Quote of the week . . .

To create the literature of fact [nonfiction], we have to work like novelists in many ways. We select. We imagine.

– Timothy Garton Ash (1955- ), British historian, political writer and columnist

Tuesdays with Story
http://www.tuesdayswithstory.org/

Writing friends . . .

From first-and-third’s Jaime Nelson: "Our website has a new face! But don’t worry, it still has most of the same content, plus more, including some new writers links, so check them out. Here’s what I need from you. Check out the WRITERS page. Half of our members don’t have pictures or bios, and the ones who do are a few years outdated. If you’re not on the list, you should be, so email me at serenityyrd@yahoo.com with a picture and/or bio. If you want to change your picture or bio, you can do that, too. But don’t dawdle because at the end of the summer, I’m going back to college and giving the website back to Tim Mickleburgh (I sort of commandeered it for a week or two...). After that, he’ll be your web contact person (although technically, I still have access to it if you need me). I hope you enjoy Tuesdays’ new alcove of the web."

To see the site, click on this link: http://www.tuesdayswithstory.org/index.htm


Here’s another website to check out . . .

From one of our group’s friends, Chicago thriller writer Joe Konrath: "I recently overhauled www.JAKonrath.com, and invite you to stop by for a chance to win twenty million dollars! (Void where prohibited, which is where you live.) Besides a new look and easier navigation, JAKonrath.com also sports brand new content:
*New videos, including the extremely expensive book trailer for my latest Jack Daniels thriller, Fuzzy Navel!
*Lengthy excerpts from all of my novels!
*Contests and free stuff!
*And an all new Message Board, where fans can interact with each other and with me!
So please visit http://www.JAKonrath.com, and be sure to tell your friends. All the cool kids are doing it."


Fifth Tuesday writing challenge . . .

Yes, we have one for September. Foodies unite! Write a short-short story – any genre – poem or essay of fewer than 400 words in which food is a major ingredient. Need ideas? Open the attachment and read the New York Times story headlined "Her Killer Meatballs Are the Stuff of Fiction."

Start now. Fifth Tuesday is September 30, so you have 5 weeks.

This is an easy challenge. We could have gone with Bill Dries’ suggestion: Write a story of more than 26 words in which every word begins with the same letter. "I think that’s be interesting," Bill said, "particularly if you drew the letter ‘z’."


Happy birthday, Hitch . . .

Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock would have been 109 last week (August 13). Among his movies that you might remember were Rear Window (1954), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963).

"Hitchcock was shy, quiet, and he spent a lot of his childhood alone, making up games," Garrison Keillor said on his NPR broadcast, The Writer’s Almanac. "He tried to ride every bus line in the city [London] at least once, and he often watched trials at the local courthouse.

"His first big success was The Lodger (1926), a movie about Jack the Ripper. Hitchcock believed that filmmaking is primarily a visual art, and he tried to tell stories through images instead of dialogue. He said that drawing the storyboard was the real work of making a film.

"Hitchcock said, ‘Some films are slices of life. Mine are slices of cake.’"


Booked for Murder changes hands . . .

Madison’s independent mystery bookstore, Booked for Murder, changed ownership four months ago. Terri Bischoff sold the store to Sara Barnes, one of her employees. If you have not been to the store, or have not been there recently, swing on by 2701 University Avenue – the store is across the street from the VA Hospital – say hi and buy a book. We held a Fifth Tuesday event at the store in January of last year.


Last night at the bookseller’s . . .

Ten writers, one of them guest Nadine Wright, were on hand last night when the first-and-thirders critiqued a stack of chapters.

Kane Walent (chapter 1, Duesenberg Profiles) – Kane said he was working for subtlety. "The argument between Vic and Martha is wearing. It’s sterile and dumb and shows why this relationship is over. Am I being too subtle?" he asked. Subtle or not, Alicia Connolly-Lohr said the scene was too slow, too repetitious. "I like being put in the scene immediately," she said. Teresa Hayden suggested cuts to shorten the argument scene and get the reader to the telephone call that Vic says in the opening line changed his life, "changed everything really."

Jaime Nelson (chapter 1/part 5, Riff) – Jaime said this was a rewrite of a much longer scene, that it now just didn’t seem to be working. Several agreed. John Schneller said Sara has to react when the man bites her fingers. Teresa said we have to see her fear of being kidnapped, of being knifed. Jerry Peterson said the way the man has Sara pinned down, she has one arm/one hand free, that she has to do something, flail at her attacker, perhaps gouge his eyes.

Ruth Smelser (chapter 16, Old Blue Deadly) – All agreed that the lawyer, Tommy, was a well-drawn, fascinating character. Alicia, the lawyer in our group, said Tommy has to be careful about his ethics. "He has to tell Henry, ‘I cannot talk to you because I represent Lybeth. If you want to talk to me, it’s at your own risk,’" she said. "Lawyers get sued over these things." Teresa suggested breaks be built into the long dialogue scenes. "Something has to happen," she said.

