Tuesday's meeting; recs and NaNoWriMo

Sorry to have been remiss in posting! Here's what we talked about this week.

Recommendations for reading:
+ Wonderboys (Michael Chabon)
+ Riddlemaster of Hed
+ The Name of the Wind (LeGuin)
+ Bleak House (Dickens)
+ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (... am I the only one in the world who hasn't read this yet?)
+ books by Wilkie Collins
+ books by A. S. Byatt
+ The Shadow of the Wind (Sara, help me out on the author!)

We also talked about the upcoming November, which happens to be National Novel Writing Month. I quote: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

Even if you're writing a BA this year, take a stab at writing for NaNoWriMo. Remember, "the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output," so you can write whatever you want and rewrite it later. A lot of you have mentioned that it's hard to just get started, so take this as your chance to put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) and write whatever comes. You can revise it later.

To that end, it's important to start NaNoWriMo with a fresh idea. Don't bring preexisting characters or plots into it. I'll be starting with the kernel of an idea I already have, but not with the complex world I've built around another project in the works.

Having primed you, here's the prompt for this session.

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Write a scene in which a character's body, as well as his mind, is engaged in doing something. Here are some possibilities:
+ repairing something
+ playing solitaire or a game involving other players
+ doing exercises
+ painting a canvas or a wall
+ cutting down a tree
+ giving someone a haircut

Explore how various activities and settings can change what happens within a scene. For example, what happens when characters are planning their honeymoon while they are painting an apartment, or while one of them is cutting the other's hair. Pay attention to body language and choreography.

(adapted from What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter)

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Last, but not least, the next meeting will be Monday, August 25, at 7 p.m. at my apartment.

"...all writers, novice or professional, have to get our hands dirty."

So I'm in this blogging phase right now, right? And I just started my own blog, wherein I'll diligently chronicle my thoughts and actions about writing... someday soon. In the meantime, I'm still reading the blogs of writers I like. At the blog of Shannon Hale, who's a great (and successful!) YA fantasy author, there's a new post up about the point of rewriting. I especially like the following quote:

"Every writer's process is different. Ann (A.E.) Cannon pointed out that most writers either start with character then find the plot, or start with plot then find the character (and of course it's the combination of those two, character and plot, that make story). ... Whichever you are, it becomes the work of rewrite to find the other."

I found this really helpful, since I'm a last-minute writer when it comes to everything but fiction, and I usually rewrite too heavily to even consider my products drafts of the same story. Ergo I'm terrified to revise real projects I'm invested in. But fear is not the answer.

Summer WIP, II

I decree it to be time for a new post to work out scheduling for said summer meeting.

To wit:

• Kat has a standing Wednesday conflict
• I am happy to host
• Although I too have a conflict this Wednesday (that's the 23rd for the calendary types)
• And I'm not available Thursday nights either
  

I'd be up for something any day of next week that isn't Wednesday or Thursday though. ;)

Comment at your leisure. What day is good? What time is good? Who's here anyway? I assume we all have a similar 9ish-5ish work schedule? Would 7 be a good meeting time?

Summer WIP

Since a few of us will be in Chicago this summer, I thought it might be fun to hold a few meetings or just hang out and talk about writing. If you're down for that, let me know. The first meet-up probably wouldn't be until July. And just so you know, all of you will have to listen to me agonize over my B.A. at least twenty times. Hope that's okay with you.

Printers Row Book Fair -- this weekend

If you're interested in publishing, be sure to check out the Printers Row Book Fair, in the South Loop, this Saturday and Sunday. Publishers from across the Midwest will be there.

An alum hinted that this was a good chance to put resumes in the hands of your dream employers, especially smaller local presses, so keep that in mind, too! And watch your e-mail: if enough people are interested, a few of us could meet up at the fair and see what we can find.

RHINO poetry

A friend of mine works on RHINO, a poetry magazine based in Evanston, IL. They're reading submissions now through October for the '09 issue. They're looking for poems, short-shorts/flash fiction, and translations. They also have a new contest with a $10 entry fee and $300 prize.

If you guys write any of the media they accept, definitely check them out, for copies of past issues and for a shot at publication. Ain't nothing like supporting a hometown magazine before you really get famous.

www.rhinopoetry.org

BA reading tonight

There's a reading of ENGL and CRWR BAs tonight! For all those of you interested in writing BAs next year, or if you're interested in writing longer projects in general, I strongly recommend that you stop by, at least for a while.

The details of the reading are as follows:

BA Reading
4:30-7:30
Ida Noyes Hall, Third Floor Theatre

Contact Amy Schulz (aschulz@uchicago.edu) with any questions.