There were only three attendees in the library meeting room this month – perhaps not surprising given the recent weather. Many thanks to Christine for setting up there, and to Matthew for being in charge. Meanwhile we had ten members online – a smaller meeting than usual, but a lively one! We celebrated achievements of 2023 and discussed our goals, both personal and group goals, for 2024.
If you’ve not yet given your input on topics for 2024, the poll is still online at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/10/topics-for-2024/, so please help us help you by leaving your votes. Please help us know what genres interest you most by responding to the other online poll at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/23/what-genres-can-we-help-you-with/
Other interesting links mentioned during the meeting are Dame Judi Dench’s Shakespeare: the Man who Pays the Rent: https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Man-Who-Pays-Rent/dp/1250325773 It comes out in in the US in April, and the audible version (already available in the UK) is really good. And Let Shakespeare Serve The City: https://www.pdx.edu/news/let-shakespeare-serve-city-psu-and-partnering-arts-organizations-celebrate-400-years-bard
Lyndsay gave us our ezine prompt for January, and the response was amazing. Lots of great pieces. If you’ve not already enjoyed reading them, go to https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/jan-2024-ezine-contest-page/jan-2024-entries-voting-page/ and follow the links to see what you’ve been missing.
OTHER ENTRIES were:
UPCOMING WRITING PROMPTS (for contest/ezine):
Send all entries of 6 (or fewer) to 1200 words to: Contest @ PortlandWritersMill . Org (remove spaces)
Each year we write our goals on pieces of paper (or Sheila writes them for us if we or she are not present in person). Goals are anonymous and generally take two forms:
So, for example:
Goals are kept anonymous, and the aim is not to see yourself as a failure for not meeting your own goal, but rather to celebrate that we’ve all achieved something that someone thought worth setting as a goal during the year.
GOALS FOR 2023
Sheila took the papers out from the box (an attractive red and green box made for us by Becky Lovejoy’s mom back in 2007!) and read the goals, then asked for a show of hands for who had achieved them. Results, just from members present at the meeting, were encouraging!
GOALS FOR 2024
We went around the room introducing ourselves and setting our “think I can” and “wish I could” goals for 2024. These goals will be hidden away in the green and red box for the end of the year or the beginning of next year.
Some of you have already taken the online poll at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/10/topics-for-2024/ to help us choose topics for 2024. We took a poll during the meeting as well, on the grounds that people who are present in a meeting should be awarded additional influence. The in-meeting results are below, but please continue adding your votes to the poll if you haven’t already done so. We will refer to it as we look for speakers, and also as speakers ask us what we’d like them to talk about.
One book was highly recommended as we discussed these goals: Dame Judi Dench’s Shakespeare: the Man who Pays the Rent: https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Man-Who-Pays-Rent/dp/1250325773 It comes out in in the US in April, and the audible version (already available in the UK) is really good.
Also of interest is Let Shakespeare Serve The City: https://www.pdx.edu/news/let-shakespeare-serve-city-psu-and-partnering-arts-organizations-celebrate-400-years-bard
Next we discussed genres of interest to the group. Select your genres from the online poll at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/23/what-genres-can-we-help-you-with/ if you who missed the meeting:
Other goals for 2024 include
WEBSITE:
ANTHOLOGY:
Topics we didn’t have time to discuss, but which are worth everyone thinking about, related to the anthology:
Topic to be announced later. Next meeting is on the 3rd Sunday of Feb, Feb 18th. And don’t forget to write for the “When I’m daydreaming” prompt – deadline Sunday, Feb 4th.
]]>Click the genres that interest you most. Leave a comment if you want us to add more genres to the list.
]]>Please add further suggestions in the comments and I will add them to the poll. (If you can’t see a place for comments, click on the header “Topics for 2024” then keep scrolling down to find it.)
Let’s make this our best year ever!
]]>Mollie Hunt was a wonderful speaker, and we all had a great time. In person, we were able to share in the Book Exchange and to buy some of Mollie’s books. Online members exchanged book recommendations which will be included in these minutes.
