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Volume: 17.06 • The South Carolina Writers Workshop Newsletter • June 2006

NEWS

We've been running the SCWW contests on the honor system, but some have expressed concern about anyone whose work may be in the contest tallying the scores after they are received from the judges. The fairness of our competitions has been improved by our having three judges per category, and we now want to eliminate any possibility of tampering or even the appearance of it.

Therefore, the board agreed to select an SCWW advisor to average and report the scores. The advisor will be chosen by Brenda McClain, our advisor liaison. Pat Graney (for the anthology) and I (for Carrie McCray Awards) will send the entries without names to the judges, as has always been done. At the same time, we will e-mail a list of the entries with the names and titles to Linda Shaffer, the board secretary.

A month later, by title and number, the judges will send scores to the advisor instead of to the editor or contest chair. The advisor will list all scores, average them for each category, and send a copy to Linda and one to Pat or me, depending on the contest. We will then match names to titles and send a list of winners to Craig Faris, who will design and print the awards certificates. In this way, the secretary will have proof that no scores were altered.

I would like to emphasize that, to my knowledge, there has never been any tampering with the submissions or ratings from the judges. To all who know and trust me, please know that I feel your trust and do not take this personally. In fact, it's a relief to have this system in place. When I took the job last year, I worried that should I win, some might question it. So I'm very happy about the new policy. And hey, this is one less job I have to do.

It's not too early to start writing for the Carrie McCray contest. Anyone attending the conference may send one entry per category at no extra charge. The word count for fiction and nonfiction is 1750 words, poems are limited to 40 lines, and plays can't be over 10 pages with a one-page synopsis. More detailed guidelines can be found online.

Anytime you have a concern or suggestion for improving the SCWW, please tell a board member. We are constantly seeking ways to better serve our members, and as we grow, new problems will arise. We need your ideas.

Watch what happens when four diverse young women (ages 17 - 20) become unlikely roommates in a beach house on Oahu's beautiful West shore as they pursue the same dream -- to compete on the Women's Pro Surf Circuit. Tune in to the new cable TV series BEYOND THE BREAK which premieres on The "N" Network (Noggin Network), Friday, June 2 at 8:30 p.m. with a special one-hour episode! Executive Producer of the series is TalkStory Productions, including our own SCWW Advisory Board member Kathie Fong Yoneda. For additional info, check out the show's website: www.the-n.com/ntv/shows/index.php?id=552

What's happening in your local chapter? Who's getting published? Who has the most impressive portfolio of rejection letters? Are there local events for writers in your area? Does your local chapter have its own newsletter or web page? Please submit you news to quilleditor@bellsouth.net

Meets 2nd Tuesday at Eden Gardens on Silver Bluff Road, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Charles Reeve cpreeve@bellsouth.net

Meets 2nd & 4th Sunday at the Merritt Building Parlor of Anderson College from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Contact: Jo Buckner (864) 261-7739.

Meets 1st Tuesday at Barnes & Noble, West Ashley, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Jason A. Zwiker (843) 573-9291.

"Slick Stick Episode," by Carol Nyman of Summerville, was one of eight stories about "Sight, Seeing, Hallucinations, and Premonitions" selected as winners from the 120 submissions in the 2006 Piccolo Fiction Open. "Slick Stick Episode" will be in the Charleston City Paper's May 31 edition. Details about all seven years of the Piccolo Fiction Open, including some of the winning stories, are available at www.eatgoodbread.com. The PFO is sponsored by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs.

Meets 1st & 3rd Wednesday at Lexington County Public Library, Cayce-West Columbia Branch, 1500 Augusta Road, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Steve Vassey vasseyws@hotmail.com

Meets 1st & 3rd Monday at Richland County Public Library, 1431 Assembly Street, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Larry Hamilton docham@earthlink.net

Meets 2nd Tuesday at St. Eugene Hospital dining room 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Kati Paul (843) 774–4561.

Meets 1st Thursday & 3rd Tuesday at The Open Book, 110 South Pleasantburg Drive, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: John Migacz migaczmarjon@prtcnet.com

Thank you for the responses and ideas about how to fix the burgeoning Greenville Chapter meetings.

Here's how the votes stacked up:

• First:   Do nothing - summer will level things out. Re-address this issue if necessary in September.
• Second:   Limit readings to the first 10 people to sign up. Email notices are acceptable 48 hours in advance. Only paid members can read unless time is available.
• Third:   Create a completely separate Chapter - Greenville II with their own President and following. Crossovers would be discouraged.
• Fourth:   Form a morning/afternoon group meeting once a month. If you read at the early meeting, you cannot read at night.
• Fifth:   Find another venue with two separate rooms. The meeting could be split into two concurrent groups.

