain and rid your body of toxins, helps you focus better, and sleep better, and that helps you write better. Plus, expending energy on physical hobbies, actually gives you more energy for everything else, including writing. Many times, these hobbies are combined with other hobbies like photography or camping.
Allow Your Mind to Unwind
I used to help out one of my hubby’s former employers with tagging merchandise. It sounds monotonous, poking those little plastic things with a tag through item after item, case after case of…stuff. Sounds downright mind-numbing right? Wrong! I had some of my most creative ideas when I was doing this work. Why? Because my inner critic was focused on doing the job and not poking myself with the tagging gun, which left my imagination unsupervised and free to make up whatever it wanted to. The same goes for seemingly repetitive hobbies like knitting or crocheting. These hobbies allow the mind to unwind and stretch out.
Get Up and Go Out
You need to get out among the people sometimes. Yes. I said it. You have to go OUT. Look, you can’t make good stories in a vacuum. If you’re not getting out once in a while, you’re missing the opportunity to gather valuable story fodder. Hobbies like spectator sports, joining a park and recreation softball league, a dart league, or just walking the mall make you get out amongst your fellow humans and help to remind you of how people act, for better or worse.
Don’t Let the Well Dry Up
Hobbies help fill the well. When I’m relaxing with my hubby on the sofa watching TV and crocheting, just chilling, I’m filling the well. When I’m walking my dog or playing ball with her in the back yard, I’m refilling the well. When I’m chilling with a good book that I’m reading just for fun (yes, you should do this too), I’m refilling the well. Do whatever refills your well. Do it regularly. This is one of the most important things writers can do for themselves.
Let Your Hobby Help You
Finally, hobbies can help you overcome your writing problems. Have a sticky plot problem? Take a walk or play the guitar. Trying to figure out how best to get those love interests together? Go hang out at the mall and people watch the couples (but don’t be creepy about it, no one wants to be that person). Feeling stuck? Bake something, even if it’s cookies out of the refrigerated section at the grocery store, so that you can feel like you’ve accomplished something when you take the final product out of the oven.
So, my writer friends, if you haven’t already picked up the thing that helps you unwind or helps you get inspired, fear not! There are tons of things to do. Some of the writers I know do things like:
Photography Hiking Crochet Video Games Cooking Reading (for pleasure) Movies Music Playing an instrument Drawing Knitting Painting Puzzles Camping Board games Role playing games Making jewelry Quilling Calligraphy Sewing Needlepoint Volunteer work
And many more! Think about what interests you and Google from there. The possibilities are seemingly endless. Relax and write on my writerly friends
Kim Olgren has loved reading widely and voraciously as far back as she can remember. She devours stories like other people devour potato chips. She joined Pikes Peak Writers in 2016 hoping to find like-minded people and hone her skills to write the stories swirling around in her mind, and she was not disappointed. Kim writes speculative fiction, mostly, and is a frequent victim of “shiny idea syndrome” which causes her to work on multiple projects at a time.
When she’s not writing, Kim can be found running a real estate investment business and flipping houses with her husband, hanging out with her grandkids, camping and traipsing around the local mountainous areas with her family. A fan of anything artistic or creative, she also loves crafting beautiful things out of a variety of materials.
Hats off to Kim Olgren (writing as K.A. Olgren) for the recent release of her debut novel, FLIPPED. This cozy mystery is the first in the Jillian McElroy Flipping Mystery series from Eclectic Silver Press.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When Jillian McElroy finds herself laid off, recently bereft of her mother, and richer by a hefty inheritance she decides to take her mother’s posthumous advice and follow her dream of renovating and selling houses. But this old house may bring her more than she can handle. Every house has secrets. This one seems determined to keep them at any cost and trouble starts before Jillian puts the key in the door. Just after purchasing the house she’s nearly run over by an old man that turns out to be the next-door neighbor and a freak accident causes her contractor to quit. “If these walls could talk, they’d tell you to run,” he said. Which is exactly what her head tells her when she is forced to hire the only contractor in town available on short notice, notorious womanizer and former would-be flame Nathan Strong. But her heart has other ideas. The last thing Nathan wants is to be tied down, but Jillian is the one that got away which only makes him want her more. When her sister is kidnapped with her house as the ransom, Jillian and Eric soon find themselves in over their heads and head over heels as they race to find her sister, keep an obsessed old man from destroying her investment, and figure out what makes this particular property such a “killer” deal. The book is available through Amazon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
K.A. Olgren has voraciously read anything she could get her hands on for as far back as she can remember. She’s always been a sucker for a good mystery in any form. By the time she’d entered elementary school she was writing her own stories and squirreling them away for her own eyes only. She’s worn many hats but writing has been her constant companion. When not wrestling with words or curled up with them (it’s a complicated love/hate relationship), she can be found flipping houses with her husband, volunteering within the local writing community, crocheting badly, traveling sporadically, or hanging out with her family and faithful German shepherd/lab mix in the beautiful Rock Mountains of Colorado. Visit the author’s website.
Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. Click here to submit your Sweet Success Story.
