December Meeting Minutes

East Beach Writer’s Guild
Minutes from the December 13, 2013 Meeting

Meeting called to order at 9:15 at the home of Randi Klein.

Kudos of those in attendance as follows:

o   Mary-Jac—Has been writing/editing 30 minutes a day

o   Mike—The proofs for his new release, The End of Free Will, are in the mail!  He has been learning social media in order to promote. You’ll soon be able to order your copy.

o   Pat—The December starter sentence (be sure and read it…see link at the end of the minutes) helped him move forward with his current WIP, so has put his new project on hold while he returns to his original.

o   Randi—She has self-published a short story “Grandpa’s Glasses” printed on canvas paper as a Christmas gift for her granddaughter.

o   Sally—Showed an advanced copy of Virginia is for Mysteries, (to be released by Koehler Books on January 2, 2014).  It includes her short story, “Best Friends Help You Move the Body.”  A book release will be held January 11, 2014, at the East Beach Sandwich Company where 6 of the 14 contributing authors will be in attendance to sign the book.

New Business:  Congratulations to Mike Owens on his upcoming release! 

Old Business:

o   Books collected for the Toys for Tots are as follows:

Ø  The Screaming Staircase, a Lockwood & Co. adventure, by Johathan Stroud;

Ø  The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates, a Magic Marks the Spot book by Caroline Carlson (according to the contributor, you CAN judge a book by its title!);

Ø  Once Upon a Time, Y’all: Southern Origin Stories “How Mister Turtle Got His Shell” and “Why The Mockingbird Has Many Voices” by Lisa C. Ray (accompanied by a wonderfully soft stuffed turtle);

Ø  A Dr. Seuss Board Book collection which included “ABC The Amazing Alphabet Book”, “I’ll Teach My Dog A Lot of Words”, “ The Alphabet Book”, and “Go, Dog. Go!”

Ø  Dr. Seuss’s What Was I Scared Of?;

Ø  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laur Numeroff;

Ø  Great Illustrated Classic The Secret Garden  by Frances Hogdson Burnett;

Ø  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain;

Ø  The Nutcracker by E. T. A Hoffman;

Ø  The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

These books will be dropped off at the Toys for Tots bin at the East Beach Porch Walk on Sunday.  Thanks to the generous donations of the EBWG members, there will be lots of smiling faces on Christmas morning!

o   Library Reorganization will take place in early 2014.  More information at the January meeting.

o   Upcoming Meetings:

Ø  January 17  will be our first critique session.  Submit 5 pages in manuscript format (which is double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt font, 1 inch margins) to EBWG2013@aol.com (the guild email address) by January 8.  In the interest of time, only the first 5 submissions will be critiqued.  Once submitted, they will be sent to all the members in the group.  Then we’ll each take our pens and, using things that MJ will teach  as part of today’s program, critique the submissions.  Then we’ll bring our critiques to the next meeting and discuss what we thought and share with the author. 

Ø  February 14 - Invited Guest speaker Jim Warren, published author from Northern Virginia, who has written multiple articles for professional magazines.  He is also writing a novel and has a concept for a children's book.  His presentation will be about writing and getting published in magazines.  He is a retired Navy Commander and Gina’s brother.

Ø  March 21—Invited guest speaker Shelia Buff, professional editor and published writer,  http://sheilabuff.com/.

Ø  April 18—second quarter critique session.

Starter Sentence:  This month’s starter sentence was…”The tree we bought smelled great…” 

o   Again, some great submissions!  You can read them at http://eastbeachwritersguild.blogspot.com/p/starter-sentences.html

              For those of you who weren’t in attendance (or forgot them or didn’t do them yet or wrote the wrong month…please send your musings to EBWG2013@aol.com so they can be posted and shared with the world.

o   January Starter Sentence:  “The forecast calls for snow…”  So go on, get writing!

The meeting was adjourned, and the program turned over to Mary-Jac O’Daniel who gave a fabulous presentation on how to critique, and then we did a hands-on critique for practice.  The handout Mary-Jac provided is posted separately on this blog.