Liz announced the voting results for our December e-magazine. The topic was “The Last Time I was in…” and those of you who haven’t read the ezine should look for it at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/dec-2023-contest-page/dec-2023-entries-voting-page/
OTHER ENTRIES were:
word count limits, anything from 4 or 5 to 1,200 words: any genre: deadline end of the first Sunday of the month: entries go to contest@portlandwritersmill.org: and PLEASE use your own creative title, not the name of the theme!
DETAILS for these three themes and – soon – April’s theme, can be found on the website under UPCOMING CONTESTS located below the CONTESTS header. https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/
Mollie Hunt is a cat writer and award-winning author of the Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries, the Tenth Life Paranormal Mysteries involving a ghost cat, the Cat Seasons Sci-Fantasy Tetralogy and a COVID memoir In her spare time, she pens a bit of cat poetry as well. Notes from her talk are below, or find them at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/18/cats-on-the-keyboard-with-mollie-hunt-dec-17th-2023/ on our website. Mollie’s website is https://molliehuntcatwriter.com/ and you can send any questions to molliehuntcatwriter@gmail.com . Find her handout by clicking on the link at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/handout-cats-keyboard/
We ended the meeting with the story dice, using their images to provoke discussion on character, scene, and plot.
To set the scene, Sheila rolled three dice, giving: horseshoe magnet, smiley face, and fountain
For the character (protagonist) she rolled: a directional arrow, bee, and happy/sad masks
And for plot (suggesting this might be the end point of the story) she rolled: eye, arrow, and dice
Discussion ranged from magnetic fountains to dancing bees, and the resulting short story (and poetry) ideas covered fantasy, a wonderful children’s book idea, humor, pathos and romance. If you weren’t there, try it for yourself – give yourself ten minutes and write something. Try to include a sense of Euphoria and you’ll have your submission for January’s ezine ready made!
Our next meeting is Jan 21st
Sheila invited us all to look at the schedule page on the website. At present, it doesn’t go beyond today, but she will update it shortly for the new year. Underneath the schedule you’ll find lists of past speakers and topics. Please think about topics you would like us to cover, speakers you’d like us to invite back, etc.
At January’s meeting we will review the triumphs of 2023 (you will all have triumphed), and we’ll make plans for the year to come. PLEASE be sure to join us. It’s your chance to help steer the Writers’ Mill in a direction that’s helpful to you!
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and be sure to make time to WRITE!!!!!
]]>Cats aren’t just cute. They have a place in our world. They interact with humans. And we can learn from them (as Mollie makes clear in her memoir).
Cozy mysteries are clean, no swearing, no grotesque violence, and always have a happy ending – think “Murder She Wrote” on TV.
Mollie enjoys reading them, and so began writing them. Cats drive the story, and cats drive her to write. But there are lots of cozies out there. If you’re going to write them, you have to decide how your books will stand out. What will make them special?
Mollie uses epigraphs (tiny blurbs) at the beginning of each chapter in her Crazy Cat Lady series. These give the reader tidbits of information about cats, their lives, their needs, etc. and make her books different from anyone else’s. You just have to think of something to make your series special. But Mollie doesn’t just write Crazy Cat Lady novels.
Mollie read to us from Cat Summer (science fiction), Cats Eyes (Cat Lady mystery), and There’s a Cat Hair in my Face Mask (memoir). The writing voices sound completely different.
It’s good to read in your genre and have a sense of what readers expect when you decide what voice to write in.
Go into it thoughtfully.
There are lots of different ways to express yourself. Difference genres. Different purposes.
Mollie might begin with just a title. She doesn’t know where the story will go, and her writing feels like reading (only slower), waiting to learn what comes next. At some point she has to choose between possible endings. One thing might look obvious, but something more complicated might work for a better mystery. Then she’ll have to go back and rewrite some earlier sections, add clues and red herrings, and clean up the story so it works.
