|
E-Newsletter |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
| Home | Speakers Bureau | 2008 Program Schedule | About Us | Membership | 2008 SGWL Contest | Recent Events | Author Events | E-Newsletter | Q & A | Resources | Books by Members | Contact Us | |
|
|
||
|
MARCH 2007 MEETING
MINUTES The March meeting of the
San Gabriel Writers’ League was called to order by order by Vice-President, Dave Ciambrone.
Twenty-one members and two guests were welcomed. Membership Chair, Trudy Wheeler, stated the league
has grown by five new members.Contest Coordinator, Tammy Petty Conrad announced that the deadline
for entriesin the annual Writing Smarter Contest had been extended to March 17. She also mentioned
the need for more judges. Those who judge the entries receive a gift certificate applicable to the Spring 2007 Workshop or
future workshops during the year. Entries received so far were assigned to judges by Ms. Conrad.Treasurer,
Sylvia Dickey Smith, presented the financial report which was voted on by members.
An announcement was made of the change of meeting places to the
Frank Campbell was present to announce the date of the third in a series of the Noble Generation books. The book’s
debut and author signing will be May 19 at the Barnes and Noble in Round Rock.
Joy Nord, Program Chair, introduced the evening’s speaker, Kit Frazier. Ms. Frazier’s theme centered on
how to parley a winning contest entry into a contract.
Ms. Frazier’s credentials include twice becoming first place winner in the novel category in
the Writers’ League of
The author of numerous articles on the importance of entering contests. Ms. Frazier explained
what to expect when you sign with an agency and the steps to get there. Her journey led her down
several paths and genres and eventually brought her to the mystery novel, “Scoop.”
Her book was chosen the Mystery Pick of the Month by the Mystery Guild. She is also a member of the Austin Chapter of Romance
Writers’ of
Handouts provided by the author give a concise overview of the basics of success from contest to contract. Ms. Frazier
then took questions from the audience.
The Vice-president adjourned the meeting. Respectfully submitted, June Venable,
Secretary Ø Plan to attend the Spring Workshop Ø Plan to write something for a future issue of The Gabriel Writer Ø Remember we’re now meeting at the Editor’s
note: For those of you who don’t know, whoever is the member for
any given month must write the next Member of the Month article. Helen Nardecchia, author, wife, mother—and SGLW Member of the Month
By Roger Busfield It is a great honor to write about Helen Nardecchia, our SGWL member of the month. Helen
won the prestigious Katherine Anne Porter award for a short story she has written entitled, Duchess and Friends. She has also won other awards for her writing. Helen was born in December, 1930, in They lived in a middle class area of From elementary school, Helen attended St. Patrick's High School where she received a
secretarial background. She knew she wanted to be a writer by the time she was a senior. But the idea laid dormant since financial
help became important at home. After graduation, Helen worked for the Natural Gas Pipeline Company in the downtown One day, a handsome ex-Marine named Bud Nardecchia, sitting on a stool behind a drafting
table, caught Helen's eye. A friendship turned into a marriage on September 8, 1956. After raising three children, the couple
relocated to Helen has been very active in SGWL events. She attended the spring workshops in 2004,
2005, and 2006 and she will be working the registration table for the 2007 workshop.
Helen Nardecchia is a most charming, gracious lady whose talents we appreciate and whose
company we all enjoy. Member
news
Member websites: Dave Ciambrone Tammy Petty
Conrad Joan Upton Hall Melissa Leedom Phyllis Moses Joy Nord Sylvia Dickey
Smith After a run-in with
...
