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WIWA NEWSLETTER
Vol. 014 April -- May 2003
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CONTENTS
Message From the Editor
Letters to the Editor
On the Island
Writing is . . .
-- by Dr. Richard Lederer
We Want to Celebrate Your Writing
Celestial Writing Contest Winners
Cheers
Pearls of Wisdom
-- by Candace Allen
Recent Releases
Contests and Market Requests
Cyber Surfing
Quotes
Problems Reading the Newsletter?
To Contact Us
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe
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MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
We are all born with an appreciation of, a love and a need for beauty and grace. -- Rick Bass
In my writing life, I interview people about their log homes or sailing adventures. It seems an odd pair of topics. One tied to the land, the other to the sea, one rooted, the other transient. Yet when I talk to these folks, a similar excitement wells up as they tell their stories, and a theme emerges -- their desire to get back to a simpler way of life.
Recently I had an opportunity to interview Rick Bass during a classroom session at the Whidbey Island Writers Conference. Prior to the conference, we exchanged a couple of emails about his travel schedule; otherwise we'd had no communication. Not wanting to be total strangers before our audience, we agreed to meet an hour before the interview. I was nervous. I've interviewed lots of people, but never anyone famous, never anyone who's won a Pushcart or a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, never anyone whose name comes up 6,690 times when Googled.
At 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning, I crossed First Street to lodgings in Langley and entered a narrow corridor that smelled, popped and sizzled of bacon. The office was nowhere in sight but two women cooking breakfast in a tiny kitchen pointed out Rick's room directly across the hallway. From the kitchen, I could have reached over and twisted his doorknob open. Grease splatters shooting up from the frying pan glistened in the fluorescent lighting. The air was thick, the corridor tight. I felt like an intruder.
I went outside for fresh air and walked around back for a look at Saratoga Bay. Rick and his wife Elizabeth sat bundled in blankets on their deck enjoying the pink glow of the winter sun rising behind the snowcapped Cascade Mountains. Introductions were made. I would have liked to linger, but there wasn't time. Rick and I left in my car.
If you've been to WIWC, you know that Langley is five minutes from the high school where the conference is held. If you've driven Whidbey's back roads, you know it's easy to get lost on twisty little lanes that snake through the forest. After ten minutes of driving, I was lost. Well, not really, but that's how it would appear to Rick when I pulled over to make a U-turn. I was having one of those moments that my husband and a few close friends know me for, where my mind slips into cruise control and my driving shifts to automatic. Instead of thinking about my destination, I focus on the topic at hand -- the interview -- and I forget where I'm going. Friends call it absentmindedness. My sister chalks it up to a lifetime habit of "spacing out." To Rick it was bound to appear that I was an idiot. How else could you explain how someone who has lived on the Island five years could get lost in the short hop between Langley and the high school?
But Rick didn't seem to mind, "It's so pretty." And it was -- the sunlight filtering through the trees, wisps of smoke curling up chimneys, horses standing motionless in the morning dew behind a weathered fence.
I got us to the high school in time for the interview. Rick told the class about his early days as a writer, what he was looking for when he went to conferences as a new writer and how his needs changed over the years. "Where I need to work on myself these days is more how to be a person," Rick said. "Back then when I first went to a conference, I had the being-a-person-down part fine, but I didn't know how to be a writer."
As Rick explained it, becoming a writer added an extra layer of analysis to his engagement with the world. "I was hunting and gathering. I was scanning. Does this fit in the story? Yes, no, yes -- just picking cherries off the tree. Eventually I got tired of it and decided to go back to being a person. This is where I am now as a writer and it's a real comfortable place for me to be."
I think that's what the log home dwellers and sailboat cruisers I interview are trying to do when they talk about getting back to a simpler way of life. I think they're trying to get back to the essence that makes them who they are -- to being a person -- to living a more honest, enjoyable life -- to seeing the beauty that abounds around them. I like that. I try to do the same in my life and my writing. Sometimes it's hard, but that makes it even more desirable.
