Our next meeting will be:

Saturday, July 12, 2008
10:00 a.m. — noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee
(On the first floor of the First State Bank building at the corner of West End and 18th Ave.)

Discussion Topic: Conference Prep: Networking, Pitching, and Submitting

Attending writing conferences is one of the most exciting—and daunting—experiences in the writing life. We’ll discuss ways to practice networking now to begin preparing to rub elbows with editors, agents, and other authors; preparing for a face-to-face pitch (including information on one-sheets); and how to prepare a requested submission.

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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each 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.

Our next meeting will be:

Saturday, June 14, 2008
10:00 a.m. — noon
Atlanta Bread Co.
1720 West End Avenue
Nashville, Tennessee

Discussion Topic: What a Character!

Characters come to us in different ways—but how can we make sure that we’re not only writing well-developed, three-dimensional characters but we’re also being true to the personality, emotions, and experiences of our characters?

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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.