If you haven't received an announcement about our big adventure in schooling, one where we are holding our event for an administrator to welcome her parents and students back to school, hang on! It's coming soon. Meanwhile, if you are interested in becoming a storyteller, get in touch with us here.
Gabi and I were both early adapters in the digital world. And, for writers it's been a blessing and a curse. One of the blessings is how much connection we've been able to have with the writers in our local community and other earlier adapters who were not raised in the digital era. It's frustrating to learn, but rewarding to know how to submit and share your work online. Don't give up.
One of the best connectors is a truly early adapter to the business of publishing; Westport's Tessa Smith McGovern was the first person I knew personally to start a digital publishing company. Fortunately for Gabi and myself, we had been honing our craft on the keyboard for a very long time. We've both been writing since we can remember. And, being rejected more than we care to remember. We've been seeing our names in print online, and on paper, just enough to keep our bylines recognizable to our families. 🙂
When Tessa shared her amazing literary company launch idea with us, we both submitted work to what it now her highly praised collections. The first big push is taking place on September 20th. The selection process is for work is quite arduous. So be proud of anything you get accepted. Tessa's site is very competitive. Global, for sure.
Come and cheer us all on in September at the launch party. There are all sorts of networking possibilities. Also, guest authors have a chance to write about their favorite stories. Here's my blog about a story I read many years ago.
http://echook.com/guest-blog-ina-chadwicks-favorite-short-story/
Join our free Writers Artists Cafe on Wednesdays at the Westport Arts Center starting in October. Be in with the "in" and be part of sharing what you learn, what you feel. But don't forget to try to see some of your work in print. Why? I couldn't find my favorite short story online and had to take it out of the library. In print. I held onto the book for many weeks. I owe the library half a month's mortgage. Who else but writers and lovers of words run up overdue fines? Bless the library.
Ina
Great Writers’ Café last Wednesday with 16 lively writers who showed up in addition to Ina and me. They had plenty to brag about, too. So much so, in fact, that I can’t put everything down here, or you’d never get to the end of the post.
Ina reiterated that the submission forms for the Memoir writing contest, entitled Déjà vu, that we’re running for the Center for contemporary Printmaking is live online this week. Here's the link:
https://www.contemprints.org/writers/index.php
I saw an interesting article by the people at Writers’ Relief, about the benefits of print vs. ebook publishing. I left my printed copy at home so here’s the link. (The benefit of online publishing!)
http://www.writersrelief.com/blog/2011/08/print-online-digital-publishing/
Ivy Eisenberg has just started a new humorous blog (tag line: Nothing is off limits) about trying to follow a weightwatchers diet. Check it out here:
http://schmeightschmatchers.wordpress.com
We discussed some of the many topics related to creating a writer’s platform. Essentially, a platform is a marketing campaign and the product you’re selling is you.
As a result, we’re wondering whether anyone would be interested in a short workshop which would enable you to get yourself organized on Facebook and/or Twitter. We could also do workshops on how to set up a website and how to start a blog. These workshops would be hands-on. Let us know if you’re interested.
Jane Sherman had attended Adair Heitmann’s presentation on how to create a writer’s platform the night before (Tuesday) at the Darien Library. She found it interesting because it covered so many topics. Our workshop would be complementary in that it would show you not only why you should do it, but how to do it. Here’s the link to Adair’s blog:
http://creativityandwellness.wordpress.com/
If you’d like to contact Jane for more details about the presentation, email me at Gabi@mousemuse.com, and I’ll forward your email to her.
And then the following day, the New York Times ran a couple of articles on the issue of whether people are becoming swamped with social media, and what to do about that. Even Ina and I were intimidated simply by the number of social media sites out there. That’s why we’re sticking to something simpler to start with. Here are the links for those articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/fashion/tips-for-managing-social-networking-burnout.html?emc=eta1
SO – plenty to think about…and we’ll keep you updated on when and where next month’s Café will be.
If you’d like to take a look at my brand new blog, here’s the link to it:
http://gabicoatsworth.wordpress.com/
