Snappin Sistas March 22 at 6 North Cafe

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Holiday Book Fair at Left Bank Books - This Weekend!

 

St. Louis Literary Consortium

 

Holiday Book Fair

at Left Bank Books

November 9-11, 2012

Left Bank Books – Central West End

399 N. Euclid, St. Louis, MO

63108

 

The newly organized Saint Louis Literary Consortium is pleased to announce their first joint event to be held in conjunction with Left Bank Books. The event will host publishers and featured authors on the weekend of November 9, 10, and 11 at Left Bank Books’ Central West End location, 399 North Euclid Ave, 63108. While books from each of the organizations will be available the full three days, featured authors will be present for signings at various times throughout the weekend. (Store hours are: Friday and Saturday – 10:00 am to 10:00 pm; Sunday – 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.) A list of featured books and scheduled authors will be posted on member websites before the event.

“Saint Louis has a long and rich literary history, and this event is a way to celebrate continuing that tradition of excellence. We’re delighted that Left Bank Books is hosting us and giving us the opportunity to showcase local publishers and authors just in time for the holiday shopping season,” said Winnie Sullivan, Executive Director of PenUltimate Press. “For readers who love small presses and who want to support local authors—and local booksellers—this will be a great weekend.”

“This is just the first event that our new group has in the works as we come together as publishers and organizations to promote the literary arts in the Greater Saint Louis area,” Nancy Hughes of the St. Louis Poetry Center said. Along with the St. Louis Poetry Center and the St. Louis Writers Guild, participating organizations include Blank Slate Press, PenUltimate Press, Stonebrook Publishing, and Walrus Publishing.

Organization website addresses are: www.blankslatepress.com, http://www.penpressinc.org/, http://www.stlouispoetrycenter.org/, http://www.stlwritersguild.org/ http://www.stonebrookpublishing.net/, http://www.walruspublishing.com/.

This holiday season give the gift with a St. Louis touch, support your local authors!

 

Over 40 Participating Authors!

Several of whom have been featured on The Writers’ Lens.

Qiu Xiaolong *

Mary Ellen Havard*

Tullia Hamilton *

Catherine Rankovic

Matt Freeman *

Curtis Comer *

Angie Fox

TW Fendley

Cole Gibsen *

Brad R. Cook *

Peter Green *

Linda Austin

Claire Applewhite *
Leigh Savage *

Brenda Neubauer *

Liz Maloney *

Faye Adams *

Bill Adams*

Pat Bubash *

Bruce Lucas *

Robin Tidwell*

Steve Weigenstein*

Jean Ellen Whatley *

Hannie J. Voyles
Vicki Bennington *

Daniel Brannan *

Loretta Goebel *

Kelli Allen *

Wanita Zumbrunnen*

Denise McCormick Baich*

Steven Schroeder*

Mary Ruth Donnelly*

Jennifer Fandel

Susan Grigsby

Niki Nymark *

John S. Tieman

Marjorie Stelmach

Glendall Wallace

Drucilla Wall

Eamonn Wall

* indicates the author is having a book signing

 

Holiday Book Fair Schedule

Friday, November 9, 2012

2pm to 4pm

            Brenda Neubauer

            Wanita Zumbrunnen

4pm to 6pm

            Robin Tidwell

            Bruce Lucas

6pm to 8pm

            Jean Ellen Whatley

            Leigh Savage

            Denise McCormick Baich

7pm to 8pm

            Mary Ellen Havard

Saturday, November 10, 2012

10am to Noon

            Matt Freeman and Curtis Comer

            Marcel Toussaint

            Cole Gibsen

12pm to 2pm

            Vicki Bennington

            Daniel Brannan

            Loretta Goebel

            Steve Weigenstein

1pm to 3pm

            Qui Xiaolong

2pm to 4pm

            Claire Applewhite

            Steven Schroeder

            Niki Nymark

4pm to 6pm

            Peter Green

            Pat Bubash

Sunday, November 11, 2012

11am to 1pm

            Brad R. Cook

            Mary Ruth Donnelly

1pm to 3pm

            Faye & Billy Adams

            Liz Moloney

3pm to 4pm

            Mary Ellen Havard

3pm to 5pm

            Tullia Hamilton

            Kelli Allen

See you at Left Bank Books!

Brad R. Cook is a historical fantasy author and President of St. Louis Writers Guild. Please visit www.bradrcook.com or follow me on Twitter @bradrcook

St. Louis Reflections http://www.stlbooks.com/B009271-1211-51/Review.aspx

To learn more about St. Louis Writers Guild, visit www.stlwritersguild.org Saint Louis Writers Guild on Facebook or on Twitter @stlwritersguild

Writing: The roller coaster effect

Writing is a roller coaster ride. If I ever questioned that, this weekend dispelled any doubts when I attended the Missouri Writers' Guild (MWG) conference. During 24 hours, I experienced the peaks and valleys of the ride as I went from a book signing to slushpile readings to nightcap meetings to pitch sessions.

