• Name: Angela Quarles
• Place of birth/hometown: Savannah, GA
• MWG member for how many years: 1/2 year
• Website/blog/fan pages: www.angelaquarles.com
• What was your first writing-related gig? Writing articles for the Emory Wheel in college. I was the Managing Editor by my junior year.
• What books inspired you as a child? Arty the Smarty, anything by Dr. Seuss, all the Land of Oz books, not just The Wizard of Oz. In fact, that interested me the least; it was the others that had so many crazy scenarios and imaginative characters like Tik-Tok and the Highly Magnified Woggle Bug. Also The Hobbit. I used to wish to have furry feet and would draw lots of pictures of Bilbo.
• Is there a genre or style of writing that you are afraid to attempt? Classic Horror. I don’t know if I have it in me to be truly, darkly frightening.
• If you could work with any living writer, who would it be and why? Christopher Moore. He’s so zany I would love to know where and how he comes up with his stories, and his writing process. Plus I imagine it’d be a blast working for him.
• If you could travel back in time and spy on a writer, who would it be and why? Hands down, Jane Austen. No contest.

During our break for summer, MWG will post our newsletter and a Member Spotlight each month. Our 2012-2013 officers are:

President- Carrie Cox
Vice President- Angela Quarles
Treasurer- Lisa Denham
Secretary- Stephanie Lawton

Our last event of the 2011-2012 season will be the Open Mic at Serda’s Coffee on Royal St. May 17th from 6-8pm. Please join us.

The Write Stuff

The Official Newsletter of Mobile Writers Guild

May 1, 2012

Volume 2 Issue 12

From the President:

With the 2011-2012 year of MWG coming to a close, I’d like to thank those who have supported us—both returning and new members, as well as the different organizations we’ve been fortunate enough to work with these past months. Also, I’m sending hugs and gratitude to Stephanie Lawton, April Higgenbotham, and Dawn Steadham for plugging along with me.

All the best for next season of writing!

Carrie Cox

2011-2012 MWG president

Upcoming Events:

Our next meeting is this Thursday, May 3, at the West Regional Library from 6-7:30pm. We will be voting for the 2012-2013 officers (the nominees that have accepted and were seconded are: President- Carrie Cox, Vice President- Angela Trigg, Treasurer- Lisa Denham, and Secretary- Stephanie Lawton.) Also, Stephanie will be leading us in a live query critique and Q&A.

The next Open Mic for MWG is May 17th at Serda’s Coffee from 6-8 p.m. Ten readers, who each have 10 minutes to read their work, will be sharing their words with us. To sign up, please e-mail Dee Jordan at mobiledeelight@gmail.com. This will be our last Open Mic until September, so make every effort to attend.

The summer social “Drink-n-Scrawl” is back for 2012. We’ll be meeting the third Saturdays from 2-4pm at The Bluegill Restaurant on the Causeway. Several writing groups from across the bay plan on joining us, and it is open for all to attend. Please mark your calendars for June 16, July 21, and August 18.

Member News:

Stephanie Lawton will be at the July First Friday Author Round-up at Page and Pallete in Fairhope to promote the June release of her first novel, Want.

MWG Needs:

Send us your news and updates over the summer. We will still send out the monthly newsletter and forward any important information.

Where to find us:

www.mobilewritersguild.com

www.facebook.com/pages/Mobile-Writers-Guild/132422949536?ref=hnav

On Twitter: @MobileWriters

Email: mobilewritersguild@gmail.com

Remember that comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome—both online and at the meetings. Thanks for your continued support!

Write on!

We’ve all heard the advice that to be a good writer you have to be a reader, but how many of us keep to those ideals? How many books have you read this month?

It’s easy to think you have little time to write, let alone READ, but let’s step back and reflect on five things from the past week.

