Writers2Writers

2012-01-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

We made it to the new year.
Monday is our first meeting of the year and the speaker will be:
Darynda Jones:
Seducing the Reader: How to Nail Your Opening

While we all want to grab our readers by the throat and never let go, perhaps extreme force that invites a criminal investigation is not the way to go. Darynda will discuss beginnings. What goes into them. What does not. And how to seduce your reader into turning the next page.

Here's the list for the rest of the year so far. If your name is on the list would you be so kinds as to e-mail me a topic around two weeks before your presentation so it will be included in the announcement sent to all the members.

February, Kirk Hickman

March, Fred Aiken

April, Dodici Azpadu: Poetry Month

May, Linda with Siren Audio Studios

June, Ed Isenberg

July, Dr. Irene Blea: Finding your target audience.

August, Patrick Prescott: A reader's pet peeves.

September, Joanne Bodin: "The Writer's Journey: From Inception to Completion,"

October, Dave Corwell

November, open

December, No Meeting

Booked Up

2011-07-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

After my call for help there were many responses and I now how a tentative schedule of speakers as follows:

August 8, Sarah Storme
September 12, Sandy Bazinet
October 10, Gerdean O'Dell
November, Jonathan Miller
December - No meeting
2012
January, Darynda Jones
February, Kirk Hickman
March, Fred Aiken
April, Dodici Azpadu
May, Linda with Siren Audio Studios
June, Ed Isenberg
July, open
August, open
September, open
October, Dave Corwell
November, open

July Meeting

2011-07-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

Dave Corwell will be hosting W2W Monday. It should be a wonderful presentation, sorry I won't be able to make it.

Writing About New Mexico

Four New Mexico authors - and W2W members, Irene Blea, David J. Corwell (y Chavez), Sabra Brown Steinsiek, and Lela Belle Wolfert discuss what it means to write about New Mexico and share their contributions to Voices of New Mexico, an anthology of essays, poems, and stories that commemorate our state's centennial in 2012. There will also be a short session at the end to answer all of your Southwestern writing-related questions.

Irene Blea is a native New Mexican, has a Ph.D. in sociology, and retired from writing university textbooks on race and gender relations to tell stories of New Mexico. Her first novel is titled Suzanna and is about the tradition of marrying girls to older men and how they adjusted, or did not adjust, to such marriages. An Albuquerque native, David J. Corwell y Chavez writes fantasy stories, mostly with Southwestern themes. His latest short fiction appears in Dia de los Muertos ("Susto," a Day of the Dead tale of La Llorona) and Tales of the Talisman magazine ("Conqueror of Shadows," a coming of age story with Apache and supernatural elements). Sabra Brown Steinsiek was born and raised in Carlsbad and now resides in Albuquerque. She is the author of four romance novels, two of them New Mexico Book Award winners, a book of haiku poetry, and the 2010 New Mexico Book Award children's book winner, Tale of the Pronghorned Cantaloupe. Lela Belle Wolfert is an award-winning artist, poet, storyteller, and writer living in Albuquerque. Her published works include a romantic suspense novel (Deception and Desire), and two books of poetry (Whispers on the Wind and Wishes in the Wind).

Monday July 11 at 6:30-7:30. Hastings at Coors and Montano.

Patrick Prescott

pmprescottenterprises.com

June Meeting

2011-05-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

This month our speaker will be Kathryn Peralta. She will be presenting on how writing about family history influences our understanding of local and cultural history. Her focus will be on New Mexico history, but the applications work the same for general history and geneological research.
Ms. Peralta has a graduate degree in education, a law degree, and is a former treasurer of Southwest Writers.

Special thanks to Dr. Irene Blea for recommending Kathryn be our speaker.

May Meeting

2011-05-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout at last night's meeting. To demonstrate how easy it is to publish I published at short story on Smashwords.com. The story is named Car Hop and it is still in the downloading phase. It sometimes takes 2 or 3 days before it's available. At Smashwords I set the price at 0.00 so anyone can read it. Today when I published at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles they won't let you price it under .99, which is what I did. The story will be ready by tomorrow or Thursday.