There were other suggestions but these five topped the list (and I'm not even going to address that "tar and feather the current President" remark, Bob.)

Think about these options and we'll toss it around at the next meeting. We have a great group of folks and I'm pleased to see the interest you have in keeping the Greenville Chapter the best in the state.

Thanks,
John Migacz
SCWW Greenville Chapter Pres.

The Greenville Chapter of SCWW is pleased to be sponsoring a free seminar by local author Mindy Friddle at the Greenville Public Library's Main Branch, 25 Heritage Green Place, on June 24th from 2-4 PM. Mindy's topic will be "The Road to Publishing: Avoiding Pitfalls and Taking the Right Fork."

Seating is limited. For reservations email migaczmarjon@prtcnet.com or call (864) 861-4494.

Bob Strother's novel Love Among the Greeks is now available for purchase. It can be ordered online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Publish America. Written in three separate but related parts, the story unfolds in real time, flashback and a twisty, revealing back story.

Johnny Chase enters college in 1962, joins the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and replaces his high school girlfriend with sorority beauty, Randy Roberts. Together they burn through a torrid six-month love affair. Complicating matters are Kappa Sigma rush girl, Rivers Lloyd - Johnny's friend, social advisor and maybe something else - and his co-worker Millie, whose unusual mix of practical advice and hands-on therapy provide a much-needed distraction.

So, is it love, or just another Greek tragedy? Find out for yourself by following the sometimes amoral, but always romantic Johnny Chase on an odyssey of self-discovery through the hallowed halls of Greek society.

"Just as Pat Conroy compels us to whiff the surf of South Carolina beaches, Strother delights the senses with exquisitely entwined local architecture and charm, venues and settings from the Appalachian Mountains to the sweat-drenched sand of Daytona.... Strother's dialogue sweetly captures the innocence we fail to recognize until it begins evaporating from our lives. He carries us back to backseat love, going steady, Popsicles, ice sickles and broken hearts.... above all, Johnny Chase is a romantic and Love Among The Greeks enlightens the uninitiated soul to yearn for a seat in the arena."–N Lee (Amazon.com customer review)

Remember Bob Strother's story about a man who discovers his girlfriend is a vampire? "New Blood" has been accepted by Maniac Press for publication in a horror anthology to be released later this year (no specific date at present) called Blood, Guts and Psychopaths.

Meets 3rd Thursday at Books-A-Million, 275-1 Harbison Blvd. (in the center of the store), 6:30 p.m. Contact: Charlotte Blackstone charstonblack@bellsouth.net

Changes that were recently made:

1. The name was changed to the Irmo/Chapin Chapter.
2. The meetings are held at Books-A-Million, 275-1 Harbison Blvd., in the center of the store.
3. The store manager can seat 8 comfortably, and welcomes us.

We meet the Third Thursday of each month @ 6:30 pm. We welcome all our published, non-published and "soon to be writer's." All are welcome.

Lexington 1st Chapter Writers meets in the Lexington Library at 5440 Augusta Road every other Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00. Contact: Lynn Stidom lstidom@aol.com

Meeting places and times vary. Contact: Cynthia Hodell Dyer chodelldyer@aol.com

Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday in Winthrop University’s Dacus Library, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Betty Beamguard bbeamguard@earthlink.net 803-222-4208.

Meets 2nd & 4th Monday at the Richland County Library, Sandhills Branch, 1 Summit Parkway, Columbia, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Contact Sonia Hayes Pleasant sonia_hayes@msn.com

Up-coming book signings for The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez by Billie Bierer:

• June 3rd Barnes & Nobel, 278 Harbison Blvd, Columbia, SC, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
• June 13th Happybookseller, 525 Forest Drive, Cola. SC, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
• July 1st - Barnes & Nobel, Richland Mall, 3400 Forest Drive, Columbia. SC, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

In addition, Billie will be on WIS TV Channel 10's Talk of the Town, May 30, chatting about The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez.

"Filled with characters from every aspect of the Wild West, The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez is a fascinating tale that will have you longing to see this heroine defeat all of the obstacles placed before her and realize her dreams."–Amy Whitfield, M. Ed., MLIS

"High drama describes each page of this fascinating love story.... Bierer uses descriptive language to draw the reader into each page.... This historical romantic fiction can be enjoyed by all - students, researchers, strategists, horse lovers and even poets.... The level of detail makes the story real and there's a lot of truth in fiction!... An action-packed, historically-correct romance. I savored every page."–Carmon Weaver Hicks, Ph.D.