Agatha Christie wrote the endings first. Mollie writes till the ending presents itself, then writes the ending and fixes the rest of the story.
Yes. If Mollie didn’t love it, she wouldn’t do it. Very long hours. Can be really boring. But she loves it.
She’s often working on more than one book at once – it’s relatively easy to keep the stories separate, but when they’re ready for publishing, there’s a lot of effort involved – hard to publish more than one book at the same time
Mollie writes every morning after feeding the cats. You have to commit to spending the time at it.
It takes about a year to write a book.
Initially Mollie trained as an artist, but the whole having to make money off art thing put her off.
In 1995 her husband took a trip and left her with the computer. It had WordPerfect on it, and she started writing. Wrote 40 pages (saving them on a floppy disc so she wouldn’t hurt the computer) and was hooked. Soon 40 pages was 400, and the book was never published.
David Gerrold says your first million words are practice. Mollie completed that first million then, in 2011, wrote Cats Eyes, her first book. She queried agents and publishers, got some interest, some advice, and lots of rejections, then got bored and started another book.
Her advice is keep writing, start another book, and don’t get discouraged.
A high school friend said “Let’s publish Cats Eyes ourselves.” She formatted and edited the book, then published it, and Mollie started another book.
Mollie writes cozies because she likes reading them. She likes scifi/fantasy too, and poetry, so she writes these as well. She doesn’t enjoy memoirs – they don’t guarantee a happy ending the way a cozy does – but she felt compelled to write one. So, write what you want to read or what you feel compelled to write.
She keeps a journal, and she used the internet to find out what was happening between Feb 2020 and the middle of 2021. Covid caused lockdown, and she and her husband were locked down with cats. The cats were a major influence.
Memoir uses your own voice. It might include language you wouldn’t put in your novels, political ideas you’d not want to impose on mystery readers, a personal choice of detail. Writing memoir bounces your brain around – everyone should write one says Mollie.
Mollie says her books are independently published, not self-published. They’re not “self” published because other people help – her editor, cover creator, etc.
The pros of independent publishing are:
There’s a downside of course:
Social media is a popular approach to marketing, but don’t try to do it all. It helps to keep the cover, your face, and cats (in Mollie’s case) in front of potential readers on Facebook, for example, but it’s not going to generate lots of sales.
Mollie has used Amazon ads. You have to pay for them. They’ll help you make the “sponsored ad” with cover picture, details, etc.
Mollie’s website started out as a free blog on WordPress. Now she pays them so she can have a good web address: https://molliehuntcatwriter.com/
She has about 200 people subscribed to her newsletter, and she handed round a sign-up sheet. Sheila has about 20 subscribers and has given up sending out the newsletter. Mollie says she shouldn’t give up. Newletters keep readers in the loop, and they make you write.
NIWA is a local organization of independent writers. They take your books to events and sell them there. Plus they’re a great community who offer lots of advice. They’re well worth joining. https://www.niwawriters.com/ Mollie reminds us, you should always give back as well as gaining from a group!
Mollie says never say no when you’re invited to speak to a group. We’re glad she didn’t say no to us!
Reviews can be hurtful, so Mollie tries not to read too many of them. But sometimes they really give you a boost.
Mollie once had a review that said her book didn’t feel believable because with so many cats the protagonist would have to do more vacuuming. She hadn’t included vacuuming in the story as it’s boring, but now she includes it every once in a while.
Don’t take reviews to heart.
November is the month when we upload our annual anthology, but it’s also National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) so the meeting started with a few questions for attendees:
Sheila promised to (try to) write good notes to send out in these minutes. But don’t forget, if you want any steps described in more detail, make sure you come to January’s meeting where we’ll discuss plans for topics and speakers for 2024. Also, you can find detailed notes from previous talks at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/help-2/anthology-help/ on our website.
