May 18th Chapter Meeting Notes

May's SEMO Chapter Meeting opened with President Janet Cannon welcoming everyone and inviting those who attended the April Missouri Writers' Guild conference to share some of what they learned at the conference.

Janet shared some of what she learned from C. Hope Clark's Early Arrival Seminar about how the "shy writer" can succeed by using a calendar to mark off days you wrote (proving to yourself you are successful and dedicated!), using positive language to talk about your writing, and making small and measurable goals you can see so you don't give up on the big goal you want to attain.

Bill and Sharon Hopkins talked about a workshop they attended that explained how to make your web presence more effective. Social media, web pages, Amazon author pages, using tags and key words, and Google analytics reports oh my! Lots to learn in that department!

Marybeth Niedercorn discussed a little about what she learned about how to figure out what small presses want from a writer and from their manuscripts.

We also celebrated the winners of several MWG contests: Sharon Hopkins' book Killerfind won Best book in the President's Contest. One of her short stories, "Rear View Mirror" won third place in the Short Story contest. Marybeth Niedercorn's "Demon Hawg" won first place in the Humerous Short Story category. Janet Cannon's "Blonde Curls and Scurvy Pirates" won first place in the Flash Fiction contest and her inspirational Essay "Dance: Driven by the Inciting Incident" won an honorable mention. Plus, our chapter won Basket Wars! (Marybeth accepted the trophy.) We think we had more members there than any other chapter as well! All in all, our chapter really stood out at the conference this year.

The group as a whole then discussed several topics. Last year's anthology did not have enough entries to make a full-sized volume, so we are going to put out a call for more members to submit and do a two-year volume. We decided July's meeting will be a social/idea sharing meeting at Steelcrest Winery. The Hopkins will get back with us on what weekend will be the best for us to meet there.

Several people also wanted to get started on workshop/critique groups. A sign-up list was circulated. An email will also go out through semowg to ask for others who want to be a part of the workshop/critique groups. Hopefully we'll be able to get these together in the next couple of months.

We also announced our summer and fall lineup of speakers (except for October, which we don't have finallized just yet!) And here it is!

June 29 - Dr. Frank Nickell on regional history
July ?? - Social day at Steelcrest Winery
August 31 - Margot Dill on blogging
September 28 - Peter Green - on working with editors and publishers
October 26 - ??

Janet Cannon then closed the meeting. We all snagged a few last cookies, talked a bit more, then went home.

BASKET WARS!

On our maiden voyage as participants in the Basket Wars competition at the Missouri Writers' Guild conference, we won the bidding! Our basket's theme was, "Everything a Writer Always Wanted but was Afraid to Ask For." It contained generally mundane items but descriptions that allowed for...let's say...other possibilities. For example, gardening gloves that were red so that, "the blood would blend right in," and boxes to "hide evidence in plain sight." Then we had fake mustaches, fake evidence, and a rubber duckie villian. All sorts of fun to put together, all sorts of fun to watch people ooh and ahh over. We even had one person ask for the description list she thought it was so funny! Now, what will we do NEXT year?

April 20th Meeting Notes

April 20, 2013 SEMO Writers’ Guild Meeting

Cape Girardeau Public Library

In lieu of President Jan’s late arrival, VP Marybeth called meeting to order.

The first item on the agenda was if there were any donations to be added to the Basket War basket for the MWG conference. She asked if there were any suggestions on names for the basket, but there were none. So, Jan, Marybeth, and Donna chose a name “Everything a Writer Always Wanted but was Afraid to Ask For.”

Next, speaker, Marilyn Hutchings, Reference Assistant at the Cape Girardeau Library, was introduced. She shared two handouts on ‘Found’ poetry. One from Annie Dillard and one that Marilyn wrote. She noted one of the problems with people reading poetry is that they think it has to have a meaning, and usually a hidden meaning. Sometimes, however, she pointed out that there is no hidden meaning.

One form of poetry she shared was ‘Found’ poetry, where an idea or image is taken from another’s writing and thereafter forming another poem. With this kind of poetry you don’t have to start from scratch. You can take someone else’s words and take bits and pieces and refashion and remake it into a poem. She stated that Found poetry is “a word collage in art!”

