North River Arts Society Writers Workshop

Writers Workshop Resumes November 15!

2011-09-20T16:24:00.000-04:00

We hope you all enjoyed the summer and are easing back into your fall routines. If you've been in Marshfield Hills recently, then you've probably noticed the transformation that's been going on at the North River Arts Society's headquarters: the reconstruction of the firehouse (the building next to the G.A.R. Hall) into a modern, state-of-the-art educational facility and gallery space. The final phases of construction will continue for another month or so. Therefore, the NRAS Writers Workshop will reconvene on November 15 at 7 p.m. in the NEW space! Feel free to bring a piece of writing that you've been working on and/or some goodies to share with the group.

At that point, we'll resume our regularly scheduled Writers Workshop gatherings on the third Tuesday of each month.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

I found some great Apps for Writers using an iPad

2011-06-06T19:25:00.000-04:00

iPad Apps For Writers

If you're a budding writer, and need an iPad app or two to pen your inspirations, then read on and discover this new AppList, which comes as part of our AppStart magazine.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

$9.99
Pages

by Apple Inc.
Pages is the ultimate word processor app for the iPad. At $9.99, this app doesn't come cheap - but, if you're planning on writing a novel or two on your iPad, Pages would certainly be a sound investment. With a variety of formatting options, full-screen mode, the ability to save your document in a variety of formats (Pages, Word, PDF), and AirPrint support, Pages is undoubtedly the best word processor app currently available for the iPad. So, check it out, and get creative with Pages for iPad!

More App Infodescription &screenshots

$0.99
Penultimate

by Cocoa Box Design LLC
Penultimate is the best handwriting app for iPad. Simply draw on the screen with your finger, making notes on your writing task. Within the app, you can navigate between different pages within different notebooks. A variety of paper types, pens, and pen colors are available for users to interact with. And, once you're done, it's possible to e-mail your notes as PDF files within the application. If you want a great note-taking app for your iPad, then you need Penultimate.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

$4.99
Todo for iPad

by Appigo
Sometimes, handwritten notes just won't do. When those times come, be sure to launch ToDo on your iPad, and clearly organize exactly what needs to be done. Whether you need to plan out a chapter, a newspaper article, or a blog entry, ToDo will be able to help. And, with full support for multitasking (under iOS 4), users can jump in and out of ToDo, and quickly resume where they left off. Essentially, ToDo takes task management to the next level. For a clear, clever GTD app, be sure to check out ToDo for iPad.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

Free
Dragon Dictation

by Nuance Communications
Dragon Dictation, a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, cleverly converts spoken word into text. After a long day of typing at a physical or virtual keyboard, Dragon Dictation allows users to make notes without having to touch a single key. And, what's more, Dragon Dictation works surprisingly well. Users simply speak into the app, and take notes. Making notes with the app is "five times faster than typing on a keyboard," according to the app's developer. If there are times when typing becomes a total chore, then check out Dragon Dictation now.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

$1.99
PortaPoet

by Artisan Engineering LLC
If you're a budding poet, then you should definitely check out PortaPoet. This universal app allows users to find rhymes for words quickly and easily. The app's developer also notes that, while PortaPoet predominantly targets the act of poem writing, users can also write wedding speeches and songs using the app. Furthermore, PortaPoet offers users "rhyme quality" indication; a handy tool which tells you how "perfect" (or "imperfect") a chosen rhyme is. Overall, PortaPoet is a fun, useful app. And, it's inexpensive, too.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

Free
Dictionary! for iPad

by Catlin Software, LLC
Dictionary! provides iPad owners with word definitions, for free. But, more importantly, the app also includes a "synonyms" feature which users will undoubtedly find useful. While a dictionary tool is available in iBooks, a native app doesn't come preloaded on iPads, which is a shame. However, Dictionary! is a great app that can do the job for you, for free.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

Free
iBooks

by Apple Inc.
All writers need to get their inspiration from somewhere. With iBooks, users can read beautiful e-books, available from Apple's iBooks Store, on their 9.7-inch device. And, with the PDF reading feature, you can load on your own work and read it on-the-go too. Apple's universal iBooks app simply amazing. While the iBooks Store doesn't offer as wide (or as cheap) a variety as the Kindle Store does, the app itself is undoubtedly King of the e-book readers. You'd be mad not to download this free app.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

Free
Dropbox

by Dropbox
If you want to syncronize your work between multiple devices, then you need a Dropbox account, and the free Dropbox iOS application. Here at AppAdvice, we love Dropbox. The service is brilliant, offering users 2GB of online storage "in the cloud" for free. With the universal iOS app, users can access their Dropbox folder on-the-go, download, and upload files all from their mobile device. In order to sign up for a Dropbox account, simply head over to http://dropbox.com. And, don't forget to download the iOS app!

More App Infodescription &screenshots

Free
Evernote

by Evernote
Evernote allows iOS users to compose text notes, and voice memos, and synchronize them across a variety of devices (such as iPhone, iPad, and computer). Both the universal iOS app, and the desktop version of Evernote are available to download for free. Some people really love Evernote, while others aren't so sure. Try it out, and see what you think.

More App Infodescription &screenshots

$9.99
iAnnotate PDF

by Aji, LLC
While Apple's free iBooks application allows users to highlight PDF files, you can only use the one color - which is something of a limitation. When reviewing your work, if you love going crazy with a couple of different colored highlighters, then you need iAnnotate PDF - an app which does exactly what it's name suggests. With iAnnotate PDF, users can effectively fully annotate PDF files on their iPad, using a variety of different highlights. The app does come with a price, and that price is $9.99. This is pretty expensive, however, if you need a comprehensive PDF annotating app, then iAnnotate PDF is the app for you. And, don't forget; with Pages, you can save files as PDFs, so they're ready for iAnnotate!

Dear Writers: 'Leave the Damn Em Dash Alone'

2011-05-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

The Case—Please Hear Me Out—Against the Em Dash

Modern prose doesn't need any more interruptions—seriously.

By Noreen MalonePosted Tuesday, May 24, 2011, at 4:32 PM ET

According to the Associated Press Stylebook—Slate's bible for all things punctuation- and grammar-related—there are two main prose uses—the abrupt change and the series within a phrase—for the em dash. The guide does not explicitly say that writers can use the dash in lieu of properly crafting sentences, or instead of a comma or a parenthetical or a colon—and yet in practical usage, we do. A lot—or so I have observed lately. America's finest prose—in blogs, magazines, newspapers, or novels—is littered with so many dashes among the dots it's as if the language is signaling distress in Morse code.

What's the matter with an em dash or two, you ask?—or so I like to imagine. What's not to like about a sentence that explores in full all the punctuational options—sometimes a dash, sometimes an ellipsis, sometimes a nice semicolon at just the right moment—in order to seem more complex and syntactically interesting, to reach its full potential? Doesn't a dash—if done right—let the writer maintain an elegant, sinewy flow to her sentences?
Nope—or that's my take, anyway. Now, I'm the first to admit—before you Google and shame me with a thousand examples in the comments—that I'm no saint when it comes to the em dash. I never met a sentence I didn't want to make just a bit longer—and so the dash is my embarrassing best friend.

When the New York Times' associate managing editor for standards—Philip B. Corbett, for the record—wrote a blog post scolding Times writers for overusing the dash (as many as five dashes snuck their way into a single 3.5-paragraph story on A1, to his horror), an old friend from my college newspaper emailed it to me. "Reminded me of our battles over long dashes," he wrote—and, to tell the truth, I wasn't on the anti-dash side back then. But as I've read and written more in the ensuing years, my reliance on the dash has come to feel like a pack-a-day cigarette habit—I know it makes me look and sound and feel terrible—and so I'm trying to quit.

The problem with the dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Don't you find it annoying—and you can tell me if you do, I won't be hurt—when a writer inserts a thought into the midst of another one that's not yet complete? Strunk and White—who must always be mentioned in articles such as this one—counsel against overusing the dash as well: "Use a dash only when a more common mark of punctuation seems inadequate." Who are we, we modern writers, to pass judgment—and with such shocking frequency—on these more simple forms of punctuation—the workmanlike comma, the stalwart colon, the taken-for-granted period? (One colleague—arguing strenuously that certain occasions call for the dash instead of other punctuation, for purposes of tone—told me he thinks of the parenthesis as a whisper, and the dash as a way of calling attention to a phrase. As for what I think of his observation—well, consider how I have chosen to offset it.)

Perhaps, in some way, the recent rise of the dash—and this "trend" is just anecdotal observation; I admit I haven't found a way to crunch the numbers—is a reaction to our attention-deficit-disordered culture, in which we toggle between tabs and ideas and conversations all day. An explanation is not an excuse, though—as Corbett wrote in another sensible harangue against the dash, "Sometimes a procession of such punctuation is a hint that a sentence is overstuffed or needs rethinking." Why not try for clarity in our writing—if not our lives?

It's unclear—even among the printing community—when the em dash came into common usage. Folklore—if you're willing to trust it—holds that it's been around since the days of Gutenberg but didn't catch on until at least the 1700s because the em dash wasn't used in the Bible, and thus was considered an inferior bit of punctuation. The symbol derives its name from its width—approximately equal to an m—and is easily confused with its close cousin the en dash, used more frequently across the pond, but here meant only to offset sports scores and the like. The em dash isn't easily formed on computers—it requires some special keystrokes on both PCs and Macs—and so I will admit that at least some of my bile comes from, as a copy editor, endlessly changing other writers' sloppy em-dash simulacra (the double dash, the single offset dash) to the real thing.

Perhaps the most famous dash-user in history—though she didn't use the em dash conventionally—was Emily Dickinson. According to the essay "Emily Dickinson's Volcanic Punctuation" from a 1993 edition of The Emily Dickinson Journal—a true general-interest read!—"Dickinson's excessive use of dashes has been interpreted variously as the result of great stress and intense emotion, as the indication of a mental breakdown, and as a mere idiosyncratic, female habit." Can there really be—at the risk of sounding like a troglodyte—something feminine about the use of a dash, some sort of lighthearted gossamer quality? Compare Dickinson's stylistic flitting with the brutally short sentences of male writers—Hemingway, for instance—who, arguably, use their clipped style to evoke taciturn masculinity. Henry Fielding apparently rewrote his sister Sarah's work heavily to edit out some of her idiosyncrasies—chief among them, a devotion to the dash. In Gore Vidal's Burr, the title character complains—in a charming internal monologue—"Why am I using so many dashes? Like a schoolgirl. The dash is the sign of a poor style. Jefferson used to hurl them like javelins across the page." So is the rise of the dash related—as everything seems to be these days—to the End of Men? (I kid—calm down.)

More likely, it's the lack of hard-and-fast usage rules—even the AP's guidelines are more suggestions than anything—that makes the dash so popular in our post-sentence-diagramming era. According to Lynne Truss—the closest thing we've got to a celebrity grammarian, thanks to her best-seller Eats, Shoots and Leaves—people use the em dash because "they know you can't use it wrongly—which for a punctuation mark, is an uncommon virtue."

So, fine, the em dash is easy to turn to—any port will do in a storm. But if you want to make your point—directly, with clarity, and memorably—I have some advice you'd do well to consider. Leave the damn em dash alone.

Two Grub St. Summer classes given in Cohasset

2011-05-19T13:44:00.001-04:00

Two Grub St. Summer classes given in Cohasset

Jumpstart Your Writing, Section B
6 Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 28th.

This course has a very clear mission: devote three hours of your week to writing. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of fiction and non-fiction: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We may read and discuss some short published texts in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the texts. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers.

Instructor: Lynne Griffin

Level: For Everyone
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, June 28, 2011

There are 12 seats remaining in this class.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Reading Like a Writer, Section B
6 Wednesdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 29th.

To become better writers, we must not only read great books, but read them more actively. This term, get back to the reason why you wanted to write in the first place: to create fiction that lasts, that matters. For six weeks, we will read and discuss some of the best stories in contemporary and classic literature, as well as selected essays from Francine Prose’s book, Reading Like A Writer. We will also do short, weekly writing exercises designed to get us inside authors’ heads and unlock their secrets. By the end, we’ll have trained ourselves to read for craft as well as for pleasure, and you’ll see that your favorite writers aren’t magically gifted beings, to be admired and exalted — they’re your teachers.

Instructor: Lynne Griffin

Level: For Everyone
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

There are 12 seats remaining in this class.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

ONLINE REGISTRATION

http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?workshopcategory=all&coursetype=all&instructor=Lynne+Griffin&level=all&id=402&ditto_tags=

Space is limited. Reserve your seat today!

2011-05-02T06:50:00.000-04:00

NRAS Writers Workshop Author Series welcomes debut author

Maureen Hancock
The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer.

Wednesday June 15th, 7 pm Admission is Free & Open to the Public

Due to limited seating & the popularity of our guest, reservations are required.
Click here to Reserve Your Seat Now

Experience the phenomenon that is Maureen Hancock, seen on Fox network, and soon on a Disney channel. Maureen will read excerpts from her new book, (which will be available for purchase) answer questions, and personally sign books. In addition, for some fortunate members of our audience, Maureen will offer "postcards" from the other side; messages of reassurance that our loved ones are still with us. Maureen's gift and humor will soften even the most hardened skeptics. If you’re an avid reader, aspiring writer, or just a fan of Ms Hancock, doesn’t miss this opportunity to learn first-hand from a published author.

Ms Hancock’s new memoir, The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer tells the story of how, at just five years old, Maureen Hancock discovered her ability to communicate with the dead. Descended from a long line of legendary Irish mystics, she was no stranger to the spiritual realm, but for fear of being misunderstood by her friends and family she kept the otherworldly messages to herself, eventually suppressing them completely. Maureen would not hear the spirits again until she was in a near-fatal car crash. Soon after, she had hundreds of voices in her head, many of which helped her crack cases and expose fraud in her role as a litigation paralegal at a large Boston law firm. Then, when tragedy struck on 9/11, Maureen was bombarded with messages from the spirit world. As each one made contact with her, she finally came to terms with her calling: to communicate with the deceased, assist the dying, search for missing children, and teach the living about life after death, all the while raising her children in her suburban home.

