WMO - March 21, 2020 Minutes

The only rule: writers write. For every sentence you write, a COVID-19 virus germ dies.


“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” – Anne Frank. WMO DID NOT meet at 1 p.m. on March 21st in the http://greekkouzina.com/ backroom in Pittsboro. The NCWN sponsors WMO. Carol Phillips heads WMO. WMO’s blog. Like most events that require a crowd, WMO meetings are canceled for the foreseeable future, which means there probably won’t be one in April. However, life goes on; writing goes on; stories need to be told.


APPEAL: It’s a hard time for small businesses. When buying books, help indie book sellers by using Bookshop.org.


The 2020 WMO theme is “Inspiration.” Together we’ll inspire each other to writing greatness (or, at least, mediocrity). To this end, the Supreme Council of Ideas at WMO will be putting out some inspiration pokes on Wednesdays to keep you moving forward. They are also looking at distant learning items for you to access. Doesn’t mean you can’t also look. If you find something great, let Carol or Rick know about it.


*April is Poetry Month!  In celebration, we will again be posting Poem-a-Day on our blog. Please send poems to Carol, as an attachment to her. .doc, .dcox, or .rtf only!  NO .pdfs please! (Note: postings on the blog are considered published by agents and editors.)  Need inspiration?  Here are two prompts offered by Tom Dow:
--Prompt 1:  "between"

--Prompt 2:  "I keep hearing..."

 And, with hope and optimism:

May is “Re-Group: General Discussion on Problems and Inspirations.” Carol will lead a discussion about issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others.

Writers' Morning Minutes February 15, 2020

“A true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life.” – Tobias Wolff.

WMO met at 1 p.m. on February 15^th in the http://greekkouzina.com/ backroom in Pittsboro.

The NCWN sponsors WMO. Carol Phillips heads WMO. 

The 2020 WMO theme is “Inspiration.” Together we’ll inspire each other to writing greatness (or, at least, mediocrity).

February was “Five Focal Points.” Rick did  a goals check, and then recapped 5 critical inspiration sources, which every writer needs to maximize: prompts (use them to your advantage), genre (understand the requirements), experimentation (leaving your comfort zone, POV (are you using the best one?), and a writer’s life (do you help or subvert your efforts). 

Handout not currently available.

March is “a General Discussion on Problems and Inspirations.” Carol will lead a discussion about issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others. “Let’s get pumped up.” Watch this YouTube video now.

April is “The Effects of Marigolds on Poetry in Motion.” Get inspired by and let poetry inspire you. Marigolds are optional. Tom Dowd is not. HOWEVER. This does conflict with the NCWN Conference. Stay tuned for a possible date change.

Writers' Morning Out Minutes, January 18, 2020

“The goal for today is to go a little bit further than yesterday. It’s that simple.” – Anon. WMO met at 1 p.m. on January 18th in the http://greekkouzina.com/ backroom in Pittsboro. The NCWN sponsors WMO. Carol Phillips heads WMO. 

The 2020 WMO theme is “Inspiration.” Together we’ll inspire each other to writing greatness (or, at least, mediocrity).

January was “Setting Goals.” Carol Phillips led a session on ways to identify realistic goals, should you even decide to set goals. Rick Bylina defined Smart Goals and used some of his own goals as an example. 

Overview of Goals:  by Carol Phillip

Example of [bad] Goals: 

Daily

     e.g. Write 5,000 words a day

Short-term

     e.g. Publish stories in Pushcart Winning journals

The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year.

     Long-Term

          e.g. Publish the Great American Novel with one of the biggies

     Lifelong

          e.g. Become a critically and commercially successful author

What’s do you think of these goals?

Are they specific—No 

Are they realistic—No

Are they Measurable—No. Best goals state how much by when

Taking baby steps—No.  

What are Good Goals? 

Carol's not a good person to talk about goals — She has a relaxed relationship with them unless forced otherwise, relaxed but successful, so

Do you need goals?

Goals trigger behavior.

Goals guide your focus.

Goals align your focus.

Goals sustain momentum.

Goals promote self-mastery/discipline.

     

Later Rick will talk more about setting SMART goals. Carol has a different approach that has worked well for her over the years—it’s rather lousy-dousy —

She does not throw an idea out to the Universe and waiting for the Universe to respond. Rather focuses her attention/actions on what she wants to accomplish and looks for opportunities to further her goals. Her goal for the year is to become a 'submitting writer".

This process works for her because her goals are things SHE WANTS to do, rather than things she thinks she should do.