She suggested that writers interested in this form of poetry, to visit the “Found Poetry Review.” They publish twice a year. They have prompts on their website that you can take bits and pieces to create your own poem. They also have a blog.

Marilyn also shared some poets who took poetry to a different level: Some were David Lehman who wrote The Evening Sun, in which he wrote a stream-of-consciousness poem for each day of the year. Another was John Caddy, Morning Earth, who wrote poems in his journal about the first thing he experienced each morning. She also shared Christian Bok’s Eunoia, in which he wrote lipograms, and used each vowel for each chapter when writing his poems.

Next, in celebration of National Poetry month, several of our members and guests read poetry.

Sam Deusinger

Bill Hopkins

Bill Whitlock
Richard Flentge
Marybeth Niederkorn
Rick Lettau

Our next meeting in May will be Saturday, May 18. This is a week earlier than our regular meeting, due to Memorial Day weekend. 

 

--Submitted by Donna Essner

Meeting this Saturday!

Don't forget our meeting this Saturday, March 23 at 10:30. We'll be meeting at our new location, the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Once you go in the main doors, turn right and turn right again to find the Oscar C. Hirsch room. A map is included in this post.

If you haven't already, please take our very short survey about what direction you want our chapter to head this year. The link will let you start over if you get interrupted, but will only let you take the survey once. We'll discuss the results Saturday morning:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6DRTFCT

Also, don't forget to bring any items for our writer's supplies/inspiration basket for the conference. It can be ANYTHING that you think a writer needs or wants for writing and inspiration. Please include an approximate value of the item.

See you soon!

Updated Information on Upcoming Meetings

For those who missed the last meeting and the announcements so far, from now on we will be meeting at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. As you walk in the main doors, turn right then right again down the hallway to the Oscar C. Hirsch room.

Our first meeting at the Library, March 23, will be with Robin Tidwell, owner of All on the Same Page bookstore. She has a unique perspective on marketing and publishing you will want to hear. 

April 20th, the week before the MWG conference in St. Louis, we will celebrate National Poetry Month by having a guest speaker from the Library talk to us about Poetry. We will also have our first open-mic "Poetic Reading" event. Bring your one or two of your favorite poems or prose poems to read to the group. They can be works you've written or your favorites others have written.

On May 25th, we'll get a tour of the Library and all it's many resources. You will not want to miss this one! You may think that the Cape Public Library is just a place to check out books to read but it is so much more!

We are working on lining up speakers for the rest of the year, so check back frequently for updates.

**Important Date change**

Because Easter weekend hits the same weekend we plan to meet next (March 30th) AND Robin Tidwell has a book launching that weekend, we're going to move the meeting date up to March 23. Please put the word out!

Handouts from February's Meeting

We had a great February meeting and Sharon gave us an informative talk with two helpful handouts. The first is Five Key Questions to Ask as You Write your Novel. http://writetodone.com/2013/02/15/5-key-questions-to-ask-as-you-write-your-novel/?goback=.anb_1814346_%2a2_%2a1_%2a1_%2a1_%2a1_%2a1 The second handout is one on Self Editing tips from Gemma Halliday http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/self-editing-tips-from-new-york-times-bestselling-author-gemma-halliday?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheWritersGuideToE-publishing+%28The+Writer%27s+Guide+to+E-Publishing+Feed%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

We'll post the meeting notes later this week, so keep checking back.

(Thanks, Bill, for sending me the links! --JC)

A free resource

WOW! (Women on Writing) and BookBaby have some free e-books on a variety of topics. This on is on marketing.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-BookBaby-Guide--Making-Money-with-your-eBook.html?soid=1101417136261&aid=mx8TY69wA4M

MWG Conference Fast Approaching!

Dear Writers,

This is a quick reminder that the 2013 Missouri Writers' Guild conference to be held in St Louis at the Sheraton Westport Chalet hotel on April 26-28, 2013 is fast approaching. If you haven't done so already, be sure to register! You don't have to be a Missouri Writers' Guild member to come. Neither do you have to be a registered member of another writer's guild.