Carol Menchu I look at us walking around in our individual wrappings looking out on the world with our individual psyches making mountains out of mole hills and mole hills out of mountains and wonder at the wonder(less)/ness of it. I, who know life is but imagination’s figment, am as guilty as all of de/constructing monsters in my mind reading into what goes on what does not exist beyond myself. And while I seek a freedom away from mind’s perceptions I am afraid to let go of myself to freely seek this peace— this emptiness— this freedom away from collective human imagination of self. I am afraid of losing something— What? Control? But isn’t the ability to lose control of control gaining control
of myself? Southwestern
Writer's Conference at TSU Update from Rhonda Esakov of http://www.storycircle.org/WhatWildness/landstories/program.shtml Border Hotline News Seeking Submissions Border Hotline News based in Alpine
Texas, located near the U.S. Mexico border is seeking articles for publication. This
is a great opportunity for every writer to add to their collection of professional clips and money to their checkbook. Drop a note to Joan R. Neubauer at jnwriter@aol.com to request the submission guidelines. Writers of Cozies, Thrillers, True Crime, and other Mystery Genres are welcome to submit
the first 500 words and a one-page synopsis of their unpublished manuscript to the Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers
Event. Six aspiring writers will be chosen and matched with a published mentor for one-on-one
sessions and recognition at the BBSAWE in May. 2007 You may be eligible to win the 2009 Abilene Book Award. WordWright will announce the
winner of this award at this year’s festival and debut the book at next year’s festival. It costs nothing to enter
and here’s how to do it: How to Enter: (You
must be a 1. Go to www.WordWright.biz and click on “submissions.” Here you will see the
submission guidelines for WordWright.biz’s One Night Book Imprint. 2. Submit your manuscript and other requested materials to wordwright@bigbend.net. In the subject line of your submission include the phrase “ 3. Deadline for submissions for the 2009 Abilene
Book Award is June 30, 2007. The winner of the
2009 Abilene Book Award will be announced at the 2007 festival. WordWright.biz will publish the winning entry and the book will debut at the 2008 festival. The winning author
must attend the 2007 & the 2008 festivals. (All entries will be judged solely by WordWright.biz.
Grandma’s Health . . . A Medical Interview
Neil Greene It’d have to been one of those days I was in a Coma. Doctors used to not know anything about Comas. I was the first. They used to want me to go up to the University where they train the young doctors. They wanted to use me for COMA THERAPY, show these young doctors what could happen
if you didn’t breathe for a week or so, made your brain just shut completely down.
Reason I didn’t breathe was because of this goiter around my neck. Used
to swell up so much it choked me off and I couldn’t breathe for days at a time.
Felt like a hangman’s noose. Not many women can live very long with one as big as mine is. Sometimes feels like a big old synthetic rubber inner tube off a truck and put on my neck and aired up
full. Even worse was when I had that tumor on my Pituitary glands. Got so big it choked off my optic nerves and then I went blind in one eye.
Had to ask the grandchildren to go to the store and bring me back several bottles of ‘HADACOL’ to shrink
it. It was big as a baseball because I could feel it. Sometimes it paralyzed me so that I was stiff as a board. Couldn’t
move a muscle for weeks at a time, just laid there. If I hadn’t cured myself,
them doctors could have written it up in one of those Medical Journals like they publish across the waters in Then the grandkids got to making a game of it.
They would say, “Want to come over and play with my grandma’s eye?”
Then I was in one of my comas, I got to where I was totally paralyzed and could only open one eye. The grand children used to charge their friends a dime to come over and see my eye. They would ask me to tell them a story and I could only blink that one eye, so then they would ask me questions
where I could only answer with eye movement. Couldn’t even move another
muscle for weeks at a time. I was frozen so solid. I think one week they must
have collected forty dollars admission. Had so many kids running through the
house it looked like a chicken pen. Then that worthless hussy my son married; I warned him she looked like a Flapper, but
no, he wouldn’t listen to me. Now the only time she comes over is when she wants something. She’s stolen most all of my good china out of the hutch, and I haven’t seen my sterling silverware
since their wedding party. Every time I’m in a Coma, she comes over and
takes something else precious to me. You’d think that after I shed blood birthing that boy of mine that he’d have
more respect and compassion for his momma, but no! That Barhop he married has
him twisted around her painted finger, her with her tight corset, eye shadow, and pink rouged-up cheeks. Tries to put her fat feet in shoes two sizes too small. She’s
a terrible cook and I bet she couldn’t add even if she does have silk gloves on.
That reminds me, I haven’t seen my gloves in a long time. I’ve baby-sat those grand kids for free so many times when they go out honky-tonkin’
on the town. I think she picks up extra cash money by bringing her friend’s
children when they want to have me baby-sit. Seems to be an awful lot of kids
and they don’t all resemble my son. They never tell me anything, but a
mother knows when all those children don’t belong to her son. Those cross-eyed
ones look just like that Reverend so-and-so down at that non-believer church where they just let everyone come in to worship. Could even belong to that UPS driver that seems to come by quite often. Come to think of it, it seems like it take an awful long time just to drop off a package during the day
when my son is off at work. One thing for certain, I don’t want anything of mine left in my will to pay for
college for those illegitimate kids. They may just put me back in a Coma now
and then, but I can still puzzle it out all over again.