Focus on what’s important to you as a writer

1.    Not everyone wants to publish — and that’s great. Reasons to write vary. Some writers want to: 

a.    Journal for their own pleasure

b.    Share with family and friends

c.    Have one story to tell

                               d.    Publish in local journal

e.    Self-publish

f.   Publish with small presses

f.     Break into NYC publishing scene ~

So, think about what it is you want to accomplish as a writer:  I want to cause readers to think and feel a little about an aspect of life, of the world, they haven’t considered~

2.    How does what’s important to you as a writer fit in with what’s important in your life outside of writing?  Carol likes exploring ideas and topics and sharing them with others.

Ways to help you to reach your goals

1.    Identify where you are now ~

2.    Make your goals as important (or more) than your favorite character’s

3.    Focus steps you can take to reach goals rather than milestones reached or not, e.g. writing, sharing, submitting

4.    Set Deadlines

a.    Give yourself consequences if deadlines are not met

b.    Give yourself rewards if deadlines are met

5.    Be accountable

a.    Writing partner(s)

b.    WMO monthly meetings

                                         i.    For those of you who would like, we can start each meeting by having a brief check-in 30 seconds or so.

                                        ii.    If you are not reaching a goal because of identifiable reasons that you need help with—every time I sit down to submit, Billy Joe nudges my arm to say let’s go play ball—mention it, and after the meeting perhaps someone can offer suggestions

                                      iii.    In March, we plan to discuss issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others.

 End:

However you go about setting or not setting goals, trust your process—as long as it works. 

Smart Goals (for writers) By Rick Bylina

• Specific: Are clear and defined. Vague goals are hard to accomplish. (If you have a long-term goal (LTG), it may be helpful to make some intermediary Smart Objectives to stay focused on the LTG.)
• Measurable: Be able to measure progress toward the goal. (You need to understand your progress.)
• Action Plan: Plan what you are going to do. (How do you fit it into your day?)
• Realistic: Make sure your goal is not too hard or too easy. (This might be the hardest for most people.)
• Time Limit: Put a realistic time limit on the goal. (Goals can be daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.) 

##  (Don’t hide your goals. Let’s understand together what’s not working.) ##

       Rick defines goals into broad categories: Personal, Professional, and Project.  

Some of Rick’s real goals are: 

Personal:

• Lose 3 lbs./month in 2020 by doing one-hour physical activity per day & ending late-night snacks.
• Bring no soda products into the house. Soda-bad; Water-good.

Professional: 

(It could be poetry, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, short fiction, or whatever):

• Weekly. Write my 400-word flash fiction per my auto-prompt by reserving time Sunday mornings.
• Weekly. Critique ten other writer’s flash fiction pieces. (25 are in the group.)
• 03/01. Finish updates to website to reflect future/current/past activities.
• 03/01. Use my website’s blog capabilities to forward my writing-related posts to Facebook.
• Yearly. Attend, at least, one conference (NCWN targeted) and one workshop (probably online).

Project: 

• LTG:  Have completed novel ready for agents via query by 01/18/21. (Never send during holidays)
• 02/01. Chose which of the seven half-novels I have to focus on.
• Once chosen: write 1K words per day, six days a week, until completed. (Target 80K words)
• 04/01. Send approximately 2K words bi-weekly for critiquing in my on-line critique group.
• 09/01. Have all critiquing efforts and editing incorporated?
• 10/01. Have novel out to beta readers.
• 11/01. Have query letter and meta-data ready for others to punish me with their comments

End

Celebrate your accomplishments. Analyze your misses. The only failure is giving up.

________________________________________________________________________

February is “Five Focal Points.” Goals check, and then we’ll recap 5 critical inspiration sources, which every writer needs to maximize: prompts (use them to your advantage), genre (understand the requirements), experimentation (leaving your comfort zone, POV (are you using the best one?), and a writer’s life (do you help or subvert your efforts).

March is “a General Discussion on Problems and Inspirations.” Carol will lead a discussion about issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others. “Let’s get pumped up.” Watch this YouTube video now.

WMO Meeting Minutes: March 2019

Here are the March WMO meeting notes and forward-looking information. WMO meets at 1 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month in the backroom of http://greekkouzina.com/ in Pittsboro. Come early for lunch, literary gossip, and then the meeting. Send comments, updates, or questions to Rick Bylina. Al Manning opened the meeting by welcoming guests and noting upcoming events. Dwayne Wells proudly showed his new book “Backstage at ‘The Lost Colony’”

March’s feature presentation was “Developing your own Style Sheet and Standardizing Your Punctuation Practices” by Judith Stanton. Novelist, poet, and scholar, Judith has also worked as a technical editor and an acquiring editor for an E-press. She loves talking about style, usage, grammar, and punctuation. Her example author Style Sheet for Wendy Lindstorm is below. (www.wendylindstrom.com)  Her message: make your own style sheet appropriate to your material and limit those mistakes later. Here are the links to sentence punctuation and hyphens.

Judith Stanton handout for Writers Morning Out 20190316

Wendy’s Style Sheet—updated 20190315

What is a style sheet, and why do I want one? 

