Cancelled Meeting for July 4th Weekend

So... Jaron and I will both be gone this weekend to different places for the fourth of July. Jaron is going to some sort of cabin in the woods, and I'm also going to a 'cabin' which is actually like a mansion in the middle of nowhere. In short, we can't host the Somnambulist's meeting. If there's anyone who wants to get together anyway, you're all free to do so.

I'm very excited because my rough draft is 99% done, and I'll be finished before I go on my trip. How are your projects coming along? Who has made progress? We should have some kind of party for everyone who meets their goals for this summer. All right?

-Tsira

Meeting #33 - 03/03/10

It was indeed Kilroy the mouse! Nice work to all you super-sleuths for figuring out last week's mystery in The Eleventh Hour.

Barbara was tagged last week and she delivered. This time, it's Anthony's turn to write something... or else there will be no treats for him!

I also released Demo 2 of my Orphan Wars game. I will be putting it online soon, for those of you who didn't get a chance to come to the meeting.

EDIT--Here it is!

Next week, we're having the meeting at Rachel's house, like usual. Here are a few things to keep you entertained until then:



Here's something a bit more writing-related. It's a website/program called Write Or Die. Basically, it's a tool for getting writers to, well... actually write. Turn it on and it will help you stay on-task and getting the words down. There are three settings: Gentle, Normal, and Kamikaze. If you stop writing for a while, the screen will turn from white to red and then one of three things will happen, depending on what mode you set the program to. Gentle will nicely remind you to keep writing. Normal mode will make annoying sounds, forcing you to return to writing if you want them to stop. And finally, Kamikaze mode will slowly delete the words you've written, one by one! So if you don't want your hard work to get deleted, you'll keep the words coming at a steady pace. Check it out here.

Meeting #14 - 10/21/09

Tonight's meeting went pretty late. Everyone was a little distracted and/or sleepy. But we got a lot accomplished, I think. I'm happy with the levels of feedback we've been giving each other on our pieces. I think we're getting more comfortable and developing a better feel for each other's styles and ideas, which helps us know what we need to work on or what we're good at.

We didn't decide on a meeting place for next week, but Rachel said she would talk to her parents about having it at her house. Plan on that for now. If all else fails, my house would probably work as a backup... I just hope my mom won't remember that we had it over here today. :D

If you set a writing goal for yourself and accomplish it--no matter how large or how small, whether it's based on word count or pages or some other more abstract idea--you will receive a prize. I'll go to the dollar store or something and find some fun stuff. Never fear, a lot of it will probably be candy. Maybe some bubble wrap, too. ;)

Happy writing, Somnambulists. Bring more of your stories! Everyone is getting to some really good parts.

Meeting #13 - 10/14/09

At last week's meeting, we met at Jo's house and watched a bunch of YouTube. But fear not, for we also read each other's stories and gave them probably more attention than they have received the past few weeks, at least from me. I really liked what everyone brought. I'm really glad to see everyone being productive, and our stories are really taking off in exciting directions.

This week, Rachel and I have set a goal to write 1,000 words per day for 35 days. They don't necessarily have to be consecutive days, but... well, that would be nice. So far, I don't think we've done very well. But fear not again! I think this week will see me finishing Chapter 2 of my new draft. Think I can do it?!

So anyway, Rachel made up this cute little chart for putting stickers on, and I think I'd like to have something like that too. Anyone else interested in taking this challenge with us? It can extend into NaNoWriMo if you want, since the daily goal for that is even higher. If you'd like to do this 1,000/35 challenge with us, let us know and we can print you up a little chart or something. Be sure to set a reward for yourself if you complete it. The reward for Rachel and me is a date to Red Robin. Love that place...

Jo has set up an account for us on fictionpress. You can find it here. This will be a great place for us to post our stories (or at least parts of them, if you're concerned about copyrights and whatnot) so members of our group can read through the backlog if they've missed something. If you need the password or other account information, email me at fridgecrisis@gmail.com.

Next meeting is this coming Wednesday at my house at 7 pm. At 6, I'll be doing some free writing, if you'd like to join in. See you there!

Meeting #12 - 10/07/09

For our writing exercise this week, I took a few passages of description from some books and dumbed them down into very simple sentences with general imagery. We rewrote them, adding our own style and specific images to create more colorful descriptions. It was cool to see how everyone's was different.

Then we talked a little about the pieces we brought. Jo suggested that we get a Fictionpress page where we could all post chapters of our stories and keep them all straight. I think that sounds like a great idea. Jo, if you want to be in charge of that, you can go ahead and create it. I'd also be willing to create it if you need me to.