May Meeting

2011-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm finally able to post again.

Lela Belle gave a wonderful presentation on poetry last month. I've e-mailed an attachment of the compiled poetry written by all those who attended. We all had a good time.

This month Patrick Prescott will be presenting:

Get this:

By the end of this year, almost half of all book buyers will own an Amazon Kindle, a Barnes and Noble Nook, Borders Kono or an Apple iPad: 43 pct or better.

Already, 33 pct of all book buyers read print books AND e-books.

Another 26 pct read print books only today, but expect to start reading e-books soon.

Only 1 pct read e-books only.

Fiction is much more popular in e-books than nonfiction: a whopping 79 pct vs 21 pct.

And here's the kicker: Amazon customers who have a Kindle spend 3 x more on buying books than they did before they had the Kindle. This gives everyone joy!

These data come from Publishers Weekly, who are reporting on the latest book audience research done by the Codex Group.

The meeting this month will be about how easy it is to get published on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and get 30 to 70% royalties. The good part here is that you set your own price! If you are as frustrated as I am about the high cost of self-published or Print on demand books and the pittance received in royalties, not to mention the rat race of traditional publishing, then join me this Monday May 9th, at the Hastings on Coors and Montano at 6:30pm as I explain how simple and easy it is to get your work published today.

A happy Mother's day to all this Sunday.

Patrick Prescott

Author of:
Optimus: Praetorian Guard

Human Sacrifices

Short Stories: Bona Dea, Woman on the Beach, Wife Quest

Flash Fiction: Flash Stories Married Love, Flash Stories Erotica, Erotic Flash Stories 3.

Last Monday's Meeting

2011-03-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout for Dave's presentation. A goodly discussion ensued.
I've placed a widgit on the blog if you want to befriend me and we can communicate through facebook. I told the group to look me up on facebook, little did I know there were that many out there with the same name. Sorry about that.

Lela Belle Wolford will be our speaker for Poetry month April 11th. Looking forward to seeing as many as possible that night.

March Meeting

2011-03-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

This month's meeting David Corwell will be speaking.

Writing and Marketing Short Fiction

Short stories are a great way to hone your fictional craft and to break into publishing. And despite some naysayers, there are still plenty of viable publications looking for short works.
Bring all your questions about writing short prose for an interactive presentation that touches upon every aspect of writing and marketing short fiction.

David J. Corwell y Chavez's upcoming stories ("Gremma's Hands" and "Dead Man Breathing") will be published in Voices of New Mexico (April 2011) and Ghostology: Hauntings From the Library (late 2011), respectively. His other short fiction appears in Dia de los Muertos, Daily Flash: 365 Days of Flash Fiction, Tales of the Talisman magazine, and Cloaked in Shadow: Dark Tales of Elves. He is a 2001 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, a 2005 graduate of the Borderlands Press Writer's Boot Camp, and a 2006 graduate of Seton Hill University with a M. A. in Writing Popular Fiction.

February Meeting

2011-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Our speaker for the next meeting will be:

Ed Isenberg's biography (abbreviated)

Edward D. Isenberg spent the 1970's in his first career: professional journalist. Working in radio, print and network-television-affiliate news departments, his responsibilities ranged from general reporter to News Director and News Editor. His specialty, investigative reporting, resulted in his breaking a national new story that was then-CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite's choice as that day's top news story in the world. In 1980 he was given the University of Arkansas award as top broadcast journalist in that state, then a media market 50% larger than New Mexico. That same year he retired from journalism in order to end the constant travel and low pay that continues to plague professional journalists.

For the next ten years he worked in the computer industry, focusing on Marketing management. His last position, before he became disabled, was Director of Marketing Support at the second largest software-only company in the world, Oracle, at the time a $1 billion in sales. Other positions he has held include Vice President of Marketing and Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Integral to his work was non-fiction writing and public speaking.

