Thursday, May 23, 2013

May 20th and 22nd Meeting Report

We had two great meetings this week. If you missed our Monday meeting with Kevin Parsons speaking, you missed out on a very entertaining and inspiring presentation. If he wrote almost 400,000 words while traveling 40,000 miles then you can find time to write too! Thank you to Kevin for speaking on Monday. The Coffee House was packed, and in addition to our speaker we had 4 readers share their material.

The West Side Wednesday meeting enjoyed a good turnout and heard and critiqued 4 readers.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Our next Las Vegas Writer's Conference will be April 24th to 26th in 2014. We have had 20 advance registrations for our writer's conference next year. The discounted conference club price is being extended two more weeks! Talk to Karlo if you'd like to pre-register now at this lower price.

Our next meeting is Monday, Memorial Day, at THE COFFEE HOUSE. We were scheduled to be at the Lutheran Church but they are closed for the holiday, so we'll be at the Henderson location.

BRAGS:

Congratulations to Linda Maloney on receiving her 52nd Five-Star book review on Amazon, and on being in a show at Cube Theater on June 2nd. 7 p.m., clean comedic material, 20-25 minutes.

Congratulations to Kathleen Mosko on singing for a virtual choir conduced by Eric Whitaker.

Congratulations to Kevin Parsons on a successful tour of 50 states in 50 weeks. Welcome back!

QUOTES OF THE NIGHTS:

"Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing." -Benjamin Franklin

"You gotta grow with this flow"

WRITING TIP from Jo Wilkins:

When you search for that all important beginning to your story/novel, consider the importance of presenting the drama surrounding your character’s life as the incentive for the reader to read on. Too slow a beginning (not giving the reader the how, when, where & why on the opening page) can make them leave your offering on the bookstore shelf. Your prose and storyline should grab the reader from the first page and make them want to read to the end.


DID YOU KNOW?

USA TODAY featured an article on The Book Expo. It is coming up in a few days, and it's one of the biggest book events (referred to in the article as a "literary onslaught") of the year. You can link to the article here: http://usat.ly/12MySFS

HWG Darlien Breeze sent me some notes from an article by Richard Ridley about writing an effective book description:

"This is from an article by Richard Ridley written for Create space on how to write an effective book description.

1. Don’t include subplots
2. Keep it under 150 words
3. Write in third person.
4. Use emotional power words. In a 125 word description use 6-10 emotional power words.
Some examples, heart-pounding, frantic, tormented, ruthless, primitive, and wild.
5. Remember you are not writing as the author. You are writing as the publisher

You are not just writing for your back cover, this is also for social media network, as part of your bio information for personal appearances, for flyers and other print material.

With a concise book description, your fans are more likely to copy and send this to their family and friends. Think of this as a major tool in your spread-the –word campaign"


CALENDAR: Please note the change in our meeting location for  Memorial Day, Monday the 27th.

 May / June 2013
Sun       Mon      Tues      Wed           Thur           Fri                 Sat


May 15
16
17
18
19

20
THE COFFEE HOUSE
Kevin Parsons speaking
 6:30-8:30
21
22
West side meeting Skinny Dugans
6:30 p.m.
23
24
25
62

27
THE COFFEE HOUSE
6:30-8:30
28

29
30
31
June 1
2
3
The Coffee House in Henderson
6:30-8:30 
4
     5

6
7
8
9
10
 Lutheran Community Church
Judge Steel speaking
6:30-8:30 
11
12

13
14
15
16
17
The Coffee House in Henderson
6:30-8:30 
18
19
20
21
22


Have a good week!
-Editor, Jenny Ballif

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Upcoming Events & Places for Writers & Readers

At the Henderson Writers Group we support education and events around the Las Vegas Valley

Las Vegas Writers Conference


April 18-20, 2013
http://lasvegaswritersconference.com

Annual Student Writing Contest

The Henderson Writers Group is serious about educating writers. We believe that our youth, specifically students, are the place to start. To further these efforts we have established this writing contest to award scholarships to the best of these budding authors.
See Website for details & submission guidelines.
http://hendersonwritersgroup.com

Vegas Valley Book Festival

http://www.vegasvalleybookfestival.org/

Clark County Nevada Libraries

http://www.lvccld.org/about/locations.cfm