With two people at the library and fourteen online, there were sixteen people at August’s Writers’ Mill meeting, where we bemoaned the trials and tribulations of technology, considered the starts and stops of writing and editing, and made plans for this year’s anthology. We’re very grateful to Christine for getting a working setup at the library, despite their technical difficulties, and also to Ron who is continuing to work on fixing the website and newsletter issues. And we hope those attending for the first time will return, despite the technological complications with most of us online. We were delighted to meet you!
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes Sunday August 20th 2023Category Archives: Editing
Write, Edit, and Stop: presentation by Sheila Deeth, August 2023
WRITE
Different people, different ways to write:
- Writing as a race: Go from start to finish without rereading, editing, critiquing, complaining, or stopping – e.g. NaNoWriMo in November
- Writing as mountain-climbing: Plan your route. Write/climb your route. Set up waypoints. Then climb a better route in your next draft.
- Writing as sewing: Write some, reread and edit what you wrote, then write some more… backstitching over your text to make a solid seam.
- Do what works for you!
Writers’ Mill Minutes Sunday July 16th 2023
14 members attended July’s Writers’ Mill meeting, and if you missed it, you missed a fantastic presentation from Erick Mertz. His topic—Self-Publishing Success: What Worked, What Didn’t, & What I Would Do Differently—was particularly timely as we approach the release of our next anthology, and included excellent advice and inspiration for all of us. Notes from his presentation will be posted online shortly, with the current password—which you will find in your emails.
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes Sunday July 16th 2023Self-Publishing Success: What Worked, What Didn’t, & What I Would Do Differently, with Erick Mertz
Self-publishing used to be somewhat frowned on and considered less legitimate than “really” getting published, but that is changing, as Erick showed us in his presentation.
Continue reading Self-Publishing Success: What Worked, What Didn’t, & What I Would Do Differently, with Erick MertzPublish or Perish, or just Put your words out there?
Publish or Perish is a common phrase in British academia. If you don’t publish papers you’ll never advance your career. Guessing that we’re more interested in just putting our words out there, even if we never achieve that great writing career, Sheila offered a few ways we might use to let others see our words. You can find her presentation online at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pdf (pdf file) or https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pptx (powerpoint presentation file).
Continue reading Publish or Perish, or just Put your words out there?Writers’ Mill Minutes 2023 03 19
Writers’ Mill March Minutes, March 19th 2023
March’s meeting was well-attended, with some new in person members, and lots of members online. Sheila had intended to be present in person, but COVID intervened, so her “Publish or Perish, or just Put your words out there” presentation was given via zoom instead. Afterward, members were invited to introduce themselves, both online and in person, and there was lots of lively discussion, leading to various unresolved questions. Please contact admin with your thoughts on:
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes 2023 03 19The World of Editing: Sheila Deeth, 16th Oct 2022
Notes from Sheila’s Editing Talk
We’ve all heard of different types of editing. For example:
- Developmental, substantive, or content editing
- Structural editing
- Copy editing
- Line editing
- Mechanical editing
Writing Advice from Steven Campbell, author of Hard Luck Hank, May 2022
Steven’s conversation touched on many writing topics, so I’ve tried to collect things under headings for you. Please let me know if I’ve missed any favorite nuggets from what he had to say.
Continue reading Writing Advice from Steven Campbell, author of Hard Luck Hank, May 2022Writers’ Mill Minutes 202110
Minutes from Oct 17th 2021
Between 12 and 15 members attended Sunday’s Writers’ Mill meeting. Some were unable to attend because they had problems finding the email link. It seems rather unproductive to ask you to please email me if you don’t get this email but… if you do get this email, but don’t get the one with the email link for the next meeting, please email me during the morning, so I can resend the link to you before the meeting starts. Our next meeting will be on Sunday November 21st, and we plan to upload the anthology and create the cover “before your very eyes.”
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes 202110Writers’ Mill minutes July 19th 2020
25 people attended the Writers’ Mill Zoom meeting this month, and enjoyed a very informative, inspirational and encouraging talk from Cindy Brown, author of the Ivy Meadows mysteries. Cindy’s handout can be downloaded from https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Mysteries-handout-from-Cindy-Brown.docx and I’ll include the edited version with notes from our session at the end of this email.
Continue reading Writers’ Mill minutes July 19th 2020