March 11th Meeting Report

When I returned from the church on Tropicana last night my husband asked "How was the writer's group?" I told him:

"It was amazing.
I'm so glad I went.
I was at the circus,
visited a fantasy world with elves,
saw a family get their first cats,
the death of a woman who pulled out chinese stars at a bank to take down robbers,
met a spunky teenager who I can't wait to hear from again,
was excited to hear that the girl in the angel-devil story is realizing who she is,
and my eyes filled with tears when I saw a new mother give up her son."

I love sharing in the creative process, and getting a glimpse into these other worlds and experiences. But I also love that I come home from our weekly meetings inspired to work more on my own writing, to reach higher and try harder to make my own story come to life. Each meeting is full of little tips about how I can improve my skills as a writer.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Elections for the officer positions will be held March 25th. Everyone will receive a ballot by email, if you can not come to the March 25th meeting you can fill out the ballot and send it back to Jay. If you will be at the March 25th meeting please vote there.

Martin Greening is starting an online magazine. If you're interested in submitting articles, check out guidelines at http://azurekeepquarterly.com/submissions/ . It is geared towards fantasy, historical and science fiction and it's a paying market.


BRAGS:

Congratulations to Pat Kranish on having an agent that she queried request a manuscript!

Congratulations to Donald Riggio on having his first batch of books on hand. He'll be bringing some to meetings and if you'd like to buy them here $1 of the price will go to the HWG scholarship fund.

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

Our next weekly meeting is Monday, March 18th at the IHOP on Boulder Highway in Henderson. Writer's Pen and Grill meets tomorrow, Wednesday March 13th at the Silverado Lounge at 6:30. A calendar and map to our Henderson meeting location are available on the Feb 28th post of this blog.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

"More notes appeared on the ledger lines of my life, and a tune arose."

-Danise Payne

DID YOU KNOW?

There is a business of publishing seminar put on by some best selling authors in the Fantasy and Sci Fi genres. This year's seminar is May 14-16 in Colorado Springs, CO. The website for the seminar is http://superstarswriting.com/. Henderson Writers' Group member Martin Greening attended the 2012 seminar here in Las Vegas and learned a lot and had a blast.

There's a book festival in Kingman AZ on April 6th called KABAM! If you would like to attend check out their website. They've asked if our group would like to have a booth or participate in the author's tent. Talk to Jo if you'd like to coordinate a visit.


WRITING TIP from Jo Wilkins:

Impact – Give your story the reality of truth. In 1957 my brother received a set of 4 books, 

The Writer’s Digest Teen-age Treasury. 

One story in the last book left a distinct impression on me. It contained The Story of Gabrielle, by Catherine Gabrielson (©1956). At age ten I lived the last months of this young girl’s life (she died of cancer). To this day I can’t look at the cover of the book without tears welling in my eyes. Even if you write fiction, strive for reality and your characters will leave a lasting impression on your readers. 

ARTICLE:

HWG member Judy Logan is presenting a workshop at our upcoming conference titled "How to get the Most Out of the Conference." I asked her to give us a little description of what her seminar will be about:

How to Get the Most Out of the Conference 

Have you ever gone food shopping without a list? How did that work out for you?

When I’ve done that, I impulsively bought things that caught my eye but weren’t what I needed – and I neglected to buy the things I did need. In other words, I didn’t get the most out of the shopping trip.

The Las Vegas Writers Conference is just like that analogy. If you want to get the most out of it, you have to plan. Once you figure out what you need and want, you make a list to guide you.

In the “How to Get the Most Out of the Conference” workshop, we’ll look at your writing goals, your interests and needs, and your intentions. Then, using the Conference schedule and available resources, we’ll discuss how best to maximize your conference experience.

-Judy Logan


Thanks for reading and have a good week!
-Newsletter Editor, Jenny Ballif