May goodwill prevail,
Candace
To read past issues of the newsletter online, go to: http://www.whidbey.com/writers/newsletter
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Contributor from India
What a pity I shall miss this wonderful gathering [WIWC], but being so far from where it is taking place, I shall have to give it the miss. But I shall be there in letter and word for the anthology has one of my stories....Split Second. Have a great time and here's to living the writing life. Best Wishes to all who assemble and to the great organizers -- Manju Kak
Getting It Down on Paper
Thank you for this update. I've been struggling about sending in my [WIWC] application. Your information, enthusiasm and positive attitude are refreshing and compelling. I made a deal to myself that I needed to complete my novel rough draft before attending your Conference. I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot, as I am confident that meeting you and your staff would be a real shot in the arm. (Excuse my shooting metaphor!) At any rate, please keep in touch about all your activities for the coming year. Receiving the WIWA email gently prods me into "getting it down on paper." The best of luck for the Spring Conference. Give my best to Gary Ferguson, a top flight writer from "just down the road." Keep up the GREAT work! -- Frank Seitz
Warm Fuzzies
Just a quick note to say I really enjoy the newsletter. I read lots of newsletters but WIWA is my favorite. I think it's because I get warm fuzzies due to the wonderful memories I have of last year's conference. I've been to other conferences but none was as warm encouraging and accepting. It's the people stupid! And you are one. Thanks -- Melody Kincade, San Diego
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ON THE ISLAND
WIWA Spring Writing Classes
The Whidbey Island Writers Association offers classes for the spring session. To register, call Dot Read at (360) 331-2038, or email thereads@whidbey.com. More information is available at www.whidbey.com/writers. Tuition assistance may be available on a limited basis, upon request.
Memoir & Life History: 6 weeks, Mondays Noon - 2 p.m., March 31 - May 5 at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building, Freeland. $45/WIWA members, $50/non-members. Instructor: Barbara Joy Laffey. Whether called to share your life experience or to record family history for future generations, writing the memoir offers specific challenges and rewards. This is a gentle, reflective class that will give you the tools to craft your story.
Soul Work Through Art Journaling: 4 weeks, Saturdays 1 - 4 p.m., beginning May 10th, location TBA. $45/WIWA members, $50/non-members. Instructor: Robin Reynolds Barre. This workshop series is for writers who wish to enrich their creativity with visual arts, for visual artists who wish to enrich their creativity with writing, or for those who wish to jump-start their creative or life processes. Not an art class, no art background is required. Nominal materials fee required.
Advanced Fiction Workshop: 10 weeks, (2 Sections): Mondays 2 - 4 p.m. or 7 - 9 p.m., March 31 - June 9 (Memorial Day off) at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Limited to 12 students. Instructor: Wayne Ude. This workshop focuses on works written by group members. You will share your own work, either short stories or chapters of longer works, and have the opportunity to present three pieces to be discussed in class and critiqued in depth by the instructor.
Intermediate Fiction: 10 weeks, Wednesdays, 7 - 9 p.m., April 2 - June 4, at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Limit, 12 students. Instructor: Wayne Ude. This class is for those who have begun writing but would like further instruction. Students will read short stories from Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories, but the chief focus will be on their own writing. Students may bring complete short stories or chapters for discussion, or parts of stories for suggestions on how to continue and extend the story. They may develop one to three stories over the course.
Beginning Fiction: 10 weeks, Thursdays, 2 - 4 p.m., April 3 - June 5, at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Limit, 12 students. Instructor: Wayne Ude. This class is for those who are just beginning to write fiction. For the first few weeks the class will focus on fiction writing exercises and on stories from Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories. Later, students will work on their own short stories or chapters, and share them with the class.
Beginning Poetry: 10 weeks, Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, April 1 - June 3, on Classic Road in Greenbank. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Limit, 14 students. Instructor: Susan Zwinger. For those who long to write poetry but are afraid to begin, have trouble knowing what a poem is and why it is, or have begun and are afraid to share. Susan will gently nourish new poets into being. This class may also include people who simply want to understand this medium in greater depth. Exercises will inspire new work.
