“I always read the last page of a book first so that if I die before I finish I’ll know how it turned out.” – Nora Ephron
Writing Friends:
We’re up and running with the yahoo group as our means of distributing emails and writing pieces. Twenty-eight people have joined the group so far. You no longer have to try to maintain an updated member email list. You can email everyone or select individuals by selecting “Post” off the TWS yahoo group menu. Send your writings as attachments or post them in “Files” (if the latter, select “notification” to generate an email of your posted piece. Note whether it’s for 1st & 3rd or 2nd & 4th in the description subject line).
I am posting our Who’s up Next? schedule on the TWS yahoo calender. You will be able to add yourself to the schedule without going through the editor. We review up to six writers’ works at a meeting. If you add on, make sure you send out an email with your piece or inform people that you have posted it as a file. Also, Danny created a new file in yahoo, stuff_for_the_editor. This is a place where you can upload any items you have run across which you think might be noteworthy for the newsletter.
Another pitch for Pat. Please send her an updated or new biography of yourself for the web page. Tell her to cut and paste in your old one, or send her something new. This helps web-surfing newcomers to check out TWS. Be brief, elaborate, creative or not. General guidelines: 100-400 words; Your name (at least first name); Your writing/reading interests; Writing experiences; Background (e.g. education, travels, pertinent jobs, general life experiences); Expertise/Special Knowledge. (e.g., professions, travels, family, life experiences, skills, etc). The enables our own members to use each other as information sources for researching or writing. Oh, and if you have a blog or web site of your own which you want listed on the TWS page, include that info. Pat will re-list any sites that were on our old web page.
At the B& N . . .
Nine gathered last night and discussed five items. John Schneller, chapter 6, Broken. Several people said the landscape was unclear, dialogue flowed well, good treatment of the moral theme. Danny Dhokarh, short story. The women liked the 2nd person; men did not. Some wanted more details of the restaurant scene. Pat Edwards (poem). Most like the images. One said it was sad. Susan Gloss (query letter) Most like the alternate title, Excellente. Several suggested changes in the opening paragraph to grab attention and better describe the book. Alicia Connolly-Lohr (chapter, Lawyer Lincoln) most enjoyed story line and dialogue but it needs more period details.
A representative from B& N informed us that on Nov. 17th we will need to find another location for our meeting. There will be a speaker there that night, who is expected to draw a large crowd. There won’t be room for us. We’re checking with Alicia Ashmore Library to see if we can get in there. Will send out an email with updated info. FYI: The library is in a strip mall at 733 North High Point Road, Madison, 53717; phone 824-1780.
Who’s up next . . .
November 10: Jack Freiburger, (chapter, Path to Bray’s Head), November 17: John Schneller (chapter 7, Broken), Amber Boudreau (chapter 2, YA novel), Clayton Gill (chapter 6, Fishing Derby), Alicia Connolly-Lohr (chapter ?, Lawyer Lincoln), Pat Edwards (poems).
November 24: Carol Hornung (scene, Aspserger’s Sunset)
December 2 (remember it’s a Wednesday): Judith Mcneil (??), Pat Edwards (poems), Amber Boudreau (chapter 3, YA novel), Alicia Connolly-Lawyer (chapter ?, Lawyer Lincoln), John Schneller (Chapter 8, Broken)
If you want to get scheduled for Nov. 10th, 17th, 24th or Dec. 2, 15th, write yourself in on the yahoo calendar and send out a notification email and post or email your writing piece. No more than six pieces, please.
From our writers . . .
Jerry Peterson sent in this week’s WORD SPY reference, Beer miler. Jerry wrote, “that’s too much fun not to use as a word feature in Writers Mail.”
beer miler n. A person who competes in races that combine running with beer drinking.
—beer mile n.
—beer miling pp.
Example Citations: He belongs to a generation of runners whose carefree attitudes have fuelled the popularity of running clubs that prove, according to Canadian Running magazine editor Michal Kapral, “we’re not a bunch of prudes.” They include beer milers, who claim a fair number of frat boys but also serious runners.
—Hayley Mick, “A beer before a run? Some serious runners say yes ,” The Globe and Mail, October 29, 2009 The event usually happens at a dark, secluded track, away from campus security or city police — sometimes it might even take place on a farmer’s field in the country — but no matter the venue, the challenge remains the same. The contest calls for runners to chug four beers (three for the women’s event) at regular 400m intervals during a mile race, in an attempt to crown the fastest beer miler.
—Mihira Lakshman, “Beer and running — an unlikely pairing,” Canadian Running, October 29, 2009 Earliest Citation: The same scenario as in ’04 played out again this year with a similar cast of characters plus about 20 additional idiots (there seems to be no shortage) but this time adherence to the rules (yes, there are actually rules) listed on www.beermile.com became part of the obvious challenge that includes four 12-ounce beer (note, Canadians don’t pluralize the word and, after all, aren’t they the experts?) and 4-laps around a track. Those who had participated for the first time in ’04 were one year wiser and wanted to officially carve their name into history. Only by strictly adhering to the rules would this happen. Many claimed to be a “beer miler” but no one had yet become the genuine article.
—”Annual Encinitas Beer Mile,” Multisports.com, January 1, 2006 (est.)
2009 LITERARY AWARDS . . .
NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE: Herta Müller; “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” The Nobel Academy apparently made the award for the body of her work (i.e., novels, essays, poems) about life under dictatorship. For the story, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/books/09nobel.html
Below is an excerpt of a telephone interview with Ms. Müller the day the news of the Nobel prize award broke.
PEN/FAULKNER AWARD: Joseph O’Neill for “Netherland.” The novel is set in New York after the 9/11 attacks. There have been many comparisons to “The Great Gatsby.” The game of cricket features prominently in the story. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022600006.html
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD – Stay tuned; To be announced Nov. 18, 2009
PULTIZER PRIZE FOR FICTION: Elizabeth Strout for “Olive Kitteridge,” It has been described as “a collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating.” http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/04/20/olive-kitteridge-takes-2009-pulitzer-prize-for-fiction/
NEWBERRY MEDAL and HUGO AWARD: Neil Gaiman for “The Graveyard Book,” described as “a delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humor and human longing, the tale of Nobody Owens is told in magical, haunting prose. A child marked for death by an ancient league of assassins escapes into an abandoned graveyard, where he is reared and protected by its spirit denizens.” http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor: Famous comedian/actor, Bill Cosby. He tells the Washington Post that he “learned storytelling” from his grandfather. Check out the story, “Bill Cosby’s gift of gab: In his genes via a sock,” by Paul Farhi, The Washington Post, October 26, 2009, on Topix.net. http://www.topix.net/content/wapo/2009/10/bill-cosbys-gift-of-gab-in-his-genes-via-a-sock
Tuesdays with Story 
Great looking Blog! Found it through Google. Just as an FYI, it didnt display right when I opened it in the Opera Interet Browser.