A wonderful meeting in March, a peek at April

At the St. Pete FWA Meeting on March 12th, Heloise Jones spoke about traditional publishing. She helped us navigate through the steps of approaching an agent professionally and with our best foot (and manuscript) forward. Then she helped us understand what having an agent is like from her first-hand experience and the experience of others. Heloise did an excellent job, and obviously did her research. If I took anything away from that meeting, it was the fact that times are changing faster now than ever before, and it's important to keep up-to-date on the publishing world whether self-publishing or traditional publishing is the goal.

Visit Heloise's website at www.heloisejones.com.


Coming up in April, I'm very excited to announce that Tom Waters will be joining us. He was the keynote speaker at the FWA Annual Conference several years ago, and lucky for us he lives in St. Pete! His topic and BIO will be forthcoming.

February Meeting in St. Pete and Upcoming March Meeting

We had a great meeting on Feb 12th at the library. Open mic night gave several writers a chance to practice reading aloud to an audience. With the audience feedback, the writer was able to take away some good advice. We had several humorous pieces and a couple of stories that were on the more serious side. All were entertaining and nicely drafted.

March St. Pete FWA Meeting

For our upcoming meeting on March 12th, Heloise Jones will be speaking. As usual, we meet at the Main Branch St. Pete Library at 6 PM. Networking begins at 5:30 PM. This meeting is always open to the public.

Topic: Traditional Publishing: Getting an Agent to Your Book on the Shelf

Author Heloise will offer tips as well as the basics of what you need to know about the landscape of traditional publishing, and the steps toward a published book.

BIO

Heloise Jones has walked many paths from corporate advertising account manager to clay artist to microbrewery owner, creating, connection, and a good deal of project management at the core of each. A Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize finalist and Pushcart Prize nominee, she's currently querying agents for representation of her first novel FLIGHT, and doing research while writing her second. For her, writing a novel is like living a good life: you settle into the world, get to know folks, ride with them through their ups and downs, share their angst and triumphs, and are touched in ways so something shifts inside you. For more about Heloise, check out www.heloisejones.com.

Upcoming FWA St. Pete Meeting Thurs, Feb 12th

The monthly FWA meeting will take place at the Main Branch St. Pete Library this Thurs, Feb. 12th at 6 PM. Networking begins at 5:30 PM.

This meeting is open to the public, so feel free to invite friends.

Unfortunately, the agenda for this meeting is still one of two possibilities as I've been unable to reach the speaker. If he shows up, he will be speaking on non-fiction.

If not, we will have open mic night. All are welcome to bring writing to read aloud. Active FWA members will have the opportunity to read first, but all attendees will be welcome to do readings. I anticipate an average of 10 minute readings per person with a few minutes for feedback from the audience.

In the future, there will be another open mic opportunity if the speaker shows up.

New FWA Website and The Florida Writer, Digital Edition

If you've visited the FWA website lately, you may have noticed that a major overhaul has taken place.

If you haven't checked out the site lately, visit www.floridawriters.net today and see all the wonderful updates and changes.

The many improvements to the redesigned website are thanks to Mary Ann de Stefano and Elaine Senecal.

With all the "changes," what remains the same?

All the wonderful FWA benefits remain unchanged. The new website simply helps members and those interested in finding out more about FWA get the information they need in an easy-to-use interface.

The Florida Writer Now Digital Only

In other news, The Florida Writer has gone digital! FWA members will receive a quarterly email with their copy of FWA's magazine in an easy-to-download PDF format.

Here's a picture of the cover from the latest issue, the first digital edition.

(Note: The Florida Writer subscription is a member benefit. To become an FWA member or to renew, visit https://floridawriters.net/membership/join-renew/) 

Day at the Bay Mini-Conference in Tampa on Valentine's Day

Hemingway himself has returned from the grave to tell us all we need to know about this FWA Mini-Conference. But he looks suspiciously like Chris Hamilton, Executive Vice President of FWA.

Post by Chris Coward.

Day at the Bay Mini Conference

February 14, 2015

Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore

2225 North Lois Avenue

Tampa, FL 33607

FWA Member: $79/Non-Member: $99

Continental Breakfast, Snacks, & Lunch included in cost

Writing tracks include writing about romance as well as writing about fighting...two elements that need to be in YOUR writing!

For more information and to sign-up, click HERE.

New St. Pete Leader Bria Burton

Hi, my name is Bria and I'm the new Writers Group Leader for FWA St. Pete.

A huge thank you to Michael Nashleanas for stepping up into the WGL position for these past months. If you'd like to join me in thanking Michael, feel free to add your comments below.

Here's a little bit about myself:

Bria Burton has been a member of FWA since 2008. She's a blogger and customer service manager at St. Pete Running Company. She is blessed with a wonderful husband and two wild pets, a dog and a cat who keep her on her toes. They are the stars of her family-friendly short story collection, Lance & Ringo Tails. Her novella, Little Angel Helper, was written for her sisters, one of whom has special needs like a character in the story. She also writes speculative fiction and inspirational women's fiction. In 2011, she was awarded a First Place RPLA for her epic fantasy manuscript, Livinity. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Welcome to the Future and speculative fiction magazines such as The Colored Lens.

The monthly meetings (open to the public) will continue to be held on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the St. Pete Main Branch Library. Networking/mingling starts at 5:30 PM and the meeting begins at 6 PM, typically ending no later than 7:30 PM.

I look forward to seeing you at the meetings!

FWA St. Pete Jan. 8th Meeting

Join us tomorrow at the Main Branch of the St. Pete Library for our monthly FWA St. Pete meeting. Networking begins at 5:30 PM, meeting begins at 6 PM.

Seth Hollen will be discussion and sharing technology aides for writers.

Seth is nearly a Florida native (lived here since he was 2) and spent four years in the Marines after high school. He's been a sleep tech for 16 years. He and his wife have three wonderful children all under the age of 5. He's finishing up a Sci-Fi Thriller tentatively called Dolan's War.

Writers In Paradise at Eckerd College

Applications for the 11th Annual Eckerd College Writers' Conference: Writers in Paradise are currently being accepted until December 17th. Feel free to spread the word.

Here is a link to the press release, soon to appear in the Tampa Bay Times: http://www.eckerd.edu/news/index.php?f=detail&id=3561

FWA St. Pete Meeting Dec 11th

Tomorrow's meeting will be held at the main branch of the St. Pete Library at 6 PM. The topic will be what we can learn from children's songs that will help our writing. Networking begins at 5:30.

October and November Meetings

The blog is up and running!

We apologize for the long delay in blog posts and updates. The St. Pete FWA group continues to meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the St. Pete Library Main Branch at 6pm. All are welcome!

At the October meeting, Samantha from Gone Global Media presented the many aspects of social media that writers have the privilege, or the burden, of utilizing. From Twitter to Facebook to Pinterest, she provided insight and methods for writers who may want to use these tools for promotion, marketing, or simply for writing purposes.

At the November meeting, Rob McCabe presented on screenwriting and playwriting. His informative session provided tools for writers who are looking to write a play or script, and/or adapt a novel or short story to a screenplay.

The next meeting is December 11th. Stay tuned for more information.

St Petersburg FWA July meeting

The St Petersburg chapter of FWA will be meeting this Thursday (July 11) starting at 5:30 pm. Larry Kokko will again teach a class, this time the topics will be using micro soft Word. This powerful word processor has several tools to help a writer produce a mostly error free story.

Next he will touch on social media and the writer. He will cover blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and author webpages.

So come out and join us at 5:30 at the St Petersburg Main Library located at 3745 9th Ave N in St Petersburg.

June meeting

Our next meeting will be on June 13th at the St Petersburg Main Library. We start gathering at 5:30 with a short time for socializing before the meeting.

June's speaker will be (drum roll please) me. I will be holding a class on how to perform a proper critique; what to look for and how to effectively get your suggestions across.