As a result of his lifetime of professional work requiring fast and directed research into technical, cultural, political and other realms, Mr. Isenberg developed a specific program to help those in the fields of journalism, marketing, creative writing, and public speaking. This program is called “B. L. T. Research,” standing for Research that is Targeted, Limited in time, with “Bulletproof“ accuracy. Over the course of his adult lifetime he has mentored approximately a thousand people in these techniques.

Currently, Mr. Isenberg is close to finishing his first novel, Federation of Peoples: The Guardians.

His topic will be:

"The News Media: Biased Liberal, Conservative, or Something Else"

I would still talk about those different times, but in the context of whether the news media have a particular bias, and whether the bias changes frequently or not at all.

My talk may surprise many people from different political persuasions who have always considered the news media their friend, enemy, or just bought-and-paid-for.

I will also play one segment of an investigative TV News series, and I will explain why I quit journalism and any regrets I have later had about that decision.

This sounds like an exciting topic see everyone there.

Tonight's Meeting

2011-01-10T19:57:00.001-08:00

We had a spectacular meeting tonight. Those who had traded work were able to give advice and those who hadn't been her added their work to the discussion and a good time was had by all. Much good advice was given.

The next two months speakers are lined up, so get them set on your calendar now.

February 14:
(yes Valentine's Day) our speaker will be Ed Isenberg.
His topic will be on Journalism and shifting gears to writing fiction.

March 14:
Dave Corwell will speak about short story writing.

April 11: Poetry month
still open

January Meeting

2011-01-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

It's that time again. Monday Jan 10 will be our first meeting of the new year. Those that exchanged pages in Nov. will most likely be eager to discuss them with the other authors. If you weren't here, no problem bring three pages of your work and you can read them to the group for comment. It should be fun and lively hour.

January 10,2011
Hastings at Coors and Montano
6:30 to 7:30pm

Year's End

2010-11-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

The November meeting was well attended and enlightening. Rhiani's books with her original symbols for contemplation made quite an impact on all those there. For those interested there is a link in the previous month's post.
Those that brought the first three pages of their current story and traded, please be sure to read, leave comments and attend our first meeting of 2011 on January 10. We'll have a round table where everyone can share. If you did not bring pages of your work last month, bring what you're currently working on (limit it to 3 pages). There will be time for you to share as well.

It has been a pleasure to coordinate this past years meetings. Anyone interested in being a speaker for next year leave a comment and I'll get in contact with you for topic and date.

Writer's 2 writers meets the second Monday of every month except December at the Hasting's at Coors and Montano from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

Patrick Prescott
Author of: Optimus Praetorian Guard

November Meeting

2010-11-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Hard to imagine that our last meeting of the year is upon us.

Be sure to have a few copies of the first three pages of your current work for trade this coming Monday at the Hastings on Coors and Montano 6:30pm to 7:30. Remember that our first meeting in January is when we will peer critique.

Our topic this month is:

Writing from the Heart in the New Age

Rheanni Lightwater will join Writers to Writers on November 8th where she will talk about the challenges and rewards of writing for the New Age audience.

Ms. Lightwater has developed developed a unique understanding of the human energy field as a result of studying the esoteric healing practices of Tibet, Japan, Hawaii and Peru. During a visit to the Amazon in 2001, she participated in numerous ceremonies with the Shipibo shamans. Her experiences there gave birth to the Intuitive Learning Circles, which she has has successfully used to teach a wide range of artists, writers, healers and educators to develop their own intuitive abilities. Gifts from the Rainforest, Reiki Chakra Keys and Soul Oriented Solutions are several of the main collections in the series and each have been honored in the past three years by the New Mexico Books Awards in the New Age Category.

Sincerely,

Rheanni Lightwater
Soul Resources

Activate the Genius Within
http://IntuitiveLearningCircle.com/bookstore/
(505) 271-4612

An enjoyable evening.