Meets 4th Tuesday at Spartanburg Westside Library, 525 Oak Grove Road, 7:00 p.m. Contact: Roger Meadows rdm730@aol.com

We're still cranking along in Spartanburg, and are going through an examination of where we want to go with the group. At the last meeting, we reached a conclusion that we'd try something a little different. We're going to set up an internal website and post the pieces that we want critiqued, so can spend our meeting time doing just that. Some, like me, like to read and soak a little without getting left behind by a fast reader if we stop to ponder. The other thing is, we're going to assign a topic for education each week, with one member taking the leadership role each time. Example: Next month the subject is Query Letters.

Roger Meadows will be signing his debut suspense novel, HANGMAN, A Deadly Game. in the Spartanburg Main Library on June 8, at 7:15 p.m. It will be carried in the library gift shop and is available on Amazon.com where it has garnered favorable reviews:

"What happens to a normal, truth-telling, morally correct, down-on-his-luck person when he finds seven million reasons to change? Imagine being in the mountains for a short camping trip and stumbling across a downed plane with two large duffel bags full of money. What would you do?

"I couldn't put the book down and had to read straight through for five hours to get to the end. You find yourself rooting for Matthew to make it through without much harm to him or his friends. I wanted to know that there was a happy-ever-after ending. But is there really a happy ending?

"Armchair Interviews says: Read Hangman, A Deadly Game and find out. A very interesting book about a deadly game played with someone else's money."–armchairinterviews.com

"Roger Meadows keeps the reader guessing as the protagonist's choice causes one complication after another. One by one, family and friends affected by Cross's action are introduced into the mix, with Meadows drawing from his own experience in international business and travel to create vivid description and crisp dialogue.

"...Meadows doesn't moralize; he allows his narrator and man of action, Matthew Cross, to solve his own problems and the reader to draw his own conclusions. The pressure is on with danger, suspense, and intrigue and with surprises for the reader up to the very end."–Shirley Branden

"I was arrested immediately by the author's craft as a wordsmith.... In the opening pages, before forcing myself to forge on steadily, I kept stopping to re-read certain passages, simply to revel in the good writing. Throughout the book, the reader finds gems to delight him, such as, "I . . . ran my three-mile route before the gathering clouds reached a quorum."

"The plot of HANGMAN and the characters are believable and well developed.... He avoids that mire of mediocrity, where flounder many who substitute vulgarity for skill-but then, he does not have to. The author has keen descriptive powers and draws sharp pictures of locales, natural phenomena, and people.... During the last third of the novel, I nearly needed oxygen, forgetting to breathe, and did need a handkerchief when tears blurred the words."–Mark D. Meadows

OPPORTUNITIES

Mark your calendar!!! SC Writers Workshop is sponsoring three free summer writing workshops.

The first workshop will be in Greenville on Saturday, June 24 at 2:00 PM and will feature award-winning novelist Mindy Friddle, author of The Garden Angel which was selected by NPR's Morning Edition program as one of its Summer Reading Picks. Mindy will do a two-hour seminar entitled "The Road to Publishing: Avoiding Pitfalls and Taking the Right Fork." Her workshop will be at the Greenville Library (Main Branch) located at 25 Heritage Green Place, Greenville, SC. For more information, email Susan Boyer at susan.boyer@charter.net

The second workshop will be held in West Columbia on Saturday, July 15, at 11:00 AM, and will feature novelist, freelance writer and journalist T. Lynn Ocean, author of the heartwarming novels Sweet Home Carolina and Fool Me Once. She will do a two-part workshop on how to be a successful freelance writer and how to tap into your subconscious to develop effective plots for fiction. Her seminar will be held at the Cayce-West Columbia Library located at 1500 Augusta Rd., W. Columbia, SC. For more information, email Sandra Johnson at sjohnson9886@bellsouth.net

The third workshop will be in Charleston on Saturday, August 12, at 10:00 AM, and will feature Carol Ann Davis who is a poet, assistant professor with the College of Charleston's English Department, and editor of Crazyhorse, an acclaimed literary journal of poetry, fiction, and essays. Carol will do a workshop on how to submit to literary journals and what editors of literary journals are looking for. The workshop will be held at the Charleston County Library (Main Branch) located at 68 Calhoun St, Charleston, SC. For more information, email Frances Pearce at francesjpearce@msn.com

Conference Faculty - Preliminary Lisitng

Keynote Speaker:

Tess Gerritsen-after penning nine successful romantic suspense novels that include A Call after Midnight, Tess Garritsen debuted on the New York Times bestsellers' list in 1995 with her medical mystery, Harvest, which was translated into 20 languages and optioned for film. Since then, she has been a perennial presence on bestsellers' lists with medical mysteries such as Life Support, Blood Stream, Body Double, and Vanish. USA Today describes her as being "tops in her genre," and the San Jose Mercury has crowned her "The reigning champion of the medical thriller." www.tessgerritsen.com
Keynote address: "Where Do Stories Come From" - What Makes A Premise Great
Workshop sessions: "Research - How to Incorporate It In Your Book"; "How Do Publishers Make A Bestseller?"

