I did it again. I accumulated stacks of research as I pursued the subject of my latest biography. I gathered information for many, many months. Once my search began, I could not stop it. I was riding a runaway horse. "Search out every nook and cranny," and "Leave no stone unturned," were my mantra. Run, run; more, more… In reality, there was no particular hurry to accumulate the data; there was no deadline to meet. Yet, I had a ravenous desire for more and more information as my research proceeded. Had rational thinking come into play, I could have slowed my pace knowing the Revolutionary War protagonist had been dead these past 200 years – and any data related to her was not going to disappear.

I have committed myself to biography research before. The search is like a treasure hunt for jewels and precious nuggets. Writing a biography takes time and information, familiarity and dedication. This time, I had eaten, slept and thought of my heroine every waking hour of every day. I did so much reading, note-taking, photocopying and outlining that I was on ‘overload.’ Fortunately, since I had overdone research in past projects, it was a familiar companion. This time I did not give up my normal, daily writing and reading routine. I wrote other articles, essays and stories in the meantime but I admit to sneaking in some scribble about my epic biography-in-progress.

When I was ready to start framing detail into a biographical story outline, I found myself chasing words right off the page. Yes, that is definitely a side effect of ‘overload.’ It has happened before. The cause is a voracious appetite for data. When my stack of books, notebooks, photocopies and 3 x 5" cards piled up more than knee high, I knew I had enough information to write a biography. Was I satisfied? No.

With no hope of obtaining primary data, I questioned whether I really had enough secondary information to distinguish myth from gossip and exaggeration. I did not want to be duped into repeating old lies. I purchased books and ordered inter-library loan books until the research stack reached three feet in height.

I would ask myself: Have I answered all the questions? Is there some tidbit I had not seen yet? Was there some insightful writer who had already set down pearls of wisdom about my subject I might have missed? I was so stuffed with answers and questions, data and speculations that I could hardly move or think.

This phenomenon is not writer’s block. It is info-gluttony! I liken it to eating too much Thanksgiving dinner then having to wait until everything consumed has had a chance to digest, to grind around until it sorts out what is usable from what is not. I know the cure for my dilemma: Time. When too much information makes you sick, only time will bring relief.

There is no rushing the digestion. One has to wait for this natural process to take its course. In this case, the process included some writing and reworking outlines, profiles, time-lines, confirmation of historical events and geographic locations. It took a very long time to digest all the bits and pieces and, still, the story kept running off in odd directions. Finally, I decided the heroine and I needed to part company - although I was somewhat embarrassed since I had announced her expected arrival from the moment of her conception.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) came to my rescue. With two months to prepare, I was invited to present my Revolutionary War heroine story to a room full of members. I said ‘yes."

This was no time to get bogged down in tedious details so I simply outlined the life of Deborah Sampson. I developed some visuals, a booklet and business cards for the presentation. A dear writer friend accompanied me to the DAR meeting. I was relaxed and confident talking about this heroine and answering a variety of the attendees’ questions. And so it was that this invitation yanked me out off the high horse I had been riding and sat me down on a reliable paint pony from which I could confidently trot down the familiar story-telling path.

Once the overload was cut down to a reasonable size, a phrase or cue in the outline transformed easily into a flow of expressive, descriptive words. Suddenly, I realize I had written a scene, an event, or a paragraph befitting my intended storyline. How nice to relax into the knowledge that within that mile-high stack of books and papers, I had already written this interesting, exciting biography from an historical national event. All my well organized research material confirmed details of time, place, people, events, dress, language and social norms.

Once I was on the road to writing, my hands were on the reins; I picked up speed until I felt a nice wind in my hair – and my destination was in sight.

With confidence, I added my latest signature line to all my e-mail correspondence: "Unexpected Patriot," the biography of an American Heroine – coming soon…. (and the crowd roared… )

Have you ever tried to fill out one of those 5-page Who’s Who forms? The questions are so bizarre they make you feel unbalanced, as though you just got off a Tilt-a-Whirl. Trying to complete the questionnaire I received in today’s mail has thrown me into a tailspin! If I find I am someone other than the person I have known all these years, who am I? Like Popeye the sailor man, my answer is, "I am who I am."

I am a writer who cannot stick to one subject for any length of time so after days and weeks of studying and writing on a particular topic, I ‘outgrow’ it and have to move on. There are three or four diverse writing projects on my desk at all times: history, inspiration, humor, romance. More often than not, I write brief articles, short stories, essays and a blog. I become the character I write about - a resident of 17^th century Plymouth Colony in the morning, a football coach at noon, and food critic or social commentator in the evening.

I read somewhere that a human being is fully renewed every seven years. If that is true, I’ve morphed into somebody new eleven times. Just think of it! Even a cat has only nine lives. Is it any wonder I have trouble answering a questionnaire that wants to know "Who am I?"

Surely that ‘seven-year’ author meant physical renewal. I’ve been stunned by glimpses of my own reflection. Years ago, alone in a coffee shop I noticed an older woman wearing a dress very much like one I owned. When I glanced at her face, she glanced back. It was me! In more recent years my gazing into a mirror lasts only as long as it takes to paint and powder what I can see so as not to taunt dogs and frighten small children. Considering that brief effort to be socially adequate, I refuse to look in a mirror again until evening - when lights are dimmed.

If the writer of the seven-year metamorphosis was referring to mental acuity or spiritual awareness, my head and heart are overflowing with input. I readily admit both successes and failures. Undoubtedly, who I am is an end product of where I’ve been, what I’ve learned, who I’ve met and what I’ve come to believe.

I am hoping that being renewed every seven years means transforming through stages of life from egg to chicken - or is it chicken to egg?. I have been through a lot of transforming stages: a daughter to mother, a secretary to executive, a student to a teacher. My parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be and I believed them. I set goals and accomplished them. I sought role models and copied them. I learned to speak, act and dress the parts I wanted to play, so I was the actress performing roles for which I had studied and auditioned. It was wonderful.

Still, in order to fill out the Who’s Who form, I will try to be an honest and serious person. So, I ask again, Who am I? I am an opinionated old woman living in the Ozarks with the help of friends and relatives. I care about the people of my community, state, nation and the world. I am generally healthy and happy. Perhaps, most of all, I am an author who has a need to send messages of help and hope to others because I am grateful for all the help and hope I have received in my lifetime. My parents, you see, also told me I was responsible to give back as much goodness as I can.

At last, the Who form is completed. My part is done and someone else will have to figure out who is who. For now, I am free to become whatever I want to be. I’m going to be something fantastic. Really! I will be a green slug-like caterpillar sipping nectar from mistletoe, redbuds and white clover. I will hang upside-down from a fragrant pecan tree branch and wrap myself in a silken cocoon as I transform into a butterfly. I’ll call myself Atlides Halesus. You can call me the Great Purple Hairstreak. Best of all, I will live right here in the Ozarks’ woodlands, parks and gardens. I’ll be a blue butterfly flitting from flower to flower. Just wave and call a ‘hello’ when you see me - I’ll know who you are and I’ll wave back.

Here I am again, facing a blank computer screen and expecting ideas, words and important messages to magically and mysteriously appear on the monitor.

Writers, I believe, need a muse or two for encouragement, inspiration and enlightenment. Having Tinker Bell sprinkle her pixie dust is always exciting while having the brawny Paul Bunyan at my side imbues courage to tackle those gigantic projects. Some days, perhaps most days, it is helpful to know there is a magic wand or even a Blue Ox to assist me as I write. Tinker Bell and Paul Bunyan may seem unlikely companions for a writer – until you recognize how much their special and mysterious powers can influence creative thinking.

Tinker Bell came right out of J. M. Barrie’s imagination when he wrote Peter and Wendy, the play and novel of 1904 and 1911 – making her a writer’s muse – and you thought Walt Disney created her! She took on a life of her own, appearing in books and multiple film adaptations, even being commissioned to represent institutions and businesses, and ultimately becoming the icon known as "a symbol of ‘the magic of Disney.’"

Tinker Bell had a humble beginning until she sprinkled others with fairy dust (although she didn’t have a wand until 1953). She enabled others to fly, to dream, to create and to write. Even though she occasionally displayed ill-temper (according to Wikipedia), everybody loves her. D. B. O’Connor cared enough to memorialize her as a beautiful bronze Tinker Bell statue (2005) which, when touched or simply gazed upon, fills an admirer with fantastic powers.

Tinker Bell inspires the imagination, gives hope to the possibility of soaring through life and helps people find joy and laughter like the tinkling of little bells. She offers forgiveness for shortcomings (her own and others), while she remains a symbol of fantasy, creativity, reality, pleasure and illusion – all the elements necessary to a writer.

Paul Bunyan came right out of the mythological need for skill, strength and creativity. James MacGillivray was looking to find an advertisement for a logging company when he found Bunyan lurking in his inkpot about 1910. A few years later another writer reworked him into a giant lumberjack where the impressive legend of Paul Bunyan was born. His name was anglified from its original French-Quebec-Canadian Paul Bonjean and his stories, often based on actual feats of men living in logging camps, were modified and exaggerated from storyteller to storyteller. Though a search of history found no documentation of a man named Bunyan, he became not only a living legend, but ‘real’ as well.

Bunyan was the bigger-than-life hero people need from time to time. He was fierce enough to stand off danger, strong enough to accomplish super-human tasks and tough enough to weather the slings and arrows of life and circumstances in difficult times. He was reported to have a sense of adventure, a sense of humor and a sense of partnership as well as compassion – at least for "Babe," his Blue Ox. It is apparent Paul Bunyan was ‘real’ to the state of Michigan which declared Oscoda his official home although Paul Bunyan Memorial Park, and grave, is in Minnesota. Note, too, the Michigan Boy Scouts of America, 1951-1971, was proud of their Paul Bunyan Council - I assume that implies the legend was in compliance with the BSA oath and creed.

Obviously, the original story-tellers had the ability to endear whole populations to this legendary Paul Bunyan. Certainly the writers’ ability to create unbelievable, gigantic and enormous problems to challenge him, and actions and solutions that allowed him to succeed, made him and his fame even bigger, more believed, more respected and loved than he was before.

My reality is just a bulletin board with a list of writing assignments – ten deadlines, in fact. There is an essay, two short stories, one flash fiction, two anthologies, two non-fiction stories, one blog (write and edit/edit and write), photography (to stand alone or accompany short stories), and one non-fiction article. What will I write? Where will I begin? All I need is the strength of Paul Bunyan’s character and the creativity of Tinker Bell’s dust for words to flow from the recesses of my mind onto a blank white computer screen. Nothing! No thoughts - no ideas- just a blank screen. Why did I think a writer should expect to conjure a story to inspire, entertain and inform others using nothing but imaginary muses like Tinker Bell and Paul Bunyan? After all, they aren’t real. They are nothing more than figments of some writer’s fantasy!

Seeds of Hope 18May 2010 ntc \\

There are five Ps in Marketing: Product, Production, Placement, Price and Promotion. Sounds easy until you need a P.

If your book is already published or printed, good! You no longer need to be concerned with type size or style, the layout, cover content, color and design (all of which are Ps of marketing Product and Production).

The Price of your book may be determined by the publisher. Still, the author will be doing the majority of book sales so the Price is important. If valued competitively with others of its genre and print quality (hard cover or soft), you are fortunate. If you set the unit price, know you are likely to sell a greater number of books at $10 per books than a few at $50. (Pat Oplinger’s trilogy of poetry/art, rather than a novel, makes it an exception.)

With Product, Production and Price accomplished, you have reached the Placement (where and how your book is available) and Promotion (how and to whom you will sell it) phase.

NOTE: It is important to begin your book promotion before the book is in print – if possible. Arm yourself with a stockpile of promotional tools. Begin selling by building excitement and expectation thru announcement.

With copies of your book in hand, kick off your Promotion Plan. Have posters and banners printed and ready, review your list of libraries and retailers who may stock your book at an agreeable fee. (Actually, it is beneficial to you and the retailer to mention their name on your blog, Facebook or Twitter as a point of purchase for your latest book. Perhaps you can begin with an event (or create you own): Flood the area with posters, media notices and invitations to your Open House, Speaking engagement or Book Signing.

Now is the time to Toot your own Horn. Armed with stockpiles of Promotion ammunition, you are ready to advance upon your targets, overwhelming them with your enthusiastic self and your fantastic product before returning home as a victor – in time to reload for the next encounter.

#1: Big Guns promotional items include a Website, the image of your book cover, brief description (tease or promo) of the contents, identification of author with bio, the price (and shipping) and, this is important, tell buyers where and how the book can be purchased now - at this very moment!

#2: Blog with monthly or semimonthly updates; just two or three paragraphs will suffice. Inform readers your latest book is in the works. Excite them with the prospect of its production and availability. Promise them a spectacular story (romance, inspiration, or guide to ….). Whet their desire to purchase your book. Make the big announcement - don’t forget specific instruction for purchasing your book (in person/on your blog site). Follow through with notices of your speaking engagements, book signings, open house, events, etc. Invite prospects and buyers back for more….