This will be an overview with some diving into more detailed items; a full class would take much more time than what we have available.

Due to my costs for preparing the handbook, I'm asking feedback on who is planning on attending, this is so I have enough material for everyone.

Due to time constraints, we will probably not have time to critique anyone's work during the meeting, but arrangements might be arranged to offer that at a later date.

I hope to see you all there. 

Group Leader and critique group coordinator openings

The St Petersburg Group Leader position is still open for anyone wishing to step up. In addition, we are considering adding an additional critique group, if enough people are interested. Anyone desiring to take on one of these rewarding positions, group leader or critique group coordinator, let me know.

Larry Kokko
FWA Hillsborough and Pinellas Regional Director
Acting St Petersburg Group Leader

lkokko7381@yahoo.com
(813) 541-9317

Christmas Thank You!

It is with great joy that I offer thanks to all of our members, past and present, our guests, our speakers, our wanderers-in, for these past four and one-third years that I've had the privilege and honor to lead this group. I have learned so much from so many people, and enjoyed your friendship and encouragement as well, that I won't name any names.
I've enjoyed the critique groups I've participated in (and will continue to participate in - hey, I'm still a member), the conferences and workshops I've attended, the workshops I've run, the authors, agents, publishers, and editors I've met along the way. I hope to continue meeting new people on my writing journey.
I've come to believe we don't accomplish anything on our own - there is a network of people who help us, even if that help occurred long before we needed to use the gifts we've been given.
I encourage anyone who wants to be lifted up by writers, who wants to get out and meet people in the industry, not only in this area but from all over the country, this position gives you that foot in the door. I met New York agents and editors, California-based publishing gurus, and many others that have been invaluable to my learning the craft.

I will still be a member, and still attend meetings, though I'm taking a couple months off to begin the new year.
May your holiday season be filled with the joy of knowing someone special, the honor to serve someone you don't know, and the opportunity to pass on the kindnesses that have been given to you.

Thank you,
John
Writers Group Leader - Sep 2008 - Dec 2012

General News

We had several people practice their story pitches in October. I hope to find out how they did if they had to use them later. This coming week is our last regular meeting of the year, where Jeff Strand is the featured speaker.

It should be great, especially if you get tired of not being published and wonder - is it all worth it? Am I cut out for this?

Hope you can join us!

Pitching Your Story

An agent steps into the elevator. You smile. You're at a writer's conference. She smiles back.
"What's your book about?" she asks.

You:

a. Freeze, staring zombie like at her until she turns around and flees
b. Mumble a bunch of gibberish. She says she doesn't speak your language.
c. Use the word 'um' and 'well' about 50 times, with a couple other words thrown in for good measure.
d. You tell her, in a matter of 15 seconds, what your story is about and she says, "Could you tell me more over coffee? It sounds really interesting."

Where are you on the above spectrum? Want to get to (d) above? Come practice on Thursday in a guaranteed unique workshop on the Elevator Pitch!

John

Thursday Preview

This week - Craig Weeden, of Muzzles the Manatee fame, will speak to our group about using screenwriting tricks to SEE your novel. Craig is an engaging speaker with exciting stories of the writing life. From his website: (www.muzzlesthemanatee.com)

Craig Weeden is listed in the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, and at Poets & Writers. His work has appeared in such places as the Southern Poetry Review, New Orleans Review, Chowder Review, The Smith, Cimarron Review, Writer’s Digest, Tennis, and in numerous anthologies. His diamond-heist thriller, Lost Stones, recently earned a RECOMMEND from Script Pipeline. Craig holds a BA in Sociology, MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing.

We look forward to hearing from him and hope you can join us!

Venue Vitae

I won't say it was with great sadness, but it was with surprise and disappointment that after Thursday's meeting we pulled up to the St. Pete Diner and found it closed. Back to Po' Folks we went for some after meeting socializing.
I always enjoyed the food there as they had a nice variety and friendly, if sometimes slow, service. Plus, it's proximity to the library made it convenient. I thank April for initially mentioning the place as a possible meetup.
We held two Christmas parties there, but even if they hadn't closed last year's would have been the last, as I want to find a nice place to hold a party this December. If anyone has a preference you can email me and we'll get it on the list to choose from. I'll also send out an email to the group for input.
I knew people in other areas of my life that also enjoyed the diner, and one of our critique groups met there for a while as well.
As in life, change is inevitable and this is just another one. It reminds me of when I was driving yesterday with my son and we passed a buffet near our house that we had visited several times and heard great reviews from others, too. It was almost 7 on a Saturday night, and the parking lot was empty. I told my son, 'Wow, I didn't expect them to close.'
Change. That's story. That's what you write. Keep on writing.

Workshop Review

Just a word on how the summer workshop went. Great!
We had 16 people attend one, two, or all three sessions and covered defining your story, writing scenes, and adding emotion. Handouts were sent to participants and to those who signed up. Feedback has been positive, and the hope is that this can be developed into something to present at future workshops and conferences.
I, personally, had a lot of fun with it and enjoyed the back-and-forth critiques by the writers as they listened to each others' works. I heard some great stories as well, from futuristic fantasy, thriller, personal drama, humor, and more that sounded very solid and promising. I met new and interesting people, including some I had had conversations with through email.
Thanks to those who attended! It was you who made it great.

Journey through Journaling

Linda Burhans spoke to an attentive group on Thursday, August 9th, about journaling and how it can help you as a writer. In addition, she focused on how everyone has a story to tell, and a journal is a way to tell that story. Sharing her own story with the group included a mixture of touching loss and laughing discovery. It's a journey we all know to some degree.
One thing powerful in journaling is its ability to heal. Linda uses multiple journals to separate her different feelings or focus so they won't 'contaminate' each other. This way she can choose to burn her journal of anger without anyone seeing it, and still share her one of joy with those closest to her.
I've attempted journaling in the past, but always felt it was more like keeping a diary, and was something I'd never want revealed. Linda showed that a proper journal can become a book of universal truth and experience, something that can be used by others to confront their own story.
And finally, a journal can be a gift, a memory of those we cherished, to be shared with those we love.

Announcing new summer writing workshop!

Greetings! We are pleased to announce a free workshop over the summer, meeting on three Saturday afternoons spanning seven weeks. It is called SWISH: Story Workshop In Summer's Heat, and you can find more details about it SWISH Story Workshop.

This workshop is designed to help you write a complete short story and submit for possible publication to any anthology with a due date after August 4, 2012. Or, you can use it to fine-tune and revise the novel you are working on.

Just a note: This is a 'working' workshop, where you will listen to a few ideas, but mostly work at putting them into practice and getting feedback from other participants.

Hope to see you there!

John

Five Brave Souls

Five people read from their first pages at Thursday's FWA meeting ( May 10 ), after some initial observations and examples given by yours truly. It was an interesting night, as the audience was able to listen to and offer feedback on a YA novel, a YA short story, a mystery, a cyber thriller and a medical thriller.

What variety! And the authors got a clear sense of what worked in their story and what needed work.

It's like my sister said when she considers a new author to read. She reads the first page, and if it's not interesting to her, she puts it back and looks for someone else. I'm afraid I don't always get that far. Sometimes it's the first couple of sentences.

A big thank you to those who came out and those who offered their writing - always a great learning experience. Want more? Join a critique group! See me for more information.

Jack Moves the Words

Jack Vanek, the poet, talked about the link between poetry and prose, and offered several great quotes for attendees to digest. As always, it's about the words. The stronger the word, the more meaning it imparts, the stronger your story. He read several of his poems, some very moving and reflective of his life.

In addition, others joined in by reading their work, and we were privileged to have Cosmic Radio appear for several musical poetry numbers and one spoken word piece to finish the evening. For the tandem, it was their 219th different venue on their quest to play at 300 different places. (I forget if there was a timeline attached, and when I asked what they would do after they reached 300 they said go for 400.)

