Jigsaw puzzles

If you're experiencing writer's block, or need a mental break, or even if you're just plain bored, scroll down to the bottom of the page. I've added an element just before the Collage to muse upon . . . and The Money Corner. Click on the photo, then use your mouse to put the puzzle together. You can also select the function you want. I think it's soothing to select the "auto solve" function. I'll add new ones often. What do you think?

Writer Events: perfect settings for published writers and those who want to be

When most people think of meeting writers, they often think of book-signings at bookstores. Another event type is when a writer speaks to a group—I’ll call this type a Writer Event. Working with the library’s director, members of my Writers' Guild established the Lake Menomin Writers Series, where we bring writers from around Wisconsin and Minnesota to speak to us about their books and the writing life.

So many of the writers we’ve hosted have emphasized that speaking and book-signing are such an important part of the post-publishing process. These are key marketing tools for writers. For the unpublished writer, Writer Events are opportunities to be inspired, to network, and to learn insider tips. Almost every writer has stated to the audience the importance of not giving up on sending your book to agents and publishers and editors.

Another interesting thing I’ve learned has been that the cover pictures are chosen to reflect the book’s “feeling” rather than a specific scene from the book. The images are selected from collections of works—notice how often Getty Images are cited for the covers. To illustrate how a cover can depict the overall sense of a book, Jay Gilbertson’s Lady Lit books set in Wisconsin have whimsical photos of women who do not look like any of his characters, nor do any of the scenes actually include a description of cooling off in a wading pool or dozing in the sun. Yet, the “feeling” conveyed by the images reflect the books perfectly. See http://www.jaygilbertson.com/

Some writers use agents; some do not. Some began writing as a new career after retirement; some, like Victoria Houston (who still travels constantly as a Public Relations consultant) write in their spare time. See http://www.victoriahouston.com/

The Lake Menomin Writers Series is getting a reputation as a place for writers to come. Our 2007-2008 season starts in September. So far, the authors that we have scheduled are: Erin Hart, Minnesota Crime Wave (William Kent Kruger, Ellen Hart and Carl Brookins), Catherine Friend, Kelly McCullough, and Mary Logue. We’ve had a number of authors contact us about speaking at the Writers Series, and we have people who come from as far as 60 miles away to hear them speak. And we offer each author an opportunity to sell his or her books after the event. I’m getting a lovely collection of great books personally inscribed to me. Seems to me, to use a cliché from the 1990s, that this is a perfect example of a Win-Win situation.

Recently read: Andrea Camilleri’s Rounding the Mark

This is another choice mystery set in an unusual locale, with a quirky detective, and lots of atmosphere. I discovered Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano books a number of years ago and always find them satisfying. Set in contemporary Sicily, the books are very quick reads, with good plotting, hot sun-baked scenes, a charmingly cynical and sensitive detective, and plenty of crime.

This one has corrupt Sicilian police and politicians, crime lords, and trafficking in illegal immigrants—all of which make it a timely read for contemporary Americans as well. Camilleri is never trite, however, and is an excellent writer. The scene where Inspector Montalbano tows the body to shore using his swimsuit, and the screeching elderly couple standing on the beach who are sure he is a combination of perverted flasher and murderer, is not only vivid, but also humorous.

Events, workshops and ways to get help with writing and publishing

Collage sheet from Artella at http://www.artellaland.com/

With the specific exceptions of technical and proposal writing, writing is essentially a solitary occupation. As a result, we writers can benefit highly from a dose of organized social contact (well, unorganized social contact is good for us, too, but that’s not what I’m talking about here).

If you’ve never attended a book fair, writing workshop, writers’ group, conference, or other program designed to give practical advice as well as inspiration, make a note now to check out some out.

For example, here in Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Continuing Studies offers a wide range of programs and services. The online writing workshops are available anytime to anyone with an Internet connection. The workshops provide one-on-one contact with an instructor on topics ranging from fiction and nonfiction writing, how to market your material, poetry, dialogue/scene mastery, and screenwriting. See http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/online for full details and fees. Later this month, they will announce details on their fall workshops for novelists and poets, and I’ll tell you more at that time.

For those of you who would like face-to-face programs, there are likely to be a number to choose from depending where you live. Check university extension departments, local colleges, writers publications like Writers’ Digest Magazine, or follow some of the contest links I provide in The Money Corner, many of which will lead you to writers’ organizations. Most, like the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Continuing Studies, will also have email sign-up options to keep you up on what’s happening.

Supporting the written word

Erica Hanson and Dianne Lueder at Dianne's retirement reception at the Menomonie Public Library

My friend Dianne just retired this week from her position as Executive Director of the Menomonie Public Library. Replacing her next month will be Ted Stark, who is leaving his position as library director with the Jackson County Public Library system in the State of Oregon. He’s moving to the Midwest because, according to an August 1, 2007, article in the Chicago Tribune, the 15 branches in the Jackson County system where he is the interim director are closing due to budget cuts.

I think this is a dreadful comment on the nation today. I love the Internet, I love blogging, and I love YouTube; BUT surely there are enough of us who also love words that are written on paper and bound into books. We need to support our libraries and bookstores and publishers and print magazines and newspapers that are actually tossed onto our doorsteps in tidy rolls of newsprint.

There are enough of us to support the written word for at least a few more years. Aren’t there?

The I-35W bridge disaster

I live 55 miles east of St. Paul, MN, about an hour away from the scene of yesterday's bridge disaster. Join me in sending hope, thoughts, and prayers to those who survived, those who didn't and those who still have loved ones missing. To get up-to-the minute news on the situation, go to Minnesota Public Radio at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/

Perennial Reading: E.F. Benson’s six books in the “Make Way for Lucia” series

E.F. Benson's home in Rye, East Sussex. The house is "Mallards," in Tilling, in the Lucia novels.

These books, written by English author E.F. Benson between the two World Wars, are some of the most delightful novels of the 20th century. That is not a statement that this Constant Reader (that would be me) makes lightly! I discovered E.F. Benson in the late 1980s, and have read and re-read each one, in order, every few years ever since. I’ve just finished Part 4 (in which Mapp and Lucia disappear during the floods, last seen by the anxious residents of Tilling clinging to Lucia’s kitchen table as the tide rushed them into the English Channel) for probably the seventh time, and am about to immerse myself in Part 5. The books, which are still in print and available, often with an introduction written by author Nancy Mitford, consist of the following titles:
Part 1: Queen Lucia
Part 2: Lucia in London
Part 3:Miss Mapp
Part 4: Mapp and Lucia
Part 5: The Worshipful Lucia
Part 6: Trouble for Lucia

The books chronicle the daily lives of the upper-middle class residents of two fictional English towns. The effects of war, politics, economic woes, and other pesky issues that might have bothered other people during those years take a back seat to the truly important mattes like “why does Daisy’s ouidja board always repeat “Lucia is a snob,” will Miss Mapp ever capture Major Flint in matrimony, and will Lucia, whose Machiavellian yet invigorating management of her circle of friends, ever fail at anything she sets her mind to do? These gentle books, whose characters three generations of readers have loved and cheered, are a perfect anodyne to today’s world of speed, sex, and noise.