With several new members, we started our meeting by reminding everyone of who we are: the Writers’ Mill, writers helping writers, meeting on the 3^rd Sunday of every month. We all agree that our librarian is fantastic and Zoom is wonderful (if occasionally challenging). And maybe one day there’ll be mixed real-and-virtual meetings—it’s a dream, but please be thinking about how it might work. And on the subject of dreams… we run monthly contests online for which this month’s topic was dreams. Von announced the results, and you should have already received them from our contest coordinator, unless you’re a new member (in which case I’ve only just added you to the list):

• FIRST place went to Peter for his bee-tale: Apian Ambitions
• SECOND place went to Iain, our newest overseas member, for the poem: Fishing For Poets
• THIRD place went to Judy for her story: Birth of a Dream

OTHER ENTRIES:
Dream Puffs (poem) by Zita
Dreaming Hemlock by Sheila
Dreamscapes by Judy
For Dah (poem) by Catherin
More Like A Nightmare! by Jessie
Noises in the Night by Jean
Sara and Sid – Part Two by Matthew
Stephanie’s Perfect Life by Karin
Tennis Dreams by David
The Significance of Dreams by Robin
Vonnie’s Dream by Sheila (comments only)
Burned Out by Von (comments only)

Our speaker this month was Maren Anderson of the Timberline Review, and her notes are online for you at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20200117-Maren-Anderson.docx. Plus you can follow the presentation at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Maren-Andersons-talk.pdf Additional notes will appear at the end of these minutes.

Catherin led an excellent critique of three of Robin’s poems for the last half hour of the meeting. We looked at issues such as:

1. The effect of capital letters on the way a poem is read: Readers see capitals as the start of sentences. If they appear at the start of every line, the reader might feel they’ve missed something, and end up looking back instead of losing themselves in the poem.
2. Writing and spelling conventions: e.g. capital letters for the divine, and how that orients the reader toward the narrator.
3. The different effects of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration
4. The importance of imagery – sometimes as solid sensual ideas that draw the reader in, sometimes in symbolism that evokes a reader response
5. Word choice that conveys sensation includes words that do not not relate to the senses.
6. Use of language and of different voices, for example in a poem where God speaks and, in the final stanza, the narrator replies.
7. The direction of emotion – e.g. from despair, through hope and light, then back to a sense of despair that might be overcome
8. Replacing “ing” words with “I” and present tense might create a closer connection to the narrator – the importance of experiment in poetry – what would happen if I said it this way?
9. The importance of reader expectation – don’t want to introduce a sincere symbol and have readers see something completely different.
10. The Who, What, Where, When and Why of a poem, and how the author conveys this.
11. The universality of a poem: an author can write with one audience in mind and still have something resonant to say to another.
12. How the ending ties a poem together
13. The need for and value of line breaks and indentation. Indented lines stand out. White space affects how the poem is read. Blank lines create pause so the reader can absorb an idea.

Plus, we noted how a critique such as this lets the author break the 4^th wall (enter the audience, in a sense) and experience their own work through other people’s reactions. It’s an experience that’s invaluable to all writers, not just poets. And hopefully, as you read the notes above, some of the ideas will resonate with whatever type of writing you enjoy.

Finally, Sheila reminded members of where to find the website: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/ and where to find information about upcoming contests: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-2021-contests/ The current password is still DreamsJan21, but watch out for a new password more appropriate to February; and don’t forget, changing the passwords is how we keep your work safe and unpublished, which means you can follow Maren’s instructions and submit to other journals and anthologies.

Upcoming contests are:

• Feb: Let me count the ways, hosted by Zita
• March: Winds of change, hosted by Ria
• April: The sea and me, hosted by Von
• May … TBA

Entries go to contest @ portlandwritersmill.org 1200 word limit, any genre you care to try your hand at, deadline the end of the first Sunday of the month.

Our next meeting will be Feb 21, when Jim Mockford, author of the bilingual childrens picture book, the Kite that Touched the Sky https://www.amazon.com/Kite-that-Touched-Sky/dp/0692066616, will tell us about bilingual writing, picture books, finding illustrators, and using your imagination in writing and marketing. Matthew will lead a critique of Catherin and Ian’s poetic collaboration.

