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2016 Novel Conference Report by Conference Manager Joanne Bodin

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2016 Novel Conference Report

According to all the feedback received, the Novel Conference was a success on all counts.  All attendees who wished to pitch their novels to an editor or agent were able to do so, the speakers were both knowledgeable and entertaining and the proceeds exceeded the cost.

Novel Conference staff

Pictured right are Novel Conference Volunteers:  L-R:  Joanne Bodin, Dino Leyba, Jeanne Shannon, Ernie Leggett, Edith Greenly, Kimberly Mitchell, and Sam Moorman.

We couldn’t have put together such a great conference without the help of our wonderful SWW volunteers. A big thank you goes to the following people for their help and flexibility in putting this conference together.

Kathy Wagoner, Bobbi Adams, Melody Groves, Dennis Kastendiek, Ernie Leggett, Sam Moorman, Don Morgan, Rose Marie Kern, Don DeNoon, Dino Leyba, Kimberly Mitchell, Larry Greenly, Edith Greenly, Jeanne Shannon, and Rob Speigel.

A special thank you to Bookworks for setting up a table during the con-ference. Also to Jason’s Deli for providing the delicious box lunches. Thank you to Rob Spiegel for making cookies for our afternoon snack. Thank you to the Hilton Garden Inn Albuquerque Uptown for housing our keynote speakers and finally thank you to Chez Axel Restaurant for opening up exclusively to SWW on Friday evening.



Riding a New Roller Coaster

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rose headshot 5What can I say? This is my first attempt to do anything at all with a blog on a website. I’ve always wanted to, but haven’t had the time to learn. Suddenly I find I’ve accepted the challenge to learn how to make this work. My biggest fear is hitting the wrong button and screwing up entirely

Writing a blog is the easy part, just putting words down about whatever is on my mind. Whether someone wants to read it or not kind of depends on whether or not they find you amusing, droll, informative, deep, creative or just plain nuts.

This is made very difficult because I am wearing my old glasses—the ones that don’t work really well anymore. The “new” ones developed a scratch so they are back at the optical shop getting the lenses replaced. Whenever you change spectacles you go through an adjustment period where the floor looks slanted or things are not as in focus as you are accustomed to. With this old pair my left eye can see the computer screen just fine but the right eye reminds me of the aftereffects of a New Year’s eve party—fuzzy and colorful. So as I sit here I am typing with one eye closed.

But if I want to relax for a moment I close the left eye and open the right one and look at the Christmas lights…glowy balls dancing across the dark background. How fun!

I did not get glasses until I was about 12 years old—neither my parents or I realized that I was legally blind…I made do pretty well and was the bookish sort anyway. I could see really well 2 inches from my nose. Then the nun who taught 7th grade called Mom and raised hell because I told her I could not see the blackboard from the back of the room. The eye doctor confirmed I had 700/20 vision. About a week later Dad drove up in the old tan station wagon with the fake wood siding. I ran down the hill in front of our house and he handed me the glasses.

To this day thrills expand my soul outwards when I remember putting them on for the first time. I could see individual blades of grass…while standing up! I could see leaves on the trees way over in the neighbor’s yard! That night for the first time I saw that there were hundreds of stars in the sky, not just a few blurry white spots. Wow.

Of course, I had already fallen deeply in love with the written word by that time, something that has never changed even though I could now see what other people wrote about. So I write.

And now I blog.

And now I get to figure out how to make these words appear on a screen for you to see. As my old friend Bob used to say, “It’s a piss poor day when you don’t learn something new.”



Adversarial Adjectives — An article by Andy Mayo

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One of the things that strikes me when I read Katherine Anne Porter’s short stories is her use of what I’ll call adversarial adjectives — adjectives that put a completely different spin on the noun they are modifying.  For example, notorious virginity.

Notorious means having a bad reputation. Virginity isn’t usually thought of as being the source of a bad reputation.

Yoking these two words together isn’t mindlessly clever. The description fits the character, Laura in the story “Flowering Judas.” She is a physically attractive woman who refuses to become romantically involved with anyone, especially the revolutionaries she is helping. So she is notorious for her virginal stance. Her virginity is a denial that tarnishes her reputation in the macho world she inhabits. “Notorious virginity” fits the story perfectly.

My favorite adversarial modifier is in this construction: pitiless courtesy.

A writer could substitute cold, callous or even cruel, but the meaning would not quite be the same. Pity-less is about power. To be pitied is to be looked down upon, to be patronized. Only a person in a superior position can pity another.

So here too, the description perfectly fits the character being described: an overweight “revolutionist” who ‘has the malice, the cleverness, the wickedness, the sharpness of wit, the hardness of heart, stipulated for loving the world profitably.”

Writing instructors today caution against using adjectives (and even more so, adverbs).  The mantra is, show us, don’t tell us.

But Porter’s adjectives — “notorious virginity,” “pitiless courtesy” — are so striking that it is hard to imagine how more “showing” could be as effective.