#3: Family and Friends: Get their attention! Did you, months in advance, design your Signature to announce your latest book? Did you then set up an attention-getting photo/video piece and forward it to everyone on your e-mail addresses list announcing your book before it came off the press? Now, with book in hand, re-contact those people and organizations, possibly developing a new photo/video piece, announcing your book’s arrival and availability (like showing off your new baby or BMW).

#4: Be sure your Website and Blog are linked to every organization and writer website possible. Don’t forget your Alma Mater, the media, library, churches, organizations; VFW, Audubon or Elks. TwinLakesWriters.org is a good place to start linking – as several of our members have already done. TLW is linked with a dozen other sites and I would suggest you contact each of them separately (OWL or WOW, for instance) for a link to your own Web site. You may want to set yourself up on Facebook and start a Twitter. If these channels are not productive after a determined period of time, review them, change them or discontinue them – but try them out. (Robert Bell self published Feathers from Heaven several years ago. He had a website and links. He did many speaking engagements and showed up for every book promotion and book signing. He was a trooper in getting Mountain Home organizations to let him speak and promote his book at their meetings. RIP, Bob!)

#5: Small Arms and Ammunition include the promotional merchandise you should have in place: business cards and book marks; pens with your name, book title, phone number and your website address; your Signature on all your email; refrigerator magnets; copies (like flyers) of the front/back of your book or synopsis, book reviews – always with contact information to purchase the book; and tokens with some reference to your book (such as wooden nickels, plastic spiders or promo pens with red ink for Chuck Butkus’s vampire books) or other inexpensive dollar store novelty items that coincide with your book’s theme. Be creative. Don’t let anyone who attends your book signing, meet-and-greet or speaking engagement leave without taking away a token of you and your book. (For years, Rick Steves, TV personality and the world’s most renowned travel writer, speaker, guide did personally hand out a map, a list of travel tips or tour notes, etc. to attendees at all his lectures. He may still do that…. The more he gave away – the more he sold.)

#6: Ammunition. Know your book so well you can discuss it in one paragraph, one minute or one sentence. Be prepared to speak about its contents and your writing process in a 20-minute presentation or as a panel member in a 50-minute discussion. Off-the-cuff presentations and just reading from your book diminishes your credibility as a writer and your book as a ‘good read.’ ("Off the cuff" is most often received as "Off the mark.")

#7: More ammunition: Dress appropriately for the occasion, i.e., for your style of story or for the audience you will be meeting (You are now an author who is on stage in all places at all times). Make the kind of impression that will sell your book. Do what your mother always told you: Sit up straight. Elbows off the table, Smile, Look ‘em in the eye, Speak clearly and Always think before you paste!

#8: At a book signing, there are a couple of other really important things to consider. (1) Bad breath turns people OFF. (2) Be sure to have not only a ready supply of good, reliable pens to sign with, but (3) have clean hands with manicured fingernails as well – that goes for men as well as women. (Nobody wants to touch a book that has been handled by grubby hands, ink-stained fingers or nails with chipped polish.

I want to thank the TLW members meeting in the Betty Boop Room for Brunch at Mel’s on Tuesday morning for telling me how scary it is for them to sell their books. So, I dug up some of my old brain cells and notes on Marketing to translate from marketing health care services to having fun marketing the books you authored.

Here’s one last and unexpected P: Pride. Take pride in your ability to write, to tell a story or present ideas, and in your accomplishment. Stand tall. "Give ‘em what they come for," and go home tote’n a bundle of cash instead of a box of unsold books.

"Put it to them briefly … " wrote Joseph Pulitzer, as he offered writers the essence of good and powerful writing. Perhaps we’ve not only received his message, but we have taken it to heart.

Pulitzer was a journalist. He advocated brevity in writing before the need for speed, time-management and information overload. His 34 words of wisdom were: Put it to them briefly, so they will read it; clearly, so they will appreciate it; picturesquely, so they will remember it; and above all, accurately, so they will be guided by its light.

When Pulitzer died in 1911, he didn’t know the giant advances technology would make from newspapers to telegraph and telephone to computers and ‘twitter,’ those 140 character messages with shrunken words where u means you and 4 is for. In 1911, newspapers were considered the ‘reliable’ source of information. While telegraph messages were brief and delivered within minutes, their cost was measured by the word. Frugal individuals and businesses did use words sparingly: "Mother died 4 p.m stop Take the next train stop Funeral Friday," or "Sold all shares Metro Rail stop Recommend you do same stop" When speaking by telephone, time was limited so the number of words used expanded from brief telegraph statements to full sentences. Unfortunately, clarity and accuracy seemed to diminish with each new technology, requiring the continued use of written words for facts, documents and contracts.

Accuracy, brevity and clarity are known as the ABC mantra of writing. Accuracy is valued for enlightening a reader. Facts are presented with personalities and events as stories are molded and revealed. Although Pulitzer used sensationalism for financial profits, his ‘yellow journalism’ may have given him an even clearer understanding of its influence on both sides of the issue; inaccuracy erodes credibility.

Brevity of words has always been a writer’s virtue. Journalists, like policemen search out information: "The facts, ma’m, just the facts" as Joe Friday would say. One can read a world of information and expectation into just a word or few: God Bless America; Stop; Don’t Tread on Me; I do; War is Hell; "I’ll tell your mother." To spin a story around a few facts by incorporating dash of humanity and a pinch of color to reach the reader’s senses is like wind in your sails and knowing the brass ring is within reach.

All forms of communication are prone to misunderstanding. Writers know what they mean when they put their words down on paper, yet a reader may think the words mean something quite different. It is not always easy to select words to express what you mean. Consider ‘political correctness.’ Those are two words that can mean very different things to different people.

The onus of clarity falls to the writer who must be precise because the reader has no opportunity to ask for clarification. The bombastic writer does not communicate other than his being self-serving. No reader appreciates pompous, pretentious messages that force him to decode its meaning. I am led to believe brevity and clarity was a major difference in writing styles of Ernest Hemmingway and John Steinbeck.

If it was Steinbeck who insisted each page have at least one word that the reader need go to his dictionary to clarify, it was Hemmingway who insisted on his writing being spare and precise as he rarely used a word needing a dictionary search for definition.

With the ABCs of writing as standard to journalism, fiction, lyrics and plays, Pulitzer did enjoy those extra flourishes of picturesque wordplay that make writing memorable. "When readers are transfixed by the imagery of what they read, writing becomes more than communication," said Mike Consol in his article, Joseph Pulitzer’s 34 words to better writing.

The Pulitzer Prize, awarded annually in twenty-one categories, is the ultimate acknowledgement for Brevity, Accuracy and Credibility. Whether in the category of fiction, non-fiction, music or poetry, winning one of these prizes moves its recipient into the distinguished company of elite individuals such as David McCullough (biographer), Robert Frost (poet), Todd Heisler (photographer), John F. Kennedy (biographer), Arthur Miller (novelist & play write), Rodgers & Hammerstein (musical), Norman Mailer (play write), Carolyn Cole (photojournalist) and …. Your Name Here( ).

Are you a scribbler? There is an entire list of names for scribblers: scribe scrivener, logger, penman, diarist, journalist. Are you a list maker? Do you keep a log? Is your journal locked and personal? Could your diary be published? People who read and write find themselves listing, scribbling or recording thoughts, observations, desires and actions in one of these forms.

Recording for posterity is not new.  Cavemen left symbols and drawings on rocks and walls.  To Myself, which displays the characteristics of a diary, was written in Greek by Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 2nd century AD.*  Japanese Pillow books c.1002 were lists written in diary genre.* And, then came Samuel Pepys and Mary Chesnut.*   

Samuel Pepys was a scribbler. In January 1660, Pepys began to keep a diary. He recorded events each day for almost ten years; history, politics, women, his illnesses and life. He described his friends and business dealings complete with jealousies, insecurities, trivial concerns and even the fractious relationship with his wife. He recorded what it was like to be a Londoner.

Mary Boykin Chesnut was a scribbler. She was an educated woman living in the upper class circles of Southern society. Her diary describes the American Civil War as she traveled with her husband James Chesnut, Jr., a U.S. Senator of South Carolina from 1858 until SC seceded from the Union in 1860. She then accompanied James as aide to President Jefferson Davis and as brigadier general in the CSA. Mary began her diary 18 February 1861 and ended it on 26 June 1865. She was an eyewitness to many historic events at significant battle sites. Her diary is filled with the changing fortunes resulting from the war; her observations of political, social and racial issues. Literary scholars have called the Chesnut diary the most important work by a Confederate author, yet her annotated diary wasn’t published until 1905, was re-edited then re-published in 1981.

In the twenty-first century, most literate people are scribblers to some extent. We make lists, have appointment books and jot calendar notations. A large number of men and women maintain diaries, journals or logs. These writings may be more important than the scribbler might realize, perhaps they are useful at tax time, for job advancement, in social connections, political aspirations, in problem solving, for historical clarification or, even in response to "where were you on the night of ……?"

As a biographer, getting from data to human interest is no easy task. "Male, born 1633, Naval Administrator, wrote a diary, died 1703" is Samuel Pepys life, bare-boned and uninteresting. When researching history and genealogy, census records, ship’s logs, historical events and personal correspondences are all vital to creating a full-color spectrum of an event, an era or an individual. Facts take some morphing from bare bones to vital organs with blood flowing and distinguishable human features. "Samuel Pepys (23 Feb 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for his diary. He rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II… (his) detailed private diary kept during 1660-1669, though not published until the nineteenth century, is one of the most important primary sources of the English Restoration period. It provides a personal eyewitness account of great events, such as the Great plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London." Now you have time, place, person and purpose! This is Pepys in living color.

Here is the big question: Did Pepys know, in 1660, that his diary was more than a personal accounting of his whereabouts, illnesses, notes to himself to remember who he met his first days at State, acknowledgement of old acquaintances and a means to vent his ongoing social and marital frustrations? As his political, national and personal comments were entered side-by-side, was this just his log, calendar or journal? Did he ever consider his writings would eventually be published as a significant document - two hundred years after his death?

I could be wrong, but I do believe Mary Chesnut was purposefully writing her diary as an eye-witness account of a significant time in history and designed it for publication and posterity.

While a log, such as a ship’s log or passenger log, is a record of operational data, it contains only names, dates and numbers. While these are currently backed by radar, GPS and the ‘black box,’ it is still ‘bare bones’ data, enhanced only when personal accounts, journals, memoirs or letters are added to create significant historical, humanized information. That was the case with Marco Polo who described his China travels to a penman. It was the writings by the survivors of Titanic which personalized that tragic event. Recently, memories of the war sixty years ago come to life once again when veterans recorded their never-before-told-war-stories for the WWII Veteran’s Memoir. Long hidden as nightmares, veterans brought them back to life.

For years, I have added to my journal or memoir each morning as I sit down at the computer and head a new blank page with: SCRIBBLE – I am not always sure what words will follow…. Will it be the beautiful Blue Birds eating holly berries just outside the window? Will I summarize research notes on the Revolutionary War or evaluate my psychological interpretation of Johnny Appleseed planting orchards? I may decide whether to organize information for my next story, blog, essay or column. I never know….

"Have no fear," I tell myself. Tacked up on the bulletin board is a list of writings I need to accomplish and the log of things completed. My calendar reflects meetings, events and interactions that keep me in balance with the world as it lets me know where I am supposed to be and what I expect to be doing. A stack of notes, post-its, scribbles on envelopes, clipped articles and 3x5 cards are close at hand because I use them as prompts to write a story, article, essay or blog. I ask, "who is…," "what if…," or, "describe the….."

Whatever it is called, I just keep Scribbling….

Here’s a sad fact. My files are a mess. I went looking for help and found many articles written on the subject. "A place for everything and everything in its place," is the motto. I do have a place for everything – and everything is in its place. I just can’t find them. Without a ‘neatnik’ organization, things get misplaced, lost or downright disappear. The loss of a story, page or word is not only unacceptable, it is downright painful.

Writers, including me, do not have a secretary. Consequently, computer rooms and office spaces gravitate to a perpetual state of ‘mess.’ In my office, even the organized files, folders, boxes and notebooks end up stored without rhyme or reason. Of course I write three or four projects at the same time and seem to keep them organized – while they are within arm’s reach. Once a project is completed however, I forget which drive contains what writings and which folder, box or stack the hard copy was filed in – often, never to been found again.

Every year, I resolve to organize. I purchase folders, boxes, labels, and any other equipment that may help me get a grip on the problem. I have even tried color coding and calendar lists. Ultimately, I cannot find anything in my filing system. Last year I put forth a great effort to empty the closet housing tons of my writings, clippings, stories, binders, notes, supplies and files. Although eight times larger than the closet, all that ‘stuff’ filled my office, leaving only a narrow path from door to computer. Believe me, even after conscientiously organizing everything and throwing out nearly one third, the remainder would not fit back into the closet space it came from. So, I trudged back to Staples and WalMart to purchase more files, file boxes and shelving. Now both closet and office look clean and neat - but I cannot find anything I go looking for.

