Summer Reading

Registration has begun for the Oshkosh Public Library Adult Summer Reading Program. Read what you want, when you want. Weekly prize drawings and free community programs. For more info or to register online, click here.

North stories

Crotalus Publishing is currently compiling a book aptly titled North. The Book will feature stories and photographs from talent in MN, WI, MI, and Ontario. "We are looking for stories about why we live in the North. Is it the fishing, the outdoors, the Mississippi River Bluffs, or your grandfather's farm?" Photographers are also being considered. Please limit essays to 1,000 words max and submit to:

Crotalus Publishing
3500 Vicksburg Lane North #302
Plymouth, MN 55447
info@crotaluspublishing.com

"Cage of Stars" discount

Apple Blossom Books, downtown Oshkosh, is offering $5 off Wisconsin author Jacquelyn Mitchard's newest novel, "Cage of Stars." The offer is good through May 31.

Mitchard will be doing a booksigning at 7 p.m. June 14 at the Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave. The event is free and open to the public,

OAWC Book

At the May 20 meeting, members discussed self-publishing a book of members' works. Tom C. printed a single copy, hardcover book through Lulu Press; it looked great and was inexpensive (he will bring it again to the June meeting for members to review).

Since everyone liked the idea of putting together a book (and Stacie generously agreed to format the galley sheets), we're currently putting together an informal committee to set some guidelines regarding length of submissions, etc. If you are interesting in serving on the committee or would like to share your ideas, please attend any of the June meetings or email us at oshkoshwriters@writeme.com.

Wisconsin Writers Conference

Some of Wisconsin's finest writers and educators will explore the culture and literature of our state in this two-day Wisconsin Writers conference. There will be over 30 creative writers, performance artists, and academics featured, reading from their own work or their studies of writers from Wisconsin or writers who feature Wisconsin in their works. The last time this bi-annual conference took place, in 2004, over 150 people attended. Call 608-355-5220 for more information or to register.

Printers Row Book Fair

The 22nd Annual Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair is on June 3 and 4, 2006. The Midwest's largest free outdoor literary event features 150 new, used and antiquarian booksellers and more than 100 captivating programs including author readings, panel discussions, cooking demonstrations and children's activities. For one weekend, the historic Printers Row neighborhood is transformed into a festival for booklovers of all ages and interests. Come celebrate the world of reading with the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Public Library.

More Fictional Musings

Stacie P. has a new story posted at Fictional Musings.

Fair warning, it does contain the F-Word, but in a non-offensive way that might even be a situation where you'd use it.

Thanks for checking it out!

Book Sale

For 2 weeks starting May 17, 2006, Bookcloseouts.com has marked down all Hard Cover Fiction books by an ADDITIONAL 25%. Over 8,000 great titles to select from for your reading enjoyment. Some quantities are limited so get them while you can. Sale ends May 31, 2006.

Upcoming Events - June 2006

The events below are free and open to the public. All events take place in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave.

Writing Critiques
10 a.m. Saturday, June 3

Writing Workshop
6:30 p.m. Thursday, 8

Wisconsin Author Jacquelyn Mitchard Booksigning
7 p.m. Wednesday, June 14

"Cheers and Tears, Writing Personal Histories" by Jean Goodwin Messinger
7 p.m. Thursday, June 15

Writing Critiques
10 a.m. Saturday, June 17
(Local author Jess Riley will speak at 11 a.m.)

Elements of Aversion
What Makes Horror Horrifying?
by Elizabeth Barrette

A great article on how to create effective horror fiction but the tips could be applied to any suspenseful writing. Includes the elements of suspense - sense of urgency, creating pressure, setting a rhythm, and creating a sense of the unknown.

Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop archives

At the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua, expert writers, editors, and others in the children's writing business serve each year as faculty members for the annual Chautauqua conference.

Over the years, the Highlights Foundation has amassed an outstanding archive of information to aid children's writers. Share in the Chautauqua experience with these insightful and inspiring talks by accessing any of the titles listed below via their pull-down menus.