Sheila demo-ed the website (and its problematic error message) and begged for assistance. The technology is moving faster than the team can keep up with it. Please would anyone who has website experience, or who has children or grandchildren with experience, email admin @ portlandwritersmill . org. If you were the one who spoke to Sheila, please would you email us too! The site is created with WordPress and hosted on iPage (or BlueHost, I think). Then we can discuss how to add you to the volunteer list, and how to give you access to fix our site!
Our monthly prompt inspired some amazing and varied writing for the November ezine, which can still be read (and commented on) at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/nov-2023-contest-page/nov-2023-entries-voting-page/. Clayton gave us the writing prompt and announced the winners (those who gained the most “votes” from readers as favorites):
OTHER entries (all truly excellent reads) were:
UPCOMING CONTESTS (send entries Contest @ PortlandWritersMill . Org, 1,200 word limit, any genre, up to two entries per person, and the deadline is always the end of the 1st Sunday of the month)
This year’s anthology includes entries from most of the contests/ezines from Oct 2022 to Sept 2023, making for an intriguingly eclectic mix that your volunteers managed to combine into a smoothly flowing whole. Altogether, 19 authors, plus 9 editors, 3 content organizers, 2 formatters, and several additional illustrators gave their time to create this book. We hope you’ll all take advantage of the cheap offer ($5.77) and buy Christmas presents before we increase the price (to $9.95) at the end of the year. (Kindle copies are $1.99).
Sheila had a PowerPoint presentation prepared to provide a visual guide through the day’s upload, but she probably had too many windows open on her computer. PowerPoint crashed. Zoom crashed. Zoom crashed again and mild panic ensued, so she gave the presentation “freeform” without PowerPoint.
Find notes from Sheila’s presentation at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/20/how-to-upload-your-book-to-amazon-from-sheilas-talk-nov-19th-2023/.
By the end of the process, we had kindle and print versions of the anthology uploaded, and were just waiting for Amazon’s approval of both books. This was received later on Sunday for the ebook, and on Monday for the print version – YAY!
We repeated the whole process then with another volume, in hopes this would help people remember what happened and how to use the tools. We will be happy to give talks on how to use other tools – Styles and Format with Word, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. – in 2024 if members want us to. Just be sure to attend January’s meeting and let your voices be heard.
What does this get you when you upload to Amazon?
DON’T FORGET to READ your document while you’re “fixing” it. It looks different in KindleCreate – the fonts, page size, line spacings, etc. are all different, and you’ll be amazed how many errors you find while rereading your document in a new form. Then…
What does this get you when you upload to Amazon?
KindleCreate gave you good control over your ebook but not over the print one. We’re not professionals, but we want to produce a book that looks as close to professional as possible. So we’re going to let KindleCreate do what it’s good at, and use something else to format the print book.
Remember where I said READ your document in KindleCreate? While you’re reading and editing, make all the same fixes to your original .doc or .docx file. That way you have a good, clean .doc or .docx ready to create a print file from.
You can improve that front cover too, by adding your own title and author name. Microsoft Draw is a good basic program. Photoshop is much better. There again, if you have Photoshop, you might want to design the whole cover. Download a (free) pdf cover template from Amazon (you need the book dimensions and number of pages) then add the front cover and create a spine and back cover to fit (and save as pdf).
What does this get you when you upload it?
Go to https://kdp.amazon.com/ and log in with your Amazon credentials. (Yes, you need an Amazon account, but you don’t have to let them store your credit card. Whenever you make a purchase, give them the card, and remove it from your account straight afterward if you want.)
They will ask for (and you must give them):
Then you arrive at your bookshelf:
Then you move to the page where you upload your interior (.kpf) file, and your (.jpg) cover. (If it’s just a cover image with no text, you’ll use the Covercreator to design your full front cover. See Print Books below.) Amazon will promise to let you download your book “soon”, then change its mind so can’t download it – that’s life. But you looked at it with KindlePreviewer didn’t you? And you can check it now using the Preview tool.
At this point you can enroll your book in special kindle programs, if you want. I don’t, as I don’t want to have to keep track of what’s going on, and I don’t want to be restricted to not selling my books on other platforms.