This year I am truly grateful for flash drives. These ‘sticks’ are known by so many names: Smart drive, Flash drive, Thumb drive, Jump stick or simply USB. I tried them out last year. They will be a blessing (I think) as I have a row of hard-copy notebooks taking up eight feet of book shelf that will fit on one 8.0 GB USB flash drive – with room to spare. My row of notebooks contain more than three decades of research. The data contents are currently saved in a 100-count box of 3.5" floppy disks. Do you remember floppies? They are those data storage things that cannot be used in any computer purchased after 1992. With my original Apple II+ computer, everything was filed on 5" floppies – which would not convert to 3.5" so that all had to be transcribed from the hard copies! Now my 3.5" floppies need to be converted to a flash drive. No transcription necessary but the project will require a week (at least) to transfer data and, as an added bonus, to scan documents and photographs onto a flash drive. Now (with fear) I have to ask, "In what year will computers be updated to such perfection that flash drives become obsolete?"

The enjoyable part of writing is going to your favorite space to craft thoughts onto paper. Yes, it feels so good to lay out a string of meaningful, powerful, precious words. And yes, it is bothersome to organize time, space and product, and to track all the words you have written, filed or submitted for publication. Some writers believe rewriting is painful, or critiques, or rejections. I think paper shuffling is the torturous part of being a writer.

There is a way to solve this problem. The ideal solution is for every writer to have a wife (or a secretary) with good, great or extraordinary organizational skills. Until I find a secretary (or a wife), I’ll keep plugging along, writing a page or two of Scribble every day, a few ‘columns’ each month, and a couple essays in addition to writing family history, biographies and stories. No matter which category I write in, I will try to be organized in 2010. I think I have a 50/50 chance of success if I start with some new color-coded file folders, a supply of flash drives and a box to keep them in.

Seeds of Hope 05Jan10 ntc \\

Isn’t it interesting how readings, circumstances and events can fall into step with one another – almost without notice? This past week, everything I’ve seen, read and bumped into has had an overriding focus on the importance of unforgettable characters.

It all started when I went to see the Julie-Julia movie playing at our local theater. Julia Child, though I never personally met her, is my cousin and, as I write family biographies, I couldn’t help but take note of her as a person of character. Eventually, I wrote a biography of her life. Anyone who recognizes her name will agree that Julia Child is a character – a fascinating character – whether blood related or simply as a fan of food, French cooking or her entertaining television show.

Although I have fifty pounds of books, magazines, notes and biographies related to Julia, I immediately got a copy of her biography My Life in France (Knopf 2006) written with her grand-nephew Alex Prud’homme and published subsequent to Julia’s death. The book was a delight to read because the depiction of her mannerisms, language, history and loyalties are so familiar. I could hear Julia’s uniquely timorous voice crackle in the quotations such as, "Ooh, those lovely roasted, buttery French chickens, they were so good and chickeny."

The local library was having a book sale, so I wandered through the non-fiction section. Among the four books I purchased was Characters Make Your Story (Riverside Press, 1966), by Maren Elwood, a published writing coach and agent. He pounds away at the subject ‘characters’ for 235 (very small print) pages in thirteen chapters. He includes helpful little writing assignments at the conclusion of each chapter. He emphasizes the importance of characters as a writer’s number one consideration and repeats, "The plot arises from the character in conflict, not the conflict itself." And, "Unless the characters are real and interesting, no drama or plot will help in the least." It is the writer’s job to make the reader care what happens to the lead character. Since all writing is designed to create an emotional reaction, writer and reader must ‘feel’ the character to be good or bad, likeable or not, admirable or despicable and to care what happens to him. Elwood’s term ‘character’ means to identify a story-actor-type in his essential peculiarities as a distinct individual.

Henry James, it is said, wrote biographies of his story characters and got to know them in every detail before writing a word of his story. He knew their physical traits, what they said and did, their life and background, their cares and hopes, so after the opening crisis of his story, he knew how they would deal with the problems he threw at them – all without describing the hero’s state of mind but through his actions.

The author Elwood, and certainly Robert Newton Peck, who wrote Fiction is Folks (1983) believe the main character must be the focus of every other character and situation, much like Harry Potter who is in the spotlight, center stage, at all times.

As I was becoming unavoidably aware of this ‘focus on character’ phenomenon, my latest issue of Smithsonian arrived. I sat down to read articles I thought should be event-focused. I was wrong. The first major article, by Susan Orlean, Where Donkeys Deliver, was definitely character focused – and the character was a donkey! By the third paragraph, the reader (me) embraces the donkey as real and alive, with purpose and feeling. The plot and conflict of the donkey, the dangerous terrain it had to maneuver to accomplish its task and survive in a world of human demands was tense. I found myself rooting for the donkey. Another story, with its plot in Japanese gardens and temples, was seen through the eyes of a unique character, a devoted monk. A third story was of Capt. William Bligh of the Bounty. This familiar villain is planted center stage as his story describes numerous perils he faced while trying to deliver breadfruit, a nutritious and versatile food product for profit and benefit of tropical natives.

OK. I get the message. Writers must know their leading character in every familiar detail in order to present him for a reader to see, hear, know and feel in a realistic relationship. No matter what the plot, the problem or the quest, writers want readers to feel empathy with the main character. How fortunate I am to write biographies where the main character is Julia Child or the equestrienne circus owner who married "Wild Bill" Hickok so my readers are already familiar with the protagonist or have knowledge of some history or the lifestyle of the main character.

Certainly there is obvious benefit to writing about familiar, dynamic, adventurous, strong, sensitive characters, real or fictional, who are made endearing to readers by the writer. After being so thoroughly bombarded with the ‘character’ message, one begins to believe there is value in putting lesson learned to good use. Perhaps it is the good witch’s direction to follow the Yellow Brick Road to appreciation, recognition and publication. Certainly the friendly characters one meets along the way add to a writer’s cast of possibilities. If this is the well-traveled road that paved the way to published writer successes, why not walk in the footsteps of success?

There are just too many things in life that can freeze a person with fear. Meeting a bear face-to-face while walking in the forest is one. That telegram with the black border or dreaded phone call is another. For a writer, having one’s creative work critiqued is an unavoidable sweating palms, churning stomach, edge-of-the-cliff kind of fear. While inclined to say, ‘I am my own worst critic,’ there is a different, equally powerful pain that accompanies criticism from others. It is rather like walking through the woods, knowing there is a bear in there somewhere, and hoping it doesn’t want to eat you alive. Yet, to get necessary information, instruction and insight to improve one’s writing skills, and to bring one’s work from keyboard to publication, critique is often the best avenue to succeed. Then, the same writer being critiqued is called upon to be the critiquer – to be the bear in the forest. Neither side of a critique is without its fear. This may be a time to apply the Golden Rule.

According to Pam Webb, in her theWriter magazine article says, "Manuscript consults at writers conferences can make needed repairs, polish the work, force better pitches—and let you know it’s time to kill off a lead character." After suffering the pain of stings and amputation, with the help of a capable critique professional, the writer can leave educated, empowered and elated. It is rather like the clay pot that cannot be porcelain until it has been kiln fired.

Even published writers solicit critiques. Often resistant at first, writers who take a deep breath and acknowledge how to use a reviewer’s comments reap benefits with an improved article or book. It is not uncommon for the writer to feel defensive and want to explain oneself. Yet, the critique can become the positive turning point in a writer’s career. Those who have had positive experiences advise writers to listen and write down everything – take all the comments and let them sink in for a few days.

Critiques are time limited – most no more than ten minutes. Be prepared. Have your manuscript proofed for errors prior to a critique appointment and check for correct formatting. Be sure to have met requirements. Determine, in advance, whether your purpose is to ‘showcase’ examples of your writing strength or to review a problem area in which you are requesting help. Bring extra copies, additional pages or chapters as the person critiquing might be willing to review them later. Be sure to listen without explanation or excuse. All critiques are subjective. Only the writer knows what’s really best for his or her manuscript.

Instinct is good. "Instinct plus wisdom," according to one critiquer, "will move you closer to publication." It is the writing being critiqued, not the writer personally.

Melanie Faith, in another theWriter article entitled "The art of the Critique" offers five tips for writing-group members giving valuable feedback to fellow writers’ works. Her first caution is that feedback can be frustrating and exhilarating. Her warning is that you will have to return the favor of critiquing the work of other writer-group members so that, without some guidelines, the challenge to critique another writer’s work is far more frustrating than exhilarating.

Writing groups differ in conducting critique sessions. Some welcome the entire group population to read, make verbal comments and scribble notes all over the critique pages – as each submission has no more than ten minutes for review by the group. Some smaller groups (four to eight) meet for the purpose of critiquing one another’s work in a more intense fashion – usually as a book or in-depth piece is ready for a ‘last’ review before publication. These groups may meet several hours once or twice each week solely for the purpose of critiquing.

There are critiquers or readers sensitive to the ‘flow’ and pace of a story while others recognize effective character development, behavior, plot or story line; some may focus on words and punctuation to their best use. Here are Faith’s five tips.

Certainly I can review another’s writing only on the basis of my small frame of reference, preference and experience. As a critiquer, my strengths lie in having socially acceptable English-speaking skills, having attended schools with high expectations of students, and by using communication skills in life and business. Some reading and writing norms have changed over the years but one standard remains: Writers must present information in terms that are interesting, enjoyable and informative - or there will be no readers. Critiquing is an effective tool in accomplishing that standard.

Television puts my life on track and gives me a push into action each day. At 6 a.m. I stretch and bend with an exercise show before tuning in my favorite morning program for a rundown on the important issues in the world. Now I can face the day invigorated and informed.

Mine was the first family in our little community to own a television – right in our house. It was 1946. My parents and siblings lived in a suburb of Chicago where the only television sets were found in taverns where returning WWII veterans hung out. Programming included an odd variety of sports, news briefs with talking heads, grainy talent shows, old movies that flipped and sound tracks that were never synchronized to the pictures; TV viewing was mostly ‘snow’ and test patterns. We stared at our little screen with rapt attention watching wrestling, roller derby and radio-style news reporting. We were hypnotized by late-night music while some sculpture turned round and round on a turntable – all in black and white.

In the secret, mysterious innards of the television set were rows of tubes, like dozens of little medicine bottles all lined up, each necessary to bring the big, ten-by-twelve inch picture tube to life. When one small tube blew out, the entire television was useless. Do-it-yourself owners spent hours testing one tube after another with special equipment at the local pharmacy. Sometimes the daring owners would take the entire television apart before calling in a knowledgeable and expensive TV repairman for help.

Sixty years later, television has changed a lot while it hasn’t changed very much at all. Screens are now measured in feet rather than inches. True, there is less snow and viewers, too young to vote, have never seen a test pattern. Sports programs are still favorite viewing, along with quiz shows and personality-type shows like Regis & Kelly or David Letterman. News programs are more opinion than information as there is no such thing as ‘investigative reporting’ anymore. Some of the most unlikely people became celebrities: Norman Vincent Peale, Howdy Doody, Arthur Godfrey, Hopalong Cassidy and Gail Storm. New ‘talent’ and ‘reality’ shows are prone to move quickly from entertaining to bilious in one season. Standards of conduct and language that were once monitored and regulated are now unpredictable and offensive. Standards have, regrettably, slid into the depths of distaste, disgust and depravity. Viewers have become censors by ‘blocking’ shows or entire channels and employing the ‘off’ button.

Advertising commercials are more acceptable, sophisticated, entertaining and plentiful then the programming. Some televised sports have maintained behavioral standards of sportsmanship. I opt to watch tennis, old movies and reruns because they are not offensive in language or behavior. Even though there are no children living in my house to be shielded from conduct unbecoming human beings, I live here and I do not invite nor tolerate disrespect in my house.

Communications technology has become so much more sophisticated by 2009 than it was in 1947 it is astounding. Yet, with this new high definition, we are back to pictures cut in half or flipping and fading to black. Large blobs of channel logos attach themselves to the lower right-hand corner of screens where they distort and distract viewer attention. Crawls, sometimes stacked one atop another, run across the bottom of the screen while other crawls block the top of the screen. Maps and more crawls appear sporadically as storm warnings while circle insets of somebody ‘signing’ block the programming while transcriptions appear in the middle of the screen. My viewable television picture is actually shrinking though my new hi-definition flat-screen TV is considerably larger. While I yearn for the old days’ code of ethical standards in which offenses were bleeped or blue blotted, employing that solution today would leave no programming - just a screen full of bleeps, blots and crawls.

Here’s what I know about television that should make the world’s English-speaking population (especially parents and teachers) take notice: Every television station is blatant with careless misuse of the English language. Where did we lose subject-verb matches? Our nation’s decayed ability to communicate has fallen to the blackest abyss I have witnessed in my 78 years. Oh, how I yearn for the renewal of simple standards like decency, respect and pride.

AARP has accomplishments to be proud of and other things to regret. I wonder which category their request and my response to "What I really know about television" will fall under.

