Website Help

 


Note: this blog does not recommend nor receive compensation for any business mentioned here. This is simply a resource available to our writers.


Pssst... This is from Peter Frickel
  

If you are in need of exploring/ finding where to look for a website developer, my son Mark Frickel offers the following opportunity.
Please communicate directly with him.

My website peterfrickel.com was created by him–have a look. 


From Mark:

Simple and jokey, but memorable I hope. If anyone needs a site done, please send them here:
www.heynicesite.com

Mark Frickel
Floatation International
Web: www.floatationtanks.com
FB: www.facebook.com/floatationtanks

Thanks to Doug Sahlin

A link to a free video mentioned during the meeting on October 18th; 

https://selfpublishingformula.com/courses/ 

The thired link on the upload page is a free course.

Here's an example of a book trailer Doug recently created:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGhAAHr-LtA

Notice the pop-ups in the upper right-hand corner of the video and the links at the end of the video; they were added by YouTube.

October 18th, 2017

Welcome Back;

We had some good fun at this meeting, not the least of which was welcoming a couple of first time attendees, Kathleen and Tim, who as Tim said, "are partners in business and life." Co-owners of Jacobs Writing and Publishing Consultants, LLC, we paid heed to the thoughtful comments each made throughout the evening. If you wish to know more about this couple or their business I suggest you check out their website, www.jacobswc.com or call 239-464-9730.

Our meeting started with a brief discussion featuring a blog entry written by Jennie Haskamp in The Daily Muse entitiled 15 words to eliminate from your vocabulary to sound smarter. I came across this article some time ago and felt it worth sharing with our group. I'd no sooner finished my presentation, when several attendees presented statements using most, if not all, of the 15 words. Good fun.

Of the 12 attendees, 11 prepared work to read and wanted critique from the group. All but one accomplished their reading and each received useful comments from the group.

Kathleen was asked to lead off and read a piece she is working on with a target audience of 8 to 12 year-old's, I think she might well expand her target as we heard good work that might well apply to teens as well. The opening chapter of the piece found a ghoulish hag under a bridge where she's just finished off feasting on the brains of a pair of trolls. Unsatisfied and still hungry, she longed to find other victims and, using the sharpened bones of her victims, she knitted some clothing before setting out to hunt.

Next up was Tim. Revisiting his early love for writing he presented an essay which gave credit to his High School teachers who encouraged his love for the written word. A stirring piece, it gives credit to teachers often a forgotten part of our successes.

Peter shared a selection of readings two poems, each poignant and revealing, and a selection from his collection of letters. His short verse expresses his vision of sky and clouds above the majestic Ruwenzori mountain range of South Africa and its view of what transpires within its purview. A bit longer verse explored visions in a mirror when one lets the mind's eye see beyond the obvious. Finally, the letter reveals the passion a writer has for his craft as he imparts his feelings to a longtime friend with whom he's shared past memories.

Letitia, compiling her notes and memories for presentation in a memoir which will be powerful, shared a brief segment of the mental and physical anguish an addict mother feels. She writes from experience seeking to help others with a focus on women in crisis. She hopes to help them avoid the pitfalls of recovering addicts, alcoholics, and victims of abuse locked in a life filled with what may seem insurmountable issues. Good stuff.

Our local Irish Dame, Noreen, enthralled us with a fantasy as she listened to a group of seagulls, (in the Gallic, faoilleans pronounced free'lanns), watching people on a beach. In her story, the birds chatter away and she can understand every word. As she read we laughed aloud, often and with gusto.

When Don read his tale of attending college 40 or more years ago at an age of 40+ years, we again had a good belly laugh. The story entitled, Humanities 101, showed how a person born in the 1930's handled 1970's culture in a classroom. When a professor invited a poet to read his latest popular work, the title, Looking At Life Through A Glass Asshole, was a shock to the older students. When the contents contained a number of words considered profane by their generation... Well, you have to hear the story, or read it yourself, to enjoy it's intricate details.

Lewis Carroll's The Jabberwoky is difficult to read under the best circumstances. When Bruce read it using the techniques of an evening newscaster, it was even better. We may request a repeat performance.

George brought the opening chapters of his latest work. It's a mystery and takes place in the community of Osprey, Florida during World War II. His characters come to life and his chapter end leaves us wanting more. Can't wait!

A few week ago Doug presented a piece called, And Justice for All. This week he brought it back with changes made considering the comments he received at the last reading. Well done.

Darienne deferred her time so that Rod could read a chapter he's read before and is having trouble making it work. The changes were well received and additional suggestions made. That is the purpose of this group, Writers helping Writers. Darienne will be first on the reading list next meeting.  

We hope to see you at the upcoming meeting, November 1st. In the meantime, keep on writing.

Concerning October 18th Meeting

Three Quick Items

1. Thanks to Darienne for reminding me:

"The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White are almost required for all writers.

A quote from Professor Strunk: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."

2. Our fearless leader, Ernie Ovitz, will be unable to attend tonight or the next meeting. We'll miss him.

3. Our thanks to Peter. Here is the information for an on-air radio program that features local writers and their work.

WKDW

97.5 FM

North Port Community Radio

Check out Face Book-

Dobie Pasco is the show host

12735 Tamiami Trail [US 41] North Port FL 34287

Phone: 941-564-8739

Join us Wednesday night. I hope to see a number of writers there and hear some really good stories.

Oct 4th Meeting

Welcome to our Fall meeting:

Although attendance was better, we still did not have a full house and that’s okay. All who attended came through the recent storm with little or no damage. Hang in there, only another month to go.

