Memories, Good Times, and Your Monday Fortune Cookie 7/22/13

It takes more than a good memory to have good memories.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Too much wine doesn't help either. Then again, it might.

It takes more than a good memory to have good memories.

I've just shared two marvelous weekends with two wonderful writing groups at The Porches in Norwood, VA. As expected, we all dedicated ourselves to writing, editing, and revising our current Works In Progress. Sitting in our rooms or on the famous porches, we typed, scribbled, and pondered. Chapters were written, sections were chopped, and ideas were explored. The glorious quiet was filled with insect and birdsong, the tranquil scenery offered respite when screens grew fuzzy, plots twisted into knots, or ideas seemed to slow. The sense of a shared mission helped keep us all focused and creative. However, writers cannot live on ideas alone. Oh No! All that creativity deserves to be richly rewarded and there was no shortage of delectable rewards to be had.

When evening began it's gentle approach and shadows lengthened, we set aside our works and gathered for dinner and socializing. Not that there weren't brief breaks throughout the day, breakfast, lunch, snacks, but the key word is "brief." The end of the day signalled a shift from isolated creativity to mixing and mingling food, drink, and talk.

The Tea & Strumpets ladies, Sofie Couch and Elvy Howard delighted our tastebuds with Lasagna and Grilled Chicken & Shrimp, respectively.

Even a confirmed veggie-phobe like myself could find nothing to fault in Sofie's lasagna even if it did have spinach in it. No, honestly, I eat the occasional green, and the spinach in the lasagna added color and flavor. Elvy's grilled offerings added zest and the opportunity to eat with my fingers (my favorite utensil, when applicable).

Evening meals flowed into evening drinks. In perfect Tea & Strumpets form, Alexa Day brought a mixed case of wine to be sampled and enjoyed. Sadly, the Strumpets were unable to account for more than six or seven bottles, but it was not for lack of trying. Our efforts were accompanied by the most outrageous and captivating light shows provided by lightning bugs. Of course, discussion of the whys and wherefors of lightning bug displays dissolved into laughing lewdity and speculation. Being Strumpets, would you expect anything less?

The James River Writers dinner cooks, Mike & Shawna Christos and Leila Gaskins provided even more tummy tickling delights with Grilled Chicken and salad and Individual Pizzas with a myriad of fixin's to spread on home-made pizze crusts, respectively.

And to accompany it all were copious amounts of libations ranging from cold, clear artesian well water provided free by The Porches to a seemingly unending array of wine.

The James River Writers showed a comparable level of skill and enthusiasm in the arena of  alcoholic consumption plus nearly polishing off a bottle of whisky which I believe went by a delightful moniker of Larceny (or something - perhaps someone will correct me in the comments). Ah, proof positive that a good memory does not require total recall.

As you can tell, a fabulous time was had by all and we left with words written, ideas hatched, memories made, and connections more perfectly forged. I highly recommend The Porches Writers Retreat for anyone wishing to escape the daily distractions. You can attend solo or in a group, both will provide you results far beyond your expectations.

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 10/29/12

LET SOMEONE KNOW HOW SPECIAL THEY ARE TO YOU

SNARKY RESPONSE:  Awww, I didn't realize Hallmark owned stock in fortune cookie companies. You know, they've got a card for that!

Let someone know how special they are to you.

It's amazing how many people touch our lives and how those touches, no matter how small, contribute to our experience. Don't miss any opportunity to let folks know how much you appreciate them. It makes them feel good and it makes you feel good. Win/Win

So, here's my attempt to do just that - say a little "Thank You" to some of the folks who have helped my along my writing path!

JRW Contingent & Local NaNoWriMo Liaison

As an aspiring writer, I was fortunate to become involved in several wonderful groups which led to friendships that have become stronger with time.  As a member of the James River Writers, I've met (and continue to meet) such a wonderful diverse group. Some of them were at the NaNoWriMo Kick Off Party last night and posed for a little group shot.

My W3 Avatar

Virginia Romance Writers has brought me into contact with a great group of women. In fact, I've joined with seven of them to create a fun group blog entitled, Words, Women, Wisdom (W3 for short). You can visit us through the link. We're a diverse group of writers and I think we offer something for everyone. Please drop in and then come back to visit, often!