I'd like to start focusing more on writing goals--I think that's a very helpful part of being a productive writer. If you have a specific, measurable weekly or monthly goal on the goals post and you can report back to everyone that you've achieved your goal, I'll buy you a candy bar or ice cream or something. A reward of your choice (but nothing too expensive, obviously). Feel free to reward yourselves as well for a job well done. Try telling yourself that if you write five thousand words by Friday night, you'll buy yourself a pizza or that new shirt you've been wanting. I know that's helped me a lot.

NaNoWriMo is coming up. I'll be participating, and I'll let you know when I sign up on the site. Anyone else going to do it with me?

Next week, we're meeting at Jo's house at the usual time on the usual day. Hope to see you there!

Meeting #11 - 09/30/09

Our meeting tonight was a little different from the usual. It just so happened that Michele Ashman Bell, local author, was coming to speak about writing at the Taylorsville Library tonight at 7 pm. The timing could not have been more perfect. Thanks to everyone who came and I hope everyone took something valuable from it. Some major points of her presentation were:

• Don't be afraid to break the mold and be original.
• Your setting is like another character--know it well.
• Internal conflict is one thing books can do that movies usually can't.
  
• Formatting is very important when sending a manuscript to a publisher, but while writing a rough draft, the most important thing is just getting it down.
• Everyone has their own voice and style. Find your strengths and use them to your advantage.
• Be specific and include details. Don't assume your reader will fill in blanks.
• The writer who gets published isn't necessarily the most talented writer. The one who gets published is the one who is passionate about what they're writing and keeps pressing on.
• There comes a point where you have to stop listening to other people who tell you how to write your story and do it yourself, the way you know it needs to be.

Another exciting piece of news is that she asked for the URL to this blog! I told her we weren't very exciting, but she insisted. I'm honored to have a visit from someone as successful as she is. Thank you for your visit, Michele! (Hurry, everyone! Post something exciting!) By the way, her blog can be found here. She's been doing interviews with other authors, which I think is a great resource for young budding writers like ourselves.

I got a few new ideas for future meetings, too. Next Wednesday will be at my house again. We've all been doing really well with bringing new material. Let's keep it up! I'm thinking about devising some kind of reward system for people who set goals for themselves and achieve them. Does that sound helpful?

Happy writing, everyone. Enjoy the break!

Meeting #8 - 09/09/09

Tonight, we had the 999 Meeting! I intended for it to be a bigger deal than it was, but I was so swamped today and I had no energy... I'm really sorry. Next week I'll try to have an actual plan so we can get more accomplished and have a good time.

I hope you all liked the 9-shaped cookies Rachel and I made. Thanks Amber and Nick for also bringing treats. That's definitely one thing we're never short on. Haha.

I liked everyone's stories and poems. I like how I've been able to get to know your writing styles and start to get into your stories. I definitely look forward to reading more from everyone. Keep up the good work!

Next week we'll meet at my house at 7, like usual. Until then, happy writing! And don't let school weigh you down too much ;)

Meeting #7 - 09/02/09

At last week's meeting, we wrote a storm through our characters' senses with attention to imagery and even personification of the storm itself. I think it went well. I'd like to do more of these description exercises in the future.

Then we read what people brought. I had some scenes from Orphan Wars, Rachel had some from The Legend of Mura, Amber had one from her new superhero/vampires story, and Barbara had one about a French girl and her mother. Good work all around, everybody. I'm glad to see everyone's been productive and kept up with writing, even with school going on.

Next week (err... tomorrow) we'll be meeting at Rachel V's house. I'll get directions out to everyone through email. Sorry again for the late notice! I'll try to stay more on top of this stuff. I think we'll have some special celebratory writing exercises for 09/09/09. Fun times, for sure. Bug people to come! We need members!

Also this week, I talked with Ms. Parrish (you know, from T-ville) and she gave me some suggestions for what we can do in our writing group. One of the things she suggested was reading books on writing, such as Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. With my track record with books, I might struggle with something like that, but maybe having a book club aspect to our group will help me. She also suggested we do writing exercises like going to a public place and listening in on conversations to get a better grip on realistic dialogue. This is something we could do on a TRAX venture, probably. Another thing she mentioned was giving out writing assignments for during the week, like using a certain fab vocab word realistically in a scene, or having a focus on dialogue, or whatever. Good ideas, all.

For now, though, come to the meeting tomorrow, and we'll have some fun with the number 9. See you there!

Meeting #4 - 08/12/09

At last Wednesday's meeting, we opened up with a writing exercise where we each wrote down three basic characters (milkman, action hero, ninja), three character traits (depressed, short) and two settings (medieval castle, grocery store) on little slips of paper. Then we each drew two characters and two traits, matching them up, and drew a setting. We used the characters we had picked in that setting to create a scene. It was fun, and I think I'd like to try it again with a few variations, like adding an object, weather conditions, etc.