Pop, Rock ‘n Roll, Jazz, Country or Classical. Have you noticed that mood and emotions change in response to music? Jason Renthrow, Ph.D. a leading authority on the link between personality and music says, "Music can often convey the thoughts and feelings we can’t express with words." As writers, this concept is worth considering. If music can be used as a tool to describe your character’s personality in a story, and to write that story more fluidly, music is a good thing.

People do respond to the rhythm, tone and cadence of music. Writers are like Pavlov’s dogs. We tap our feet to polkas, feel the swaying cadence of the New Orleans dirge, and recognize the heavenly angels while listening to ‘Ave Maria’ sung in a cathedral.

So, which style is your music preference? What do your favorite tunes say about you as a person and as a writer? Renthrow believes people who prefer Pop are sociable and fun-loving; pop’s catchy melodies are a powerful mood booster. Those who prefer Rock ‘n Roll are confident and intellectually curious, exhibiting leadership qualities. Jazz lovers are independent and creative, serene, artistic and standoffish with a finely tuned sense of language. Laid back, straight shooting Country Music lovers are natural storytellers, especially of strife, humor, honesty, love lost and hope regained. Classical music appeals to complex, often stuffy, logical people who embrace all people and consider all ideas; classical music is said to stimulate the reasoning part of the brain.

As you, the writer, outlined your main character, what music style and preference fit you? Which music personality fit your main character? Could your protagonist be more recognizable if you are listening to his favorite music playing in the background as you write? Would the music’s tempo bring out an aura of this character’s geography, experience, background, language, tone and expression? ‘Voice,’ even on paper, is all about personality, tempo, color and emotion.

Articles of encouragement to writers suggest finding the ‘flow of writing’ by following a set schedule of time, place, ritual and atmosphere, including choice of music playing in the background. One of the most affective sleeping aids is peaceful sounds and soothing music. Even pre-natal babies universally respond to quieting or stimulating music. There is a YouTube clip with a man quietly singing, "Goodnight sweetheart, well, it’s time to go…" to a box full of wriggling young puppies – quickly, every one of those puppies curled up and slept as he sang! Try taking a nap during a Sousa march. "Taps" and "Star Spangled Banner" elicit innate emotion. And, if you lived through WWII, so do "When the Lights go on again…" and "I’ll be home for Christmas…"

Having been a musician from a very early age, I am quite aware of the influence music has on me, mentally, physically and spiritually. Aware of it or not, it does effect other people in the same way. Here’s my confession for the day: I nearly always begin writing after putting a Mozart CD in the tray (for complex reasoning and stuffy thinking). For me, hearing Mozart is that Pavlov cue to lay down words on paper. Today, knowing the topic I wanted to write, the CD I chose was "Kenny G’s Greatest Hits" - Jazz for that improvisational, witty, artistic feeling. But, as soon as I started editing myself before finishing the first page, I knew Kenny G was not helping me. I switched to Roger Whitaker for some upbeat, fun-loving Pop music. I felt much more encouraged and satisfied writing to "If I were a Rich Man."

Mastrocola, Kristina, Personality Insight, pub. Woman’s World, Sep. 09

Sena, Indra, Music to Write By, web-magazine, Aug. 09

Writing one’s own life story should be ‘a piece of cake’ yet, it can be intimidating. Life history terms are confusing: the diary, the journal, a memoir, family history, biography and autobiography – among others.

    Diaries were originally written as personal references. When the diaries of Samuel Pepys were published in 1825, attention was drawn to this form of autobiography and it has been successfully used ever since.

    A journal can be a daily record of events, either personal or business; a daily newspaper or a published periodical which is serious, scholarly, subject driven and peer-reviewed.

    A memoir is a focused subclass of an autobiography. It may deal with the writer’s career, sympathies or experiences at some specific interval, event or public matter as an element in the writer’s private life.

    A family history is a narrative from extensive research of past events relating to a specific family. Genealogy, descent by lineage or pedigree, is just one factor in a family history along with geography, era, social and economic influences in relating a family’s existence. It includes oral and written records with interpretations to create human faces and character to the lineage.

    A biography is the description of someone’s life, usually from beginning to end, based on extensive data research. It is more than a list of personal facts. It portrays experiences, interactions, character and personality. Biographical works are non-fiction though some fiction invariably sneaks in to illuminate the subject in literature, film, or other media presentation.

    An autobiography is the single lifespan biography, or some part thereof, written by its subject; an ambitious form of a biography; sometimes honest and true, sometimes with biased recollection or outright fantasy.

    Writing a biography is a long, involved process of selecting a subject, researching (sometimes for years), organizing facts, stirring in a generous supply of insights and soul searching, formulating an outline to show off the lead character in her best humanity and most honest profile. At last it is time to start writing, verifying facts, more writing, verifying dates and places, then more writing and reorganizing to the end. Done? Not at all. Now is the time to start editing; adding detail and tightening up descriptions, inserting footnotes, reference notes and indexing. Shaping and sculpting the subject into a person with a name, transforming data into a life, turning scattered words and numbers from bare bones into flesh and blood, thoughts, actions and emotions, takes an author’s dedication. Now you have a biography.

    Since a writer is more familiar with the facts of her own life, one would expect writing an autobiography to be ‘a breeze.’ It is not. The autobiography process is very much the same as a biography. There is some relief from an overload of research, but an added burden of dealing with living, real people cannot be avoided. Events involving others, and all those dates and data may come under friendly and not-so-friendly scrutiny. It is quite clear the author needs to use a great deal of discretion in revealing her own character presentation with facts and verifiable truths as that of a remote, unknown, possibly dead character from history. Being either egotistical or self-demeaning does not impress readers. Insight, clarity and personalized descriptions with well-crafted words earn readers and applause. One example is ‘Too Soon to Say Goodbye’ by Art Buchwald (Random House, 2006). While in hospice preparing for his own death he wrote, "I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t even know why I’m here!"

    It spite of aforementioned cautions and warnings, I thoroughly recommend each writer document his or her own life rather than leave it to some biographer. Most of the biographies I have written attempt to hold as strictly as possible to historic data, having never met my principal characters in real life. One case in point is my great-aunt Agnes Lake, circus owner and wife of James ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok (‘In Our Own Words,’ TLW anthology, 2008). I never met her. She died decades before I was born. My first impression of her came from family stories, legend, folklore and circus photographs. Since she was a woman of note during a time when newspapers employed no ethical standards, very little published about her can be considered fact. Few legal documents exist, although there are business documents and a few letters to her from James or her brother Joseph Mersman. Even the deaths of Agnes’s two famous husbands are told in several diverse versions by ‘eye witnesses’ and ‘respected’ reporters. I suspect, no, I am confident, Agnes, herself, did not always tell the truth.

    Everyone gives away hints of their lives every time they e-mail, engage in conversation, act and react, make a decision, tell a story, or write. Often, a biography is little more than a collection of those e-mails, conversations, behaviors, decisions, and stories molded by a writer into a living, breathing personality. An autobiography, too, needs to be more than data; it requires revelation of deeper feelings, personal integrity and quality of character. Not everyone can be Mahatma Gandhi or Golda Meir; not anyone wants to be Richard Speck or Bonnie Parker. Note that each of these people has at least one biography written about them. Meir wrote her autobiography entitled, "My Life" in 1975. Gandhi was a prolific writer, including, "An Autobiography of My Experiments with Truth." Speck was a poor student; news reporters wrote his biography. Writers of many media continue to romance the lives and deaths of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who appeared too young and too busy to have penned their own life stories.

    While I have written many biographies, I have written just one autobiography. As I recall, it took about three years to finalize 300 pages. At different times during the process, my life stretched much longer and shrank much shorter - word wise. I had a flexible outline to keep me focused. Here is my simple outline of pages and chapters to consider:

    Cover page     Introduction     Table of Contents

The world as it was at the time (year) of birth; the arrival

Family heritage, type of home, location, social status

Preschool years, first observations

On being son/daughter, physical/general description of household members

Family interactions - taking a scene and expanding it…

Toys, games, sharing, sports, ‘the times’ of early youth

Grandma’s house – structure, rituals, expectations,

Cousins: what they were like, where they lived, how they interacted

Family Property: who lived where, worked where, why/how

Music/Sports: family extracurricular interests

Accomplishments; your own and your family members’

First love – romance; even it was for your dog…

Important days, events, memories

Turning points, new locations, school, friends, death, interest, war…

What is Special - learning value of life, ambition, self-esteem, relationships?

Politics, social awareness, involvement

Religion: what, how, value, effect…

Brief encounters - people, places, things impressive good/bad

Pets, real or imagined

Genealogy and Family Reunions - family awareness, pride and values

Growing up: as teenager, in high school, college, employment –

Military: when which, where, expand a story…

Marriage/ parenting, new family traditions/values

Retirement: where, when, to what…

The Last Chapter…

Appendices; photos, family trees, diplomas, awards, other

Index…

    A stroll down memory lane can be joyful or fearful, sad or happy, tedious or exciting and perhaps a bit of each, but it is rewarding and fulfilling - once accomplished.

    Good luck to you in documenting your life and your memories. Somewhere, some time, somebody will try to find you and get to know you, perhaps write you into their family history, or find you worthy of authoring your biography. Statistics in church records, census rolls and newspaper clippings aren’t enough. The researcher will be looking for the real person that is you. It is up to you. So, step up to your computer and ‘tell it like it is.…’ Piece of cake!

Seeds of Hope, June 2009, nktc \\

Has a writer’s life become a series of Googles? How does one write a book, a paragraph, an article, a letter, email, blog or twitter without at least one click on Google? My writings and my life have come to rely on computer information; writing just a word or two on the subject line of Google and the requested information jumps onto the screen. I’ve saved minutes and hours, probably days and weeks from searching my poor memory and print sources before locating the ‘subject’ of the search. Personally, by the time I find what I’m looking for, I’ve forgotten why I was looking for it.

It makes no difference whether looking for ancient history, good grammar, molecular science, current events or items to purchase, they are all available somewhere in the computer. I worry whether the rows and rows of reference books on my shelves will ever again be needed to serve their primary purpose. Will bibliographies that now include headings for books, manuscripts, articles and periodicals, need just one category: Google? To some extent, I’m guilty already....

I do, occasionally, Google my name to find out who I am and what I’ve been doing lately. On May 1^st, Nancy Thatcher Cerny showed 1,650 hits. Two were from 2001. I know the woman who put out that inquiry as we had several months of communication by email, snail mail and phone; she has since died. Now, how does one delete those old words that serve no further purpose? Will they remain, cluttering up the vast e-world storage forever?

One other hit caught my attention. It was regarding McCormick Book Inn in Greenville, Mississippi. It seems that bookstore had either Googled itself or ‘brown water.’ They hit on Twin Lakes Writers and the November 2007 President’s Page, "Magic Water." McCormick Book Inn website, www.mccormickbookinn.com, newsletter, has an article headed by the same photograph, at the front door of the bookstore, that tops the TLW President’s Page. Twin Lakes Writers, it seems, got a bit of a spotlight shined on them by writers as far away as Greenville, Mississippi.

My curiosity was peaked. I wondered what interesting stuff might I find if I googled our members’ names. I took out my TwinLakesWriters Member Roster and looked up everyone on the list. One writer had 16 hits – all seemed to actually relate to that one particular author. The member with the most hits, 8,860,000, obviously has a popular name as very few hits appeared to relate to the person I have met at TLW meetings. As a matter of fact, four ‘right person’ hits in 4,000 is a lot; four in 400,000 is more likely.

Consequently, one still has to search for a significant hit. Keeping a sense of humor helps. I discovered a man with the same name as one of our members is not only a writer and cricket player, but he is a deaf man who founded a school in Indiana – and he owns a bookshop. Another man is president of a large charitable organization in Georgia, is a spy for YouTube and sells real estate. One person with a member’s name publishes Christian books while another is an MD and CEO, a writer and professor of education in Canada. There was a retired Colonel, a head of Govt. community relations, and an architect.

This search was such fun! I just loved finding out who (of the same name) was a composer and jazz musician, hockey coach, geography professor, sculptor, ski bum, attorney and metalsmith. I was not surprised at the accomplishments of so many writers and poets in our midst; writers, poets, craftsmen and members actually known to you and me. I enjoyed ‘meeting’ a lot of Googled people who have done interesting things though I will never meet them in person. I value those people I have met and know personally.

Certainly every one of us has a real life and an interesting real life story to tell – if we would just take the time to write it down for fun or posterity... So, I am telling you that your own life story can be a fun and fantastic platform for your stories – fiction or non-. It, the autobiography/biography, is food for my thought and another President’s Page (or two) as a writing cue and encouragement to each member. So, keep on researching in public libraries, in dusty tomes with yellowed pages, on familiar print pages or through your computer’s extensive libraries. However you get from A to Z, write, write, write!

Seeds of Hope May 2009 nktc \\

First, let me confess that I know nothing about Flash Fiction. I’m not sure what it is, how it written, who I can sell it to or why it is worth my time to consider. But, since it has to do with writing, I think I need to know something about it.