Most influential on my growth as a writer have been the two critique groups I was blessed to find and join - RichWriters and Writers Endeavor. These two groups have done more to help nurture my craft and my confidence in my writing than I can every repay. The members, ranging from aspiring to published, non-fiction to popular fiction, have given so freely of their time and thoughtful consideration and I never fail to thank my lucky stars for every one of them.

This is FAR from a complete list and I hope those I didn't include in this post will understand. It would take pages and pages, but these are the ones I felt driven to THANK today.

As John Donne said, no (wo)man is an island and for me, this is my opportunity to show exactly how true that has been for me.

Now I encourage you to take a moment to recognize and thank those who have helped you along your path. None of us can do this alone.

JRWC12 Tidbit #2 - That Crucial First Page

All writers are taught that the first page is crucial to hooking the agent, the editor, and the reader. Getting that opening scene right takes serious crafting.

It is a much loved and equally terrifying tradition at the James River Writers Writing Conferences to offer intrepid writers the opportunity to have their first page randomly selected, read aloud, and critiqued in a Plenary Session.

Preparing for First Pages

The 2012 First Pages session this year featured a panel of Liz Bicknell (editorial director, Candlewick Press), Ayesha Pande (Ayesha Pende Literary agency), and Alec Shane (agent, Writers House), moderated by JRW's own David L. Robbins. This year's first pages were gleaned from a wide range of genres - general fiction to YA and everything in between.

The JRW First Pages panels have been known to be instructive and sometimes, brutally honest, so submitting is not for the faint-hearted. Nothing less than the writer's absolute BEST EFFORT should be  offered. Anything less will be spotted right off the bat and the experience about as pleasant as being struck by that bat. However, the advice is given to help improve the work and not to "make friends," so be warned.

This year's panel was no less instructive than prior years and perhaps a little harsher than some, but far from the harshest to grace the stage.

Here are some of my notes in the hopes that you'll find some of them as insightful and helpful as I did:

• First page has to set place, person or plot - as many as possible if not all
• "Disputation is key"
• Grammatical errors are unacceptable - these pages are your key to the kingdom and lack of attention to detail here speak poorly of your skill
• Pacing should be immediately evident and appropriate to your genre
• The much lauded "hook" MUST be presented immediately or the agent/editor will become the one that got away
• Voice - give the agent/editor the full impact of your character's unique voice as well as your own
• Don't introduce too many characters in that first scene overwhelming the agent/editor/reader

While none of these points are news to a serious writer of any level, seeing them actively illustrated is priceless. Rules handed out in a vacuum are sometimes poorly implemented, however, being offered concrete examples never fails to nail them down.

This is the purpose of the First Pages session - to educate, to illustrate, and to assist. For the fortunate souls whose pages were read and critiqued, the lesson may not have been painless, but there's no way they could be discounted as anything less than golden.

My thanks to the panel who offered their best advice and comments.

My congratulations to the folks whose pages were read - go forth, revise, and conquer!

JRWC12 Tidbit #1 - The Power & The Glory of The Pitch

First, friends, don't faint, I'll be posting quite a bit this week because I've got a lot of good stuff to share from the James River Writers 2012 Writers Conference. Today - The Pitch

For writers, there is nothing so exciting and terrifying as the pitch session. For non-writers, the term will generate a "huh?" so a moment to describe.

"The Pitch" - Writers need to approach agents and/or editors with their writing and any good writing conference offers short little interview-type sessions for authors. These can range from five to fifteen minutes (times vary from conference to conference) however, the level of terror does not.

At conference Pitch Sessions, authors select the agent/editor that they hope will be most interested in their current brainchild. Then, at the appointed time, heart in throat, notes in hand, they sit down across the table and offer their most concise and eloquent summary of their story.

Think Job Interview distilled down to its most intense moments.

The James River Writers 2012 Writers Conference provided not only Pitch Sessions of seven precious minutes, but also hosted their Second Pitchapalooza with The Book Doctors and this year's guest agent, Alec Shane of Writers House.

Writers signed up and names were drawn randomly. The fortunate stepped up to the mikes and were given ONE MINUTE to pitch their book. In front of a full auditorium, no less. Afterwards, The Book Doctors, David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut, and Alec Shane would offer critiques on the pitch.