It was a great night for the 20 in attendance as they were treated to some great poetry and original music, ranging from dark to light in tone.

Avid Reader and Promoter Shares Her Secrets

Shelby Isaacson, avid reader, past marketing specialist at a small publisher and current author promoter, spoke about her passion - for reading, for story, for helping writers succeed in the swamp pit of publishing. Yes, dear readers, it is a struggle once word has appeared on page to get anyone to read it.

But with the right promotion, the right idea and the right timing, you can make it! And, it's really about doing what you enjoy, unless it's a job, and then it's about enjoying what you do! (Because if you don't enjoy it, why are you doing it?) Shelby shared some of the insider information on publishing, including book cover design, editing and marketing.

I think one of her stronger points was - get a professional edit! Too often she has seen work come across that was not properly edited, which immediately slams in on the fast slope to the slushpile.

As usual, we continued the conversation at the St. Pete Diner where she talked some more about her experiences. An enlightening evening!

In memory of Dahris Clair

Dahris Clair, past leader of the Pasco FWA Writers Group and instigator of the one day mini-conference that was so popular at the New Port Richey library, has passed away. She was a tireless enthusiast for writing and for the FWA and many of you may have met her at the yearly conference in Orlando.

I had the privilege of meeting her at one of their meetings and found her to be a font of knowledge about writing, a generous and kind person, and more active than I would have thought possible, due to her health challenges. She stepped down from leading the group last year, and due to a fall in January from which she couldn't recover, she has moved on.

If you'd like to comment on her Facebook page you are welcome to do so.

Die Hard with the Wedding Writer

Bestselling romance writer Kimberly Llewellyn, aka 'The Wedding Writer', spoke to an attentive group Thursday night, Feb 9. She went through the movie 'Die Hard', showing how romance played an integral role in the plot and highlighted some of the basics of adding romance to your story.
Of course, as others have said, it's important to have tension on every page, and for romance, additionally to have emotion on every page. But then, what's tension without emotion? I know I'm going to review my novel in revision and see if I'm following that maxim, and work harder to reveal the feelings of my characters.
I think it's easy for us to get caught up in displaying action without giving the reaction of the characters to events. As a reader once told me, 'He just learned that someone died and he didn't react???'
Kimberly also talked about the publishing industry, a popular topic at each meeting as new writers wanting to be published (or published again) want to know what the current situation is like. In addition, her critique partner and bestselling author Kathy Carmichael was in the crowd and offered additional insights into the industry, contracts, ebook considerations, and other general advice.
Afterward several joined them for a late dinner and more conversation at the St. Pete Diner.

Collaboration can be fun!

Gabriel Horn and Amy Kraut-Horn gave an interesting, informative, and enjoyable talk on January 12th to an attentive crowd. One of the things I found I liked was how they were honest with each other, and gentle at the same time. (At least to me it appeared that way - maybe not at the time!) Any time a writer has to face criticism it can be a harrowing experience. Kind of tests the thickness of your hide.
The two also covered the search for an agent, publishing and the joys and tribulations of working with that industry - a must of course unless you go the self-published route. They also read excerpts from their books and Gabriel related personal experiences that he ended up building into his book.

True Story! Bill Eleazer Reveals the stuff Stranger than Fiction

Professor emeritus Bill Eleazer (Stetson), spoke about the lessons he learned while writing his first novel, including naming at least 3 of his characters with names beginning with the letter J. In addition to sharing his experiences, he also included tips and websites that helped him and are great resources for writers. (Email me to get a copy - I'm scanning it in and will send out when I'm done. - fwastpete )
Bill was entertaining and talked about a scene in his first novel that was entirely true, but that a reader remarked was too far out to be believable! He had some great ideas for those not willing to accept rejections from the big publishing houses, and I can vouch for many of his tips as I have found them to be accurate in my own work.
I apologize for those who missed it due to the change in scenery - we had to move to the diner due to a lack of planning in securing the room at the library. I'll be more diligent in the coming year! (Anyone interested in helping please contact me!)

Memoir memories

Sheila and Jan went back and forth like the seasoned team they are, covering many aspects of writing a memoir, including their own personal experience. I kept waiting for them to break out into a Saturday Night Live skit with Alec Baldwin, but we couldn't get him to appear. [ Note: We didn't even try! ]

The crowd of over 20 people remained spellbound and attentive as Jan shared from some letters she found that her father had written to her during the war. They discussed several writing techniques to help one get started in putting their thoughts down, and added excitement to writing memoirs - something that isn't easy to achieve.

They run a story circle up in Safety Harbor that you can find from a link on the right side of this page. Overall a well-received and enjoyable evening.

Facebook and Twitter and stuff

Elenora Sabin, aka E. Rose Sabin, YA, Fantasy and Science Fiction author talked about social networking, e-books and small press publishing to 25 attendees at the meeting on Thursday Sep 8. It was a lively discussion where others contributed their experiences as well. Ms. Sabin was pushed, kicking and screaming, to establish her web presence and has come to see the value in it as she builds a following. Her new book, Shadow of a Demon, has just been released and is available from Double-Dragon Publishing in both e-book and soft cover format.
She also showed her video trailer (created herself) and pointed out how to make your own and what sites could help if you choose to do that yourself. After the meeting the held a drawing for several of her books and other surprises.

The Star Wars Force was with us!

Matthew Stover, Star Wars author and science fiction author, talked about franchise fiction ( as opposed to fan fiction - which I had thought were one and the same ), about writing, and about his newest project: a graphic comic book series. It was very informative and interesting to hear about his work with the Star Wars label. We had someone from Sarasota come to hear him, as well as some others who were familiar with his work and with the Star Wars franchise.
Mr. Stover talked about how writing the Star Wars books also gave him insight into his own writing and strengthened his own novels while providing him with something we all hope to make from our writing (or some of us, anyway): money. With that comes the freedom to write, and it was clear he enjoyed doing that very much.

July's Meeting was Personal - Blood Personal

Our July 14 meeting featured local thriller writer Frank C. Strunk, author of Blood Personal (his latest) as well as several earlier works. Frank covered a lot of ground over the course of the meeting, including sharing how he used his own background as setting for his stories. (Location, location, location!)

I think when you know the place you are writing about, it imparts a stronger sense of environment to the reader. (Though there are plenty of great stories set in places the author never visited. Especially true in Sci-Fi!)

Mr. Strunk talked about the craft, about writing good dialogue and getting into and out of scenes as quickly as possible. He discussed the publishing world and mentioned John Locke, the ebook million-selling author, and how that is changing the landscape of the business. In one discussion someone mentioned maintaining control over a POD project and deciding afterward that it wasn't worth the extra effort and time, and that the next time they would just use the POD publisher's services.

Frank was very easy to listen to and approach with questions, and shared additional time afterward at the diner with several of us.

The Passing of a Legend and Friend - July 16, 2011

I was notified this morning that our generous friend Diane Marcou passed away last night in her sleep, creating a void in the local writing community that will take some time to close.

At the first meeting of the FWA that I facilitated, back in September of 2008, I mentioned that I had received an ad for an upcoming workshop led by a Donald Maass, but couldn’t vouch for whether it might be worthwhile or not.

Diane was in attendance (she attended most of our meetings and presented at several), and said it was an excellent opportunity if one could afford it. It was the first of many of her recommendations of which I benefitted.

At Necronomicon later that same year, I had the good fortune to spend time with Diane talking about writing and life and getting to know her and become a friend of hers. I count that as a great blessing.

I won’t list all of her accomplishments, those are not important to me. Her greatest gift was her generosity of time and talent, and her genuine interest in helping those just learning the craft. She was a great person.

I was blessed to share dinner with her Thursday night after our monthly FWA meeting with some others of our group. I thought she never looked better. I guess she was getting ready to meet someone very important.

I will send out a notice of her memorial when it is received.