Maureen Hancock is literally is the Medium Next Door, and in this book and through her stories of her encounters with the otherworld as well as guided exercises at the conclusion of each chapter, she offers the same comfort and wisdom she shares in her healing encounters and lectures about what is out there waiting for all who are open to its mysteries. . . .

2011-04-27T09:17:00.000-04:00

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 7 PM

GRUB STREET SOUTH AT BUTTONWOOD

"designed to get writer's writng"

at Buttonwood Books & Toys

Presenter: HALLIE EPHRON

TOPIC: Writing Suspense

CLASS DESCRIPTION

You know it when you feel it. Suspense is what makes it impossible to put the book down and turn off the light. Whether you’re writing a novel that’s primarily a mystery, a thriller, or suspense, suspense is that essential ingredient that turns the book into a “page turner.” In this workshop the class will talk about what makes suspense work, including the variety of tools a writer can use to create suspense and to modulate it, and how to manage suspense in a book-length work.

HALLIE EPHRON is is an award-winning mystery revIewer for the Boston Globe. She is the author of several popular books, including the recently released Come and Find Me, a suspenseful novel about a recluse who works and lives online and must brave the “real world” when her sister goes missing. Hallie's other titles 1001 Books for Every Mood and The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel. Ephron lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

This is a free event however reservations are requested. Please call Buttonwood at 1-781-383-2665 to reserve.

Come and Find Me: A Novel of Suspense
By Ephron, Hallie
2011-04 - William Morrow & Company
9780061857522 - Hardcover
Your Price: $24.99

Available

The author of "Never Tell a Lie" returns with a page-turning novel of psychological suspense, in which a recluse who works and lives online must brave the real world after her sister goes missing. ...More

Here is a fun contest we wanted to pass on to you all!

2011-04-26T18:01:00.000-04:00

5/15/11

Deadline

Free

Scripped Pro Fee

$10

Standard Fee

3-4 pages

Length

We are looking for the next great Break.com digital short!

Submit your script to us and we'll pick a winner by June 15th.

Five writers each get $500 in cash!

Submit Now

What We're Looking For!

Break Media, the guys behind the #1 humor site on-line Break.com, are looking for the next great digital short. Do you have the comedic chops to write the next Break Original? The winners will be selected by our team of experts including Ed Burns, writer Steven De Souza, as well as members of the Break Media in-house production team, The Creative Lab. The TOP FIVE SCRIPTS will be awarded $500 each and the best idea will be greenlit into a Break Original to be developed and produced in partnership with the winning writer by the Creative Lab team. The winner will also be featured on the Break.com homepage as an editorial pick and receive exposure to the largest comedy video audience on-line.
There is a certain indefinable magic that works for an on-line video and while we don't want to hinder any great ideas, here are some best practices for what works:
Development best practices:

Break Media's audience is primarily guys 18-34, it should work for that group.
Songs are not necessary but parodies when done well can be great in the viral space.
Famous people will probably not star in your video. While Break does have relationships with celebs, your idea shouldn't be contingent on their involvement.
Limit the number of locations your videos use, this is online, people, we've gotta have a nimble production schedule for maximum efficiency.
Pop culture parodies can work, but if it's only funny for the week after the event you're parodying you might want to try something else, this thing won't be made for a couple of months and by then people may not know what you're making fun of.
Scripts should be no more than three or four pages

Judges!

Our celebrity judges will help Break Media select the winners!

Steven de Souza, Screenwriter, Die Hard, 48 Hours, @StevenEDeSouza

Mr. de Souza is a producer, director and screenwriter. He is among a handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over two billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Recently Mr. de Souza has ventured into Web series with his own production, Unknown Sender.

Edward Burns, Actor, Director, Screenwriter, The Brothers McMullen, Nice Guy Johnny, @Edward_Burns

Mr. Burns is an award-winning actor, film producer, writer and director. In March 2009, The Lynch Pin, a series of shorts starring, written and directed by Burns were released online and subsequent episodes are being sourced here on Scripped.com.

Here's one example of a Break Original from the past few months, which has accumulated more than 700K views:

She's Too Good For Everyone - Watch more Funny Videos

Hallie Ephron on Writing Suspense

2011-04-20T22:08:00.005-04:00

On Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m., Grub Street South at Buttonwood Books & Toys in Cohasset will be offering a writing seminar with author Hallie Ephron. Here are the details:

Presenter: HALLIE EPHRON

TOPIC: Writing Suspense

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

You know it when you feel it. Suspense is what makes it impossible to put the book down and turn off the light. Whether you’re writing a novel that’s primarily a mystery, a thriller, or suspense, suspense is that essential ingredient that turns the book into a “page turner.” In this workshop, the class will talk about what makes suspense work, including the variety of tools a writer can use to create suspense and to modulate it, and how to manage suspense in a book-length work.

HALLIE EPHRON is is an award-winning mystery reviewer for the Boston Globe. She is the author of several popular books, including the recently released Come and Find Me, a suspenseful novel about a recluse who works and lives online and must brave the “real world” when her sister goes missing. Hallie's other titles include 1001 Books for Every Mood and The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel. Ephron lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

This is a free event, however, reservations are required. Please call Buttonwood at 1-781-383-2665 to reserve your spot.

For additional information about the author, visit her Website: http://hallieephron.com.

2011-03-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

Hello, writers!

Just wanted to give you a heads-up that time is running out to sign up for the Novel-in-Progress course being taught at Grub Street's South Shore location, Buttonwood Books in Cohasset (on Rt. 3A). The instructor is novelist Lynne Griffin, author of Life Without Summer, Sea Escape, and the upcoming The Day We Drowned.

This is the course Heather and I have been raving about, and three other NRAS Writers Workshop members have also enjoyed it. It starts this coming Monday, April 4. If you're working on a novel -- no matter what stage you're at -- it's an incredibly helpful, motivating, and supportive experience. Each week, we learn about/review a different element of craft and then critique classmates' pages. Lynne is an amazing instructor who possesses a wealth of knowledge about writing and the publishing process (which she shares generously).

Here's the link:

http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?workshopcategory=all&coursetype=all&instructor=Lynne+Griffin&level=all&id=402&ditto_tags=

If you have questions or would like to hear more about it, please feel free to e-mail me Jen_McInerney@yahoo.com or Heather at heather@tillybud.com.

Thanks, and have a great day!

Jen

Winter Blahs?

2011-02-22T14:49:00.002-05:00

Hi, everyone!

I don't know about you, but I feel like I've been in hibernation since the holidays. Fortunately, I've managed to do a little writing while I've been hunkering down -- I hope you have, too. Great to see many of you last week at our monthly Writers Workshop. I hope you'll join us for the next one.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to post updates here once a week, and I welcome your submissions. If you'd like share some of your work-in-progress, a personal essay or anecdote, or something writing-related that you came across, please e-mail me.

Today, the latter: The following passage comes out of a new novel by Carolyn Parkhurst, called The Nobodies Album (I recommend it!). The protagonist is a writer and here's what she has to say in her narrative:

“I’ve always known that the best part of writing occurs before you’ve picked up a pen. When a story exists only in your mind, its potential is infinite; it’s only when you start pinning words to paper that it becomes less than perfect. You have to make your choices, set your limits. Start whittling away at the cosmos, and don’t stop until you’ve narrowed it down to a single, ordinary speck of dirt. And in the end, what you’ve made is not nearly as glorious as what you’ve thrown away.”

Jersey Girl

2011-01-21T15:33:00.002-05:00

By Rona Laban

The snow was coming down at a hard clip. Rachel pulled on her scrubs and was rummaging in the dark, so as not to wake Derek. Where are those damn ugly Sorels he bought me last xmas? she thought to herself.

“You best take the new car," Derek mumbled from the pile of bedding. “We won’t go anywhere til you get back."

“Sorry, did I wake you? “

“S’ok, I’m sure our boy there will be cryin for his mama any minute.”

“See you round one then”, she said, quickly kissing him on the cheek.

Rachel slipped down the stairs quietly, hoping not to wake Jake; she hated saying good bye to him, seeing her sweet boy cry.

Next house has to have a garage, she thought as she cleared off the car. Not many people on the street at 7 AM on a Saturday in the middle of a snow storm. Her next thought: might as well stop at Dunkies -- it’s gonna be a long ride.

Now I wish I had my night job back, she thought, tuning in the radio. And nice having a radio that works and heat. They were actually supposed to go looking for a new car today to replace her old Lynx - a total piece of junk that Derek inherited when they bought the dreaded wagon when she was 8 months pregnant with Jake.

She remembered the perky Ford salesman bringing them out to pick it up. “Aren’t you excited, a brand new car!”

"Not exactly," sassed Rachel back, “not exactly my dream car,” and Derek poking her in her ribs, saying,”Easy on the guy, jersey girl. You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.”

Wow, I’m gonna be late, Rachel thought as she made her way through the slushy snow on the highway; damn plows -- not even out yet.

Then without warning, the car skidded hard to the left. She couldn’t pull it out and before she even realized it, she’d crossed two lanes of traffic and was perpendicular to the highway. As the guardrail came looming up on her, her life as they say was passing in front of her eyes. Not for long because when the car hit the rail, she spun around into the oncoming traffic and a pickup truck hit her head on. The air bag deployed, but she didn’t know that. All she saw was smoke in the car amd, panicking that the car was on fire, she grabbed for her purse and jumped out of the car.

The guy in the pickup truck got to her first. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think I’d hit you. I thought you’d pull out of it."

“Well, I guess you thought wrong.” said the jersey girl under her breath.

The North Wind

2011-01-20T15:50:00.003-05:00

By Ann Falcone

Long ago, a young girl named Simza had cause to challenge the North Wind. Simza and her poor widowed mother had barely enough to keep them from hunger during the long cold winter on their little farm high in the mountains. Each day they carefully measured a ration of kasha hoping to make their food last until spring. One day, when Simza was returning from the barn with a handful of kasha in a little bowl, the North Wind blew so hard the grain scattered on the ground. From far and wide, from every chink and crevasse, mice scampered across the snowy yard and gobbled the grain. While the mice feasted on the kernals, tears welled in Simza’s eyes.

“Oh,” cried Simza, “now what shall I do for my supper?”

“You’ve no quarrel with us,” replied a tiny brown field mouse. “The grain was spoiled once it was strewn on the ground. You might as well complain to the North Wind.”

Well there was nothing to be done about it. Simza’s mother was ill, and needed her kasha porridge and a glass of hot rose petal tea to restore her health. Simza had to go back to the barn and get another ration of kasha for her mother. That day Simza herself had to go without supper so there would be enough to see them through the winter. She tied her apron tightly to keep her stomach from rumbling.

The next day, when Simza returned from the barn, she wrapped her shawl around the little bowl of kasha to protect it from the wind. But the wind blew so hard that her shawl ripped from her trembling fingers and the kasha scattered across the snow covered ground. From far and wide, from every tree and rooftop, the crows flew into
the yard and devoured the grain.

Now Simza was in tears. “This North Wind is a hard fellow. Twice he has spoiled all that I have for supper, and now I must again go hungry. I can bear this for myself, but my mother is frail and ill and now I fear she may have to go hungry too.”

The crows were moved to pity, having often known the sting of hunger themselves. “Maiden,” they cawed, “we know where the North Wind lives. He is a fine and jolly fellow who likes nothing more than to bring the roses to your cheeks and watch the leaves dance from the trees. Let us carry you there that you may plead your case with him. We’re sure he will set things right.”

So the crows lifted Simza and flew high above the tree tops until they reached the ice palace of the North Wind.

“Dear child,” he bellowed, for the North Wind is a great and blustery giant with a great and blustery voice, “what business brings you here?”

“If you please, your majesty,” replied Simza, “your puffing and
blowing has twice spoiled all that I have to eat and I have had to
go hungry. This I can bare, for I shall only tighten my apron until tomorrow, but my mother is ill and sorely in need of food.”

“My dear maiden, I most humbly beg your pardon. I was only trying to blow the very last leaf off a linden tree in Martonfa and meant you no harm. Please accept this magic cloth with my deepest apology. When you are hungry simply place the cloth on a table and command ‘cloth serve me,’ and it shall be spread with all kinds of dishes, hearty, savory, or dainty, as you wish. When you are done, command ‘cloth fold yourself’ and all shall be put away.”

Simza thanked the North Wind and set out on the long journey home. When she had traveled nearly a whole day, she came to an inn. As she was still a half day's journey from her home she thought, “I am too tired to walk any further today. If I offer to clean their stables perhaps they’ll let me sleep in their barn tonight.”

Simza spoke to the innkeeper, suggesting as she had no money that she could clean the stables in exchange for lodgings in the barn, and so the deal was struck. She raked, mopped, swept, strewed fresh straw and even curried the horses until it seemed as grand and fine a stable of that of the emperor himself. The innkeeper’s wife was so impressed she decided to treat Simza to a supper of borsht and black bread. As the landlady carried the supper tray into the barn, she spied Simza placing the magic cloth on the floor.

“Cloth, serve me!” commanded Simza.

At once the cloth spread itself with trays of roast goose, suckling pig, braised duckling, red cabbage, polenta, savory breads, cold fruit soups, crisp apples, fresh pears, fried string beans, vegetable stews, deviled eggs, cheese dumpling, pies, cakes, cookies and sweet creams. Simza sampled them all; each tastier than the last. The innkeeper’s wife hid in the shadows, watching in amazement.

At last Simza placed a cookie in her apron pocket and said, “Cloth, fold yourself.” All the food vanished and the cloth lay folded at Simza’s feet.

“What a marvel!” thought the innkeeper’s wife. “Why should that child keep such a treasure to herself, when I could use it to feed my hungry guests?” So the innkeeper’s wife decided to steal the magic cloth.

