and surrounding Tri-State Area
Meetings 1st and 3rd Tuesday each month, except July and August
Time: 1:PM to 3PM, (Arizona Time).
Meetings are sometimes adjusted for holidays or to avoid Library scheduling conflicts.
Tuesday, 2 March: Regular Monthly Meeting at the Hargrove Library, Mohave Community College, 3400 Highway 95, Bullhead City, Arizona 86442. For a copy of the meeting agenda which was mailed on 25 Feb 2010, click here.
Tuesday, 16 March: Regular Monthly Meeting at the Hargrove Library, Mohave Community College, 3400 Highway 95, Bullhead City, Arizona
Sunday, March 21, 2-4pm at Hastings book Store, 501 Main Street, Kerrville, TX. Featured author is Sylvia Villereal Bisnar.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at Hastings Book Store, 651 Business Loop IH 35, Suite 135, New Braunfels, TX 78130 from 2-4 pm. Featured author is Sylvia Villereal Bisnar.
Friday, March 26, 4-7 pm at Borders Book Store, The Quarry, 255 E. Basse Road, San Antonio, TX. Featured author is Sylvia Villereal Bisnar.
April 2010:
Tuesday: 6 April: Regular Monthly Meeting at the Hargrove Library, Mohave Community College, 3400 Highway 95, Bullhead City, Arizona 86442
Tuesday, 20 April: Regular Monthly Meeting at the Hargrove Library, Mohave Community College, 3400 Highway 95, Bullhead City, Arizona 86442
Place: Our meetings starting September 1, 2009 will be at Mohave Community College's Hargrove Library on the
Bullhead City Campus on Highway 95 just north of the Target Shopping Mall..
Anyone who resides in the Tri-State Area -- California, Nevada and Arizona -- is welcome to join and become a member of our Group. Writers who come to our community to “winter over” -- locally known as “Snowbirds” -- are also welcome.
There are no fees or dues of any kind. If you love to write, you are welcome here! Every genre is represented here, from well known published Authors to writers who are just thinking of writing a book, poetry, song lyrics and/or short stories. Sometimes we have 4 or 5 writers at our meetings and other times we have up to 20.
Purpose of the River Writers Group:
Our group gathers to further the cause of reading and writing. We offer each other support and constructive criticism on our writing, provide presentations by our members on subjects of interest for writers and hold informal discussions.
Some of the topics are, but not limited to:
*Query Letters -- *Finding an Agent -- *Self Publishing -- *Promotion -- *Grammar and Punctuation -- Writing Styles.
We have guest speakers on occasion. Once a year, several writers/authors form a discussion panel for a symposium at Mohave Community College on the Bullhead City campus. Our intention is to inspire new writers in our area.
All genres are acceptable except we do not allow works of pornographic,
hate or promotion of illegal activities on this site.
Contacts:
You may contact the following members for additional details regarding the group and meeting schedules.
Shirley Kennedy (702) 357-9123 shirleyken360@gmail.com
Cheryl Gower (928) 768-6511 cmgower65@frontiernet.net
Al Petty (928) 763-8155 al.petty@yahoo.com
Larry Wonderling (928) 758-5096 capfound@aol.com
River Writers Group
MARCH NEWSLETTER
MEETING: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
TIME: 1 - 3p.m. Arizona Time
PLACE: Mohave Community College Hargrove Library
PARKING: Additional parking in rear
WEBSITE: www.riverwritersgroup.com
Our website has been restored and re-hosted by our member, Ray Olszewski.
CONTACT INFO: Cheryl Gower, Editor
cmgower65@frontiernet.net
928-768-6511
LESSON SEGMENT: “Methods of Research” by Jackie Rowland
DISCUSSION SEGMENT:
Q & A about Where do you get your inspiration? How do you pull a character and plot from your idea?
CRITIQUE SEGMENT: If you wish an individual critique of your current project, bring 4 - 5 printed, double-spaced copies to give to volunteers. They will write their suggestions on these copies and return them to you at the following meeting.
