Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays With Story
WRITER’S MAIL for November 1, 2012

“A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.” ~W. Somerset Maugham

Fifth Tuesday . . .
What a crowd, 22 people cramming ourselves into Rebecca Rettenmund’s mom’s house – thank you Victoria Horn for hosting us and making that great vegetable lasagna – for this week’s Fifth Tuesday feast and celebration of vampires, zombies, and other terrors of the night.

We shared in eleven Fifth Tuesday stories of the supernatural. Go to our Yahoo group and click on FIFTH TUESDAY. You will find them there.

Special guest Ben LeRoy, publisher of Tyrus Books and a leader of our group a decade ago, answered questions on the changing publishing business, ebooks, what a publisher can offer an author that self-publishing cannot, and the hoops you have to go through to catch the eye of an agent. “It starts with finishing your book,” Ben said, “and then revising it and rewriting it and rewriting it and rewriting it to make it not just a good book, not just a pretty good book, but the best book it can be.”

Plan now for our next Fifth Tuesday, January 29. Put it on your calendar. Fist-and-third group hosts.

Who’s up next . . ..
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 at chornung88@aol.com

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).

NaNoWriMo Resources!
From Nathan Bransford

It’s Halloween, which means it’s NaNoWriMo Eve!

In case you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo (but I’m guessing you have), it is a one month challenge whereby you ignore your friends and family and instead dedicate yourself to the noble pursuit of writing a novel as fast as your fingers and brain will allow.

It’s a fantastic event for beginning and veteran writers alike, and it has inspired quite a few fantastic novels, some of which went on to be bestsellers. This year there’s a program specifically geared toward young writers, and the NaNoWriMo org estimates that overall, 250,000 writers will participate.

Are you going to NaNoWriMo it up? There are loads of blog posts that will help get you started:

(find all the links here: Nathan Bransford – NaNoWriMo Resources! )

How to Write a Novel
How to Format Your Manuscript
Do You Have a Plot?
Is It an Archetype or a Cliche?
How to Get Started Writing
Why You Shouldn’t Follow Trends
Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue
How to Create a Dynamic Relationship Between Characters
All About Conflict
How to Craft a Great Voice
What Makes a Great Setting

If You Participate – Let Us Know
Send your experiences and updates in the NaNoWriMo competition to Katelin Cummins, the November Writer’s Mail editor.

Books, books, books . . .
You knew the first book in Jerry Peterson’s new AJ Garrison Crime Novels series was out. The Watch is up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, both as and ebook and a print book. Now his Christmas short story collection, A James Early Christmas and Other Stories of the Season are out, too . . . ebook and print book at the same places.

Great word . . .
From Wordsmith Anu Garg’s week of words that appear to have been coined after the 2012 US presidential candidates . . . obambulate, bidentate, and, for today, mitty.

Mitty
PRONUNCIATION: (MIT-ee)

MEANING: noun: An ordinary, timid person who indulges in daydreams involving great adventures and triumphs.

ETYMOLOGY: After the title character in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, a short story (1939) by James Thurber, later made into a movie (1947) of the same name.

NOTES: James Thurber’s story appeared in the March 18, 1939, issue of the New Yorker. In the story, Walter Mitty is a meek husband, rather uxorious, who fantasizes of great exploits to escape the humdrum of daily life. One minute he is dreaming of being a heroic pilot (“Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8500!”), next minute he becomes a daring naval commander. In his next thought he transforms into a master surgeon, and even a cool killer.

USAGE: “It was not a Mitty dream. It was no fantasy at all.”
Richard Bach; A Gift of Wings; Dell; 1974

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 Last Word:
“We write to remember our nows later.” ~Terri Guillemets