Other Faculty Members:

Jim Conover-after serving on the police force of Pekin, Illinois, for twenty years, Jim started a private detective firm with his brother Dennis. He chronicles his investigative work regarding child abduction/murder cases in his self-published book, Slayer of Innocence. He has also self-published two novels-Lynch Law and Greenhorn Killer-and has written three screenplays. He is currently independently producing a small-budget film based on his screenplay Sand Prairie. www.jimconover.com
Workshop Sessions: TBA

Dr. Kwame Dawes-Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina, Director of USC's Master of Fine Arts program, and Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, Dr. Dawes is not only an award winning poet and educator, but is also a celebrated playwright, actor, critic, essayist, and musician. He has penned nine collections of poetry that include Midland, Resisting the Anomie, and Progeny of Air, and is the author of four nonfiction books. He has also written fifteen plays that have been performed in Europe, the Caribbean, and Canada. Among his many awards is a Push Cart Prize for Best American Poetry and Ohio University Press's Hollis Summers Poetry Prize. www.kwamedawes.com
Workshop Sessions: TBA

Jane Friedman-is editorial director of Writer's Digest Books and Writer's Market Books. She has worked as an editor at Writer's Digest magazine, Novel Writer and Publishing Success magazines, North Light Books, and The Evansville Review. In addition to acquiring 30 titles per year for Writer's Digest Books, she also serves as fiction editor for IdentityTheory.com and teaches composition at the University of Cincinnati. She holds a BFA in creative writing and a master's in English.
Friday Intensive Study Workshop: "Agents, Editors, and You: The Road to Publication and How to Avoid the Potholes"
Workshop Sessions: "How to Find a Publisher or Agent" and "How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal"

Ann Gunton-Associate editor with Viking/Penguin's Young Readers' Division. A national leader in children's literature, this division of Viking/Penguin publishes an average of sixty titles per year, ranging from pop-up books for very young children to sophisticated fiction and nonfiction for teenagers. Since its founding in 1933, Viking/Penguin's Young Readers' Division has garnered ten Caldecott Medal winners and ten Newberry Medal winners. www.penguingroup.com
Workshop Sessions: "Forever Young: Trying Your Hand At Writing for Children" and "Clear & Immediate: What Makes a Young Adult Novel Successful?"

Ann Ipock-is an award-winning speaker, playwright, performer as well as humor essayist, whose column appears biweekly in the Georgetown Times, South Carolina's oldest newspaper. She is a regular contributor to other regional publications such as Sasee Magazine, Pee Dee Magazine, and The Myrtle Beach Herald. She successfully self-published two compilations of her newspaper columns. New York Times best-selling author, Dorothea Benton Frank writes: "Ann Ipock's writing embraces the imperfections of this life with a fresh voice and incredible humor. Her essays will tickle you to pieces!" Her books are Life Is Short, but It's Wide and Life Is Short, So Read this Fast! www.annipock.com
Workshop sessions: "The Humor Track: From Head Nods to Belly Laughs and Beyond" and "A Package Deal: Self Publish-Then Speak, Sell and Sign"

Beth Jusino-Literary agent with Alive Communications which has represented such best-selling authors as Rev. Billy Graham, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, and Karen Kingsbury. Sixty titles from 21 different authors represented by the agency have hit national best-seller lists within the last year--nine in their category's top slot. Prior to joining Alive Communications, Beth spent six years as Managing Editor for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International and she served as editor for MOMSense Magazine, the most widely distributed Christian parenting magazine in America. www.alivecommunications.com
Workshop Sessions: TBA

Carrie McCullough-is publisher for Harbor House Books, a regional publisher of adult fiction (mainstream, mystery, historical and horror) and nonfiction (Americana, Civil War, biography, paranormal). As publisher, she directs the daily activities of the Harbor House Books, including acquisitions, editorial content, publicity, marketing and sales. Prior to joining Harbor House, she was copy editor at The State newspaper and book editor at The Morning News in Florence, SC. She has also been an adjunct professor in the University of South Carolina's journalism program. www.harborhousebooks.com
Workshop Sessions: TBA