Finally, under instructions from her family after a medical scare, Sheila is looking for help with such things as:

• Leading meetings
• Keeping the email list up to date
• Sending out newsletters, minutes, meeting reminders and meeting links
• Taking minutes
• Posting minutes and notes to the website

Catherin has generously volunteered. Robin is willing to learn. And any other offers will be gratefully accepted. Thanks folks, and we’ll see you online again on Feb 21

Notes from Maren Anderson’s Talk, Jan 17 2021

Don’t forget the handouts at: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20200117-Maren-Anderson.docx and https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Maren-Andersons-talk.pdf

And here are my notes from Maren’s talk.

If we’re going to submit our writing for publication, we should first spend some time choosing where to send it:

The first question is: What does this publication want?

1. Genre writing aims not to upset reader expectation. If you’re writing in a genre (romance for example), make sure you know what “beats” are required, and don’t break the rules.
2. Literary writing is more about craft.
3. The word genre can also mean poetry, essay, or fiction but you still need to know the expectations of the publication – do all their poems rhyme, or none of them; do they publish fiction, etc?
4. Other limitations for a publication might include:
   1. Geography – do authors have to live within a specific region
   2. Gender – women’s anthologies showcasing women writers for example
   3. Education level – Christian Science Monitor might be high school +. USA today is 7^th or 8^th grade reading level, and the Economist is… rather higher.
5. Publications often have a certain slant – feminism, environment, diversity, etc. However, anthologies run by volunteers can change year to year due to changeover of volunteers, so don’t just rely on the latest publication. In particular, when editors change, so does what they will choose to publish. It’s okay to resubmit something previously rejected.
6. If you find an editor that likes your sort of work, and they’re a paid editor (working for a journal funded by advertising, for example), you might want to follow them as they move to new publications and continue submitting to them.

The second question won’t have quite the same answers: Who is the publication aimed at? The people who write for a journal may not be the audience it’s sold to.

1. Some publications will tell you who they’re writing for, but others leave you to figure it out.
2. Literary works skew toward students and the 35-65 age group
3. A magazine written for women might publish lots of work written by men. Just make sure you know first.
4. Some magazines explicitly don’t publish, say, downbeat writing or writing about death. Make sure you know.
5. Peer reviewed journals are probably academic, aimed at graduates, professional.
6. Twitter and Facebook might give you some idea of who “follows” the journal, but even then, you may be finding writers rather than readers. That said, writers are typically very generous with advice and encouragement.

Ah, but how do you find those journals? Maren offered a very helpful list of resources in her notes. In particular, there are web pages where you can sign up to receive regular emails with information about places seeking submissions.

1. Submittable has a free and paid version, and sends emails: https://manager.submittable.com/opportunities/discover
2. Duotrope gives access to a giant database for a “small fee.” The database is searchable, so you can easily find obscure publications that might like what you’re written. https://duotrope.com/promo.aspx?ref=gaw&kw=duotrope
3. Poets and Writers is a magazine (e and print version) with lots of usefu information. https://www.pw.org/literary_magazines
4. Writers Digest likewise https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published
5. And there are Facebook groups that you can join to learn more.
6. BUT, don’t forget the submission guidelines. You MUST follow them.

Bear in mind, not all anthologies can afford to pay; they have to pay to be advertised on Submittable (for example) and the money’s got to come from somewhere. Not all submissions are free for the same reason. So don’t make any assumptions. Also, bear in mind, some of those submission requests can be fascinating and strange – they just might encourage you to try your hand at something new (postcard stories anyone?)

What happens next?

1. Typically a publication wants 1^st North American serial publication rights, and you’re allowed to self-publish or publish elsewhere later.
2. It takes time: for example…
   1. Two month submission period
   2. Two month reading period
   3. 1 month editing period
   4. Then the acceptance and rejections might get sent out.
3. Most places accept simultaneous submissions and will congratulate you if someone else takes on your work. But you must keep track of your submissions, and let them know if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
4. Remember, since it all takes time, seasonal submissions must be made well before the season (say, at least 6 weeks before)
5. Some places edit your submission. Some ask you to edit. And some just take it as is.

Why might you want to do this?

1. There’s a huge feelgood factor to someone liking your work enough to publish it.
2. If you have books of your own, getting your name out there through anthologies will help people find them.
3. Experiment and risk are good for you, and good for your writing.

Thank you so much, Maren.

And good luck everyone! Let’s write!