Teresa Hayden (chapter 5, AYU) – The tension in the chapter is provided by Jude’s evasions. "I thought it too abrupt for Sara – for the reader – calling ‘evasion,’ ‘evasion,’" Kane said. Jaime agreed, calling it a tell. And Teresa agreed to drop the word the first time it is used. On the plus said, said Kane, "the evasions are alerting the reader that there’s something going on here."

Alicia Connolly-Lohr (chapter 4/part 1, Eva Braun/Eva Schmidt: A Fictional Memoir) – "There is no conflict in this chapter," Kane said. "Everything is rolling along rather well." Meaning: The chapter is not very interesting. Kane also zeroed in on Eva calling herself a mediocre student. "That didn’t sound like her character. I think she would call herself an average student."

Jerry Peterson (chapters 19 & 20, Early’s Winter) – How deep is that snow? several asked. Our resident horse authority Emma Martinson said the horses wouldn’t trot along in the snow; they would have to work at moving through the snow if it has any kind of depth. John targetted the scene of Early shoveling out a trail down into the ravine to cattle stranded in deep snow. He said it’s not being believable. "I’ve dug out cars, and he’d have to dig for days." John also said hungry cattle in deep snow would work to get themselves to hay.


Oops . . .

Last week I failed to tell you that Carol Hornung contributed the second-and-fourth group’s meeting story. My apology. Writers deserve to be recognized for their work..


Who’s up next . . .

August 26 . . . Second-and-fourth . . . Danny Dhokarh (3 poems), Jack Freiburger (the Water Buffalo poems), Eric Shafer (short story), Carol Hornung (scene, Asperger Sunset), and Amy Reggutti (a one-page deal).

September 2 . . . First-and-third . . . Ruth Smelser (chapter 17, Old Blue Deadly), Emma Martinson (chapter 2, Ancient Voices), Millie Mader (chapter 4, Life on Hold), Jim Barner (chapter 5, Big Bang), John Schneller (chapter 28, Book 2), and Alicia Connolly-Lohr (chapter 4/part 2, Eva Braun/Eva Schmidt: A Fictional Memoir).

September 16 . . . First-and-third . . . Teresa Hayden (chapter, AYU), Kane Walent (chapter 2, Duesenberg Profiles), Emma Martinson (chapter 3, Ancient Voices), John Schneller (chapter 29, Book 2), Ruth Smelser (chapter 18, Old Blue Deadly), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 21, Early’s Winter).

September 30 . . . Fifth Tuesday!

If you’d like to be on the agenda for August 26 or September 9 or 23, send me a note, then email your short story, poems or chapter to your group.


Your help needed . . .

First-and-third group, please remove Nicole Miyashiro from your email list. Family responsibilities have shot up for her, chopping out her time for writing and our group. Nicole intends to return when life tames down for her.

From our writers . . .

Trish Mackey, now a TWS alumnae . . . Rev. Trish will move south, to Illinois . . . My new job is assistant minister at the Spiritual Living Center in Glen Ellyn. I do not know where I will be living, have not gotten that far yet. I leave for 5 weeks to the mountains of North Carolina for rest and regrouping. It has been a long and strenuous fourteen months and think the time for myself is the first next step [to regrouping]. The job will begin in October.

Eric Schafer, first-and-third . . . I’m going to take a brief reprieve from the group
while I do critiques for two novels and my wife and I look for a house. I hope to return when my reading stack is a little shorter. I should be able to make it to Fifth Tuesday in September, so I hope to see you all there.

Susan Parsons, first-and-third . . . I’ve been on a bit of a reprieve as well, due to a very busy summer on both the work and home fronts. I, too, plan to get back into writing and critiquing in the fall, so please keep me on the list!

Shel Ellestad, first-and-third . . . Missed the gathering at B&N last night . . . I’m was looking at a promising house. A great big tree-shaded yard for a summer Fifth next summer. I’ll build a great firepit. Also has a nice three-season porch in case it rains. I welcome any crossed fingers. I’ve seen too many ‘great lots’ with dorky houses so far. And the reverse.


Great words . . .

From Wordsmith Anu Garg.
hubbub (HUB-ub) noun
MEANING; Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd.
[Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]
USAGE: "Italian footballers were showered with applause and surrounded by flashing cameras, songs, and chants. The hubbub generates a sense of excitement unique to the sport of football."
Do Hung; Champions’ Charm; Thanh Nien (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam); Jun 5, 2008.