Then we read the second part of Barbara's story, which she also posted here. Amber brought Kismet, and Rachel brought the opening scene from her Mura project. Looking good, everybody.

After that, we pretty much just watched Youtube videos. Thanks to Amber and Jo for some delicious brownies and rice-crispies-with-butterscotch-and-chocolate things.

Next week, the meeting will once again be at my house. I will have a presentation of my book ready, and I also want to do some free writing time after the meeting, for those who are interested. We can also talk about everyone's college plans (if applicable) and whether or not we'll have to reschedule our meetings. Hope to see you all there! Keep bugging people and get them to come! :)

Meeting #3 - 08/06/09

Tonight, we started off with a fun writing exercise where we each write a line of a story and then fold over the line written before ours. Essentially, each person only gets the previous line to base theirs off of. I'll be posting some of the best stories soon!

We talked about creating a lit mag-esque book by the end of the year featuring a few pages from each of us. Everyone seemed pretty interested, so I think we'll go ahead and do it. We also talked about setting a goal for ourselves and publishing it on the blog, so everyone else can help keep us on track. (You can add your goal and check up on everyone else here).

After that, we read a few stories and poems that people brought and talked about them. Although I hope the blog sees more activity soon, I do actually like having the paper copies to read. So if anyone wants to keep bringing those, feel free.

Finally, we watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Thanks to Jo for bringing it!

Now, to some other business. As we get more content on the blog, I'll be making some changes to the format. For now, it would be great if you could add your name as a label on the pieces you publish. That way I can create a handy link on the sidebar to all of your pieces. If you forget or whatever, no worries. I can do it for you too.

Also, Rachel and I were talking after the meeting and we thought it might be great if we all got better acquainted with the various projects we're working on. That way, we'd all have the big picture in mind when we share pieces of our stories or poetry collections or whatever. So I think starting next week, we'll have someone present their current project each week, pass out excerpts, have some Q+A, etc. If anyone wants to go first, post a comment or send me an email. If no one else wants to go, Rachel and/or I will probably have stuff ready. And obviously if you don't have a big project, then this doesn't apply. Maybe we can even convince you to start one? It's great fun.

I also think we should have some open writing time at the end of each meeting. I know I love going to the library to write because it frees me from the distractions I have around my house, so this could be similar. Plus if we're all together, we'll be able to get help with finishing an awkward sentence or finding the perfect word. We'll put this at the end so those who don't have anything to work on won't miss anything important if they want to leave.

Thanks to everyone who came tonight for making it a success. And for those who didn't come, I hope we see you next time. Our meeting next week will be at Jo's house, and I'll get an email sent out with the address and directions. See you there!

Meeting #2 - 07/30/09

Tonight, we did a little writing exercise dealing with character creation, and spent some time reading each other's pieces and discussing them.

In the future, I think it might be better if everyone posted copies of whatever they want to be discussed/critiqued here, in the blog, and then we can talk about the submissions at the meeting. That would save a lot of time, especially if the group starts getting bigger. Any of you can post something, whenever you want to, and we'll discuss it fully at the next meeting as well as in the comments here at the blog. If you don't have regular access to the internet, I'd be okay with making exceptions. If you'd like more feedback on the pieces you brought tonight, you can post them here and we can leave comments on it.

(If anyone is having trouble accepting authorship of the blog, let me know and I'll try to work it out somehow. There should be an email from Blogger inviting you to contribute to the blog.)

Next week, I think we'll do a few more writing exercises, only I'll try to come up with better ones and be more organized about it. If you have any ideas for writing exercises, whether it be fiction or poetry or any other form of writing, feel free to share them with us. Word or creativity games are always fun, too. Maybe we'll do something where one person starts a story and the next person adds the next line, and so on?

The newspaper article about getting published that Nick brought can be found here, and some sidebar info is here. Thanks, Nick!

Meeting #1 - 07/22/09

At our first official meeting, we went over some basic info like when and where to have meetings (for now, it's at my house on Wednesdays at 7 pm), what we wanted to cover in our meetings, and contact info. I sent out an email to those who listed their info on the page--if you didn't get one, let me know.

This week, we'll be meeting again on Wednesday at 7 pm. Bring two or three copies of a short piece you'd like feedback on, or just one copy if you feel like reading out loud. We might also do an impromptu writing exercise to get warmed up. It is a writing group, after all. So bring a notebook and a writing utensil as well.

Thanks to everyone who came last week for making it a success! I was glad to see the good turnout and I hope we can keep it going strong! See you guys!