Thursday, October 21, 2010

NEXT AAG&A BOARD MEETING


The next meeting of the Appalachian Authors Guild & Associaties is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 1 p.m. at the office of the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission in Lebanon, Virginia.  Linda Lane, Executive Director of the Virginia Writers Club, will be speaking  with regard to possible AAG&A's affiliation, as a chapter of the VWC.  All AAG&A members are encouraged to attend.

Remember Me With Love, by Mary Ann Artrip



The advantage to reading big-name, well-publicized writers is that you know (more or less) what you’re getting in advance. The advantage to reading a little known writer is the delightful surprise of discovering something eminently readable, perhaps even memorable. I think we writers live and die by the old Billy Joe Shaver couplet, “I’m just an old chunk of coal/but I’m gonna be a diamond someday.” The author of this book has already pressed her chunk of coal to a twinkle, judging by this enjoyable read.

At a recent writer’s organization board meeting, Artrip, winner of a 2007 IPPY award, held this book up and asked me if I’d like to read it. I said, “Sure.” And the book charmed me. She bills it as a mystery/romance, and that’s true – it’s a bit of both. How would I have cast it? Maybe in a genre as a latter-day Charlotte Brontë. Her protagonist, Kate Spencer, a hard-working woman meets rich bigwig, Jon Ames, and after the expected romantic foreplay, they become a couple – after a fashion. But there’s a lover’s triangle afoot here – something I was hardly prepared for. And there’s a murder, a courtroom battle, and something of a happy ending.

The author writes fluidly; her prose is smart, her dialogue snappy, and she knows how to pace a complicated story. Perhaps the characters don’t resonate in quite the way one might expect of edgy, modern fictional inventions, but the tone here is Gatsby, it’s Jane Eyre – a romantic melodrama from another era - so the characterizations are forgiven.

My only concern is that, given the style, I wish she had pushed her narrator a bit more to the forefront. But she was clearly taking chances here – chances that might flummox a few readers. Still, taking chances makes life interesting. The story works and, despite this not being a book I’d have picked off a bookstore shelf, I’m glad I read it.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Review by Bob Mustin

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Tidings Newsletter

AAG&A Tidings - 3

AAG Board News

AAG Board meetings are open so Guild members are encouraged to attend at any time to offer ideas and suggestions or simply to sit in and listen.

For a year or so Board meetings have been held in the conference room of the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission in Lebanon, VA. One item discussed at the last couple of meetings was perhaps having future bi-monthly or quarterly Board/membership meetings in different areas of the region. Perhaps in a private meeting room at a restaurant where those who wish might enjoy a good meal.

AAG has a “Fan Page” on Facebook – we have about 150 fans already. All posts on Facebook are also picked up on My Space and Twitter. If you are not on Facebook, check it out.

AAG Blog

The Appalachian Authors Blog created by Jack Rose is attracting readers. Check out the articles, reviews and comments at:

http://appalachianauthors.wordpress. com/

All members are encouraged to post comments, book reviews, ideas for the Guild or information about a writing related activity you’ve been involved in on the blog. Exchange between members is one of the Guild’s reasons for existence.

And it’s easy to incorporate links to the blog (and your own website or work) in your email signatures. Nothing elaborate is required, just a simple invitation and the web or blog address your correspondent can go to and find out more.

Excerpt from History of the Virginia Writers Club, Inc. By Samuel T.Schroetter, Jr.

The Virginia Writers Club, founded in 1918, is an interesting and flourishing association of published writers in various fields for the promotion of good writing, or, in the words of the Club’s early bylaws, “to provide a means of exchanging ideas and stimulating the art and craft of professional writing.” At its meetings, emphasis is on good programs, pleasant hospitality, and stimulating fellowship.

... Perhaps the greatest attraction, value, and potential of the Club is bringing together writers of various sorts - - poets, fiction writers, essayists, scholars, journalists, editors, and a scattering of specialty, technical, and publicity writers. Writers in different disciplines and from different localities get to know each other, to compare, exchange, and share experiences; well-known authors meet their most devoted and understanding admirers, reviewers, and promoters; fledgling and flagging craftsmen meet and learn from expert practitioners, through programs and conversation. A poetry society, a historical association, an organization of women, black, Christian or Jewish writers, a purely local group does have the advantage of focus, but a more general writers’ club has that of breadth and interchange. ... end excerpt

Writing Tips

Tip number one:

You’ve finished the manuscript. You’ve revised. You’ve had the manuscript critiqued. You’ve revised again. You’ve set the manuscript aside without looking at it for a month or two. Now what?

Reread the manuscript. Pay close attention to the zinger. Zinger? A zinger is an ending with ZING. The ending should leave the reader with something to think about. A surprise element, a situation to ponder, feelings of laughter or tenderness to provoke the reader to think about the story beyond reading the last word should be present. So reread the ending. Have your critique group members reread the ending, also.

