September Member Meeting

Wednesday, September 21 @ 7pm

Chinook Middle School Library

2001 98th Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98004

Speakers: Poisoned Pen Press panel -- Jon Talton, Bernadette Pajer, Ann Littlewood, Jeanne Matthews, Larry Karp, KJ Larsen 

Topic: Spotlight on Poisoned Pen Press -- Authors are discovering a wealth of opportunities in submitting to smaller presses.  A panel of published authors will discuss those opportunities and how they resulted in book contracts. Their books will also be available to purchase at the meeting. 

Poisoned Pen Press is an independent publisher specializing in publishing high quality works in the field of mystery. Their books are distributed by Ingram Publisher Services and are available from Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Brodart.

Poisoned Pen Press panel speakers:

Jon Talton is the author of eight novels, including the David Mapstone Mysteries: Concrete Desert, Cactus Heart, Camelback Falls, Dry Heat, Arizona Dreams and South Phoenix Rules. 

Bernadette Pajer's Professor Bradshaw Mystery Series is set at the University of Washington during the social and scientific turmoil of the early twentieth century. The first book in the series, A Spark of Death, was released this past July.  

Jeanne Matthews graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism and has worked as a copywriter, a high school English and Drama teacher, and a paralegal.  She currently lives in Renton, Washington, with her husband and a West Highland terrier who is a prima donna.

Larry Karp's most recent book, The Ragtime Fool, the third work in a ragtime-based historical mystery trilogy, is set during the ragtime revival of the 1950s.  Larry lives with his wife Myra in Seattle.

KJ Larsen is the pen name for a trio of sisters: Kari, Julianne, and Kristen. Their first book is the mystery novel Liar Liar.  

Fall Workshop Series

We have several great sessions lines up this fall at the Writers' Cottage:

• Sept. 24-25:  2-day Fiction Writing Workshop, with Susan Wingate and Terry Persun
• Oct. 15:  Plan Your Plot & How to Craft a Winning Title, with Jason Black
• Oct. 22:  Structuring the Novel, with Megan Chance
• Nov. 12-13:  "Writing Truth" 2-day Intensive Nonfiction Workshop, with Sheila Bender, Jill Marr, and Susan Wingate

Further details and sign-up forms are available on our homepage (www.pnwa.org).

2012 Conference Call for Presentations

If you are interested in speaking at our 2012 summer conference (July 19-22), please fill out and return the Call for Presentations form at this link.  Details about the 2012 conference will be posted here as they become available.

November Book Signing Event

We are looking for a few more PNWA members to participate in our monthly Saturday Signing Session on November 5 at the Writers' Cottage in Issaquah.  If you are interested, please contact us.  But hurry!  Space is limited - we only have room for about 3 more authors.  We'd love to see you there!

Bookfest

PNWA will have a booth at this year's Bookfest, held October 1-2 in Kirkland.  Please stop by and say hello!   

This free book festival will take place on Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2 from 10am until 6pm at Peter Kirk Park, 202 Third St. in Kirkland. Local authors include Robert Dugoni, Garth Stein, Jennie Shortridge and other members of the Seattle 7 Writers group. Panels include authors of genres such as thrillers, steampunk, urban fantasy, romance, mystery, screenwriting, literary fiction and more. The Smart Chicks Kick-It Tour will bring some of the most popular Young Adult authors in the country to the Northwest. A "Queens of Romance" tea will feature NY Times bestselling authors Elizabeth Boyle, Lisa Kleypas, Susan Mallery and Susan Wiggs. And if hearing authors talk about books isn't enough, there will be publishing professionals talking about book development, small press publishing, marketing, and more.

For more information visit: www.northwestbookfest2011.com  

Lost & Found

If you misplaced any personal items at our August conference in Bellevue, please let us know.  Thank you to everyone who attended this year!

Writers' group seeking new member

We are looking for an experienced fiction writer interested in joining our group. We exchange manuscripts (up to 25 pages) by e-mail each month and critique and discuss each other's' work electronically. Our members live in different areas and do not meet in person. Please send something you're working on now (10 pages or more of a fiction manuscript) in a WORD attachment, together with a summary of your writing background to chriz9@yahoo.com. Thank you for your interest!