Later that night as Simza slept, the landlady crept into the barn and exchanged the magic cloth for an old linen that looked just like it.

When Simza rose the next morning, she tucked the false cloth into the band of her apron and walked the half day’s journey home.

When she returned to her hut, she found her mother much improved. Simza told her of her grand adventure to visit the North Wind and showed her the cloth. Her mother smiled, and clapped her hands, saying, “A wonderful story, my treasure. The thought
of such a miracle fills me with joy. But seeing, is believing.”

Simza placed the false cloth on the table. “Cloth, serve me!” she ordered.
But the Landlady’s old linen simply laid there.

So instead of a offering her mother a fine feast, Simza trudged to the barn for their ration of kasha.

After their humble supper, Simza went out into the yard. She remembered the cookie in her apron pocket. “Crows,” she called, “I offer you this treat, if you would carry me again to the palace of the North Wind.”

From far and wide, from every tree and rooftop, the crows flew into the yard as Simza crumbled the cookie on the ground. “It would be our great pleasure, maiden,” they squawked as they feasted on the crumbs.

The crows grasped Simza’s clothing in their claws, lifting her high above the trees as they flew to the North Wind’s ice palace . . .

Read the rest at: http://www.annfalcone.com/NorthWind.html

Procrastination: or sometimes it just feels like Fate is against me.

2011-01-19T16:27:00.001-05:00

by Kristine Jelstrom-Hamill

Here it is, a dreary, rainy day in January. The kids are asleep, wiped from a weekend of skiing, and the husband swears he’s off to bed early. “Ah ha!” the voice in my head cries. This is it. No excuses. I pour myself a glass of wine and prop my laptop on my knees. OK, so a few pesky emails while the husband finishes up whatever it may be he’s doing, then it’ll be me and the rain drops.

What’s this? A sudden phone call from his office? Procedures forgotten, overlooked?

The rain drops are still pattering on the roof, but my own clicks of the keyboard seem overshadowed by his. I drank my wine way too fast and now wonder if I should pour another.

Is he almost done? Will he go to bed and leave me an hour of tranquility to write?

No, he will talk. He will tell me about the issue. I will nod and try to be sympathetic. In reality, I think damn his job. This was it, my night to write. Twelve hundred words or less. Piece of cake. I’d dazzle them with my winter’s wit.

Could it be? Is that my daughter moaning in her sleep? She who never sleep walks or talks or grinds her teeth. Tonight, the night of bad dreams?

I will not give up. One more paragraph to prove I tried. To show something creative.

On a dreary, wet January night, the rain spattered on the windowpanes, and I dreamed of somewhere else. Safe and warm in my heated house and oversized armchair, my mind wandered across frozen wastelands and vibrant jungles and endless deserts. Characters flitted by but never paused long enough for me to capture them.

Slap. His laptop is shut. Lights out regardless of my presence still in the room. Questions about towels and dishes. Am I procrastinating?

I’d rather believe it Fate. Gazing down with Her benevolent eyes. Tonight She is laughing at me I think.

NO WRITERS WORKSHOP TONIGHT

2011-01-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

JANUARY MEETING CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER 1/18/11

2010-12-24T10:52:00.000-05:00

Hi, Folks. Here is a link to something fun. http://iwl.me/
Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.
Any text in English will do: your latest blog post, journal entry, comment, chapter of your unfinished book, etc. For reliable results paste at least a few paragraphs (not tweets). Merry Christmas to all!

Bonus Interview: Novelist Lynne Griffin

2010-11-09T13:44:00.002-05:00

By Jennifer H. McInerney

The North River Arts Society Writers Workshop recently welcomed Scituate novelist Lynne Griffin to its Author Series. Griffin, who teaches family studies at the graduate level at Wheelock College, and writing at Grub Street in Boston, is the author of two issue-driven novels, Life Without Summer and Sea Escape, and a nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation. Her third novel, The Day We Drowned, will be published by Simon & Schuster in the spring of 2012.

Thank you so much for your enlightening discussion, “Fact Collides with Fiction: The Rise of Issue-Driven Stories and How Fiction Can Teach.” For those who missed this wonderful presentation, can you talk a little bit about how each of your novels--Life Without Summer and Sea Escape--addresses a particular issue?

Sure. Life Without Summer grew out of my experiences as a family life counselor. As a professional who’s taught classes and counseled parents and children about healthy grieving, I’ve always been struck by the choices people make related to the loss of a loved one—the healthy and unhealthy ways grief work gets done. Though the novel’s main plotline is the story of a woman who loses her child in a hit and run accident and her quest to find who’s responsible, it’s really about so much more than that. It’s about the choices people make when faced with unbelievable pain. It’s about what really holds a marriage together when it’s tested. What I tried to do was examine what tragedy does to all kinds of relationships. If they start off strong—or don’t—what happens? Why do some people thrive after a loss, finding true purpose, while others don’t come out of it stronger?

My second novel, Sea Escape, is a very personal novel. I’ve created a fictional story around a woman struggling with prolonged grief disorder—a condition my own mother struggled with after the death of my father.

Can you provide us with some examples of well-known authors who write issue-driven fiction?

There are a number of renowned writers who were considered issue-driven novelists in their day: Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway. Some of my favorite contemporary novelists writing issue-driven fiction are Anna Quinlan, Lionel Shriver, Wally Lamb, Ian McEwan—the list is long.

What are the advantages and pitfalls of writing this type of fiction?

Since I’ve written prescriptive nonfiction in the areas of health, education, and parenting, for me the main advantage to exploring issues in fiction is being able to write from a variety of characters’ perspectives. In writing an issue-driven novel, the goal is to take readers on a journey, to let them learn and grow by virtue of a contrived experience. Without stating the right or wrong way to navigate a weighty topic, nuances are presented and readers allowed to form their own opinions about the state of the affair.

Of course, this requires an authentic handling of the subject. No heavy handed platitudes. No neon signs pointing to the author’s opinions or the novel’s overarching theme and premise. I work hard to get out of the way of the narrative. Let the characters tell their own stories.

Another pitfall is that the issues most worthy of exploration are multi-faceted, and in writing about such things, you run the risk of creating controversy. Although the publicity and marketing departments at major publishing houses will likely see that as an asset.

In what ways is your upcoming novel, The Day We Drowned, considered controversial?

The Day We Drowned is the story of seventeen-year-old Ava Sedgwick and her father Toby. Eight years after the 2004 tsunami shattered their family during a vacation in Thailand, Toby sends Ava to a wilderness behavioral camp for troubled teens. There, brutal treatment and repressed memories threaten her precarious mental health.

While some of these camps swear by such treatment modalities, claiming they save teens, many take advantage of desperate parents. And few are equipped to provide appropriate psychiatric healthcare for teens in trouble. The state of adolescent mental health is abysmal today; I’m passionate about bringing this topic to readers’ attention.

Why do you think you’re compelled to write issue-driven stories?

I imagine it’s because of my education and professional experiences in the healthcare and education arenas. And I’m endlessly fascinated by family life and the behavioral psychology involved in relationships.

How helpful have your previous careers as a nurse and family counselor been on your journey to becoming a novelist?

I’ve been a family life expert for more than twenty years, and there’s so much about my work counseling parents, observing children, and teaching educators about families that I use in writing fiction. In many ways, my knowledge of human behavior is the vital ingredient I bring to writing my stories.

Given my work with families and my desire to capture family life in authentic ways, there’s no shortage of seeds from my work that I can use to inform my fiction. Anton Chekhov called them little particulars. Right there in my everyday life are the organic details that give genuineness to the stories I’m creating.

What do you consider to be the most challenging aspects of writing a novel? And how do you overcome them?

I used to say time management. It’s never easy to juggle work and family responsibilities with writing a novel. But I’ve managed to balance things by appreciating my writing process and making it a top priority. So for me, now, I’d say the biggest challenge is how deep I have to go to dig to the heart of a story. It’s emotionally exhausting to inhabit the hearts and minds of my characters. When I’m writing a first draft, it’s all I can do to pull myself out of the fictional world to live in my own. I think about my characters’ lives morning, noon, and night. Even in my sleep!

When you spoke about your own writing process, many members of the audience seemed surprised that you don’t use a handheld recorder for all of the ideas that come to you while you’re in your car, for example.

While I do keep a journal for each novel, jotting down things I’d like to incorporate into the story—plotlines, scene notes—I don’t write all my ideas down. Still, I rarely forget the ideas that come to me. As crazy as it may sound, my characters talk to me. It’s like they’re telling me good gossip; there’s no way I’m going to forget the juicy tidbits.

Your approach of keeping individual journals for each of your novels while you’re working on one is very interesting. Can you please tell us more about that? And how useful are these journals to your writing process and final draft?

Very helpful to my first draft. I keep research notes in it. Character sketches, too. Some scene notes. As I write, I also keep track of chapter lengths, word counts, logistical kinds of things, like names used and setting details. I see it as an indulgence, too: using a beautiful external tool to layer my story. Though it’s a reference point, and I’m not tied to anything I put in it. And I don’t write any of the story in it per se.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Learn craft. Do some close reading each week. As you read, really look at the intent behind the authors’ choices. Every bit of dialogue, each setting, even the most minor character has the ability to move the plot forward, add layers to the story, deepen the theme of the story. Learn to write with intent.

What's the most valuable advice you’ve ever received with respect to your own writing?

Be bold. I’ve been blessed with trusted readers who believe in me and my stories. These dear friends are always there to remind me. Though it’s a challenging time in publishing, this is the only career you’ll have. Make decisions based on what works for you. Dream big, then work hard.

You recently helped extend the reach of Grub Street, the Boston-based writing center, to the South Shore as the instructor of a course called “Solving Novel Problems,” which is being taught at Buttonwood Books and Toys in Cohasset. How’s that class going, and what does it cover?

I think the students could probably answer that best! I love to teach. I’m very passionate about writing, urging writers to get better with each project they tackle. My greatest hope is that the students taking the course become energized. Certainly it’s hard work to write a good novel, daunting really, but it’s also rewarding. Every paragraph, every page counts—whether it lands in the finished manuscript or not.

Will there be a follow-up to this class?

Starting January 24, 2011, and running for eight weeks, I’ll be teaching the popular Grub Street course, Novel-in-Progress. In each session, I’ll include some close reading of effective fiction, a mini-lecture on one of the more subtle elements of craft, and then writers will receive feedback on portions of their novel. It’s designed as a facilitated writers’ workshop. Writers can sign-up online via the Grub Street Website.

Writers Workshop Welcomes Michelle Hoover to November Author Series

2010-11-04T14:09:00.004-04:00

The North River Arts Society Writers Workshop welcomes debut novelist Michelle Hoover to its next Author Series, on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., at the G.A.R. Hall in Marshfield Hills. The event is free and open to the public.

Hoover, who teaches writing at Boston University and Grub Street, is the author of The Quickening, which was released in June and has been shortlisted for the Center of Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

If you’re an avid reader or aspiring writer, don’t miss this opportunity to learn first-hand from a published author. At the Author Series, Hoover will discuss her “rather long road to publication” and share the lessons she learned and insights she gained along the way. She will also read from her novel and answer questions from the audience.

Hoover’s work has also been published in Confrontation, The Massachusetts Review, Prairie Schooner, and Best New American Voices, among others. She has been a Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference Scholar, the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell fellow, a Pushcart Prize nominee and, in 2005, the winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award for Fiction.

The G.A.R. Hall is located at 157 Old Main Street in Marshfield Hills, off Rte. 3A.

Writers Workshop Exclusive Interview with Author Brunonia Barry

2010-10-12T14:12:00.004-04:00

By Jennifer H. McInerney

The NRAS Writers Workshop was extremely fortunate to welcome bestselling novelist Brunonia Barry to our Author Series on September 25. Despite the sweltering afternoon, the audience sat rapt for two hours, listening to Barry’s insights, wisdom, and inspiring words. Following her presentation, the author was kind enough to agree to a follow-up Q&A to share with anyone who missed this amazing afternoon.

Brunonia Barry is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lace Reader and her latest novel, The Map of True Places – both of which I highly recommend.

Writers Workshop: Please tell us about how you got your ideas for each of your novels.

Brunonia Barry: The idea for The Lace Reader came from a dream I had when I first moved back to Massachusetts, after living in California for about 10 years. The Map of True Places began to come into focus as I walked around Salem and thought about our history as a trading port.

WW: You mentioned, during the Author Series, that you could spend all of your time on the research phase of a book, if it weren’t for deadlines. Can you talk a little bit about your research process and how you’re able to extract the information and weave it so seamlessly into your prose?

BB: I love to do research. When I was writing The Lace Reader, the historical research was about both the Ipswich lace-making industry and the Salem witch trials. For the Salem history, I decided to focus on one story and learn everything I could about it. I wasn’t going to use it in the book, but I wanted to try to write a modern-day equivalent, so I had to understand it as well as I could. I chose Rebecca Nurse because she and her sister were related to my family. I like to be as specific as possible in my research. In the beginning, I always read around the edges of a subject, searching for metaphor. After that, the research becomes very detailed.

For The Map of True Places, I began by reading a ship’s log from the early 1800s, then reread all of my Hawthorne and Melville (as well as biographies of both writers). Then I moved on to celestial navigation, which became the image system for the book. That part was more difficult for me because I felt that I had to be somewhat proficient in the ancient art, and it didn’t come all that easily.

The psychological research is the most interesting for me. As a matter of course, I read a lot of psychology books as well as articles and journals. I would almost call it a hobby. These days, I know a number of professionals in the field on whom I can call to verify or challenge my information.

As far as weaving research seamlessly into my novels, thank you for that. I really just try to find the places where I think the research enhances character and plot or sometimes places where it seems to stand in contrast.

WW: What do you find is the most challenging aspect of writing a novel? And was it the same for both of your published works, as well as the latest project you’ve embarked on? If not, what were the differences?

BB: The Lace Reader was more challenging in one sense because I was working full time and had very little time to write, except on weekends. It was difficult to pick up where I left off (or even to know where I left off) without a lot of reviewing. As a result, the book took seven years to finish.

