2013 Meeting Schedule & More Tales From Half Moon Room

Just as a reminder that with this week's submission deadline of Saturday, December 29th we are embarking on our 2013 writers meeting schedule. 

We also have the sequel to Tales From Half Moon Room planned for a mid-2013 timeline for final submission of stories. Also, we may be looking at the fact that we won't have as many contributing authors as were included in the first book so I would suggest that we plan on accepting both longer submissions and multiple submissions from group members. 

That said, I would like to set June 1st as a deadline for group members to provide me with their submission titles and to partner with another member for editorial feedback so that we can be ready by July 1st to provide BookLocker with a book proposal. 

The rules for our bi-monthly meetings still allow for members to submit whatever they wish for editorial feedback but just remember that if you want to be included in the sequel, More Tales From Half Moon Room just make sure that you have your submission titles submitted to me by June 1st, have an editorial feedback partner secured, and your final drafts submitted to me by July 1st.

2013 Meeting Schedule

I updated the meeting schedule to reflect our 2013 dates for submissions and gatherings. Please keep this handy for future reference.

At our October 6th meeting the meeting guidelines were fine-tuned as follows:

• There is a time limit for critiquing each submission during the meetings. We have 120 available minutes for each meeting and that time will be divided equally among the submissions and the critiquing for each submission will be timed.

• Submissions will be assigned in the order of page length with the longest saved for last. By critiquing the shortest pieces first, and assuming that some submissions will not use up their allotted time, it will allow additional time for the longer pieces toward the end of the meeting.

• Members are expected to be on time for each meeting. We begin our meetings at 10:00 AM sharp. If you show up late, your submission will be moved to the end regardless of its page length.

• We need to treat our meetings in the same way as a writing class at MCC. It is imperative to get down to business during the time set aside for the meeting and not waste valuable productive time with discussions not related to our submissions. Personal news, questions about future meetings, classes at MCC, or social discussions must take place either prior to or after the meeting. 

• If some members wish to extend the meeting to three hours for further discussion, that is a possibility if we find that we cannot adequately address every submission and provided that some or all members are willing to stay.

• Submissions must be presented no later than seven days prior to the meeting. This means that the submission deadline will be midnight Saturday prior to the meeting. NO SUBMISSIONS will be accepted for critiquing if they do not meet this deadline.

New Guidelines for Meetings

Based upon input from a number of concerned members, we are transitioning to a more structured meeting schedule and critiquing requirements. 

Beginning immediately, there will be a time limit for critiquing each submission during the meetings. We have 120 available minutes for each meeting and that time will be divided equally among the submissions and the critiquing for each submission will be timed. 

For instance, if we receive six submissions then each submission will be assigned twenty minutes for critiquing. Also, each member who submits a piece must refrain from excessive back and forth feedback during the critiquing. Once each member's allotted time is up we will move to the next piece. Submissions will be assigned in the order of page length with the longest saved for last. By critiquing the shortest pieces first, and assuming that some submissions will not use up their allotted time, it will allow additional time for the longer pieces toward the end of the meeting. 

Members are expected to be on time for each meeting. We begin our meetings at 10:00 AM sharp. If you show up late, your submission will be moved to the end regardless of its page length.

We need to treat our meetings in the same way as a writing class at MCC. It is imperative to get down to business during the time set aside for the meeting and not waste valuable productive time with discussions not related to our submissions. Personal news, questions about future meetings, classes at MCC, or social discussions must take place either prior to or after the meeting. 

If some members wish to extend the meeting to three hours for further discussion, that is a possibility if we find that we cannot adequately address every submission and provided that some or all members are willing to stay.

Also, because some members still work and have limited time to read submissions during weekdays, beginning with our first meeting in October, submissions must be presented no later than seven days prior to the meeting. This means that the submission deadline will be exactly at 10:00 AM the Saturday prior to the meeting. NO SUBMISSIONS will be accepted for critiquing if they do not meet this deadline. Our Saturday, October 6th meeting will be the first meeting subject to this rule and the submission deadline for this meeting is 10:00 AM, Saturday, September 29th. Once the submission deadline has passed, please do not resubmit submissions since that will only add an extra burden to other members. The submission deadline will be adhered to with no exceptions.

New Course at MCC

Steven Torres, an English professor at MCC will be teaching a course titled, Advanced Writing Fiction, a "course intended for the writer who is already engaged in a fiction writing project, especially one of some length - a novella, novel, or short story compilation".