2010-09-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a good crowd to hear Sarah Storme. At first we thought we could just sit around the tables, but then more brave souls made it through the horrible traffic mess. She did an excellet job of covering a very touchy topic in a public venue tastefully and tactfully. After the presentation some of those present asked her to conduct a workshop on the topic where the full range of the topic could be discussed. She's thinking about it with a possible date in March or April of next year. When I know something I'll pass it along to the group.

Don't forget about:

October 11, Rick Reichman:

Making the Scene--knowing the seven elements of each scene and how and when to use them.

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

September Meeting

2010-09-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Come one come all to the Hastings on Coors and Montano this very Monday September 13th to hear:

September 13, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

Want to know the difference between erotic romance and erotica? Struggling to write that hot scene in your story? Sarah Storme, author of spicy romance, who also writes mysteries as S. H. Baker and erotica for Kensington and Harlequin as Lydia Parks, will talk about how to make those sexy scenes both memorable and effective, and what to avoid. She'll also talk about the different fiction genres and what's appropriate, so stop by and ask questions. It's a meeting that's guaranteed to be fun!

Everyone is sure to leave with a smile.

August Meeting

2010-08-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

We had a spectacular meeting with Dr. Irene Blea tonight. Good turn out and interesting conversation.
It looks like it's best to stay at the Hasting's location. There isn't another one that fits our needs right now.

There's only three more meetings this year don't miss any of them.

September 13, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

October 11, Rick Reichman:

Making the Scene--knowing the seven elements of each scene and how and when to use them.

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

Remaining Schedule

2010-07-16T19:53:00.001-07:00

August 9, Dr. Irene Blea:

Writing to Cross-over Markets

Dr. Irene Blea will reveal how she structures her writing to cross over into Feminist, Hispanic, Native American and mainstream markets. Elements of code switching, the role of time and place will also be focused upon. Examples will be drawn from previously published books, articles, and her first novel, Suzanna, about the northern New Mexico tradition of marrying young girls to older men.

September 7, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

October 11, Rick Reichman:

Making the Scene--knowing the seven elements of each scene and how and when to use them.

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

Looking

2010-07-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've sent out e-mails concerning the group changing our venue. Many people have replied with excellent suggestions. I've checked out and spoken to the Taylor Ranch Library, but the only place for us to meet is in the children's section and when school starts it's usually very busy. The Rio Rancho library is too far for me to travel and I've had other speakers let me know that an extra eleven miles would be too far for them as well.
As much as I would like to stay on the West side a few have mentioned moving somewhere in the North Valley. I'm currently looking into a location there and will post if it works out.
The churches I've contacted aren't interested in allowing us to use their facilities because we're not a non-profit trying to save lives. Most other places want to charge a fee and that means charging dues.
Another two possibilities would be the Borders or Barnes and Noble by Cottonwood mall. I've held off contacting them until all other possibilities are exhausted because trying to get to them in rush hour traffic is daunting. The only book store at Paseo and Coors is a Christian book store and they would want to limit the topics presented.
If there are any other suggestions please either comment here or send an e-mail.

July's Meeting

2010-07-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

I want to thank Melody Grove for speaking last night at our July meeting. She gave a very informative presentation on how to create and sustain a series of books. We had a fine turn out and I wish to thank all those who attended. Remember: Plan, keep track of your characters, and publishers love sequels, trilogies and series because it gives them a ready audience.

Dr. Irene Blea will be speaking at our August meeting so mark your calendar for the 9th and plan to attend.

One problem seems to have come up at the last few meetings. Hastings has started having a happy hour from 6-8pm and this has led to some cramped quarters from their other customers not wanting to let us set up. There is the added noise that comes with more orders for drinks that require loud machines. This is very good news for Hastings and I wish them all the best in bringing in more customers, but I want to open up to the membership here thoughts on a new venue for our meetings that might be more 1. accommodating, 2. On the West side of town, and 3. Free. I've racked my brain and have drawn a blank. Even if we don't want to move from Hastings, and we've been meeting there for eleven years, if customers start complaining there is the possibility they may ask us to leave.