I think my voice has gotten stronger and my writing better for The Map of True Places, so that part was easier. By the time I started that novel, I was writing full-time, which made it easier to establish a rhythm.

WW: Specifically, in The Map of True Places, Finch, the protagonist’s father, suffers from Parkinson’s with Alzheimer’s crossover, which your own father had. What was it like to write about the disease and the effects it had on not only Finch, but the characters who were closest to him?

BB: I started the book with the description of Finch selling Melville’s belongings through the window. It was difficult for me because my father had died just a few years earlier, and, as I wrote about the disease, I remembered how difficult it was for him. I also remembered how stressed the rest of us were during that period. Both my mother and my father were still living at home, and each needed full-time care. Both diseases were heartbreaking, but the Alzheimer’s crossover was particularly disturbing, especially when it first began to manifest. Many of the details of Finch’s disease and of his reaction to it come directly from my father’s experiences, which made it emotionally wrenching to write. I would have to step away from Finch every so often and rest for a while before coming back to him.

WW: Were there other aspects of the story (or in The Lace Reader) that you’ve drawn from personal experience? If so, please tell us about one and why you felt compelled to include it in your novel.

BB: My niece was a victim of domestic violence, and that’s one of the things I was writing about in The Lace Reader. This is something that happens much more often than we realize, and it happens to people we know, yet nobody talks about it. I wanted to get readers talking in hopes that it might help someone along the way.

WW: After The Lace Reader, did you suffer from any “sophomore slump” or “second book syndrome” symptoms? If so, how did you overcome them?

BB: I didn’t have time to do that. The Map of True Places was on a very tight deadline, so I just kept my head down and worked as hard as I could. If I’d had time to think about it, I might have experienced writer’s block or panic. I’ve heard from many readers that they have liked the second book better than the first, so I guess it’s working out okay.

WW: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

BB: The best advice I can give is to just keep writing. I think it’s important to read a great deal as well, but putting words on paper is the most important thing you can do. I would also encourage writers not to show early drafts to people. Nothing can kill your creativity faster than sharing a draft that is not where it should be with people who are only trying to help but offering advice that takes you off track. After it’s finished, though, I advise sharing it and getting feedback.

WW: What is the most valuable advice you’ve ever received with respect to your own writing?

BB: When I was studying with screenwriter Robert McKee, he told me to stop being so literary. It took me a while to understand what he meant, but it had to do with the way I had been schooled to write. I was writing the life out of my characters by being too formal. I had to unlearn a lot of what I had been taught.

WW: Any comments on the self-publishing route, and the changes that have occurred in self-publishing since your first book came out?

BB: When we first published The Lace Reader and William Morrow/Harper Collins bought it, they brought us down to New York for a celebration. We asked them how many self-published books they had bought, and they said mine was the first. Since then, there have been several more that have come along. Lisa Genova’s Still Alice has had a great deal of success. The Shack was also self-published. These days, I think publishers are more likely to look favorably on a self-published book, particularly if the author has invested in promoting it.

WW: Finally, what are your favorite books (or who are your favorite authors)?

BB: I love the classics: To the Lighthouse, Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, Ulysses. I like just about anything by Louise Erdrich. My favorite books this year are Nancy Pickard’s The Scent of Rain and Lightning and Lily King’s Father of the Rain.

Novelist Lynne Griffin is Coming to Writers Workshop!

2010-10-05T13:06:00.008-04:00

In case you haven't heard, author Lynne Griffin, who's written two novels and has a third coming out in the spring of 2012, is our next guest author! She's the author of Life Without Summer and Sea Escape, as well as a nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation. Her upcoming novel is called The Day We Drowned.

Lynne will be coming to the G.A.R. Hall on Saturday, October 23, 2-4 p.m., to present "Fact Collides with Fiction: The Rise of Issue-Related Stories and How Fiction Can Teach."

Here's a little preview for you:

Throughout history, stories have served the vital purpose of connecting us to one another through universality of experience. Stories entertain, enlighten, energize, and of course, educate. Nationally recognized family life expert and acclaimed novelist Lynne Griffin will discuss the rise of issue-driven fiction, as well as how personal and professional experience informs story-telling. In a publishing climate that demands standout stories and writers with platform, Griffin will talk candidly about the art and science of writing fiction, the role of the marketplace in choosing story details, and the trend toward branding authors. She’ll share her own journey from nonfiction expert to novelist, read from her own issue-driven fiction, and answer questions in an open forum.

Lynne is a regular contributor to Boston’s Fox Morning News, appearing in the segment Family Life Stories. She teaches family studies at the graduate level at Wheelock College, and writing at Grub Street in Boston and Grub Street South at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. For more information about Lynne and her work, visit www.LynneGriffin.com.

Please mark your calendars and invite your friends to join us at the G.A.R. Hall, 157 Old Main Street, Marshfield, on October 23!

Try Something New

2010-09-30T09:50:00.004-04:00

By Lisa Vallier

Most South Shore writers are aware of the wonderful writer’s group Grub Street based in Boston and with a satellite location on the South Shore at Buttonwood Books. Last year, as I was reading The Rag (Grub Street’s online newsletter), I was drawn to an event called “The 7-minute pitch.” The description of the event was: “Meet with three established agents for seven minutes each. It’s your chance to pitch your work, in-person, to three high-profile agents!”

Of course I jumped at the chance, having had no success querying agents for my novel, FOUR CIRCLES. I clicked on the Website and was taken to The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. For $150, I would get to meet with three agents (additional agents were $45 each) and pitch my novel to them. I immediately signed up and began staying up until 2 a.m. editing my manuscript.

Three days before the pitch session, I trekked to my local Staples and had three copies of my 400-page novel printed in the hopes that all three agents would need a copy to bring home with them (stop laughing!).

The pitch session was held at a fancy Boston hotel (the name of which escapes me), beginning at 9 a.m. There were people pacing throughout the lobby; some looked like old pros, while others were practically in tears. Many of them, myself included, carried briefcases or bags with reams of hopeful paper. I approached the women at the check-in desk who were friendly but unable to dole out Valium, which is what I needed at the time.

I looked at my registration sheet. I was in the first group (9 – 9:07), the third (9:16 – 9:23), and a later group (around 10:20).

As eight of us lined up for the first group, I realized the friendly check-in women were very serious about the seven minutes—they even had a gong (reminding me of “The Gong Show,” which didn’t help at all).

As the huge mahogany doors parted, we walked into a large conference room with eight folding tables and eight smiling agents. A wave of relief washed over me. The agents were just people and they really wanted to like our books.

My first pairing was with Jennifer Weltz from the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency (click on the link: the home page is really telling about an agent’s life). She asked me what my book was about and I gave my standard answer, “It’s about what happens after you die.” That always gets ’em. I then went into my spiel and after three minutes she said she wanted to take a look. I reached for my 400 pages and Jennifer explained she wanted it electronically, of course. Of course. At that point, we had four more minutes with nothing to do…awkward. I couldn’t just get up and walk out the door; everyone else was still talking to their agents. We sat there trying to make small talk, but all I could do was hope I wouldn’t say anything that would change her mind.

Finally, gong. I got up, shook Jennifer’s hand and left smiling so hard I thought someone might punch me. Well, that was easy, I thought. I relaxed in the lobby for the next eight minutes thinking, I’ve got this.

My next group was called and we lined up again. Gong, we were back in. I waved at Jennifer, then sat down across from Helen Zimmermann of the Helen Zimmermann Literary Agency. I’d done my research and knew Helen was an avid mountain climber, so I chatted for a moment about that, then did my pitch. She immediately wanted to read the full manuscript. She, too, said an electronic submission would be fine (why was I carrying around 400 pages of paper?). I now had two minutes left, but the conversation flowed easily and I was left with a wonderful dilemma: If both agents wanted the manuscript who would I choose?

Gong.

I walked back into the lobby and sat next to a woman with her head in her hands.

“How did it go?” she muttered to me.

“Oh fine. They asked for the whole thing,” I said.

“Oh, that’s great. You must be excited,” she said, her eyes lighting up with happiness for me.

“Well, who knows if they’ll like it or not,” I said, knowing modesty is like honey to flies.

“What’s it about?” she asked, and I gave her my standard line.

“I’d read that.” She said. I just smiled thinking, Of course, who wouldn’t?

A few gongs later, my third pitch session lined up. I walked through the door and faced… someone who was not smiling. Her name was Ann Collette with the Helen Rees Literary Agency. She didn’t even say hello; she just asked, “What’ve you got?”

I’ve got two agents who already want the book, I thought to myself, but I gave her the line.

“Interesting,” she said. “Let me see the first chapter.”

I was flustered. I’d resigned myself to the fact that the paper was useless, so I’d put it all back in the box. I quickly pulled the box out as Ann tapped the table. I handed over my pages and she scanned the first page, flipped, and scanned the second.

“You can’t start a book with a dead baby,” she said, handing the pages back to me. “Your writing is fine, but no one is going to buy a book that starts like that.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. “Well, I could move that chapter…”

“No, I just don’t think it will work.”

“Would you look at it if I rearranged it?”

“Not if you send it to me in a few weeks. Rewriting this will take months. If you do the work, then maybe.”

Gong. “OK, thank you.”

I wobbled away from the table past Jen and Helen, my friends who want the book, but all I could think about was Ann, for whom the book didn’t work.

As you can probably surmise, neither Jen nor Helen chose to represent FOUR CIRCLES, but what is more significant is that neither of them offered any solid reasons why. Ann at least gave me some insight I could use, proving sometimes the rejections, though hard to take, are the most useful. I’m still not ready to send the novel to Ann and the pitch session was last December. I’m not quite sure I’ve done (or want to do) the work she wants to see.

The whole “7-minute pitch session” taught me a lot, it caused me to join a new writer’s group, allowed me to meet three agents, and forced me to try something new.

Sometimes breaking out of your comfort zone is just what you need to get going again. If you are feeling daring, here is a list of upcoming writing events you might try in and around Boston:

• Boston Book Festival – Oct. 16th - http://www.bostonbookfest.org/
• Grub Street’s “A taste of Grub – Nov. 5th - http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=32
• Brockton Public Library Poetry Read – Sat., Oct 16th 2-5 PM or Sat, Nov. 20th 2-5 PM - http://gbspa.homestead.com/Home.html

Brunonia Barry is Coming to the Writers Workshop!

2010-06-26T19:39:00.010-04:00

Great news! The North River Arts Society Writers Workshop will welcome New York Times Bestselling Author Brunonia Barry to our next Author Series, on Saturday, September 25, 2-4 p.m. at the G.A.R. Hall in Marshfield.

If you're an avid reader, you may recognize Brunonia: she's the author of The Lace Reader, a stirring story set in Salem, Massachusetts,and her latest novel, The Map of True Places, which came out last month. But as a writer, you may be even more familiar with -- and impressed by -- her. In the writing world she's renowned for her unconventional route to bestselling status: The Lace Reader was initially self-published, but quickly drew attention from the publishing industry and was ultimately purchased by mainstream publisher William Morrow.

At the Author Series, Barry will give a short writer- and reader-friendly presentation, read from her latest novel, and answer questions from the audience. Time will also be allotted for book-signing.

Barry, a Massachusetts native, studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain College in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire; she also audited classes on James Joyce’s Ulysses at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, for one year. Barry is one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. For nearly 10 years, she lived in Hollywood, working on scripts under screenwriting guru Robert McKee. More recently, she has written books for Beacon Street Girls, a fictional series for preteen girls. Barry is the first American Writer to win the Women’s International Fiction Festival’s 2009 Baccante Award, for The Lace Reader.

So...mark your calendars, and spread the word!

Author Series Recap: Susan Kushner Resnick

2010-06-07T20:11:00.003-04:00

For those of you who were unable to attend our Author Series with Susan Kushner Resnick on Saturday, the author has been kind enough to “recap” some of what she talked about during her presentation (below).

Susan’s new book is called Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, and it tells the stories of the local families who endured the tragic Smith coal mine disaster in Bearcreek, Montana, in 1943. She’s also the author of Sleepless Days: One Woman’s Journey through Postpartum Depression. She’s been a journalist for 25 years, and her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, the New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, salon.com, Parents Magazine, and Utne Reader.

Please tell us how you came up with the idea for Goodbye Wifes and Daughters. What was it about this subject that compelled you so?

The idea actually found me, while I was on a family vacation in Montana. It was serendipitous. I didn’t even want to go to Montana, but found myself in the town where the coal mine disaster took place in 1943 and I couldn’t believe nobody had written a book on the disaster. I was drawn to how tragic and emotional the story is.

What form(s) did your research take? Please share a highlight/example from your research phase.

My research involved trips back to Montana from Massachusetts, many phone calls, Freedom of Information Act requests for documents, “normal” requests for documents, and hours of reading Montana newspapers from 1943, both to read about the event itself and to get the flavor of the community I was researching. Because I couldn’t read them all while I was in Montana, I had the largest research library there send microfilm of the papers to my local library. They would come a few reels at a time and I had to do all my reading in the library, though I’m not sure how I was supposed to read them at my house. I don’t have a personal microfilm viewer! It was fun and surreal to immerse myself in the world of Montana ’43 all day, then leave the library to re-enter Massachusetts 2006.

And did you come up against any difficult obstacles while conducting your research?

The most challenging thing was deciding to center the book around one woman, making plans to interview her extensively in Montana, flying there and having her refuse to let me into her house. Though she had told me lots of personal things over the phone, she must have felt it was too painful to talk to me in person. I cried on her front lawn, which was covered with snow because a blizzard had just passed. I didn’t have dry shoes. But I regrouped and found other families to feature. That woman is still a character in the book, just not the only one. Her name is Margaret.

At what point did you know you were finished researching?

I started out knowing how the book was going to end and, because it’s non-fiction, knowing what would happen in each chapter. So, I knew what I needed to flesh out those chapters. I wasn’t finished until I had enough material to make each chapter complete.

