November is National Novel Writing Month!

The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of November. (Learn more about this fun and painstaking goal at the NaNoWriMo website!)

Wrimos are almost two weeks into their novels by this point. We know it can get stressful. Maybe it’s starting to feel like the end is nowhere near? Well, we believe in our Wrimos! The goal may seem unattainable, but it is perfectly attainable.

The WLT is hosting NaNoWriMo related events all throughout the month. Feel more than free to stop by our office, meet other Wrimos, and write non stop!

NaNoWriMo

Friday the 13th Lockdown

Come join fellow Wrimos for a “killer” all-nighter on November 13 from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. here at the WLT offices. We’ll also snack, socialize a little, and play a game or two. The 12-hour lockdown is a great way to boost your word count.

Please:

• Be a registered NaNoWriMo participant
• Be actively working on a novel
• Be 18 or older – this is required by the Writers League insurance company
• Plan to stay the whole twelve hours – that’s why it’s called a lockdown!
• RSVP to receive the secret password.

Space is limited.

RSVP is first-come, first-served. Once we’re full, we’re full. After that, we’ll start a waiting list. If you RSVP and then can’t make it, please let us know so someone else can take your place. Please don’t show up without the password!

What you’ll need to bring/do:

• Bring potluck snacks to share during the long, long night
• Wear comfortable clothes, and bring a sweater in case it gets chilly
• If you think you’ll need a nap, bring a pillow/blankie
• Bring headphones – please make sure the sound doesn’t bleed through
• Arrive by 7 pm if possible. We’ll post the phone number at the door for emergency late arrivals.

No drugs or alcohol allowed.

What we’ll provide:

• Liquids – sodas, water, tea, and coffee, ice (there is also a soda machine in the building)
• Extension cords and surge protectors (though it wouldn’t hurt to bring one if you have it)
• Tables, chairs, and one small couch
• Access to the internet for folks who just can’t write without it
• Access to the Writers’ League library

Last Chance Write-In
November 30 from 9 a.m. to midnight. Use your final writing hours wisely by spending them at our WLT offices.

Additional NaNoWriMo Support
If you are a WLT member who receives the official NaNoWriMo Certificate of Completion, the WLT will give you 50% off of the submission fee for WLT manuscript contest.

Best wishes to our Wrimos!

Learn Effective Interviewing Skills with Suzy Spencer

Suzy Spencer

Effective interviewing is an art form essential to the success of all writers — whether you’re doing research for a novel or nonfiction book; writing newspaper, magazine, or journal articles; preparing your thesis or dissertation; creating web content; blogging; or promoting your own book.

In fact, if a writer doesn’t know what questions to ask, how to ask or answer them, as well as how to listen to glean information that no one else has, the writer could miss key opportunities to make an even better book, story, or article.

New York Times best selling author Suzy Spencer, a professional in the techniques of interviewing, will teach the course through lecture, discussion, and role-playing. This two-session class will teach writers how to prepare for an interview, how to conduct an interview, how to turn a bad interview into a good one, and how to follow-up after an interview.

The information from this class is useful for everyone, but especially if you are: a freelance writer or journalist who wants to bump up your interview skills to excel in a tight market, a blogger who wants to add original reporting to your blog, an authors who is — or who plans to be — interviewed to promote a book, or an author interviewing prospective agents and/or publishers.

Interested? Register here.

The Writers’ League of Texas will be at the Texas Book Festival this weekend. We will be located at booths 122 & 123 in the exhibits tent on Colorado between 12th and 13th streets.

Four Reasons Why You Should Stop by the WLT Booth:

1) Consider this an opportunity to meet and mingle with other literati-lovers in Texas. We know we’d love to meet you. Stop by and say hi!

2) This serves as a nice time for you to meet our new staff: Publicity and Programming Manager Jan Baumer, Office Manager Bethany Hegedus, and Bookkeeper Kate Meehan. We’re delighted to have these intelligent ladies working with us. Come welcome them!

3) We’re lucky to have WLT members who will be in our booth signing their books, click here to learn more about the member book signings. Come get your book signed!

4) We’ll be announcing the 2009 Book Awards winners! The ceremony will take place 3:30 Saturday in Room E.026 at the State Capital Extension. Come honor the winners and finalists!