1. How many hours of tv/movies did you watch?

2. How many hours did you spend on the computer (or gaming console) that were non-writing related?

3. How many books did you read?

4. How much have you written?

5. Do you think you are stuck/blocked in your writing right now?

If your answers are close to zero for questions one through four, then you must officially have an ultra-busy life right now. You have permission to chill for a few days until you catch your breath.

But if your numbers for questions one and two are significantly higher than the answers to three and four, you might want to reconsider your priorities because your answer to number five is probably YES.

I dare you to trim an hour of tv/computer time and use that to read something for pleasure. If an hour is too much, start with thirty minutes, or even fifteen, a day and see how reading affects your creative juices.

MWG Member Spotlight Q&A

• Name: Carrie Cox
• Place of birth/hometown: San Diego, California
• MWG member for how many years: Two+ (math isn’t my strong point)
• Website/blog/fan pages: www.authorcarriecox.com and www.facebook.com/authorcarriecox
• Books/articles published: My articles that are available online are listed here http://authorcarriecox.com/articles/ but I also had a personal essay published in “TALL” magazine.  

• Who are your top five favorite authors right now?Katherine Paterson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Richard Peck, and Madeleine L’Engle.

• When did you know you wanted to be a writer and how did it affect your life plans?I started seriously writing when I was almost fifteen. Each year, for four years straight, I wrote a first draft of a different novel, 200-250 pages each. (No, didn’t have much of a social life. And rereading them now is hilarious.) My grandparents gave me a subscription to Writer’s Digest for my sixteenth birthday and when I started college at seventeen, I put myself through The Institute of Children’s Literature correspondence course on “Writing for Children and Teenagers.” During my twenties, I did little writing, but when I hit thirty I realized my dreams where fading and I needed to get back on track. And here I am.
• Do you have any strange rituals that help you get in the mood to work?I like to listen to music related to what I’m about to work on, or movie soundtracks, and zone out playing Free Cell for about ten minutes. Controlling the cards and patterns to win a few games helps me feel like I can tackle my story.
• If you could travel back in time and spy on a writer, who would it be and why?I’d love be in Concord, Massachusetts when Hawthorne and the Alcott’s were next door neighbors—especially when Mr. Alcott would host his transcendentalist friends in his barn-turned-schoolhouse. And I’d love to watch Nathaniel Hawthorne work in his third story writing tower.
• If you could meet any literary character who would it be? Why?Angel Clare from Tess of the D’Urbervilles.  I’d hope to catch him before he sails off to Brazil and messes up the life of both his wife and himself. If it was after, I think I’d have to bonk him on the head with a parasol for being a ninny.

Hard to believe the last meeting of the year is quickly approaching!

We’ll be doing something new in May–a live query letter critique.

For those who don’t know, a query letter is what you send to an agent to let them know you want their representation. You usually only send it after your manuscript is completed and ready to be “sold.”

There are literally thousands of agents and each has his or her own likes and dislikes, quirks and requirements. (For a list of agents, try QueryTracker or Publishers Marketplace (you can search without registering.) Before sending a query, always be sure to check the agent’s/agency’s website for their current submission requirements.

One thing they all have in common, however, is that they require a query letter. (Some agencies have online forms you fill out. These usually ask for the same information you’d include in a query letter.)

For our meeting on May 3,  VP Stephanie Lawton will be critiquing query letters for works of fiction. She has two degrees in professional writing and editing, she’s taught professional communication (including letter-writing) at the college level, and she’s had success with her own query letters.

Paid members are Everyone is invited to submit their letters to mobilewritersguild@gmail.com by Thursday, April 26. The first ten will be critiqued at the meeting, so only submit if you’re willing to take constructive criticism in front of a group! However, we’ll remove names from the letters. (You can reveal yourself as the writer if you wish.)