What were the logistics of working on a book about a Montana coal mine disaster while you were living in Massachusetts, and how did you manage them?

A couple of long trips to Montana, which involved spending a lot of my own money and driving across a giant state by myself. The latter was a great experience. I also have a phone plan that covers calls all over the U.S. And I got used to talking to sources on their time zone. A woman I’d been trying to track down for months finally called me from California at about midnight our time. I was asleep when she called, but I couldn’t risk losing her, so I took the phone into the hallway and wrote notes on a tiny notepad.

Please describe your writing process for this project.

It went in spurts: first an outline, then three sample chapters with which I lured an agent, then writing and polishing the proposal, then actually writing the chapters. I wrote them sequentially, and rewrote each until I was satisfied before moving on to the next chapter.

How long did the actual writing of the book take?

Two to three years.

How long did it take to find an agent to represent this project?

I’d say a few months. I didn’t get too many rejections before my agent took me.

And how long did it take to find the publisher?

Longer. My agent sent the proposal out to about 10 big publishers. They all claimed that they really liked it but didn’t see a big enough market for it. This is a very standard rejection response. I suggested that my agent approach The University of Nebraska Press and they took it right away.

Also, you made the comment that you believed so strongly in the book that you intended to publish it no matter what -- even if you couldn’t go the agent/publisher route. Can you talk a little bit about this?

When I started the project in 2005, self-publishing wasn’t as accepted as it is now. But I decided if nobody wanted it, I’d go that route. That decision took a lot of pressure off. I wasn’t going to let others’ opinions dictate whether the story got told. It was kind of like deciding you'll have a baby alone when you’re 35 if you aren’t married.

Please share with us a short list of your favorite books, both fiction and nonfiction.

One of my favorite recent fiction books is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I also love A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway, and anything by Anne Tyler and Lionel Shriver. For nonfiction, I like This House of Sky by Ivan Doig, The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon and The Circus Fire by Stewart O’Nan. I have to admit, I don’t read enough. Between writing and parenting, reading time gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.

Author Series on Saturday!

2010-06-03T15:56:00.001-04:00

Our next NRAS Writers Workshop Author Series is this coming Saturday, June 5, 2-4 p.m. at the GAR Hall (157 Old Main Street, Marshfield).

Author Susan Kushner Resnick will discuss her new book, Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, a nonfiction account of one of our country's most tragic coal mine disasters. She'll share details about how she came up with the idea, her research and writing process, and finding a home for her book. She'll also do a reading and answer questions.

Please join us for this free event!

Hell hath no fury like one author gleefully savaging another author's work

2010-04-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting article I wanted to pass on to you guys! Hope you enjoy it. - Heather Reyes

50 Famous Authors Other Famous Authors Hate

One man's Shakespeare is another man's trash fiction.
Consider this pithy commentary on the Great Bard's work:
With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare....
But, of course, there must be SOME writers we can all agree on as truly great, right? Like Jane Austen. Or not:
Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice,' I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.
Robert Frost?
If it were thought that anything I wrote was influenced by Robert Frost, I would take that particular work of mine, shred it, and flush it down the toilet, hoping not to clog the pipes.
John Steinbeck, surely?
I can't read ten pages of Steinbeck without throwing up.
Oh, dear.
But don't think these pleasantries were penned in a frolicsome hour by dilettante book critics with an unslaked thirst for a bit of author-bashing.
The Shakespearean take-down was George Bernard Shaw, the Austen shin-bone basher was Mark Twain, the anti-Frost poet was James Dickey, and the quick!-bring-me-the-bucket-it's-Steinbeck was James Gould Cozzens.
Yes, hell hath no fury like one author gleefully savaging another author's work.
And, lucky for us, there's plenty to be had where that came from.
Cast your eye on these, the 50 most memorable author vs. author put-downs (in no particular order; though if you've got a favorite, by all means, comment on it, below).

Hemingway: writer of bells, balls, and bulls

1. Ernest Hemingway, according to Vladimir Nabokov (1972)
As to Hemingway, I read him for the first time in the early 'forties, something about bells, balls and bulls, and loathed it.
2. Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote, according to Martin Amis (1986)
Reading Don Quixote can be compared to an indefinite visit from your most impossible senior relative, with all his pranks, dirty habits, unstoppable reminiscences, and terrible cronies. When the experience is over, and the old boy checks out at last (on page 846 -- the prose wedged tight, with no breaks for dialogue), you will shed tears all right; not tears of relief or regret but tears of pride. You made it, despite all that 'Don Quixote' could do.
3. John Keats, according to Lord Byron (1820)
Here are Johnny Keats's p@# a-bed poetry...There is such a trash of Keats and the like upon my tables, that I am ashamed to look at them.
4. Edgar Allan Poe, according to Henry James (1876)
An enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection.
5. John Updike, according to Gore Vidal (2008)
I can't stand him. Nobody will think to ask because I'm supposedly jealous; but I out-sell him. I'm more popular than he is, and I don't take him very seriously...oh, he comes on like the worker's son, like a modern-day D.H. Lawrence, but he's just another boring little middle-class boy hustling his way to the top if he can do it.
6. William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, according to Samuel Pepys (1662)
...we saw 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life.
7. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, according to Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851)
Bulwer nauseates me; he is the very pimple of the age's humbug. There is no hope of the public, so long as he retains an admirer, a reader, or a publisher.

Charles Dickens writing something rotten, vulgar, and un-literary

8. Charles Dickens, according to Arnold Bennett (1898)
About a year ago, from idle curiosity, I picked up 'The Old Curiosity Shop', and of all the rotten vulgar un-literary writing...! Worse than George Eliot's. If a novelist can't write where is the beggar.
9. J.K. Rowling, according to Harold Bloom (2000)
How to read 'Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone'? Why, very quickly, to begin with, and perhaps also to make an end. Why read it? Presumably, if you cannot be persuaded to read anything better, Rowling will have to do.
10. Oscar Wilde, according to Noel Coward (1946)
Am reading more of Oscar Wilde. What a tiresome, affected sod.
11. Fyodor Dostoevsky, according to Vladimir Nabokov
Dostoevky's lack of taste, his monotonous dealings with persons suffering with pre-Freudian complexes, the way he has of wallowing in the tragic misadventures of human dignity -- all this is difficult to admire.
12. John Milton's Paradise Lost, according to Samuel Johnson
'Paradise Lost' is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.
13. Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield, according to Mark Twain (1897)
Also, to be fair, there is another word of praise due to this ship's library: it contains no copy of 'The Vicar of Wakefield', that strange menagerie of complacent hypocrites and idiots, of theatrical cheap-john heroes and heroines, who are always showing off, of bad people who are not interesting, and good people who are fatiguing.
14. Ezra Pound, according to Conrad Aiken (1918)
For in point of style, or manner, or whatever, it is difficult to imagine anything much worse than the prose of Mr. Pound. It is ugliness and awkwardness incarnate. Did he always write so badly?
15. James Joyce's Ulysses, according to George Bernard Shaw (1921)
I have read several fragments of 'Ulysses' in its serial form. It is a revolting record of a disgusting phase of civilisation; but it is a truthful one; and I should like to put a cordon around Dublin; round up every male person in it between the ages of 15 and 30; force them to read it; and ask them whether on reflection they could see anything amusing in all that foul mouthed, foul minded derision and obscenity.
16. George Bernard Shaw, according to Roger Scruton (1990)
Concerning no subject would he be deterred by the minor accident of complete ignorance from penning a definitive opinion.

Goethe, author of the worst book Samuel Butler ever read

17. Jane Austen, according to Charlotte Bronte (1848)
Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to say that you would rather have written 'Pride and Prejudice'...than any of the Waverly novels? I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses.
18. Goethe, according to Samuel Butler (1874)
I have been reading a translation of Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister.' Is it good? To me it seems perhaps the very worst book I ever read. No Englishman could have written such a book. I cannot remember a single good page or idea....Is it all a practical joke? If it really is Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister' that I have been reading, I am glad I have never taken the trouble to learn German.
19. John Steinbeck, according to James Gould Cozzens (1957)
I can't read ten pages of Steinbeck without throwing up. I couldn't read the proletariat crap that came out in the '30s.
20. Herman Melville, according to D.H. Lawrence (1923)
Nobody can be more clownish, more clumsy and sententiously in bad taste, than Herman Melville, even in a great book like 'Moby Dick'....One wearies of the grand serieux. There's something false about it. And that's Melville. Oh dear, when the solemn ass brays! brays! brays!
21. Jonathan Swift, according to Samuel Johnson (1791)
Swift has a higher reputation than he deserves...I doubt whether 'The Tale of a Tub' to be his; for he never owned it, and it is much above his usual manner.
22. Gertrude Stein, according to Wyndham Lewis (1927)
Gertrude Stein's prose-song is a cold black suet-pudding. We can represent it as a cold suet-roll of fabulously reptilian length. Cut it at any point, it is the same thing; the same heavy, sticky, opaque mass all through and all along.
23. Emile Zola, according to Anatole France (1911)
His work is evil, and he is one of those unhappy beings of whom one can say that it would be better had he never been born.
24. J.D.Salinger, according to Mary McCarthy (1962)
I don't like Salinger, not at all. That last thing isn't a novel anyway, whatever it is. I don't like it. Not at all. It suffers from this terrible sort of metropolitan sentimentality and it's so narcissistic. And to me, also, it seemed so false, so calculated. Combining the plain man with an absolutely megalomaniac egotism. I simply can't stand it.
25. Mark Twain, according to William Faulkner (1922)
A hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven sure fire literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.
Gird up your loins and forge on into the snarky delights of Part 2: #26 - #50 of the 50 best author vs. author put-downs of all time

New Location for Thursday Night Writing!

2010-04-21T10:36:00.003-04:00

Hi, everybody,

Just wanted to let you know that we're moving our Thursday night writing sessions to Starbucks in Marshfield for the foreseeable future. Now, in addition to having a dedicated writing space and time slot, we can have coffee, treats, etc.!

Please join us if you're available: Thursdays, 7-9 p.m. (Starbucks closes at 9 p.m.)

Starbucks is located on Rte. 139 in Marshfield, next to Tedeschi.

Busy Writing

2010-04-16T12:36:00.004-04:00

Wow -- such a great response to the April 1st writing exercise. Actually, it's still going on: there was a new comment posted just this morning. (Scroll down to the previous post to see what's been happening...)

And, wow -- I can't believe it's been half a month since I added a new post here. Part of the reason is that I've been busy working on my new novel, but I'm also a little "blogged out" (or "blogged down," to borrow my husband's expression) with a new blog at work that posts three times a week. But I'm certainly not complaining: I'm writing!

And I'm not the only one. I heard from George just the other day that he signed up for a really cool writing contest. Just before noon today, he received an "assignment" from the contest organizers providing his designated genre and subject matter. Now, the clock is ticking: he has eight days to submit a completed screenplay up to 15 pages in length. And that's only round one. If his screenplay is selected, he proceeds to the finals in June, when he'll receive a second assignment and a 24-hour deadline. Go, George!

I've also heard from several Writers Workshop members that they'll be attending the annual Grub Street Muse and the Marketplace convention (May 1 and 2 in Boston). Some are even participating in the Manuscript Mart, in which writers have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with either an agent or editor for a face-to-face critique of up to 20 pages of their work. While it can be nerve-wracking, it's amazing to be able to look an agent or editor in the eyes and really get a true sense of their reaction to one's manuscript. It sure beats sending e-queries out into the ether!

I'm looking forward to seeing you this Tuesday night (April 20) at Writers Workshop. See you then!

April Fools' Day Fun

2010-04-01T13:35:00.002-04:00

Maybe your April Fools' Day has been on the disappointing side, or maybe you'd just like to have a little fun this afternoon. In honor of this "anything goes" holiday, I thought I'd offer a collaborative writing exercise.

This is an exercise that many people have suggested we try during Writers Workshop, and I thought it might be fun to try it in blog format and see what happens. I'll start the story by writing the first sentence, and then you can continue it by adding a sentence (or paragraph...or wherever it takes you) in the "Comments" section below...and then the next person picks up the thread and runs with it, and so on.

Another option, if you'd prefer, is to use this first sentence as a writing prompt to set off on a story of your own. When you're finished, you can e-mail it to me (if you'd like) and I'll post it for everyone to read...

Okay, here goes:

What she found in the box was not at all what she'd expected...

(to be continued...)

Announcing Side-by-Side Writing Sessions on Thursday Nights

2010-03-19T14:03:00.002-04:00

For so many of us, an entire day flies by without a single minute to devote to our writing. Before we realize it, a whole week has passed and we haven’t made any progress on our works-in-progress.

On the flip side, some writers spend so much time working that they never leave the house, never have the benefit of even limited social interaction with a community of other writers.

To address both of these issues, the NRAS Writers Workshop is happy to announce the introduction of Side-by-Side Writing on Thursday nights at the G.A.R. Hall. Starting on April 8, members of the Writers Workshop are invited to gather DOWNSTAIRS at the G.A.R. Hall, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., every Thursday, for two hours of dedicated writing time among their peers.

These weekly Side-by-Side Writing sessions will be very different from our monthly Writers Workshops. You just come in, grab a seat at a table, and start writing; work on whatever project you’d like to work on in a quiet but energizing setting. At the beginning and end of the evening, we can set aside a few minutes to chat briefly and exchange work, if desired. It’s not designed to be a workshop or critique session, but it might be a good opportunity to reach out to other writers and make arrangements to meet off-site, or share work via e-mail, etc.

It’s a drop-in, no-commitment format: You don’t have to come every week…but you can come every week if you’d like to. We’ll make room at the tables!

Please bring your own writing materials: notebooks, journals, laptops with FULLY CHARGED batteries.

NOTE: To access the hall’s downstairs, please enter through the SIDE DOOR, on the left side of the building, so that we don’t disturb the art class that’s in session upstairs at that time.

