grammar, inspiration, Minutes, Writing

Writers’ Mill Minutes Feb 2022

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Around 20 members attended February’s meeting, enjoying the chance to learn how to productively procrastinate or write as Sheila gave her presentation on “Getting our ducks in a row.”

See https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Getting-our-ducks-in-a-row.pptx to download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation.

The meeting started with a tour of our website. If you weren’t there, be sure to look at:

Steve announced the Elegant Universe contest results:

  1. Sheila, with All We Can Be: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/february-2022-contest/all-we-can-be/
  2. David F, with Escape Portal: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/february-2022-contest/escape-portal/
  3. Lyndsay, with Roll On Monday: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/february-2022-contest/roll-on-monday/

Other entries were:

  • Amazing Grace BY Jessie Collins
  • Dreamja Vu BY Max White
  • Multiverse Warning BY Michael Fryer
  • No Way! BY Judy Beaston
  • Serendipity BY Jean Harkin
  • Sermon of the Reverend Dr. Nye BY Matthew McAyeal
  • The Change BY Mark Knudsen
  • The Education Universe BY Peter Letts
  • The Tree, Part 1 AND Part 2 BY Robin Layne
  • Zoom Meeting BY Sheila Deeth
  • Order and Disorder BY Darrel Boyd
  • Adjusting Expectations—Part 2 BY Steve Cooper

 UPCOMING CONTESTS:

 MARCH—send entries NOW. Deadline is Sunday, March 6th

THEME: Mistaken Identity

—Jump to it, all you mystery writers! And for the rest of us, I imagine weaving humor, pathos, surprise, description and dialog into interesting fiction, essays and poetry.

—Come one, come all—1200 words or less

 APRIL

THEME: Dazzle Me

—Dazzle us with delicious details, tantalizing tension, seething suspense

—Ramp up your dialog, nail those openings and endings, sing a poetic song

—ENTRIES accepted between March 7th and April 3rd

 MAY

THEME: Reach for the Skies!

—Imagine for a moment just what those four words bring to mind—and write!

—I also recommend reading Lyndsay’s introduction to the contest theme on the UPCOMING CONTESTS webpage (link below)

—ENTRIES accepted between April 4th and May 1st

LINK to read more about future contests: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/

Following on from John Hoover’s talk last month, where he mentioned our purpose for writing (we won’t get rich), and the need for passion (if we’re going to do all that work), Sheila gave a PowerPoint presentation to help us get our ducks in a row and either Productively Procrastinate, or Productively Write. You can find the presentation at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Getting-our-ducks-in-a-row.pptx, and notes from the presentation are included below.

At the end of the presentation, Sheila invited us to introduce ourselves to our own writing by filling in the blanks in the following sentences:

  1. My name is … and I am a writer.
  2. One of the reasons / The main reason / The only reason I write is …
  3. One of the things I plan to write this year is …
  4. One of the people / One group of people I hope will read this is …
  5. One of the places they might find it is …
  6. One of the ways I will encourage them to read it is …
  7. One of the ways the Writers’ Mill can help me with this is …

Then we went around the (zoom) room introducing ourselves to each other. We learned that our members are engaged in writing:

  • Flash fiction
  • Chapters of novels and other works
  • Renaissance fiction and other historical works requiring (passionate) research
  • Contest entries
  • Family history
  • Middle grade fantasy
  • Children’s books…

We are writing for:

  • Family
  • Friends
  • Fellow members of the Writers’ Mill
  • Young people
  • Agents (in hopes of getting published)…

We write because:

  • It’s fun
  • We enjoy the psychological effect of being someone else
  • We feel compelled by settings
  • We want to get the voices out of our heads
  • We feel like we have something to say
  • We can’t help it – it’s like breathing…

Our writing goals include:

  • Self-publishing
  • Reading stories to family
  • Getting published
  • Finding how to get the stories out of heads without too much being lost in translation…

And things we are looking for from the Writers’ Mill include:

  • Critiques in the main group – please email critiques @ portlandwritersmill . org
  • Critique in small groups – please email admin @ portlandwritersmill . org
  • Ideas and contests, together with feedback and constructive criticism
  • Self-publishing advice
  • Query letter advice
  • A place where we can celebrate a solitary pleasure (writing) in a group of like-minded people.

After the break, Sheila introduced us to a book called The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase, by Mark Forsyth: https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S143C2460444 at the library, or  https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Eloquence-Secrets-Perfect-Phrase/dp/042527618X/ on Amazon. She asked if anyone knew:

  • why is it never tock-tick or clop-clip?
  • Why is it a big bad wolf?
  • Why are they little green men?

All these questions come from a post Sheila found on Facebook and shared to our Facebook page. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/thewritersmill to see (or join) the page, and find the particular post at https://www.facebook.com/ForReadingAddicts/photos/a.153715111423931/4634801669981897/ 

After learning the little-known “rule” of I, A, O (hence big bad wolf), we tried an exercise in ordering adjectives. For those who weren’t there, try this before you scroll too far in these minutes.

  • Write down the following words: old, little, French, green, silver, whittling, little, lovely, rectangular, and KNIFE.
  • Did you know there’s a correct order in which these adjectives should be applied, and any other order will “sound” wrong? Try saying “old, little knife” and you’ll get the idea. So…
  • Try to list all the adjectives in front of the noun, and see if you can get the right order. (I’m putting the phrase later in this email, but try it first. It’s fun.)

Discussion moved on to other little-known rules (or variations) of English. For example:

  • Is it dreamed or dreamt?
  • Is it learned or learnt?