I am a lion. I loll around doing as little as possible while thinking up things I hope to write about. When Flash Fiction strolled into view, I took notice. As a hunter, I enjoy chasing down enough information, sometimes catching an overload for the fun of it, in order to write a piece or two on a particular topic. I am persistent and don’t give up easily when sniffing out the facts on a subject of interest. This Flash Fiction began to look like a quick and tasty snack, if I could capture it.

With my short attention span, I rarely thread a plot line long enough to include all the boring details I collect for my writings. Writing a nice 3,500 word article can be a stretch when I have lost my interest in the subject. Consequently, this genre known as Flash Fiction could be as addictive as popcorn or potato chips. Like the lion on the trail of something tasty, I am on the trail of Flash Fiction and intend to follow it until I get a big, tasty bite.

First, of course, comes a peek at Wikipedia; second, writer’s magazines.

My first stop is always Wikipedia - my favorite hunting ground. I know it is not considered a ‘reliable’ source but I often get more than I need from the simple articles and stories it offers. Then I am off to follow the scent in stacks of writer’s magazines and professional, ‘acceptable’ articles that confirm most of what I gleaned from the Wiki.

If stories are described by the number of words they include, here is a guide:

Flash Fiction (Extreme Brevity) 1,000 words or less

Short-Short Story 1,001 to 2,500 words

Short Story 2,501 to 7,500 words

Novelette 7,501 to 17,500 words

Novella 17,501 to 40,000 words

Novel 40,000 or more.

Flash Fiction is one of those categories with more than one name. It is also known as Sudden Fiction, Micro-fiction, Micro-story, Postcard Fiction, or even short-short story. It comes in several forms: novel, poem or drama, and in several genre: Epic, lyric, drama, romance, satire, tragedy and comedy. In media, Flash Fiction is either a play or in any print form.

The name came about when, in 1992, an anthology, titled "Flash Fiction," was published. Each "Flash Fiction" was a story that fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine – about 750 words. Subsequently, literary magazine publishers found this style and form acceptable, publishing Flash Fiction as short stories, poetry, essays, literary criticisms and book reviews, occasionally as biographies or letters.

Flash Fiction is a lot of story in few words. It contains the classic story elements of protagonist, conflict, obstacles and resolution; a beginning, a middle and conclusion. To make the story brief, hints and implied knowledge become essential to crafting few, but effective, words. One research source believed Flash Fiction got its roots in Aesop’s Fables. Several sources cited Ernest Hemmingway’s "For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn," to be the most impressive, dynamic and brief illustration of Flash Fiction.

There are a lot of readers and writers who have short attention spans. Blogs and ‘texting’ have grown in popularity. Short stories as found in the Readers Digest continue to sell well. Anthologies have become immensely popular (as they were in the 1860s and again in the 1920s). One can readily discern the similarities between Flash Fiction and a Blog :

Mary Miller called Flash Fiction, ‘this experimental genre." So, any writer can decide to experiment with it. If flash means fast, all writers write ‘flash’ to warm up their fingers and their thinking before they get down to writing their novels. Ms. Miller says, "The best flashes take off quickly…before delving into the story." Okay. Members of TwinLakesWriters have been doing writing exercises that are quite like Flash Fiction in poetry or prose, with a few words, not exceeding two pages. Believing this fast, brief, writing exercise is of value to writers and the group, the author of the best story of the month receives the prestigious Red Canoe "Emery Award." Rather like the America’s Cup for racing or the Stanley Cup for hockey, the Red Canoe paddles from best author to best author each month. The Emery Award winning writing is published in the TwinLakesWriters newsletter and website: www.TwinLakesWriters.org. Check it out!

Give Flash Fiction a whirl.

Flash Fiction Markets (I checked them out…nktc)

www.elimae.com/publisher

www.hobartpulp.com

www.juked.com

www.quickfiction.org

www.smokelong.com

www.english.ufl.edu/subtropics

www.wigleaf.com

Sources:

Brown, Randall, "Aww! An Essay in Flash Fiction," Flash Fiction Flash, newsletter.

Castro, Pamelyn, "Flashes in the Meridian" Wikipedia.

Hozuka, Tom, "Flash Fiction: A thumbnail History."

Kotzin, Miriam N., "Flash Fiction."

Miller, Mary, "An insider’s guide to Flash Fiction,"pub theWriter, May ‘09.

Rogers, Bruce Holland, "Short-Short Sighted" article series.

Ruddick, Sam, "It might make you laugh but it is unlikely to make you cry. There simply isn’t time to get as invested in the characters…"

Smith, Stan & Kachelries, Kathy, "What is Flash Fiction?"

www.365tomorrow.com, free podcast: "Flash Fiction is fiction with its teeth bared and claws extended…"

Everyone has a lifetime of experience and opinions. Essays make it possible to express those experiences and opinions in arenas where the public may listen, read and take interest. The writer’s possibilities are challenging and exciting with the plethora of styles and avenues available through traditional and modern e’s.

What is an essay? It is an opinion piece. It can be a social, political or personal experience or commentary. A formal essay is designed to prove a point while a personal essay is a nonfiction story based on a true incident. Both formal and personal essays may include an unforgettable memory, unique perspective or experienced event. A writer gives shape, meaning and insight into a story using the printed word. The essential elements of an essay are facts or opinions with solutions and conclusions that matter to the reader.

Preachers and politicians rely on verbal skills and established platforms. Others who do not have access to ready-make audiences may rely on specialized interest groups such as teachers, business associates or neighbors. Writers often prefer to use the essay format as the process is simple: 1) Select a topic; 2) Set parameters to avoid straying; 3) Get the facts right; 5) Write the essay, coming full circle from problem to solution with beginning, middle and end.

The most recent and effective avenue to writing essays might well be blogging. More writers are reading are writing blogs. There is money to be earned by this means by managing your own website and promoting not only your own writer’s words, services and products, but by managing those of others on your website. It is also possible, without financial compensation, to blog on a number of established websites. Blogging has become a primary avenue to a writer’s name recognition.

Formal essays generally need to be timely while personal essays need to be directed to appropriate readerships. There is little interest by publishers, two years after hurricane Katrina for essays on the hurricane’s effect on New Orleans. Smithsonian Magazine is not likely to have any interest in an essay on potty training a two-year old. As a word of caution, know a personal essay is a window into the writer’s personal life as compared to a formal essay designed to prove an opinion or a point.

Print media topics and feature articles are often designed and selected weeks and even months in advance so the essay of a ski-lift ride may be received with enthusiasm in July or rejected like a rotten potato in December. Just remember: 1) write essays with universal or timeless themes; 2) always follow a publisher’s guidelines when submitting for publication; 3) realize compensation for publication of essays has decreased a bit in recent months; 3) keep all essays on file, published or not, timely or not, personal or formal. Do not delete or destroy essays! They can be a lifesaver in generating new ideas or editing with a new slant for new publication. Just keep writing!

References: The Writer, 2009, articles by Bharti Kirchner, Barbara Abercrombie, Kathryn Lay and Candice Reed.

We all know that writers have an unquenchable need to write and, if the heart is truly the center of one’s being, there must be words in there – beating as hard and as often as they can – trying to get out.

The Valentine is a token of love and affection given on St. Valentine’s Day. It, too, has a need for words – even as basic as "Be Mine."

The first known St. Valentine was a Roman Catholic martyr of third century A.D. We only know this because somebody cared enough to write it down for us to read these many years later. Actually, numerous Christian martyrs were named Valentine. One such martyr, or so it was written, rejected by his mistress, was so brokenhearted he, "took a knife to his chest and sent her his still-beating heart as a token of his undying love," – thus, the familiar red hearts of Valentine’s Day.

However it began, sentiments of hearts, valentines, doves and cupids continue to expression loving sentiments from the sophisticated penmen to the humble illiterate; from "Romeo and Juliet" to X O X.

Examples of 19^th century hand-made cards include @ Wikipedia:

c.1850 "Weddings now are all the go. Will you marry me – or no."

c.1862 "My dearest miss, I send thee a kiss."

There are sayings such as, "Love makes the world go ‘round," and "All for the love of …… (fill in the blank)." To date, I will not give up my belief that everything written has an element of romance. If it did not, who would take the time to write it? Who would want to read it? If you didn’t care deeply enough, why would somebody write it down? Writing is all heart and caring, all valentines and sharing, then back again. We never outgrow these things. And, we are not the only nation to embrace valentines, either.

In regions of the UK, "Jack" Valentine knocks on the back doors of houses where he leaves sweets and presents for the children. In Denmark and Norway, Valentines Day is celebrated as a special dinner with a loved one. In Saudi Arabia, 2008, religious police banned the sale of Valentine’s Day items, telling shop workers to remove any red items as the day is considered un-Islamic. (The ban created a black-market of roses and wrapping paper.)

Yes, the day was definitely associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages of Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love flourished. It is prominent in the 21^st century as the US Greeting Card Association estimates a billion valentines are sent each year worldwide.

Does it matter that the writer finds love in another person or in a subject such as fiction, fantasy, history, an object, ideas, location, in science, politics or lexicon? As long as an author expresses emotional interest and heartfelt devotion to the subject, the reader will feel an attraction and attachment to the subject as well.

You can take the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seriously. Apparently, he knew what he was writing about!

SeedsOfHope 4 Feb 09, nktc\\

When it comes to encouraging writers to write, you have heard it all before – often. Yet, here I go again. As a writer, you must write; words fill your thinking until they overflow onto blank pages like Niagara over the falls. Be a waterfall! I know, you know, we know you have the words, the stories and a unique ability to lay them out for others to read and enjoy. But writing writers, most of us anyway, have a problem. We are lacking in knowledge, and skills when it comes to publishing and selling our writings. How do we find a publisher to print our words? Where do we find an audience to read what we have written – and, hopefully, pay for the privilege? Finding an agent has been every writer’s first major hurdle. Finding a publisher in today’s tight market is even more elusive than the agent.

It is no wonder so many writers opt to ‘self-publish.’ Perhaps it is time to consider finding better, newer or different avenues to publishing. First, we surely need to understand the ever-changing publishing business more thoroughly. But, who has the time? It is a full-time job to write, revise, develop queries and keep our own ‘stuff’ filed and organized.

I heard Sara Nelson, Editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, being interviewed last week. Her overall message wasn’t very encouraging due to our failing economy. Ms. Nelson said publishing houses have experienced ‘Black Wednesday." They have instituted a ban on further book acquisitions. Publishers are no longer adding any new books and agents are no longer accepting new clients. Book sellers have felt the crunch in lowered sales. They will not notice the stilted flow of ‘no new books’ for awhile because it takes 8 to 24 months from the time of publisher approves a new book until it reaches the book stores. Book sales were down 6% Thanksgiving weekend 2008 compared to the same weekend in 2007 – that is significant in a book world that lives with very slim profit margins in the best of times.

While Ms. Nelson indicated that 10% of publishing house employees are already gone, she is confident there will always be writers, books and readers. Stephanie Meyer’s vampire books, a trilogy, continues to be a best-seller for Christmas 2008 but we may never again see a market flood of one author’s print books , as we did with J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

There is great hope, however. While in its early phase of acceptance by writers and readers, e-books (Sony and Amazon, Kindle, eBooks, e-bookstores, e-library) is a promising avenue to ‘acquire’ and ‘publish’ new books to be read on computers, TVs or phones. While I don’t personally understand e-books, Ms. Nelson seemed to indicate that an author doesn’t need an agent and/or even a publisher to publish by this means. There are writers who will be ecstatic to take personal control of access, webpages, blogs, promotions, marketing and sales of their own books.

Anthologies are another avenue to getting your works before a reading audience. Writing short pieces for anthologies has its advantages for a writer; it presents samples of your work, credits your name and adds to your platform. A disadvantage may be paying a submission fee, distribution is usually limited and profits minimal. There are some anthologies that offer up-front pay to a writer, upon acceptance of a piece; like the Chicken Soup books series.

According to Susan Sundwall, freelance, mystery and, children’s author, the up-side to anthologies are: no research is required, writing time is short and word count is low. Writing from life experience (Chicken Soup) has its own rewards and a writing credit is gained. If you are interested in anthologies, Sundwall recommends checking out website links with guidelines and lists: Search at www.chickensoup.com; or www.cupofcomfort.com; www.literarycottage.com/index.html; or stories for inspiration or Christian theme, www.allisonbottke.com/writingsguidelines.htm.

Perhaps the most important tool in a writer’s workbox is membership and attendance in one or more writer’s organization. Most are devoted to keeping members informed, sponsoring seminars and workshops, offering critiques/critique groups or any combination of these supports. I do hope your attendance and interaction with Twin Lakes Writers is your 2009 priority. Together, we’ll be informed, encouraged and critiqued. We succeeded in all those categories in 2008 and published an anthology besides.

I wish you all the words you want and need for a Happy, Productive 2009.

