June 2022 Newsletter



June 2022 Newsletter








Next Meeting:

Wednesday, June 8

6:30 to 8:30 PM

McCallum Room, 4th floor

Frisco Public Library

6101 Frisco Square Blvd.

Frisco, TX 75034





Mark your calendar for June 8 at 6:30-8:30 PM. Look forward to seeing you then!

All are welcome to attend Write Club meetings….no formal invitation needed. Write Club meeting information can be found on the Frisco Library web site and on the club's Facebook page (Frisco Write Club). Additionally, every month, in advance of the meeting, Rich Blazevich (richblazevich@gmail.com) will send an invitation by email to the active members.


Anybody who has attended a Write Club meeting is automatically subscribed to our newsletters. At the top of each newsletter is a notice of our next meeting.





Our Website: FriscoWriteClub.org


Please visit our website, run by Kevin Mann, for updates and announcements.






Our Facebook Page: Frisco Write Club | Groups | Facebook






Special Topics for June Meeting in Addition to Critique & Craft





Officers-Presentation Topics-Meeting Format

Hey Fellow Writers,

Below are the results from our Write Club biannual survey.

If you're interested in being an officer, please let me know via email. Here are the officer positions we're considering:

  • President

  • Secretary

  • VP of Social Media & Website

  • VP of Critiquing

  • VP of Membership

If you’d like to suggest adding any other positions, please let me know. Officer elections take place at the August 10th meeting. We will also discuss survey results.

See you at our meeting on June 8th. Happy writing!

Rich

SURVEY RESULTS:

Presentation Topics (% Very or Extremely Interested):

88% Find Editors (Jeanette volunteered to present)

77% Write a Book Blurb

71% Market a Book

69% Build a Budget for Publishing

63% How to Self-Publish

56% Create an Outline (Kevin C volunteered to present)

56% How to Publish Traditionally

53% Overcome Writer's Block

44% Self-Edit Your Writing

41% Build a Writing Habit

38% Write a Query Letter

38% Find an Agent

38% Develop Ideas for Writing

25% How to Do Revisions for Pantsers

Other Topics Suggested:

Forming a Critique Group (Linda volunteered to present)

Write a Memoir

Find a Cover Artist

Satisfaction with Group Aspects (% Somewhat or Very Satisfied):

100% Meeting Location

100% Email Updates

88% Meeting Facilitation

88% Meeting Agendas

88% Presentations

81% Meeting Days & Times

81% Meeting Duration

77% Critiquing Sessions

77% Newsletter

71% Website

71% Social Media

Suggestions for Improvement:

Could we meet more than once a month?

Could we have more time for critiquing?

Include contact information in the newsletter for people willing to do critiquing outside of meetings

Include short writing exercises in more of our meetings

Analyze writing examples to see what makes them compelling





June Meeting – Learning the Craft





How to Market Your Book by Rich Blazevich.

Thanks to our past president, Gary Thornberry, for his excellent presentation in May on different types of editing software. How many of you made a purchase this month?

Bill Etter is graciously offering to allow us to borrow from his personal collection of writing books. Arrive early to check out a book or two from the Write Club’s lending library on the craft of writing.





Register now for the 2022 DFWCon!





DFWCon: The Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Conference – October 8-9, 2022 Hurst Conference Center


The 2022 DFW Writers Conference is set. We’re live and in person at the Hurst Conference Center October 8&9. Registration is open, and you can sign up here right now! Unlike everything else on the planet, we’ve held the line on prices, and there’s an early bird discount if you register by May 31. There are even discounted hotel rooms for attendees if you hurry.


Classes

This year’s conference will feature twin tracks – one on the craft of writing: editing, generating ideas, structure and more. Our business track will have sessions on developing your pitch and working with editors, lawyers and accountants on what comes after you sign that big contract.


Keynote, Gong Show and Saturday Night

We’ll be announcing a great Keynote speaker soon, but you know we’ll have your favorites like the Gong Show Query Competition, and we’ll get together on Saturday night where you can mix, mingle, meet and greet, and all the other things we introverted writers love to do. Seriously, come out. It’s fun.


