Clarksville Writers Conference

If you’re looking for a good general writers' conference in Middle Tennessee this year, the Clarksville Writers Conference, June 7-8, is the place to be.

 

Registration to this conference also gets you a meeting with a literary agent (two to choose from) while time slots are available—so register soon. Mary Ann Weakley and Karen Aldridge have registered, and we’d love for you to join us. There are some excellent speakers scheduled including Writer’s Digest’s Chuck Sambuchino and Pulitzer-winning author Alex S. Jones. And there are many hot-topic sessions to choose from: poetry, publishing (traditional, self, and e-publishing), YA and children’s, platform building, genre and literary, freelancing, truth as fiction, nonfiction, literary journal publishing, biography, social media and promotion, and so much more.

This is Clarksville's 8th annual writers conference. Here is some interesting information straight off the conference website about the literary connection to Clarksville:

Clarksville, Tennessee was a pivotal center of the Southern Renaissance of the 1920's and 30's. Writers of the era living in Clarksville included: Robert Penn Warren, Evelyn Scott, Caroline Gordon, Allen Tate. Additional writers, Cleanth Brooks, Ford Maddox Ford, Donald Davidson, Katherine Ann Porter, Robert Lowell, Andrew Lytle, Malcolm Cowley, Frances and Brainard Cheney and others gathered to write and discuss their work at "Benfolly," Tate's home overlooking the banks of the Cumberland River. Their Clarksville home became a Mecca for writers of the Southern Renaissance and from that site poured literature that enriched the American Scene.

In that great tradition, we offer you the 2012 Clarksville Writers Conference.

Clarksville Writers Conference: www.artsandheritage.us/writers/index

Let me know if you register. I'd love to see you there.

Post and prompt by: Karen Aldridge - www.mywritingloft.blogspot.com

Personification Prompt

(This prompt was given at our creative writing session on April 19, 2012.)

Writing from the Object’s Point of View

Choose one of the following objects or come up with your own object, and write a story from the object’s point of view.

• An inflated balance ball in a busy gym’s group-fitness class

• A ball of yarn being chased by a cat

• A race car at NASCAR currently in last place

• A well-worn pole on the stage of a New Orleans strip club

• The most often checked-out book at the local library

• A bloody pickax that has no idea how it got bloody

• A ball in play at the World Series

• A red crayon on the art table at a full daycare

• The full scalp belt of a Native American returning to his tribe

• The scarred boots of a soldier who fought in Vietnam

• A pitcher of peach margaritas at a southern belle’s bachelorette party

• A tracking device on the back of a free Bald Eagle looking for a mate

• A fly swatter trying to swat a fast and clever fly

• A beaded necklace worn by a jilted lover (the necklace made by the lover who did the jilting)

• A writer’s keyboard

Post and prompt by: Karen Aldridge - www.mywritingloft.blogspot.com

Night of Learning - March 2012

Join us at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, in the Excel building at Rippavilla for our first 2012 Night of Learning.

NIGHT OF LEARNING

The Fundamentals of Fiction:
How to Write with Style, Edit with Grace, and Publish with Pride

Video by: William Bernhardt

This video contains a series of fiction-writing lessons. We will be watching the introduction, which includes a "Ten Wrongs Don't Make a Writer" set, along with sections on plotting and polishing. Click on the title above to read more about the video.

Popcorn, movie candy, and soft drinks will be provided.

If you are a nonfiction writer, this video will appeal to you as well. Fiction and nonfiction writers alike should be plotting and polishing. Come out and join us. You do not have to be a member to attend any LWC events or meetings.

Special thanks to LWC education coordinator, Cece Dockins, for putting together this fantastic Night of Learning.

Post by: Karen Aldridge - www.mywritingloft.blogspot.com

2012 Meeting Dates

We meet in the Excel building (white building with red roof behind the main house) at Rippavilla Plantation - click here for directions, and all of our meetings are scheduled at 7:00 p.m. Our Critique Sessions are the first Thursday of every month. Our Creative Writing Sessions are the third Thursday of every month. And our Night of Learning is scheduled in months with a fifth Thursday.

Here is a list of our of 2012 meeting dates (check back often as new dates are added for special events):

Jan. 5 - Critique Session
Jan. 19 - Creative Writing Session
Feb. 2 - Critique Session
Feb. 16 - Creative Writing Session
Mar. 1 - Critique Session
Mar. 15 - Creative Writing Session
Mar. 29 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning
Apr. 5 - Critique Session
Apr. 19 - Creative Writing Session
May 3 - Critique Session
May 17 - Creative Writing Session
May 31 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning
June 7 - Critique Session
June 21 - Creative Writing Session
July 5 - Critique Session
July 19 - Creative Writing Session
Aug. 2 - Critique Session
Aug. 16 - Creative Writing Session
Aug. 30 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning
Sept. 6 - Critique Session
Sept. 20 - Creative Writing Session
Oct. 4 - Critique Session
Oct. 18 - Creative Writing Session
Nov. 1 - Critique Session
Nov. 3 - Fall Feast - 6:00 p.m. (date subject to change)
Nov. 15 - Creative Writing Session
Nov. 29 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning (may cancel)
Dec. 6 - Critique Session
Dec. 20 - Creative Writing Session

If you are not on our e-mail list, e-mail us at livingwriterscollective@yahoo.com to receive meeting reminders, meeting changes, and newsletters.

New Year, New Writing You

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season, whether you have celebrated your holiday already or your holiday celebration is still to come. I hope in the midst of all the holiday craziness and excitement, you are taking the time to observe the people and the world around you and mining gems from this season that will enhance your writing.