Thank you,

John Rehg

FWA St. Petersburg Writers Group leader

In addition, Billie Noakes, FWA member and longtime friend of Diane's has written a tribute and posted it on her blog here: http://billienoakes.com/2011/07/17/diane-curtis-marcou-a-tribute/

At our June meeting, Diane graciously stepped in when our scheduled speaker couldn't make it.

FWA Collection - Let's Talk

The FWA Collection - Let's Talk, its 3rd anthology of short stories written by members, will be going to press in time for the conference in October. Writers who have submitted have been notified, from what I hear, as to whether they made the cut or not.

At our July meeting we'll announce those selected from our group. I don't think we'll know who the top 10 are, as those stories are selected by the author of reknown, for this collection it's W. Bruce Cameron, author of "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

So, stop in to find out who will be included, and to listen to thriller writer Frank C. Strunk. Meeting is Jul 14 at 6pm at the St. Pete Main library.

New site feature!

I probably shouldn't have thrown all these posts out at once, so I'm dealing this one until Sunday. We've now added a page listing on the right column, and our first page will include author links and bios and other tidbits of information on upcoming speakers - so you don't have to search for them!

I hope you enjoy this and if you have any other page ideas, please let us know (in the comments below would be great, or via email to fwastpete).

Keep on writing!

Social Media and Webrings by Billie Noakes

Billie Noakes, storyteller and writer, shared with the group on how to use social media and what take advantage of in your quest for creating an online presence. Billie focused on Facebook, the number 1 social media site, and touched on other topics as well.

Her mention of networking meetings and Chamber of Commerce get-togethers reminded me of an FWA writer up in Pasco who sold her books at a farmer's market. What an interesting idea. (Now if only I wrote about gardening! But her's was not that kind of book - I think it was fiction.)

There are a lot of ideas out there that show that there's no one way to do things, and Billie's look into getting a following was both informative and enlightening. She showed several things via her laptop to those who stayed after.

Thank you, Billie! I've got to get back to my fan page and update it!

From Intention to Bookshelf - Janet Connor shares her soul

Janet Conner, author of Writing Down Your Soul, spoke on the realities of hard work required to get you from an idea for a book to having it published, on March 10. An engaging speaker, Ms. Conner shared how her own journey worked and was insightful and funny as well as touching on hardships.

One thing that struck a chord with me was how you can touch into an energy that can help you in your life. I know this may sound preachy, so I'm not going to go into it, other than to say you can check out her website for more information on her workshops.

I think the main thing is, keep a positive attitude and love what you are doing. You will hit bumps on the road and get gifts of help from unexpected sources. It reminds me of a saying I read in someone's office: If you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life.

How true!
Thanks and my apologies for getting these speaker reviews up so late. I will stay up to date now, I think!

Poetry and Lark

Lark Underwood, former president of the Tampa Writers Alliance, spoke on April 14th, the night prior to the traditional tax deadline (but not this year), about all things poetic; read some of her poetry, and invited others to share theirs.

The evening was fun-filled and enjoyable, and was marked by the first use of a small amplifier with microphone. This was so well-received that we decided to use it going forward.

Lark captured the excitement and emotion that good poetry emits and shared her expertise with the attendees in an engaging way.

Thank you, Lark!

Bookstores and Valiant Mystery Writers - Jan/Feb

I'm condensing the previous 2 meetings into a single post so that I can catch up and not do a disservice to the presenters (by posting one and then another quickly - this way they share the same time at the top).

**************************************** January 2011

In January Nancy Alloy, owner of Books at Park Place in Disston Plaza (49th St and 38th Ave, St. Pete) and previous representative for Ingram's, gave an honest talk on the state of the book store and the industry and answered questions from the attentive crowd. (The link above goes to a story about her store from a June 2010 issue of Creative Loafing.)

Ebooks were a big topic, as they have been lately with all the press they are receiving, and talk also focused on distribution and marketing. The January 13th meeting provided a nice kickoff for our new year, and I think everyone is excited about the new things happening in the world of the written word.

Bria Burton read from one of her works-in-progress to practice speaking in front of a group.

**************************************** February 2011

Mystery author Diane Sawyer braved the stomach ailments long enough to talk quickly about characterization, and give away door prizes of her books. She showed off her latest book, The Treasures of Montauk Cove, her 5th Avalon mystery. (The link is to the book from another website - not one I earn anything from!) After several valiant attempts to continue, Diane had to bid adieu to tend to her illness. We thank her for making the effort, and finished the evening of February 10th with some readings by attendees.

April Brown read from one of her works this evening.


*****************************************

It's been a great start to the year and we look forward to more interesting meetings. Please stop by any time and see what's coming up.


John

December Author Showcase

I thought I was going to rest in December, but someone suggested we do an authors showcase, and the library mentioned they were thinking the same thing. Of the dates offered, the 11th was deemed the best, and so we proceeded to work toward that goal. Several people worked hard to make this happen, and I have to thank Sunny in particular for her efforts.

Our lineup included Margo Hammond, Diane Sawyer, E. Rose Sabin, Bill Lagano, Sunny Fader, Jackie Minniti, Vicki Morgan, Jude Bagatti, Janice Van Dyck, Helen Parramore, Mary Ann Marger, Lynda Lippman-Lockhart, Vince Carthane, Tom Fincher, Michael Nemeth, Michael Dalton, June Hurley Young, and me.

Books ranged from biography and memoir to photography and religion, with mysteries, talking birds and young adult fiction and children's books. We offered a drawing for a gift card, which Rose Sabin won. Several people gave readings, including Diane Sawyer and Rose Sabin.

Walk-in traffic was disappointing, we had hoped for more people flooding the library, but I enjoyed the opportunity to meet some new authors (new to me) who are in this area, and catch up with some familiar friends as well.

I thank all of the above people for their participation and hope that even if you didn't make a sale, you made some new friends and were able to talk about your work with other interested people.

I wish all of you a good new year filled with joy and success in all your endeavors. As I read recently on one of the blogs we have linked on this site, it's the writing we do for those closest to us that matters the most. I can second that thought (and did on his blog - storyfix.com). It's the joy we find in writing that keeps us going.

Hope to see you in January,
John

Diner Meeting Enlightened by Zombie Publisher

Aaron Alper, from Zombie Nation Publishing, discussed his experiences in publishing, specifically the history of the Zombie: St. Pete books and the direction his company intends to take. The meeting was held at the St. Pete Diner since the library closed in honor of Veteran's Day (Thursday, Nov 11).

The Diner, a popular after meeting spot for the St. Pete FWA group, gave us most of the back room for the meeting, and in addition to Aaron's insights, books were given away, as well as the annual ream. Pat H took home the top prize.

Everyone enjoyed a good time and the chance to sit in small groups and spend more time socializing.

Our next regular meeting will be held in January, but I encourage everyone to come out and support those published authors at the December Authors Showcase.

I'm thankful for everyone in the group and the wonderful times we've shared, the stories, and the things I've learned.

Thanks,
John

Eugene Orlando Muses on All Things Publishing

Eugene Orlando, FWA regional director for Hillsborough County and Brandon writers group leader, informed an attentive crowd on what the publishing industry looks like now at the October 14th meeting, and where it appeared headed in the future. He highlighted the amazing rise of book readers and downloads vs. paper copies and discussed his own move into the e-publishing business.

In the fast-changing world of publishing, many successes have been going against conventional wisdom, and the choices for writers, both new and established, is expanding. Only those who can adapt to this rapid pace will survive, and Mr. Orlando succinctly presented the facts and trends in the business.

See you next month,

John

R.A. Riekki Drops the Glove

Ron Riekki, author of U.P., spoke to an attentive audience on August 12th, challenging everyone to write more. He shared anecdotes from his writing and publishing career to-date, and pushed everyone to write more, write daily, and submit daily. Wow, what a schedule! (And I'll include a picture of him if I can only find what I did with it!)