If anyone has suggestions feel free to reply back to me or offer it at the meeting on August 9.

All Went Well

2010-06-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our meeting last Monday went well. The topic generated many questions and discussion. I am grateful for all those who showed up and contributed to the meeting.

July 12, Melody Grove: Writing a Series

Writing a series has its rewards--you know the characters, the setting, where the overall arc of their stories is going. The down side--how much do you reveal about their past adventures? Or their future adventures? And in previous books you revealed your characters' quirks. Are there any left? How to handle such things is an on-going concern for series writers. Some tips and suggestions will be discussed.
August 9, Dr. Irene Blea:

Writing to Cross-over Markets

Dr. Irene Blea will reveal how she structures her writing to cross over into Feminist, Hispanic, Native American and mainstream markets. Elements of code switching, the role of time and place will also be focused upon. Examples will be drawn from previously published books, articles, and her first novel, Suzanna, about the northern New Mexico tradition of marrying young girls to older men.

September 7, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"
October 11, Rick Reichman:

Making the Scene--knowing the seven elements of each scene and how and when to use them.

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

Sad News

2010-06-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Dr. Blea's brother passed away and his funeral is Monday. We wish her our sincerest condolences on her loss.
I am open to any member wishing to present on Monday to contact me and I'll let everyone else know. This is short notice, therefore I am willing to present on the topic: Fact Checking it's just as important for fiction as non-fiction.

Rick Reichman will be out of town in August and has resheduled his presentation to October. If anyone is interested in presenting then please let me know for this date as well.

Never fear, the meeting will go on as scheduled.

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea (Canceled)
Patrick Prescott: Fact Checking it's just as important for fiction as non-fiction. Or if anyone volunteers at this short notice.
July 12, Melody Grove:
Ins and outs of writing a series.
Writing a series has its rewards--you know the characters, the setting, where the overall arc of their stories is going. The down side--how much do you reveal about their past adventures? Or their future adventures? And in previous books you revealed your characters' quirks. Are there any left? How to handle such things is an on-going concern for series writers. Some tips and suggestions will be discussed.

August 9, Open
September 7, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

October 11, Rick Reichman: Screen Writing:
Making the Scene--knowing the seven elements of each scene and how and when to use them.
November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

June Meeting

2010-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Our next meeting will be June 14th.

Writing for a Cross-over Market

Dr. Irene Blea blended her love of stories, visiting and research to write Suzanna, the story of a twelve year old girl in an arranged marriage to a thirty-nine year old man in 1920s New Mexico. Join her as she discusses how she integrated historical and sociological research conducted at libraries, historical societies, research centers, archives, and villages in order to write her novel and gain new markets. Blea will review and give examples of her publishing past and how she converted her experience to literature. Dr. Blea is also a lecturer and Chautauquean for the New Mexico Humanities Council.

Looking forward to the presentation, hope you are too. See you then.

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea: Crossover publishing
July 12, Melody Grove: topic to be determined
August 9, Rick Reichman: topic to be determined
September 7, Sarah Storme:"Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"
October 11, Open again
November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

May's Meeting

2010-05-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

I want to apologize to Dodoci for the mistake of using the wrong pronoun in the email I sent out notifying everyone about the meeting. SHE gave an excellent presentation on Auto fiction last Monday night. The questions kept coming until almost 8:00.

Recap:

Dodoci mentioned numerous definitions of auto fiction. My understanding is this is putting yourself or events and people you know into your story. This can be embarrassing or upsetting to those who know you or of the event, but the when its all boiled down the story has to stand on its own. The farther removed from those close to you and the less the reader knows of the author the story has to stay interesting.

SHE read numerous passages from her work and others to explain her points and they were very interesting.

Looking forward to Irene Blea's presentation in June.