Write Club

This year, we’re glad to have DL Hammons’ Write Club competition involved again and he’ll announce the winner onsite. You could win a free registration for the 2023 DFWCon! Write Club signups open July 1.


Agents & Editors

And, of course, we’ll have agents and editors. We’re reaching out to some of the top agents and editors to take pitches and share secrets during DFWCon. Every registration includes one free pitch session, and you’ll have the opportunity to purchase additional pitches if you’d like.





Library News





New Library Updates | Frisco Public Library (friscolibrary.com)

In May, the ceiling paint was finished and the walls were going up.

Frisco Library Flash Fiction Contest—The winners will be notified between June 1 and June 8. Official announcement by the library will follow.





Writing Hints from The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression





Make it a goal to offer the reader something unexpected in every scene, be it an emotional reaction, a roadblock to trip the character up, or a snippet of dialogue that sheds new light on the events unfolding.


Force your characters to make choices between bad and worse. Readers will empathize with your character, remembering their own past when they faced a similar dilemma.


Add conflicting emotions for a richer experience. A character might feel excitement and pride at purchasing their first car, yet worry that they might be extending themselves too far financially. This inner conflict helps to humanize a character to the reader.





Contests Without Entry Fees





Bardsy - Current Short Story Anthology Contest

Prompt: write a short story featuring a character that will inspire a novel. Focus on the protagonist of your next novel. For example, create a compelling narrative from a defining moment in their backstory, an out-of-character action that foreshadows a key conflict, or an important or problematic relationship that constrains or empowers them. Top prize $299

Deadline: June 26, 2022


Writer Contest – Writers & Illustrators of the Future (writersofthefuture.com)

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience.

No entry fee is required and entrants retain all publication rights.


Entries in the Writers of the Future Contest are adjudicated only by professional writers. Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months. From the four quarterly 1st Place winners each year, a panel of judges select one story as the grand prize winner. The writer of the grand-prize-winning story receives the L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award and an additional $5000 cash prize.

Here's another link for our writers: https://www.rd.com/100-word-stories-submissions/

These are to be true stories that will make you smile or laugh. They pay $100 for 100-word (or less) true stories. Readers Digest - Ongoing





Successes






Jeanette Smith was published in Glassworks Magazine Flash Glass (https://www.rowanglassworks.org/.../the-wave-by-jeanette...). She was also published by Penumbra (http://www.penumbraonline.org). And Jeanette made it to the semifinals of the NYC Midnight contest (still ongoing). She is up to 46 rejections this year.

Linda Baten Johnson is teaching a course on “Writing the Low-heat Romance” at the Frisco Senior Center on Wednesday mornings from 9-10 in the month of June. Her romance book, “Rachael’s Claim,” will be released June 17. The setting is the Oklahoma Lan Run time period.

Donna Anderson signed an agreement with Chicken Soup for the Soul book called “Miracles and the Unexplainable.” Her story is titled “The Christmas Coat.”

Brianna Jean Taeuber reports she is on track to finish a draft of her novel by the end of the month.





Presentation Format for Members Presenting Work for Critique:





  1. Writers: Send your document to Jennifer Evans at dallaswestie@gmail.com prior to the meeting which include the following:

    • title of your document

    • your name

    • your email address (optional)

    • Add line numbers to your document (Go to Layout, then Line Numbers, then Continuous)

    • Limit your document to 500 words (approx. 2 pages) for time constraints. Each reader will be given 10 minutes to present and receive feedback.

  2. Jennifer will post documents to this Google Drive folder.

  3. Critiquers may download documents, make comments, and provide feedback during the meeting.

  4. Critiquers may send comments to writers who provide their email address.

  5. If the writer doesn’t provide an email address, critiquers may send edited doc to Jennifer who will forward to author.

  6. Find additional information about critiques on our website.





Blogs from Our Members





President: Rich Blazevich

Secretary, Newsletter: Linda Baten Johnson

Vice President, Social Media: Kevin Mann (this role includes Write Club web page, Google Docs and Facebook)

Vice President, Critiques: Jennifer Evans

Presidents Emeritus: Gary Thornberry, Fergal O'Donnell

*Other contributors: Zoom meetings: Donna Anderson, Facebook administrator: Ari Frick