If you go to the Amazon site, you can read the first line of his book (which he never did read at the meeting). I think he really laid it out for everyone in terms of how hard the work is in this field, and he's one of the first (if you haven't read Larry Brooks' storyfix.com - he also lays it out in no uncertain terms).

That said, if you don't do it for the love of writing, why do it? So, I'm aiming for a smaller goal to begin with, since I also work full time. Maybe submitting one short story a month. And that's in addition to working on my novel. Or a non-fiction essay, or a set of poems.

We had a great turnout of people from Michigan, even from the U.P., so I'm sure he was happy to see that and talk to those who could identify with his home area.

Thanks to all who made it and made him feel at home,

John

Dale Hutchings PR Tips Enlighten Audience

Dale Hutchings, PR specialist, gave audience members a simple formula for coming up with a marketing plan. Dale engaged those present in working on five basic steps needed to plan how to market yourself and your literary work. The interactive presentation focused on strengths and weaknesses in building your plan, and is an easy way to get started without feeling overwhelmed by what could appear to be a daunting task.

This simplified approach looks like a good way to get a PR campaign off the ground quickly and stay focused on those things that will benefit the writer the most. We thank Dale for sharing his expertise with us.

John

Billy Ashby Kicks Off Self-Publishing Series

Billy Ashby, from A&A Printing in Tampa, opened our series on Self-Publishing from the printer's perspective. Billy has worked in printing for 15 years, and the company has been in business for about 40 years. He brought several samples of their work and discussed some of the differences between his company and other online options, including owning your ISBN number, and being able to see the actual printing process!

Billy has partnered with the godfather of self-publishing, Dan Poynter, and Marc Grant, CEO of Mentor Equity Press International, and Pam Lontos, head of PR/PR, a public relations firm that has many nationally known clients, to provide a more complete solution from writing through promotion of your book here. I was able to attend their workshop last December and came away with a lot of great information. I've read some of Dan's books, Pam's book, and intend to use their ideas in promoting my own work.

Billy talked about layout and formatting, cover design, book sizes and the ramifications of using color in your manuscript. He answered all questions with a friendly, knowledgeable attitude, and hoped that the attendees learned something they could use, whether or not they chose his company to print their work.

Next in the series, in July, we'll hear from a local PR expert. We hope this gives you options to explore as you continue on your quest to be a published writer. As Dan mentioned in his workshop, when you have your name on a book, it gives you instant credibility. So keep on writing, and good luck!

Until next time,
John

Open Mic night a vocal success

In honor of National Poetry Month, 20 members and guests gathered on Thursday, April 8, to hear member and guest readings, and special presentations by AMP (Art, Music & Poetry open mic night every last Monday of the month) emcee Brian Duncan, from Studio620, and Aleshea Harris, from the Blue Scarf Collective, perform cell-phone and spoken word poetry. (Here's Brian reading one of his 'cell phone' poems.)

And Aleshea Harris performing one of several spoken word pieces.

Another way to tell a story, and these were great ones! It was a fun night, and I would recommend open mic to any author who wants to get more comfortable speaking in public. These types of events are always supportive of the speaker, and there are several venues around the Bay area that hold regular nights. Thanks to Brian, Aleshea, and all those who brought out their poetry and shared with the group.

Thanks,
John

Digital Storyteller Carolyn Handler Miller Captives March Audience

Carolyn Handler Miller, Sunny's close and long-time friend visiting from New Mexico, held an audience of almost 30 FWA members and guests spellbound with her presentation on digital storytelling on March 11. Miller, a former Emmy-nominated screenwriter, has worked on many projects, including Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego? She teaches and works in this relatively new field, and expounded on the unique challenges of writing for games and interactive websites full of rooms and avatars.

One of the biggest was coming up with so many alternate scenes and plot lines to allow for the user making different choices. Mrs. Miller handled questions from the group throughout her presentation, and everyone left with a better understanding of another option in the writing world.

This meeting  marked our first use of the microphone and screen. We thank Sunny for tracking down a projector that we could use, and the microphone improved the listening experience, and will be used in future meetings.

[Ed. note: Why so late? My apologies as I've fallen behind a bit on keeping up here. I'll post last night's meeting review this weekend, and want to remind all those procrastinators that not only are taxes due this coming week, but it's also the deadline for the Mystery In a Month workshop registration. We'd like to see your registration in the mail by Tuesday (with synopsis emailed by Tuesday so we know you're coming) in order to prepare for your presence.]

Ask Sam: What does the pin do?

Today's question is about the Word 2007 Recent Documents list:

What is the thumbtack for next to each document in the "Recent Documents" list? I click it but it doesn't keep my documents where I want them.

In Word 2003, the recent file list under the File menu defaulted to four entries; you could set it to a maximum of nine. Every time you opened a file, Word placed it at the top of the list. When the list exceeded its capacity, each new file would bump the last file from the list. Word 2007 introduced a longer "Recent Documents" list (default of 20, max 50) and the pin, which keeps selected documents from falling off the list.

But that's all it does. If you have ten documents in the list, and you pin the second one, it doesn't stay at number two forever. The next time you open it, it moves to the top of the list, just like it always has. If you open a dozen documents, those documents will be listed before the pinned file. However, if you open more documents than will fit on the list, pinned documents won't be removed.

I'd expect that when I pin a document in place, it stays where I pinned it. But the pin is still a handy tool that keeps you from having to hunt too hard to find documents you work with on a regular basis.

Ask Sam: How can I get rid of manual page breaks?

I had a great time attending Sleuthfest 2010, and I've written about the experience on my blog. But now I'm back to answer this week's question:

Sometimes when I type fast, Word breaks the page at weird places. How do I stop that from happening?

Most likely, you are accidentally pressing the Ctrl key when you hit Enter. That inserts a manual page break into the document. There's no way to stop that from happening other than to not press Ctrl. Your best bet is to not worry about manual breaks until you finish your manuscript, and then wipe them all out at once by following these easy steps:

1. Press Ctrl + H. The Find and Replace dialog appears.
2. Enter ^m as the "Find what" text. (Word 2007 users need to enter ^p^m because Word 2007 inserts an extra paragraph marker when you insert a manual page break.)
3. Leave "Replace with" blank.
4. Click Replace All.Word removes all of your manual page breaks.
   

Another common typing error is to hold the shift key down while pressing Enter, resulting in manual line breaks. To convert them to normal paragraphs, follow the same steps as above, but use ^l as the "Find with" value (Word 2003 and Word 2007).

Got a question about using Windows or Word? Send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com.

Ask Sam: How do I filter comments?

Last week, I showed you how to combine comments from multiple reviewers into one file. While it is helpful to have all of those comments in one place, you don't always want to see them all at once. Fortunately, Word allows you to filter comments by reviewer.

In Word 2003, you use the Reviewing Toolbar. Click the Show drop-down. In Word 2007, use the Review Tab and in the Tracking group, click Show Markup. In both versions, click the Reviewers menu item. You'll see a list of all the reviewers who made comments in the file.

Uncheck a name to hide that reviewer's comments. Repeat the process for each reviewer whose comments you want to hide. When you're ready to view the comments for someone you've hidden, simply check the name on the Reviewer menu, and those comments will appear again.

There will be no "Ask Sam" next week. I'll return on March 8.

Got a question about using Windows or Word? Send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com.

Ask Sam: How do I merge comments from multiple people?

Last week I showed you how to use Word comments to annotate your manuscript, but Word comments are also useful for critique groups. If everyone in the group uses this feature to critique each manuscript, you can merge those files into one that contains the comments from everyone in your group.

The easiest way to begin merging files is to save each file to the same location but with a different name. For example, let's say you've got a story called "Touchdown," and there are three other members of your group: Lew, Spencer, and Travis. You might have these files:

Touchdown-L
Touchdown-S
Touchdown-T

To merge the files in Word 2003:

1. Open the first file (Touchdown-L).
2. Click Tools > Compare and Merge Documents.
3. Select the second document (for us, Touchdown-S).
4. Click Merge.

Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each additional file to compare.

Once you've merged all the files, save the final document. You can save it as is (all comments merged into the last document you selected) or as a new copy. I usually save it as a new copy with "All" as part of the file name. In this case, it would be Touchdown-All.

Word 2007 users have to do things a little differently:

1. On the Review Tab, click Compare.
2. Click Combine.
3. Use the folder button on the left side of the Combine Documents window to launch the Open dialog.
4. Browse to and select the first document (Touchdown-L).
5. Use the folder button on the right side of the Combine Documents window to launch the Open dialog.
6. Browse to and select the second document (Touchdown-S).
7. Click More >>
8. In the bottom right corner of the Combine Documents window, click the radio button next to Original document.
9. Click OK.

The comments are merged into the first document. Save it and repeat the steps for each additional file to compare.

Now you've got all of the comments in one place for easy comparison and revision.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

FWA Members Stay Active, Pull in Awards

We've got some active members out there! Brandi Winans, our speaker this month, gave a talk and book signing at the North Branch late last month. I'm including a couple of pictures here. In addition, Jackie Minniti continues to garner praise for her book, Project June Bug. She received a Silver - Special and Exceptional Needs in the Parenting category from Mom's Choice Awards.

Here's Brandi with our own photographer, Vicki Morgan (who will be giving a talk this month at the Main Branch):

 

Notice that in addition to her book she has additional materials.

Here's Brandi with two Friends from the North Branch:

John

Ask Sam: How do I add comments to Word?

A friend writes:

What are Word comments for? How do I use them?

Word comments are very handy for making notes on the text as you write or edit. They are also useful when you exchange Word files instead of physical copies with a critique group. By default, comments appear as notes in the margin of the document on screen and when you print. The easiest way to add a comment to any Word document is to press Ctrl + Alt + M. Word inserts a comment at the cursor location and moves the cursor into the comment balloon.

In Word 2003, there are two other quick ways to add a comment: Click Insert > Comment, or click the Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar.

In Word 2007, you can click the New Comment button on the Review tab.

Regardless of your version of Word, the new comment is attached to the word nearest the cursor if you don't have anything selected. You can also make a selection with the mouse (or use the arrow and shift keys) first, in which case the comment is applied to the selected text. Word moves the cursor into the comment balloon so that you can start typing.

To delete a Word comment, right-click the comment (either the balloon itself or the range of text in the document) and click Delete Comment on the context menu. You can also use the Delete Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar or Review tab.

If you exchange Word files with other people for comment, you can merge the copies you get back from them into a single file and see all of the comments at once. Next week, I'll show you how to do that.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Margo Hammond Delights a Great Crowd

Margo Hammond, one half of the Book Babes and former St. Petersburg Times book editor, spoke to 31 people at our January meeting. Discussing her mom's essays, which now make up a book, Margo talked and demonstrated slice-of-life stories. She answered questions throughout the evening, not only about memoir-style writing, but also about the writing life her mother had beginning in her mid-80s and her own odyssey in self-publishing the book.

It was a great start to the new year and we look to further associations with Margo.

Ask Sam: What about us Word 2003 users?

Last week, I provided instructions for setting up a different first page header in a Word 2007 document. Word 2003 users wanted to know why I left them out. So for y'all, here is how you accomplish the same task in Word 2003.

1. Open your document and select File > Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog appears.
2. Click the Layout Tab.
3. Check "Different first page" and click OK.
4. Click View > Header and Footer. The header at the top of page one of the file (your cover page) is labeled "First Page Header".
5. On the Header and Footer toolbar, click Show Next. The cursor moves to the second page header, where the label is "Header."
6. On the Header and Footer toolbar, click the Format Page Number Button.
7. Click the "Start at" radio button and set the value to 0. Click OK.
   

Once you have your header set up the way you want, either click the Close button on the Header and Footer toolbar, or double-click in the body of the document.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: How do I set up a different first page header in Word 2007?

Fiction writers usually need to have no header at all on the title page, but want a header including a page number starting with 1 on the second and all subsequent pages. Today I'll show you how to do just that.

There are two ways to get to the Header area in Word 2007:

• On the Insert tab, click the Header button and select Edit Header at the bottom of the list that appears
• If the header area of the page is visible, double-click it.

Either way, the cursor is placed in the Header area, which is labeled Header. A new ribbon tab, Design, appears and has focus. To set up your headers, perform these steps:

1. In the Options area in the Design tab, place a check next to Different First Page. The label of the Header area changes to First Page Header. You can insert first-page only header information here if you want, or leave it blank.
2. In the Navigation section of the Design tab, click Next Section. The label of the Header area changes to Header.
3. Set up your header information here. To insert page numbers, do this:
   • In the Header & Footer section, click Page Number.
   • Select Current Position. (Warning: If you select one of the "Top of Page" options, Word will blow away any header content that already exists!)
   • Select Plain Number. Word inserts a page number field at the cursor position.
4. Format the page number. When you insert the page number field, Word starts numbering at page one of your document, even if your first page header doesn't display anything. As a result, the first numbered page of your manuscript will be 2. You want it to be 1, so you'll need to format the page number by performing these steps:
   • In the Header & Footer section of the Design tab, click Page Number and select Format Page Number. The Page Number Format dialog is displayed.
   • Click the radio button next to Start at. The value of Start at is displayed as 1.
   • Change the value of Start at to 0 and click OK. The first page of your manuscript is now page 1, skipping the title page.
5. Either click Close Header and Footer or double-click the body of the document.

If you have more than one page of front matter, this won't work because you can't set the Start at value to less than 0. In that instance, you'll need to use Word section breaks-- but that's a topic for another day.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Change spacing between bullets and list text

This week, I'm pleased to have my first reader question:

In Word 2007, when making a bullet list, how do I increase the spacing between the bullets and the text?

When you create a bullet or numbered list in Word, the bullet or number is separated from the list text by a quarter of an inch. There are several ways to change that distance. The method I've outlined below works in Word 2007 as well as Word 2003.

1. Click and drag to select the entire list. If you've only got one list item, you can simply put the cursor somewhere in that item.
2. Right-click the selection and click Paragraph on the context menu. The Paragraph dialog appears.
3. On the right side of the Indentation section, change the value of the "By" field to the amount of space you want to have between the bullet and the text.
4. Click OK.

Once you've set the Hanging Indent value, each time you press enter while working with that list, the new item will be formatted in the same way. These steps also work for numbered lists.

Thanks for the question! I hope this tip helps.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Adding line numbers for easy critiquing

When a critique group discusses a manuscript, it can be difficult for everyone to find the same passage and follow along. When someone says paragraph two, does she mean the second complete paragraph, or is she counting the widowed lines from the previous page as a paragraph? Which sentence is she talking about? You can make it easy for everyone to zero in on a specific line by having Word number the lines in each manuscript. Open the story you want to work with and perform the steps for your version of Word.

Word 2003

1. Click File and Page Setup.
2. Click the Layout tab.
3. Click the Line Numbers button.
4. Check the Add line numbering checkbox.
5. Click OK to accept the default selection.
6. Click OK to close the Page Layout dialog.

To turn line numbering off when you're done with it, perform the same steps but in step four, clear the Add line numbering checkbox.

Word 2007
This is one of the rare instances where doing something in Word 2007 is easier than Word 2003. There are only three steps:

1. Click the Page Layout Tab.
2. Click Line Numbers.
3. Select Restart Each Page.

To turn line numbering off when you're done with it, perform the same steps but select "None" in the last step.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. I have several topics lined up but I can use suggestions. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Where's my mouse pointer?