Stu Miller-has been a successful literary and packaging agent in Hollywood and New York for over 40 years, representing fiction and nonfiction authors, screen and television writers, producers, directors, interactive multimedia creators and a broad range of intellectual property. His clients have included multiple winners of Oscar, Emmy, Writers' Guild of America, CableAce, People's Choice, Golden Globe, and many other national and international awards. His greatest pleasure is finding and nurturing previously undiscovered talented writers and helping them to develop satisfying, rewarding careers.
Workshop Sessions: "Building Suspense in a Screenplay or Novel: A Question and Answer Session" and "Entertainment Business 101: An Agent's View of Selling Yourself to Entertainment Media Companies"

Cathy Pickens-is the author of a new mystery series that features Avery Andrews, a 30-something female lawyer, who returns to her small Upstate South Carolina hometown after losing her job with a large defense firm. The first book in the series, Southern Fried, earned Cathy the St. Martin's Press's Malice Domestic Award for Best Traditional Mystery in 2003. Her second novel, Done Gone Wrong, has met with glowing reviews as well. Like the main character of her novels, Cathy is a lawyer. She also teaches law to business students at Queens College in Charlotte, NC, and is on the board of an inter-agency forensic organization that serves Charlotte/Mecklenburg County. www.cathypickens.com
Workshop Sessions: "Planning Your Writing Life"; "Turning Crime Fact into Fiction" and "Writing What You Know?"

Marcia Preston-in addition to being an editor of ByLine Magazine, a national monthly publication that showcases the work of new writers, she is also an accomplished novelist. Her mystery/suspense novel, Song of the Bones, was the winner of the 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award sponsored by Simon & Schuster. Her two works of romance/contemporary women's fiction-The Butterfly House and The Piano Man-have recently been released in hardcover by Mira Books. www.marciapreston.com
Workshop Sessions: "Writing Dialogue That Sizzles" and "How to Write Articles That Sell"

Chris Roerden-has more than 40 years' experience as an editor in niche publishing and a university teacher of writing. Since 1983 she's been a full-time independent book editor. Among the 23 awards she's helped her clients win are two Benjamin Franklins and an Agatha for best first mystery. Of the 10 nonfiction books she's written, the most recent is Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A. www.marketsavvybookediting.com
Workshop topics: "Don't Murder Your Mystery (or other fiction): Submissions and Voice" and "Don't Murder Your Mystery (or other fiction): Tell-tale techniques and solutions"

Terry Roueche-In addition to having written numerous one-act and full-length plays that have been performed throughout the Southeast, Terry's plays, Parade Day; Take My Wife, Please and Norman Alexander have enjoyed successful runs on off-off Broadway. www.undertheorder.com
Workshop Sessions: TBA

Ted Tally-wrote the screen adaptation of The Silence Of The Lambs for which he won the 1992 Academy Award, Writers Guild Award, Chicago Film Critics Award, and an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. That work was recently voted by Writers Guild members to their list of the "101 Greatest Screenplays." Tally also wrote the screenplays for Red Dragon, Thomas Harris' prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, as well as White Palace, Before And After, The Juror, and All The Pretty Horses. He served as Associate Producer on the Brian De Palma film Mission To Mars, and as Story Consultant on the Dreamworks Animation films Shrek 2, Madagascar, and Shrek 3. For the theater Tally has written Terra Nova (Obie and Dramalogue Awards), Hooters, Coming Attractions (Outer Critics Circle Award), Little Footsteps, and Silver Linings. His television scripts include The Comedy Zone, Hooters, and The Father Clements Story (Christopher Award).
Born in North Carolina, Tally was educated at Yale College and the Yale School of Drama, at each of which he has also taught. His other honors include fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation. He lives with his wife and two children in Pennsylvania.

Kathie Fong Yoneda-is an independent script consultant with over 25 years of experience in the film industry. She has worked for such prestigious studios as Paramount, Columbia, MGM, Universal, 20th Century Fox, and Disney, specializing in story analysis and development of live action and animated projects. Her career includes executive positions with Walt Disney, Touchstone, Island Pictures and Walt Disney TV Animation. She is the author of The Script Selling Game: A Hollywood Insider's Look At Getting Your Script Sold and Produced, and is also a Co-Executive Producer on the upcoming cable series, Beyond The Break. www.kathiefongyoneda.com
Workshop sessions: "Creating Opportunities: Staying Challenged as a Writer" and "Logline: A Writer's Most Important 25 Words or Less"

Conference Fees

We will begin registration in August, 2006.

Early Bird Rate: to qualify, your registration form and payment must be either post-marked or received online via PayPal by Sept. 1, 2006.

SCWW Membership Rate: to qualify, your SCWW membership must be current at the time of your registration and payment is received.

Your conference registration fee includes admission to all regular sessions, continental breakfasts, evening receptions, and the Sunday Award's luncheon, as well as a copy of the SCWW '06 anthology, Catfish Stew, a conference notebook and guide, and session handouts and resource material.