A style sheet will help you whether you are planning to traditionally publish or self-publish. If traditional, your new agent and editor will be not only relieved but impressed that you are so organized and professional in your approach to your work. Whether your prose or poetry is contemporary, historical, futuristic, paranormal or wildly experimental, each subgenre has its own insider lingo. For many of the terms here, usage is in flux. I made an editorial decision to standardize these words in the most modern way, throughout her 8 novels.

These preferred spellings and usages are based on online and print copies of Merriam Webster and others, including the British OED and Cambridge dictionary and Free Dictionary on line. I made Merriam Webster (MW below) my default authority. I am checking each of these words in every book and adding new words as they crop up. This will help tremendously to ensure consistency as I edit Wendy’s last two novels.

~~~~~~~

USAGE/SPELLING

double time (as a noun) BUT double-time (as a verb)

Drug Store, drug store but drug-store owner

dry, drier, driest (as relates to moisture) BUT dryer (as in clothes dryer or blow dryer)

farther (used for distance only) BUT further (used where you can substitute more or additionally)

goodbye (one word in MW—BUT MW notes good-bye as a variant)

Grandma/Grandmother/Grandfather when addressing him or her by name

BUT lower case grandma/grandmother/grandfather when modified by my, your or our

may (used for permission) BUT “might” (used when conditional)

melee (no accent marks in current American usage, this is a trend)

naive, naivete (no accent marks in current American usage, also a trend)

pastime BUT parttime—go figure…

wave (when waving a hand) BUT waive (to evade, forgo or relinquish)

ALWAYS HYPHENATED (and obviously rare!)

narrow-minded (always hyphenated)

empty-handed (always hyphenated)

COMMON PHRASE, NO HYPHENS, ALL SEPARATE WORDS

cast iron frying pan

chest of drawers

mill pond

saloon keeper, saloon owner

suit coat

ONE WORD, NEVER HYPHENATED

babytalk, babytalking

backpedal or backpedaled

backyard (becoming standard now)

bathwater, bathroom, bathtub

bedstand, bedside

boardinghouse

closefisted

cobblestone

collarbone

cookstove

fieldstone

firewood

heartsick, heartsore

nightclothes, nightrail, nightshirt, nightstand

peephole

schoolboy, schoolgirl, schoolhouse, schoolmarm, schoolroom, schoolteacher and schoolyard BUT school board and school day

showroom

snowball, snowbank, snowfall, snowflakes

stepmother

suppertime

watercloset

windowpane

woodbin, woodpile, woodshed, woodshop, woodworking

workbench

Snarly and shifting hyphenations. Phrases like eye to eye, face to face, man to man, and side by side are seriously confusing!

Rule: they are hyphenated if used as an adjective before a noun but not hyphenated if standalone.

Examples:

            They had a serious man-to-man talk. BUT…

            They talked man to man.

            WHEW! 

April’s feature presentation is “YOU”. Bring your or a favorite poem or prose piece for an OPEN MIC. 5-6 minutes in length, including your intro, reading, and follow-up. It is, after all, Poetry Month.


May’s feature presentation is “So You Want To Self-Publish Your Book And You Don’t Know Squat” by Rick Bylina. An umbrella presentation on how to get started with copious references to additional resources. A Chatham County author, Rick has self-published seven books and has a website that needs a serious update.

Villanelle Poem Definition

At our February 22, 2011 meeting, there was discussion of some different poetry forms. One was the villanelle.

The villanelle has 19 lines, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes and two refrains. The 1st, then the 3rd lines alternate as the last lines of stanzas 2,3,and 4, and then stanza 5 (the end) as a couplet. The second lines of each stanza rhyme. The structure is:

line 1 - a – 1st refrain
line 2 - b
line 3 - a - 2nd refrain
line 4 - a
line 5 - b
line 6 - a – 1st refrain (same as line 1)
line 7 - a
line 8 - b
line 9 - a - 2nd refrain (same as line 2)
line 10 - a
line 11 - b
line 12 - a - 1st refrain (same as line 1)
line 13 - a
line 14 - b
line 15 - a - 2nd refrain (same as line 2)
line 16 - a
line 17 - b
line 18 - a - 1st refrain (same as line 1)
line 19 - a - 2nd refrain (same as line 2)

Here is an example of the form.

Stay With Me

Hold me close and hold me tight
Run your fingers through my hair
Stay with me all through the night
It feels so good, it feels so right
Say you love me if you dare
Hold me close and hold me tight
Tell me it will be alright
If only we could be a pair
Stay with me all through the night
We can share in great delight
Let me love you, let me care
Hold me close and hold me tight
I pray you will, I pray you might
Be the answer to my prayer
Stay with me all through the night
Be there in the morning light
Please do not go anywhere
Hold me close and hold me tight
Stay with me all through the night