Bob, Steve, and I attended Steven Torres' class last spring titled "Writing Fiction" and Professor Torres said that he enjoyed teaching the class. We explained to him that since Jordon retired from teaching at MCC there is a void of quality writing courses and we encouraged him to continue teaching similar courses. He said that he would see what he could do. This course offering is proof of his efforts.

As of today there are ten of twelve open slots left in the class. The cost is only $99 and the class meets 6 Thursdays, 10/11-11/15, 6:30-8:30 PM.

Hope to see you there.

The Dumbing Down of Grammar

As someone who spent 36+ years in the corporate world as an accountant/budget & financial analyst, a significant portion of my time was spent composing reports and memos. I found both internal and external communications to often be lacking in proper grammar. The following three articles support my observations. I believe these lessons are pertinent to us as writers as we offer our submissions to agents, editors, and publishers.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/every-company-is-a-publishing-company/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404577466662919275448.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_LeadStoryNA
 
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/29/dumbing-it-down-the-pursuit-of-intellectual-mediocrity-in-america/

New meeting added to schedule

At Saturday's meeting it was decided to add Saturday, June 30th to the meeting schedule. Here is a revised meeting schedule through July.

Monday, June 25th - email stories

Saturday, June 30th - 10 AM meeting @ Lowe Bldg outside the Admissions/Registrar’s Offices

Monday, July 9th - email stories

Saturday, July 14th - 10 AM meeting @ Lowe Bldg outside the Admissions/Registrar’s Offices

Monday, July 23rd - email stories

Saturday, July 28th - 10 AM meeting @ Lowe Bldg outside the Admissions/Registrar’s Offices

Call For Submissions

Today's the deadline for submissions for our meeting on Saturday. I've updated the meeting schedule on the blog.

We'll have almost a month's break between meetings. The next meeting will be July 14th. This meeting gap was planned due to the upcoming 4th of July holiday.

Please get your submissions in for this week's important meeting. I'm sure we can accept some submissions through Thursday but please none after that since the closer to Saturday, the more difficult it is for people to devote the time to critique.

See you on Saturday.

Next meeting date & deadline

Our next meeting will be Saturday, June 2nd at 10 AM which means that the submission deadline for this upcoming meeting will be Tuesday, May 29th. I chose Tuesday since Monday is Memorial Day.

Bookkus Publishing

At Saturday's meeting, I mentioned the fact that there is a new resource for those of us wanting to try a different outlet than traditional publishing or self-publishing. It's called Bookkus Publishing and it is described at the following link:

http://www.prlog.org/11878362-new-book-publisher-is-accepting-manuscripts-for-crowd-sourced-review.html

The New Kid On The Block

You may have heard about the recent NY Times best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

I've posted three links. The first is from Wikipedia which provides a description of the novel and a time-line of its publishing history. The second link is a Hartford Courant review describing the frenzy over the novel. The third link is the novel's page on Amazon.com which includes reviews from readers.

Some Amazon reviews are critical of the author's writing but the number of books sold clearly demonstrates that literary quality is not as big of a concern to purchasers when they are enamored by the subject matter. This is in direct contrast to what agents and traditional publishers constantly tell us.

It seems that nowadays, authors are better served by exposing their finished work to the public as soon as possible. The best means to do that is through self-publishing, both in POD and eBook formats.

Wikipedia - Fifty Shades of Grey

Hartford Courant - Fifty Shades of Grey

Amazon.com - Fifty Shades of Grey

How to Send a PDF File to a Kindle

The following instructions appeared on eHow.com by Natalie Ray, eHow Contributor:

You can add PDF files to your Kindle by either manually copying the file to your Kindle using the USB cord or by emailing the file to Amazon. The Kindle can read most PDF files, but occasionally the PDF file's image will be too small for the Kindle screen. In that case you will want to choose the option of emailing the file to Amazon. After Amazon converts the file, it will download to your Kindle.

Instructions:

Add PDF files using the USB cord.

1 - Plug your Kindle into your computer using the Kindle's USB cord.

2 - Locate the PDF file you want to add using "Explore" on your computer. Right click on the file and select "Copy."

3 - Open your Kindle folder by clicking on the Kindle icon in the left-hand panel of Explore. Click on "documents." The PDF file must go into the documents folder for it to show up on your Kindle. Right click and select "Paste." Your PDF is now on your Kindle.

4 - Right click on the Kindle icon and select "Eject" when you finish adding the PDF files to your Kindle. You Kindle will go out of USB drive mode, and you will see your PDF documents on the home page of your Kindle.

Email PDF documents to your Kindle.

5 - Log in to your Amazon.com account and find your Kindle email address. To do this, select "Manage Your Kindle" from your account page. Your Kindle email address will be listed in the format of yourname@Kindle.com.

6 - Add your email address to the "Your Kindle Approved Email List" section. Once you complete this step you are ready to email the PDF document to your Kindle.

7 - Open your personal email and create a new email. Attach the PDF document and type "CONVERT" in the subject line. Click "Send" to email the document to Amazon.com.

8 - Turn your Kindle's Whispernet on and your document will appear on your Kindle's home page within a few minutes.

Meetings at MCC

Just to let everyone know, at last Saturday's meeting, six of us met on the 1st floor of the Lowe Building downstairs from the Culinary Arts Center. We decided to meet in that area for all future meetings. The area on the 1st floor has tables and chairs and is more conducive to a writers group meeting than the couches on the 2nd floor.

At Saturday's meeting we also discussed submitting stories for a second book. We decided on a January 1, 2013 deadline for story submissions. Then we will go through the process of editing and submitting them to BookLocker.

We have a deadline of this Saturday for the emailing of stories and a meeting at MCC on Saturday, February 11th from 10-noon to critique those stories.

The Book Rack

Yesterday, I dropped off three copies of Tales from Half Moon Room at The Book Rack in Vernon. The proprietor placed them on display on a book-rack that showcases local authors and because it is a used bookstore she only allows new books by local authors to sell for between $10-14. She suggested that we set $12 as a selling price due to our name, Jordon's Twelve. She thought it would be catchy. She has to charge sales tax but we would get the entire $12 selling price.

She didn't want to display one of our rack cards with the book because the card tells where you can buy the book online but I suggested that she cut off that part of the card. She did and posted the upper portion of the rack card next to our books. I also gave her my business card if she needs to get in touch with me. On a weekly basis I will stop in and see how our book is selling.

CAPA-U Bookstore

I am planning to attend this year's CAPA-U event and will bring along copies of our book for sale.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR CAPA MEMBERS ATTENDING CAPA-U 2012

Anyone who is a member of CAPA and who registers to attend CAPA-U 2012 is invited to sell his or her books as part of the CAPA-U Bookstore. Each such participant is allowed up to 3 titles with a limit of 10 books per title. The participant must place a label the on the back of each book submitted with the selling price which must include Connecticut state sales tax and must be set in a whole dollar amount (e.g., $10.00, not $9.95). Participating members wishing to take advantage of this opportunity must email their titles, along with the selling prices, to Debbie Kilday at washigon@aol.com no later than May 5th. Authors will be responsible for drop off and pickup of their books on the day of the conference. This is a wonderful opportunity for member authors to market their books, and a chance for the participating agents to see the professional work of CAPA members. Nonmembers are invited to join CAPA to participate in this selling opportunity.

Meeting on the 28th

Don't forget that we have a meeting on Saturday, January 28th from 10-noon outside the Culinary Arts Center in the Lowe Building at MCC.

Stories should have been emailed this past Saturday so if you haven't yet submitted your story for review & critique, please do so as soon as possible.

Please let me know if you plan to attend the meeting on the 28th.

Book Reviews & Potential Sales

I forwarded copies of our book to the following independent book review websites for review:

Free Book Reviews (we appear about 3/4 of the way down on their to do book review list)

Books and Novels to Read.com (we are listed on their website but have not yet been reviewed)

SFReader.com (we do not yet show up on their website)

Also, this week I will bring three copies of our book to The Book Rack bookstore in Vernon, CT.

We still have ten copies of our book on display at the Ashford Community Market (no website) and I was told that there has been some mild interest in our book but so far no copies have sold. I plan to wait until the end of the summer to see if anyone buys a copy for a beach read and then I will pull them. If we do sell copies at The Book Rack that could then prove to be our targeted customer base.

We still need to have a discussion with the library at MCC to see if they will carry our book. I never received a response from the director of the board at the Ashford Library so I plan to seek out the librarian myself.