Author Open House at the Library

My favorite library event is coming soon! 

Local authors are invited to participate in the St. Charles City-County Library District’s Fifth Annual Local Author Open House. This year’s Open House will be held Thursday, Nov 21 from 5:30-7:30 at the Middendorf-Kredell Branch Library in O’Fallon, MO.

Each holiday season, the Library District offers an opportunity for local authors to connect with library customers. Last year, more than 135 attendees and 47 authors participated in the event. Authors will be provided with a small "booth" or table. The library will offer refreshments and a festive atmosphere that allows visitors to chat, purchase books and have then signed. They ask that authors sell their own books, with the intention of fostering connections between the authors and their readers. The open house is also a great way to network with other authors.

To participate, email the following information to jcompton@stchlibrary.org before Friday, Nov 1: Name, book title(s), phone number and email address. Late registration will not guarantee that your name and book title will appear on the promotional material, but may still be able to reserve you a booth. Authors can attach an image of their book cover for publicity purposes.

Write soon (and hope to see you there!)

Mary

Rest in peace, Elmore Leonard

I know that the late Elmore Leonard’s 10 tricks for good writing: * article from the New York Times has been read by many writers, but I think it's great advice that's worth sharing here. 

1.  Never open a book with weather.
2.  Avoid prologues.
3.  Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4.  Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5.  Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 
6.  Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7.  Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8.  Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9.  Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10.  Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. 

 * Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle.” Here’s a link to the original article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html?src=pm

Write soon,

Mary

Top 20 books left in hotel rooms

E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades” books show up three times in the list of Top Twenty Books Left in Travelodge Hotel Rooms. They are, however, in good company. Check out No. 20!

The top 20

·        1. Fifty Shades Freed by EL James

·        2. Bared To You by Sylvia Day

·        3. The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

·        4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

·        5. The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

·        6. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

·        7. Reflected in You by Sylvia Day

·        8. My Time by Bradley Wiggins

·        9. Entwined with You by Sylvia Day

·        10. Fifty Shades Darker by EL James

·        11. Cheryl: My Story by Cheryl Cole

·        12. The Marriage Trap by Jennifer Probst

·        13. Camp David by David Walliams

·        14. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

·        15. Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

·        16. The Marriage Mistake by Jennifer Probst

·        17. The Racketeer by John Grisham

·        18. The Carrier by Sophie Hannah

·        19. Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French

·        20. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Here’s a link to the article from The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/28/fifty-shades-freed-travelodge-hotel-room

Write soon,
Mary

Write to Win: Writing Tips from a Contest Judge

"Write to Win: Writing Tips from a Contest Judge" is one of several talks sponsored by the University of Missouri-St. Louis that will take place on its campus Saturday, Sept 14 from 1–4 p.m. Instructor Donna Volkenannt will share valuable information about why good writing isn’t always enough to win writing competitions. Volkenannt is a frequent contest judge and first place winner of the 2012 Erma Bombeck Global Humor Writing Competition. She will share tips and strategies and some of the little things that give winning entries the edge.  

Volkenannt is a former UMSL student whose essays, short stories, book reviews, interviews, and articles have appeared in numerous commercial and literary publications. She has edited several literary anthologies and served as a judge in local, state, regional, and national writing competitions.

Winner of almost 100 writing awards, her works have also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Spur Award. She received honorable mention in the Fourth Annual National Steinbeck Short Story Competition. A past president of the Missouri Writers’ Guild and founding president of Saturday Writers, when Donna's not reading, writing, or talking about writing, she blogs about the sweet mysteries of life at http://donnasbookpub.blogspot.com.

This seminar is part of The Write Stuff Certificate Program. The cost of the seminar is $65, payable by cash, check, or charge. Make checks payable to the University of Missouri–St. Louis. To register by phone, call (314) 516-6590, or see Diana Rehagen, 302 J.C. Penney Bldg. on the UMSL Campus. Visit their website for more information.

http://www.umsl.edu/~pcs/noncredit-offerings/write-stuff.html#.UhtlZ34o7mQ

Write soon,

Mary