Now these gallstones are swelling up so much, makes my stomach pooch out more than it ever has. I used to have a nice slender figure before the war and having a child and all. This growth must be big as a football, has to be. You do without,
scrimp and save and work hard to raise your child up right and then he lets some nosey woman lead him around like he was just
a puppy on a leash. Lord only knows I could use some help, what with being a
World War-2 widow since his daddy died over there somewhere fighting a war we didn’t start. And I never could take time out to play bridge with the girls, just had to work my fingers to the bone
trying to keep this house going by myself and stay off welfare, give my child a decent place to grow up, and now he don’t
appreciate a thing I’ve done for him all these years. I do love Jesus,
but if it hadn’t been for my diligence, this whole end of town would have gone to hell in a hand basket Corn Janet McGriffin Eating corn on a Saturday night, not just one way to eat it right. Sitting here ‘round the dinner table, six different ways friends are able to salt and butter and boggle it down. My mom would say they were going to town but I prefer a more observant view, of what each of them has found to do with one ear of corn: salt and butter as you go, eating in a typewriter row, start at one end and eat around, while another has simply found random bites are great, mom cuts it off onto her plate, as for me I behave like a crow, as held in hand I eat each row down from the end vertical style, I’ve found a way to make them smile as if each of us knew the only perfect way to do. Create a Literary Legacy – Each One Teach One from
your pres., Joan Hall Few professionals
are as generous as writers, at least in my experience. I remember the sheer terror I felt the first time I forced myself drive
into
But I crept in, praying to go unnoticed. No such luck, with fewer than ten members, anonymity wasn’t a possibility.
As all went around the table introducing themselves and telling what they were presently working on, I half expected them
to kick me out. I had to admit I was unpublished (later finding that most of them were too). Their warmth and helpfulness soon thawed the
ice in my veins, and I eventually learned that all of us had skills and intuitions to pitch into the cauldron of critiquing.
At first I wondered how I could ever repay the obligations to my mentors. Then I relaxed as I realized it doesn’t work
that way. You pass along what you learn to whoever needs it—for the mutual benefit of everybody.
Since then I can’t begin to name all the writers who have helped me. I’m not sure a lifetime is long enough
to pass along what those mentors have given me.
It’s like a story my dad told me about a remarkably successful tribe in PS – You should have recently received the first issue of
the email newsletter I edit, Page Turners, to see how you like it. If you want to keep receiving this free subscription, do
nothing. To cancel at any time simply email the address shown in the newsletter. Unnamed Janet McGriffin Fly, fly my heart cries like the wild birds that rise over the water, wings outspread. Leave the earth behind and rise into a dance of flight. Rise into the morning, into the warm rising sun of a new day. Leave weight and strain behind, sorrow and sadness below. Flee
into joy. Austin Writer Grrls Austin WriterGrrls is a group of fiesty women writers
mostly based in and around Established in 1998, the Austin Writergrrls have gathered online
in a private listserv to discuss writing and the writer's life. We began as a small group and now have seventy plus women
in our fold who meet regularly for lunch, open mics, and the occasional workshop and weekend retreat. To become a member,
contact You can visit their website at
www.austinwritergrrls.com An international literary
parody contest, the competition honors the memory if not the reputation of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton
(1803-1873), who has just enjoyed his bicentennial. The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged
to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) and the phrase,
"the pen is mightier than the sword," Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford
(1830) with the immortal words that the "Peanuts" beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, "It was a dark and stormy night." Raul strode through the dark night,
his way lit by twinkling stars as if the gods at some celestial concert were all flicking their lighters at the same time
in appreciation of the drum solo-like beat of his boot heels against the pavement, occasionally accompanied by the steel-brush-on-a-cymbal
sound of a splash as he kicked through a puddle, the plip-plop of water dripping from leaves like someone playing staccato
on a two-note piano gone flat, and the wind blowing a bluesy tissue-paper-on-comb harmonica through the trees. Dot Young,
For those who “think” they’ll enter/write a poem for themselves or the contest from
Pat Morse-McNeely I read a poem and 'feel'. I lay it aside for a bit and then reread to ‘feel’
it again. Then read a third time to judge, then later, look at it again to be
sure I was fair and just and read it right. Reason: You can read some things one time and not be impressed --
read it again, again, again, and each time see it differently -- depending on your state of mind or emotionality at the moment.