Then you set the price and royalties.
When you finish, Amazon will ask if you want to create a paperback too. I’d suggest you answer “yes”.
A lot of the answers will already have been filled in for you when you start your print book. You still have to choose categories (today anyway) and they don’t offer the same selection for print and ebooks. I expect they’ll fix this soon.
On the uploads tab, you start with a free Amazon ISBN. Cut and paste this into your Word doc (or InDesign doc) and save a new .pdf file. Then upload the pdf file.
If you haven’t created a full .pdf cover, you’ll use Amazon cover creator at this point.
Preview your cover, then preview your book. Flip through the pages. Make sure nothing looks untoward. Then click on the “accept” button.
And finally, set the price.
We set our prices to the minimum until the end of the year, so members can purchase Christmas gifts cheaply. At the end of the year, we will up the price for the print book to $9.95.
We repeated the whole process with another volume, in hopes this would help people remember what happened and how to use the tools. We will be happy to give talks on how to use other tools – Styles and Format with Word, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. – in 2024 if members want us to. Just be sure to attend January’s meeting and let your voices be heard.
And good luck to all those writing, editing, formatting, and preparing to upload their books!
]]>Michael Fryer announced results from our October “Why Me?” contest—all great submissions which can be read in October’s ezine: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/oct-2023-ezine-contest-page/oct-2023-entries-voting-page/
OTHER ENTRIES were:
UPCOMING EZINE TOPICS:
These all have 1200 word limits (but fewer words is great—challenge yourself to write a 6-word story!). Any genre, just don’t try to offend. And send your entries to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org (remove spaces!). Deadlines are always the end of the 1st Sunday in the month (and meetings are on the 3rd Sundays).
David Porter is a much-valued member of our group who wrote regularly for our monthly contests, provided wonderful images for our anthologies, often writing for them too, but more recently took “time off” to work on his family history novel. He spoke with us just over a year ago, and we were delighted to welcome him back with an update on what he’s writing, why, how, and what decisions the writing makes him ponder. Find notes from his talk at: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/20/fulfilling-that-writing-commitment-david-porter-oct-15-2023/
Sheila announced that the anthology is progressing well. The absolute deadline for any additions or changes (potential images, permissions for images, revised versions of submissions, etc.) is the end of Sunday Oct 22. But PLEASE get your changes to her sooner so we can move forward more easily.
At present, images are included in the master file with annotations in black if the author has requested or approved the image, in blue if the author has said they like the image but it’s okay not to include it, and in red if the image is entirely optional.
The anthology will be uploaded to Amazon at our next meeting, November 19th.
Just a reminder, Nanowrimo at our local libraries include:
More info at https://library.cedarmill.org. This is your chance to get that novel started and/or finished, or just hang out with lots of writers.
Jean reminded us to visit Second Edition, next to the library, where we can purchase wonderful things including framed photographs by Jean (Sheila bought one straight after the meeting). Proceeds support the library.
Then Sheila closed the meeting with a reminder to sign up for emails if you’re not already receiving them. If you have a writing friend who isn’t getting the emails, please help them sign up!
Happy Writing!
]]>In 2019 David published a book of poetry called Clearing the Sky of Thickets (https://www.amazon.com/Clearing-Sky-Thickets-David-Porter/dp/035924839X/) Everyone who’s read it agrees it’s a really good book, but it’s not going to make his fortune. David said his aim is to be read, not to make money from writing – a very practical aim, in a world where so many books compete for readers’ attention.
For several years, David wrote entries for Writers’ Mill contests and helped put our annual anthology together (see November’s meeting!). But he had a long-standing commitment to write something for his family, so he took a leave of absence to research the intriguing mystery of a great-uncle’s long-ago disappearance. In July 2022 David gave a talk about the process of researching and writing his novel. And this month he updated us with more information, more intrigue, and lots of fascinating tidbits of history and writing hints.
