October 8th Newsletter

We enjoyed a nice meeting at the Lutheran Community Church on Tropicana this week with 22 members in attendance and 8 members reading.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our Writers' Group has a booth at the FARMER'S MARKET at 240 Water Street in Henderson. The fee for the booth has been covered by the group and if you would like to come and sell your books you are welcome to visit anytime between 8:30 and 4:00 this Thursday, October 11th. We will also have a booth the following weeks.

Don't forget, the monthly Westside Wednesday meeting has CHANGED LOCATION. From now on it will meet at the Claim Jumpers on Fort Apache and Charleston. The next meeting will be October 24th.

The Writer's Pen and Grill (hosted by Gregory Kompes and Tena Thompson) will meet at the Big Dogs (Sahara) this Wednesday, October 10th, beginning at 6:30 PM.


BRAGS:
Congratulations to Kathleen Mosko for having a successful and enjoyable trip to Cyprus and for receiving a thank you note from a man who was greatly helped by her book "Back Surgery for 2012: A Patient's Perspective." Also congratulations to Kathleen for two upcoming singing events: she will be singing Judas Maccabeus at UNLV on the 28th of this month, and singing with Andrea Bocelli at the MGM Grand November 24th.

Congratulations to Donald Riggio on having a good trip to California last week and selling the last of his hardcover copies of Seven Inch Vinyl.

Congratulations to Vital Germaine on meeting an agent who requested to read three chapters of his memoir "Flying Without a Net."

Congratulations to Douglas Davy who has been involved as set designer with a current production of Hamlet which has been very well received.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

"We all have our 'ums' as writers" -Gregory

(When he said this I had an "ah hah!" moment and realized that's why I keep seeing "a bit" in my writing and deleting this unnecessary qualifier over and over again. It's my "um.")

UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Our next meeting is the weekly Monday meeting, October 15th at the Community Lutheran Church. For more information on our meetings please see the calendar.


Here is an article from Judy: 

What's Your Point of View?

Point of view (POV) is still the hardest concept for me to master as a writer. I have a hard time getting it and, despite tons of great advice and helpful handouts, I still struggle with it. 

The concept is simple: POV is (from a reader’s perspective) seeing the story or action presented through a specific lens -- be it a single person (first person), a number of persons (multiple third-person) or a non-person who is god-like and sees it all (omniscient observer or narrator).

Okay, simple, enough. Now apply that as a writer. Not so simple! 

The problem is that because as writers, we create the story and the characters, and we know what everyone is doing, thinking, expecting and projecting, so our challenge becomes choosing the one point of view that will best convey the story, and then, crafting the story from that perspective. 

This is sophisticated work! I realized that before I could analyze and choose the best Point of View for my story, I need to know the options available.

I found a wonderful book that gives me both the definition of a number of options, but also short story examples for each: Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories. Edited by James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny. Mentor Book, New American Library, division of Penguin Books. NY: NY, 1995.

This book presents eleven (11) POV approaches and stories from over forty authors those who’ve used and mastered them, like Tillie Olsen, Ralph Ellison, Raymond Carter, James Baldwin, John Cheever, Alice Munro, V.S. Naipaul, Katherine Mansfield, T.C. Boyle, etc. 

Equipped with a roadmap of POV options, now, I can decide the best POV to use for my story, and use the book’s examples to craft my story.

I might just master POV, yet!

-Judy Logan