Search the archives by subject such as agents, beginnings and endings, characters, series, point of view, short stories, writing for teens or search by author, including children and young adults authors including Eve Bunting, Walter Dean Myers, Ted Lewin, Richard Peck, Jerry Spinelli, Jane Yolen and others.

Frank Farvour

With sadness we note the death of member Frank Farvour who passed away April 13. An original member of the OAWC, Frank was the very first Spotlight Author and shared with us the first 14 chapters of his novel "The Petroglyph that Smiled."

Frank lived in Ripon and in addition to being a writer, was a land surveyor, amateur geologist and licensed small craft pilot. Click here to view his obituary.

Frank could be counted on to spin a good story and he will be missed on Saturday mornings. A card for his family was passed around and mailed.

First Chapters

Since the first five pages of any book are vital to its success, it might be fun to see what the bestsellers have to offer.

The New York Times posts the First Chapter of many best-selling fiction and non-fiction titles. Current selections include “A Writer’s Life” by Gay Talese and “High Lonesome” by Joyce Carol Oates.

Writer's Dictionary

Dawn Copeman has compiled "A Beginner's Guide to... Writing Terminology," a useful dictionary of common terms used by writers and editors.

Best Sites for Writers

Writer's Digest has announced their list "101 Best Websites for Writers" for 2006.

From their website: "Here's our eighth annual listing of the 101 best Web sites for writers. We examined more than 1,400 votes and chose the most valuable. We've simplified the list to six categories: creativity, general resources, genre/niche, just for fun, publishing resources and writing sites. We've also added symbols (see the key on Page 30) with each listing so you can quickly scan to see if the site offers what you're looking for: chat, classes/workshops, contests, critiques, forums, jobs, markets, newsletters and young writers. What do you think of our choices? After you check them out, send your comments and nominations for next year's list to writersdig@fwpubs.com with "101 Best Web sites" as the subject."

Author Visit - Jacquelyn Mitchard

Best-selling author Jacquelyn Mitchard will visit the Oshkosh Public Library at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 14 to promote her latest novel, ”Cage of Stars” (Warner, 2006).

Mitchard has the distinction of being the first author selected for Oprah’s Book Club for her novel, “Deep End of the Ocean,” which was later made into a film.

A former newspaper reporter, Mitchard and her stay-at-home husband, Chris Brent, live on a farm near Madison, WI, with their seven children. She does 200 sit-ups each morning, is deeply superstitious and has an ambition to someday appear on the show “Law and Order.”

More details about her visit will be available soon.

Writing a Query Letter

An excellent article on how to write a query letter is posted at Agent Query. The article discusses each part of a query letter in detail and includes real-life examples.

The Literacy Site

Your click on the red "Fund Books For Kids" button at The Literacy Site generates books for children in need, funded by site sponsors and provided through our award winning charity partner, First Book. First Book has distributed more than 40 million books to children in hundreds of communities.

Contest for 1st Chapters

The Writing Show is proud to announce our first ever writing contest. We are looking for the best first chapter of a novel. That’s all you have to do—just the first chapter. Set up your story and hook us!

Prizes
There will be three prizes: a first prize of $150 and two second prizes of $50 each. Each winning entry will be featured on our Web site, and we will also have them read by some excellent voice actors and made available as audio files.

Your writing will be judged on the following 5 criteria:
1. Concept. Is it a compelling read with a great hook?
2. Style. Is the writing smooth and flowing?
3. Dialog. Is the dialog natural and does it move the story along?
4. Character. Are the characters interesting?
5. Mechanics. Are grammar and punctuation correct?

Specifications
• Entries are limited to 3000 words.
• Any fiction genre is okay.
• You must write in the English language.
• G, PG, and R ratings are okay.
• The chapter must be your original work and must be unpublished.
• You must hold all rights to the material.
• Relatives of the judges may not enter the contest.
• Only one entry per person.

Deadline
Entries are due on the first anniversary of The Writing Show, which is July 6, 2006.

Announcement of Winners
We will announce the winners on Labor Day 2006, which is the first Monday in September.