So please mark your calendars: THESE WEEKLY SESSIONS BEGIN ON APRIL 8.

Guest Blog Post by Lisa Vallier

2010-03-11T08:56:00.001-05:00

I think we should have a contest—we writers—to see how many times we can move a word around.

I’m pretty sure I’ll win. Take that.

No, really, take the word ‘that.’ I think I’ve written it and deleted it a thousand times, and that was just in the last hour.

See how I snuck that in there? Whoops, again.

Which brings up another pet peeve of mine: Snuck.

“Snuck is a word,” my less literary friends argue.

“But it’s not correct,” I say.

“But it doesn’t matter,” they say. “Everyone uses it.”

Which begs the question: do we write what we speak or do we write by the rules? My answer is we write what we want to write whether it’s high brow or low, whether it appeals to the masses or minuses.

Anything that takes me out of the box (the box being my cubicle) and into a story where I forget there’s an author or my children begging for a snack in the next room—that’s the story for me.

We all have a list of our personal overused words and we all have one, or many, stories to write.

Now it’s just a matter of finding the errant words that may have snuck into your story and replacing them with some descriptive, interesting, unique but not too hard to pronounce ones.

That and finding a damn agent.

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

2010-03-08T12:26:00.003-05:00

I wasn't (really) watching the Oscars last night. I was trying to make some progress on compiling my new list of agents to query.

But I did happen to catch screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher accepting his Academy Award for the adapted screenplay of "Precious," and his words really struck me.

He said: "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day."

And I thought: Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing, as writers. We're plugging away at novels, short stories, poems, children's books, memoirs, scripts, etc., because we feel that we have something important to say, something worthwhile to share.

And we're very lucky to be able to work on a dream every day, to work toward that dream, and to get that much closer to it every day.

Now get back to it! :)

What a Week to Be a Writer on the South Shore!

2010-02-28T14:35:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes—rejection is the low point of being a writer but, to offset that, there were two high points this week:

Tuesday night, Buttonwood Books and Toys in Cohasset hosted its monthly Grub Street South seminar. Despite short notice, the Writers Workshop was well represented: Dave, Donna, Kristine, Mariette, and Robine all turned out for “Query This,” with author Kathy Crowley, who’s also a physician and mother (and the wife of Chris Abouzheid, who presented last month’s Grub Street South class on “Plot Sprints”—see January archives). Kathy covered the topic of querying agents exhaustively, offering useful tips and advice to help us navigate what can be a somewhat challenging process. She even gave us a copy of her own query letter that ultimately landed her in the middle of an agent “frenzy.” Thanks so much, Kathy!

Just a “well-in-advance” heads-up: the March Grub Street South class will take place on the 30th, with Nichole Bernier. I will forward the notice with further details when I receive it. (Or you can visit www.buttonwoodbooks.com and click on Writer’s Group.)

Then, on Saturday, we had our much-anticipated inaugural Author Series, with debut novelist Randy Susan Meyers. Thanks to everyone who attended and especially to Randy, who was incredibly engaging, witty, and enlightening, and generously shared her knowledge and expertise with candor and good humor. It seemed like the whole event passed in a flash, and I was sorry when the lively discussion ended. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I welcome any comments or feedback you may have. Please feel free to either post a comment below or e-mail me.

Another “well-in-advance” heads-up: our next Author Series will be on June 4, with author Susan Kushner Resnick. She will discuss her nonfiction book, Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, which recounts the Smith Coal Mine disaster in Bearcreek, Montana, in 1943. One of the largest mining tragedies in history, it claimed the lives of 74 men, but is often overlooked because it occurred during World War II. More details to come…

Dave was quick to quip: “Is it a requirement that every author in the Author Series has Susan in her name and Daughters in her title?” Actually, no. Our fall author is Michelle Hoover, and her novel is called The Quickening.

’Looking forward to seeing you at the Writers Workshop meeting on March 16!

Rejection

2010-02-25T15:46:00.002-05:00

It turns out that writing the novel was the easy part. Even the gut-wrenching critiques, the countless revisions and rewrites – easy.

Writing a query letter, compiling a list of potential agents – not so hard.

Hitting the SEND button to launch my precious idea into the inboxes of those agents – borderline traumatic.

Receiving a request for a full manuscript? Exhilarating!

Waiting for a response: excruciating.

But the absolute worst part comes at the end of the rollercoaster ride – you know the part where it feels like the bottom drops out and then you come plummeting back to earth? That’s rejection. Make that Rejection, with a capital R.

I've been here before, but it's still a shock to hit the ground so hard.

This afternoon, I received a note from one of the agents who was considering my manuscript. She said she was “passing.” Funny: with that one word, it felt like my novel died a little death.

So I thought I’d briefly mourn the loss of that hopeful prospect by sharing a moment of silence with all of the other aspiring authors out there whose stomachs are in a constant state of upheaval.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a rollercoaster to catch...the next one might just be the thrill ride I’ve been hoping for.

Bonus Q&A with Author Randy Susan Meyers

2010-02-16T22:53:00.003-05:00

Debut novelist Randy Susan Meyers is the featured author at the Writers Workshop’s upcoming Author Series on Saturday, February 27, 2-4 p.m., at the G.A.R. Hall in Marshfield Hills. She will discuss “The Writer’s Relationship with the Reader,” read a selection from her book, and answer questions afterward. Copies of her novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, will be available for purchase and can be signed by the author. In this exclusive Q&A, Meyers shares details about her writing process, the most valuable piece of writing advice she ever received, and how she overcomes rejection.

Describe your writing process. How much time do you devote to writing each day, each week?

I write full-time. I don’t wait for the muse to hit me; I just sit down and write. Doing the first draft is the hardest part for me. I love revising – give me a finished novel to revise and I’m a happy girl. And I cannot work as steadily on a first draft as on revisions, but I basically do work seven days a week, less on weekends, more during the week.

Right now, since my book just came out, I’m doing more promotions than writing. I’m thankful for my blog because it gives me a chance to keep up with my writing. I’m about to go back into another revision of my new novel.

When you were working on The Murderer’s Daughters, which is written from two points of view, was it challenging to write in such distinctly different voices? Did one character come more naturally than the other?

Craft-wise, it was a bit easier to write Merry, only because she was a little more bad, and writing bad is always easier than writing an undercurrent of resentment or a quiet seething. With Lulu, to show that seething, I really had to just let myself go. That’s where I had to access an inner voice for Lulu that could be kind of harsh. I didn’t want people to dislike her – I love her – but she has a lot of pain roiling around inside her. It was pretty challenging writing her.

Please give us a sense of how long it took to write this novel. How many drafts and how many revisions did you go through?

It took me about 18 months from start to finish, and I revised it many, many times. Everybody revises in different ways. I was having dinner with some friends who are writers and they concentrate more on language the first time around, and I definitely go through for plot the first time and then go back and craft my language more and more and more. There’s so many ways to do it.

It took me about six months to sign with an agent. She had me do some revisions, some clean-up. We signed in June and she put it out to market in September. The nice part about it was that she sold it in eight days. That was a wonderful surprise.

Did any aspect of the plot change dramatically from your initial draft to the published work?

I’d have to say no. I was very lucky with this one. It uncoiled like a ribbon. I spent an awful lot of time outlining it; I spent a lot of time figuring out what would happen, and a lot of time on research.

How many other writers read and offered criticism of your work along the way?

In addition to my writers’ group, a few close friends read it – probably close to 15 people total. My writers’ group reviewed it as I went along, but I’m careful to always be four or five chapters ahead of what they’re reading because I will not go back and rework as I get the critiques. I keep all the comments, write all my notes, and do not enter a thing until I go back through and revise. I have a strategy for how I do it, and it takes time. I really try very hard to weigh everything, and give everything a fair shot. We generally do 100 or more pages per person, so your turn only comes up every few months. We found that doing so many pages at once was much more valuable than doing 15 pages at a time; otherwise, you’re reading in a vacuum.

At one point, I was in a group that critiqued entire novels. We did five novels in ten weeks. It was intense, but it was wonderful. I could only do it once a year. It was a group of five women who all like each other’s work and trust each other’s judgment. We were at different draft stages, but it worked beautifully.

What was the most valuable advice you ever received during the critiquing process?

To stop being subtle. I think that beginning fiction writers, especially, are afraid of being too over-the-top. Jenna Blum (author of Those Who Save Us) told me: “Stop worrying. You’re not being obvious. Let it go in that first draft; you can always pull back later.” That really helped to let me go wild and then skim back. It’s easier to take out than to push in.

Your thoughts on rejection:
Rejection is awful. People discount how strong an emotion disappointment is. I think if you’re going to be a writer, you have to steel yourself to get a hard skin, or let it go. I went through a few novels’ worth of rejections. Very few writers get by without it. I think many writers send out too soon; that’s a big problem with us. We’re so hungry for approbation, but we can’t always expect the first manuscript will sell. Writers do not want to hear that.

The best advice I give myself: if it seems like it’s not right, it’s not right. If you can’t fool yourself, trust me: you can’t fool anybody. We have to work through rejection and learn from it. When I got rejections from agents, I made a spreadsheet. I’m big on spreadsheets. I put down what each one said and I made myself face it. It’s something I learned from my husband. He’s a scientist: what is, is. Just because you’re not looking at it, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. It’s still there. So I reread everything the rejections said to see the similarities. If you have five different agents all saying the same thing, you have to take a serious look at that. If you have five or six agents all saying something different, then you haven’t met the person who’s in love with your manuscript yet. It’s like dating: if five dates all say, “You’re really rude in public,” then you probably you are. But if they’re each saying something different, then they’re just not that into you.

Rejection means that you’re sad. Can you get through that? I’ve cried. I’ve whined. You’re putting yourself out for review. If you can’t stand that, you should get a job where you never have to be out in the public eye. Which is weird because, as writers, it’s a solitary job. It’s a strange dichotomy.

On to your second novel: Did you suffer any ‘sophomore slump’ or ‘second-book syndrome’ anxieties?

I had started the second book, which is called Paper Baby, while the first was out with agents, so it wasn’t a problem. But now that the first novel is published and I’m getting such great feedback on it, I’m starting to panic about the second one. But I do love it. It’s very different from The Murderer’s Daughters, which I think is good for me. But I think that’s hard because you have readers fall in love with the first book and they want more of that. But this new one is also family drama and it’s also life through the prism of different people: the same story told through different people, showing their different views. I enjoyed writing it. It’s a book I would like to read.

To view the full feature, "Taking In The Murderer's Daughters," please visit this link:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/scituate/fun/entertainment/x1068584460/North-River-Arts-Society-hosts-first-ever-author-series

Outlining: The Happy Medium?

2010-02-11T12:33:00.004-05:00

Lots of great comments on the "Writers About Town" post from a week or so ago. Dan and I have been discussing the age-old question of outlining. Some authors swear by it, while others vehemently reject the practice. Personally, I'm an outliner, but I'm a planner by nature. So whether you like to outline your short stories, novels, children's books, etc., probably depends on your own personal style.

As you can see, Dan's comments really got me thinking about this topic, so I'm going to keep going...I'd love to hear your own preferences about outlining vs. not outlining.

I definitely see his point about outlining seeming restrictive, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Remember that, since you're the author, you are the "master" of the outline, so you can stray from it as much as you like and then go back and rework or adjust it to match what you've done and where the story's going. I would suggest that the happy medium is a "loose" outline. That's how I tend to approach it. That way, I know what's coming up (and, as I'm writing, what's already happened). It provides a guide, a structure for the story so that I don't get "lost" or feel like the story's not going anywhere, but it doesn't hem me in. Plus, it can help you to see the "arc" of the story -- that kind of thing. Outlines can also be motivating the closer you get to THE END.

May I also suggest: if you're planning to attend the Writers Workshop Author Series on 2/27 (I know, I know -- that's ALL I talk about!), you could pose a question about outlining and plotting to our featured author...it's always interesting to hear the different approaches out there.

See you next week (2/16)!

Writing Warm-ups: The List Goes On

2010-02-07T14:15:00.004-05:00

Maybe it's because it's Super Bowl Sunday, or because I'm hiding out from the cold weather, or because I'm also the editor of a trade magazine for the fitness industry -- or all three. Whatever the reason, "warm-ups" are on my mind today.

I know that many of you Writers Workshop members are looking for inspiration wherever you can find it, and that you consider writing exercises to be helpful, so I wanted to send two your way. Each one has to do with a "list" of one sort or another, and you might just happen to find an idea on one of them. (Oh, and we'll be taking a cue from the movies here...)

- Things That Make Life Worthwhile: In Woody Allen's "Manhattan," the main character ponders this topic and rattles off a rather unique list. Among them: Groucho Marx, the second movement of the Jupiter Symphony, Tracy's face. What five or ten things would be on your list? Chocolate-chip cookies that are fresh out of the oven? Tropical vacations? What would appear on your protagonist's list...walks in the summer rain without an umbrella or raincoat? Dog smooches? The moment the lights come on at the Eiffel Tower? The more original and off-beat, the better...These types of details can add depth and authenticity to your characters. (Plus, it's fun to imagine what aspects of life they might enjoy.)

-The Bucket List (or, things to do before you die): It doesn't have to be morbid; it's just a wish list on a grander scale. Maybe sky-diving would be a good launching point for a story about a long-married couple who's looking to add some excitement to their stale marriage. Or maybe a newly divorced woman who is finally going to get a tattoo -- an idea her ex-husband always hated. What about a recent college graduate who wants to travel to the beach in Normandy where his grandfather fought?

If you come up with anything you'd like to share, let us know!

Ready or Not

2010-02-05T12:11:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I couldn't help it.

I fully intended to take things slowly with the new novel I'm starting. I've been spending some time getting to know my characters, their motivations, their quirks, their secrets, their longings, etc. But there was nothing I could do to stop the words from coming. I had to write them down. I already have a rough first chapter and the beginning of a second. It all happened so fast -- I just got swept up in the excitement of this new world, these new people. But now, I'm taking a breath and slowing the pace back down again. I know it will make all the difference at critique and revision time.