From Word Spy Paul McFedries.

tweetup (TWEET-up)
MEANING: A real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through the online Twitter service.
USAGE: "Twitter has been taken up so exuberantly by the connected community that it’s now used by the MTV Music Video Awards, presidential candidate John Edwards, and even some news organizations and fire departments to communicate their urgent messages. Its own vocabulary has even emerged: As mentioned earlier, a Twitter post is called a "tweet," and "tweetups" have taken place where "tweeps" have met up in the real world for social gatherings. You can find a glossary of Twitter terminology at the Twitter Fan Wiki.
Michael Muchmore, "Twitter," PC Magazine, October 15, 2007
Notes from Paul: I added microblogging ("posting short thoughts and ideas to a personal blog, particularly by using instant messaging software or a cell phone") about a year ago (June 7, 2007). Then, as now, the major buzz in the microblogging space (as the venture capitalists would say) centers around Twitter, a site that combines social networking and microblogging. (Thank your deity of choice that they didn’t stick with the original name: twttr.) Twitter operates by periodically asking members a simple question: "What are you doing?" Members respond via instant messaging, short message service (SMS), third-party programs, or the Twitter site with text-based posts – called tweets – no more than 140 characters long. (When Twitter won an award at the 2007 South by Southwest festival, their acceptance speech was apropos: "We’d like to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!") . . . If you’d like to follow Word Spy on Twitter, see twitter.com/wordspy. For my own personal twitter feed, check out twitter.com/paulmcf.

From Edna Ferber.
tatterdemalion (TAT-ter-day-MALE-ee-on) adjective
MEANING; Ragged or disreputable in appearance. Also, being in a decayed state or condition. Dilapidated.
USAGE: "I saw Coxey’s Army, a pitiful tatterdemalion crew, floating down the muddy Des Moines River on flat boats and rafts, hungry, penniless, desperate, on their way to demand food and work of a government which, at that time [1893], had not even dreamed of Relief, of Social Security, of Old Age Pensions, of PWA Projects."
Edna Ferber, her autobiography, A Peculiar Treasure, Literary Guild of America, 1939.

* Ferber (1885-1968), author of Showboat, Cimarron, Giant, Ice Palace, and a half-dozen other bestsellers, grew up in Appleton. Her first writing jobs were as a reporter for the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her 1925 novel, So Big.


While on the subject of words . . .

From Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary site: What do Abraham Lincoln, Marcel Proust, and Woody Guthrie all have in common? They have each been the subject of Merriam-Webster’s Word for the Wise. If you have a love for etymology and arcane trivia, then Word for the Wise is for you. Five times a week you can read or listen to interesting stories about language and those who create and inspire it.

To check out this daily language service, click on this link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/wftw/about.htm

Here’s a sample of the service. This entry ran on August 7:
Topic: Terms of 1959

On August seventh, 1959, the US launched the satellite Explorer Six; one week later, that satellite was able to photograph (for the first time ever) our planet from space, 17,000 miles above earth’s surface.

We would guess these events found some competitive Americans on cloud nine, that is, feeling elated. After all, by 1959 , the space race between the US and the USSR was underway in earnest, and this instance of upmanship by American scientists left cosmonauts down and astronauts up.

The August anniversary finds us thinking about words that entered our lexicon that same year. In addition to cloud nine and cosmonaut, 1959 also saw the first print appearance of the term upmanship.

Astronaut, by the way, had already been around for three decades by 1959, but that year did mark the first print appearance of the term splashdown, used to refer to the landing of manned spacecraft in the ocean.

With-it word watchers interested in more earthbound terms will also want to recognize 1959 for the "socially or culturally up-to-date" sense of with-it; bush (short for bush-league), meaning "falling below acceptable standards"; "unprofessional"; and the proverbial chicken-and-egg, describing "of, relating, to, or being a cause-and-effect dilemma."

Mindset List out . . .

Beloit College’s Mindset List initially was a witty way of the administration saying to its faculty members "watch your references" when you are talking to students. The annual list now is reported around the world as a guide to the adolescent consciousness. For you and me as writers, the list is a reminder of what young characters in our stories know and don’t know from pop culture – from the world around them. The college released its 2008 list Monday. Read it in the attachment or call it up online by clicking on this link: http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php


Great stuff . . .

You’ve heard it, a dad or mom decrying, "I can’t talk to my kid. He (she) listens to that God-awful head-banger music (or hip-hop or . . . ), and I don’t understand it."

The writers for Flashpoint, a summer police drama on CBS, turned that old one on its head with good effect. They set up a situation where two police dads are talking about raising kids. One has three daughters with whom he works hard to communicate and the other a son to whom he cannot talk. Says the second dad, "I love rock-and-roll and my son plays cello. I don’t understand him."


The last word . . .

Film director and master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): "There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it."

Jerry