Advanced Poetry Workshop: 10 weeks, Tuesdays, 2 - 4 p.m., April 1 - June 3, on Sills Road in Clinton. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Limit, 12 students. Instructor: Susan Zwinger. A weekly workshop format will allow experienced poets with depth of understanding to further their art and voice through group critique. Susan, MFA Writers' Workshop in Iowa and published poet, will guide the feedback as well as offer new information and relevant examples.
Craft and Technique in Prose: 10 weeks, Wednesdays, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., April 2 - June 4, at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Instructor: Marian Blue. This course, for new and experienced writers who want to hone their craft, will use exercises, discussion, and reading to explore craft and how techniques apply to all genres (fiction, poetry, drama and essay). You will work with craft to weave setting, image, voice, narrative perspective and character within your writing style, to create a harmonious whole. Wordsmithing at its best! You will participate in specific discussions about revision and editing, word-by-word. The text is Imaginative Writing, the Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway. Some used copies available.
Advanced Nonfiction Workshop: 10 weeks, Wednesdays, 3 - 5 p.m., April 2 - June 4 on Classic Road in Greenbank. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Instructor:Susan Zwinger. For those familiar with the essay's wide possibilities of expression and those who have written essays before, this class will critique two to three essays each week. Nonfiction author Susan Zwinger will offer specific examples and skills to enhance your essay writing ability.
Directed Novel Reading: 10 weeks, Tuesdays, 6 - 8 p.m., April 2 - June 10 at Trinity Lutheran Church Community Building. $75/WIWA members, $80/non-members. Instructor: Wayne Ude. The class will focus on reading and discussion of selected classic and contemporary novels, from a writer's perspective. You will discuss characterization, viewpoint, plot, structure, style, voice, and so on. The instructor will select the first books: To Kill a Common Loon (Mitch Luckett), As I lay Dying (Wm.Faulkner), Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), and Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Wolf). Others will be chosen by the group. (Class will not meet on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, to permit time to read the longer novels.)
Choose from Three WIWA-Sponsored Writing Groups
Now you can choose from three WIWA-sponsored writing groups: an evening group, a north-end daytime group, and a south-end daytime group. Sponsored by WIWA, the groups offer an opportunity to share work, gain insight, and discuss the world of writing and publishing. Featuring a friendly forum and useful critiques, these groups welcome writers of every experience level. Drop-ins are welcome.
Evening Writers' Group
The evening WIWA Writers' Group meets the first Wednesday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Freeland Library, 5495 Harbor Avenue. Toni Grove, treasurer for WIWA, is the facilitator for the group. You can contact her at: toniandgordy@pioneernet.net.
Day-time Writers' Groups
The North Whidbey Writers' Group meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, 1 to 4 p.m., at Great Times Espresso in Coupeville (water-side of Front Street, down one flight of stairs).
The South Whidbey Writers' Group meets the first and third Wednesday of each month, 1 to 4 p.m., at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland (Hwy 525 and Woodard Rd.) The meeting is in the small building closest to Highway 525.
For more information, contact Dot Read at: thereads@whidbey.com, or call (360) 331-2038. Or just drop in; you will be welcome.
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OFF THE ISLAND
Songandword Workshops on Shaw Island
April 11-13, Singing by Water, singer/songwriter Linda Allen.
May 2-4, Beyond the Carpool: Writing and Selling Books for Kids, best-selling children's book author Katherine Bond.
June 6-8, Sketching/Journaling in the San Juans with watercolor artist Caroline Buchanan. See www.songandword.com for details. Or call 360-468-3964; email info@songandword.com.
Richard Hugo House in Seattle
See http://www.hugohouse.org/events/ for the latest schedule of events.
Pikes Peak Writers Conference
April 25 - 27, Colorado Springs, CO. See http://www.ppwc.net/.
Sunshine Coast School of Writing Workshops, B.C.