To encourage you to write something, we provide you with a prompt. Bring your response to the WRITING PROMPT, which is:
Write about a character who wins something he or she does not want.
JOURNAL PROMPT:
By what do you measure your value as a person? How do you measure your worth?
BOOKS FOR TRIBAL LIBRARY
Please bring any books from your stash or collection to donate to the Fort Mohave Tribal Library. They appreciate paperback and hard-cover, all genre, children and adult, and reference. You will receive a tax deduction receipt.
Thank you for your generosity.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
Welcome to three new members:
Lisa Brassard Mayer, Nancy Churchill and Connie VanSant
Stacy Avarett wrote of her recent writing/publishing experiences: I sent my manuscript to six publishers (which all said great things like, We can see how hard you've worked, Your effort is apparent, but then added it wasn't what they were looking for). Finally when only one hadn't rejected me, I decided to call them and see where they were on it. I received an email the next day saying they loved it and would like to publish it next year. (this year) I emailed back apologizing for not understanding the email fully and asked if they would be offering a contract or just the possibility they said they loved the book and would like to offer a contract but couldn't until their current books were done but that they would definitely be in contact. I am excited but leery. You know chickens hatch when they like. I don't count mine too soon. But thank you so much for the encouragement. I don't have a web site or blog. I haven't got into that avenue yet. Right now I am just grateful to hear the word- Love and definitely-from a publisher. I am still reeling a little especially since poetry has been my true love but a family member suggested a novel. I was terrified and out of my comfort zone, but six months later it was in the mail and now a publisher is thinking of picking it up. They probably laughed at my email when I asked "uh come again, did I hear you right?" OF course I didn't say that but I am sure they knew that is what I meant. I am not a confident writer I am actually quite private but since I finished my book I have had three people who have read my work ask for me to be a writing coach (I am terrible at punctuation so I am not editor material) so I have been working extensively with them on their books. They are so pleased with how their books are coming along and I am glad to be helping them realize their own goals and it doesn't hurt seeing how I learn so much from their different writing styles. So here I am chomping at the bit, hoping that it all lands right side up. I will definitely keep you updated and inform you when I get around to getting a blog. Thanks again for the -attagirls- love it.
If you are a long-distance member, please send your news, what you're working on, etc. to me in an email and it will be posted here. You can still participate in absentia.
If you no longer wish to receive this Newsletter, please send me an email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
VOCABULARY WORDS
obfuscate - v. (ob' fuh-skate) to make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand.
Synonym: obscure, cloud, confuse, blur, screen, hide, disguise, conceal, veil, darken
Antonym: clarify, clear up, elucidate
frisson - n. (free-sone') a moment of intense excitement; a shudder. An emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger, usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight. Example: The story's ending arouses a frisson of terror.
Synonym: quiver, tingle, chill, thrill, shiver
CONTESTS TO ENTER
A great New Year's resolution for you would be to enter a contest-short story, poem, or your specialty venue. Included below is a starter list of contests. More will be posted as we become aware of them. What do you have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to gain? A monetary prize; publication; something to add to your resume'.
I've tried to keep the list to No to Low Entry Fees. Please check all terms and agreements of each contest before submitting.
www.fictionfactor.com/contests.html -- this is a list of all types of contests
www.writingnews.org -- click on the link for contests. Many listed.
www.winningwriters.com/contests -- both short story and poetry. The Tom Howard/John Reid contests are quite good.
All three of these websites should be listed in your “Favorites” listing in Internet Explorer.
10 Synopsis Dos and Don'ts
Here are 10 keys to creating a successful synopsis
1. Do keep in mind that this is a sales pitch. Make it a short, fast and exciting read.
2. Do establish a hook at the beginning of the synopsis. Introduce your lead character and set up a key conflict.
3. Do remember to always introduce your most important character first.
4. Do provide details about each of your central characters (age, gender, marital status, profession, etc.), but don't do this for every character-only the primary ones.