Welcome a visit from the ghost of your writing past, the ghost of your writing present, and the ghost of your writing future. What would each of these ghosts show you? Where are you in your writing journey? Where do you want to be? If you are serious about writing, why not make 2012 your year?

I hope as you are preparing your writing goals for the new year, you include some achievable and challenging projects. Maybe you need to master grammar and style. Maybe you need to look for markets to submit that series of short stories to. Maybe you need to sign up for that writing program you’ve been putting off. Maybe you need to finish that novel you’ve been working on. Maybe you need to write that screenplay that’s been burning a hole in your brain. Maybe you need to find a writing partner to share the workload and keep you accountable. Maybe you need to sell something—an article, a short story, a devotional, a novel, a screenplay, a poem . . .

As for LWC, we’ve had a great 2011. We’ve focused a lot on inspiration, education, and motivation this year:

• Bestselling author Lisa Patton spoke to us last spring (during the very successful community event LWC hosted at the library) about having hope in the world of writing. Her sweet spirit and encouragement ignited something inside me, and I’ve been in a writing frenzy ever since—completing not only a screenplay with my writing partner, but also completing my first novel (and with three prior novels only half-written, I didn’t have a very good track record).

• The LWC committee proactively addressed the need for an education focus and named Cece Dockins our education coordinator.

• Education surveys were distributed to all members, and most of our education planning in 2011 was structured around your responses.

• Our 5th Thursday Night of Learning sessions have included: How to give and receive critique. An introduction to screenplay writing and how to write with a partner. Generating ideas. How to self edit. Writing a book proposal. Formatting and submitting. And point of view—beginning to advanced.

• The 2nd annual Fall Feast was a huge success! See the header of our blog to view a collage of 2011 Fall Feast pics.

• Author Leonardo Ramirez spoke to us about creating strong and amazing characters, traditional and self publishing, and juggling the writing life with family time and a full-time job.

• LWC began a project to give back to our community and to thank our host for the free use of our meeting space with our garden project at Rippavilla. Team Weed and Team Mulch have completed their parts in this project. Team Plant will follow through into the spring of 2012.

• LWC members gave generously (we raised $147) to a much-needed table fund to support our growing group.

• Critique buddies were created to provide a richer and more focused critique option (outside of our general critique sessions) for LWC writers. Critique buddies has been very successful with at least three groups currently active.

• Pre-critique was added to our general monthly critique session to provide writers with a more thorough critique option.

• Creative writing nights have focused on: Resisting the urge to edit as you write your first draft. Themes in horror. Humor in poetry. Descriptive writing. Point of view. Themes gone bad. Vocabulary building. Writing your autobiography. And choosing powerful nouns and active verbs.

• We’ve added dozens of new contacts and at least ten new attending members (much of this due to the Lisa Patton event last spring).

• We started an LWC Facebook page where LWC members can communicate. It has been very active and currently has 30 members. If you aren’t on it and want to be, let me know.

• LWC members contributed to a fun top-five series on our LWC blog.

Can you believe how much fun we’ve had and how much we’ve learned this year?

If you missed out in 2011, no worries. We have lots of great things in store for 2012, so as you are making your 2012 writing goals, be sure to include attending LWC meetings (and joining the LWC facebook group) as one of your goals. Education will continue to be a driving force for LWC. We will also spend some time focusing on marketing and submitting and will work to bring in more authors who can speak to us from their own experiences. Through our growth, we will continue to make sure LWC has that welcoming small-group feel so new visitors will feel at home.

And we will continue to focus on our mission above all else: we exist to support and encourage each other as we journey on the road to publication.

At our January 5 critique session, we will celebrate five years of LWC (and I’ll be bringing a super cool treat), so it’s a great time to start. I’ll see you all in 2012.

Wishing you lots of writing success in the new year,
Karen

LWC Presents: Leonardo Ramirez

Living Writers Collective's

Creative Writing Night

Guest Speaker: Leonardo Ramirez

Author of graphic novel Haven

TOPIC: Characterization (Interview Your Characters)

At Rippavilla Plantation in the Excel building

Thursday, November 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.

Leonardo Ramirez is a writer whose joy first comes from being a husband and a dad and enjoying life with his family. Ramirez has been writing for twenty years with his first published work released as a graphic novel titled, Haven, published by Markosia Enterprises. Ramirez is in the process of publishing his prose version of his novel titled, Haven of Dante; The Staff of Moshe, and is currently writing a children's book.

Ramirez has had appearances at GMX, where he hosted numerous panels including one with James O'Barr (creator of The Crow), Nashville Comic-Con, Outer Limits Comics, Rick's Comic City, Fairy Tales Bookstore, Southern Festival of Books, Author's Circle at the Williamson County Library. He also enjoys meeting with local high schoolers about their passion for creativity.

His work made one of the top ten best new releases for 2010 by Gelati's Scoop and has been featured on Comics About Girls...by a Girl Podcast as well as The Columbia Herald, Playstation Comics, Megacomics Weekly and many others.

Visit Ramirez's Web site at www.leonardoverse.com and his blog at www.leonardoverse.blogspot.com.

If you are not an LWC regularly attending member, please contact Karen Aldridge at 615-302-2920 by Tuesday, Nov. 15, to reserve a seat.

Fall Feast 2011

Living Writers Collective

FALL FEAST

Saturday, November 5
6:00 P.M.

Eric's House

(Directions will be sent in an e-mail closer to the date)

Bring your object muse or a mask that represents the writer in you for group pictures.

Sign up at any LWC session or e-mail Karen Aldridge