Before you send your letter, be sure to read up on the proper formatting and content of a query letter. Below are some helpful links to get you started:

• Query Shark
• Agent Query
• Nelson Literary Agency – FAQ (scroll down for info on pitches)

Below is a query Stephanie used. It will give you the basic format and content:

Dear Ms. Mudiganti,

Because you enjoyed the blurb of Want on my blog, I hope you’ll be interested in my complete manuscript. After critiquing the first ten pages, author Saundra Mitchell said, “It’s got a strong voice, and a literary bent, and I think you have something special here.”

Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she  dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche to help her.

She can’t understand why he suddenly gave up Boston’s music scene to return to the South. He doesn’t know her life depends on escaping it and the madness that threatens her success. Isaac must resist a taboo attraction, but an indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball—the pinnacle event for Mobile’s elite—forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past.

Want is a completed 77,500-word contemporary Young Adult novel that will appeal to readers who appreciate the psychology of Michelle Hodkin’s The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and the forbidden nature of R.A. Nelson’s Teach Me.

I have a BA and MA in English and have taught on the college level. I’ve also been a copy editor/paginator at several newspapers. I help run www.NovelNovice.com, the top education-based site dedicated to YA literature and serve as vice president and social media administrator of the Mobile Writers Guild. I’m also member of SCBWI.

Thanks very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Lawton

Questions? Leave them in the comments or email mobilewritersguild@gmail.com.

Be sure to read the P.S., a note from Baldwin Writers Group President, Steven Moore.

TheWrite Stuff

The Official Newsletter of Mobile Writers Guild

April 3, 2012

Volume 2 Issue 11

From the President:

April is National Poetry Month and a busy time along the Gulf Coast for literary related events. Our listings for upcoming events are longer than usual—and that’s a good thing! So amid your spring sports and celebrations, please take time to remember the literary community and invite your family and friends along, too.

Carrie Cox

2011-2012 MWG president

Upcoming Events:

Our next meeting is this Thursday, April 5th, at the West Regional Library from 6-7:30pm. Current Alabama Poet Laureate Sue Walker will be speaking to us. As always, our meetings are free and open to the public.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Pensters Writing Group and the University of South Alabama Creative Writing Department are co-hosting Poetry Cafe on the Bay on April 7th, from 2:00pm to 4:30pm at USA Performance Center on the USA Fairhope Campus (111 St. James St.,36532) This is NOT a slam or open mic. All material is family-friendly. Free and open to the public.

Daddy’s Girl Weekend, sponsored byCarolyn Haines, will be held April 13-15 at the Malaga Inn in downtown Mobile. The weekend celebrates Haines’ characters from her Sarah Booth Delaney Mississippi Delta mysteries. Attending authors will include reigning Big Daddy, Dean James (writing as Miranda James, he is the author of the NYT bestselling “cat in the stacks” mysteries), fantasy author and Big Daddy candidate, Anton Stout. Paranormal, mystery, horror and romance writers Deborah LeBlanc, T.R. Pearson and a host of others. An agent and editor will also be there. The conference includes sessions on writing and publishing, but also readers’ sessions where those who love books can talk about their favorite characters and books. There will also be a contest for Big Daddy and a costume evening themed around the Bones’ character, Jitty. The contest is, What Would Jitty Wear? Any outfit from the 11 Bones books is fair game. More information and registration forms can be found at www.carolynhaines.com.

The Pensters Writing Group presents Dr. Alice Kracke in the program “To Live & Write in L.A.: Editing a Monthly Magazine” on Saturday, April 14, 2012 from 10:00a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Dahlgren Hall on the Faulkner State Fairhope Campus at 450 Fairhope Avenue, Fairhope, Al.  36532. For more information contact P.T. Paul at PTPhantazein@gmail.com or(251) 625-3504.

The next Open Mic for MWG is April 19th at Serda’s Coffee from 6-8 p.m. Ten readers, who each have 10 minutes to read their work, will be sharing their words with us. To sign up, please e-mail Dee Jordan at mobiledeelight@gmail.com.