May Meeting

2010-05-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

The next meeting of Writers 2 Writers is this Monday May 10, 2010 at the Hastings at Coors and Montano 6:30 to 7:30pm Dodoci Azpadu will be speaking about Auto Fiction. Hope to see all of you there.

Schedule Update

2010-04-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

Dodoci Azpadu has graciously agreed to move up her speaking date to fill in the spot vacated by Mark David. I thank her very much for doing this. I'm curious as to what she means by "Auto-fiction" and if you are too, be sure to come and find out.

May 10, Dodoci Azpadu:"Auto-fiction: what it is and what it's not."

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea: Crossover publishing

July 12, Melody Grove: topic to be determined

August 9, Rick Reichman: topic to be determined

September 7, Sarah Storme: "Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

October 11, Open again

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

May Meeting

2010-04-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Mark David was scheduled to speak in May but he is unable to keep this meeting. I'll post who the speaker will be as soon as I've found one. Any volunteers?

Poetry Meeting

2010-04-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful meeting tonight. Karen Bradbury had some interesting poems and let all there make comments on their analysis and we ended with all writing a poem and sharing. It was fun and very enlightening.

Next month our meeting will be on May 10. Mark David will present on adapting your book to a screenplay.

April Meeting

2010-04-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

This Monday at 6:30 to 7:30pm is our next meeting. It's going to be on poetry with Karen Badbury. She'll speak for a bit and then have some hands on plans for all of us to share. Sounds like fun. Come one, come all for a wonderful hour of poetry.

Don't forget we meet at the Hastings located on Coors and Montano.

Schedule

2010-03-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the schedule as it now stands:

April 12, Poetry month, Karin Bradberry

May 10, Mark David: Adapting book to screenplay,

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea: Crossover publishing

July 12, Melody Grove: topic to be determined

August 9, Rick Reichman: topic to be determined

September 7, Sarah Storme: "Adding the Hot Sauce to Your Writing (writing erotica and spicy scenes)"

October 11, Dodoci Azpadu:"Auto-fiction: what it is and what it's not."

November 8, Rhiani Lightwater? "New Age"

Nice Round Table Discussion

2010-03-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

I humbly ask all members of W2W to have patience with me while I work on the learning curve. Dave had it going so smoothly we are a little spoiled.

I take full responsibility in the lack of communication that left us without a speaker. Still making the best of it we had a nice round table discussion with all who attended and much was discussed and learned on the writing craft. I wish to thank all those present for their insight and patience. From now on I'll make a point of 1. sending out e-mails a little earlier and 2. talking with the presenter the week before the meeting to make sure we're on the same page. I would ask that all future presenters let me have their phone numbers so contact can be made.

Today I received this e-mail:

Patrick, I’m very sorry I wasn’t there this evening, but nobody contacted me with info about this. I do not drive, and would need to figure out how to get from near ABQ Uptown to the west side. The bus system doesn’t do any good at night, and I haven’t heard from anyone about this.

I’d love to really talk, but have had no emails with any confirmation. As my husband travels most of the time, I need directions so I can beg a ride. (I don’t hitch anymore; that was a college thing, and never alone.)

Sorry again; I would love to have been there, and will reschedule. I am waiting on a date for shoulder surgery, so am making no commitments. Also, our cable has been a mess, so I haven’t always gotten everything sent to me. We finally have that sorted so that there will be no more glitches.

My humblest apologies. Hope people had a good visit.

Kathy Claus

Kathy I apologize for the lack of communication.

March Meeting

2010-03-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

Monday will be our March meeting with Kathy Claus presenting on the Art of Oral Storytelling.

This has become an almost extinct artform. One well worth reviving. Come and listen to the lovely lady.

Hasting at Coors and Montano from 6:30 to 7:30 in the evening. Open to the public.

Feb. Meeting

2010-02-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight Sandy Toro and her husband Jose had an interesting and very informational talk concerning being literary agents. There was a lengthy question and answer time as well.