Seeds of Hope, 29 December 2008, nktc \\

We just cannot help ourselves - it is December and our thoughts are drawn to Christmas, shopping, gifts, colored lights, snowflakes and tinseled trees. We welcome our old friends once again: Santa Claus, Rudolph - and the Grinch. Over the years, we have heard and seen "A Christmas Carol" in all its versions, but we are willing to sit through another re-run. Even the Scrooges among us enjoy a good story with a happy ending, a plate filled with turkey and whipped potatoes, cranberry sauce and a slice of mincemeat pie. Then, while the traditions vary from place to place and the symbols of the season may be different, Christmas is a time of celebration – even for my non-Christian relatives and friends, so let us

Deck the Halls with boughs of Holly

Along with "It’s a Wonderful Life," "The Night Before Christmas," and Charles Dickens’ famous carol, I hope you will enjoy hearing and reading one of the medieval Christmas stories I wrote several years ago. It was 2004 when I read my old time Christmas stories for members of Twin Lakes Writers. This is one of my favorites:

Nancy Thatcher Cerny

At Christmas time, on Noel eve the good and peasant folks living in a Medieval French Barony installed a heifer, an ox and an ass in the parish church "to warm the holy baby with their breath." Torches were lighted everywhere and fires were lit upon the hills. Groups of people marched about dressed like shepherds bound for the Christchild’s manger, led by pipes and viols, while singing joyously:

"Good sirs, now hark ye! –

From far lands come we,

For it is Noel."

Responses to the shepherds were then sung in the church, telling the story of Christmas in the vernacular, interspersed with comments by the animals in Latin, because, as they say in the hymn,

"all the beasts in other days

Spoke French less well than Latin."

In Pontdebois, however, there was a more elaborate performance ritual in which twelve clerks, representing six Jews and six pagans, presented themselves in the cathedral choir, declaring their wish to examine the evidence that the babe newly born is truly the Redeemer. Those representing prophets, Moses, Balaam, Herbrew children, pagan and apostles respond with canticles in sonorous Latin until the doubters declare themselves satisfied and fall down to worship the Infant King.

At the Barony, seating of guests for the feast is always a serious concern. The most important people, of course, are seated at the high table. Persons of lower rank are seated lower. All is standardized, ranked and classified. Yet, bloody feuds have started from failure to seat guests properly. A lady is likely placed beside each cavalier as the two will use the same dish and the same goblet during the entire feast. After grace is offered by the bishop, the feast begins.

An endless procession commences between the cookhouse and the banqueting hall. Boys are running with great dishes which they present to the official servitors to pass to the guests. It is a solemn moment when the Lord Baron, host and highest ranking member of the household, personally serves the most important guest. There is cheering, a clash of cymbals and bray of trumpets. Then, squires and upper servants carry, shoulder high, huge platters of some special viand and the baron’s carvers cut ample slices from the haunch of the stag or boar’s head larded with herb sauce, beef, mutton, leg of pork, swan and roasted rabbit.

Feasters have little need of plates. They take the loaves lying ready upon the trestles and tables, hack them into thick slices, placing the pieces of meat upon the same, then cutting up the meat while it is resting on the bread. These "trenchers," not ordinarily eaten at the feast, will go into the great alms baskets at the conclusion of the celebration.

In a Christmas feast, as in every feast, the idea is to tempt the appetite to utter satiety by forcing first one dish upon the guests and then another, with no particular sequence of courses. A second course might be Pottage of "drope and rose" mallard, pheasant and roast capon and pasties of small birds. The third course may consist of rabbits in gravy heavily spiced with onion and saffron, roasted teal, woodcock and snipe and sweet pastries filled with yolk of eggs, cheese and cinnamon.

There were no salads, no ices, nor confections, nevertheless, some of the dishes were spectacular—notably the swan, which was brought on with music, prinked out as if he were alive and swimming, his beak gilt, his body silvered, resting on a mass of green pastry. Or the peacock presented with all his plumage outspread.

A huge pastry may be presented and ceremoniously slashed open with a dagger so as to release a score of fluttering little birds that afterward fly about, only to be chased and killed by falcons – before the eyes of the feasting guests. Everybody talks at once. At last, each has had his fill.

At the conclusion of the feast are baked pears, dishes of salted walnuts and sugared dates and figs. Noble dames munch sugarplums as a last cup of spiced wine is handed around. Finally, thinking of the poor, guests call upon the servants to pile all the loose food upon great platters to be presented to the needy.

And a partridge in a pear tree…

Seeds of Hope 12/2/08 Nancy Thatcher Cerny \\

When you plan to be a writer, orator or poet, you will need a coffeehouse in your life. For centuries the world’s greatest politicians, philosophers, writers and businessmen frequented these establishments.

English coffeehouses, for over one hundred years, have been the centers of creative literary life. Imagine stopping in and meeting Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift or Sir Isaac Newton. Yes, they gathered together at coffeehouses with fellows of common interest for camaraderie, inspiration and fellowship.

"Almost from their inception, London coffee-houses began to develop their own specialized clientele; each identified for a particular occupation, interest group, or activity." Most clientele was determined by its proximity to the specific industry. Lloyd’s of London had its origins in a London coffeehouse where underwriters of insurance met to do business. Other coffeehouses attracted lawyers, politicians, businessmen, booksellers, authors, theologians or men of fashion. For thirty years, John Dryden, at Will’s Coffee-house in London, served as an inspiration to poets and writers of prose where the most famous men of letters sat and sipped coffee. In addition to serious discussions of literature, the patrons of Will’s enjoyed jest, libels and lampoons.

So, just what is a coffeehouse? Simply stated, it is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar or a restaurant and, from a cultural standpoint, is a center of social interaction, providing interested members with a place to congregate, talk, write, read, entertain one another or pass their time in small groups.

In the 15^th century, the coffeehouse served as a social meeting place in Middle Eastern countries where men assembled to drink coffee and listen to music, read books and play backgammon. In the 17^th century, they were established and found popularity throughout Europe. Oxford’s Queen’s Lane Coffee House opened in 1654 and is in existence today. The first Paris Coffeehouse was a major locus of French Enlightenment; Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot frequented it. It is arguably the birthplace of the Encyclopedie, the first modern encyclopedia.

Charles II tried to suppress the London coffeehouses as "places where the disaffected meet and spread scandalous reports…" whereupon the public flocked to them in even greater numbers. They were social levelers, open to all men, and as a result associated with equality and republicanism. Coffeehouses became valued meeting establishments where business could be carried out and news exchanged.

Coffee shops in the United States arose from the espresso-centered Italian restaurants in New York City and San Francisco. In the 1960s, they began to serve as a venue where folk music performers could vent political discontent: Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Twenty years later, coffeehouses became more associated with drugs than with coffee, where storefront hangouts enticed patrons with entertainment and marijuana, leading to another counter-culture with Bible studies and anti-drug organizations.

Seattle-based Starbucks standardized the mainstream model of coffeehouses recognized in the United States currently; places where coffee is prepared and served by a borista. Anyone can simply walk in or drive up to purchase a beverage on the way from one place to another – resulting in the diminished social value found in coffeehouses of yesteryear. In France, a café serves coffee and alcoholic beverages, a brasserie is a café that serves meals and a bistro is a restaurant; all serve as coffeehouses and meeting places. In modern Egypt, Turkey and Syria, where coffeehouses began, men and boys still sip coffee as they converse, play chess or watch television.

For some writers, orators or poets, the idea of meeting other wordsmiths at a coffeehouse is a new one - thanks to the suggestion and arrangements by one of our local authors. Members of Twin Lakes Writers are on the verge of great things. Defoe and Swift may not be dropping in for a cup of coffee but other familiar authors, Acklin, Butkus, Harper, Russell, Varno, Kampen, Emery, Jardine, Montgomery, Bachman, Julin, Dienes and yours truly will be there at 10 a.m. on the last Tuesday of the month. This coffeehouse-type setting was recently the training camp for the famous J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. We expect the same great writing results. Our coffeehouse get-together is called simply Brunch at Mel’s Diner. I hope to see you there!

Seeds of Hope, November 2008, by NancyThatcherCerny \\

Thank you, Paul Newman, for reminding us of the value of words and character. Whether a fan or not, news of Newman’s death brought to mind not only the characters he portrayed in films, but his character as a man.

Paul Newman credited writers with the successes of movies he appeared in and his portrayals in them. He enjoyed being an actor as he was seriously selective about the scripts he performed: Exodus, Butch Cassidy, Hud, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, et. al. He understood words and scenes as a writer, producer and director as well as an actor. But, let us not forget Newman was not only an unforgettable character on film but a man with character – someone we felt we knew or would like to know.

Few public personalities write their own scripts. Politicians, too, give their writers credit for the bet speeches they present. So, it would seem, a script writer, biographer or writer of fiction needs to know every detail of the personality, emotional makeup, background and character they put into words.

Wiley Russell introduced us to "Fiction is Folks" by Robert Newton Peck, a few years ago – a book containing the ABCs of ‘How to Create Unforgettable Characters.’ Its contents ring true to characters real or fictional. Here are a few suggestions from that book:

Study people and how they live and act.

Play characters off one another–like Laurel and Hardy (no conflict/no story).

Don’t bore readers with background-draw word pictures so reader can ‘see.’

Long paragraphs drag a story. Let your hero tell the story.

Use a nice mix of personalities (like beer buddies). Add an odd-ball or two.

Milk a scene - like Gypsy Rose Lee stripping. Never shy away from corn.

Stand in your character’s shoes; look into his eyes; feel his feelings.

To add a character, create a situation, start with an issue, disagree…

Keep key character in focus – Harry Potter is always the focus of Harry Potter!

Use tools to tell story: Billy Graham=Bible, Hank Aaron=Baseball…

Stimulate expectation, anxiety, fear…build tension.

Use an irritation of hero for tension – abortion, foul language, honking horns…

Cowards make good characters; comic or tragic; with redeeming qualities, too.

Overwhelm your character with actions and reactions.

Villains have souls, too. Let them smell the roses for a change.

Ghosts are not always dead.

See the world through the eyes of a child.

A cast of characters is an orchestra. They can make music-or just noise.

Add thorns to the roses; outrageous acts, uninvited guests, upset apple carts.

Vigilantes, injustice, getting mad, having a cause; actions and consequences.

Only the less fortunate want equality; those who are equal want success.

a)introduce characters one by one – do not begin with a crowd. b) Allow hero to get to meet and know each humanity that enters his life. c)Only the lead character stays on stage throughout. d)Add characters only when they have direct association with your plot. e)Before adding character or event, use what is already established and expand upon it.

Whether for Paul Newman or the President of the United States, the screenwriter or speechwriter is designing a script. The writer must know how to describe the character and the event, and create the desired emotional response at the same time. Writing is dedicated work!

We loved Paul Newman’s theatrical portrayals. We enjoyed his salad dressing and popcorn. We were awed by his generosity, giving away all his "Newman’s Best" profits to his charitable foundation. We respected his fascination with speed and cheered his victories as a race-car driver. We admired his self-respect and his respect for us – his fellow man.

Upon revealing his losing battle with cancer, Paul Newman said, "It is pleasant to know you’ve had a past." We loved him well - the actor and the man.

Seeds of Hope, October 2008 NancyThatcherCerny \\

September is here. Another season of academia is upon us. Writers, whether journalist, novelist, playwright or scribbler are students for as long as they can hold a pen or tap out words on a keyboard. As an author…

Invest in yourself. Don’t just think about it – Do it.

What have you done lately? Has your name, your work or your credits been published recently? Emmit Acklin was interviewed by the local reporter when his cousin, a civil war widow, died recently. Shouldn’t that interview count as a platform credit to him as an author! After all, Emmit’s story-telling expertise is in local history, personalities and events.

Writing is work! Whether you are a sprinter, like me, who writes short pieces such as essays, opinions or blog, writing every day is essential to keeping words flowing.

If you are a marathoner, you, along with John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts and Bill Loehfelm are probably putting in 40-hour weeks writing your latest ‘best-seller.’

Do you know what books the public is buying these days? Scanning the ‘Best Seller’ book list can keep you current and on-track with readers. And, as a bonus, for the price of a Sunday newspaper, you can get the equivalent of a workshop or seminar by reading the book review: On Sunday, August 24, 2008, the book review was about a crime fiction entitled "Fresh Kill" by Bill Loehfelm (Putnam, 2008). The beginning of this review reads like a query letter should read: a bitter, angry man … with reason; beaten by his father … now his father is dead. The reviewer describes Loehfelm’s dialogue as "pitch-perfect," his prose, "gritty and lean." He describes the writer’s sense of place as ‘vivid’ so that Staten Island emerges as a major character of the book, where "raw emotion boils" so this is not just a crime novel but a psychological novel of impressive subtlety and complexity.

WOW! Learning can be interesting, exciting and even rewarding.

Seeds of Hope - September 2008 NancyThatcherCerny\\

Life is all about Romance. Writing is all about Romance. So, I just couldn’t help myself. I turned on the computer and opened my favorite dictionaries to look it up: ‘Romance’ n. "In true Roman tongue." Yikes! That definition leaves me, and every writer I know, out from under the ‘romance’ umbrella. – or does it?