At MWG conference book signing

As I quickly learned after my debut book ZERO TIME came out last October, book signings can leave you thrilled from lots of sales or chilled from thinking no one wants your book. To get a thrill from signing when you don't sell much, it helps to have your expectations in alignment. For me, selling two books was an unexpected pleasure at a writers' conference where everyone is hawking their own books. It added to the fun of having "arrived" at the point in my career of actually having a book to sell. I also enjoyed getting to chat with others and learning more about their work. (I celebrated by treating myself to a couple of books.)

In the slushpile readings, MWG president Deb Marshall read from the first page of works attendees submitted to a panel of agents and editors (and an audience of conference goers). The agents/editors were asked to explain how they would react if the story appeared in their slushpile. Each raised her hand at the point she would've quit reading. When a majority had "quit," they discussed why. A similar scenario occurred in one of the breakout sessions with emedia and writing guru Jane Friedman, where I got feedback on the first page of my YA fantasy's (soon-to-be-gone) prologue. Only a few of the submissions in either of these readings made it very far, and mine didn't get past the first sentence. (Sigh.) My roller coaster went into a big dip.

Why? In my case, I tried to provide too much information too soon, and strange names made it even more confusing: "The Elders' warning echoed in One Reed's mind as the girl entered the museum's Music Room: Respect your body's wisdom."

Some other common problems with first pages included: over explaining, too much detail, interior monologue, flashbacks, a crisis without a unique hook, dialogue without context, info dump, character dump (have less than four), back story, and too many adverbs/adjectives.

The first night ended with a nightcap session--you could visit informally with the presenters, who held court in casual groupings in the hotel's hallways and lounges. Many had only one or two people in their group, but Curtis Brown agent Sarah LaPolla's query critique group blocked the hallway near the front desk. I only attended part of that crowded session, but saw the writers' reactions run the gamut. Some had peaks--afterward, one of the participants said his query got the agent's interest and set him up for a successful pitch session the next day--but many had dips.

The question is, what do you do with those dips? I think another of the conference attendees has the right idea. In a post-conference Facebook post, he said: "...a huge thank you to one person for a carrot and another for the swift kick in my A$$ that I needed right now." I find that sometimes we need to get kicked out of our comfort zones if we're going to move forward. After all, one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

On Saturday, the agents and editors spent a grueling day with pitch sessions timed seven minutes apart. As writers lined up outside the pitch room, waiting our turn, we got a running report from those who went before us. Many looked shell-shocked as they came out--some from actually getting a request and others from getting a rejection. Luckily, I had pitch sessions with two agents, and experienced both the valley of rejection and the peak of gaining an agent's interest.

I pitched my YA fantasy novel, which the first agent believed had too much adult involvement. She didn't want a few chapters or even a query--she was simply not interested. After a couple of hours, I finally "heard" what she said. It took me that long to get over the disappointment and realize that I'd pitched it wrong. By trying to condense the language and make it catchy, I'd started with the words "a family vacation" instead of "a 16-year-old girl on a family vacation." Although I tried to explain to explain to her that my teenage protagonist is central to everything that happens, I couldn't overcome that first impression. I switched the emphasis on the second pitch. Perhaps that's what made the difference or it could just be that my story was a better fit for her, but that agent requested the full manuscript. I was at the peak on the roller coaster, waving my hands in the air!

I'd love to hear your experiences on the writing roller coaster! Your comments will also enter you in this week's giveaway contest for an ebook of D.A. Bale's RUNNING INTO THE DARKNESS..

If you'd like to learn more about the MWG conference, check out the Guild's 2012 MWG Conference Notes and Linda Austin's report in the Examiner. Check back here on The Writers' Lens for podcasts and webchats with some of the presenters.

Thank you for reading and please visit me at www.twfendley.com. You can also follow me on Twitter @twfendley.

Meet writer Amanda Doyle 3/24 at 6 North

Finally, a locally produced GUIDEBOOK TO ST. LOUIS!

Meet with author Amanda E. Doyle from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 24, at: 

6 North Café

14438 Clayton Road

Ballwin, MO 63011

(directions) 

Amanda is an ardent St. Louis supporter and resident with more than a decade of experience in promoting the city to visitors. She lives with her family in Tower Grove Heights, and regularly plots her alternate lives in cool neighborhoods around the area.

"This book is a love letter to St. Louis, one I’ve been working on now for more than a decade."

You'll find a unique take on the elements that make many of the pockets of this metropolitan area such an appealing one in which to live. Neighborhoods and municipalities are grouped in ways that may be a bit different than you're used to seeing, in the hope of reflecting how we actually talk about them.

Have fun, and viva St. Louis!


Books will be available for purchase at 6 North on March 24th.
On line: http://stlguidebook.com/buy-it/