Writers’ Mill Minutes, April 21, 2024

Cedar Mill Library, Beaverton and online Zoom

Eight participants attended online, and six were present in the library meeting room, for a total of fourteen. Sheila Deeth led the meeting from her online Zoom perch in Tennessee. She announced at the opening of the meeting that today’s program would be recorded and asked if there were any objections. If so, Zoom attendees could hide their video and remove their surnames from their screens. In person attendees would be invisible anyway, as only today’s speaker, Carolyn Martin, would be on camera at the library.

Christine Wong managed the technology, including the recording, with assistance from Matthew McAyeal. Jean Harkin took Minutes. We welcomed a new member, Pam Drake, who joined us in the library.

Sheila also announced that due to problems with newsletter distribution, the list is being redone, and members who want to stay current must send their email addresses to Sheila or the admin address (admin @ portlandwritersmill . org) online.

April Ezine News

Nora Perry was host for the April “What Have I Done?” contest (https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/april-2024-ezine-contest-page/april-2024-entries-voting-page/). She announced that due to the fact that votes are no longer ranked, together with only a small number of votes, there are ties for the 3^rd place award. Make sure you read, comment on, and vote for your favorite submissions in our monthly ezines. If you’re not reading them, you’re missing some great writing, and you’re failing to help your fellow writers.

The awards were as follows:

• FIRST—Judy Beaston for “Dad’s Bench.”
• SECOND—Clayton Davis for “Bigger Than His Bite.”
• THIRD—A tie between
  • Robin Layne for “Like a Salmon, I Swam Upstream,”
  • Lyndsay Docherty for her poem, “A Silly Sonnet,” and
  • Sheila Deeth, for her poem, “ She Hides.”

OTHER ENTRIES AND AUTHORS (by title):

• “A Different World” by Peter Letts
• “I Wonder” by Robin Layne
• “Incriminating Evidence” by Elizabeth Maggio
• “My New Life” by Karin Krafft
• “So Glad I Did!” by Jessie Collins
• “What Have I Done Wrong?” by Mark Knudsen

Upcoming Ezines/Contests

Upcoming contests are as follows:

• May, “Plot” hosted by Sheila;
• June, “School Days,” hosted by Matthew;
• July, “Relationships in a Flash” hosted by Jean.

Note, May is a “challenge month” and your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write in a genre you’ve not attempted recently.

Contest details (and previous ezines) are on the website at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/ Go to https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/. Hover your mouse over Contests/Ezine and scroll down to click on Upcoming Contests. (Contests/Ezine is in the top bar, underneath the “Writers Help Writers” heading; on a phone, tap the three-line “hamburger” menu and scroll down.)

Please visit the website regularly to keep up with our news, especially as we continue to have email problems. The only things you won’t find on the website are zoom links (to avoid being attacked online) and passwords (to keep your writing safe). The current password is WelcomeApril24. This will change to PlotMay24 on May 1^st. And the zoom link is always https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83611995661?pwd=V1RDZ281K0hpMXgra2N6SXdIc2ZNUT09

Submissions and Settings

Sheila introduced Carolyn Martin (https://carolynmartinpoet.com/), our presenter, and the recording began.

Carolyn said she was glad to return to Writers’ Mill, her first time since the isolation of Covid. And there have been many changes, including the present technology which allows our hybrid meetings in the library and online. She thanked the library for this new excellence and noted that her workshop today will also be “hybrid”—with two topics for writers of all genres, “Submissions” and “Setting.”

Carolyn’s handout can be found at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Writers-Mill-April-Workshop.docx and notes from her presentation are available at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/25/submissions-and-settings-with-carolyn-martin/ When the recording is uploaded, a link will be given here too.

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

Sheila closed the meeting by reminding us of upcoming dates and deadlines:

• May’s Plot submissions must be received by the end of the first Sunday in May (May 5^th). Send them to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org
• May’s meeting on the third Sunday in May (May 19^th) will feature a workshop from Eric Witchey (https://ericwitchey.com/index.html) a popular speaker and workshop leader with Willamette Writers. (In fact, we’re already listed on his website!)
• June’s meeting takes place on Fathers’ Day. We hope to have another great speaker TBA
• July’s meeting, with Walt Socha, looks “Beyond Plot,” at “one guy’s experience in adding the internal character arcs during the rewriting of his book.” Walt recommends we:
  • …read Jonathan Gottschall’s “The Storytelling Animal” (available at the library)
  • …or listen to any (or all) of his Youtube lectures (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jonathan+Gottschall)
  • …read Lisa Cron’s “Wired For Story” (also at the library)
  • …or listen to any (or all) of her Youtube and/or TED talk lectures (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Lisa+Cron)
  • …signup for newsletters from Lisa Cron and Susan DeFreitas (https://wiredforstory.com/ and https://susandefreitas.com/ at bottom of page)

The meeting adjourned at 3:05 pm.