Selling Your Book: Capturing the Publisher's Attention, Betty Keller. In this hands-on workshop learn how to write a query letter and how to groom your book proposal for maximum impact. Participants may submit a synopsis of their project (no more than five pages) in advance of the workshop. April 26, 9 to 4, Gibsons Heritage School, Gibsons, B.C. Cost: $75 including lunch and snacks. Contact Carol Hodgson at (604) 886-8951, or email c_hodgson@sunshine.net.
Centrum's Port Townsend Wrtiers' Conference
July 10 -- 20, Port Towsend, WA. See http://www.centrum.org/workshops/writers.html.
Taos Institute of Arts
July 30 -- July 4, Writing and Selling Magazine Articles. Instructor: Eva Shaw. See http://www.tiataos.com/ for details.
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WRITING IS . . .
by Dr. Richard Lederer
For me, writing is like throwing a Frisbee.
You can play Frisbee catch with yourself, but it's repetitious and not much fun. Better it is to fling to others, to extend yourself across a distance.
At first, your tossing is awkward and strengthless. But, with time and practice and maturity, you learn to set your body and brain and heart at the proper angles, to grasp with just the right force and not to choke the missile. You discover how to flick the release so that all things loose and wobbly snap together at just the right moment. You learn to reach out your follow-through hand to the receiver to ensure the straightness and justice of the flight.
And on the just-right days, when the sky is blue and the air pulses with perfect stillness, all points of the Frisbee spin together within their bonded circle -- and the object glides on its own whirling, a whirling invisible and inaudible to all others but you.
Like playing Frisbee, writing is a re-creation-al joy. For me, a lot of the fun is knowing that readers are out there -- you among them -- sharing what I have made. I marvel that, as you pass your eyes over these words, you experience ideas and emotions similar to what I was thinking and feeling when, in another place and another time, I struck the symbols on my keyboard.
Like a whirling, gliding Frisbee, my work extends me beyond the frail confines of my body. Thank you for catching me.
Dr. Richard Lederer, speaker and instructor at WIWC 2003, is the author of more than 3,000 books and articles about language and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series. Richard's syndicated column, Looking at Language, appears in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. He has been elected International Punster of the Year, named by Toastmasters International as its 2002 Golden Gavel winner and is a board member for Writer's Digest. You can explore Richard's Web site at: www.verbivore.com.
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WE WANT TO CELEBRATE YOUR WRITING
Published 12 Times
I was published this past year twelve times! Last February I was one of four locals selected to be a guest columnist in the local, weekly newspaper, The Peninsula Gateway. We rotated weeks, with columns of 500-700 words which appeared on the Op-Ed page. It was a good experience. I even received fan mail.
Although I have attended the last three conferences, I will miss the upcoming one. I will be skiing in Norway this year as you gather again on Whidbey. Perhaps I can use that experience for a travel column? Don't I wish! Well, I learned to wish on Whidbey, so it may come to pass. There were many memorable moments during the conferences. The quality of instruction and the professionalism with which the event is put on assures all attendees a first-class experience. If they don't go home, write and get published, they have only themselves to blame. -- Linda Glein
Three Chapters to Go
I attended last year's conference and was much impressed. This year however, we will be in Arizona at the scheduled time of the conference. I have had quite a few pieces published by Reimen Publications and have three more promised to be published in their various magazines this year. It may not be a grand step forward but it is nice to see one's articles published in national magazines. I have three chapters to go in finishing my first book and then need to find the dreaded agent/publisher. I am determined though, and will continue in my pursuit to become the best writer possible. Hopefully, I can attend the Whidbey conference next year. Thanks for the learning experience. -- Tamara Hillman...Camano Island, Wa.
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CELESTIAL WRITING CONTEST WINNERS
This year's Celestial Writing Contest had more than 200 entries. The manuscripts were very high quality, and the judges had to make some tough decisions. Following are the contest winners.