Lodging

Please refer to the SCWW Conference when making your reservations to receive discounted room rates. Rates do not include local and state taxes.

For additional information, contact the Contact co-chairpersons Dottie Boatwright dboatwright@sc.rr.com or Craig Faris craigfaris@rjsonline.net

Got news from your local chapter? Got a helpful writers web site to share? Got a caution about a bogus publishing opportunity or contest? Let's network our knowledge to build a better newsletter.

Deadline for submissions is the 21st of each month. Please send submissions to quilleditor@bellsouth.net either in the body of an e-mail or as an attached file in MS Word (DOC), Rich Text (RTF) or plain text (TXT) format. Articles accepted for publication will appear in The Quill and archived on the web. Writers retain all rights to their works.

Submissions may also be made on floppy disk and mailed to:

Leland Beaudrot
1 Cleveland St Ste 110
Greenville SC 29601-3646

Write on!

Leland Beaudrot, Editor
The Quill

We regret, more than you can know, that we did not receive enough entries to give away the restaurant to a worthy and hopeful new owner. We realize this is a great disappointment to those of you who entered and it is to us as well. The proceeds will go to the American Red Cross as indicated in the contest rules.

We wish all of you the best in obtaining your dream in the future.

Claude's Cafe

The Million Pound Story is an online collaborative writing project which is open to the entire global online writing community. The concept is very simple - we are offering contributors the opportunity to take part in a unique writing project which, if successful, will be turned into an interactive DVD and iTunes download. The characters, plot, theme, setting will all be put to the sites online community we hope to attract and they will decide how the project should develop.

Looking in to the future the idea is to give some pay back to every one who has contributed. We see this as a 50/50 profit share between green eye dv and anyone who contributed to the story. The profit share to individuals would be worked out on a percentage basis, simply put the more you contribute the more you stand to get be when the finished product is launched.

If you look on the site you will find all the information there. The site is free to use there is no subscription so feel free to browse at your leisure.

Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse

Postmark deadline: June 30

$3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets and haiku. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). More information:

http://www.winningwriters.com/margaret

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest

Postmark deadline: September 30

$3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in any style or genre. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). More information:

http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry

The Hub City Writers Project has assembled an extraordinary faculty for the sixth annual Writing in Place creative writing conference at Wofford College June 16-18, 2006. Registration is now open.

Our keynote speaker to open the conference will be Rebecca McClanahan, author of eight books, an award-winning poet, essayist, fiction writer and educator. The University of Georgia Press published her most recent book of personal essays, The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings in 2002.

Other faculty members include novelists Mindy Friddle of Greenville and Mark Powell of Mountain Rest. Poetry instructors are Barbara Presnell of Lexington, N.C., and Deno Trakas of Spartanburg. Essayist John Lane of Spartanburg will teach creative nonfiction.

The Hub City conference is a hands-on, intensive writing experience, designed to help both beginners and professionals develop the craft of creative writing. The conference is limited to 60 people, and registrants must sign up for one of three tracks: poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction.

Additional sessions will be offered in writing dialogue, developing secondary characters, ekphrasic poetry, songwriting, publishing without a publisher and more. There are faculty readings, open mic sessions, and a Saturday night barbecue.

The cost of the conference is $155. Lodging is available at Wofford College for $15 a night. For more information, call 864-577-9349 or visit www.hubcity.org

Would you like to be included in Librarians Beyond the Circ Desk: Innovative Librarianship Today on how you became a blogger, book reviewer, host to traveling museum exhibitions, or other complimentary activities furthering librarianship? Libraries Unlimited, Scarecrow, Neal-Schuman, Linworth, McFarland are interested, ALA just contacted.

Contributions from public, school, academic, special librarians--one 1250 word article or two articles each 1250 words, are invited. Those sending two articles both accepted will receive a complimentary book as payment. Each "how-to" article will showcase the creativity of contemporary U.S. librarians.

For example, if you design software and are an experienced grants writer, each could be a topic for an article; another combination could be setting up a new library, innovative story hours.

Article(s) and brief resume deadline: July 15, 2006. Bullets, headings are encouraged for clarity, conciseness a basic.

Regards,

Carol Smallwood
smallwood@tm.net

There is no fee for entering the Contest, and the prizes to be awarded are substantial:

• First Prize: $3,000
• Second Prize: $2,000
• Third Prize: $1,000

Contest Rules

• Each person who enters the Contest must be no younger than 17 years of age and no older than 23 years of age on January 1, 2006.
• Essays entered in the Christian Worldview Essay Contest
• may be of any length
• must be written in English
• must be typewritten or computer printed (handwritten essays will not be judged), double-spaced with one-inch margins
• must be submitted on white paper, in triplicate, stapled, with pages in order
• must arrive at The Trinity Foundation before September 1, 2006
• must be accompanied by a signed entry form (available at www.trinityfoundation.org) stating the writer’s intention to enter the Christian Worldview Essay Contest, providing the writer’s full name, address, telephone number, email address (if available), and date of birth
• become the property of The Trinity Foundation.

