Author John Saul

In the early 1970s, John Saul lived in Oshkosh, where he worked on his first horror novel, "Suffer the Children." Here's what he had to say:

When you're as suggestible as I am, it's probably smarter to sit in a
closed and locked room with bright lights and no windows, than in an airy room on Bayshore overlooking a broad expanse of lawn and the shores of Lake Winnebago. I can say this from bitter experience, given that I was happily writing one of the more frightening scenes of "Suffer The Children" in that airy room, and doing my best to convince myself that the dire events of which I was writing existed only in my imagination, when suddenly a very real and terrifying animal leaped at the window, sending me out of the room and into the safety of the hall in less than a second.

When I finally regained my wits and courage (both often sadly lacking in me) I realized that the fearsome beast that had nearly caused me to go into cardiac arrest was nothing more than a squirrel looking for his daily handout of peanuts. Feeling utterly foolish, I found his rations, returned to my desk, opened the window, and offered the little fellow the treat for which he'd come.

He took it.

Then he bit me.

I should have stayed in the hall, but of course if I had, "Suffer The
Children" would never have been finished....

Saul writes like Stephen King, minus the first 100 pages. His official web site is here and he published two books this year: Black Creek Crossing and Perfect Nightmare. Enjoy!

City Editor

Former Oshkosh Northwestern Editorial Editor Larry Peterson has written a novel rumored to be based on his work experience in Oshkosh.

“City Editor” revolves around Mike Donahue, a South Carolina city editor who sends his staff out to investigate a possible cover-up regarding the construction of a prison unit for sexual offenders. Peterson was on the Northwestern staff about the time a similar facility was added to the Oshkosh Correctional Institute.

Published in 2003 by PublishAmerica, the book is also available at the Oshkosh Public Library.

Apple Blossom news

Apple Blossom Books, downtown Oshkosh, is now accepting book reviews for their newsletter and website. To read current reviews, click here.

Also, starting January 2nd, 2006, Apple Blossom Books will offer a new program called “Bookseeds”. The Bookseeds program allows patrons to sell their books for cash and trade credit at the bookshop and is intended to expand the selection of quality used books available at the bookshop. For more information, visit the store at 513 North Main Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901 or phone 920.230.3395

Humor Contest

The Wisconsin Regional Writers Association has announced the Florence Lindemann Humor Contest. The contest opens Jan. 15, 2006. Submissions must be original, unpublished work; 800-word limit. Participants must be a member of WRWA ($25/yr. and a good value!). Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. For more information, click here.

Author Jeannette Walls

Author and MSNBC correspondent Jeannette Walls will speak at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 28th at the Neenah Public Library, 240 E. Wisconsin Avenue.

Walls is the author of "The Glass Castle: A Memoir," that recounts her youth meandering around the U.S. with her parents and siblings living in cars and abandoned homes, often on the run from the authorities, until the family ends up living in abject poverty in a shack in West Virginia. A side of homelessness and child neglect that’s never been told so explicitly, the book is impossible to put down.

"The Glass Castle" has been chosed as the book selection for Neenah Reads!.

For more information about Wall's appearance or Neenah Reads!, please call the library at (920) 886-6315.

Next Meeting

The Oshkosh Area Writers Club will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave.

The meeting is free and open to anyone age 17 or older.

For more information, please call 231-6182.

Discount Magazines

Anyone considering a subscription to "Writer's Digest" may want to order from Discount Magazines. They offer a one-year subscription for $14 - that's $10 off the normal rate.

In addition, Discount Magazines offers many popular women's, men's and entertainment magazines for only $5.95/year - no catches or gimmicks! Titles include Reader's Digest, Glamour, Rolling Stone, Shape, House and Garden, Self, Utne, Women's Day, Field and Stream, Golf Digest and many others.

Subscriptions are renewable and your personal information is not sold to others.

(Thanks to Chris K. at Berlin Public Library for passing along this information.)

