PAR-TAY!

Hello Friends,
I am looking forwards to Tuesday's farewell, Shin-dig. It will be great fun. The location is my house: 606 21st Street. This is between F&G. There is parking all along the street. (There is no parking before 6:30) We will discuss Margarita's story in a serious fashion and then enjoy ourselves!

I am providing champagne and cups. If any one wants to bring something-- snacks, paper plates, etc.. please do! I imagine that we are a low-maintenance group of people, but it would probably be a good idea to have something to eat to go toe to toe with the bubbly.

Please post in comments what you can bring! And all are welcome, no matter what your pot-luck status is!

Cheers!!!

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

Remember, we won't be meeting this week because of Thanksgiving. Go hang out with your family. Play attention to conflict. Holidays are wonderful laboratories for this type of thing!

Tuesday's Agenda

We have a little bit of a backlog of stories. This Tuesday, let's do Jack Stapleton, Malcolm O'Hagan, and Alison Bloom Feshback.

Maria's story will hold over until next week and that should put us back on track.

Character Chart

Michelle recommmends this character chart to help flesh out your characters. Personally, I use character charts AFTER I have written to story to sort of make sure I have covered all my bases, but some people find it useful as they are writing. http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html

Great Author Readings On Line!

One of my favorite websites is the NPR station, KQED, from San Francisco. Each week, they post a new author reading. Check it out. If you go to my other blog, I've picked some new favorites. And here are some oldies but goodies.

Writer's Digest Contest

Jack brought this is our attention:

http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/popfiction/


WD Popular Fiction AwardsA Short Story Competition from Writer's Digest
Compete and Win in all 5 Categories!
The Grand Prize-Winner will receive $2,500 cash, $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books, plus a manuscript critique and marketing advice from a Writers’ Digest editor or advisory board member.
Entry Deadline: Wednesday, November 01, 2006.

A Thought on Last Week's In-Class Work

First off, thanks to all of you for such a wonderful class. I felt like we accomplished quite a bit with our work with descriptions. Since the end of that class, I have been thinking quite a lot about Vesper's list. (I think it was Vesper.) I hope that you will remember it. The idea that it was the dresser drawer contents for a socially/sexually precocious 14 year old girl. In class we were wrestling with what the fourth item in the drawer should be. The first three were all things that we would think would be in the possession of an older girl and we were thinking the fourth thing should be the item that would pin down her age.

What do you all think of this: Maybe the first three items should be age appropriate and the fourth be a sort of jolting item that let's us know that this young girl is engaging in some unexpected activities. What do you think? Any suggestions?