Contest winners will be announced October 31, 2006. Decisions of the judges are final.

All who enter the Contest will receive a free book from The Trinity Foundation just for entering.

Entrants must read the new book Not What My Hands Have Done (by Charles Hodge and Horatius Bonar) and write an essay about it. For those who intend to enter the Contest, Not What My Hands Have Done is available at the special price of $10.00 on our web site.

Guidelines for Jack Wolford Memorial Prize and submissions to Memorial Issue for Jack Wolford

We welcome all submissions for the Jack Wolford Memorial Prize. The prize of $500 will be awarded for the BEST POEM submitted to the website for 2005 and 2006. Submissions will be accepted February 2006 through October 2006. Please send from three to seven poems to sea7@comcast.net. They may also be sent through the website. www.hotmetalpoets.com (letters to the editor).

Acknowledgement will be made upon receipt. Poems will be published during the submission time and the winner's name will be announced via email to all who submit work.

Words & Music, 2005, which had been scheduled to open Thursday, November 3, 2005 was cancelled because of widespread devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina, along with brutal damage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the entire Gulf Coast transportation infrastructure. We know that you won't be surprised to learn that our grand old dame, Faulkner's "a courtesan...no longer young ... not yet old" has regained her joie de vivre, her indomitable spirit, her desire to seduce us all. She's putting on her paint and powder and readying herself to receive her admirers. By all means come for Words & Music, 2006, earlier if you can!

Words & Music, 2006 will go forward Thursday, November 2 through the final luncheon session on Monday, November 6. For details, please see the web site.

The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc.-founded in 1990 by men and women dedicated to good books and the literary arts-is the creator a unique sort of writers' conference, which is the center of a multi-discipline arts festival every fall. Our fondest desire has been to give writers a boost in making their impossible dreams come true, to provide them with an inspiration break in a city which has inspired countless authors, including William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, to help them get their work published. We are proud of our record of assisting authors make their dreams come true. For details of our most recent success stories on behalf of writers and the success we have had in attracting prestigious authors as advisors and faculty, hightlight: Success!

FEATURES

Last month we talked about basic critiquing etiquette. For the next several chapters, I'd like to go over some basic technical points that wouldn't be the first three subjects in a typical creative writing course, but that come up a lot in critique. I don't mean such basics as spelling, grammar, or sentence structure. Most people who seek out a group like this are already competent writers, capable of basic editing, and we typically don't need to deal much with those sorts of things. And even rookies are usually already working on weeding out passive voice. But there are a few slightly more subtle points of style that we seem to deal with frequently; point of view, or POV, beats, and showing, not telling.

First, POV. The simplest way to describe point of view is to ask "whose head is the reader in?" Jack looked across the table at Fran. Any observer of the scene could make that statement, so it's a neutral POV. He found himself staring into the bluest eyes he had ever seen. Now we have entered Jack's consciousness. Nobody but Jack could know that he had never seen eyes so blue, so we are seeing the scene through his eyes, from his POV.

Fran looked away, fiddled with her cuticles. Something about the directness of Jack's stare reminded her of Uncle Mike, of things she would rather forget. So now what do we have, besides bad writing? It's called a universal or omniscient POV. It makes me dizzy. First we were in Jack's head, and now we are in Fran's. If Bob walks in, are we going to know that he thinks Jack is cute? This is not the same as neutral POV, where any observer could see what was happening. You're inside several people's heads, everybody's heads. I suppose that omniscient POV is a legitimate writing technique, but I don't like it, and neither do most of the veteran Greenville chapter members.

Having said that, I have to admit that some very successful writers use omniscient POV. Here's an example of the hazards they face. It's from Night Sins, a best-seller by Tami Hoag, who has a long list of best-sellers:

Mitch's response to her was elemental, instinctive. She was a challenge. He wanted to crack the tough-cookie facade. He wanted . . . and that surprised him. He hadn't wanted a woman since Allison. He had needed and he had succumbed to that, but he hadn't wanted. It amazed him to want now, to want her.

"Yeah, the job suits you," he murmered. "You're a tough cookie, O'Malley."

Megan lifted her head a proud notch, not taking her eyes off him. "Don't you forget it, Chief."