POV

Are you telling your story through the right character? What are the advantages to writing in first person? Third person?


"Point of View" will be the discussion topic at the 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 meeting of the Oshkosh Area Writers Club. Meetings are held in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library. The event is free and open to anyone age 17 or older. For more information, please call 231-6182.

Word Nerd

A new blog, Word Nerd, by bkwriter, offers interesting insight into the world of reading and writing. A professional writer, the local author believes that “being a reader helps train a writer's eye to techniques that work well...or not so well.”

Recent postings tackle the diffcult but necessary process of revision and what makes Janet Evanovich’s novels so compelling.

“No pocket protectors here; just don't break the spines on books.”

Gift of Reading

The Oshkosh Public Library is sponsoring the "Give the Gift of Reading" book drive from Nov. 14 - Dec. 14, 2005.

Donate a new children's book to a needy child in the Oshkosh area. Shiny, new books for children age newborn through teen years will be delivered to the Salvation Army for Oshkosh area children. The library is looking for board books, lift-the-flap books, picture books, easy readers, junior novels and non-fiction. The "Gift Box" is located in the Library's Children's Room (lower level). For more information, please call 236-5208.

December meeting schedule

The Oshkosh Area Writers Club meeting schedule for December is below:

10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, writing critiques and Author Spotlight.

6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, writing workshop led by Stacie P.

10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, Christmas party and Author Spotlight.

Meetings are held in the lower level of the Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave. Meetings are free and open to anyone age 17 and older. For more information, please call 231-6182

WFOP Poetry Contest

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets “Muse Prize for Excellence in Poetry” opens on Dec. 1, 2005. While membership in WFOP is not a contest requirement, dues are $25/year and include a subscription to The Museletter.

Contest rules taken directly from their web site (http://www.wfop.org):

1. Contestant must be a Wisconsin resident 18 years of age or older.

2. The entry form must be completed in full, included with the submission and postmarked by the contest deadline date listed on the entry form.

3. Only one original unpublished poem not under consideration elsewhere may be entered in the WFOP Muse Prize contest. 75 line maximum. Plagiarism disqualifies the contestant.

4. Manuscript must be typed on 8 _” x 11” white paper, one side only. Writer’s name should not appear on the page with the poem.

5. An entry fee of $3.00 for WFOP members and $6.00 for non-members must accompany the submission. Checks are to be made out to WFOP Literary Fund and mailed to WFOP/Rafal, P O Box 340, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202.

6. Prizes are: 1st place - $200.00 and trophy; 2nd - $100.00; 3rd - $75.00.

7. Only the winners will be notified prior to the WFOP Spring Conference held on April 22, 2006 in Egg Harbor. The first place winner is invited to attend the award presentation luncheon as a guest of WFOP. The list of winners will be published in the WFOP Museletter and posted on the web site, www.wfop.org,
after the conference.

8. Prizes will be awarded only if there are sufficient entries and the contest judge determines that an entry warrants a prize award.

9. The first place winner of the WFOP Muse Prize will be ineligible to enter that contest again for three years.

10. WFOP is not responsible for lost manuscripts. Do not send a SASE. Entries will not be returned and there will be no notification if an entry is disqualified for failure to follow any of the above rules.

11. Author retains all rights to his/her work.

Lunch Hour Stories

LUNCH HOUR STORIES is seeking submissions for its premier 2007 season. The new literary magazine publishes only short stories and distributes them only to paid subscribers. Lunch Hour Stories are thin, easy to carry booklets that contain ONE short story each.

Subscriptions to Lunch Hour Stories will become available July 1, 2006. Free sample issues will become available early spring 2006. To add your name to our mailing list, please send complete contact information to mail@lunchhourbooks.com.

Submissions

Stories should be previously unpublished, literary in nature (no genre pieces, please), 4000-8000 words, copy-edited, and formatted in common manuscript style.