Respectfully submitted,

Sally Parrott, writing as Jayne Ormerod

November Meeting Notes

East Beach Writers’ Guild
November 14, 2013
Meeting Notes

Present:  Sally, Gina, Randi, Elizabeth, Shelley, Michael, Pat, Jenny, Mary Jac,        Juanita, Siobahn

Welcome and Introductions

New Business:

New Email address:  EBWG2013@aol.com

Meeting Times:  Some Evenings?   The majority were ok with alternating evening times with mornings.  We will try this at some point in 2014.

Upcoming meetings:

o   Friday, December 13^: Editor  - We will hope to have author, Sheila Buff Skype in with information and tips on the critique process.  Google Sheila and Joe Buff – authors.

o   January 17^: Critique session  - the first 5 people who email in their five pages of double spaced, Times New Roman, 1” margin publications before Jan 8^th will be considered for the group critique.

o   February 22: Self-Publishing  - we hope to have an author speak to us on self-publishing.  Perhaps this will be an evening meeting.

o   March 21: Possible Road Trip to Virginia Festival of the Book  Charllottesville. 

o   April 18 (Good Friday…possible change): Critique Session

Toys for Tots:  Bring an unwrapped book to next meeting for donation to Toys for Tots

Starter Sentence:  This month’s starter sentence was, “The turkey was delicious but something tasted funny about the gravy.  Then all of a sudden…”  (See some of the submissions on our Facebook page and/or blog. – Send Randi your sentences completed if you’d like them included). rgklein@verizon.net.

 December Starter Sentence …”The tree we bought smelled great…”

A community service project was recommended…Organizing and cataloging the East Beach library in the clubhouse.  Randi volunteered to lead the project and many others volunteered to help.

 Today’s Program:  Best Writing Advice Ever Learned moderated by Shelley Perry.  Everyone was asked to bring a bit if writing advice they’ve found helpful or inspiring and we’ll share it.   

 Pat – (From a former professor) – Pay attention to the things others are disregarding.  And photos can help remind you of certain places / situations (smells, sounds, etc.)

Michael – Michael had a handout that was very helpful about watching the “Lard Factor” and having too many extra, unnecessary wording. 

Elizabeth – Enjoys observing children and what interests them in order to see what types of books they may like.  She watches and learns.

Sally – “Write every day.” And remember “POV – Point of View” – Think of the character with a movie camera on their head.  And, From Josip Novakovich’s “Writing Fiction Step by Step”:

On the topic of character motivation:  A character does not work in isolation. A wolf in a cage, away from its natural habitat, does not appear to be his natural self—the wolf is without will, has no motive to hunt or roam, and hence does not even look like a wolf but more like a beaten dog. A character in isolation, alone in a room, pretty soon becomes like a wolf in a cage—he becomes solipsistic and depressed. How many interesting stories have you read about highly motivated, exciting and excited characters who stay alone in a room? So don’t spend pages, as some inexperienced writers are wont to do, escorting your lonely character into ever deeper levels of self-consciousness and depression. Instead, take him out to a party or on a date or put him to work at a construction site or send him packing on a trip to some exotic place.

Randi – Sheila Buff told her the best piece of advice: “Ass in Chair” J

Mary Jac – A 74 year old friend told her “Watch your point of view – don’t have 3 different points of view expressed.  Watch your introductory phrases.  “Show don’t tell” and your first draft is just the beginning.”

Gina – “If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.” – Natalie Goldberg

Jenny – Grammarly.com – advice on grammar mistakes and what to avoid.

HOW TO WRITE GOOD…

1.     Avoid alliteration always.

2.    Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3.    Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.)

4.    Eschew ampersands & abbreviations. Etc.

5.    One should never generalize.

6.    Comparisons are as bad as clichés.

7.    Be more or less specific.

8.    No sentence fragments.

9.    Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

10.Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

11.  And always be sure to finish what

Courtesy of grammerly.com

Juanita – Consider “The Artists Way” a book that is a 12 week workshop toward better creativity.  Including, “morning pages” that encourage you to write every morning – a “mind dump” that creates space to think differently.

Shelley – Consider events like the one she went to at the Columbia Teachers College of Columbia University.  She heard professionals speak and learned a great deal of advice from children’s book authors.

See you at the next meeting, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13^TH – BRING A CHILDREN’S BOOK!