Tamera Alexander Book Signing, May 17, Franklin, TN, Lifeway

Tamera Alexander will be having a book signing at the Lifeway store in Franklin, Tennessee, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 17. The featured title is her new release, From a Distance. Refreshments will be provided.

Tamera Alexander Book Signing
Saturday, May 17, 2008
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Lifeway Christian Resources
Coolsprings Crossing
1725 Galleria Boulevard
Franklin, TN 37067
Phone: 615-771-9050
Map

May 2008 Meeting

Our next meeting will be:

Saturday, May 10, 2008
10:00 a.m. — noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: Getting Started and Finishing the Project

Join us for a round-table discussion about writing—how, when we get an idea, we start writing it all the way through to how we stay motivated to see the novel through to completion.

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This year, membership in MTCW brings more benefits, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon in March, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

Michael Snyder–Book Signing 4/19/08

MTCW Author Michael Snyder will be signing his critically acclaimed debut novel, My Name Is Russell Fink at the Borders Bookstore in Cool Springs from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 19.

Borders is located at 545 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin, TN.

April 2008 Meeting

Our next meeting will be:

Saturday, April 12, 2008
10:00 a.m. — noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: Hooking the Reader

More than just a one-sentence pitch or the opening line of the book, we’ll look at writing to a hook at the end of each section/chapter, how to keep them dramatic without devolving into melodrama, and how to pay them off later.

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This year, membership in MTCW brings more benefits, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon in March, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

March 2008 Meeting

I’m late in getting this posted, and I apologize.

We continue with our monthly meetings on the second Saturday of the month. Our next meeting will be:

Saturday, March 8, 2008–postponed due to inclement weather
Saturday, March 15, 2008
10:00 a.m. — noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: Hooking the Reader
More than just a one-sentence pitch or the opening line of the book, we’ll look at writing to a hook at the end of each section/chapter, how to keep them dramatic without devolving into melodrama, and how to pay them off later.Because this meeting was postponed from last week, and because so many of our regular members will be unable to attend, the agenda will be informal.

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This year, membership in MTCW brings more benefits, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon in March, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

Michael Snyder–On Creating Russell Fink

The idea for the novel entitled My Name Is Russell Fink grew out of three separate short stories I composed over a period of nearly a year. The similarities and threads between stories were purely accidental. I borrowed liberally from one and sparsely from the other two. Prior to writing my follow-up novel, I penned another short story or two and plan to continue this regimen until it stops working! Truth be known, I love the short story form and would write scads of them if time permitted.

From the aforementioned stories I figured out Russell’s snarky attitude, his struggle between his art and vocation, the rather awkward circumstances of his love interest, and the defining moment from his childhood. The rest was making it up as I went along.

What I wanted to accomplish in the writing was pretty simple. I want to tell the absolute truth as seen through the imperfect lenses of imperfect characters. I think we as Christians are sometimes afraid to give voice to the truth as our characters see it. But THE truth will always trump our (and our characters’) misguided stabs at it. There’s real freedom in that. One of my favorite byproducts of seat-of-the-pants writing is discovering some of the themes that emerge along with the characters.

What I hope the book accomplishes is almost as simple. First and foremost I hope it’s a good story told well. It would thrill me to know that people laughed some and cried some too—even on the same page. And although I don’t intentionally write with themes in mind, I do hope that readers will see that no amount of dysfunction or neuroses is able to derail God’s redemptive purposes.

Hot Off the Presses!

A few MTCWers have some new titles just out, hot off the presses:

Sisters, Ink by Rebeca Seitz

Sisters, Ink marks the first in a series of novels written by, for, and about scrapbookers. At the center of the creativity and humor are four unlikely young adult sisters, each separately adopted during early childhood into the loving home of Marilyn and Jack Sinclair.

Ten years after their mother Marilyn has died, the multi-racial Sinclair sisters (Meg, Kendra, Tandy, and Joy) still return to her converted attic scrapping studio in the small town of Stars Hill, Tennessee, to encourage each other through life’s highs and lows.

Book one spotlights headstrong Tandy, a successful yet haunted attorney now living back in Orlando where she spent the first eight years of her life on the streets as a junkie’s kid. When a suddenly enforced leave of absence at work leads her to an extended visit with her sisters in Stars Hill, a business oppor tunity, rekindled romance, and fresh understanding of God’s will soon follow. (description from CFBA)

My Name is Russell Fink by Michael Snyder

Russell Fink is twenty-six years old and determined to salvage a job he hates so he can finally move out of his parents house for good. He’s convinced he gave his twin sister cancer when they were nine years old. And his crazy fiancée refuses to accept the fact that their engagement really is over.

Then Sonny, his allegedly clairvoyant basset hound, is found murdered.

The ensuing amateur investigation forces Russell to confront several things at once: the enormity of his family’s dysfunction, the guy stalking his family, and his long-buried feelings for a most peculiar love interest.

At its heart, My Name Is Russell Fink is a comedy, with sharp dialogue, characters steeped in authenticity, romance, suspense, and fresh humor. With a postmodern style similar to Nick Hornby and Douglas Coupland, the author explores reconciliation, forgiveness, and faith in the midst of tragedy. No amount of neurosis or dysfunction can derail God’s redemptive purposes. (description from Amazon.com)

Upcoming Releases:
April 1, 2008: One Holy Night by J.M. Hochstetler
June 2008: From a Distance by Tamera Alexander
July 2008: Coming Unglued by Rebeca Seitz
August 2008: Faking Grace by Tamara Leigh

February 2008 Meeting

We continue with our monthly meetings on the second Saturday of the month.

Our next meeting will be:
Saturday, February 9, 2008
10:00 a.m. - noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: Writing the Dreaded Synopsis

We all hate it—the dreaded synopsis! Kaye will share tips and tricks learned at a multitude of conferences, in grad school, and from other authors, agents, and editors on how to write a long synopsis to go along with your proposal, as well as one-sheet, one-paragraph, and one-line synopses for contests and pitch sessions.

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This year, membership in MTCW brings more benefits, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon—our own mini-NaNoWriMo—in March, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least two monthly meetings or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

January 2008 Meeting

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully you all had wonderful holidays and you’re now ready to set some writing goals for 2008 and get the year started!

This year, we will continue with our monthly meetings on the second Saturday of each month (unless otherwise announced). For MTCW members, we will also be running our monthly writing marathon the last weekend (fourth or fifth) of each month (conducted through our e-mail list). This year, membership in MTCW brings more benefits, including a month-long writing marathon—our own mini-NaNoWriMo—in March, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

Our first meeting of 2008 will be:
Saturday, January 12, 2008
10:00 a.m. - noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: Goal Setting, Accountability, and Beating Writer’s Block

Come prepared to share your writing/writing-career goals for 2008, as well as your ideas for how we can keep each other accountable. We’ll then discuss ways in which we can overcome writer’s block and the lack of creativity we’re sometimes struck with.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least two monthly meetings or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

November Meeting

Saturday, November 10, 2007
10:00 a.m. - noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Note: There is a 1 p.m. home football game at Vanderbilt that day. Please be aware and plan accordingly for traffic concerns (though hopefully it won’t be too bad at 10 a.m.).

Discussion Topic: Plotting, Conflict, and Subplots

We will continue the discussion of plot, including the areas of conflict and subplot.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly.