Just Write

April 23, 2008 "Just Write" Meeting Notes

Attendees: Bill Merritt, Andrea Gadson, Jo Ann Laughlin, Joan Romeo

New Member: Dave Warren

Scribe: Joan Romeo

Facilitator: Andrea Gadson

Welcome to new member Dave! We are very happy to have you as part of the group, and we look forward to your contributions. Dave is a published author who writes fiction for young adults.

Educational Segment

Anne Wodnick, Branch Manager, spent the first part of the meeting showing the group how to use the Blog.

Some tips:

Notify Anne at awodnick@gcls.org when you want to submit a post; this will alert Anne that there is a post that needs her approval as Blog Administrator.

When posting on the Blog, use your name or initial to indicate you as the author of the post.

See Blog handout for access instructions.

Critique Segment

The group critiqued a writing sample from Bill Merritt, entitled, "Cape May....my summer utopia."

Bill would like to continue working on this piece and will bring it back again to the next meeting.

The group also critiqued a writing sample from Dave, entitled, "Jest".  Dave also shared some tips on how to submit a query letter.

Upcoming Event:

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 10, 2008. Anne Wodnick has booked author, John Bond. John attended the Circle of Authors conference attended by Anne and has agreed to be a guest speaker for our first meeting in September. Specific information about this upcoming workshop will be available at a later date.

Next Meeting, May 14th, @7pm

Education:    Andrea Gadson

Writing Submission:     Bill Merritt

                                          Andrea Gadson

Meeting notes submitted by:  Joan Romeo

Recommended Reading from Gwynne Scheffer:  A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer within You by Ralph Fletcher

About ten years ago I worked as a professional developer on school reform initiatives in Baltimore, MD.  We pulled on a variety of resources to share with elementary school teachers to help improve student performance in literacy.  Recently while organizing my professional bookcase Ralph Fletcher’s A Writer’s Notebook nearly jumped off the shelf as the title caught my eye.  As an aspiring writer I am always open to new ideas and strategies to improve my craft but I never imagined I would be engaging a book geared towards elementary school children.  “A writer’s notebook is different from any journal you’ve ever kept before…A writer’s notebook gives you a place to live like a writer…”  It’s a helpful tool for capturing the thoughts, ideas, and dreams of middle-aged, grey-haired writers too!

Catherine Sampson and Gwynne Scheffer attended the Rutgers-Camden hosted its 20^th annual Spring Writers’ Conference on April 12, 2008. It was a day of readings and workshops featuring poets, novelists and many other accomplished writers including Rutgers’ MFA faculty.

Some highlights from two sessions:

• Literary Magazine publisher, Painted Bride Quarterly, www.pbq.drexel.edu, is a 35 year old, not-for-profit publisher with two offices in Philadelphia (housed at Drexel) and New York (NYU). The co-editors, Kathleen Volk Miller & Marion Wrenn were both very entertaining as well as informative on the topic of publishing and literary portals.
• Creative Non-fiction with Jane Bernstein was a learning experience in critiquing writing.  Writers submitted work in advance of the conference which was distributed prior to the conference to the registrants to read in advance of the session. Jane gave an overview of creative non-fiction and some tips.  We were provided a few ground rules before the open critique of each writer's work.  It was amazing to listen as participants provided perspectives and input on the works of these aspiring authors.

This free conference was an extremely valuable experience and we would recommend it for writers at all levels.