There's a great lineup of speakers and agents, breakout sessions, and Sunday Master classes. Your registration includes pitch sessions with an agent/editor, any/all breakout sessions, the Friday night Slush Pile reading (which is always popular), Nightcap sessions with agents/editors--which is a great opportunity to network, ask questions, and meet other writers. You can also show off your work at Open Mic Night. The Saturday luncheon is included, too. And networking is absolutely FREE!

Here is a listing of the agents/editors who will be taking pitches, along with links to their websites. Check them out! Then be sure to sign up for one!

Kathleen Ortiz, New Leaf Literary & Media http://newleafliterary.com/

Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, Larsen Pomada Literary Agents http://www.larsenpomada.com/

Jita Fumich, Folio Literary Agency http://foliolit.com/

Carly Watters, P.S. Literary Agency http://www.psliterary.com/

Joan Luckett, Midwest Living http://www.midwestliving.com/

Kristina Blank Makansi, Blank Slate Press http://blankslatepress.com/

Nancy Baumann, Stonebrook Publishing

http://www.stonebrookpublishing.net/

Also, check out the Sunday Master classes. We've got some great 3-hour one-on-one sessions lined out. The number of attendees for these classes is kept to a minimum, so be to sure to sign up as they fill up fast. Here's a listing of those classes. (Details for each can be found on the MWG website.)

Sarah E. Fine, "The Ins and Outs of Traumatizing Your Characters"

Kathleen Ortiz, "Who's Listening to You: An Advanced Course in Online Marketing"

C. Hope Clark, "Career Solutions 101"

Geoff Morrison—Digital Publishing 101

There's also a great listing of breakout sessions scheduled all day Saturday, too, with a lunch for all attendees in-between.

And don't forget to enter the CONTESTS! You still have time, but the March 1 deadline for the Sponsor and Chapter contests is just around the corner.

For all the conference details, visit the Missouri Writers' Guild website athttp://www.missouriwritersguild.org. Then sign up! We'd love to see you there.

If you have any questions about the conference, you can email Steve Wiegenstein, president of MWG at mwgpres at gmail dot com. Or you can email us here. We'll be happy to answer any questions.

Keep writing!

Donna, Secretary/Treasurer

SEMO Chapter MWG

djessner6@gmail.com

2013 Officers

SEMO Chapter officers for 2013:

President: Janet Cannon
janetcannonwriter@gmail.com

Vice President: Marybeth Niederkorn
marybethniederkorn@gmail.com

Secretary/Treasurer: Donna Essner
djessner6@gmail.com

Meeting Dates and Speakers for February and March

Our traditional meeting dates will stay on the last Saturday of the month for the rest of the year: February 23, March 30, April 27 (this is also the MWG Conference weekend, so I'm not sure what the meeting will look like without the President, Vice-President, OR Secretary/Treasurer!), May 25, June 29, (no meeting in July) August 31, September 28, October 26, and (no meetings in November or December due to holidays).

 

In February, our speaker will be Robin Tidwell, owner of All on the Same Page Bookstore. Check out her FB page https://www.facebook.com/#!/allonthesamepaj and check back here for updates on her presentation.

 

Our March speaker will be Sharon Woods Hopkins https://www.facebook.com/#!/sharon.w.hopkins author of Killerwatt and Killerfind, and she's going to speak to us about her unique experiences in publishing.

 

Other speakers will be announced as they are scheduled.

 

If you did not attend January's meeting and/or have not renewed your membership (or would like to join!), please do so as soon as possible. Dues are $25/year and can be mailed to (and checks written to) SEMO Writers' Guild; c/o SEMO University Press; Donna Essner, Treasurer; One University Plaza; Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.

New Website!

The Southeast Missouri Writers' Guild is pleased to introduce you to our new website. Here you will find meeting dates, meeting notes, helpful information, and updates on member success stories. We're currently working on linking a calendar to the site you can quickly jot down upcoming events.

We will also be launching a Facebook group page for those of you who like to announce your events and keep in touch via Facebook.

Please contact us at semowg at gmail dot com if you are interested in learning more. Thank you for visiting!