Writers’ Mill Minutes August 19th 2018
We were delighted to welcome seven new members at out latest writers’ mill meeting with an amazing talk from Beth Jusino (see notes in separate post)!August’s contest, with a victim/survivor theme, prompted an interesting mix of fictional and autobiographical entries. JoAnne handed out singularly appropriate prizes to Robin for third place, Karin for second, and Richard – whose entry surely wasn’t autobiographical – in first. Richard received a weapon with which to carry out the crime in his short story.
Our upcoming contest, deadline the first Sunday in September, has the theme “Growing Old.” As a special gift to the person who suggested the theme – my Mum, who was celebrating her 90th birthday in England just after winning May’s contest – we’re planning to create a book containing Mum (Jessie)’s contest entries and all our “Growing old” entries. If you don’t want your entry published, please let us know (contest entries are always password protected and so do not count as published for purposes of submitting them elsewhere… unless we publish them in this book of course). Please send lots of entries (limit of 2 each for the contest, but extras are always welcome) so we can create a great little Christmas gift book (which you will all be able to purchase, and which will be available on Amazon after November’s meeting)!
Upcoming contests, all run on our website, are
- Deadline first Sunday in Sept (see above) Growing Old
- Deadline first Sunday in October, Wired
- Deadline first Sunday in November, Reunification
More info at http://portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/ Word limits are all 1200 words. Entries should be emailed to contest at portlandwritersmill dot org.
Lynne, our very helpful librarian, introduced our guest speaker, Beth Jusino, brought down from Seattle with the aid of Washington County and Cedar Mill library grants. Our thanks go to the library for arranging and funding Beth’s visits. This was her third presentation with us, the second in this year’s series on Publishing for the Independent Writer. Beth has 20 years experience helping writers navigate the journey from manuscript to published book. Visit her website at http://bethjusino.com/ to find out more.
Today’s talk centered on Building a Marketing Plan; interested members might find Beth’s book, the Author’s Guide to Marketing, in the library – or might have to join a waiting list. Notes from the talk will be included below.
Snacks were provided by the library, Jean and Sheila, and consumed by all.
Dates to remember:
- Contest deadline – send entries to contest at portlandwritersmill dot org before the end of Sunday September 2nd
- Contest comments and voting will start Monday September 3rd and end on Tuesday a week later
- Next meeting is Sunday September 16th, when Matt Haynes will talk about audiobooks. Matt has narrated over 24 books in the last four years and works with self-published writers through various venues. Join us at the meeting to find out more.
Please read our separate post for notes from Beth Jusino’s talk. Thank you Beth for joining us, and for providing such a great resource on your website too.