Being fair to the poet, you expose the poem to various moods and/or mindset. So, judge your own poetry before you submit: CRITERIA
FOR WRITING & JUDGING POETRY (Points 5-meets criteria to 1 fails to meet) Total Points will equal no more than 40 points Relation of Title to poem - should have some relatedness to the
central idea of the poem Introduction – (hook) Opening should invite reader to read
further, create interest/emotion (set the scene) Tone of the poem (loving, angry, comic, passionate, etc., etc.)
should be set or hinted at in the beginning of the poem, also. Movement and rhythm – rhymed or unrhymed, free/blank verse
should have a basic rhythm/ cadence to the wording. Prose poems should also have an underlying rhythm Demonstrate appropriate use of grammar/punctuation – while
grammar is not as necessary as in prose, it should be used appropriately in the body of a poem. Punctuation may sometimes
be eliminated to create flow or feeling – ‘poetic license’. Vocabulary (ability to use language contextually and clearly) –
should be simple, direct and easily understood by the reader. Should not resort to elaborate, obscure or convoluted wording
to convey a simple idea/emotion. Compactness – should not be ‘wordy’ – too
many words bury the seed or central idea of a poem more often than not. Some very short poems (EX: Japanese Haiku) convey
powerful thoughts, emotions and ideas. Many words do not make a thought clearer or a poem more readable. Needs no explanation as to purpose – should require no explanation
as to meaning or purpose of the poem. Poem is written so that it speaks to the reader on his own terms to be successful. “From
the heart of the poet to the heart of the reader.” If it needs explanation, no matter the intent, it has failed. After
all, the poet will not be handy for explanations all the time or forever. Haiku – Traditional
haiku presents a ‘single sentence’ using a total of seventeen (17) syllables:
Line 1 – 5 syllables; Line 2 – seven syllables; Line 3 – 5 syllables, dealing usually with a season
of the year – but can be used to express thought on other subjects also. Format – should be appropriate to the poem’s ‘personality’.
Should be pleasant to the sight and easy to read, line to line. There are many formats to use, but each should be considered
in terms of the rhythm and flow of the poem, avoiding static stops and starts. The
eye of the reader should flow from line to line just as his mind should flow from beginning to end. Gimmicks – should be avoided. E. E. Cummings’ (eecummings)
idiosyncrasy in his poetry grew out of the fact that he was not getting the attention he thought he should. Gimmicks attract attention, but do not necessarily make a good poem. Generally, they should be avoided.
Most poets occasionally like using gimmicks to make their poem intriguing or have a distinctive appearance on a page occasionally.
Be sure it works as desired before using. (It is not ‘style’) Style/Voice – the poet’s signature. The style or voice
you use in writing poetry will identify you as the poet. Bear in mind that there are literary detectives who can, through
their careful examination/research, discover who wrote a piece of literature by its style or voice – the vocabulary,
its structural use, the grammar common to a poet, the gimmicks and many other such small things, identify the poet. Imitation – Avoid this
– develop your own voice/style (you will anyhow). While imitation is allegedly the highest form of flattery, it is also
demeaning to the individual doing it. Hear your own heartbeat – rhythm – listen to your own words and expressions.
Mimicking other writers is not using your creative talents to their best advantage.
Hearing someone say “He writes like Shakespeare – or Coleridge – or Frost” is not a compliment,
if your really listen to it. It infers that you are unable to “do your own thing.” Besides, it is extremely hard
to do successfully – you are not privy to their sources of inspiration, experiences, emotions, etc., therefore imitation
is just that – imitation. Writing Briefly by
Paul Graham I think
it's far more important to write well than most people realize. Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them.