Successful Characterization with Tracy Daugherty

Tracy Daugherty

One way to think about successful characterization in either fiction or nonfiction is to say that characters work best when they match the narrative situation. That is, in the short-hand that is literary craft, everything they do illustrates their core qualities and values. Within the narrative parameters you have established, everything about the character’s nature is clear to the reader.

Instructor and  acclaimed author Tracy Daugherty will help explore strategies for creating successful characters in a narrative, whether it is fiction or nonfiction. Together the class will write and share work and ideas, and the instructor will provide published examples of characterization. The class will be in a lecture/discussion format.

Students will learn:

• a firm concept of characterization
• a sense of effective dialogue in fiction and nonfiction
• an understanding of tone, as it relates to characterization
• strategies for developing narrative situations that effectively illustrate character
• an understanding of how to build story from character, rather than the other way around

Interested? Register here.

Novel Writing Online Class with Kit Frazier

Kit Frazier

Self study, online course

starts Oct. 26 – Nov. 30, 2009

$149 WLT members / $209 nonmembers

Reservations extended until Wednesday, October 28th!

The Bookish Brunch

Honoring:

Texas Book Festival Authors

Click on their image and read the author’s bio.

Also honoring the 2009 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award Winners

9 to 10:30 am, Sunday, November 1

At the home of Frances Townsend & Ted Gilman in Austin

$40 WLT members/$50 nonmembers

Proceeds benefit the Writers’ League of Texas

For more information, please visit our Bookish Brunch page.

Happy Hour Honoring Kristy

5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17
At Doc’s Motorworks
1123 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78704

The Writers’ League is saying to goodbye to one of the most popular staff members ever. After four years of dedicated service, Program and Membership Coordinator Kristy Bordine is taking on a new position as a paraprofessional at Premier High School, a charter school in Austin. She’s excited to have the new challenges of working in a school environment — and even more delighted by the fact that she will be working the same hours as her husband, Jared, who teaches at the school (carpooling, anyone?!).

Her last day at the Writers’ League was Friday, Sept. 11, and she starts her new job on Monday, Sept. 14. Her playful spirit and genuine interest in every single WLT member will be missed. We hope she’ll continue to post the occasional Magical Discovery!

Let’s send Kristy off in style at the September WLT happy hour. We hope you’ll come by to thank her for everything she has done for the Writers’ League and to meet and welcome Sara Ortiz, who is stepping in as a part-time administrative assistant.

If you’d like to send Kristy your best wishes and regards or stay in touch with her, please send her a note or email in care of the WLT office.

“Build a Book” Series: Meet Your Publisher and Editor and Marketing Reps and Publicist and …

Once your book is signed, you’ll have a whole team of people working with you. Find out more about the publishing team who will bring your book to the market. Arrive early, seats fill up fast!

Panelists: Publicist, Colleen Devine Ellis, market rep, Gillian Redfearn and author/publisher, Deltina Hay.

For more information, please email us at wlt@writersleague.org or visit our website.

Before the program, join us at Doc’s Motorworks Bar & Grill, 1123 S. Congress (two blocks south of the WLT office) for a very special “Mix and Mingle Happy Hour.”

Oh no! Predators and Editors is being sued! They’re a long-time online resource for writers navigating the murky waters of the publishing business.
On a completely separate note, I’m leaving the Writers’ League for new adventures. Wish me luck!

Choosing the Writing Life: Art and Practice with Kathleen Allen-Weber & Ann McCutchan

Saturday, September 12, 10a.m. – 5p.m.

Whether you are thinking about becoming a writer or living the writer’s life but desperate for a booster shot, this six-hour intensive workshop offers the ideas, tools and inspiration for turning desire into flow, and flow into finished manuscripts. Team-taught by essayist, journalist and three-book author Ann McCutchan, a professor of creative writing at the University of North Texas, and licensed therapist and writer Kathleen Allen-Weber, Ph.D., “Choosing the Writing Life” addresses the three critical components of the writer’s way: awareness, commitment, and practice.

Topics include:

• developing self-knowledge
• building technique
• seizing ripe opportunities

Don’t miss out on this workshop. To register for, click here!