Milwaukee Writers Workshop

The Novelists group will meet Monday, February 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Wauwatosa Library, second floor conference room, to critique part 1 of Rosalie's short novel, Lucy.

You'll find Lucy (part 1) at the Milwaukee Writer's Workshop website -- click on Current Stories (direct link = http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/lucy)

To guide the discussion, we're using the "Part 1 - The Beginning" critique sheet entitled "Part 1 - The Beginning," which you will also find at the MWW web site in the Current Stories section. For the avoidance of any confusion, here's the direct link to the current critique sheets: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/new-novel-critique-sheets

Here's a brief description of Lucy: "Lucy, born in prison, is almost 7. By law, she can no longer stay there with her mama. Where will she go?"

If you haven't been able to join us for whatever reason, know that we'd love to see you!

Hope to see you there!

FYI: We'll critique the second and final part of this novel on March 8.

If you have questions or concerns, send Erik Thelen an email (erikthelen@gmail.com), send me an email (plafferty@wi.rr.com) or contact Boone.

Hello everyone,

As we come to the end of another year, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to everyone who has been or become a member of the Milwaukee Writers Workshop over the course of the year.

Here's what we've done:

In 2009, the Milwaukee Writers Workshop branched off in January to create our Short Story group, our Poetry group, and our Novel group. We were very pleased to have a good turn-outs for all of our groups this year, and we hope that it will continue to grow over the course of the years to come. We also added a group in Grafton late this year, and that has been going well.

Also, we held the first WriteCamp Milwaukee with resounding success. With 80 attendees, 15 sponsors, and a day full of wonderful sessions, we were very happy with what has definitely been the highlight of the Milwaukee Writers Workshop for 2009.

Here's what we're doing:

2010 will be no different than this year. We will be looking to create our Scriptwriting group again. We'll also be holding WriteCamp Milwaukee 2 in May or June of 2010. Keep your calendar clear!

MWW's big change:

Our biggest news of 2010 will be the organizational change. As we begin to grow and expand our services and the members who come to join us, it has become apparent to me that the Milwaukee Writers Workshop needs a home. To do this, I feel that the Milwaukee Writers Workshop would best be served to become part of The JB Dryden Company in order to use some of the profits from both to benefit the organization as a whole.

What does this mean?

The critique workshops that we have always provided will continue to be run and will continue to be FREE. There will, however, be a number of additions to the Milwaukee Writers Workshop's services, such as short story classes, poetry classes, seminars on marketing your novel, building a website for authors, and workshops on self-editing (along with a host of others). We'll be offering a variety of membership prices to offer a variety of services. I've put this information up at www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/content/mww-memberships. Please visit it and have a look over the table that's been added; if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and ask.

What's coming up?

Mechanics of the Short Story -- a 12-week course on the basics of writing a short story
Self-editing for Writers -- a one day workshop on some tips for self-editing

Volunteers

Because we'll be offering a few new things, and we'll be hoping to branch out even more than we already have, there will be some great opportunities for folks to volunteer for the Milwaukee Writers Workshop. If you're interested, I will be holding two meetings in January on what that will entail. Please email me if you're interested, and I will let you know the two dates as soon as I have solidified them with the venue.

I am happy with the new direction of our writers group, because I believe in the power of community and the good things that we have been doing over the course of the three years that we have been in existence. It my goal to continue that sense of giving back to the writers who have made us who we are and to the community of literary creation that keeps us going.

As always, please feel free to email me with any questions, concerns, or comments related to the Milwaukee Writers Workshop or The JB Dryden Company (which you can visit at www.jbdrydenco.com). I wish you all a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year. Great things are on the horizon for the Milwaukee Writers Workshop, and you are a part of that. Thank you.

Cheers,
Boone Dryden
Director, The Milwaukee Writers Workshop
Owner, The JB Dryden Company

On Monday, December 7 at 6:30 in the Wauwatosa Library’s Conference Room, we will be officially reviewing the ODD CHAPTERS of the middle section of Columbia, found at the following link: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/columbia-middle. After reading Chapters 11, 13 and 15, write down your thoughts in the critique sheet [found at: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/new-novel-critique-sheets (use Part 2 – The Middle)] and bring it to the session for discussion. If you want to read the even chapters, go right ahead, but the group will only be officially reviewing the odd chapters.

"Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited!"

If you have any questions about this assignment or about the Novel Group in general, email me (Pat Lafferty) at plafferty@wi.rr.com.

For those of you looking to join the Novel Group, now’s a great time. Eric Lanke has a historical fiction novel set during the American Civil War up for review.

Due to word-count constraints, on Monday, November 23 at 6:30 in the Wauwatosa Library’s Conference Room, we will be officially reviewing the ODD CHAPTERS of the beginning section of Columbia, found at: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/columbia-beginning.

After reading Chapters 1 and 3, write down your initial thoughts in the first page of the critique sheet, found at: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/new-novel-critique-sheets (use Part 1 – The Beginning). Then, after reading Chapters 5, 7 & 9, complete the critique sheet and bring it to the session for discussion.

The odd chapters total 27K words. You are more than welcome to read all the chapters (85K words) and Eric would very much like to hear what you think about all of it, but we are only going to critique the odd chapters.

If you have any questions about this assignment or about the Novel Group in general, email me at plafferty@wi.rr.com.

If you’ve completed a novel, are in the middle of a novel, hope to one day start a novel or if you have no delusions whatsoever that you will ever write a novel but you love to read and discuss plot, character and pacing, then consider yourself invited to the next MWW Novel Group meeting.

Our next session will be 6:30, Monday, November 9th at the Wauwatosa Library’s Conference Room. We'll review the third and final section of Gryphon song which you should be able to access from this link: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/gryphon-song-part-3. And, you should be able to access the critique sheets from this link: http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/new-novel-critique-sheets (use Part 3 - The End). If these links don’t work for whatever reason, go to the Current Stories button in the upper left and click Gryphon Song Part 3 at the top of the list and New Novel Critique Sheets at the bottom of the list.

After this meeting we'll be reading a lenghty piece of historical fiction from Eric Lanke...yes, THAT Eric Lanke...who read a few pages of his book at the Fixx Coffee House last Thursday.

Hope to see you there.