WritersTrack

At any rate, one of my intrepid students did. She happened to write an incredibly inspiring letter as well, and also to bring up a very good question--here's her note:

Julie,

I found a New Orleans writers group on Yahoo groups. The url is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NOLAwriteclub/. I haven't been brave enough join yet, but from the postings it looks like they meet at coffee shops around New Orleans to write and support each other.

I am a GANtrack alumni (Dec 2006) and have just finished the third draft of my first novel. I just let my husband read it and he gave me some great feedback. I think a fourth draft and a dental draft should do it - I just hope that I will be able to part with it. What a learning experience. I had to keep reminding myself to "show, don't tell" and I would read over my notes from the class as I went along.

Thanks for keeping up your blog. The writing opportunities and workshops keep me motivated. I was considering entering my novel in the 2008 William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. Would you recommend this to a novice? I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thanks,
Hilary Toups

I hope Hilary isn't embarrassed that the world now knows she's about to start the fourth draft of her novel--I for one am deeply impressed. Way to go, Hil! The writers' group sounds good to me and as for the Faulkner contest, you can't beat it. It's available not only to New Orleanians, but anyone, anywhere. If you win, it's a great feather in your cap, and something good to drop when seeking an agent or editor. But by then, you might have met one already, because going to the Faulkner Words and Music Festival is part of the prize, along with actual cash and a gold medallion with Mr. Faulkner's face on it.

Here's something else--Hilary (or any entrant) can actually choose between two contests and I want to put a plug in for my favorite--the Evans Harrington Grant given for a novel-in-progress. It's my favorite for two reasons--first of all, it's named after my creative writing professor at Ole Miss, someone who was a great inspiration to me and many others. Second, I founded it! I really did, which is how it got named for Professor Harrington. I founded and then funded it for several years, till I absolutely couldn't any more, but the Faulkner people, bless them, have kept it up.

They were kind enough--just because they know how interested I am--to forward this year's judge's notes on the winners and runner-ups. My lips are sealed, of course, but the one thing I CAN say in good conscience is that she was waxing absolutely ecstatic about the entries.

So,listen--say you were one of this year's entrants, but didn't win--but say that judge liked your book a lot. Suppose you went to the festival and introduced yourself and then kept up the relationship--you'd then know an influential writer who wishes you well. Do you think she'd be happy to help you with advice, perhaps even steer you to a good agent? I'd be willing to bet she would. So you don't even have to win to benefit. Plus, there's the great experience of going to the conference, period. You can meet tons of editors, agents, and writers. Those of you who don't know it, check it out at www.wordsandmusic.org .

Oh, and one final thing--some of you might not know what a "dental draft" is--that's a phrase coined by a writer friend of Anne Lamott's for the draft "where you check every tooth." Enviable place to be.

Aunt Julie says--join that writers' group, enter that manuscript, and put your hands together for Hilary! (Even if you ARE Hilary.)

Just got this note and it reminded me of all our previous discussions about writers' groups--did anyone manage to start one? Still interested? Here's some new blood for you. (See e-mail address below.)

Failing a group that came out of my classes, does anyone have any other ideas where Marc could start? If so, e-mail Aunt Julie at julie@casamysterioso.com , or reply to the entry.

Hello Julie,

Bev Marshall gave me your email address. I'm new to the area and am looking
for a writers' critique group to join. She suggested you would be a good
liaison to start with since the book I just finished writing was part
mystery. Do you have room in a group or know of other writers groups that
are open to me?

thanks,
Marc Maxson
marcmaxson@yahoo.com

I got this press release a few days ago--for a retreat in New Orleans in May, 2008! A long time off, and not a place you normally think of as a retreat, but the program sounds fabulous.
Check it out:

About Pen to Press
Announcing a one of a kind writers' retreat that you simply can't pass up! Come excited and leave inspired, ready to improve your writing and get that manuscript published!

Pen to Press Retreats are five intense, hands-on, inspiring days that teach participants how to shape and present a saleable manuscript. You'll learn in a variety of settings, from workshops to one-on-one mentoring sessions to seminars. To that end, you will write and revise, have your manuscript critiqued, and revise some more. This is a remarkable opportunity to transform your writing!

To top it off, throughout the last two days of each retreat, all of our participants are given exclusive, one-on-one time with agents and editors to whom they can pitch their work!

With this retreat under your belt, who can stop you? You'll be off and ready to publish in no time!