Ask the critique members how the ending left them feeling? Were they laughing? Crying? Surprised? Thinking about the characters after reading the last line? Take your cue from those who read your manuscript. If they correctly predicted the ending, if they were not provoked to think about the story after reading it, you need to rewrite with ZING.

Tip number two:

If you don’t belong to a critique group, join one. If one doesn’t exist in your area, form one or join a group online. A critique group will get your manuscript polished much faster than you can on your own—and with more shine.

Nancy Allen Longtime AAG member

AAG&A Tidings - 2

Now Where’s That Meeting?

You receive an email notification of a writers’ meeting, event, or market you want to remember. So you type it into a notepad file and save it on your computer. Maybe you scrawl a note on a scrap of paper and it immediately gets buried in that snowbank of papers on your desktop. Been there too many times to remember.

Our fellow AAG member Rose Klix has come to the rescue! Rose has compiled a calendar of markets, writers’ group meetings, , conferences, and writing advice websites.

Add http://www.roseklix.com/ to your bookmarks, then click on the Write Time link, and you’ll always have ready access to the information you might need.

Here is a sample of the links Rose provides her readers.

http://artsmagazine.info/ http://www. mainstreetrag.com/ http://www.advancedfictionwritin g.com/ http://www. storysensei.blogspot.com/ http://www.amarketingexpert.co m/

June 17-18, 2011

3rd Annual Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium Southwest Virginia Community College

And on that note, a belated, hats off to Guild Member/Author Colonel Charles Dahnmon Whitt, who received a formal Citation from the Commonwealth of Kentucky for his writing achievements. Congratulations CD, my friend.

It’s time to think about paying your AAG membership dues for 2011. Some authors who are receiving this information apparently overlooked payment of their dues for 2010. If you haven’t paid for 2010, just be sure to send in your 2011 dues of $30 which will include the first-year membership dues in VWC.

Finally almost all communication between the Guild and members will be via email. So please be sure to keep us posted with regard to preferred email and email address changes.

Good writing to one and all.

Jack (J Russell) Rose, President Appalachian Authors Guild A Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club russrose1045@yahoo.com

The form below may be used to renew membership.

Appalachian Authors Guild P.O. Box 803 Abingdon, VA 24212

2011 Membership Dues Name _________________________________________________

Street _________________ City _________ State___ zip ______

Amount enclosed $ _____________ Check# _________

Date __________________________

Make check for $30.00 payable to AAG and mail to address above. (covers AAG and 1st year VWC dues)

Thank you for renewing your membership

Prez (cont’d)

Is this a new address?

_______

TIDINGS

From the Prez

Happy Autumn to all. There’s good news to report with this issue of Tidings. First of all, it’s official – AAGA is now The Appalachian Authors Guild, A Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club.

The historic and prestigious Virginia Writers Club extended an invitation to the Guild to become a chapter of VWC back in August. The Board of AAGA unanimously accepted the invitation. We feel this is an awesome opportunity for our members and an excellent opportunity to showcase our region’s culture, history and authors to a much larger audience. Also, the Board voted to propose hosting of the VWC meeting in September of 2011. Stay tuned for further developments, look for mail from the VWC and check out their website.

The AAG Board approved a $5.00 dues increase, our first since the Guild’s inception, and decided to pay each member’s first year dues to VWC. Look for and respond to your VWC membership application information in the near future.

David Henderson of Travel Host magazine of Northeast Tennessee & Southwest Virginia, met with the AAG Board on Tuesday the 28th of September. Travel Host publishes 300-350 word articles of interest regarding area events, locations and people. As such, Mr. Henderson asked for our help in soliciting fresh, new, interesting articles for publication. When the selected article is published, the author will be compensated – generally in the amount of $100. Any authors interested in submitting writing to Travel Host, should let me know. I will provide contact information and details.

For those of you who’ve been a member of AAGA for a while, you may recall we had a project whereby we scheduled authors to “meet-the-people” at Piccadilly Cafeterias in Bristol and Kingsport. I am pleased to announce that we have decided to revive the Piccadilly project thanks to the efforts and input from members Rodney Smith and Teresa Still. If you want to be included please email me (russrose1045@yahoo.com).

The Board of AAG will have follow-up meetings with a couple of website design professionals in the near future, in hopes of getting our website updated and improved. More details on that will follow.

Thanks again to all who participated in this year’s Virginia Highlands Festival. Twenty one authors met the public, made or renewed friendships and sold more than 250 books as well.

Planning for the annual Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium, held at Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, is well under way. Darrell Fleming, Chairman of the planning committee announced a real coup. The keynote speaker for the June 2011 Symposium will be award winning and nationally known author Lee Smith.