Overall Winner -- The Photographer by Natalie Olsen
Poetry -- 1st place for Brontosaurus by Penny Holland, 2nd place for In Your Time by Tyler Miller, 3rd place for Watching by Christine Krug, 4th place for Beta Lyrae by C. James "Jamie" Gower, 5th place for Farewell by Jonna Laster
Fiction -- 1st place for The Photographer by Natalie Olsen, 2nd place for Last Rights by Jane Davenport Bahm, 3rd place for Verna's Journey by Ed Ratcliff, 4th place for First Rights by Ann Adams, 5th place for Costumes by Otis Twelve
Children's -- 1st place for The Adoption of Boris by Penny Holland, 2nd place for This Growing Up by Christy Raedke, 3rd place for Throwing Sound, Carving Silence by Deborah A. Dole, 4th place for Wanderlust by Diana Greenwood, 5th place for Nutshell Regatta by Jonna Laster
Essay -- 1st place for Today's Pill -- Revolutionizing How We Feel by Tara M. Bloom, 2nd place for Recipes from the Dirt Road Diner by Lynn Murray Willeford, 3rd place for The Life History by Julian Taber, 4th place for Big Brother: This Time the Threat is Real by Edward K. Garrison, 5th place for My Other Sister, Denial by Christy Raedke
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CHEERS
Your good news cheers us on! Please share your successes with us. email the editor at: candace@whidbey.com.
Past winner of WIWC's Celestial Writing Contest, Brian Ames recently had stories published in Windhover, Glimmer Train, and Monkeybicycle. He's also had stories accepted for publication in Night Train, Snow Monkey, Red Rock Review, Lunatic Chameleon, and Roanoke Review.
Children's author and WIWC presenter Paula Danziger is featured in the online magazine Memory Makers at http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/articles/paula.asp.
Diane Schuller's short story, Shelling Peas, will be produced and broadcast on CBC radio May 8 & 10, 2003. It was one of 30 winners chosen from more than 500 entries in the Alberta Anthology short story contest. Diane says, "It was my very first attempt at writing a story with a bit of a fantasy bent."
Irene Sedeora's poem, Three Hearts, was published by Goodgoshalmighty.com at http://goodgoshalmighty.com/. Search for it in the archives.
Congratulations go to WIWC participant Lenore Skomal whose book, Keeper of Lime Rock, (Running Press, 2002) was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the best books for teens for 2003.
See the April issue of Log Home Living for Candace Allen's latest feature, Room to Roam, At Home in Oregon's Wine Country.
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PEARLS of WISDOM
by Candace Allen
"I do not believe you should ever finish a book you're not thoroughly enjoying," says Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book, a program affiliated with the Library of Congress for promoting reading, writing, literacy and libraries.
Pearl is known as the librarian who started the program What if All Seattle Read the Same Book, an idea that took hold across the nation as One City One Book. She reads about two books each week and reviews about 100 each year. Unlike most literary critics, she doesn't review books she doesn't like, and if she doesn't like a book within the first 50 pages, she doesn't finish it. She shares the gems she finds with communities throughout the state, revealing just enough of the story line to pique her listeners' interests, but not give away the plot.
Here are some of Pearl's latest recommendations, which she made at a recent event on Whidbey Island.
"Characters and good writing are the only two things important to me in a book, and the characters in this book are remarkable," Pearl says about Donna Tartt's first book in ten years, Little Friend. The story is about a 12-year old girl who spends her summer in search of the murderer of her older brother who was found hanging from a tree in the backyard on Mother's Day 11 years before.
Canadian author Nancy Richler's latest historical novel, Your Mouth Is Lovely, is set during the Russian revolution and tells a family's epic story through letters that Miriam, the protagonist, writes to her daughter from a prison camp in Siberia. You can get a sense of the book, Pearl says, by imagining a "darker Marc Chagall," the Russian born French painter known for his surrealistic inventiveness.
Elsewhere in time and space, Richard Bausch's novel, Hello to the Cannibals, juxtaposes the lives of two women separated by a century: the real-life Mary Kingsley, who left Victorian England to travel throughout Africa, and the fictional Lily Austin, 1980s college dropout whose fascination with Kingsley compels her to write a play about the adventurer. Pearl says this is the kind of book that takes you on a reading journey where one book leads to another. After reading Hello to the Cannibals, Pearl was compelled to read Kingsley's Travels in West Africa followed by One Dry Season.
