Newsletter February Bulletin: STRUCTURING THE STORY WITH LESLIE SCHWARTZ MIZELL SENIOR CENTER PALM SPRINGS SCHEDULE SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5 9:30 Registration / Morning Coffee 10:00 Morning Session* 12:00 Lunch Break 1:00 Afternoon session* 4:00 End SUNDAY FEBRUARY 6 9:30 Check-in / Morning Coffee 10:00 Morning Session* 12:00 Lunch Break *PRIOR REGISTRATION REQUIRED 4:00 Book Sales and Signing Leslie Schwartz will be the Speaker at the regular Guild Meeting. Her presentation will not assume attendance at the earlier sessions and will be of interest to all writers. SPEAKERS REVIEW JOANNE HARDY THE ART OF THE REWRITE Cyndy Muscatel, with her excellent presentation, The Art of the Re-write, reminded us that there is much talent right at home in our own organization. Editing, she said, is equally important in non-fiction as in fiction although the writer may approach it from a different angle. After doing an interview, she comes away with notes scribbled all over a page. Then it becomes a puzzle to sort out facts, comments and impressions, put them in appropriate order and make a readable article. In writing fiction there are two processes. First the unhampered creative flow which makes the story. The second process is the editing phase. She used a story she first published nearly thirty years ago to demonstrate the changes that have happened in publishing. She recently rewrote and published the story again. The story dealt with a family caught in the wake of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. It was a fictional family based on the experiences of real people. In the second version she used her own family as the characters, capitalizing on their own authentic idiosyncrasies. Editors now want characters to be realistic, she added. In the first story there was much more "telling." Now popular fiction is 70% dialogue. Reader audiences now like to move right into the action. When the story was first published, three pages were devoted to setting the scene before getting into the story. In this case, she skipped the creative flow phase because the story was complete, but she had to update it and it needed structure. Readers, then as well as now, want to know early on where the characters are and in which era. Don't get bogged down in a story, she said, thinking it must be factual. Some things must remain true, however. In this story she used President Jimmy Carter on the radio calling the boycott to the Moscow Olympics. In addition, she changed the story from a family theme, popular then, to characters brought down to the basic elements of survival, a concept currently popular. She offered several other pieces of advice. Write not to be published, but to write well. Do not try to be cute. Do not overwrite. Keep it concise. If you have a story, don't give it away by telling it. Write it. Write a story or an article, put it aside for a time period, and then review it later with the objectivity of another reader. kappie1177@earthlink.net For the benefit of the Palm Springs Writers Guild members who did not attend the meeting last Sunday, I'd like to make an announcement. I'm updating the critique group lists. There are 10 Guild critique groups. I'd appreciate a contact person from each group to submit to me a list of its members, how many openings there are, if any, and who requests a change from one group to another. Also, I'd like to start up a new group of writers who haven't been in a critique group before and who would like some initial mentoring. I view critique groups as the single most important adjunct, next to studying the craft of writing, and keeping at it, and want to see even more groups flourish. Please call Fran at 760 324 1644 or mail appropriate lists to her. Thank you. SPELL CZECH Eye have a spelling chequer. It came with my pea sea. It plainly marques four my revue miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a word and weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write. It shows me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid, it nose bee fore two long And eye can put the error rite. Its rarely ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw it, I am shore your pleased to no. Its letter perfect in its weigh. My chequer tolled me sew. CONTESTS ANYONE? GSU Review Annual Writing Contest Deadline: Feb. 2. Reading fee: $15 for 1-3 poems. Prize: $1000/250/publication. Ind. poems. Sponsor: GSU Review, Georgia State University, Campus Box 1894, MSC 8R0322 Unit 8, Atlanta, GA 30303-3083. Details: 404-651-4804, kchaple@comcast.net, http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwrev/. Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Award Deadline: Feb. 9. Reading fee: FREE. Prize: $100. Ind. poems. Sponsor: ICON: The Literary & Art Magazine, Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, 4314 Mahoning Avenue NW, Warren, OH 44484. Details: http://www.trumbull.kent.edu/Arts/ICON/index.cfm. Annette Rumph Peery Memorial Award Deadline: Feb. 15. Reading fee: FREE. Prize: $100/35/15. Ind. poems. Sponsor: Georgia Poetry Society, PO Box 28337, Atlanta, GA 30358. Details: 229-246-3441, collinkelley@hotmail.com, http://www.georgiapoetrysociety.com. Anthony Abbott Poetry Competition Deadline: Feb. 15. Reading fee: FREE. Prize: $150/50. Ind. poems. Age and Geographic Restrictions Sponsor: Charlotte Writers Club, 17740 River Ford Drive, Davidson, NC 28036. Details: beagle7477@aol.com, http://www.charlottewritersclub.org/college_poems.htm. Floating Bridge Press Poetry Chapbook Award Deadline: Feb. 15. Reading fee: $12. Prize: $500/50. Chapbook. Sponsor: Floating Bridge Press, c/o Richard Hugo House, 1634 