William Dodican was born 1867 and died on October 15, 1905 (the same date as our meeting!). Letters relating to his death were collected, wrapped in blue ribbon, by David’s paternal grandmother, and given to David in the ’70s. David’s grandmother and her siblings were raised by two sibling aunts after the death of their parents. And Aunt Mollie, one of these two, was deeply involved in trying to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.
The letters survived a house fire, and in 2009, as jobs and dreams crashed, David decided it was time to look at them—now slightly singed. He scanned them into the computer (initially just 1 or 2, but now 90 documents altogether!), and ordered and analyzed them. Scanning the letters means he can look at them without further damaging the paper or obscuring the text. And the first surprise was that these were not letters written by Aunt Mollie, but replies to letters she had written. She had clearly written lots of letters in search of more information.
Since 2022, David has written 50,000 words, in 27 chapters, based on information he has discovered. He’s not sure how or when the editing process will end. But he does want to confirm the right pieces are all written in the right places. And when he has enough confidence, it will be done.
William was a qualified bartender. When he caught the train from Chicago to San Francisco, he was probably hoping to find work. And it should have been relatively easy. But he got off the train in New Mexico and his body was found some time later by a cowboy.
Aunt Mollie received a letter from the cowboy who found her brother’s body. David researched why a cowboy would have been there, and was impressed by how articulate the cowboy appeared to be. A comment about the metal around the body being fake brings thoughts of gold and fools gold.
The station master replied to a letter from Mollie. He described how her brother got off the train (at a stop for water, not a station) and insisted it was going in the wrong direction, then set off walking. Was he confused? Drugged? Drunk? But it was someone else that her brother spoke to, and that other witness seemed to have disappeared—Mollie’s letter to him traveled around the country before it was finally returned as undeliverable. Is there a mystery there?
Some questions clearly arise: Why was he allowed to wander off alone (and apparently somewhat incapacitated)? Why was no search made when he didn’t arrive at his destination on the train (his luggage arrived without him)? Why was there no missing person report until after the body was found? And why was it so hard for Mollie to get answers from people—were they afraid they’d lose their jobs?
With the only witness vanished, there could be no further clues. But there is information from the sheriff (who had to pay for a horse and wagon to take the coroner to the body, only to find it too decomposed to carry! They buried it in the wilderness). And there is information that David has uncovered, about how sheriffs and coroners worked in those days. All of it’s useful to his book. But now he had to decide, what kind of book would this be?
One of David’s favorite writers is Erik Larsen, who writes dramatized history (historical fiction). This is the direction David chose.
David researched the family history (emigration from Sligo, Ireland in the 1820s, Spanish American war!), the use of trains (people were just beginning to travel to California), the mail service (how did Mollie receive her letters?), technology, geology (gold in New Mexico), writing (Bram Stoker—did Sligo and the cholera epidemic influence the writing of Dracula?), what people might do on a train (Mickey Finns, swindlers’ card games), what people might talk about (Einstein, relativity), how people died and how bodies decomposed, how they celebrated and what celebrations might be cancelled when bad news is received… All these ideas give rise to chapters in his book, and to scenes that he can dramatize in his writing. Lots of research, and lots of choices to be made.
David has access (as do we) to lots of resources to help visualize events. Google earth, Google street view, websites about obscure topics, etc.
David’s talk inspired many questions—about the events long ago, train timetables, drugs and alcohol on trains, etc. To find out more, you’ll have to read his book. But other questions concerned how David hopes to get published. Will he look for an agent? A publisher? A small publisher? Self-publish?
Publishers can let you down, and have let several of our members down (deliberately or by accident). According to David’s research, you might need to sell 5,000 books before you are considered saleable, but how? Marketing is a major problem—most publishers leave the author to do the marketing. And then there’s the question of how market, where’s your audience, what genre do you say your book is?
David’s poetry book was published through Lulu. He had help from copy-editors, graphic designers, and a good photographer. The print price, per copy, is around $3, which makes it possible for him to give away the book, as a way to get readers.