BALDWIN WRITERS GROUP: Their next meeting on April 21, 2012 from 10am-noon will have our own Vice President, StephanieLawton, leading a discussion on “Writing for Young Adults.” Please read the Post Script for more information.

Member News:

Marilyn Johnston had two poems that e-published during the month of March at http://www.deadmule.com/poetry/ under the name “em a olsen.”

MWG Needs:

We began taking nominations for 2012-2013 MWG officers at our March meeting and will continue at our April meeting. As of now, the nominees that have accepted and were seconded are: President- Carrie Cox, Vice President- Angela Quarles, Treasurer- Lisa Denham, and Secretary- Stephanie Lawton. You may also e-mail your nominations to mobilewritersguild@gmail.com.

We will vote during our May 3 meeting, so please make every effort to attend.

Where to find us:

www.mobilewritersguild.com

www.facebook.com/pages/Mobile-Writers-Guild/132422949536?ref=hnav

On Twitter: @MobileWriters

Email: mobilewritersguild@gmail.com

Remember that comments,suggestions, and questions are welcome—both online and at the meetings. Thanksfor your continued support!

Write on!

P.S.

Hi everyone–

Our Writers Contest is officially over.  Thanks to all who entered.  We’ll have details about the contest in the next few weeks.

It’s April, so I thought I’d send a reminder about our next BWG meeting.

Our next meeting will be Saturday, April 21, 2012 – 10am to Noon at the Daphne Public Library.

The meeting promises to be interesting and educational.  We’ve asked special guest Stephanie Lawton to join us at the April meeting to lead the group in our topic: Writing Young Adult Literature.

Stephanie Lawton is the author of the upcoming YA novel Want, published by Inkspell Publishing. She’s a contributor to www.NovelNovice.com, the top education-based YA book blog, and vice president of the Mobile Writers Guild. She says her children think her laptop is another sibling. All of her information can be found at www.StephanieLawton.com.

For our next meeting, we’ll have another MINI CONTEST but WITH A TWIST.  The contest is being judged by our YA specialist, Stephanie.

In honor of our topic (Writing For Young Adults), our theme for the April meeting will be YOUNG ADULT. That means your entry must be a YOUNG ADULT short story (1000 words or less).

Note from Stephanie: There’s a common misconception among the non-YA community that young adult literature is simply regular fiction “dumbed down” for teens. NOT TRUE. The only difference is that it must be told from a young adult’s point-of-view (not a memoir looking back on the teen years). Topics and intensity run the gamut, from sweet coming-of-age novels to horrific urban fantasies, steampunk romances to post-apocalyptic dystopians. And although YA is often technically classified as children’s literature, it’s helpful to remember the definition of young adult: YOUNG adult.

THE RULES THIS MONTH ARE DIFFERENT THAN PREVIOUS MINI-CONTESTS, SO PLEASE READ CLOSELY. All entries must be submitted by e-mail to steven@baldwinwritersgroup.com no later than 11:59:59pm on April, Friday the 13th (don’t let the deadline scare you away). That’s one week before the meeting.

Please make sure you check out all of the rules for the Mini Contest on our Web site (http://www.baldwinwritersgroup.com).

Since Stephanie is from the Mobile Writers Guild, we’ve decided to open the April contest to anyone from our local writers groups.  If you submit a story on time and within the criteria, we’ll add your entry not only to the contest, but also to the Table Book Anthology (a different book than our Annual Anthology) that will be published when we have enough stories to print.  The contest is usually open to BWG members only.  This is only the second time we’ve opened it to non-members and probably the last before publishing, so make sure you get your entry in.  You don’t have to be present to be added to the book, but you do have to be present to win (bragging rights and a $10 gift card to Books-A-Million).

Even if you don’t send in an entry for the Mini Contest, join us for the discussion.  There seems to be a lot of mystery to YA.  This is your opportunity to clear the confusion.

Finally, remember that April is also Poetry Month.  Hug a poet, write a poem.

I look forward to seeing you at the April BWG meeting.