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Activities
Participants will be assigned to a class of 20 and a team instructor. (Our instructors are all successfully published authors, many NY Times Best-sellers, award-winners, and excellent teachers.). With this group, you will spend five days working on specifics to improve your manuscript. During classes and panel discussions, you'll learn details about characterization, plot, dialogue, pacing, voice, marketing, pitching, contract negotiations, etc., all of it geared around your specific work.
Agents and editors will be on hand the last two days of the retreat, and they'll be there to spend one-on-one time with you, our participants . . . writers who now have a polished pitch for a promising work!


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Join Us
Interested writers must submit a two page synopsis of a completed novel or novel in progress along with the first five pages of that novel. From those submissions, 160 participants will be selected. Good luck and we hope to see you there!

For more information on our 2008 Pen to Press Writers' Retreat, visit:

http://www.pentopressretreat.com

This could be the best opportunity for a writer I've ever heard of. You've got a whole month to research it

“101 BEST New Orleans Drinking Stories!”

This book will be published this fall by Bacchus Books.
It will include a link for a FREE download of a special version of “Sorry Mom (But I’m a Drunk)” by Morning 40 Federation. It will be available at Barnes & Noble and Borders stores nationwide!


Email your 500-1000 word (1-2 pages in MS Word) BEST New Orleans drinking story to us for consideration. Wild pics welcome! Poems welcome. Email stories, poems and pics to: RexBacchus@yahoo.com by July 30. Those selected will be notified by August 29, 2007!

Hey, guys--this is a biggie. Aunt Julie knows you can do it! That is, if you already have the book--looks like there's not much time till the deadline. So get on it.


HILLERMAN MYSTERY COMPETITION
------------------------------------
DEADLINE: July 1, 2007
GENRE: Books
THEME: Submit an unpublished mystery novel set in the Southwestern US by an author with no published books in that genre
LENGTH: 60,000 words max.
PRIZE: $10,000 advance against royalties, & publication by St Martin's Press
URL: http://www.hillermanconference.com/pdfhillermanprize.pdf

Got a note from Mary Fitzpatrick of the Preservation Resource Center asking if any of my students would be interested in this:

BOOK: "My Favorite Shotgun" -- 104 pages including introduction, history, floorplans for adapting shotguns and lots and lots of photos with quotes

Similar in layout to "New Orleans: Life in an Epic City" which has so far raised $80,000 to restore homes damaged by the hurricane. This book will also be underwritten with all proceeds going to rebuilding.

WHAT I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE FROM MY WRITING PALS: A short (less that 100 words) rumination, thought, vignette, funny incident, human story that happened in a shotgun and that helps explain in a small way about living in this particular type of house. Some of the best sources I have found so far are old people but it's hard to get them on the right track of thinking about a small happening, a human anecdote. We prefer humorous to melancholy and would just as soon avoid too many Katrina stories.

CAN YOU HELP ME? I would appreciate so much if you would have the time to send me something by June 10, but if more thoughts come later, keep sending them as well. Also, if you have specific shotguns that go with the story, we can photograph them if I have the address from you.
Thanks so very much, Mary

Mary Fitzpatrick
Editor, Preservation in Print
Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
923 Tchoupitoulas St.
New Orleans, La. 70130
504.581.7032
504.636.3052
fax: 504.636.7063
mfitzpatrick@prcno.org

Aunt Julie sez: Go or it, guys!

Well, something like that. It's something to do with betting with fake money. What I can't figure out is what's to stop an author from just betting zillions on themselves. But these people did get a partnership with Simon & Schuster, who are actually putting up money.

I went to the website (www.mediapredict.com) and found it unbelievably cumbersome, plus I kind of lost interest trying to read proposals this way--it just didn't seem a good use of my time. I went back a few days later and thought no new proposals had been added--though I can't be sure. And everything on there is made to sound very hot indeed--as if one's very own agent had written the content. Not sure what exactly is up here, but in my never-ending quest to provide useful service to my students and readers, I feel I must report on it. Take a gander:

Another Internet Publishing Contest
MediaPredict.com is working with Touchstone Fireside on a project in which internet visitors "vote" with fake cash to predict the success of posted book proposals. The publisher will "evaluate the fifty top scoring book proposals in the prediction market," select five finalists, and negotiate to publish the winner. Published contest rules give that contract an "approximate minimum value $2,000" and promise to provide that amount as a cash prize if the winner and the publisher can't come to terms. And Touchstone does not have to offer a contract if it believes none of the finalists "are of publishable quality."