For an intensive look at Victorian England, particularly the seedy street life of a London prostitute, read Michael Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White. This Dickensonian novel tells how Sugar, an 18-year old prostitute is installed as the governess for a perfumer's daughter and sickly wife. Faber's research is so extensive that Pearl is "almost convinced that you could pass a master's exam after reading this book, especially one about prostitutes."
Still in England, though moving forward a few years, circa 1985, is Jasper Fforde's fantasy/mystery/comedy combo The Eyre Affair. In this book of parallel universes and time travel, literature is so important that Baconians go door-to-door proselytizing that Francis Bacon is the true author of Shakespeare's works. Meanwhile, the protagonist, Thursday Next, is a literary detective trying to capture the villain Acheron Hades, who stole a minor character from a Dickens novel, and has threatened to kidnap Jane Eyre from that book. And without Jane Eyre, there's nothing left in the book. Pearl assures us this literary romp is the perfect book for anyone who loves books and reading. "This guy's imagination is absolutely wonderful."
Equally phantasmic is The Bear Went Over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle, the story of a bear who opens a brief case hoping to find lunch. Instead he finds a manuscript, takes it to New York, changes his name to Hal Jam and acquires an agent, success and lots of money. The poor guy whose manuscript it was finds himself in Maine, wants to sleep more and more and is inexplicably attracted to women who don't shave their legs.
For humor closer to home, Pearl suggests I Don't Know How She Does it: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson. "People who loved Bridgett Jones can think about Kate Reddy as the older sister." Or for a coming of age story of a girl growing up in Brooklyn before WWII, try Allegra Maud Goldman, a novel by Edith Konecky. "If you loved A Girl Name Zippy, you'll love this book."
"I love thrillers, what other people call airplane books," Pearl says, "but my problem is that I demand good writing." Not many thriller writers meet that criteria. John le Carre of course. And now, Paul Eddy with Flint's Law. Eddy creates memorable characters like Grace Flint, an imperfect, but endearing undercover agent.
Big If, Mark Costello's thriller, is about a secret agent, who in the process of protecting the vice president, faces stretches of boredom punctuated by sheer terror. "The book mirrors the way we're forced to live today. It couldn't have been written before 9-11," Pearl says. If you liked Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, you'll like this.
Thrillers are one thing, but violence is a different story for Pearl. "I didn't want to read Perma Red at first because I feared the scenes of violence against women. But I was drawn in by the power of the writing." Debra Magpie Earling's debut novel is a visceral portrayal of reservation life as experienced by Louise White Elk, a member of the Flathead Nation, and the three men who love her. The book is fiction, but much of Louise's character is based on Earling's aunt who was murdered at age 23.
For nonfiction, Pearl recommends two books that give us a look at American history, The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream by H.W. Brands and Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. Brands' book looks at how the gold rush changed people's view of success to include luck, not just hard work, and how that altered the course of history. Seabiscuit, more than the story of a racehorse, is a side view of American life during the 20s and 30s.
New York Times correspondent Elaine Sciolino provides an intelligent, well-educated woman's view of Iran in her book Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran. She has seen the repression and the political turmoil, but there is another side, revealed in the book and succinctly expressed when she told Pearl, "You really should go to Iran. It's a wonderful country."
Finally, for a palatable look at history, Pearl recommends Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History, edited by Mark Kurlansky. It's a book you can dip into for a few appetizing essays, or you can stay for the full course -- all from an eclectic company of authors including Neruda, Hemmingway, Plato, Thoreau and Levi-Strauss.
While Pearl enjoys reading new releases, she says there are also some wonderful books from the past, and she doesn't want them to be overlooked. So, she's writing a book that reviews past treasures. An Eccentric Guide for Readers, is expected to be out next fall. Meanwhile, for more of Pearl's wisdom, tune into Seattle's KUOW 94.9 public radio Mondays at 2:00 p.m.
And, remember, when you start a new book, read the first 50 pages. If you don't like it by then, don't finish it. Pick up another, because, as Pearl says, "Time is short and the library is large."
