Newsletter of the Society of Southwestern Authors|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Newsletter of the Society of Southwestern Authors |
Vol. 2, No. 28 Oct./Nov. '00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aiming For The Perfect Pitch
Every year at our big January conference, people sell articles, short stories, even books. If you
are planning to meet with an editor or agent about your writing project, better be prepared. On
Sunday, October 15th, SSA is hosting a special all-day seminar focused on selling your story idea. If you're serious about writing and getting published or produced, you'll want to be there.
You'll hear from non-fiction experts Nina Bell Allen, retired Reader's Digest editor; Cynthia Cameron, editor of Renaissance Central web magazine; and much published freelance writers Jane Eppinga and Barbara Stahura. On the fiction side, listen to authors Sinclair Browning and Marci Martin, literary agent Priscilla Palmer who specializes in scripts and books, and short story writer Robert Wagner, a regular contributor to Blue Murder. You'll learn how to write a query or verbally pitch your articles and story ideas. You'll see demonstrations of winning pitches and those that strike out. Then, after a buffet luncheon, help solve "Deadline Dilemma," a mystery theater presentation, with a discussion of script writing, dialog, and plotting techniques. Finally, practice what you've learned in small groups. We'll get you ready to meet a real live editor or agent face-to-face, and we promise it will be fun. Mail your reservation with your check for $30.00 by October 7th. Sorry, no phone reservations accepted for this special event. And remember, this one will be at the DoubleTree Hotel on Alvernon.
William Pitt Root on Lasting Poetry
"News That Stays News: How Things Last" is the topic for our November meeting. Acclaimed Poet William Pitt Root will give us some insight into the process and art of creating poetry. Author of seven collections of poetry, Bill Root teaches creative writing at Hunter College in Manhattan. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, his poems have received three Pushcart Prizes, among many others. He has earned Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation grants, as well as National Endowment of the Arts funding for his books. He's been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, but he's also been a Teamster and a bouncer. His work has appeared in hundreds of magazines, including The New Yorker, Nation, Harpers, The Atlantic, and in well over 70 anthologies. He commutes from Tucson, where he lives with his wife, and fellow poet, Pamela Uschuk. Please phone 546-9382 with your luncheon reservation (specify carnivore or herbivore) no later than noon Tuesday, November 14th. This will be a sit-down luncheon, not a buffet, and we must have an accurate head-count. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
RECENT SUCCESSES
Steve Adelson had an article published in Blue Murder Mystery Magazine. It can be read on-line at: www.bluemurder.com Lynnette Baughman's mystery, A Spy Within, was the Featured Title for Sept. on www.mysteryauthors.com. At the recent Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Denver, Lynnette participated in a panel on Research, answering questions on the extensive research she did for her book. E-mail: nmauthor@juno.com Webpage: www.newmexicoauthor.com LaVerne Harrell Clark had a third article published in a series about well-known contemporary women writers in the Spring, 2000, Women and Languages. It examines the ways four collections of Grace Paley's short stories helped her establish a literary voice that has now endured for over 50 years. It provides examples from Grace's best-known stories which illustrate her mastery of her native New York city speech. Rosemarie (Rosie) Colombraro's first novel, Angel Chickens, will be out in October. Published by Xlibris, the book is available now for prerelease order through Barnesandnoble.com and Borders.com. Rosie is also a frequent contributor to Arizona Parenting, Arizona Senior World, and RenaissanceCentral.com magazines. Duval A. Edwards' latest book, The Senator and the Runaway Teenager in the Great Depression, has gone into a second printing at Sahuaro Press. J.M. "Mike" Hayes has two novels being released in November by Poisoned Pen Press of Scottsdale. One is a revised reprint of The Grey Pilgrim, originally published by Walker and Company, NY, 1990 it was a "Best of the Southwest" selection by the Arizona Daily Star. The other is a new mystery novel set in Kansas, Mad Dog & Englishman. Betsy Hutchinson's family hopes she won't embarrass them in print with an anecdote about her husband, Chuck, on Mt. Lemmon which was accepted by the Arizona Highways "humor" section. The DesertLeaf recently ran her essay, "A Mom's View from a Flying Station Wagon," about her first flight with son, Todd, in his Stinson. Marilyn Pate's story, "Waiting for the Monsoon" received a Certificate of Commendation at a writing contest which gave her the courage to show it to Bob Early, Editor of Arizona Highways at the 2000 conference it was published in the July 2000 issue. She has now been contacted by Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement Division, who saw her story in the magazine and have purchased it to use in a new edition of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test that they are developing for the Florida Department of Education. Marylyn says, "None of this would have happened without SSA. Thank you for being here to help, prod and sometimes drag me along this writing road." marilynp8@cybertrails.com.
Lynn Wiese (that's pronounced weezey) is the new Community Relations Manager at the Foothills Barnes & Noble. She invites local authors to call her at 742-6621. Barnes & Noble maintains a local authors table, and Lynn schedules all events and signings. Lynn is a member of SSA and has her own book coming out in November, Holistic Parenting, from Keats Publishing. You can be sure she'll be signing at Barnes & Noble!
The Write Word
President Web Page http://www.azstarnet.com/nonprofit/ssa Deadline for next issue is the 21st day of November
6/00 Write Word 4/00 Write Word 2/00 Write Word 12/99 Write Word 10/99 Write Word 8/99 Write Word 6/99 Write Word 4/99 Write Word 2/99 Write Word 12/98 Write Word 10/98 Write Word 8/98 Write Word 6/98 Write Word 4/98 Write Word
|
|