A quick summation:

Sandy is pretty open to all literary and non-fiction submissions except children's, young adult, science fiction, and horror. She defers to Jose on history, espionage, and murder mysteries.
She wants all work to have these three elements: internal conflict, external conflict, environmental conflict. The last was explained that the background should be a hurricane, earthquake, revolution...
Submissions for fiction should be a synopsis and the first 30 pages of a completed story. She's a stickler for proper punctuation and grammar in a proper manuscript format. She requested that they be sent using Microsoft Word. So invest in or pull out your college grammar book, a style book and the big yellow book sold at SWW on manuscript formats.
Submissions for non-fiction need to have the first 50 pages and a chapter outline for the entire book, with a paragraph for each chapter.
Sandy can only properly handle around 20 contracted authors at a time. This means she is going to have a very high standard.
Although I mentioned she'd be setting up appointments, that was presumptuous on my part and I apologize. She doesn't like pitches, she wants to see the written work. E-mail submissions are the best. Her e-mail will not be posted here without her permission and I forgot to ask for it after the meeting. However it is posted on the SWW site.

The sincerest appreciation from all the members of W2W for her presentation.

The e-mail site for the mailing list is tiglathpilezerx@yahoo.com should anyone wish to contact the coordinator

Next Speaker Sandy Toro

2010-02-05T15:28:00.001-08:00

Monday is our next meeting of Writers2Writers. Sandy Toro will be speaking about what agents need from writers for a successful submission. She'll also be setting up appointments. So if you're looking for an agent don't miss this opportunity. Even if you're not don't miss it.

Remember it's at the Hastings on Coors and Montano from 6:30 to 7:30pm.

FYI, these are the topics from last year's speakers. W2W welcomes all topics concernig the craft of writing, but would like to put a year or two between certain ones so our meetings don't become too repititious.

Publishing A-Z
Writing as therapy
Writing in the "opposite voice"
What are little poems made of?
Hook 'em fast
Seven ways to use writer's journal
Shaping your subject in a biographical play
Character
Defeating writer's block
Realistic dialogue
Historians vs. History writers

Update

2010-01-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of switching the mailing list over to another account as live.com will not let me send even a reply to an e-mail. @#$#@#$@#$@#$!#$!

Fanastic Meeting

2010-01-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

The turnout was exceptional and everyone who wished got to share what they're planning on doing this year. I'll have speakers for the microphone next month, but for the type of meeting we held it wasn't needed that much.
I'm e-mailing slowly the members on the list since the e-mail account will only let me send ten at a time until the powers that be let me do more. This is also letting me purge from the roll anyone who doesn't wish to be contacted or no longer has an account.

Speakers Schedule

February 8, Sandra Toro: What agents need from writers. Set up appointments with her.

March 8, Kathy Claus: the art of oral story telling.

April 12, Poetry month, Karin Bradberry

May 10, Mark David: Adapting book to screenplay,

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea: Crossover publishing

July 12, Melody Grove: topic to be determined

August 9, Rick Reichman: topic to be determined

Welcome One And All

2010-01-02T12:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome one and all to the West side Albuquerque Writers 2 Writers blog.

We meet at the Hastings at Coors and Montano on the second Monday of every month (except December) from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

Here is the schedule of speakers so far for this year:

I wish to thank Dave for doing the e-mail for this month. I should have an e-mail set up that will let me do a mass e-mail by next month.

Writers 2 Writers

Speakers list:

2010

January 11, Moderated discussion: Meditations of the muse. Bring whatever you're working on and share with the group for comments and discussion.

February 8, Sandra Toro: What agents need from writers. Set up appointments with her.

March 8, Kathy Claus: the art of oral story telling.

April 12, Poetry month, open

May 10, Mark David: Adapting book to screenplay,

June 14, Dr. Irene Blea: Crossover publishing

July 12, Melody Grove: topic to be determined

August 9, Rick Reichman: topic to be determined