April 16th, 2014 Meeting

Elizabeth Sims, award winning mystery writer and Contributing Editor for the Writers Digest, kicked off our April 16^th meeting with a presentation about writing fiction and the research needed to write with authenticity and believability. Her great presentation was followed by a Q and A session that ran right up to our 8:00 pm break time. Elizabeth's presentation included free orange wrist power bands emblazoned with the logo of her book “You've Got A Book in You” for all attendees, and a free copy of the book to the lucky recipient of a random drawing. With 18 attendees, 8 of whom were FWA members, the meeting went quickly, and after a 10 minute break wrapped up with readings by 3 members.

Our next meeting will be May 7^th.

On Our Bookshelves...

Favorite books for Writers of the Sarasota Writers Group:

1. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft – Stephen King
2. The Elements of Style – Strunk and White
3. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
4. Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg
5. Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
6. The Right to Write – Julia Cameron
7. The Forest for the Trees – Betsy Lerner
8. Wild Mind – Natalie Goldberg
9. Ron Carlson Writes a Story – Ron Carlson
10. On Becoming a Novelist – John Gardner
11. Storycraft – Jack Hart (U. of Chicago, 2011).
12. Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript – Cynthia Laufenberg
13. Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury
14. Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer – Roy Peter Clark
15. The Practical Writer's Guide – Mary A. Davries
16. The Mother Tongue – Bill Bryson
17. How to Write – Richard Rhodes
18. Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words – A Writer's Guide to Getting it Right – Bill Bryson
19. Advice to Writers – Compiled by Jon Winokur
20. Handbook of Effective Writing – Robert Moore
21. Write it Right – Josephson – Hidden
22. Techniques of the Selling Writer – Dwight Swain
23. Simon and Schuster Quick Access Reference for Writers – Lynn Quitman Troyka
24. The Writers Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats – Buchman & Groves
25. A Room of One's Own – Virginia Woolf
26. Writing in Style – Bobbie Christmas
    
27. You've Got a Book in You: A Stress-Free Guide to Writing the Book of Your Dreams – Elizabeth Sims
    
28. Things That Make Us [Sic] – Martha Brockenbrough

How does our list differ from the Internet?

Take a look at Infolist's current survey of the top 100 books at:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1714.Best_Books_on_Writing

On Our Bookshelves

All writers need readers. Real readers, people who actually read your efforts without the pressures of family or friendship. People who actually might even someday pay to read the ideas and thoughts you, a writer, puts into print. And not just those who condescendingly pat you on the back and say “That is really good stuff, you should send it in someplace.” I've found the best readers are those who actually write themselves and understand both the joy and the pathos of putting their souls out in the world for everyone to see. 

Seriously, without readers, why write? Other than the safely tucked away confessional letters that will never be sent and a few other soul-cleansing, cathartic, autobiographical pieces meant to clean out cobwebs and barriers from the writer's own carefully tucked away abyss of dark memories, most writing is done for pure joy and entertainment. But am I doing it right? How do I write so no one laughs or even worse, ignores my writing? How do the experts do it? 

Personally, I have no clue. I simply know what I like to read. I hate tedious, pompous writing that insults my intelligence, how meager it may be. I have read so many guide books on writing that I have simply become an expert on the guide books themselves. Unfortunately, many of them aren't worth the time to read. Especially the free e-books; as a rule they are badly written nonsense. I've deleted some I didn't bother to finish. I was deep into one book when I came across a misspelled word that should have been caught by any word processor, much less an editor. The word? Grammar. 

What better place to compile a list of good references than a group of people who love to write? The members of the Sarasota Writers Group sent in their respective recommendations of books and guidelines for writers so I could compile a list of material. The list will be presented on Wednesday, April 16th. See if your favorite made the cut. 

George