We want to welcome all new members to the Guild and we want to recognize special achievements, etc. So, if you’ve got a new book, new baby, new husband (or wife) let me know. And certainly if you’ve received any type of awards or commendation, please let me know.

October 2010 AAG Newsletter

Appalachian Authors Guild P. O. Box 803 Abingdon, VA 24212 http://appalachianauthors.wor dpress.com/

http://www.virginiawritersclub. org/

Jack Rose, President

russrose1045@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor: Sylvia Nickels mscribe@aol.com

Asst. Editor: Mary Ann Artrip

maartrip@mounet.com

and contributing members ______________________

Mission Statement

The mission of the Appalachian Authors Guild and Associates is to support and promote literary art throughout the Appalachian region, to encourage writers and authors to both preserve and build upon the literary history and heritage of the Appalachian region and to provide opportunities for readers to experience the joy of meeting our people, visiting our beautiful region and understanding the wealth of our culture through literary art.

TIDINGS - o

TIDINGS
October 2010 AAG Newsletter


Appalachian Authors Guild
P. O. Box 803
Abingdon, VA 24212
http://appalachianauthors.wordpress.com/

http://www.virginiawritersclub.org/

Jack Rose, President
russrose1045@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor:
Sylvia Nickels mscribe@aol.com

Asst. Editor: Mary Ann Artrip
maartrip@mounet.com
and contributing members
______________________


Mission Statement

The mission of the Appalachian Authors Guild and Associates is to support and promote literary art throughout the Appalachian region, to encourage writers and authors to both preserve and build upon the literary history and heritage of the Appalachian region and to provide opportunities for readers to experience the joy of meeting our people, visiting our beautiful region and understanding the wealth of our culture through literary art.



From the Prez

Happy Autumn to all. There’s good news to report with this issue of Tidings.
First of all, it’s official – AAGA is now The Appalachian Authors Guild, A Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club.
The historic and prestigious Virginia Writers Club extended an invitation to the Guild to become a chapter of VWC back in August. The Board of AAGA unanimously accepted the invitation. We feel this is an awesome opportunity for our members and an excellent opportunity to showcase our region’s culture, history and authors to a much larger audience. Also, the Board voted to propose hosting of the VWC meeting in September of 2011. Stay tuned for further developments, look for mail from the VWC and check out their website.
The AAG Board approved a $5.00 dues increase, our first since the Guild’s inception, and decided to pay each member’s first year dues to VWC. Look for and respond to your VWC membership application information in the near future.
David Henderson of Travel Host magazine of Northeast Tennessee & Southwest Virginia, met with the AAG Board on Tuesday the 28th of September. Travel Host publishes 300-350 word articles of interest regarding area events, locations and people. As such, Mr. Henderson asked for our help in soliciting fresh, new, interesting articles for publication. When the selected article is published, the author will be compensated – generally in the amount of $100. Any authors interested in submitting writing to Travel Host, should let me know. I will provide contact information and details.
For those of you who’ve been a member of AAGA for a while, you may recall we had a project whereby we scheduled authors to “meet-the-people” at Piccadilly Cafeterias in Bristol and Kingsport. I am pleased to announce that we have decided to revive the Piccadilly project thanks to the efforts and input from members Rodney Smith and Teresa Still. If you want to be included please email me (russrose1045@yahoo.com).
The Board of AAG will have follow-up meetings with a couple of website design professionals in the near future, in hopes of getting our website updated and improved. More details on that will follow.
Thanks again to all who participated in this year’s Virginia Highlands Festival. Twenty one authors met the public, made or renewed friendships and sold more than 250 books as well.
Planning for the annual Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium, held at Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, is well under way. Darrell Fleming, Chairman of the planning committee announced a real coup. The keynote speaker for the June 2011 Symposium will be award winning and nationally known author Lee Smith.
We want to welcome all new members to the Guild and we want to recognize special achievements, etc. So, if you’ve got a new book, new baby, new husband (or wife) let me know. And certainly if you’ve received any type of awards or commendation, please let me know.


Now Where’s That Meeting?




You receive an email notification of a writers’ meeting, event, or market you want to remember. So you type it into a notepad file and save it on your computer. Maybe you scrawl a note on a scrap of paper and it immediately gets buried in that snowbank of papers on your desktop. Been there too many times to remember.

Our fellow AAG member Rose Klix has come to the rescue! Rose has compiled a calendar of markets, writers’ group meetings, , conferences, and writing advice websites.

Add http://www.roseklix.com/ to your bookmarks, then click on the Write Time link, and you’ll always have ready access to the information you might need.