Where it all gets a little muddier, however, is in the business relationship between MediaPredict and the submitting authors. The site's terms indicate that submissions are evaluated by "partner literary agents who review submissions and recommend whether they're right for Media Predict." They also say "some of the best agents in the business have agreed to represent authors discovered through Media Predict," though further details are not posted.

Stinski told us the "core group" of agent partners comprises Matthew Guma of The Guma Agency, Mollie Glick from the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Melissa Chinchillo and Christy Fletcher from Fletcher & Parry--quoted in today's NYT piece, though not identified there as having a relationship with MediaPredict--and one other young agent. Stinski says that all of the agented proposals posted as part of the site's launch come from these agent partners. But the agents we spoke to characterized the relationship with MediaPredict as informal and advisory.

Stinski assembled the group by "cold-calls" to a variety of agents. "Some people thought 'this is crazy'; others thought this is very interesting and we built up relationships" with that group.

When unagented writers have their submitted work accepted for the contest, they need to sign an agreement--not posted, and which Stinski declined to provide--based on "a standard literary agreement" that he says makes MediaPredict the "agent on a temporary basis." Stinksi says the company's intention is not to actually engage in literary representation itself, though. "We want everybody to have access to literary representation.... If you want to sign on, we'll put you on the site, and if you score well we'll find an agent for you."

I always tell my students you can market your book while you're writing it-- the three important steps are these:

1. Take a class (preferably mine). That way you meet people who can help you. Two other ways:
2. Join writers' organizations.
3. Go to writers' festivals and conferences where you can meet agents, editors, and other writers.

Here's one coming up:

Murder in the Grove takes place June 8-9, 2007 in Boise, Idaho. Robert Crais is the Guest of Honor. Over 30 additional mystery professionals will join Crais to impart their knowledge regarding mysteries to attendees. Agent Katharine Sands will present a workshop on pitching. Rhys Bowen will present a workshop titled Instant Build-a-Mystery. Sharan Newman will present a workshop on research. Other topics will include editing, depicting use of force in your writing, the writer’s life, and more.

The deadline for early registration fees for Murder in the Grove is Monday, April 30th. The basic conference fee goes from $100 to $125 on May 1st, so register soon!

There is also still some space left in the full day Master Class presented in conjunction with Murder in the Grove. Empowering Characters’ Emotions, taught by psychologist and acclaimed instructor Margie Lawson, helps writers better incorporate emotion in their writing to create page turners. The Master Class is priced separately at $65 through April 30th. May 1st the price increases to $100.

For more information on the conference or to register, please visit www.murderinthegrove.com.

Two things, guys--a new session of Aunt Julie's fabulous, fun phone fiction class, the Great American Novel Track, begins this Tuesday, May 15, at 9 p.m. Eastern time, 8p.m. Central, etc.

ANYBODY ANYWHERE can take these classes, using only that ancient implement known as the humble telephone. I emphasize this because it's recently come to my attention that no matter how often I say "conference call" or "telephone", people hear "online." When actually the only thing you do online is sign up--which you can do at www.writerstrack.com . You guys wannabe published, get on over there.

What we do, we just all dial the same number at the same time, which rings at a conference call center; then we punch in an access code and bingo! we're talkin'. Well, actually it's mostly me that's talkin' but that's because I want you to get your money's worth. You get to talk too, just maybe not as much.

Okay, thing two--Aunt Julie has another writing exercise for you, the kind that could pay off with tremendous gratification, but alas, no cash. This comes from Tony Burton, editor of Crime and suspense ezine:

If you write crime shorts and would like to take a swing at a NO FEE
contest, the Crime and Suspense ezine is holding one right now.

The full rules, requirements, prize list, etc., are all listed on the
Crime and Suspense web site. Just click on the link for the contest
on the main page.

http://www.crimeandsuspense.com

Good luck to all y'all! (That part comes from Aunt Julie.)

Hey, we've got a great new thing on the Writerstrack website. We're now offering the Great American Novel Track, Aunt Julie's signature course, on CDs. We've actually had the ability for sometime, but only offered them to our students (at a nominal price).

But now anybody can buy them for $150 -- that's just $25 a disk between you and getting that novel on the market! It was my assistant's idea. See, I thought a telephone class was the ultimate in convenience; but she pointed out that it still has a time element attached, and some people might like to take the course whenever they damn well pleased. Maybe even while driving, which is not recommended while holding a phone to one's ear. None of you would do that, would you?

Great idea, I thought! So get 'em while they're hot--at www.writerstrack.com .

And by the way, if you'd rather have that personal contact, with all Aunt Julie's motherly cajoling and nagging, the next GANtrack is May 15 -- you can sign up at the site.