How's your writing going? Does the same thing ever happen to you?

Part of it has to do with the fact that my writing has to be crammed into very compressed periods of time -- in between, my mind collects bits and pieces, molding and shaping them until I'm sitting down at the laptop again to put them all together.

The writing process is different for everyone. Heck, it's different for me now than it was even a few years ago. Some people write their stories totally out of order, getting immediately to the "good parts," while others are linear writers, like author Randy Susan Meyers. I recently sat down with her in preparation for the upcoming Author Series (2/27), and she had so many insights to share. Stay tuned: I will be posting a short Q&A with her prior to her seminar and reading at the end of this month. By the way, I finished her book, The Murderer's Daughters, last week and it's still with me -- it was THAT good.

Writers About Town

2010-01-28T13:01:00.005-05:00

It was great to see Kristine, Robine, Buck, and Donna at the Grub Street South seminar, "Plot Sprints and Other Ways to Get Your Page-Turner Mojo Working," with novelist Chris Abouzeid (see book cover and link, right). I'd be interested to hear what they thought of the ideas Chris presented...(please comment below)

I found his points and suggestions to be very instructive. I especially liked how he made plotting seem so easy, using the example of the 104-year-old man who's going out on a date for the first time in 60 years. It made me realize that plot is the first aspect of a novel that comes to me. (Conversely, I have a good friend who discovers a character first -- someone interesting who just pops into her head and refuses to be ignored.) Some critical question or situation will crop up and I'll wonder: what would happen? Usually, there's at least one character attached to the idea, and then others fall into place according to how they fit into the scenario as it plays out. What's your experience?

Chris also offered a handout of "plot-building exercises" designed to challenge our creativity, to help us "ride the edge of your imagination," as he put it. That's what writing's all about, after all -- isn't it?

Enjoy the ride...

Off to a Good Start in 2010

2010-01-21T15:00:00.006-05:00

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed the January Writers Workshop. Definitely a bright spot on such a dreary winter day and night.

It was so great to hear about how Sue went home after the December Writers Workshop and just kept writing for hours! And listening to Buck talk about his writing project and progress -- you can tell he's energized. Plus: that huge, majestic, colorful butterfly on the wall, conveying its transformative powers to all of us aspiring writers!

Thank you, Denise, for sharing your excellent work that night. I hope the comments everyone offered during the critique session were helpful to you, and I hope we'll see some additional chapters in the near future.

Okay -- this blog post is a bit all over the place. I guess I'm having that kind of day, so I'll just go with it...

Here are some other random thoughts bouncing around inside my brain:

- I just got my much-anticipated copy of The Murderer's Daughters, by Randy Susan Meyers (star of our first Author Series on 2/27)! Here are the first two sentences: "I wasn't surprised when Mama asked me to save her life. By my first week in kindergarten, I knew she was no macaroni-necklace-wearing kind of mother." Love it! If you want to read the rest, we'll have books available for purchase (at a discount) at the Author Series event, and Randy will gladly sign copies...

- I'm also reading a book called Your First Novel, by Ann Rittenberg (an agent) and Laura Whitcomb (a writer), with a foreword by bestselling novelist Dennis Lehane. It seems to be just what I need right now, as I wait to hear from the agents who are considering my manuscript, and as I embark on book number two. (And it really does feel like I'm "embarking" on a voyage...I guess, right now, you could say I'm in "packing mode," figuring out exactly what I'm going to take along for the ride. Next, I will start to map out my course.) I will try to keep you posted along the way. And please feel free to share your own updates with us as well.

-

Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T09:15:00.004-05:00

First, before 2009 slips away, I’d like to say thanks to you all for taking part in the NRAS Writers Workshop this year. It’s been a very exciting few months getting this group started and having so many talented writers participate. ’Looking forward to a new year of inspiration, collaboration, and progress!

Speaking of progress…on to a topic that’s all too familiar at this time of year: New Year’s resolutions. I used to think that making resolutions was silly and a sure-fire setup for failure—that is, until I started treating them as “goals” and then set out to achieve them by year’s end.

For example, with writing: one year, my goal was to finish writing my novel. I put “The End” on the first draft just under the wire, on the morning of New Year’s Eve in 2007; popping that champagne cork felt better than ever! The next year, my goal was to revise, revise, revise. My writers’ group, several friends, and a professional editor from Little, Brown (via Grub Street’s annual Manuscript Mart, www.grubstreet.org) critiqued my draft and I kept reworking and refining it all year. Then, in 2009, I set out to submit the final draft to literary agents. Again, I took part in the annual Manuscript Mart, this time with a agent, who gave me the valuable feedback I needed to proceed. Right after Thanksgiving, I sent out my first batch of agent queries (so far, so good), and I’m preparing to send out another batch after the first of the year.

So what’s my New Year’s resolution/goal for 2010? Well, to be honest, it’s always the same: to get my novel published! In the meantime, I’m going to be starting a brand-new novel project that’s been swimming around in my head, treading water while it waits for me to throw it a lifeline. And, hopefully, I’ll be sharing the opening chapters with all of you in the coming months.

What are your writing-related resolutions/goals? Feel free to share them with us by commenting on this blog post…if you haven’t quite settled on one yet, here are some suggestions:

• Make a commitment to your writing: set aside one hour a day to sit down and write. Maybe you’ll turn your lunch hour into “writing hour,” or turn off the TV at night and carve out 60 minutes before bedtime. Some people resolve to get up an hour earlier every day (many authors claim that this is an ideal time to work, before the rest of the day’s obligations clutter up the creative flow), but if you’re not a morning person, you may want to be more realistic!

• Or, start simple: write two pages a day. Author Claire Cook, whose workshop I attended a few years ago, offered this deceivingly simple advice. It didn’t hit me until she said: “If you write two pages a day, you could have a rough draft done in six months.” So I tried it and guess what? It works. Writing two pages a day really helps to keep the momentum going and keeps your head “in the story,” since you’re not walking away from it for a week or two at a time.

• Sign up for a writing class. Grub Street in Boston (www.grubstreet.org) offers a varied menu of options, including courses for beginners.

• Attend author readings and seminars. I’m sure you already have our upcoming Author Series with Randy Susan Meyers (2/27/10) on your calendar, and we’ll work hard to bring you more authors quarterly throughout the year. In addition, local bookstores, including Buttonwood Books and Toys in Cohasset, often host authors for readings of their new books. These types of informal events are a good opportunity to meet published authors and ask them questions about their creative process and their journey to publication.

• Start a journal or blog. I suspect that many of you are already doing this, so I won’t go on and on about it…except to say the usual/obvious comment that writing every day can only help you to become a better writer.

• Find a writing partner. As I mentioned, during the upcoming January Writers Workshop, we’ll open up the floor to help find a match for anyone who’s looking to pair off or break down into smaller groups for more intensive and immediate feedback. This type of arrangement may be just the nudge you need to keep on track with your writing-related goals.

Those are just a few ideas; maybe one will work for you, or maybe you have something entirely different in mind. Whatever you resolve to do, all the best to you (and your writing) in 2010!

Survey Says

2009-12-17T16:21:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for filling out the survey to help us improve the structure of the NRAS Writers Workshop. It may not come as a surprise that the group was pretty evenly split on the topic of writing exercises. However, just about everyone was in favor of continuing with the critiquing sessions—even if they didn’t want to have their own work critiqued, they were willing to offer feedback to other writers.

So, here’s the compromise that we’ve come up with: if you downright detest writing exercises (or if you’re just running late), feel free to show up at 7:45, just in time for refreshments, followed by two critiques (at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.). This approach seems to fit well with our “drop-in anytime” philosophy.

In addition, many of you expressed an interest in breaking down into smaller critique groups, possibly by genre. Logistically, that is more than Heather and I can handle at the moment, but we invite you to do so outside of the monthly Writers Workshop. We can bring this up at the January gathering, or you can post a message on this blog to invite others to join you in a smaller group.

The dates of our next three meetings (Winter 2010) are: January 19, February 16, and March 16. The critique slots have been filled for January and March, but the two February slots are open. Please let me know if you’d like to sign up for one of those spots.

And please save the date of Saturday, February 27, 2-4 p.m., for our first Author Series, with Randy Susan Meyers (The Murderer’s Daughters, St. Martin’s Press, January 2010).

Happy Holidays, everyone, and see you in the New Year!

The Marshall Plan of Novel Writing

2009-11-23T11:18:00.005-05:00

At our last workshop, two of our members discussed their experiences using The Marshall Plan of Novel Writing, a 16-step writing program which breaks down the novel-writing process into small, manageable tasks that even the most inexperienced writers can achieve. Readers will learn how to find a hook, create a conflict, develop a protagonist and set her into motion.

As one reviewer puts it, "This is not a book about how to write great dialogue or develop charismatic characters (even though there are tips on how to get some of this accomplished). This book is a blueprint, the scene by scene layout of your novel's plot structure.... detailed as stating the order in which the first 15 scenes (called sections) need to occur and what characters need to appear in those scenes and what in general terms need to happen."

Here is the link to the Amazon item. http://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Plan-Novel-Writing/dp/1582970629

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and a successful month of writing!

Survey Reminder

2009-11-14T15:03:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone's been having a productive and pleasant month.

Just a reminder about the survey we sent out to help us improve the Writers Workshop. Please either e-mail it to me or bring a printout to our next meeting -- this Tuesday, November 17. Thanks to all of you who've already sent your feedback and suggestions in. It's very helpful! (If you need me to re-send the survey, please e-mail me...)

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday at 7 p.m., and to the writing, discussion, and critiques.

See you soon!

Author Series Launching

2009-11-03T21:56:00.002-05:00

Heather and I are excited to announce the date of the first Author Series! Please mark your calendars: on Saturday, February 27, 2-4 p.m., the NRAS Writers Workshop will welcome author Randy Susan Meyers (The Murderer’s Daughters, St. Martin’s Press, January 2010) for a writing seminar, followed by a reading and a Q&A. More details to come in 2010…

Here is an advance review of her novel, from the Library Journal:

Lulu and Merry, ages ten and six, respectively, live with parents for whom marriage is a permanent battleground. One summer day in 1971, their father fatally stabs their mother in their Brooklyn apartment near Coney Island. Merry is also attacked but survives. When their father goes to jail, the sisters are shuffled from relatives to a group home to foster care. Lulu forever blames herself for her father's crimes, and Merry inexplicably continues to carry a torch for her father. How will they come to terms with their horrific past? Readers will follow them well into adulthood, hoping for the best. VERDICT First novelist Meyers draws on the eight years she worked at a batterer intervention program. Much like Janet Fitch's White Oleander or Jacqueline Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean , her book takes readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride. Readers, get out your handkerchief and prepare to care.-Keddy Ann Outlaw, Houston

For more information about Randy, please visit her Website: www.randysusanmeyers.com.

How I spent my time when I should have been writing!

2009-10-25T00:45:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to my first ever blog post on my very own Blog. I spent hours composing this thing, when I should have been working on my novel, or my homework, or a posting for the NRAS Writers Blog! Well, it is writing and I put in a lot of practice. I find Blogger to be an uncomfortable, time-consuming application whose functionality leaves something to be desired.

http://amieccentric.blogspot.com/

Morning After

2009-10-21T09:13:00.003-04:00

Thanks so much for joining us for our second Writers Workshop. Welcome to the newcomers, and welcome back to all of you "seasoned veterans," to borrow Buck's term.

A special thanks to Susan and Kristine for their bravery in being the first to present their work to the group. I hope everyone enjoyed these productive sessions, and we look forward to seeing the next chapters from both writers in the future.

Speaking of which:

1. We'll bring a new critique sign-up sheet to the next meeting (November 17), so that people can sign up for 2010 critique sessions.

2. We'll be adding (soon!) a new section to the blog site for all of you to add the titles of books on writing that you would recommend to the rest of the group.

3. We'll be e-mailing a survey to you in the next couple of weeks to get your input on how to improve the structure and impact of the monthly Writers Workshop meetings. So check your inbox for that message and others coming your way...we look forward to your continued input and suggestions.

Thanks again, and see you next month!
Jen

New and Improving

2009-10-13T09:42:00.001-04:00

The wonderful thing about the new Writers Workshop is that we can do anything – the possibilities are boundless! The challenge? We can do anything – the possibilities are boundless.

The initial goal for the Writers Workshop was to provide an outlet for aspiring and seasoned writers to come together and share the writing experience in whatever way they choose. Some writers are looking for a community: a place to hang out with other people going through the same ups and downs, blocks, rejections, and joys of writing. Others are in search of a little inspiration and motivation, a “beacon” in the month that’s all about writing, or an “anchor” that keeps them focused on their creative aspirations. Many are hoping for some helpful feedback in the form of critiques – a common objective in writing groups. And some of us seek all of the above!

The last thing we want is for this monthly gathering to get in the way of your writing. The Writers Workshop is intended to enhance, expand, and encourage the creative process – not interfere with it.

As our next meeting draws near, perhaps we should begin to think about ways in which the Writers Workshop could be improved, so that everyone involved gets something valuable out of it.

See you next week!

Constructive Criticism

2009-10-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

Here we go! We now have our first submissions for critique in hand, and it’s time to get started reviewing the material. But, first…

As you read, please keep in mind that the point of constructive criticism is to help the writer improve the work. The writer shouldn’t take criticism personally, and the readers should be able to deliver their comments in a way that isn’t insulting. Here are some suggestions that may work for you as you critique the first three submissions:

Balance the positive with the negative: As you read the work, please take the time to underline or place asterisks beside sentences, phrases, or passages that you think are well written or work particularly well. Similarly, if there is wording that doesn’t make sense or is unclear, indicate this in the text. This type of specific feedback will help the writer to better understand how well he/she is conveying the story, characters, plot, setting, themes, etc.