5. Do include the characters' motivations and emotions.
6. Do highlight pivotal plot points.
7. Do reveal your novel's ending.
8. Don't go into detail about what happens; just tell the reader what happens as concisely as you can.
9. Don't inject long sections of dialogue.
10. Do write in the third person, present tense, even if your novel is written in a different point of view.
How To Be More Creative by Megan B. Wyatt
Creativity comes naturally to some, but everybody has creative potential. Through self-reflection and different thought processes, you too can cultivate your creativity. Some people use their creativity more than others, but everybody is capable, and even the most practical and concrete people can tap into their creative side.
Creativity is a different way of thinking and expressing feelings and thoughts, and just because it comes more naturally to some than others does not mean a person can be labeled as “creative” or “not creative.” Labeling yourself as “not creative” will damage your creativity. While it can be challenging to tap into your creative side, you and every other person already use creativity in some way. It is all about thinking and acting differently to bring more creativity into everyday life.
Do Something Out of Routine Every Day - No matter how small, each day make a conscious effort to do something different. This will not only keep you younger, more alert, and more aware of your surroundings, but it will also help to generate new ideas and keep your brain functioning more creatively.
This can be extremely difficult for very organized and structured list-making people, but waking up early one morning to watch the sunrise, taking a different route home from work, or reading a book instead of watching television are all simple but significant examples. Also try doing simple day-to-day chores in a different order (like brushing your teeth before showering instead of after), or through different means (like brushing your teeth in the shower).
Take Time to Yourself - Try to make this a daily event. Time alone doesn't necessarily equal time to yourself. Get away from all distractions that do not stimulate or soothe. If possible, get out of your typical day: try hiking in the woods, picnicking in the park, or taking a bubble bath. Try not to listen to music with lyrics or anything too distracting from your own thoughts and the things happening around you.
Watch your setting. Watch the ripples of a lake and listen to a squirrel scurry through the leaves. Imagine why a mother looks sad as she watches her son play in the park. Pop the bubbles in the bath and think about why they formed. Thinking and generating new ideas when alone is the safest, least vulnerable form of creativity. You never have to share what you don't want to.
Be Open to New Ideas - Even the craziest, most ludicrous and outrageous ideas that have no rationality whatsoever. Think about children believing in monsters under the bed or UFOs in the sky. Tapping into creativity means thinking about any idea, not necessarily believing the ideas, just not shutting them out.
Take any idea (your own, somebody else's, even something from a dream), and think about ways it could actually happen. Keep thinking and connecting ideas. This can even produce ideas for artistic projects or just nourish your creative side.
….more on Being More Creative in the April issue of this newsletter.
Welcome to two new members:
Russell Holder, a published poet
James Love
If you are a long-distance member, please send your news, what you’re working on, etc. to me in an email and it will be posted here. You can still participate in absentia.
If you no longer wish to receive this Newsletter, please send me an email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Phoenix Book Sale
Feb. 13 – 14
State Fairgrounds – Exhibit Building
1826 W. McDowell Rd
Over 600,000 items
VOCABULARY WORDS
anodyne – adj. (an’-uh-dine) capable of soothing or eliminating pain; relaxing.
Syn.: bland, dull, boring, insipid, mind-numbing.
meretricious – adj. (mair-i-tri’-shus)) attracting attention in a vulgar manner.
Plausible but false or insincere, like or relating to a prostitute. Syn.: gaudy
CONTESTS
A great New Year’s resolution for you would be to enter a contest—short story, poem, or your specialty venue. Included below is a starter list of contests. More will be posted as we become aware of them. What do you have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to gain? A monetary prize; publication; something to add to your resume’.
I’ve tried to keep the list to No to Low Entry Fees.