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RECENT RELEASES
The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson
February 2003
Crown Publishers
Every epoch has a defining event against which future generations will forever measure their greatness; for the Gilded Age, that event was the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. With brilliant prose, Erik Larson, past WIWC presenter and best selling author of Isaac’s Storm, tells the true, spellbinding story of the World's Columbian Exposition and of the two men whose fates it linked -- one a nationally recognized architect and the other the country's first urban serial killer. In his latest book, Larson brings their passion to the page with amazing detail, showing how each man made his indelible mark on the soul of a nation at the turn of the twentieth century.
Sand in My Bra
Jennifer L. Leo, editor
April 2003
Travelers' Tales
An hilarious anthology of the misadventures of 29 women whose trips have gone comically awry. Some of the contributors include best-selling author Anne LaMott, comedian Ellen Degeneres, NPR's Sarah Vowell, award winning Alice Wright and WIWA's own Nancy Bartlett.
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CONTESTS AND MARKET REQUESTS
The Davoren Hanna Poetry Competition
Closing date May 31, 2003. First prize 6,500 Euros. See http://www.buy4now.ie/Eason/ for details.
Books for Life Foundation
Named after the founding benefactor of the foundation, the $25,000 John T. Lupton "New Voices In Literature" Awards honor the finest query letters and book proposals for both fiction and non-fiction works not previously published by traditional means.
Entry fee information, submission deadlines and competition rules are available at www.booksforlifefoundation.com.
ByLine Sponsors Contests
Check out ByLine's Web site http://www.bylinemag.com/contests.asp for the many contests it is sponsoring through December 2003.
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CYBER SURFING
Have you encountered some helpful Internet sites? Send us the address and your brief review.
With income taxes due April 15, you might want to check out attorney Daniel Steven's advice, Tax Tips for Writers, at http://www.absolutewrite.com/freelance_writing/tax_tips.htm.
WIWC's public relations coordinator Nancy Bartlett recommends http://www.identitytheory.com, a literary site of weblogs, interviews, fiction and poetry. Currently you'll find an interview with Erik Larson, author of Isaak's Storm, and most recently, The Devil in the White City. Erik was a presenter at WIWC 2002.
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QUOTES
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. -- Groucho Marx
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. -- Anna Quindlen
In the Feb/March issue of WIWA, we printed a quote from Mark Twain, I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. M. Denis Hill wrote in, "I wonder if the quote by Mark Train was inspired by Blaise Pascal." Apparently so. Pascal (1623-1662) wrote, I have made this letter a rather long one, only because I didn't have the
leisure to make it shorter.
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PROBLEMS READING THE NEWSLETTER ?
If you have trouble reading the WIWA Newsletter because of gobbledygook, or unwanted characters, please contact the editor at: candace@whidbey.com. She will put you on a list to receive the newsletter in plain, instead of stylized, format, which may alleviate the problem. You may also read prior issues online at: http://www.whidbey.com/writers/newsletter
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TO CONTACT US OR SUBMIT AN ARTICLE
We are interested in hearing from you. Perhaps you've been to a recent book fair, heard a favorite author speak, or learned valuable tips from a writing class. Perhaps you're a professional willing to share your expertise. If you would like to submit an article; tell us about your good news for the Cheers or Recent Releases columns; send us your favorite quotes, markets, contests and cyber sites; or contact us about the newsletter for any reason, please email the editor at: candace@whidbey.com
To contact the Whidbey Island Writers Association, email : writers@whidbey.com
The WIWA Web site is: http://www.whidbey.com/writers
Whidbey Island Writers' Conference: March 5 - 7, The Spirit of Writing
http://www.whidbey.com/writers/conference
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TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE
The WIWA Newsletter is published approximately every two months and is delivered to subscribers by email. If you would like to subscribe, send an email, with SUBSCRIBE WIWA in the subject line, to the editor at candace@whidbey.com. If you would like to unsubscribe, please reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject, and we will delete you from our database. WIWA will not share or sell your name or email address.