He was standing too close. Again. Close enough that she could see the shadow of his evening beard on his hard jaw. Close enough that some part of her wanted to lift a hand and touch it . . . and touch the scar that hooked across his chin . . .

This scene begins in Mitch's POV -- very deeply in his POV. The reader is aware not just of his observations, but of his inner-most feelings. When we read that he was standing too close, we might assume that Mitch thought he was standing too close. But no, this is Megan thinking, and we go on to learn of her attraction to Mitch. This POV shift is not only jarring, but it stops the reader, makes him go back and figure it out. The good writer never stops the reader, never confuses him, unless it's for some intentional purpose. Two paragraphs after the clip above, Night Sins is back in Mitch's head. If you're Tami Hoag and have been on the New York Times list a few times, you can get away with this, but if you bring something like it to the Greenville Chapter, you're going to get hammered.

A couple of editors in our group have espoused a rule of thumb that you can shift POV once in a scene, but then you have to stay in the new POV for the rest of that scene. If you have a good reason to do that, okay, but to me, it's the same sort of intellectual laziness as omniscient POV. If you're going to go into Jack's head, figure out how to describe the whole scene from there. POV shifts are not only confusing and distracting to the reader, but they lessen the power of being inside a character's consciousness in the first place.

That's not to say that your whole novel, or even your whole short story, has to be from the same POV, just that you should be consistent within a scene or chapter. Go ahead, let us see things from various characters' eyes, even revisit the same scene from a different POV, to emphasize your characters' differences. Giving a character "POV" scenes is a good way to lend her importance. It lets the reader know that this is a character he should pay attention to. You can make your villainess a POV character to give her a human face, or show what your protagonist is up against.

Of course, if you write in first person, then every scene must in the narrator's POV. Be sure you don't describe things the narrator couldn't know. Make the reader figure things out through the narrator's eyes.

MUSINGS

"Do these jeans make me look fat?"

I looked up from my reading. My Muse stood before me in frayed, low-rise cut-offs. "Thaleia, those ceased to be jeans two pant legs ago," I said and lifted my paperback to bi-focal range.

She nudged it back down with a finger pointed at me. "You're just dodging the question."

"Sorry. Male survival instinct kicked in." I surveyed her eternally youthful form. "No, they don't make you look fat."

"What about these?" She pointed to twin bulges visible between her cropped T-shirt and waistband.

"Those are called pelvic bones," I said. "And they're not overly padded."

"Am I too thin?" She turned to offer her profile. "I was thinking of getting implants."

I had to laugh. "And who is going to do that? You told me yourself no one else can even see you."

"True." She pushed a pile of papers aside and sat hunched over on the corner of my desk, her chin resting on her fist, her brow knit. Suddenly she sat up. "I'll bet a tattoo artist could envision a Muse! I could get some body art."

"Thaleia! What's gotten in to you? Adonis not paying you enough attention these days?"

"Ha! That little wuss showed his true colors when he started grooming Cerberus for the dog show circuit." She semiphored her meaning with the flip of a flaccid hand. "No, it's all your fault."

"Me!? When have I ever suggested your powers of distraction were abating. Don't you know I take notes every time we have these little conversations."

"Of course. It's about the only writing you do these days. But at least you're doing the right reading." She pointed to the book still in my hand. "I'm just practicing a little self editing."

I waved the book at her. "This is all about improving one's writing, you silly wench!"

Her expansive grin told me she had once again become the shepherdess of my fuzzy thinking. "Does this mean you're about to start taking your writing more seriously?"

"This little tome has been quite an encouragement. It reminds me a bit of you: flattering my ego by pronouncing many of my judgments sound and teaching me new insights to lead me still higher."

"I am a servant of the art." From her seat, she bowed with a flourish worthy of a prima dona. "The floor is yours. Why don't you tell your readers all about it."

"While nothing can replace the camaraderie of a critique group or the encouragement of a personal Muse, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne & Dave King, offers the writer of fiction a toolbox for converting an honorable mention worthy piece into a grand prize winner (your results may vary, but I'll bet you see improvement right away). The book is easy to understand and apply, having itself been subjected to an edit by its authors, independent editors in their own right."

"True to their introductory blurb, the authors don't tell you how to plot your book, but they do share volumes of helpful tips, like 'Resist the Urge to Explain' (RUE). To help you apply this newfound knowledge, a check list follows each chapter, along with exercises to put your editing skills to the test. Appendices offer suggested answers to the exercises and a bibliography of suggested reading."

"Bravo! Well done! "Thaleia applauded from her desk-edge perch. "We'll make a writer of you yet."

The Quill is the newsletter of the South Carolina Writers Workshop www.scwriters.com.

Copyright 2006 by Leland Beaudrot, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.