We talked about how Shakespeare often worked on two different plays at once (Romeo and Juliet, and Midsummer Night’s Dream); likewise Steven Spielberg worked on Jurassic Park at the same time as Schindler’s List! So maybe it’s not so odd if some of us are working on more than one thing at once. And maybe having more than one creative thought in mind actually improves creativity. This is what we aim for when Sheila rolls the “story dice” to help inspire us with writing exercises. And maybe it’s what David is doing when he asks if we can use two special words in our contest entries this month.

But now it’s time to answer the adjective list question, and the rule is: opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose-noun. So it’s a lovely, little, old, rectangular, green, French, silver, whittling knife!

Next month Melanie Dobson (https://melaniedobson.com/) author of contemporary, time-slip, middle grade, romance, and suspense, will be our speaker, and will encourage us all with that problem of researching our topics. Her most recent book is the Winter Rose which came out in January: https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Rose-Melanie-Dobson-ebook/dp/B097Q8MJRN/

Remember to email admin @ portlandwritersmill . org if you want to join a small critique group. It’s great to find so many more members interested in that. And email critiques @ portlandwritersmill . org if you’re willing to have a chapter critiqued at next month’s meeting.

Hope to see you then, March 20th. Meanwhile

Happy Writing!

Notes from Sheila’s talk on Getting our Ducks in a Row

  1. What is a writer? Someone who writes?
    1. But what separates a writer from someone who writes shopping lists and the occasional stroppy email?
    1. Maybe… a writer is someone who has written (or plans to write) something, sometime, that they, or someone else, thought (or will think) was worth reading.
  2. Remembering John Hoover’s comments about purpose and passion, we’re going to try to get our purpose and passion to point in the same direction, and get all our other writing ducks in a row:
    1. Purpose
    1. Passion
    1. Plan
    1. Plot
    1. Practicalities
    1. Priorities
    1. Procrastination
    1. And maybe even… Productive Procrastination
  3. Starting with Purpose. Why do you write?
    1. Have fun
    1. Stop your son from pestering you
    1. Keep a record of your family history
    1. Feel like you’ve got something to say
    1. Get those voices out of your head
    1. Achieve something worthwhile
    1. Can’t help it – it’s like breathing
    1. It’s a way to make something permanent instead of just talking
  4. And passion?
    1. History
    1. Family
    1. Middle-grade kids
    1. Memories
    1. Politics
    1. Humor, and many other things
  5. What’s the difference between Passion and Purpose?
    1. Purpose tells you what you want to do.
    1. Passion drives you to do it.
  6. How do you make passion and purpose point in the same direction?
    1. If your purpose is to please your grandchild, and your passion is for family history, what happens when your grandchild says “Boring”?
      1. Change your purpose to keeping the history alive…
    1. If your purpose is to earn a fortune, and your passion is for niche topics…?
      1. Change your purpose to writing something of value…
    1. If your purpose is…?
      1. Maybe the key is to be flexible. Don’t focus on competing passions and purposes, but focus on where they are aligned.
  7. Then it’s time to ask: How will you do it? Do you have a plan?
    1. If you’re doing Nanowrimo (national novel-writing month) – plan to write 1,200 words a day?
    1. Determined to finish – plan to spend 2 hours a day?
    1. Permanently procrastinating – plan to plan?
    1. Plan to write as a treat at the end of a busy day
    1. Set a calendar date for starting and finishing…
  8. Does your plan include a plot, not just for what you’re writing, but also for you:
    1. when, how, where, over what period of time, in what sort of places you might write.
  9. What’s the difference between plan and plot?
    1. PLAN is your overall guide
    1. PLOT is your next step
  10. What does your plot for your next steps look like?
    1. Plotting the story?
    1. Research?
    1. Reading more?
    1. Setting aside some writing time? Or
    1. Switch on the computer and see where you end up?
  11. What does your plot for your story’s next steps look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?
    1. Map out your writing from beginning to end?
    1. Look for the waypoints then reach them one by one?
    1. Keep your eye on the goal and see where the story takes you? Or again…
    1. Switch on the computer and see where you end up?
  12. How do you make your plan and passion point in the same direction?
    1. If your passion is for history, and you’re planning a futuristic epic?
      1. Maybe you’re combining passions
        1. Time-travel?
        1. History repeats itself?
    1. If your passion is for adults and you’re planning a childrens’ picture book?
      1. Maybe you’re trying to help adults understand children (or vice versa)
    1. If your plan…?
      1. Again, the key is to be ready to change something so that plan and passion point the same way
  13. How do you make plan and plot point in the same direction?
    1. If your plan is to write 2,000 words a day and your plot says you need to research something first?
      1. Change your plan to include research
    1. If your plan is to finish by Christmas and your plot says you can’t start until Thanksgiving?
      1. Change your plot to start earlier
    1. If your plan…?
      1. You have to start sometime. You have to finish sometime. But make sure your plan and plot are aligned, so you don’t just waste time feeling like a failure.
  14. But that’s not all. Life gets in the way. So how does all this fit in with the practicalities of your life?
    1. Do you have time to write?
    1. Do you have space where you can write?
    1. Have you run out of ideas?
    1. Do you have too many ideas?
    1. Can writing even fit in with your current priorities (because writing isn’t the only thing in your life)?
  15. Are you still a writer if you procrastinate?
    1. Yes, because other priorities can be much more important
    1. Yes, because you will continue to gather ideas while you’re procrastinating
    1. Yes, because you will mature as a writer while you wait.
    1. Just make sure it’s productive procrastination.
  16. How can you productively procrastinate?
    1. Use the time to get your ducks in a row
    1. Use the time to gather new experiences and ideas, and treasure them
    1. Use the time to remind yourself
      1. You were a writer
      1. You’re still a writer
      1. You will be a writer
      1. And you belong right here in our community of writers!
  17. And if you’re not productively procrastinating?
    1. STOP procrastinating,
    1. get those ducks in a row, and
    1. START productively writing instead.

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