Every year, I sit in awe and breathless support of the brave pitchers and gobble up all the helpful advice offered in a kind & generous manner by the panel. Here are a few things that I gleaned and need to apply to my own pitch:

• Lead with action
• Your Protagonist must be named and their stakes explained.
• Your Antagonist should be uniquely identified
• Tease us with the worst thing that could happen/what's at stake
• Give a solid example of your "fabulous voice and particular story"
• Offer comparative titles to help identify your genre/audience

There were far more nuggets of gold scattered at our feet by the panel, but these were the ones I managed to scoop up.

If you're interested in learning more about The Book Doctors follow the links I've embedded and consider their book - The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published


Thank you, James River Writers, for producing yet another spectacular event and I look forward to sharing more tidbits over the course of this week.

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 10/22/12

Romance is likely; strike up a conversation!

SNARKY REPONSE: Just hope no one decides to strike you back! Fresh!

Romance is likely; strike up a conversation!

In a way, that's exactly what I've been doing all week-end at the James River Writers Writing Conference. This three-day event was held at the Richmond Convention Center and featured a diverse cast of talented speakers on a plethora of informative panels. And everyone from feature speakers to first-time attendees are in the throes of a serious romance with the written word in all her glorious forms.

From the welcome session to the closing 10th Anniversary Celebration, I was surrounded by writers seeking better ways to woo their chosen muse. Conversations always included the key question: "What do you write?" offering everyone the opportunity to share their love affair with writing openly with others who could understand and share the attraction.

View of the Conference Marketplace

Some of my takeaways were:

• Poetry Warm Up provided by author and performance poet, Allan Wolf, challenged us to consider where we were going to place our "pea of truth"
• Our First Page HAS to set place, person, and plot
• Resist the urge to edit while writing that "shitty first draft" - something that's often easier said than done
• Your blog should be the home page of your website to provide fresh renewed content for visitors with suggested updates of once a week at least, though daily (a concept that boggled my mind) would possibly annoy your readers - as Sabrina tells Linus in one my favorite movie quotes "sometimes more is just more"
• Your website "Contact Me" should not be a form but an actual "professional" email address - visitors are put off by the impersonal form
• Successful agent/editor queries are based on careful research - know who they are and why your book would fit their niche

While there were many wonderful pieces to the event, I felt it was beautifully book-ended by the Saturday First Pages critique, an always insightful though oft painful reading & critique of anonymous first pages and the Sunday Pitchapalooza where we listened to brave souls give a one-minute pitch in front of the entire assembly for critique by The Book Doctors and Alec Shane, agent.

If you've never been to the JRW Writers Conference, please be sure to put it on your short list for 2013.

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE 7/23/12

"One must dare to be himself, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be."

SNARKY RESPONSE: Hmm, do the names Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ring any bells?

"One must dare to be himself,
however frightening or strange that self may prove to be."

I'm participating in the James River Writers Book Club, an informal book club for the months running up to the annual James River Writers Conference in October 20-21, 2012. We're reading books written by the featured speakers for the conference and our first book was The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.

One caveat – I am a genre reader through and through so this book was definitely outside of my usual aisles. That lack of familiarity with this writer's genre may create a level of naiveté to my review, but here's what I thought. And bear with me, I'll explain why I chose a book review for this Fortune Cookie.

Cover of The Weird Sisters
by Eleanor Brown

In The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown explores the lives of three sisters. Daughters of a professor of Shakespeare, they are named for three of the Bard's heroines and being three, the analogy of the Weird Sisters was a natural. However, the three women are facing personal crises when they are then brought together in a family crisis. How they deal with all these pressures on their lives and each other makes for a truly interesting read.

In a semi-spoiler, I'd have to say my impression of the story makes it tie in with today's Fortune Cookie. I feel that each sister is forced to face the reality of who she truly is instead of the "she" built on expectations or camouflage. As the Bard said "to thine own self be true" and I feel that The Weird Sisters is about the characters' discovery of who that "true self" is and how to accept it.

Oh, and as another "spoiler," the book is written in Omniscient First Person Plural (We not I), a format I was not familiar with and one that took some SERIOUS getting used to. I must say that about one-quarter to one-third through it became less annoying as I just fell into the story. I've heard some folks continued to be annoyed by it to the end, so be warned. Just don't let that put you off on it.

If you read literary fiction, I would recommend this book.  If you've read it, I'd love to hear your impressions.