| There were between 16 and 20 members participating in the meeting; some had to leave early. As Sheila was absent, Ron headed the meeting. |
Email Addresses
Email Addresses
Ron reminded everyone that it is easier to send out the newsletter and emails if everyone has a portlandwritersmill email address. This email address is your first name & first letter of your last name followed by @portlandwritersmill.org. Please contact addme @ portlandwritersmill.org if you don’t already have this email address. (See the “contact us” page on our website, https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contact-us/, for more useful email addresses)
Contest
Ron asked Michael to announce the contest winners. This month’s topic was Gardeners’ Tales. There were a lot of very good entries this month.
Winners:
3. Grandpa Tree by Zita Podany
2. Little John’s Garden by Karin Krafft
1. Determined to Grow Things by Jessie Collins
Other entries:
A Gardener’s Son’s Lament (poem) BY Von Pelot
A Graveyard Garden BY Lyndsay Docherty
Ars Poetica (poem) BY Robin Skinner
Blueberry Harvest BY Judy Beaston
Budding Friendships BY Joanne DeHaan
Falling Stars (poem) BY David Porter
Frustration, Thy Name is Weed (poem) BY Zita Podany
Gardening With Jesús (poem) BY Jean Harkin
I Stole Avicenna’s Apricots BY Gary Romans
Our Garden Home BY Robin Layne
The Homework Assignment BY Sheila Deeth
The She-Wolf BY Peter Letts
Upcoming contests
Ron then reminded everyone that the contest entries are due midnight on the first Sunday of every month. Word count is below 1200 words, and entries go to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org
Month / Topic / Host
September / Non Human POV / Jean Harkin (https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/sept-2022-contest-page/ password GardenAug22)
October / Imagination / Von Pelot (https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/)
November / Gratitude / Matthew McAyeal
Anthology
Ron said that we hope to have the anthology out by Christmas. The deadline for submitting entries is September 4 (same as for September’s contest). Submissions can be emailed to anthology @ portlandwritersmill . org. At the moment we don’t have enough entries to go to press, so please send in your entries.
Ron stressed that we need more volunteers to help put the anthology together. Please consider volunteering. Email anthology @ portlandwritersmill . org to volunteer.
Speaker
Ron then introduced our speaker, Ms. Elisabeth Christison, award winning author of The Blameless (https://www.amazon.com/Blameless-S-Christison/dp/1951565606/).
Ms. Christison gave us a fascinating presentation about her novel and how it all started with a dream she had about five years ago. She had no interest in writing until that time, and just felt she had to write this novel.
Her presentation included some very helpful tips on:
How to write a novel.
– She wrote something every single day, even if it was just one sentence
.- Finish the manuscript before trying to get it published.
– Finish the draft before you start editing
– Go with the flow, and fill in details later
– Read it out loud
– When you feel it’s complete, send it to an editor who will elevate your writing to the next level
Publishing tips
Self publishing – you do everything yourself
Literary Agent – they do “everything” for you
Co-operative route – you and the publishing company share the tasks.
She herself went with the co-operative method, which she felt worked very well for her.
How she became successful
Engage readers on social media
Apply for awards
Have competitions and give-aways to get more readers
Writing a series instead of just writing one book
She stressed that your writing has to be well above average to have a successful career as a writer, and to make money. She was asked if she had broken even, and she said that she had. Her second book in the 3 book series will be published very soon.
There was a short question and answer session after her presentation.
Critique
Next was the critique of Ruth Leibowitz’s long short story, The Incredible Growing Buddha or The Trials and Tribulations of Dear Adira. It was a very good critique with a lot of interaction from the members.
Next Meeting
Ron closed the meeting by announcing that the next meeting on September 18 will the first Hybrid Meeting. We will again have a speaker, Ms. Natalie Dale, talking about Getting Medicine Right.
Meanwhile, happy writing, and don’t forget to send in those anthology submissions and contest entries – both with deadlines at the end of Sunday September 4th!
| Many thanks to Ron for leading the meeting, to Elisabeth for her amazing presentation, and to Karin for taking the minutes. |