Marisa attended this meeting, we haven’t seen her in a while and it’s always good to have her in the group. She’s an excellent essayist and writes about very interesting subjects. She also hosts an open mike program at the Sarasota Brewing Company, 6607 Gateway Ave, in Sarasota’s Gulf Gate Neighborhood the third Wednesday of each month. If you’re not busy attending our meeting, stop by and say hello one evening; take time to enjoy great food and Fantastic Beers while listening to some interesting writers. As might be expected, her presence elicited inquiries about open mike venues in the area. 

Peter mentioned an open mike show aired in North Port, he thinks it's prerecorded and airs Sundays at 3:00 PM. He could not remember the local station so, if anybody has further information, please send me an email at rodshs62@hotmail.com.

Our own Ed Ellis is scheduled to present a mini-course on Creative Writing at the

Women’s Resource Center.

340 S. Tuttle Ave.

Sarasota, FL 34237

Phone: 941-256-WRC1

Dates and Times.

Class #1 – 1 PM to 3 PM Friday October 20th.

Class #2 – 1 PM to 3 PM Friday October 27th.

Call the WRC for more information and who is eligible to attend.

A discussion about character names and how authors determine those names brought forth many thoughts and questions from our attendees.

One question evoked curiosity more than others; "How do you handle names from long ago in different locals? ie. Roman or Greek names from antiquity or Old English names." The consensus was “Research,” do your research and use names from the period.

For names in the modern era, the Social Security Administration’s popular names list provides the most popular names for each year. Remember, many readers have lived for decades and are familiar with names used in past years.

It's probably not a good idea to use multiple names for a single character. William Hartford may be known by more than one name in life; his friends may call him Willie, to acquaintances he's Bill, to his staff and coworkers Mr. Hartford is appropriate, a few old army buddies call him H-man, and there’s always Billy, Billy-Bob, or Hartford. Numerous other nicknames might apply. However, once you’ve introduced the character a single name within the context of your story would be less confusing to your reader. Sure, a derivations are acceptable if a special relationship is clear and consistent.

What do you think?

 As we moved on to the reading portion of our evening, Ed shared a piece which made us laugh as only his twisted, maybe only slightly bent, mind can. We were introduced to Mr. Bacharacharockus whose story takes place at Walt Disney World. Separated from his wife because he wishes only to rest and write a bit while she explores Fantasyland, Ed finds himself at his favorite restaurant. He requests a seat in the bar and a sweet tea. Three young hostesses concur, he must tell them his name before they can seat him. Not wanting to be bothered, and unwilling to use his pen name as he often does, he blurts out the first name that comes to  mind, Peter Bacharacharockus. After spelling it out for the hostesses, he's escorted to a seat where, while sipping on his sweet tea, he writes page after page of prose. All goes well until his wife arrives to retrieve him...

Ernie, challenged by a previous comment requesting more feminine presence in his work, read a chapter describing a bit of female influence in his latest tome. In this chapter, A Town Under Siege, two comely young women, princesses of Roman royalty if you will, bring bread to hungry soldiers on the walls of the city. Having endured an arduous day repelling repeated assaults by the Franks, the men are hungry for more than bread but even the youngest of the pair sloughs off the bawdy invitations of battle-weary troops. Only the presence of Constantine's son, Christmas brings the pair some uneasiness...

Peter enthralled us with the latest in a series of letters purportedly written to a friend. The letter remembers the recently deceased mother of the writer. The vivid memories of his mother and father’s relationship brings a hint of moisture to several eyes as words form descriptions of a mother waiting for a father to return from the hunt and in the final paragraph...  

After an absence of several months, Marisa returned and brought an essay entitled The Storm. Written in the second person, her rendition of an evacuation during the recent storm gave insight as how she and "the one she loved" left their new dream house against his wishes, spent the hours of the storm in another home, and the morning after the storm, their return provides a unique view of a  relationship...

Chapter 15 of Don’s memoir gives us a glimpse of what it was like when a young President, John F. Kennedy, called up military reserve troops, including the Air National Guard, in response to Russia's saber rattling. While making ready to report for duty in France, the Indiana Airmen faced with inept administrators and questionable deployment orders, end up returning home without deployment...

A piece we heard once before came back with many remarkable enhancements as Darienne read Take the Dotted Route for the second time. She and hubby embarked on a road trip this past summer. They wandered west using routes less traveled. Through the high plains of Colorado we enjoyed wonders of National Parks in several states concluding our journey at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Each locale was brought to life with great writing giving us the sense of the land with visual, sensual, and emotional prose. Not only did we see the sights of this glorious country but we met wonderful people with dreams fulfilled as they live in the paradise of their choosing...

Join us on October 18^th at 6:30 for the next meeting. I don’t know what we’ll discuss but I can promise it will be interesting.

Till then, Keep On Writing!

I’ll see you there.

Rod

First Wednesday in October, 9/4/17

Check it out. We’re having our first fall meeting this year.

The last two meetings have been sparsely attended thanks to Irma, she was not welcome nor invited. I hope to see more of you at this meeting and through next spring.

The proposed subject for this meeting’s discussion period. “What’s in a name, especially your character’s name?”

Think about this for a bit and come prepared to discuss the way you name the characters in your fiction or if you change the names to protect the innocent in a memoir.

Bring some of your work to read and receive feedback from the other members. 

See you there on Wednesday night.

Keep on writing,

Rod