I don’t speak Latin-Italian, French, Provencal, Spanish-Portuguese or Romanian. Do you? But, reading on: Romance writings deal with extraordinary adventures or an almost purely imaginary state, society, or tend toward the wonderful and mysterious. Yes, fellow writers, we can and do all fit, comfortably, under that broad ‘romance’ umbrella.

Webster says ‘romance’ is to devise and tell fictitious, extravagant stories. A ‘romancer’ is one who writes those stories. That’s us.

Because of the upcoming writers workshop (August 15^th at BelArco in Bull Shoals) with the presenter being a romance writer, I heard writers say they would not be attending because they did not consider themselves romance writers. As for myself, I cannot imagine any story worth writing or reading devoid of the ‘romance’ ingredient.

The first ‘romance’ story that came to my mind (actually a movie) is entitled "Romancing the Stone." And there is "ET," and "The Patriot," or my favorite, "Out of Africa." Adventure, sci-fi, history and biography. Aren’t they all romance? Have you read the variety of prose and poetry in our anthology, "In Our Own Words?" Which one isn’t romance?

American Heritage Dictionary includes all these writings and movies as romance because they include the telling of adventures and chivalric heroes, idealized exploits, mysteries and fictitious tales as romance, strong or short-lived attachments with enthusiasm, fictitiously embellished accounts, and wooing a reader by writing and using romantic language (in English).

Roget II says Romance (v.) means to attempt to gain the affection of someone or to court them. Romantic is not necessarily compatible with reality, meaning, idealistic, affectedly emotional or sentimental.

Google blurts out the modern interpretation from the git-go: "Passion Parties" topped their list. Well now, be honest, wasn’t that the first thing that came to your mind?

Historically the romance genre had three themes: Alexander the Great (Latin/Italian), Chalamagne (French) and King Arthur (English). They were filled with gods, dwarfs, dragons, giants, magic, swords, quests and fair maidens. There were super-human abilities, strict codes of honour, long and fantastic adventures. More modern styles include courtly love, the fantastic, eerie, Gothic and erotica; they differentiate from love story as romance into historical fiction and planetary romance.

Wikipedia (I love this website) says romance is a genre of fiction; erotic romance, romance comics, paranormal romance, ruritarian romance, sci-fi, romantic poetry, nationalism, music, ballet, friendship, comedy or drama. That includes just about everything any writer has ever written!

I like writing biographies. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt to find the true character of my protagonists, discovering the sweep of their humanity, to revealing their secrets with insights to their character and ascribing meaning to the hidden mysteries of their lives. Am I trying to write history, a biography, human interest, mystery, psychology, the meaning of life, morality or a romance? Perhaps, all of these. I find an interesting character, research the facts of their life, interpret those findings by incorporating my personal fascination with their (possibly dull) existence and (ideally) transform that life story into an energetic, historical, biographic romance.

Romance genre @ Romance Writers of America is smart, fresh and diverse, employing contemporary dialogue, historical settings, mystery, thrillers or any number of other themes. Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally optimistic ending…. Romance novels are based on the idea of an innate emotional justice - good people are rewarded/evil people are punished.

If romance is your genre and you enjoy living in Romance, you can! There are small towns called Romance in Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia and Wisconsin. How’s this for a romance writer’s address: (Your name), P. O. Box #123, Romance, Arkansas. I couldn’t find any towns named Adventure, Fiction or Mystery…

Seeds of Hope, August 2008, Nancy K. Thatcher Cerny \\

You design it - it defines you. You become it - it represents you. That’s your e-mail signature.

It is important for you, as a writer, to design and use an effective signature. It will help you sell yourself and your products to friends, contacts, editors, agents, publishers and everyone with whom you communicate.

Here are the ABCs to create your e-mail signature:

Repeat after me: From this day forward, I will never send an e-mail message without including my e-mail signature notifying everybody that I am a writer.

Do you remember that theme song from the television show ‘Cheers?’ "I wanna go where everybody knows my name.…" It is human nature to want to be recognized by sight, by name, by purpose. Actors go to great lengths to garner it. Politicians grand stand for it. Doctors and nurses perform healing services for it. Teachers, policemen, ministers, firemen and public servants perform to the best of their ability to secure our respect and recognition. Writers can use the example of those folks since writing is a lonely pursuit. Authors pound out words in solitude. Sometimes, when a project is clicking along, it may be days before a writer comes up for air. So, recognition of your name is an important form of familiarity with your work.

You probably know the name of the president of the United States. You see his image, hear his voice and name nearly every day. You probably know who is currently running for president of the United States because they, too, are in your face, before your eyes and bending your ear daily. But, do you remember who ran against President Jimmy Carter? Do you remember who was Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan? Out of sight; out of mind. Don’t let that happen to you. Repetition creates recognition.

Be seen. Know that the name you use as a writer is the name by which your readers will know you. Your reputation as a writer will grow as your name and product recognition grows.

Let’s say your name is Theodor Geisel and you are a writer – a quiet person who often hides from the public, works long, tedious hours writing, cartooning and illustrating children’s books. Have you ever heard of Theodor Geisel? Probably not. But I am confident you are familiar with his writings. Houghton Mifflin (Vanguard Press) and Random House asked him to write and illustrate a children’s primer using only 225 "new reader" vocabulary words. He came up with "The Cat in the Hat?" Would you have opted to use a pseudonym for that whimsical work’s publication? That’s how Theodor Geisel became Dr. Seuss.

Whatever your name, whatever name you prefer to use as your writings are published, that name is an image of your reputation as a person; it is a reflection of respect and admiration from author to reader and everyone in between. Guard it as your castle and promote it as your most familiar landmark.

Start with Your Signature! It is not only how you sign your name in your published books that matters, but in your general correspondence, query letters; how you greet your public, honor your commitments, meet deadlines – every time you make an appearance in person or electronically. After you have developed an effective e-mail signature, you will want to establish your own website. Learn to ‘toot your own horn’ and become your own best advocate. The more often your name is associated with your writings, the sooner agents, editors and readers will recognize you in books, magazines, bookstores, on television or in emails. Soon, they will ask for more. Dr. Seuss ended up with 44 children’s books in 15 languages, selling more than two hundred million copies and winning the Pulitzer (among others) Prize.

Keep writing – whatever name you choose to live with.

SeedsOfHope1July08 nktc \\

If you haven’t met Charles w. Sasser, I suggest you go to hear him next time he presents a seminar. He is a little man –little as in physical stature – who seems big in giving away everything he knows about success in writing and he appears prosperous and joyful in his own writing career. He is definitely a storyteller.

Charles W. Sasser was the primary presenter at the May 17th Ozark Writers League seminar.  Coincidentally, his article, The Writer’s Hedge, appeared in Writing for DOLLARS May 6th. His theme:  Be a successful writer.  Mr. Sasser has published more than 50 books and 3,000 magazine articles and short stories.  He is a full-time writer whether sitting with pen and pad or jumping out of airplanes.

He wrote, "A freelance writer must be versatile in order to succeed." Charles Sasser is versatile. His subject matter ranges from Sci-Fi to true adventure, history and biography. His byline may appear with Parents and Soldier Of Fortune in the same month. He recommends you ‘broaden your interests,’ that you go, see and experience, that you join clubs, learn new skills, develop additional hobbies and interact with your surroundings. To interview, he recommends going where the person is, seeing where he lives, participating in his work, recognizing how his life feels. Mr. Sasser parachuted with airborne forest firefighters and wrote Smoke Jumper (Pocket 1996). He backpacked western U.S. interviewing witnesses to the Bigfoot phenomena – resulting in feature magazine articles.

Sasser said he reads ten to twenty books for every one he writes and he searches the internet and periodicals as well. He has research file cabinets on more than 100 different topics and says, "No research goes to waste." He stockpiled research to write his book One Shot-One Kill (Pocket 1990) that quickly led to a novel, The 100^th Kill (Pocket 1992), and a sequel with segments in Time/Life series and other magazine articles.

He not only recommends expanding your portfolio but developing skill in photography because the ability to provide photo art for your magazine articles increases your marketability by at least tenfold. And, the same goes for marketing. There are hundreds of publishing houses and thousands of periodicals. Once you begin to build your platform, widen and broaden it. Like the days of old, the name you attach to your writings is key to your work; it is a reflection of your honesty, integrity and diverse abilities, your professionalism and dependability – guard it.

To quote Sasser: The biggest hedge in your portfolio is the fundamental one called discipline. If you don’t have the discipline to sit your behind down and write, your portfolio is going to collapse no matter how you diversity it. Writing is hard work. It must be approached as a job. Otherwise, I suggest you go out and get a "real job."

~ ~ ~

Now, make no mistake about it. You have written your book/story, a publisher agrees to put it into print and it is now up to you to promote it. Yes, you, in person, on radio and TV, at book signings, in general conversation, you are the only person to be depended upon to promote your book. Charles W. Sasser did it on May17th by showing up to speak at a writers’ conference. Here are some general pointers:

~ ~ ~

Encouragement from BethAnnErickson, Filbert Publishing: Write without fear, publish without regret and love this fabulous life.

I wish I had said that…

Seeds of Hope June 1, 2008 nktc \\

The month of May was designed for writers. Writers are the artists who weave words of color, emotion and inspiration around Spring’s greening-up time as warmer days welcome crocus blossoms and lambs birthing. Writers never seem to run out of fancy words to describe the mystery of May – and June and July . . . .

Who isn’t grateful to move past the long, dark days of winter and to honor each additional minute of daylight added to each day? We all, man or woman, young and old, rush to proudly announce our first glimpsing of a robin, a bud bursting or a hummingbird at the feeder. Strange thing, though, we seem to be just as surprised this year as we were last, when the snowy-white blossoms of the dogwood trees suddenly appear all around us.

Certainly May is a time of new birth and new words, too. Writers fill their ink pots and sharpen their quills in expectation of setting forth newly inspired pages, stories and books. This is the time of year wordmasters dress in their best promotional attitude and attire to greet and meet their reading public wherever they can find them. This year Twin Lakes Writers will be among the accomplished artists showing off their very own spring lamb - the anthology entitled In Our Own Words. Like a parent showing off a new baby, members will be promoting ‘the book’ at every opportunity; talking about its variety of contributing authors, describing its unique construction and attractive cover, allowing readers, book in hand, to feel the power of its contents and encouraging everyone to own his or her very own copy. Book fairs, art shows and street sales are perfect for presenting our artistic accomplishments that were so diligently produced over the past cold, wintry months. I expect throngs of people queuing up, to admire and to purchase In Our Own Words.

300,000 books will be published in 2008. On an average, each will contain 80,000 words. Those words, having been reduced to a dynamic, compelling, reflective title of a mere 4 words, are expected to attract and hold the attention of a potential reader long enough to spend more than the typical three second scan, to picking up In Our Own Words, read a few words (usually the back cover) and find enough interest to open it and read several lines before feeling compelled to purchase this particular gem of a book.

For my next act, I will _________________ (fill in the blank).

"Doorways to Adventure" is the opening page header of Twin Lakes Writers website for April, 2008. And, since "Doors" is the theme of my 2008 calendar, a new and enticing entryway appears monthly. Each image invites my imagination to knock on the door and step through the portal to discover what or who is on the other side. My concept of a knock on a door is that it will fling open to offer as much access, opportunity, surprise and success as I will allow.

My life has been a series of doors that opened, thresholds crossed and opportunities accepted or rejected. New doors became familiar with regular use. Some opened onto bright and cheerful places yet, led nowhere. Others were filled with challenges, trials and hard work but, in the end, offered satisfying adventures and unexpected successes. Doors and rooms I call my own open onto my thoughts, my writings, experiences and past rewards. One super-important element I’ve learned is that even the softest knock at the door can be an invitation to your greatest opportunity.

One by one, scribblers knocked on the TLW door and became members; they met other writers, found new encouragement and support for their words, ideas, hopes and goals. Then, when opportunity knocked at the TLW door a few months ago, thirteen members stepped across the threshold to take advantage of having their writings published! TLW scribblers became authors!

Nobody knows how many more doors will open because our members recognized opportunity’s knock - and responded. Whether knocking on doors in hope of finding success, or listening for opportunity to knock at your door, remember to keep writing, one word after another, so you will be prepared to step across the threshold without hesitation. With the projected success of In Our Own Words, TLW may want to open that door of opportunity again. Of course, walking in the footsteps of famous writers by soaking up the atmosphere at a famous bookstore or gathering Ernest Hemmingway Mojo at his Piggott, Arkansas writing loft adds generous sprinkles of magic dust to access, opportunity and success!

Seeds of Hope, April 2008, nktc\\

Wii are living in an ‘e’ world. I am definitely not ready for it. I haven’t mastered the tutorials of my 2002 computer program or my digital camera, yet. Should I admit to owning a computer these past thirty years and actually having taught people how to use one? Obviously that was back in the olden day when products were Electro-, Dyno-, or Mega. Real people thought e- or Giga- was a Geeky joke!

