Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays With Story
WRITER’S MAIL for October 25, 2012

“Nobody becomes a writer overnight. Well, I’m sure somebody did, but that person’s head probably went all asplodey from paroxysms of joy, fear, paranoia, guilt and uncertainty. Celebrities can be born overnight. Writer’s can’t. Writers are made – forged, really, in a kiln of their own madness and insecurities – over the course of many, many moons. The writer you are when you begin is not the same writer you become.” – Chuck Wendig

Last Call for Fifth Tuesday!
Second-and-fourth hosts at Rebecca Rettenmund’s mom’s house, 702 Emerson Street, Madison. Ben LeRoy, of Tyrus Books, will be with us, discussing the rapidly changing publishing industry. Get your stories to Jerry and bring your dishes to pass for an evening of fun Tuesday October 30 at 7 pm! If you wrote a story, bring along a copy to read out loud. Stories will be assembled for the special October 31 Writer’s Mail.

Tuesday Night at Barnes & Noble
Blending in with the mid-term crowd, a half-dozen of us gathered for opinions and camaraderie…

Rebecca Rettenmund read Chapter 14, “Hunger” from her novel, The Cheese Logue. Katelin really enjoyed the piece. Terry singled out the line “Dirge mewed in a voice too small for his size” as a line she liked. The battle concept with the wheel of cheese was fun, too, though Carol didn’t like the cheese talking back or the NUM NUM NUMs, though others begged to differ. Jen was a little puzzled by the line “Back to June 5, Sunday,” wondering – did we ever leave? And Terry reminded Rebecca she needed to show the reader she put on the cheese hat again.

Terry Hoffman is closing in on the ending of The Great Tome. Like Rebecca, she’s on Chapter 14, and this one did a good job of building up suspense toward the ending. The last line, though, was a little confusing. Make sure we realize the bullet ricochets off the book and back at Rachel. Katelin also pointed out that there are three different affairs going on in the book. Might want to mix up the marital problems a little bit. And Carol liked the part where Rachel started to think that the tome is what caused her mother’s car accident.

Who’s up next . . .
October 30: Fifth Tuesday! Second-and-fourth hosts at Rebecca Rettenmund’s mom’s house, 702 Emerson Street, Madison.
November 6: Lisa McDougal (chapter 8, Follow the Yellow), Bob Kralapp (???), Pat Edwards (???), Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter 14, The Cheese Logue), Aaron Boehm (film script, part 4, “Stealing from Yourself”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 24-25, Rage).
November 13: Terry Hoffman (chapter, The Great Tome), Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter, The Cheese Logue), Jack Freiburger (poem, Avibus), and Liam Wilbur (???). *Slots open. To claim one, email Carol Hornung.
November 20: Rebecca Rettenmund (chapter 15, The Cheese Logue), Amber Boudreau (chapter 11, Noble), Millie Mader (chapter 39, Life on Hold), Pat Edwards (???), Aaron Boehm (film script, part 5, “Stealing from Yourself”), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 26-28, Rage).

December Moves
B&N left a note for the group, telling us we have to move out for December, the big sales month for the store. Millie Mader has reserved the Alicia Ashman Branch Library’s community room for the group’s use on December 5 (a Wednesday evening) and December 18 (a Tuesday evening). Second and fourth is working on a meeting place for December 11th, but will not be meeting on December 25th.

NaNoWriMo advice from Larry Brooks of StoryFix.com
“37 Posts to Prep and Dominate Your Novel This November”

NaNoWriMo – The National Novel Writing Month – is for getting real about your dreams of being a writer. The challenge is simple: dedicate the month of November to getting your ideas out on paper – or, for most of us, into a computer file. Fifty thousand words by the end of the month, and all the support you can get from their web site! Get started with these great tips, here:

http://storyfix.com/category/nanowrimo

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, keep us posted! Send your updates to the November Newsletter Editor, Katelin Cummins.

Writer’s Mail: Duty Roster
Yes, you saw that right – we have an editor for November! Katelin is jumping into the fray and manning the Writer’s Mail for four weeks – send your story ideas and meeting notes to her at the above address.

November – Katelin Cummins
December – Clayton Gill
January – Pat Edwards
February – This Could Be You! Sign up today!

The Wisconsin Book Festival
If you’ve been wondering, like me, why you hadn’t heard anything about the Wisconsin Book Festival yet this year, it’s because it has moved this year from it’s usual mid-October dates to November 7 – 11th. Once again packed with events, this year’s theme is “Lost and Found.” Find everything you need to know at http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/

Mad Dash – How to Use the Dash in Writing – from NYTimes.com
(courtesy Brandy Larson)

Let’s consider the most versatile piece of punctuation — the dash. That’s right — I’m talking about the horizontal line formed by typing two hyphens in a row. It’s the mark that — unlike commas, periods, semicolons and all the others — doesn’t seem to be subject to any rules.
(for the rest of the article, click here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/mad-dash/?emc=eta1)

The Last Word
“Novels are written, not wished into existence. You have to sit your ass in the chair or nothing gets done.” — John Dufresne