Milwaukee Writers Workshop

You are all invited to this Art/Poetry Showing. If you have the time and interest, I would love to see you there. This is the first display of my poetry and I am proud to be part of this project. Thank you. Betty

Sat. October 17th, 2009 at 7pm - The Lake Country Project Ekphrastic Art Show & Poetry Reading /

The Raven Gallery

690 Westfield Way • Pewaukee, WI 53072

10 Artists + 10 Poets = One Vision

On Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 7pm, The Lake Country Project will have its first, fine art show and poetry reading at The Raven Gallery, owned by artist and editor Troy Tatlock, 690 Westfield Way, Pewaukee, WI 53072. We will kick off the evening with live music performed by Nick Scholz, followed by a poetry reading with an intermission. Audience members will have the opportunity to meet our artists and poets to learn more about their work. Our artists include: Barbara Reinhart, Toby Colton, Holly Kallie, Orel Rooney, Anne Raskopf, Heidi Hallett, Dint Sweitzer, Luke Wein, Troy Tatlock, and Judith Reidy. Our poets include: Cristina Norcross, Liz Rhodebeck, Paula Anderson, Khristian Kay, Betty Rose, Sue Huebner, Mike Lane, Fred Kreutz, Abby Lorenz, and Kathleen Carlson.

For more information about this event, please direct questions to either Cristina Norcross (Bookndz@yahoo.com) or Liz Rhodebeck (262-695-2761).

Hello everyone and happy September. We have a few upcoming changes to the group that I would like to announce first and foremost.

1. This Sunday is open to everyone! I have reserved the North and South rooms at the Shorewood Public Library (Shorewood, WI) for an open discussion session for the whole of The Milwaukee Writers Workshop. Bring questions, concerns, ideas, etc. for the current groups, the future of the organization, and anything else you'd like to discuss regarding the group. I would like as many people as possible to come to this group, so we can get a good estimation on how things are going and where we're progressing.

2. We will begin our Writing-intensive Roundtable (Roundtable for short from now on) on September 22nd. We will be hosting it at the UWM Library East Wing in the large public study area. I will give more details as we get closer to the date of the meeting. This group will be alternate Tuesday, alternate of the Co-working. Material should be in by September 15th (sent to me).

3. On October 8th at 6:00pm, I will be hosting an information-gathering session at the Grafton Public Library (Grafton, WI) for a new Ozaukee County writing group. If you would like to join us, please do. I am also looking for two volunteers from any of the groups to act as members of a small panel to answer questions. If you'd like to do that, please let me know, and I'll email you privately.

Hello everyone,

Your mission - should you choose to accept it: write between 1,000 and 2,500 words between now and next Tuesday, September 15. Material must be posted by that date to buy a seat at the table. We'll take the first eight (8) applicants. If there aren't enough by that day, then we'll take any material up to 1,800 words by the 17th. Nothing after that. I will also take two alternates (who I will inform via email) to come to the group and sit in and replace anyone who is unable to make it or if we have ample time at the end.

The material you submit can be any of the following:

* unfinished short story
* completed short story
* unfinished novel chapter
* completed novel chapter
* unfinished script

This group is about producing new material, not giving us polished material. That comes later at the critique group. I will be posting a very loose "critique" sheet to be used when reading material (and we'll be going over every members' material who buys a seat at the table).

As it stands now, I am looking to book the conference room at the Shorewood Public Library or using the new Commons area at the UWM library (which is amazing and spacious). The first meeting will be on September 22nd. I believe all other meetings will be on a Tuesday, alternating the writing-intensive groups with the co-working that has typically been done on Tuesdays. Tonight (Sept. 9) will be a co-working session to discuss some of the ideas for the writing-intensive group, and I'll be providing a writing challenge for anyone who wants to come. Drop me a note to let me know you're coming, so I can acquire the appropriate number of tables & chairs. We'll be meeting at the Alterra on Humboldt for now (for consistency's sake), but we'll probably end up moving to the Commons in order to try and attract college students to the group.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds . . . BOOM!

Cheers,
Boone

Tuesday Open Forum/Co-Working:

2999 N Humboldt Blvd. in Milwaukee (Riverwest) at the Alterra Coffee Roasters. There is parking on the street or in the lot across from the Roasters on Chambers.

Co-Working:
This will be our Tuesday night group at Alterra (on Humboldt). We will meet every Tuesday. This is a group for folks to bring whatever they're working on and use the camaraderie of the group to help them along. It is open to anyone, and we'll do a variety of things, from discussions to freewriting to prompts (should someone want to).

Tonight we reviewed the first ten chapters of Ziggurat by Erik Thelen. He was exceedingly appreciative of the group's efforts and felt the comments were very helpful. Some of the things the group stated as the novel's strengths were its tight plot and its quick, steady pace, the ease with which the narrator explained some dense subject matter, and the overall intrigue and mysticism. Some of the elements that needed work were the dialog, important information buried in long paragraphs and the need for some exposition regarding a six-year gap in the story.

On Monday, September 14th at 6:30 at the Tosa Library we'll be finishing up with Erik's novel. We'd love to see you there. If you're interested in reading Ziggurat, go to http://www.milwaukeewritersworkshop.com/story/ziggurat and download Parts 3 and 4.

And now for something completely different...I was told by a new member of the group that he thought the Novel Group was a closed sub-section of the MWW. I'd like to state emphatically, that is not so. We're open to anyone and are actively looking for novelists, readers and/or writers of any genre to fill out our somewhat eclectic group. The group is designed to work in much the same way as the short story group (read and critique for the good and the bad) but specifically for longer pieces. Our only rule is that you read and review two novels before the group will read and review yours.

We'd love to have you stop by on the 14th or the 28th to meet some eager, passionate, as-yet-unpublished writers, see the dynamics of the review session and maybe learn a thing or two about your own writing by reviewing someone else's work.