Judges
• Book publicist Karen Villanueva, who was on the show on October 3, 2005.
• Author Harriet Smart, who was on the show on March 6, 2006.
• Guest host Mick Halpin, whose interviews were posted on January 30th and March 27th of this year.
• John Bryans, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Information Today Books and Plexus Books.
• Georganna Hancock, who writes the fabulous blog Writer’s Edge.
• Alan Chaney, co-founder of The Writing Show.

How to Submit
This contest will be conducted entirely electronically. To send us an entry, you should do one of two things:
• Send a link to a PDF or HTML version of the work
• Send an email attachment of a txt, doc, rtf, or pdf file.
The address to submit to is: contest@writingshow.com.

Your submission must include the following. Do not put these on the chapter itself, only in your email. If you include any identifying information on the chapter, it will make more work for me as I will have to strip it out before I give it to the judges:
• Your name.
• Your phone number.
• Your email address.
• Your snail mail address.
• Title of the work.
• Word count.
• A log line—a one-sentence description of the work. Use it to hook us!
• The following text: “I am the author of this work and hold all rights to it. If I win, I grant The Writing Show permission to display the work on its Web site or sites and to have an audio recording of the work made and distributed.”

The importance of writing practice

Writer Judy Reeves has posted a really good article on the importance of writing practice. You can read it here.

Her guidelines for practice are summarized below; you can read the entire version here or in her book, "A Writer's Book of Days."

1. Keep writing.
Don't stop to edit, to rephrase, to think. Don't go back and read what you've written. If you keep your writing hand moving, you'll bypass the censor, the editor, the critic, and if you're lucky, maybe even the ego.

2. Trust your pen.
Go with the first image that appears. "First thought, best thought," reminds us that the first image comes from your intuitive mind, where the creative process finds its foothold.

3. Don't judge your writing.
Don't compare, analyze, criticize. Remember that what gets written in writing practice is the roughest of rough drafts - writing that is pouring directly from intuition, too fragile and raw for judgments. Remember to be your own best friend - nonjudgmental, accepting, tolerant, loving, kind, and patient. And remember to laugh sometimes. At yourself and your writing.

4. Let your writing find its own form.
Form will come organically out of what you write. You don't have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end for what your write in practice sessions. Nor does it have to fit into some container labeled story or essay or poem.

5. Don't worry about the rules.
It doesn't matter if your grammar is incorrect, your spelling wrong, your syntax garbled, or your punctuation off. The time to edit, correct, and polish is during rewrites, not during practice.

6. Let go of any expectations.
Expectations set you up so you're always ahead of yourself rather than being present in the moment. This is why it's good to dive right into the writing topic with no time to think of what you'll write or how best to shape your writing around a subject.

7. Kiss your frogs.
First-draft writing doesn't have to be good, it won't always be good, and even when it is good, among the good will be some not so good. Remember, this is just practice. You write what you write.

8. Tell the truth.
Every time you write you have an opportunity to tell the truth. And sometimes it's only through writing that you can know the truth. Be willing to go to the scary places that make your hand tremble and your handwriting get a little out of control. Be willing to tell your secrets. It's risky, but if you don't write the truth, you chance writing that is glib, shallow, or bland.

9. Write specific details.
Your writing doesn't have to be factual, but the specificity of detail brings it alive. It does not matter if the tree you sat beneath was a sycamore or a eucalyptus, but naming it one or the other will paint a clearer picture. The truth isn't in the facts; it's in the detail.

10. Write what matters.
If you don't care about what you're writing, neither will your readers. Write about what interests you, what bothers you, what you don't understand, what you want to learn more about.

11. Read your writing aloud after you've completed your practice session.
You'll find out what you've written, what you care about, and when the writing is "working." Reading aloud lets you know when the writing is repetitious or trite. Reading aloud tells you when you're writing with authenticity and when you've found your writer's voice.

12. Date your page and write the topic at the top.
This will keep you grounded in the present and help you reference pieces you might want to use in something else. A review of the dates in your practice notebook can provide insights about your writing self.