Ever lose your mouse pointer? It happens to me all the time. Maybe I park the pointer at the edge of the screen--or when I'm using multiple monitors, on the screen I'm not looking at. Sometimes I simply lose track of where it was when I last used it. Rather than hunt for the mouse pointer, I use one of Windows' accessibility features to locate it by pressing the Ctrl key.

To turn this feature on, perform the steps outlined below. Note: These steps assume that the default settings for how things appear are in place; if you've changed how the control panel appears, you may have to poke around a little to find the mouse pointer settings.

1. Click the Start Button.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Depending on your Operating System, perform one of the following steps:
   • Vista or Windows 7: Click Ease of Access.
   • Windows XP: Click Printers and Other Hardware.
4. Depending on your Operating System, perform one of the following steps:
   • Vista or Windows 7: Click Change how your mouse works.
   • Windows XP: Click Mouse.
5. If you are using Vista or Windows 7, near the bottom, click Mouse settings. (XP users skip to next step.)
6. Select the Pointer Options tab.
7. Check "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key"
8. Click OK and close the control panel.

Now press the CTRL key, and a circle will appear for a moment on the screen, centered on the mouse pointer location.

This is the first in a weekly series of tips and tricks for Windows and Microsoft Word. I have some topics lined up already, but if you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send an email to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer them here.

Merry Christmas and Joyful Holidays 2009

Greetings, members and guests,

I just want to extend my hope that each of you experience the holidays in a most satisfying way, and carry throughout the year the same joy of this season. If your season is difficult, I hope you might find one corner of your world where the light shines a little brighter, and reflect that light to others. It has been a joy of mine to get to know some of you better this past year, and I hope to meet many more new people in the coming year.

I'm looking forward to the new year and our kick-off speaker, Margo Hammond, former book editor for the St. Petersburg times and one of the Book Babes, the dynamic duo of reading recommenders who appear on WMNF radio on Wednesday mornings at 11:30am. (You can also listen to archived shows on the radio website: www.wmnf.org.)

Membership Note: This past year we show a net gain of 19 new members! Thanks to everyone for making our group a warm and friendly one, filled with writers excited about their craft.

John

Donna Cutting Introduces the Sexiest Man Alive

"Running makes me think of death." Yeah, let me give you a good therapist's number. "A cockroach crawled across his face, and he looked up to realize he had spent the night in a dumpster, his best sleep in months." And they didn't even leave the light on. The dark side of professional sports; what it's like to be a foster child; mapping Alaska in a wild adventure -- present books and future books, FWA members practiced their pitches under the expert eye of certified professional speaker Donna Cutting tonight, Thursday, December 10th.

Donna warmed up the group with a quick review of the Celebrity Experience, then covered some basics of presentation and why a writer might want to get comfortable in front of an audience. She broke the structure of a presentation into three parts: Opening, Body, and Closing. Sounds very similar to a 3-act play to me.

After each brave writer made their pitch, Donna provided feedback on their strengths and weaknesses, and was impressed with each person's preparation. Donna provided a handout that gave a concise list of the main objectives and points of each part of a presentation.

Oh, and the sexiest man? He spoke of the cockroach, but shall remain nameless. Guess you just had to be there!

Until next year,
John

In the Chair

Fellow writers!
I'm blogging from Sonoma Coffee Cafe on 66th St. just north of 70th Ave. Only open about 4 months, it is much less crowded than Panera, Starbucks, etc. Free Wi-Fi, but no, I'm not doing my nanowrimo thing here. I'm working on my first novel. Just read some statistics that say only a few first novels ever get published. That won't deter me! It may be that it's just the way to get your feet wet in the process, to understand the amount of work involved. Because it's a lot! I'm not going to kid you.

I'm looking forward to Donna Cutting next month. I'll firm up the topic on Tuesday when she calls, but it's about presentation. When I observe people at book signings, the ones who can speak seem to have the most success. That might be a good reason to do the open voice poetry readings. (No mic, so nothing will blaring!) You would have a chance to practice in front of an audience.

Okay, my butt's in the chair, it's nice and quiet here, uncluttered, and I'm going back to my revising and rewriting.

Success to all,
John

FWA puts the Dazzle in Shimmer

Congratulations, group! Bev Browning, ghostwriter from Gainesville (and professional writer for 25 years), told me that our group offered greater responses to her Shimmer workshop prompt than any other she has taught. She was impressed with your capabilities! (I am, too, and honored to know so many of you.)

Her unique approach to creating subtext, to building depth in our words, enlightened everyone who attended in the refreshed atmosphere of the remodeled library. I shared with her later that I had never come across someone diagramming sentences the way she did. It gave a visual sense to the rhythm and cadence, clarifying something that we sometimes think of only with our ears, and not our eyes.

I know she was excited to be here, and I mentioned that I felt the same that she would come and share her knowledge with us from that far away. Her bonus material on the law was also well-received, generating good questions and forcing me to trash a couple of ideas that were floating around in my library of story ideas.

As we close out the year next month I am grateful for all that I have learned from you, the members of FWA, and our guests, through your generosity of spirit and insightful analysis of my work. I hope everyone feels they have grown stronger this year as a writer, love the process and the time spent writing, and find continued and greater success next year. Every time you put fingers to keys, pen to paper, in my mind, you are successful.

Thanks!
John

We're Moving Back!

Greetings!

As you'll notice at the top of this page, we are moving back to the Main library for the next 6 months. Renovations have been completed and the library opens on the 9th. Our first meeting is on the 12th, featuring that bubbly, crazy, celebrity ghostwriter, Bev Browning. She's coming from Gainesville, and will present a workshop on subtext, the art of how to put things between the lines. Her workshop is titled 'Shimmer' and everyone who experienced it at the Anhinga Summer Workshop gave it rave reviews.

I'm starting NaNoWriMo in a couple days (Sunday, to be exact), and my name is JohnnyStPete. If you join the national novel writing month website to keep track of trying to write 50,000 words in a month, look me up!

Hope to see you soon, and keep on writing,

John

Final Day!

The final day is here, but hasn't yet begun. I'm exhausted, but had a great time getting to know old friends better, meet new people, create scenes here and there. Just having fun. I won't name all those who made this conference one I'll remember, that would probably be as interesting as the Oscar acceptance speech for best gaffer. There is one workshop left. I am skipping the one that started 25 minutes ago, a choice between two different writing prompts. I've written enough, revising my first page each night, completing 3 more reflections (poetry) to finish November, and adding posts here when I could.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the November meeting. I will begin email reminders mid-week once I've established our meeting place. I intend to have that task completed by Wednesday night.

Keep writing, and keep talking to writers!
John

Saturday Evening Post

Oh man! What a blast this conference has been. Not only have some of the workshop presentations been very good (though way too short, but it's a conference, not a workshop!), but meeting all the people has been a blast. I think that's one of the most valuable if not the most valuable things to take away from a conference. It's about meeting people, listening to them, figuring out what the current trends are or how people view their jobs (in the publishing business), and just getting to a certain comfort level around those you want to be able to impress when the time comes. (For me, that's not quite yet here.) Gotta get ready for the dinner. I'll squeeze one more in if I can. Post, not dinner. There's too much food here! (Not enough water/soda.)

Later!
John

Night Before Conference and all through the hotel...

The volunteers were getting instructions on what to do, which should make this conference the smoothest running! Preparations sound really great, and I hope it will contribute to a great experience for everyone.

Note for next month! I've been in touch with Bev, who is following our blog from New York (where she is currently working), and she's excited to be presenting her Shimmer workshop here, a hands-on workshop on creating subtext. (The underlying ideas and messages in your story.) She is bringing another member of Anhinga with her, whom I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting, a girl named Sue. (That's right, not a boy!)

And lest I forget, she sends cream cheese greetings! This lady is phenomenal, and someone from whom I think you would learn so much. (I hate those kinds of sentences, but hey, I think that's grammatically correct.)

