14 people – 7 in person and 7 on zoom – attended October’s Writers’ Mill meeting. Those who missed it missed a very engaging and informative talk from Rudy Shur. But look out for his Writers’ Guides (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DTWHT97 on Amazon, https://squareonepublishers.com/collections/writers-guides on the publisher’s website).
Housekeeping
The meeting began with usual housekeeping reminders to:
- Online members
- use close captions (button at bottom, perhaps hiding under three dots)
- use headphones
- use chat (another button at bottom)
- use speaker view
- switch off microphone if the phone rings, etc.
- In person members
- Please keep an eye on the chat
- Speak toward the microphone
- Speaking away from the microphone won’t stop everyone listening to you, it will just make everyone stare while they try to work out what you’re saying.
Ezine
This month’s ezine was a great read and definitely “came to life.” If you haven’t read it yet, should go to https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/oct-2024-ezine-contest-page/oct-2024-entries-voting-page/, and enjoy.
Lyndsay was our host and she thanked everyone for their varied, fascinating, and excellent entries, then told us how the voting for favorites went.
- First place: Ric with the wonderful romantic story—Scars
- Second place: Rachel with her fascinating tale of a sandal—the Bakerzori
- Third place: tied between Jean with her very cool story, De Los Muertos, and Gary with his evocative essay on the Sound of Magic
Other entries were:
“A Tale of Two Birds” BY Jessie Collins
“Are They Still Alive?” BY Mark Knudsen
“Fernanda’s Colony” BY Judy Beaston
“Her Heartbeat” (poem) BY David Abbot (another new voice)
“It Can’t Happen Here” BY Ria Russell
“Not Bad For A Buck” (Drabble) BY Nora Perry
“Pebble Moon” BY Peter Letts
“The Prey” (poem) BY Sheila Deeth
“The Word Was UNK” BY Karin Krafft
“’Til Death” BY Jeremy Ice (first time in contest and new member)
Writing Prompts
Upcoming writing prompts, for upcoming ezines, are on the website at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/ Find lots of helpful hints to inspire your imagination there.
- Nov 3rd – the other side of the world – hosted by David F
- Dec 1st – the spaces in between – hosted by Lyndsay
- Jan 5th – what if the “other” person won – hosted by Gary
Members whose entries receive the most votes are asked to propose prompts for the contest three months afterward.
Word count limit is 1200 words or fewer, and entries should be sent to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org
Guest Speaker
Our guest speaker, joining us over zoom, was Rudy Shur of Square One publishing. A former board member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and currently a board member of the American Association of Publishers for Special Sales, Rudy is a popular speaker at writing events, and the author of How To Publish Your Nonfiction Book, 2nd Edition. We were very lucky to have him with us. Notes from his talk can be found at: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/21/rudy-shur-on-publishing/
Future Speakers
Don’t forget to contact speakers @ portlandwritersmill . org (remove spaces) to suggest a speaker, volunteer to speak, suggest a topic you’d like a speaker to discuss, etc.
On Joe’s suggestion, Jean will contact Melanie Dobson, who spoke with us in March 2022 (https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/21/melanie-dobson-on-where-historical-novels-come-from-and-how-they-get-to-you-the-reader/) to see if she can join us again.
We have a request for someone to speak about story structure sometime.
Member News
Matthew has almost formatted his new Carl and June book and it’s looking good. Sheila shared it on the screen during the meeting. Matthew is making a list of illustrations that he might like, and Jean may ask her granddaughter if she can help. Jean’s granddaughter has produced another gorgeous cover image for our upcoming anthology, and Sheila showed that on the screen as well. She will add text to the cover soon.
Johanna, from Germany, is a medical journalist working on a historical novel set in the French Revolution.
Joe is forever starting new things instead of completing old ones, but hopes to release his “Be Thankful” books soon. He will have a concert of his music, possibly at Sunset Pres., in March to which we will all be invited. Zita pointed out that Faith and Courage are part of the self-help aspect that our speaker’s website accepts in their current list of submission queries, and suggests one might publish lyrics with illustrations.
Peter is up to chapter 15 and very much enjoying the help of his critique group.
Nora is in the same critique group. Her novel is finished but still needs work, and is the first in a set of four. She is considering looking for an agent.
Judy is working on a variety of things, and her critique group are trying to encourage her to continue a series of connected stories.
Karin, in the same critique group as Judy, is redoing something she began 10 years ago – grandkids intervened but are now in school.
Sheila is in the same group as Judy and Karin. She’s just begun something new – a set of children’s skits for Advent.
Jean has rereleased her novel and hopes anyone who read the first edition will repost their reviews on the new version, as Amazon won’t copy them across. If you’ve not read it, Jean might be able to give you a deal on the price. Talk to her. It’s an excellent novel, and at least one member says she couldn’t put it down. https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Full-Thorns-Jean-Harkin-ebook/dp/B0DFZR2Y95/
Chris wrote about picking out sweet potatoes at a store, and found her writing very well received. She learned that you don’t have to have anything huge to say; sometimes it’s the way you look at things that matters. She’s looking for writing prompts (we encouraged her to write for our ezines). She’s also interested in getting accustomed to all the strange new terms writers use—story structure, bandwidth, agency, lens, zoom… and the way the meanings of words keeps changing.
Zita says she has lost inspiration. She is finding it hard to get ideas from her head to paper or the screen. Other members suggested writing ten minutes a day; just write something, even if it’s a string of reasons why you don’t feel like writing; and other ideas gleaned from previous speakers.
Writing Exercise
In a spirit of “just write” and providing a “writing prompt”, Sheila rolled three story dice resulting in the three words
- Arrow
- Direction
- Lightning
We spent ten minutes writing at the end of the meeting, and several members shared what they’d written—a fascinating mix of ultra-short stories, poems, essays and more… all in ten minutes!
November’s Meeting
The meeting ended with a reminder that our next meeting—November 17th, 1-3pm Pacific Time—is when we will upload this year’s anthology to Amazon. It’s always an exciting meeting, not just for those of us who are in the anthology or those who want to self-publish, but also for anyone to see and share in a fascinating process… and for those who are willing to encourage us and cheer us on, as it can be a somewhat stressful process too!
One Last Thing
AUTHORS and ILLUSTRATORS (and anyone else who’s interested): Watch out for an email at the beginning of November inviting you to preview the finished product. We need you to look at your pieces, and confirm that they look right, that your name is spelled right, that your name is included in the back cover material, etc. After the book is published it’s difficult to make changes. Thank you.