Send printed manuscripts in duplicate (manuscripts will not be returned), along with complete contact information, a short synopsis of the story (100 words or less), a short writing and publishing history, and a SASE with adequate postage for response to:

Submissions
Lunch Hour Stories
22833 Bothell-Everett Hwy
STE 102 - PMB 1117
Bothell, WA 98021

Submissions will be accepted at any time; however, the deadline for publication during the 2007 season is June 30, 2006. Authors who submit their work prior to the deadline and who are selected for publication will be contacted and asked to sign a publications agreement and to submit an electronic version of their story (in WORD) no less than three months prior to scheduled publication.

Publishing Rights

By submitting a story to Lunch Hour Stories, the author gives Lunch Hour Book Publications the right to print and distribute it to our list of paid subscribers and to be the first publisher of the story anywhere in the world. All rights will revert back to the author after publication, with certain limitations for the first year thereafter. Prior to publication, the author will be sent a publications agreement to sign with full details.

Compensation

Lunch Hour Book Publications will compensate the author $50 for the right to publish their story. We will also provide him/her with ten (10) printed copies of their story (additional copies may be purchased for $2 each), a free one-year subscription to Lunch Hour Stories (a $22 value), and a short personal interview on the Lunch Hour Stories web-site.

For more information, please contact the Lunch Hour Stories editor at editor@lunchhourbooks.com.

Writing Workshop Nov. 10

The writing workshop "Creating Dialogue," will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10 in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library.

BRING pen and paper as this will be a hands-on workshop.

The meeting is free and open to anyone age 17 or older.

Also at the meeting: we will take some time to critique an article for a member who is working on deadline.

NaNoWriMo local forum

Several people have said they are not able to find the local online forum for National Novel Writing Month so I'm posting the link below:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=92

The forum allows people to meet other local participants, plan online chats, share ideas, etc.

....Wishing continued good luck to those who are undertaking the tremendous feat of writing a novel in one month!

Local Author Visit - Kroenwetter

Local author Michael Kroenwetter will speak about writing his latest mystery "First Kill" at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at the Apple Blossom Books, downtown Oshkosh. He will also be available for book signing.

For more information, please call Apple Blossom Books at (920) 230-3395.

November Meeting Schedule

The November meeting schedule of the Oshkosh Area Writers Club is as follows:

Writing Critiques, 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 5
"Creating Dialogue" workshop, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10
Writing Critiques, 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 19

All meetings are free and open to anyone 17 years or older.

Meetings are held in the lover level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave.

For more information, please call 231-6182.

Local Contact - NaNoWriMo

This year, Stacie P. of the OAWC has volunteered to be the local contact for Wisconsin (excluding Madison and Milwaukee). Stacie participated in the event last year (and completed it!) and is the local "expert" on where to go for writing tips, strategies, etc.

So far, people have registered from Oshkosh, Appleton, Seymour, New London, Beloit, Wausau and Wisconsin Dells.

A kick-off party is planned for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Barnes and Noble in Appleton.

Stacie is currently working on setting up an online chat schedule where participants can meet and share ideas, frustrations, etc.

For more information on local happenings or to network with fellow Wisconsinites, go to National Novel Writing Month, click on "forums" and type in "oshkosh" as your search word.

To contact Stacie directly, please e-mail her at: oshkosh_wi@nanowrimo.org or visit her website, Raspberry Latte.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Registration for NaNoWriMo has begun! The program is best described on their website:.

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2004, we had over 42,000 participants. Nearly 6000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2005. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Morgan Spurlock "Super Size Me"

Award-winning writer/director Morgan Spurlock will speak at 8 p.m. Wed., Nov. 16 in the Reeve Ballroom, UW-Oshkosh. Fee is $2 for general public; free for students with Titancard.

As the subject of the documentary film, “Super Size Me,” which he also directed and produced, Spurlock subjected himself to a grueling 30-day “McDonald’s Only” diet to document its impact on his health. His latest project, the reality show “30 Days,” airs on Fox.

For more information, please click Reeve Union Happenings.