What a nice day to have a brunch with friends and fellow right brain individuals. Our June 4th meeting of the Wannabe's is summarized in the notes below. Our next meeting will be on August 13th. Mary Lou has agreed to host another brunch at her condo in Centerville. Her argument against another location is: "...by now everyone knows how to get here." Yes we do.
Wannabe's Journal
Update on what the group has been working on lately:
After a number of jokes about the Browns football team and attending a high school reunion we began to hear what everyone has been up.
1. Martha: Working on a memoir. We recommend a book that was recommended by our mentor(Nancy P) in one of our first classes: A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. Or her other book which is more technique orientated: Thinking about Memoir.
A number of people who attended the Sinclair talk by Ron Carlson recommended some of his works for style and technique. He recommends "Writing in the dark for 20 minutes each day without regard to any issues such as grammar, spelling or style. Don H. also recommended a book on retention and recall by Jerry Lucas, the famous basketball player from OSU fame called: The Memory Book
2. Trisha C. Currently completing her manuscript for her classes at Antioch. She read a passage from her first chapter.Very good work...keep up the good effort. She is also in the final stages of creating a new Web site to market her other passion...jewelry which has pictures included as part of the design. Neat stuff.
3. Joy B. Read a short poem that she created. We will post the poem on our blog site in the coming days.
Orange Lamborghini arrives in Yellow Springs
The orange Lamborghini screamed into town
Sailing past the grey and blue Subarus
Ten minutes late
but already ahead of everyone else
“Road hog,” the silver Civic jeered.
“Gas guzzler,” the white Prius scoffed.
“Tourist,” the beige Volvo sniffed.
But the orange Lamborghini knew…
It owned this town.
4. Don Q. Talked about the article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 3rd entitled: 'Vanity' Press Goes Digital. The lengthy article which will be outlined in more detail in a separate section of this journal report outlines the popular self publishing web sites that are now available to individuals who are tired of receiving the well wishes of literary agents. The story in the Journal starts with the success of a housewife who tired of the 10 years of rejection in the writing business and self published a Kindle version of her book and has sold over 36,000 copies and has sold the movie rights to the book recently.
5. Bob MacK. Discussed his popular sell published book entitled: Bird's, Bee's, Bug's, Flowers, and Such... which is a self published book that includes photographs and narratives. He delighted our group by reading a number of his poems which have won a number of awards and contests in our area and state. Bob is working on a short story about Santa and a young girl. Seems ironic we now have a collection of Santa "wannabe" authors.
6. Linda F. Working on her stories of life in a coal mining towns in eastern Ohio near West Virginia. She plans to spend two weeks visiting the area to conduct some research. Some of people who migrated from Europe and settled in that area in the early 1900's have great stories that she hopes to share.
7. Don P. Discussed the fact that he has made a great deal of progress in entering his fathers letter into the computer. He has 261 letters from his father who was a scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in the 1940's. He also read from a fictional piece that he is writing about a cat named "Frederica"
His wife Rose also has caught the literary bug, so to speak. She read from a memoir she is working on called: The Trip from Hell. The chapter she read to the group was well written and included a lot of "yeah" moments.
8. Dan V. His short story keep us on the edge of our seat. We found it very difficult not to laugh at various times. Some of the scenes of the story were climatic and filled with suspense only to discover their was more to the story. . The stories title is The Lineman.
9. Don H reflected how to Fix a Senior Moment. Wow...I wonder who he could be referring to with that title. Personally I cannot reminder the last one I had.
The book that Don is currently reading is: The Language of Names by Justin Kaplin and Anne Bernays. The book details the etiquette of names and what last names truly mean in the country of their origin.
10. Mary Lou detailed her experience of trying to find an agent for her children' s book. The group suggested using all the letters as a self published short story in itself about her writing journey. Some of the letters from Agents are a work of art in themselves. I am sure that many of us could relate to that kind of story.
Education Update
Registration Deadlines EXTENDED!
You can still register for the 2010 Antioch Writers' Workshop! We've extended our registration deadlines as follows:
Full Week Registration--deadline is now June 10.
Saturday Seminar "A La Carte" Option--deadline is now June 30.
Morning Only or Afternoon Only Focus on Form "A La Carte" Options--deadline is now July 10.
So... go online and register. (Even though we've extended our deadlines, many of our slots are filling quickly!) Or email Sharon for more information.
If you would like additional information:
www.antiochwritersworkshop.com
Blog: www.antiochwritersworkshop. blogspot.com
Your own ISBN Number
If you are looking to self publish and would like to copyright your work before using Kindle or Createspace to self publish your stories here is a web site which will allow you to acquire your title and protect it.
http://www.bowker.com/index.php/identifier-services.
I think the cost is $ 125.
Article Summary:
'Vanity' Press Goes Digital June 3rd in the Wall Street Journal
Here is the link to the Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704912004575253132121412028.html
There is a wonderful chart at the bottom of the article which compares the traditional approach to publishing to one where you self publish.
Next Meeting:
Mark you calendars for August 13th at 9 AM at Mary Lou's. Further information will be send in early August. Hope everyone enjoys the summer.
Our Blog Site:http://wannabecom.blogspot.com/