PNWA member Elizabeth C. Main announces the Aug. 17 release of her latest book, No Rest for the Wicked, by Five Star. The mystery is a sequel to her 2005 work, Murder of the Month, and once again follows bookseller Jane Serrano and the amateur sleuths from her book club as they venture out of their raucous meetings at Thornton's Books in Juniper, OR, to investigate the death of con man Hunter Blackburn. Main will appear at the following locations in October to read from her new book and sign copies:

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m., Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, Wash., www.thirdplacebooks.com,     206-366-3316.
   
Thursday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., Parkplace Books, 348 Parkplace     Center, Kirkland, Wash.,     parkplacebooks@integra.net,     425-828-6546.

Friday, Oct. 14, noon, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St., Seattle,     www.seattlemystery.com,     staff@seattlemystery.com,     206-587-5737.

PNWA Member Barry Brennessel announces the release of his debut novel, Tinseltown, on June 1, 2011, by MLR Press, and available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise, AllRomance/OmniLit and through Powell's Books and Giovanni's Room. Tinseltown won 3rd Place in the 2010 PNWA Literary Contest. Barry's novella The Price of Silence (a 2009 PNWA Finalist) was released in February from L&L Dreamspell. His short story collection Reunion will be released in 2011 from Lethe Press. And his second novel The Sulphur Cure (a 2006, 2008 and 2009 PNWA Finalist) will be released in early 2012. Barry's short story Nagasakiwas published in Volume 2 of the Polari Journal and was a DANA Award Finalist. His short story Unfinished appeared in the Fall/Winter 2011 SNReview. The screenplay version of Tinseltown advanced to the quarter finals of the WriteMovies.com International Contest #27, among 1,000 entries, in early July.  www.barrybrennessel.com

PNWA member Heidi M. Thomas' novel,  Follow the Dream, has been selected as the 2011 Winner of  the WILLA Literary Award in the Young Adult/Children's category by Women Writing the West. The national award is named for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather and will be presented at the annual conference October 15 in Lynnwood, WA.

Thomas is a Mount Vernon resident, a freelance editor and teaches community classes in memoir and beginning fiction writing. This is her second published novel by Treble Heart Books, and is based on her grandmother who rode bucking stock in Montana rodeos during the 1920s and '30s. Both are suitable for adult and young adult readers.

http://www.heidimthomas.com

PNWA member Wendy Hinman announces that her story, "We're Going to Die," appears in the new anthology, We Came to Say. Twenty-six writers share their remarkable stories of loss, hope, forgiveness, transformation, grief and triumph. These voices speak to the grace of ordinary life. Come celebrate its launch at Third Place Books on August 24th at 7pm.

A review for We Came to Say:

"I cried, I laughed and I reached the end of these slices of life way too soon. Each story by these writers amazed and compelled me to read on. It's fascinating to peek into other peoples' lives and I wanted more. The short memoir pieces in this book make great reading for a bus stop or while waiting for an appointment." Debra Daniels-Zeller, author of The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook

For more information, excerpts, or to sign up for her Wendy's e-newsletter, please visit her website at http://wendyhinman.com/.

CONTESTS/SUBMISSIONS:

21st Annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize in Fiction, Essay and Poetry

$5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Poetry | $5,000 Essay

Page restrictions: Please include no more than 25 typed, double-spaced pages for fiction and nonfiction. Poetry entries can include any number of poems up to 10 pages in total. Each story, essay, or group of poems constitutes one entry.

Entry fee: $20 for each entry (make checks payable to The Missouri Review). Each fee entitles the entrant to a one-year subscription to TMR (print or digital!), an extension of a current subscription, or a gift subscription. Please enclose a complete address for subscriptions.

Entry instructions: Include the printable contest entry form. On the first page of each submission, include author's name, address, e-mail and telephone number. Entries must be previously unpublished and will not be returned. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask for immediate notification if the piece is accepted for publication elsewhere. Mark the outside of the envelope "Fiction," "Essay," or "Poetry." Each entry in a separate category must be mailed in a separate envelope. Enclose a #10 SASE or e-mail address for an announcement of winners.