If you're bad at writing and don't like to do it, you'll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated. This is not a contest – there is no judging and no fee. It is a wonderful opportunity
for writers unpublished in the mystery field to get to talk to and be mentored by published authors. Full details about the
April 20, 2007 submission deadline can be found at http://www.hotxsinc.org. Old Friends
© Neil Greene Way
back when Hank was still around, You
propped me up when I was down. We
must have chased a hundred girls, Through
all the streets in our home town. And
now I see you lying there, It
hurts so much to see you down. I
mind the times, us void of care, We
chased them girls all over town. And
since it seems we’ve all grown old, It’s
brought to mind, this death and dying. Just
keep on truckin’, we’ve been told, We’ll
not give up, just keep on trying. You
always have been there for me, And
now old friend, I’m here for you. Through
tear-dimmed eyes, it’s hard to see, They’re
tasks ahead, there’s things to do. If
the wheat is up and the rain comes down, Let’s
chase them girls again through town. One
thing I’ll say, while there’s still time, That
I love you, old friend of mine. Character is the backbone of
any work of narrative, more important than plot, more important than message; without believable characters with whom an audience
can sympathize, no story will be as effective as it might. "Who is the story about?" is always a more important question than
"What happens in the story?" If we care about people, we'll listen to tales in which seemingly nothing happens, just as you
and your friends and family might trade accounts of your days over dinner. Here are some things to remember about creating
the people who will populate your stories. Characters need a past history. Called "backstory" in dramatic writing, this
history tells us a great deal about who a character is and where he or she has come from. Think about yourself and the many
ways in which your life experience has shaped you and you'll recognize the importance of creating a backstory for your characters.
Although it may take additional effort--and you may, especially in a novel, still be finding out things about your characters
as you write--knowing your characters well before you begin can help dictate some of their responses and help you tell your
story. Did a character have a former girlfriend who
loved the song "Copacabana"? Was the character abused as a child by a family member? Did the character drop out of school
at age seventeen to go to Writers use many different techniques to make characters seem real. When you read a story like Flannery O'Connor's "A Good
Man Is Hard to Find" or Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," note how many different ways these talented writers reveal
information about their characters. Some basic ways: character names; setting; characters' likes, dislikes, personal preferences;
thoughts and actions; dialogue; interaction with other characters; things said about the character. There are other techniques,
but you can see how these may have an effect on how well-depicted your character seems to the reader. Here's how it might
work: Imagine a disabled Gulf War veteran named Bo who drinks Old Milwaukie, lives in a green clapboard house that lists slightly
to starboard, drives a Dodge Dart, and daily tells the mailman--as he sits on his porch plotting to bomb the U.S. Capitol
so that he can get his revenge on the government--to "Get out my yard, flunky." The more different methods of character depiction
you can work in, the more vivid your character will be. Characters should be three-dimensional to be believable. Rarely in life is anyone all one thing--all
good, all bad, completely cerebral, completely ruled by her passions. Since few people are completely one-sided, it helps
the plausibility of your characters if they seem human as well. Your hero should have human flaws; they will make him both
more sympathetic and give him obstacles to overcome. Your villain, likewise, should have a few points of sympathy as well.
The greatest villains--John Milton's Satan, Thomas Harris' Hannibal
Lecter, Bram Stoker's Dracula--are all articulate and cultured creatures. Remember also Walt Whitman's "Do I contradict
myself?/Very well then, I contradict myself." A man who hates everything and everyone might have a family of birds living
in his oak tree that he cherishes. An atheist might be fiercely moral. A person afraid of heights might be driven to rock-climbing.
A Vegan Buddhist might smoke Marlboros. Contemporary literature is fill of examples. In Kazuo
Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, the butler Stevens, a man seemingly closed off
to emotion, reveals himself as a man deeply affected by love and loss. Thomas Keneally's Oskar Schindler is a mercenary failed
Catholic who risks his life and spends his fortune to preserve the lives of his Jewish workers. Almost all interesting characters
you discover will have contradictory impulses at war within them. Although your characters typically will act in well-established
ways, be open to the possibility of inconsistency in them. Human beings encompass great contradictions; it is what makes them
interesting, and it is what makes them human. Characters need to want something, and they must be given the opportunity to make a choice. To create a useful conflict in a story, your
characters have to have a deep-seated want or need that the story is about--either the gaining of that need or the frustration
of it, possibly forever. In some sense, that need must drive the character and define the character. It can be many things:
revenge, love, the need for aceptance, the desire to get the girl, the desire to get into a drive-in movie without paying;
the character may not even know what he wants. But you must know. You character has to want something or the story will not
work. Likewise you have to treat your characters with
enough compassion to recognize that they must be given a choice. I hate the deterministic fiction of Naturalists like Emile
Zola and Theodore Dreiser because I don't feel their characters are really given choices; Fate paints them into a corner and
they are stuck there. Characters should always be given a choice of paths, of actions, of decisions, even if they choose the
wrong one or choose not to make a choice. This is much more satisfying than the feeling that Fate/God/the Author has decreed
that this story can only end in one way and so every other avenue must be blocked.
| ||