10 Tips for Winning Writing Contests
1. Begin with a bang. Editors routinely say they read the first paragraph of a piece, and if they don't care about what happens next, they stop there, because the incoming mail stack is too high. Contest judges often face even higher manuscript stacks. A quick way to weed out the losing entries is to discard all those where the first page doesn't give them a reason to go to the second page. Before sending in an entry, read every article or book chapter you can find on openings, beginnings, leads. Then compare yours to what the experts say. This applies equally to fiction and nonfiction.
2. Try to introduce an element of uncertainty or suspense at the beginning. Make the reader wonder how the article or story is going to turn out. David E. Sumner, associate professor of journalism and head of the magazine program at Ball State University and frequent contest judge, explains, "You do this by introducing an unsolved problem or putting the central character into a complicated situation. Too many stories have predictable content and predictable endings. If the reader (or judge) can figure out what's going to happen, then why bother to read the piece?" Stories and articles that keep judges reading all the way to the end make it to the finalists stack.
3. Make your characters alive and real. Make them talk like real people. Make every word of dialogue important to and move along the story. Judges want to see the people, both in fiction and in nonfiction. Why do your fictional characters do and say what they do? Why have your nonfictional people done or said what you're reporting about them?
4. Make your story different. That means a different setting or unusual characters or a different plot. If it's been used before, if it's trite, get rid of it. If two stories on that judge's pile are similar, they both lose.
5. If there is no length restriction or requirement, send a story or article of medium length (1,500 to 3,000 words). This doesn't overwhelm the judges, who don't really have time to read 10,000-word manuscripts. (This does not apply, obviously, if it's a full-length novel category or a juvenile category).
6. Have a positive ending. As Sumner puts it, "Positive doesn't necessarily mean happy. Even if it has a sad ending, the story or article should have a positive meaning to it."
7. Make sure your story or article has a clear central theme that you follow throughout it. You should be able to say, "This article or story is about . . ." and finish the description in one sentence. Get rid of things that don't relate to that theme.
8. Look for a story with a theme that goes "against the grain" or contradicts conventional wisdom. David Sumner explains, "Sometimes I feel I can't stand to read one more article about sexual abuse or harassment, as necessary as those stories are in arousing public awareness. But if you write a story about a man's harassment by a woman, then I am likely to read it simply because it's different."
9. Follow the contest's rules. This seems too basic and simple, but every year we receive contest entries that do not follow the rules. We even receive entries each year that have entrants' names on the manuscripts, either on the title page or on succeeding pages. This is an obvious no-no, and breaks a very clear rule, but it happens multiple times every contest. Other rules are there for a reason, and when judges must wade through that tall stack of entries, those breaking any rule are easiest to throw out. Also pay attention to the entry form so your entry will go to the correct category. It's a mistake made every contest.
10. Watch for (or have someone else who's proficient at proofreading or copyediting watch for) errors in spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, paragraphing, capitalization, and so on. While this may not be as important as plot or style or characterization, it can be important when determining finishing order for all the finalists.
Contest Cautions
At their best, writing contests provide motivation to complete those stories or poems, encourage winners to keep writing, and even pay top winners a bit of cash.
At their worst, writing contests rob you of your rights – and sometimes of your money.
I've been administering a national writing contest for 24 years, and have been reviewing contests for posting approval on our Writers-Editors.com Contests page since 1998 – and I think I've seen everything. I refuse to post at least one contest almost every week. The good news is that most writing contests are on their "best" behavior. But here are some "worst" things to watch out for and be aware of –
? Entry fees. Actually, no entry fee is a warning sign. Contests cost time and money to administer, judge, and provide prizes. If there are no entry fees, who's paying for it all? Too often the no-entry-fee means the contest sponsor will be coming after entrants for something later.
Sometimes the "later" is in the form of a book of winning entries. And everyone who buys a book is a winner. The book may be fairly expensive, and surely the winner wants multiple copies for friends and family. Too often, these are not really contests, with one's work judged on its merits by professionals in the industry; but rather publishing entrepreneurs playing on writers' (especially poets') vanities. You buy books, you win.