Mailing address:
Missouri Review Editors' Prize
357 McReynolds Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211

The postmark deadline is Oct. 1, 2011.

Go Green: Enter Online! We are also accepting electronic submissions: http://www.missourireview.com/tmrsubmissions/editors-prize-contest/

Pam Binder, President of PNWA, was selected as the 2010-2011 recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence for Arts, Writing, Humanities and Law at the University of Washington Extension. Pam is teaching the following classes for the 2011 - 2012 school year.

For information please contact the following:

Phone: 206-897-8939

Toll-free: 800-506-1325

Email: info@pce.uw.edu

Apply online: www.keeplearning.uw.edu

If you have questions you can also contact Pam directly: Pbinder183@aol.com

Popular Fiction I

Starts in Autumn and Winter Quarters

Explore the backbone of the commercial fiction industry: popular fiction, which includes several genres such as mystery, romance, science fiction and thriller. Examine the art of captivating readers through strong plots, powerful scenes and three-dimensional characters. Learn how to construct a suspenseful and complex storyline, write believable dialogue and hone your craft. Master the development of the beginning, middle and end of your novel during three different courses dedicated to each section's development.

Courses:

Popular Fiction I: The Beginning

Popular Fiction I: The Middle

Popular Fiction I: The End

(Popular Fiction II is now closed.)

Write Your Novel in a Month  

Saturdays, October 8^th - December 3rd

10:00 a.m. - 12 noon

No class 11/26

Is writing a novel one of your life-long dreams? Join this 8  week Bellevue College class as it hooks up with 100,000 writers worldwide for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The first classes prepare you for the noveling process, with practice in characterization, setting, plot, voice, and dialogue. Then we're off and writing our 50,000 word manuscripts. During the last class we plan for revision. This is a great way to write your novel in a supportive environment.  Cost is $189.  

Questions?  Contact Lois@LoisBrandt.com. 

To register jump to Bellevue College Continuing Education:  http://www.campusce.net/bc/course/course.aspx?C=12256&pc=17&mc=81&sc

Red Pencil in the Woods conference
Red Pencil in the Woods offers a full day of connection, education, and inspiration with editing, publishing, and marketing experts from around the Northwest. It takes place at Bastyr University, near Seattle. Registration is now open at www.edsguild.org/conferences.htm.    The keynote speech, "Finding Our Way: Writing and Editing in the New Publishing Landscape," will be given by Carol Fisher Saller, editor of The Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A and author of The Subversive Copy Editor. She'll also offer a workshop on "subversive" copyediting, as well as a discussion of children's book writing and editing focusing on her new novel for middle-schoolers.   In addition, small discussion groups will explore topics such as indexing, guidebook editing, helping authors get published, developmental editing, collaborative editing as a business model, legal issues for freelancers, and editing for business.    Admission is just $75-$125, which includes continental breakfast and a lunch buffet.  www.edsguild.org/conferences.htm

Write in the Valley, Chapter 3

September 17, 2011

10 am - 2 pm

Sumner Senior Center

Writers and book lovers, join the fun, with book signings, handouts, lunch with authors and drawings for prizes. 

ATTENDING

Door admission is $10 and includes lunch (cash/check only)

Pre-register: Mail checks payable to City of Sumner to City of Sumner, Attn: Sally Abrams, 1104 Maple Street, Suite 250, Sumner WA 98390. 

WORK CRITIQUE

Want your work critiqued?  Submit up to ten pages by September 9, 2011, to sallya@ci.sumner.wa.us.  Please mark "Authors Event" in the subject line.

WRITING CONTEST

Night at the Library

Your characters' names are Emma and George. They can know each other or not.Their age is your choice.Setting: any library. Situation: they find themselves accidentally locked in a library at closing time.An ensuing storm knocks out electricity to the building--the only light comes from outside street lights. George's cell phone is dead; Emma only has one bar left on hers.  They end up spending the night in the library.  What happens?  Write their story--not to exceed 750 words!