Well, I have digital accessories and high-speed, high-definition equipment that seem to be working – but how would I really know? I cannot even program telephone numbers in my cellphone. Should ‘I’ try to catch up on ‘e’ or get out the way of progress because life has already moved on from ‘e’ to ‘i’ and Wii !

Once again, I am ready to start writing a biography - an 18^th century character this time. Naturally I tapped my ‘e’ resources to gather information on period language, photographs, documents and secondary data. I Yahooed and Googled, e-mailed and photocopied a ream of research information. I even attended a writer’s conference at which three speakers mentioned or spoke directly of reading and writing ‘e’-lectronically. They suggested writing articles, columns, and features using the simple ‘e’ format current (published) authors and photographers are using:

Find the most exciting, current, breathtaking, revealing place to start your story. They recommend starting in the middle of your story with some drama. That eye-opening event makes up the horizontal part of the ‘e.’ Next, wrap your story around that attention-getting event, encircling the – and completing the ‘e’. The drama can be flood, fire, tornado, murder or, as depicted in the movie Titanic, new technology bringing an historical event back to life.

I used the ‘e’ format and liked the circular feel and flow of writing it. I may even give it a try - as the short version of my 18^th century biography. And I recommend you give this ‘e’ style of writing a try. It may just elucidate your subject and wrap your audience around your every word.

NOTE: We are all stunned by recent tornadoes. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the people who suffered personal and property losses. In a selfish vein, however, as writers and computer users, one constant concern is loss of our hard drive and files. We have been cautioned to ‘back-up’ all our files because they are irreplaceable. You may want to employ more than just hard copy, CD, or flash drive… To relieve your fear of data loss, I recommend you check out Writers Digest magazine for April 2008, page 16. We can all live with one less concern or fear.

I’ll see you Saturday, March 8^th, 1-3:30pm. Be sure to bring some of your writing to read and critique – up to five pages, double-spaced, twelve copies and a pen to note your corrections, comments or critique for others.

SEEDS OF HOPE, 1 March 2008, nktcerny@suddenlink.net \\

If I were a columnist, I would want to write several monthly columns. The reason being, I’d get bored with the same subject over and over again – the same thing 52 weeks a year, year after year. Yet, a writer needs a topic to focus on. Food columns are nice, geography, parenting, sports, politics, gardening, bird watching, and the list goes on. Subjects exist with plusses and minuses no matter which I choose to write. So, I ask, do I have the patience to maintain an enthusiastic column? Are my fish hooks sharp enough to hook and reel in publishers and faithful readers?

In the minus column, I have no publisher interested in my ‘columns’ (at this moment, anyway). However, I prefer to see the plus column. I can pick any topics I want to write about. I can sit down at my computer every day and write a column about anything I have an interest to write. Who is going to blue pencil it or complain? Also on the plus side, I need to practice writing if I am ever to land a big fish writing contract. You know the old saying: The way to Carnegie Hall is Practice, practice, practice… The same is true of writing.

I practice by writing four or five monthly columns, each on a different topic, until I find my comfortable niche or nichee (whatever is plural for niche?). Because I was the filler-in writer for a food columnist a while back, I think "Funny Food" is an enjoyable topic. Also, because I live in the Ozarks, I write "To the Point" for its location and extensive topical interests. As a senior facing senior people’s concerns, I may want to write one of those columns, "Staying Alive after 75" – or not.

For more than twenty years, I wrote and taught "Life Skills" to people who had hit a wall with physical or emotional problems and were striving to regain their healthy balance. The topic remains close to my heart as I write a ‘help’ column and call it "Seeds of Hope." Gee, where did that come from?

I enjoy researching a variety of topics and writing to a broader range of readers while getting to know them individually. Like a fisherman, I want to test my skill in all the waters. When I succeed, I’ll create a website and make it a place to write, publish, teach and share with others who are wordsmith fishermen who want to ‘wet their line’ and ‘snag a thought’ and show off their ‘catch’ on line.

All I need, or you need, to succeed is to keep the fish hooks sharp.

Seeds of Hope 01 February 2008 Nancy Thatcher Cerny \\

2008 will arrive, complete with New York’s giant ball drop, fireworks across America, boats festooned in twinkle lights floating down waterways, with bells ringing and whistles blowing around the world. Happy New Year! Are you ready?

I hope you have taken time to review your 2007 accomplishments. There are probably more than you thought. Have you written down your goals and resolutions for 2008? Is TLW meetings at the top of that list? Meandering in circles accomplishes nothing. Set your sights. No review? No resolutions? Help is available.

Want to write a book? Get on your mark: Schedule a block of writing time five days a week. Writing one page per day becomes one chapter each month, adding up to a book by Christmas! Freelance writer? Get ready: Fill your files with your own daily blurbs, weekly columns and monthly feature articles whether you have contracts for them or not. Go: Follow the routines of successful writers like Stephen King, J. K. Rowling or Tom Brokaw. How about taking a gutsy cue from Katherine Graham: What I essentially did was to put one foot in front of the other, shut my eyes and step off the edge. (Graham was the owner, editor and publisher of the Washington Post during the ‘Watergate’ exposé.)

Now, today, 2008, is a good time to apply those success cues we have heard and read about – things like:

Be Prepared: Write your bio in 35, 50, 75, 100 words and keep them updated – and ready to send or print on a moment’s notice.

In one sentence, clearly and enticingly, describe what you are writing currently. Present your latest book, article or story in one dynamic, defining paragraph. (Somebody is bound to ask!)

Build your Platform: Keep a running list of your writings, contests entered and won, publications and kudos.

Writing is like going to the gym to stay fit. If you don’t exercise daily, you will lose your rhythm, motivation and ability.

This list could go on forever! Soooo, design your own list of motivational cues, tack them up next to your computer, read them regularly and use them to enhance your unique writing style.

~ ~ ~

I want to offer my thanks to our members who make up the TLW Anthology Reading Committee: Bob and Anna Harper, Joe Wiley Russell, Phil Emery and David Jardine. My special thanks go to Joe for his collection and organization of submissions in preparation for publication of the TLW anthology.

Twin Lakes Writers meeting is Saturday, January 12, 2008, 1- 3:30 pm. Be sure to bring your anthology book cover and title suggestions – along with your writings for comment and critique. I’ll see you there!

SEEDS of HOPE, 12/22/07 nktc \\

A few days before our TLW October meeting, my sister and I returned from a driving tour through some of the southern states. Our only real destination was Columbia, South Carolina, to visit my daughter. The rest of our trip had a "Where will we go today" theme. That’s why we headed west from Birmingham, Alabama, to Greenville, Mississippi.

Why Greenville, you ask? Because I think I am a writer and writers who drink Greenville’s ‘Magic’ water get published.

The words "Greenville Mississippi" are written on a faded Post It note that catches my attention every day as I sit at my computer because Marilyn Schwartz wrote an article entitled "Greenville’s Legendary Water" for Southern Living magazine – in November, 2002. "When trying to get a book published, I was told to go to this small town and drink the water." She went. She did. It was.

Driving to Greenville, we saw miles of beautiful, snowy white cotton fields being harvested under skies so blue the clouds seemed to bloom out like giant, moving sculptures. Washington county is a place of sights, sounds, colors, flavors, music and stories unique to the legendary Mississippi Delta. Greenville, the jewel of Washington county, is known for producing corn, cotton and a crop of published authors. "There are more published writers per capita in Greenville than in any other city in the United States," according to David Cohn in The Atlantic Monthly.

Our hotel was on the east side of the levee, as the great Mississippi flowed on the west. The Greenville brochure listed 41 places of interest to tourists. We chose about six that were related to photography, writing, authors, publishing, and the homes of local writers. Map in hand, we headed out to find the William Alexander Percy Memorial Library-with its Greenville Writers’ Exhibit, Greenville’s History Museum and McCormick Book Inn. Two left turns too many and we were lost.

Everyone we stopped to ask direction offered friendly help and direction. Either they were lost, too, or we cannot follow directions, no how. We circled some blocks several times trying to find a street name or a number—any number. Because of our dilemma, we saw interesting places that were definitely not on any tourist list.

Late in the afternoon, we made our way across the levee to take sundown photos on the Delta. In the morning, having reliable directions to McCormick Book Inn bookstore, we asked where we could get some of Greenville’s ‘magic’ water. That was when we learned we had not only drunk the ‘magic’ water in our coffee that morning, we had showered in it as well! The desk clerk referred to it as "brown water." ‘White water,’ it seems, comes out of Hinckley and Schmitt bottles.

I am a skeptic, but I’d like to be a ‘published’ skeptic. Since the brown water is safe to drink, why not? Greenville, here I am! And I’m filling up a couple empty ‘white water’ bottles with ‘Magic’ water for fellow writers who attend the October Twin Lakes Writers meeting, too.

Shelby Foote, the famous Civil War author, grew up in Greenville. His family had owned Mount Holly Plantation. One of Foote’s schoolmates was Walker Percy, an acclaimed author and National Book Award winner. Percy, an orphan, lived in Greenville with his cousin, William Alexander Percy. The elder Percy was a published poet, according to Schwartz.

Hodding Carter, Jr., Delta Democrat Times editor, won a Pulitzer Prize. Josephine Haxton, wrote novels and short stories under her pen name, Ellen Douglas and her published works earned the Houghton Mifflin award.

Greenville’s library exhibits more than 16 of its best-known writers’ works while McCormick’s Book Inn has a collection of books by more than 50 of the town’s writers. William Faulkner’s literary agent, Ben Wasson, was from Greenville and Faulkner often visited him there. It was Wasson who got Faulkner’s first two books published.

We are looking forward to Pot Luck at our October Twin Lakes Writers meeting. Bob and Anna Harper have invited the membership, along with a spouse, partner or friend, to join them at the BBQ pavilion, located across the highway from the Harper house and the Bull Shoals Yacht Club.  The park and pavilion overlook the Bull Shoals Boat Dock. (They said, "Look to your right and you can’t miss it.) We plan to gather together at our regular meeting time and date: Saturday, October 13^th at 1pm. There are plenty of benches and seats so that we can conduct some business, enjoy the day, absorb the view and relish one another’s company! Don’t forget to email Anna at theharpers@bullshoals.net or phone Anna at (870) 445-4750 to let her know what delicious dish you will be bringing to share with the group. Anna and Bob will be providing the hamburgers and condiments. We are looking forward to a Good Time!

Wasn’t it wonderful to see so many writers attend the September TwinLakesWriters meeting! Keep Coming Back!

And, we certainly got a nice sampling of our writers’ product in the pieces read for group comment. We got some humor, some serious thinking and some heartfelt emotion – all a pleasure to read, hear and think about. I’m hoping our projected anthology will be filled with those kinds of thought-provoking, sensitive, funny and serious works we got a small glimpse of at our September meeting and readings.

~~~

Since my past month has been a series of unexpected detours and glitches, I decided to take my own detour from Judy Denton’s (helpful) guide to avoiding writer mistakes (I may get back to her in November), to relate a little name-dropping piece – just for the fun of it:

I conclude that a new story pops up every minute of every day. It doesn’t matter whether it is about a rude expression like "shut up," a book review like the life of Earle Stanley Gardner, a frustrated need to respond to a ‘star’ football player who raises dogs to kill each other for ‘sport,’ or seeing an old clip of Carl Sandburg on the Sunday Morning Show, all snuggled up with Marilyn Monroe. (Things don’t always ‘match.’) On the same show, in a different clip, Carl Sandburg was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow who asked Sandburg, "How do you write?" And Sandburg’s response was, "I sit at the typewriter and put down one word after the other."

Oh, but that writing was sooo easy!

Stealing (paraphrasing) from a book I’m reading* is the story about a writer who died and St. Peter asked, "Would you rather go to heaven or to hell?"

True to writer-type thinking, the writer says, "Let me do a little research first." So, there was hell with row upon row of writers chained to desks, immersed to their waists in steaming lava and pounding away at computers with sticky keys while being whipped with thorny lashes.

"I’d like to have a look at heaven," says the writer, and just off the boulevards paved with gold, was row upon row of writers chained to desks, up to their waists in steaming lava and pounding away on old Remingtons or Apples with sticky keys and being whipped with thorny lashes.

"This is as bad as hell," exclaims the writer.

"Hardly," booms a majestic voice. "Here, you get published."

Now I’m not sure what the moral of this story is supposed to be (it changes depending on who is telling the story) so I have made up my own: Writers chain themselves to desks, pound out stories through pleasure and pain, for good and not so good, until some majestic voice from on high, whether agent, publisher or the author herself says, "I’ll publish that!" And, suddenly, you’re in Heaven!

With the anticipated publication of the TLW Anthology, it looks like we’ll meet again in Heaven.

*Curtis, Richard "How to get your e-book published," Writers Digest Books, 3002.

I look forward to seeing you Saturday, October 13^th at the Bull Shoals Park Pavilion. As my cousin Julia would say, Bon Appetit!

"Seeds of Hope" Nancy Thatcher Cerny, September 10, 2007.

nktcerny@SuddenLink.net