Other times, the contest producers take it a step further and put on conferences with poetry readings. Entrants receive engraved invitations – because you are a winner, you get to attend and read your poem. Everyone is a winner. The producers make their money on the conference packages and books sold to attendees and entrants.
This is not to say that all no-fee contests are bad. But when you run across one, keep digging deeper into the fine print until you can find out who's funding the costs. In a very few instances, you will find a legitimate corporate or educational sponsor, but these are rare today. Even university-supported contests usually have minimum entry fees to (1) keep the not-serious writers out, and (2) help defray the costs.
Typical legitimate contests have entry fees of $2 to $5 for poems (sometimes three poems for $10), and $5 to $25 for articles, short stories and novel chapters. A complete book contest entry fee may run as much as $50. Such fees will cover much of the prize money, some administrative time, and decent honorariums for multi-level judging. No one - not the sponsoring organization nor the judges – will get rich off it, but it will cover enough of the time and dollar costs to make the contest viable.
? Ridiculously high prizes. Typically, contests within these entry fee ranges and with several hundred entries will have multiple cash prizes of $25 to $100 or $300. Contests with no or low entry fees offering $25,000 awards do not make financial sense. Keep digging. And hide your pocketbook, checkbook, and credit cards.
? Rights grabs. A number of Web sites have contests with entry fees, where each and every entry is posted to the Web site – either for reading or judging. When you enter these contests, be aware that (1) you are paying to provide these sites with their content (nice business model for them); and (2) you can no longer sell first rights to the material because it's already been "published" as soon as it's posted.
Other contests state in their rules that they retain the right to publish all entries! – with nothing said about any remuneration to the authors. It's one thing to ask for one-time print anthology rights of a dozen winning entries – quite another to assume any rights to all entries.
And some of those "free" contests sponsored by corporations retain all rights to all entries, especially the advertising jingle and greeting card verse contests. Of course, they can't do that unless entrants sign a statement transferring all rights, so be especially aware of lengthy entry forms with lots of fine print that require your signature.
Bottom line – Being among the winners in a writing contest can motivate you to keep writing, help place your book with an agent or publisher, or simply make you feel good. Just make sure you aren't giving your work away - or even worse, paying them to take it!
Written by Dana K. Cassell, Executive Director, Writers-Editors Network.
CONTESTS TO ENTER
Please check all terms and agreements of each contest before submitting.
Short Story – www.everydayfiction.com No fee. You win $3.00 if it is published. You can submit up to 3 stories at a time. You must submit using their online form. Each submission gets a valuable critique.
www.oncewritten.com/WritingContests.php
www.writers-editors.com/Writers/Contests/contests.htm this is a monthly contest by The Writers Group on Facebook. Prize is publication on Facebook.
www.writersdigest.com/competitions They have an annual contest with $15.00 entry fee. Submit online or via regular mail. Good prize money. They also have an every-other-month short story contest that is free. Prize is publication.
www.awomanswrite.com – a quarterly contest for women, featuring a critique for every entrant and a cash prize for best submission.
www.pw.org
www.chickensoup.com Go to Submit Your Story. Be sure to look at “Possible Book Topics
www.kimn.net/contest
Poetry – www.everydaypoets.com Submit up to 60 lines/500 words max. Children’s poetry unlikely to be selected unless it also appeals to adult readership. Must be submitted through their website.
A Special Thanks to our member Helen Paris Reimer, who when she heard that the River Writers Group website had to be taken down, immediately jumped in and included our information on a website she manages. We owe Helen a debt of gratitude for seeing a need and getting involved.
Congratulations!
Our member, Terri Underwood, submitted a one sentence ending to Carolyn Fyffe’s “Under A Western Sky” novel and WON!! She wins a stay at Slide Mountain Ranch. Terri will tell us more of this exciting experience at our next meeting. Great job, Terri!