Eleventh Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122. Details: floatingbridgepress@yahoo.com, http://www.scn.org/arts/floatingbridge/ What we are: The Original Palm Springs Writers Guild is a nonprofit organization formed to support a variety of writers in and around the Coachella Valley. We meet on the first Sunday of the month, at 2 PM, in the Mizell Senior Center in Palm Springs, Ramon Road and Sunrise Way, for fun, fellowship and speakers. We work to hone our craft in Critique Groups, which meet more frequently. Please join us at the next meeting. Officers - click here Notice: Please send comments, proposals, suggestions for the Bulletin to John Harrell or Billy Lobo. BO(a)ReD JOHN HARRELL At its January meeting, the Board discussed the timing of elections and installation; both occur at the December meeting of the membership, which is the time of the Holiday Party as well. This is too much. It also saddles the incoming Board with the need to establish itself in the middle of the "season." Apparently, the current cycle was established when the Guild was restructured after the disruption of the LeBaron Era, as much the result of the time of year as anything. Members with more time that I say elections used to be held at the end of the season. So, the Board voted to recommend changing the By-laws. Our review of the current By-Laws revealed a few inconsistencies, so we will present a revised set of By-Laws at the February meeting for the members' consideration, with an eye toward adoption in March. Membership will continue to be for the calendar year, with no change to the dues structure. The proposal will call for elections in May and installation in June. If we're to appoint a Nominating Committee and hold elections, we must move quickly. Since a Quorum is needed to vote, we will provide Proxy Votes as well as a true of the new By-Laws. DUNNIN' DUES Mary Olson, Guild Secretary, reports that ONLY 77 of the individuals on the Mailing list of 131 have paid dues for 2005 which means 49 have NOT. We will insert reminders in this Bulletin for those members - if we dun you inappropriately, please forgive. Discussions: If you'd like to become a Beta Tester for the new Online Discussions area, visit the Guild's website (PalmSpringsWritersGuild.org) and click the "JOIN" link. After the Membership page is displayed... [deleted for security reasons]. REMINDER THAT DUES "r" DUE By the First of the Year ^ posted by Webmaster @ 1/29/2005 05:00:00 PM Pacific Time January Bulletin: ART OF THE REWRITE JANUARY CYNDY MUSCATEL At the January 9 meeting, Cyndy Muscatel will lead a hands-on workshop about the art of the rewrite. "Rewriting a manuscript is a craft every writer needs. It allows the muse to have free reign in the first draft of a work, because the author doesn't have to wear the editor's crown until later," Cyndy says. She has recently had two short stories published after rewriting them. "In the first, I changed the point of view from third person to first, and changed the verb tense to present from past. It had been rejected at least thirty times before. After the rewrite, it was accepted immediately," she says. Come to the meeting with a pen or pencil and learn how fun it can be to dig into a manuscript and fine tune it. SPEAKERS REVIEW JOANNE HARDY PARTY '04 The tradition continues with the THIRD ANNUAL Guild holiday party held on December 5, but before the festivities began, Cynthia Slater, chairman for the Short Story Contest, announced the list of winners. First Place - Barbara Seranella for PAYDAY ($250.00) Second Place - Hal Burks for SO LONG PETIE ($150.00) Third Place - Marilyn Tyler for HUMAN NATURE ($75.00) First Runner-up - Marcie Stillerman for THE SILVER TUBE Second Runner-up - Joan Bernard for OUT OF MY DEPTH Third Runner-up - B. J. Weigand for IT'S LIKE, YOU KNOW Cynthia then introduced Dr. John Weston who had made the final choices that determined the winners. Dr. Weston has taught Creative Writing at Arizona State and was Professor of Literature at Cal State, Los Angeles. He made his selections from the thirteen stories submitted to him, stories that received the highest rating from Cynthia's reading committee. In his remarks, he said the strength of a story lies in its sustainable plot. This, he said, is difficult to accomplish with less than 5,000 words. He urged the Guild to increase the word limit in the guidelines for future contests. He also looked to character in arriving at his decisions. Dr. Weston quoted Henry James, "character is action," and therefore part of the plot. A reader not only wants to know what happened, but why it happened. His suggestion for those writing short stories is to go deeper into character development. In addition, he compared the stories written in first person (12 of the 13) with stories in third person. Third person, he explained, allows you to achieve a broader perspective than first person. Readers are more drawn to the main character because more can be "seen" and developed. You can know the character's unspoken thoughts. Dr. Weston then read the story that earned first place in the contest, Barbara Seranella's Payday. Very special thanks go to Billy Lobo for creating the awards that were used in the presentation. The second end-of-the-year Guild tradition continued with the presentation of the Buddy Award established in memory of Buddy Kaye, noted songwriter. When Buddy joined the Guild he brought with him his remarkable talent, dynamic personality, and enthusiastic service, which has left a lasting influence on the Guild. It is for service to the Guild that the award is given. I wish to publicly thank John Harrell and members