Ask questions: If the writer is not getting his/her point(s) across to the reader, let it be known. Otherwise, the writer will assume that everything is clear and well communicated and does not need any improvement. Clearing up any confusion now will save headaches down the line.

Make suggestions: If you think you might have a suggestion that would be helpful to the writer, please add it—either within the margins beside the corresponding text or in a concise paragraph at the end.

Obviously, we’ll have some time to discuss each piece at the upcoming Writers Workshop, but it’s especially helpful for the writer to have notes to take home and digest afterward. Please read slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully, even going over the pieces more than once if you have the time. Remember: it took the writer many agonizing hours and a bit of courage to present this work to you!

Note to writers: take every piece of feedback for what it’s worth, keeping in mind that this is the first time any of us has seen your work and that there are so many different genres in the mix.

If you have any questions about critiquing or constructive criticism, please leave a note in the “Comments” section below or e-mail me at Jen_McInerney@yahoo.com.

How Twitter Is Helpful for Aspiring Writers

2009-10-04T12:41:00.002-04:00

So, I am a Twitterer. Some days it's the only writing I do. I must edit my thought down to its very basics, and this hones my skills, and breeds good writing habits. I have connected with fabulous writers, and follow them daily. Some are my favorite authors, some are my neighbors, some have just caught my eye by how clever they are. I don't just follow the writing industry, of course. I follow Pop Culture, Iranian freedom fighters, high tech innovators, soap stars, and my favorite Twitterer of all, Elizabeth Taylor. If you've never Twittered, but are curious what a writer could get out of the experience, I'm attaching an article below which lists what other writers are saying about Twitter. Try it, you might like it! And, if you need Twitter advice, feel free to contact me at heather@tillybud.com.

How Twitter Is Helpful for Aspiring Writers
Posted by Jane

At this weekend's Editors' Intensive, Alice Pope & I were trying to explain how Twitter works and how it can be helpful for writers.

There were many skeptics in the audience. So I posed the question to my friends/followers on Twitter: How has Twitter helped you as a writer?

I love the responses I received, so I'm sharing with all. Thank you for your generous tips—and if you have more to say beyond 140 characters, you have the comments to elaborate!

Twitter's let me meet writers, editors, & agents I might not have, & helped me understand all aspects of the business better.
@littlefluffycat

Contacts, sources and community - it's a digital moveable feast
@FictionMatters

I've met editors, agents, big authors, up & coming authors, spread the word about my blog, made wonderful friends!
@RachelJameson

The connection/interaction to other writers, editors, even agents has been hugely enlightening.
@jdistraction

Twitter helped me meet ppl I wouldn't have had access to otherwise. Casual format makes asking questions less intimidating.
@RocchiJulia

Twitter has helped me connect with other writers like me. We encourage each other--writing is no longer a lonely occupation.
@TboneJenkins

Twitter has helped me learn more about specific agents and enabled me to make a better decision on if they're right for me.
@HeatherMcCorkle

Twitter also keeps me updated on the writing industry & has helped me meet great writers I wouldn't have otherwise met.
@HeatherMcCorkle

Met many writers and authors I never would have met on Twitter.
@lafreya1

How has Twitter helped? Connected to writers, pubs, opportunities, promotion - gotten more readers on blog, my novel, etc
@tericoyne

Twitter helped me find an excellent guide in southern Austria on a research trip for my next historical novel.
@KarenEssex

Twitter helps me observe the minds of literary agents! I've discovered those not living in New York are almost normal, almost!
@kenkanten

Inspiration: microfiction and poetry at my fingertips, showing how much can be conveyed in 25 words.
@amgamble

Networking in a telecommuting industry. Editing for concise: make cuts and preserve meaning. Best clipping service ever.
@amgamble

Writing community with support and very imp. info re: today's publishing world.
@jessrosenbooks

Twitter gives affirmation of what I know and information about what I don't. Networking allows pub. & unpub. to come together.
@jessrosenbooks

I agree with everything @jessrosenbooks says about writers & twitter. Support, info & encouragement is incredible, even for a rookie :)
@CafeNirvana

I am learning a lot from twitter friends and people who share info through twitter. And I'm getting to know fantastic people.
@mariblaser

Twitter has taught me about platforms, promotion, community, and audience.
@alittlesandy

I've had hot scoops from tweeters in other countries, I've met ace journos i never would have otherwise ... I've been filming a Lisbon city guide using nothing more than my phone, mostly twitter, no printed research, guides etc.
@UKtraveleditor

Twitter helps me connect with fellow writers in a fun and collegiate way
@Debs1

Networking, research, discovering new things, calling attn to my blog has been ESSENTIAL to my work flow.
@jenzug

Learned of an online auction, bid for crit from my dream editor, won, got crit & a request for full!
@AuntBirdseed

Still learning Twitter, but like the opportunity to follow info on specific subjects from lots of sources in one place.
@meredithrmorgan

From @DavidRozansky:

I have acquired more than a dozen potential new authors for our house via Twitter pitches.

Linking to articles via Twitter has increased blog traffic by 900%.

Twitter keeps tabs on rival publishing houses & client bookstores.

By following industry experts, knowledge of books industry grows exponentially.

Links to books on Twitter results in increased book sales.

I've built platform of 2,600 Twitter followers in only 5 months, no gimmicks.

I run #scifichat, a weekly scifi books group discussion, Fri. 2-4 pm.

Twitter gives me ideas for books and marketing before competition.

Through Twitter, I am first to learn of trends and news in the books industry.

The best thing-I make friends with fab people in the industry, like yourself!

Why Wait?

2009-10-01T16:52:00.006-04:00

Okay, okay—so it sounded better, neater, tidier on paper: “I manage to carve out some time for my writing each day.” The less-than-lovely reality is that sometimes that treasured time amounts to only five minutes scraped together between my daughter’s bedtime and a late dinner, when I can whip open my laptop and make a quick, but pivotal, edit that’s been stuck in my head all day. If I get to sit down in a relatively quiet room for more than 20 uninterrupted minutes to focus on the words in front of me, or the ones flowing from my fingertips, I consider myself among the most fortunate. I’m thankful for even the small, spontaneous, stolen moments.

I discovered years ago that there’s no such thing as write-opia: a large clutter-free desk in an airy, high-ceilinged room with warm sunlight and a delicate breeze trickling in through a wall of windows overlooking the shimmering ocean. At least not at this stage of my life. Maybe someday…but who can afford to wait?

Likewise with waiting around for inspiration to “strike.” Yes, it’s thrilling to feel tapped into some external force that’s guiding your characters, your plot, your dialogue. You want to hold onto that connection, squeeze out every last glorious drop before you turn back into a pumpkin. But have you ever noticed that oftentimes, when you reread your writing the next day, it’s not quite as “inspired” as it seemed at the time?

Sometimes, the most rewarding writing happens on the most lackluster of days, in short, desperate spurts…and without a roaring blaze in the fireplace or a wide-open afternoon schedule. Your writing is always there, just waiting for you.

(And, frankly, so is inspiration, but that's a different post for a different day...Heather and I invite you to comment on any and all of our posts -- share your thoughts and opinions!)

My Favorite Tool

2009-09-29T17:50:00.005-04:00

Do you want a way to organize all your ideas and find them anytime you need to, just by typing a word? Add the ability to tag each idea, and search the tags. Wouldn't it be nice if in that same place that you keep all your ideas, you could drag anything from the Internet into it, and connect that information to one of your ideas as simply as you drag a word around in a .doc? What if you could link ideas,with one easy stroke, and then step back to visually see any patterns that form, as you build a story. Imagine if this was a simple application, and built into it was a screen that you can type in, for each idea, for each Internet item. And what if you could link documents to each idea. What if you could easily run reports to list those documents.

Well these are just a few of the extraordinary functions of Personal Brain. I've been using it now about 4 years, and it is the greatest single application I've ever found. I spent months looking for a program that would help me with all the above. If you would like to try the Personal Brain, you can use it free for a month. When the time is up, you won't lose any of your work. It just won't let you to add any more. The support from the company is phenomenal. They offer free weekly seminars on line LIVE, plus many more live presentations by a variety of users. And there is a users forum that is very helpful. If you have any questions you would like to ask, email me at heather@tillybud.com.

2009-09-24T09:16:00.003-04:00

Unmoored, adrift, unsettled, to borrow Heather’s word from her previous post: that’s exactly how I feel if I don’t write on a regular basis. Fortunately, over the past few years, I’ve managed to carve out some time each day to devote specifically to writing. As a result, I feel a powerful sense of momentum in my writing – it’s physically easier to sit down and get right to it, plus my mind stays involved in the story when I’m away from the page. And it keeps me (relatively) sane.

What I’ve also found extremely helpful is being involved in writing communities, such as the Writers Workshop. There’s nothing quite like sitting in a room with other writers, sharing the successes and struggles we encounter along this nonstop, sometimes solitary, sometimes roller-coaster-like journey. As much as our families and friends try to sympathize, they can never truly empathize with the writer’s life unless they’re living it, too.

When we last met, several of you acknowledged that you’re either returning to writing after a long interruption or “finally” making good on your promise to yourself to sit down and write once you retired. Hopefully these monthly gatherings will help all of us get settled into the rhythm of writing, giving us goals and deadlines to shoot for, perhaps a little inspiration, and the all-important camaraderie and solidarity of communing with writers like ourselves.

Grub Street Writing Assignment:: Week One

2009-09-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

Hi, Kids,
Here's my first Grub St. assignment, as promised. I actually did some writing this weekend because of it! For months, I've felt so unsettled. I just couldn't make myself write ANYTHING. It's embarrassing when you've told the world you are a writer, and then you don't write. You start to believe you are a fraud.....and that compounds the blockage. I think this new class is going to be good for me. We sat down, and the teacher had us take out a piece of paper. She told us to write down five reasons we haven't been writing. Then she said, "Now, scrunch your paper up into a ball, and throw it over your shoulder". and we did. "OK", she said. "In this room, right now, those things are done and gone. Now, let's write"! and I did!

Assignment One:

(1000 words max.)

Think of something that really annoys you about somebody that you love. This can be a family member, a friend, a spouse, or an imaginary character that you make up. Write a story (1,000 words max) that reveals that person’s faults and foibles, showing the myriad dimensions of love.

Don’t be afraid to draw from your own experience.

Your memories are a wonderful and vital place to start.

As always, have fun!

Write or Die

2009-09-19T14:48:00.003-04:00

Hello, Fellow NRAS Writers Workshop! Heather here, with a little somethin' somethin' you might like.

Write or Die Dr. Wicked's Writing Lab to be found at: http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

Many people find themselves unable to write consistently. If you find yourself easily distracted, you may find the Write or Die site quite helpful.

A tangible consequence is more effective than an intangible reward.Write or die satisfies this need to be held to the fire.

Consequences:

Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

Check it out and let us know what you think.

2009-09-18T21:51:00.002-04:00

Thank you all for attending the first meeting of the NRAS Writers Workshop.

Dates of Upcoming Meetings:

October 20 -- Jen, Susan, and Kristine will present their work for critique.

November 17 -- Robine, Joan, and Heather R. will present their work for critique.

December 15 -- Buck, Heather S., and Donna will present their work for critique.

North River Arts Society Writers Workshop

Writers Workshop Resumes November 15!

I found some great Apps for Writers using an iPad

iPad Apps For Writers

Pages

by Apple Inc.

Penultimate

by Cocoa Box Design LLC

Todo for iPad

by Appigo

Dragon Dictation

by Nuance Communications

PortaPoet

by Artisan Engineering LLC

Dictionary! for iPad

by Catlin Software, LLC

iBooks

by Apple Inc.

Dropbox

by Dropbox

Evernote

by Evernote

iAnnotate PDF

by Aji, LLC

Dear Writers: 'Leave the Damn Em Dash Alone'

The Case—Please Hear Me Out—Against the Em Dash

Modern prose doesn't need any more interruptions—seriously.

Two Grub St. Summer classes given in Cohasset

Jumpstart Your Writing, Section B 6 Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 28th.

There are 12 seats remaining in this class.

Reading Like a Writer, Section B6 Wednesdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 29th.

There are 12 seats remaining in this class.

Space is limited. Reserve your seat today!

Here is a fun contest we wanted to pass on to you all!

5/15/11

Deadline

Free

Scripped Pro Fee

$10

Standard Fee

3-4 pages

Length

We are looking for the next great Break.com digital short!

Submit your script to us and we'll pick a winner by June 15th.

Five writers each get $500 in cash!

What We're Looking For!

Judges!

Here's one example of a Break Original from the past few months, which has accumulated more than 700K views:

Hallie Ephron on Writing Suspense

Winter Blahs?

Jersey Girl

The North Wind

Procrastination: or sometimes it just feels like Fate is against me.

NO WRITERS WORKSHOP TONIGHT

Bonus Interview: Novelist Lynne Griffin

Writers Workshop Welcomes Michelle Hoover to November Author Series

Writers Workshop Exclusive Interview with Author Brunonia Barry

Novelist Lynne Griffin is Coming to Writers Workshop!

Try Something New

Brunonia Barry is Coming to the Writers Workshop!

Author Series Recap: Susan Kushner Resnick

Author Series on Saturday!

Hell hath no fury like one author gleefully savaging another author's work

Here's an interesting article I wanted to pass on to you guys! Hope you enjoy it. - Heather Reyes

50 Famous Authors Other Famous Authors Hate

New Location for Thursday Night Writing!

Busy Writing

April Fools' Day Fun

Announcing Side-by-Side Writing Sessions on Thursday Nights

Guest Blog Post by Lisa Vallier

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

What a Week to Be a Writer on the South Shore!

Rejection

Bonus Q&A with Author Randy Susan Meyers

Outlining: The Happy Medium?

Writing Warm-ups: The List Goes On

Ready or Not

Writers About Town

Off to a Good Start in 2010

Happy New Year!

Jumpstart Your Writing, Section B
6 Tuesdays, 6:30-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 28th.

Reading Like a Writer, Section B
6 Wednesdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset. Begins June 29th.