Writer’s Maily
by Randy Haselow
February 4, 20110
Fifth Tuesday’s writing challenge . . .
Have you been sitting out the writing challenge? Just haven’t been able to get turned on to writing a short piece for Fifth Tuesday?
You need an incentive? Maybe a reward? How about an opportunity to have the first 50 pages of the novel you’re writing critiqued by John Galligan, published author and creative writing instructor at Madison College?
John will do that for you, but first you have to interview your character and distill that interview down to a dynamite piece of no more than 500 words. That’s the writing challenge for our next Fifth Tuesday, March 29.
Go ahead. Select one of your fictional characters – major or minor – and take her or him on an adventure, and the two of you talk. The best piece wins John’s critique.
This time there is an entry fee . . . $10. We’ll use all those $10 bills that come in to buy an outstanding dinner at a superb restaurant for you – if you are the winner – your spouse or friend, and John and his guest where you all will eat like royalty and discuss your writing.
Here’s the deadline. Email your mini-masterpiece to Jerry Peterson, no later than Sunday, March 20. On Monday, March 21, a reader, not a member of our group, will read the submissions . . . no names will be attached . . . and select the three best. The next day, on Tuesday, March 22, John will read the top three . . . again, no names attached . . . and select the very best of the best. And we’ll tell you who the writer of that piece is on March 29.
So you’re curious about that week gap between John’s judging and the announcement. During that week’s time, he’s going to be out of town. No doubt fishing. He does that a lot. Research for his novels.
All right, start writing, and next week, we’ll tell you who’s handling the money.
By the way, the first submission is in.
(thank you, Jerry)
Who’s up next . . .
February 8: Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Jack Freiburger (chapter, Path to Bray’s Head), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (chapter, Coming Up for Air), Ann Potter (memoir), Kim Simmons (chapters, City of Winter), and Jen Wilcher (???).
February 15: Linda Meyer (chapter, Everything’s Going South), Jen Wilcher (chapter, The Hogoshiro Chronicles), Leah Wilbur (???), Clayton Gill (chapter 16, Fishing Derby), Greg Spry (chapter 4, Beyond Cloud Nine), and Aaron Boehm (screenplay/part 6, Hell Cage).
February 22: Terry Hoffman (chapter, The Tome), Carol Hornung (scene, Sapphire Lodge), Kim Simmons (chapters, City of Winter), and Anne Allen (chapter, A Fatal Homecoming).
March 1: Pat Edwards (poems), Chris Maxwell (???), Millie Mader (chapter 24, Life on Hold), Linda Meyer (chapter, Everything’s Going South), Amber Boudreau (chapter 18, young adult novel), and Kim Simmons (chapter 57, City of Summer).
March 8: Jack Freiburger (chapter, Path to Bray’s Head).
(thank you, Jerry)
Word clouds . . .
We writers are word fanatics, word fiends. So here’s something for us, an online toy that lets you and me create word clouds. Here’s an example created by writer and blogger Nathan Bransford:
SUFPC Word Cloud!!
The toy is Wordle. Here’s the link so you can check it out: http://www.wordle.net/
(thank you, Jerry)
Top writer coming this way . . .
Lots of writers come through town on book tours. Here’s an excellent one. Chicago crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann will be at Booked for Murder on Tuesday evening, April 5. New out from her is “Set the Night on Fire”, a novel that’s part thriller, part historical novel, and part love story, a novel that taps into the antiwar protests of the 1960s. Publishers Weekly’s reviewer called the book “a jazzy fusion of past and present . . . a politically charged whodunit (that) explores a fascinating period in American history.”
Libby likes to talk with writers who are working to get published.
(thank you, Jerry)
Word Spy
blizzaster n. A massive snowstorm; the negative effects of such a storm. Also: blizz-aster. [Blend of blizzard and disaster.]
Example Citations:
One reader suggested we call the forthcoming snow a “snownami;” Karl coined the term “blizzaster.”
—Chuck Sudo, “You Say ‘Snowpacalypse,’ We Say ‘Tuesday’,” Chicagoist, January 31, 2011
TribLocal wants your blizzard photos. Whether you are weathering the storm by building snowmen or plowing through piles of snow on your driveway, TribLocal is asking for photos of how you honor Old Man Winter. And if you want to stay in the comfort of your home, just post a photo of your backyard blizzaster.
—Mary Rakoczy, “Post your blizzard photos on TribLocal.com,” TribLocal, February 1, 2011
The February 1st meeting of Tuesdays With Story was cancelled in order to avoid involuntary member attrition as writers attempted to navigate the raging blizzaster.
–Writers’ Mail
Earliest Citation:
These were taken around 10 am, the snow is already a lot higher…updates will be posted later!
—”Blizzaster 2009 pictures,” Life on Stover Drive, December 19, 2009
Related Words:
space weather
thunderstorm asthma
weather bomb
Posted on February 2, 2011
Permalink: http://www.wordspy.com/words/blizzaster.asp
(thank you, Jerry)
Kim has an inchoate website: http://bloodcheesecontent.blogspot.com/
And with that, I (Randy) quit! Send submissions for February’s Writers’ Mail to Cathy Riddle.
Tuesdays with Story 
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