We all learned a lot, and were thoroughly intrigued by David’s mystery and his presentation. We’re looking forward to learning when and where the book is published so we can read it. Thank you David!
]]>Jean announced awards and participants in the September “Fall, Falling, Fallen” contest (with challenge to write sentences without active verbs (scesis onomaton):
ALL THE OTHER ENTRIES:
Jean Harkin – Falling For A Challenge (host entry)
David Fryer – Chasing Waterfalls
M.L. Lyons – Felled in Love (one act play)
Judy Beaston – Fire Fall
Sheila Deeth – Roller Coaster Ride (poem)
Robin Layne – That Wretched Prince
Jessie Collins – When Bad Becomes Good
Next month’s contest theme is “Why Me?” hosted by Michael Fryer. Deadline for entries is Sunday, October 1. Any genre, under 1200 words. Find out more at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/oct-2023-ezine-contest-page/.
Other future contest themes and deadline dates are November 5, “Pushing Past Barriers,” host Clayton Davis; December 3, “The Last Time I Was In . . .” host Liz Maggio. More details on these can be found at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/
Zita announced that the library is offering programs of special interest to writers of fantasy, sci fi, and romance in October. See https://library.cedarmill.org for full details. There will be a special focus on navigating NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. A list of the special NaNoWriMo events is included at the end of these Minutes.
Zita, who teaches at Portland Community College, presented a program on how to design a website, using screen share to show how she expertly used the Google Sites tools to create and publish a website. She began the demonstration with the caveat that the presently free Google Sites has recently been purchased by Square Space, and changes might follow, as they did when Square Space took over Weebly website builder. She advised setting up our own Google Sites website as soon as possible before changes take place. A website on Google Sites is presently free, but you would need to register your domain either through SquareSpace or another domain registrar.
To begin setting up a free website, if you have a Google account, you can directly access Google Sites by clicking on the “waffle” or 9-dot icon. Zita then showed how to set up a title page, home page, install images (best upload your images into your Google Drive. Create a Website folder in Google Drive and upload images to that folder to keep all website-related items together), placeholder text, navigation tabs, additional pages to the website, adding a footer section, creating a link, using Google’s ‘insert’ section and icon tools, and setting up a video slide show. She provided tips and advice as she deftly navigated through the website draft to the publishing stage. After publishing the website, it is possible to then look at it as it would appear to visitors to the pages.
Some of Zita’s wisdom gained from experience is as follows: Home page should have no more information than an introductory “elevator speech” of 3 minutes. Images for a website should be as small as available, no more than 300 pixels wide. There are tabs at the top of Google Drive page for Google-provided images. Moving images around: Zita cautioned against distorting or stretching images while moving them around the pages. Hold the shift key to resize proportionally; do this before grabbing the image handle. Images for a slide show should be of similar width and always the same orientation, either horizontal or vertical.
Shift enter is a handy bit of information. Using these computer keys will start a new line when you don’t want to start a new paragraph. Print fonts. Arial and Verdana are best; both crisp, dark enough, large enough to read easily. Open Sans is good too. A footer section is a good place for copyright information and links. Selecting a color for this section is a good idea. Use the “chain” icon on the Google Drive to create a footer.
Copyright precautions for websites and anything published: Illustrations from Pixabay are often used for publications. But “royalty-free” does not automatically mean an image if free to use. It is necessary to look at the content-license summary to determine whether an image is copyright-free to download and use. These new categories of Pixabay images will severely impact usage, choices, and attributions for the Writers’ Mill anthology as well as personal websites. User beware!
There were questions from the group about images for the anthology and whether a list of titles will be provided. Zita said that when Sheila returns home, she will be sending emails to editors and content organizers. Possibly a request for specific images will follow.
Guest speaker for October 15 meeting will be Writers’ Mill member David Porter who will give us an update on the family mystery story he is investigating and writing, continuing where he left off with his presentation to us in July, 2022.
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