Here is a sample of the links Rose provides her readers.

http://artsmagazine.info/
http://www. mainstreetrag.com/
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/
http://www. storysensei.blogspot.com/
http://www.amarketingexpert.com/


June 17-18, 2011

3rd Annual
Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium
Southwest Virginia Community College


Prez (cont’d)

And on that note, a belated, hats off to Guild Member/Author Colonel Charles Dahnmon Whitt, who received a formal Citation from the Commonwealth of Kentucky for his writing achievements. Congratulations CD, my friend.
It’s time to think about paying your AAG membership dues for 2011. Some authors who are receiving this information apparently overlooked payment of their dues for 2010. If you haven’t paid for 2010, just be sure to send in your 2011 dues of $30 which will include the first-year membership dues in VWC.
Finally almost all communication between the Guild and members will be via email. So please be sure to keep us posted with regard to preferred email and email address changes.
Good writing to one and all.

Jack (J Russell) Rose, President
Appalachian Authors Guild
A Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club
russrose1045@yahoo.com

The form below may be used to renew membership.



Appalachian Authors Guild
P.O. Box 803
Abingdon, VA 24212

2011 Membership Dues

Name

Street City State zip

Amount enclosed $ Check#

Date

Make check for $30.00 payable to AAG and mail to address above. (covers AAG and 1st year VWC dues)

Thank you for renewing your membership

Is this a new address?





AAG Board News

AAG Board meetings are open so Guild members are encouraged to attend at any time to offer ideas and suggestions or simply to sit in and listen.
For a year or so Board meetings have been held in the conference room of the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission in Lebanon, VA. One item discussed at the last couple of meetings was perhaps having future bi-monthly or quarterly Board/membership meetings in different areas of the region. Perhaps in a private meeting room at a restaurant where those who wish might enjoy a good meal.
AAG has a “Fan Page” on Facebook – we have about 150 fans already. All posts on Facebook are also picked up on My Space and Twitter. If you are not on Facebook, check it out.


AAG Blog

The Appalachian Authors Blog created by Jack Rose is attracting readers. Check out the articles, reviews and comments at:

http://appalachianauthors.wordpress.com/

All members are encouraged to post comments, book reviews, ideas for the Guild or information about a writing related activity you’ve been involved in on the blog. Exchange between members is one of the Guild’s reasons for existence.
And it’s easy to incorporate links to the blog (and your own website or work) in your email signatures. Nothing elaborate is required, just a simple invitation and the web or blog address your correspondent can go to and find out more.


Excerpt from
History of the Virginia Writers Club, Inc.
By Samuel T.Schroetter, Jr.

The Virginia Writers Club, founded in 1918, is an interesting and flourishing association of published writers in various fields for the promotion of good writing, or, in the words of the Club’s early bylaws, “to provide a means of exchanging ideas and stimulating the art and craft of professional writing.” At its meetings, emphasis is on good programs, pleasant hospitality, and stimulating fellowship.
...
Perhaps the greatest attraction, value, and potential of the Club is bringing together writers of various sorts - - poets, fiction writers, essayists, scholars, journalists, editors, and a scattering of specialty, technical, and publicity writers. Writers in different disciplines and from different localities get to know each other, to compare, exchange, and share experiences; well-known authors meet their most devoted and understanding admirers, reviewers, and promoters; fledgling and flagging craftsmen meet and learn from expert practitioners, through programs and conversation. A poetry society, a historical association, an organization of women, black, Christian or Jewish writers, a purely local group does have the advantage of focus, but a more general writers’ club has that of breadth and interchange.
...
end excerpt

Writing Tips

Tip number one:

You’ve finished the manuscript. You’ve revised. You’ve had the manuscript critiqued. You’ve revised again. You’ve set the manuscript aside without looking at it for a month or two. Now what?

Reread the manuscript. Pay close attention to the zinger. Zinger? A zinger is an ending with ZING. The ending should leave the reader with something to think about. A surprise element, a situation to ponder, feelings of laughter or tenderness to provoke the reader to think about the story beyond reading the last word should be present. So reread the ending. Have your critique group members reread the ending, also.

Ask the critique members how the ending left them feeling? Were they laughing? Crying? Surprised? Thinking about the characters after reading the last line? Take your cue from those who read your manuscript. If they correctly predicted the ending, if they were not provoked to think about the story after reading it, you need to rewrite with ZING.

Tip number two:

If you don’t belong to a critique group, join one. If one doesn’t exist in your area, form one or join a group online. A critique group will get your manuscript polished much faster than you can on your own—and with more shine.

Nancy Allen
Longtime AAG member

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Who Reads You?

Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, has a lot to say in this op-ed piece about the nature of writing and who we are - or should be - writing our books to.

Michael Cunningham, Op-Ed Contributor - Found in Translation - NYTimes.com

Let’s take as an example one of the most famous lines in literature: “Call me Ishmael.” That, as I suspect you know, is the opening sentence of Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.” We still recognize that line, after more than 150 years.

NY Times

Bob Mustin