Category Archives: Research

Melanie Dobson on where historical novels come from and how they get to you, the reader

Melanie Dobson (https://melaniedobson.com/) who has been writing historical/contemporary novels for 25 years, published for 20 years, and is on the Sherwood library board. If you missed her talk, you missed a lively tour of history, research, and literary inspiration.

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 202110

Minutes from Oct 17th 2021

Between 12 and 15 members attended Sunday’s Writers’ Mill meeting. Some were unable to attend because they had problems finding the email link. It seems rather unproductive to ask you to please email me if you don’t get this email but… if you do get this email, but don’t get the one with the email link for the next meeting, please email me during the morning, so I can resend the link to you before the meeting starts. Our next meeting will be on Sunday November 21st, and we plan to upload the anthology and create the cover “before your very eyes.” 

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Research, a talk by Maryka Biaggio

Historical research

Maryka writes historical fiction based on real characters, so her talk began with the world of historical research. First, how do you prepare to write your historical novel? You’ll need to delve into the past, perhaps using:

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 202002

Writers’ Mill Minutes, Feb 16th 2020

18 members attended our “3 checkmark” meeting, allowing the organizers to learn a bit more about whether emails are  getting through, and whether we’re fulfilling our goal of being “writers helping writers.” But far more important than checkmarks on clipboard was  the talk from Maryka Biaggio, author of Parlor Games, published by a serious, BIG 5 publisher, and a seriously helpful speaker. You’ll find notes from her talk at the end of these minutes. Meanwhile, thank you Maryka!

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What happens when you try to tell that story, with Zita Podany

What Happens when you have a Story to Tell, with Zita Podany

First step:

Zita had a story to tell. But life, as it does, kept getting in the way. Then she read the back of an Arcadia book where it said “Write for Arcadia.” She looked on the website and decided to contact them with her ideas.

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 201708

Writers’ Mill Minutes  August 20th 2017

Despite the approaching eclipse, August’s Writers’ Mill meeting was well attended with 16 people present to learn about research, photographs, permissions and publishing specs from Zita Podany, author of VanPort in the Images of America series. Notes from Zita’s talk can be below. And our thanks to Zita and the library staff for the excellent use of technology. (One day I’ll have to learn how it’s all done!)

Walt, who will be speaking and using technology in October and December, handed around a “reading assignment” for us all. In case you weren’t there, Walt very highly recommends “To Sell is Human” by Daniel H. Pink; also “How to Publish your Book” by Jane Friedman. We should all try to read Pink’s book, or at least to look at it, before October’s meeting (which gives us lots of time).

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How To Choose A Publisher/Agent/Self-Publishing Site with Jim Elstad

Taken from Jim Elstad’s talk, May 21st 2017

For anyone using editorsandpreditors.com to check up on publishers, don’t. The site is going/has gone down. Other sites you might use are:

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