Other great adjectives in the same story include:  “specialized insolence,” “expedient logic,” and “puzzled eyebrows.”

And then there is “the vast cureless wound of his self-esteem.” You can almost see the wound bleeding with self-pity. His ego-problem cannot be cured.



SWW 2014 Contest Statistics

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Entries to our 32nd International Writing Contest are now being judged and winners will be announced on August 1.

This year’s contest drew entries from 38 states plus the District of Columbia and Abu Dhabi, Canada, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Uganda.

The Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Adventure category once again drew the most entries at 18% of the total followed by Mainstream/Literary Short Story at 14%, Poetry at 13% , Children’s Picture Book at 11% and Mainstream/Literary Novel at 10%.

The remaining one-third of the entries came in the Juvenile/Young Adult Novel, Creative Nonfiction/Memoir, Nonfiction Essay, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Short Story, and Women’s Fiction categories.

More than 60% of the total entries came from outside New Mexico, and many from far beyond the Southwest.

Of the 432 entries, approximately one third requested a critique.



Last Call on 2014 SWW Writing Contest

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Need an antidote to discouragement about getting your writing noticed? Enter SouthWest Writers annual writing contest. Past winners all agree that having a winning entry—regardless of first, second or third place—gave them the boost they needed to push ahead and get their work published. If you haven’t already entered this year’s International Writing Contest, you still have time. Entries close at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 15. There are 10 categories this year:

  • Mainstream/Literary Novel – enter the first 20 pages plus the synopsis
  • Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Adventure Novel – enter the first 20 pages plus the synopsis
  • Juvenile/Young Adult Novel  – enter the first 20 pages plus the synopsis
  • Women’s Fiction  – enter the first 20 pages plus the synopsis
  • Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Short Story – any length up to 6,000 words
  • Mainstream/Literary Short Story – any length up to 6,000 words
  • Creative Nonfiction/Memoir – enter the first 20 pages plus the synopsis
  • Essay – any length up to 2,500 words
  • Children’s Picture Book – either fiction or nonfiction up to 500 words (no illustrations)
  • Poetry – one poem up to three pages or three Haiku on one page.

For more information, click here.

 



The Storyteller’s Anthology ARTS TALK TV Interview

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It’s here! Broadcast March 31, the interview with Peggy Herrington and Jonathan Miller by Sherri Burr’s PUBLIC ARTS TALK TV show is now available online.

Watch as Jonathan and Peggy discuss the inspiration and motivation behind The Storyteller’s Anthology.

Click to view:

SouthWest Writer’s Anthology Part 1

SouthWest Writer’s Anthology Part 2

Please share your thoughts about the anthology and this video below.

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Calling All SWW Authors

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Who: SWW is organizing FREE booth space at the Moriarty Literary Event on Saturday, April 19. Sponsored by the Moriarty Community Library. All SWW members are welcome.

What: Join this book event and get FREE booth space with other SWW members. We’ll have fun together!

When: Saturday, April 19, 2014, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (Arrive early!)

Where: Moriarty Civic Center, 202 S. Broadway, Moriarty, NM 87035

FREE booth space. Continental breakfast provided, buy your own lunch on-site.

Why: Promote and sell YOUR BOOKS and The Storyteller’s Anthology.

R.S.V.P. ASAP to Peggy Herrington at peg@msn.com.

P.S. Wear your cowboy boots!

boots



UNMCE Writers Conference Features SWW

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UNM Continuing Education’s 10th Annual Writers Conference takes place on Saturday, April 12, in the Student Union Building (SUB), located north of Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico’s main campus. The conference focus, “From Start to Sales,” features an impressive lineup of NYC speakers including authors and agents. Registration is $150.

Conference Coordinator and former SWW board member Sandra Toro’s 9 a.m. address, “Let SouthWest Writers Help You,” promises to be of interest to both current and prospective members. In addition, copies of “The Storyteller’s Anthology” will be available for purchase on the conference book table. Several current and former SWW members including Peggy Herrington, Kirk Hickman, Sherri Burr, Joanne Bodin and Melody Groves are also scheduled to speak.

Conference attendees who enroll by April 1st get a free one-on-one ten minute meeting with the editor or agent of their choice to “pitch” their writing project. After you register, contact Sandra Toro at storo32567@aol.com to sign up for your ten minute pitch.

To register or get more information, go to here or call 505-277-0077. Sandra Toro will hand out conference brochures at the April 5 SWW meeting.



Former SWW Contest Judge To Speak in ABQ

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Phong Nguyen, a 2013 SWW Contest Judge (fiction), will be giving a reading from his newly released book Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History in Albuquerque on March 15th, 2014. If interested, here is an event page with all the details. Come show your support!



E-LERT MIGRATION

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IMPORTANT: The SouthWest Writers e-lert system is migrating over to a MailChimp account, so we can better keep you informed of SWW activities. It’s insanely easy to do. Simply visit this short link and enter your information: http://eepurl.com/NyUSr

You’ll only get a few more emails through the current (less than ideal) system, so sign up at MailChimp today!

 



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