I'll bring a copy of the Collections book to our next meeting if anyone would like to see what it looks like. I'd like to set up some kind of group to help those interested in submitting for next year that would offer guidance and critique prior to the submission deadline. It would be great to see more of us get published!

I'm also bringing back information on Margie's offerings, which I'll share at the next couple of meetings.

Gotta grab some sleep before the early start. Registration opens at 6:30am!!!

Later!
John

Margie Lawson Afternoon Impressions

Margie Lawson's workshop wrapped up this afternoon, and tomorrow begins the conference. She whipped through the material like a whirling dervish, trying to cover as much as possible while still giving the attendees the understanding needed to use her tool, the EDITS system.

I think there are several important things I took from this workshop. Any tool you find, if you want to see if it's for you or not, you have to USE it. You can't just look at it and say, 'oh, maybe, maybe not.' So I've tried the snowflake method, I've tried several other things, and have come to understand what works for me. With this understanding I can say that Margie's tool looks very good, and is something I will use, at least on some scenes or chapters.

I've already discovered I need to rewrite my most important scenes, in order to ramp up their emotional impact. It reminded me of what some of my readers (editors, critiquers) have said. 'You just did something major to a character and the character didn't respond. Huh?'

Margie took a passage from a well-known author's book and went over it showing how she would use her system of highlighting on it. Someone looked for a 'hard and fast' rule, but she demurred. There is not right or wrong pattern of highlighting. It's purpose is for you to discover the tone of your story, and whether it makes sense the way you've written it.

Based on what I've seen from her, I'd recommend getting more of her information. It could definitely help!

Tomorrow starts the conference, and I'll post as I can, outside of my volunteering duties. I also took a first look at the FWA Family Collections book (Chrissy let me take a look), and I found it to be very professional. I highly encourage everyone to take a shot at next year's collection, and will do something with our group for those that want to work on a submission.

Later!
John

Margie Lawson mid-day 1st Impression - She rocks! Hits the nail on the...!

Oh, that's so cliche! And she'd be the first to point it out to me. The morning of this session has been filled with great information, and in looking at the first page of my story for maybe the hundredth time, I still found it woefully weak! (Alliteration, a tool that can be used to good effect, sometimes.) She has promoted her work during this time, and I intend to take a closer look at it. Based on Sam's recommendation, she is everything promised, and more.

Of course, implementing her system, even part of it, requires work. Are you up to it? Or do you like to just write and think, it's really good just the way it is. She mentioned a technique I first learned at Anhinga, that of recording your reading so you can listen to it. I think it might make all the difference to listen after the fact rather than while you read out loud. So, I'm going to try it.

Check out her website and sign up for her newsletter. It also comes with good tips, as some have mentioned in the class today just by pointing things out to everyone.

Later, and keep on writing!
John

FWA Conference Blog! Margie's Day

Greetings, members!
I apologize for getting Molli's review up so late, right as the workshop prior to the conference begins. But, as always, I want to send out blogs while I'm here for those who can't make it. For those going to the Times Festival and/or Necronomicon, I'd love to hear about those, too.

Today is Margie Lawson's workshop, which begins in a few short hours. I'll send updates, maybe at lunch and the end, as to how it goes, and how it compares to some other things I've come across. (Though to be fair, it's difficult to compare something you've read with someone you hear. They are two different types of learning experiences.) Chrissy mentioned we have 100 people attending the workshop, so that in itself will make it interesting. Sounds a little bit like a college class!!!

Later!
John

Synopses Dissected by Molli

Molli Nickell dissected the synopsis for an enthusiastic crowd at the October 8th meeting, going over the requirements, showing us a method to make it easier to write them, and tearing apart, gently, our own struggling attempts at this most dreaded part of the writing process. Did we sweat? You bet! (Okay, now I'm picking up phrases from Sunny Fader!) Molli's clear directions were a big help and everyone raved about the benefits of having had her go over their first or second or third paragraphs. Why is this so hard? We write tens of thousands of words to a story, then can't seem to condense it into a single page. I boggles my mind, but also reminds me that when we get into the detail of our story, we tend to have difficulty pulling back to describe the forest.

Thanks to all those who attended, and I hope to see some of you at the conference!

Viewpoint Workshop by Diane Marcou

I attended the Viewpoint workshop sponsored by PINAWOR today, led by Diane Marcou (one of our presenters earlier this year). I thought, if I'm promoting these workshops, I ought to try one out to see how they are.

The workshop ran 2 hours for $10. Diane covered the topic well, and though I had heard some of this before in conversation with her, it was good to hear it in a group setting, where a lively discussion took place. In addition, she ran us through an exercise for the last quarter of the meeting that was very informative. (It also revealed to me how slow I first begin to write when presented with a topic!)

Based on my experience, I recommend these workshops for anyone who wants to get a good grounding in the topic, and get feedback on things they may be unsure of. Here's the schedule for the remaining three:

10/10	Dialogue	Susan Adger and Barbara Schrefer
10/17	Character Development	Ann O'Farrell
11/14	Editing	Elenora Sabin

You'll recognize Elenora as another one who has presented to our group earlier this year on revising and editing. If you missed that, or would like a refresher, this promises to be a good one.

The classes are held at the Highland Rec Center in Largo from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.pinawor.org/classes.htm

Happy writing!
John

Diane Sawyer Locates Dead Bodies

Mystery author Diane Sawyer (her 5th Avalon mystery will be coming out soon), presented ways to dig up stories for mysteries at the September 10th meeting. In a very entertaining and enlightening presentation Diane covered not only mysteries, but also magazine stories in several genres, including children's and romance. The multi-talented author had a quick wit, engaging style, and answered attendees' questions readily.

She talked about naming characters, using settings she was familiar with, (changing for her needs), dealing with editors and submitting work. She talked about research and how valuable it was to her stories and how she is always thinking of ideas for stories by observing her surroundings with the provocative question, 'Where would I hide a dead body here?'

I think everyone enjoyed her talk and the insights she shared.

Until next month,
John

This Year You Write Your Novel

Mosley, Walter. This Year You Write Your Novel. Little, Brown Company, 2007.

I have a weakness for "How to" books from my favorite authors, so I was happy to discover Walter Mosley’s This Year You Write Your Novel. This slender volume (128 pages) doesn’t break new ground in advice on the general mechanics of writing. Mosley provides generally the same advice on the elements of fiction that are found in most books on novel writing, such as the various points of view, showing vs. telling, and so on. But his advice still worth reading, both for the value of reinforcing the fundamentals and also for Mosley’s characteristic poetic style. In discussing the need to chose the right descriptive details to advance the story or characterization, he advises, "Details will devour your story unless you find the words that want saying." On the need to write daily to maintain momentum and keep the story from slipping away, he writes, "[A] novel is larger than your head." On making writing a first priority: "Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls."

All of Mosley’s advice is delivered in the gentle but insistent tone of the best teachers and coaches. For me, the most valuable chapter was the one dedicated to "The General Disciplines That Every Writer Needs." In particular, a section on "Avoidance, False Starts, and Dead-End Thinking" contained a wealth of wisdom on overcoming a persistent problem with self-restraint. "If you want to write believable fiction," he urges, "you will have to . . . revel in the words and ideas that you would never express in your everyday life."

Other than his insistence that you must write every day, there is little of the strident, dogmatic tone I have found in similar books by other authors. Mosley gives advice but does not, for example, insist that you must use an outline--or that you must not. He encourages writers to find their own methods of writing, and to persevere in those methods until the first draft is complete. He has extensive advice on revision, which in his view is where the real act of writing begins. A first draft, he says, "is little more than an outline of the novel you wish to write." Once you have finished that draft, "you are ready to write it."

There are more comprehensive books on writing, and if you’ve read any of them, you won’t find a lot of new ideas in This Year You Write Your Novel. But if you’re a fan of Mosley’s style or if you need a little encouragement to motivate you, it’s worth picking up.