of the board for honoring me with that award for this year. When I heard my name called, the feeling was - well, awesome. It is doubly appreciated when I consider the efforts of so many members who help maintain the Guild. My most sincere thanks to all for this very special recognition and the gracious compliment it implies. kappie1177@earthlink.net A RARE OPPORTUNITY OFFERED BY THE PALM SPRINGS WRITERS GUILD STRUCTURING THE STORY BY LESLIE SCHWARTZ who was very popular at the 2004 Southern California Writers Conference/Palm Springs, and teaches Fiction writing at UCLA, will bring a two-day seminar to the desert. Ms. Schwartz received the James Jones Literary Society Award for Best First Novel for her book Jumping the Green and Kalliope Magazine's Woman of the Year (2004) for Angel's Crest. Saturday - February 5, 2005 10-12 and 1-4 Sunday - February 6, 2005 10-12 plus-Guest Speaker at Regular Guild Meeting, 2-5 Mizell Senior Center [Sunrise Way at Ramon Road] Palm Springs Her presentations Saturday will focus on how to structure the telling of a story, strategies she teaches UCLA students and uses in her own award-winning work. Sunday will include a two-hour session on Marketing. Book sales and signing after the Guild meeting. CONTESTS ANYONE? The Florida Review is accepting entries for its 2005 Editor's Prize. There are three categories: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. We offer a $1000 award and publication to the winner in each category. Submit 3-5 poems, one story or one essay with a $15 reading fee postmarked by February 15, 2005. Winners will be announced by May 15, 2005. All submissions will be considered for publication and all entrants receive a year's subscription to The Florida Review. Submit to: The Editors' Award, The Florida Review Department of English PO Box 161346 University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 32816 Include a check or money order payable to The Florida Review. BO(a)ReD JOHN HARRELL Although the principal reason for the December 5th meeting was celebration - of Winners, for service and with fellowship - we were beholden to do a little bit of Guild business. The following Board members were elected, by acclamation: John Harrell, President; Cyndy Muscatel, Vice President; Mary Olson, Secretary; Martin Goldberg, Treasurer and three members at large - Dodie Cross for a one year term, Robert Hurlbert for 2 years and Kurt Sipolski for 3 years. The new Board will first meet on 10 January, in the Library at the Mizell Center in Palm Springs, at 1:30. All members are welcome and those with specific ideas are encouraged to attend. Many thanks and best wishes to the members of the Board who are no longer serving: Harold Kaplan, who unfortunately cannot be Treasure forever, Ellen Paris who finished her term and Diane Freud, whom illness prevents from further active participation. I am grateful to each of them for their time and wisdom. As you know from her comments elsewhere in the Bulletin, Fran Kaplan is the new Liaison for Critique Groups. It's fair to say the Guild would likely not exist with the Kaplan's and I'm happy to have another around to help as Harold leaves. NuMber$ The good news is we have added 30 new members during the Fall, so our current membership, as reflected in the mailing list, is 125. The bad news is HALF - 63 - have NOT yet paid their annual dues. Of course, there are a few days left in 2004, so I'm sure you, the delinquent ones, have put your $30.00 check in the mail. As a gentle nudge, remember - we will drop your name from the mailing list as of February Bulletin if your dues are unpaid. If you don't have a renewal form, just include your name and eMail address with the check and mail to the Post Office Box. Location, Location, LOCATION This is not a riff on the realtors mantra. During discussion after the elections, the issue of meeting "at the wrong end of the Valley" came up. The decision to use the Mizell Center in Palm Springs instead of the PD/COD Library was forced by difficulties in planning and booking. The staff at the Mizell Center is and has been eager and supportive, meeting our needs and allowing us to plan the year, even adding longer events like the February Seminar to the schedule. Plus, they make the coffee and do the room setup. And as a member pointed out, it's no farther from "there" to here than from "here" to "there." As soon as a more central and equally supportive location is available, we will try to take advantage. website Alan Baird, who recently joined the Writers Guild, volunteered to manage the website(s) and has been upgrading and completion of the pages. We now own the PalmSpringsWritersGuild.com domain, as well as "dot net" and "dot org," and the three are mirrored. Check it out. Each day Alan answers another question and smoothes out a wrinkle. He has ideas beyond my ken but all sound good and point to a generous, exciting new way to serve the membership. Your comments, suggestions and input are welcome. What we are: The Original Palm Springs Writers Guild is a nonprofit organization formed to support a variety of writers in and around the Coachella Valley. We meet on the first Sunday of the month, at 2 PM, in the Mizell Senior Center in Palm Springs, Ramon Road and Sunrise Way, for fun, fellowship and speakers. We work to hone our craft in Critique Groups, which meet more frequently. Please join us at the next meeting. Officers - click here Notice: Please send comments, proposals, suggestions for the Bulletin to John Harrell or Billy Lobo. REMINDER THAT DUES "r" DUE By the First of the Year ^ posted by Webmaster @ 1/07/2005 05:00:00 PM Pacific Time Powered by Blogger. |
