Monday, May 26, 2008
IT IS
It is sparkling in the eyes of a child as she waves her flag to the beat of the marching band.
It is glowing on the face of the young man with the bugle as his cheeks puff out to a familiar tune.
It is hanging from the windows and the porch posts and streaming from antennas of pickup trucks and motorcycles.
It is nestled in the arms of the families who have only a photo or a medal to hold on to.
It is what we sing about and fight about and have the right to write about.
It is a dream not yet perfected and a hope to keep alive.
It is up to each and every one of us or none of us survive.
-Rita
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
FINDING OUR SPACE
Greetings, fellow travelers in an ever-changing world . . .
This month, eleven writers found their way to our haven in the upper room.
The call to order came in the form of a question. "Does anyone object to Rich Barley becoming our vice president?"
There were no objections. Rich's first duty was to take over the meeting since Carol, our president, was late!
Several subjects needed to be discussed. Our usual space will not be available for the meeting in July. Meena is making arrangements for us to meet in the community room of her apartment complex near the Hershey Country Club. There will be food! Directions are to be posted, soon.
Details for our annual writers contest will also be posted soon. We would like to start accepting submissions in January of 2009. Give it some thought.
Membership dues are $15.00 and payable by the end of the year. What membership means is still evolving. It is up to all of us to define it. Further development of the web site will be a big part of the discussion. Please e-mail your suggestions and ideas.
Carol, who is happy to have such a capable vice president, read her monthly letter from the president to be posted on the web page. She had lots of thoughts on how we are adjusting to a rapidly changing world.
Meena announced that she has been given her own column in the Dauphin County Edition of 50plus Senior News! She will also be able to include her web site, www.tumbledowntales.com. If you haven't been to her site yet, go there. It's a nice place to visit.
A discussion began about making your presence known on the internet. Last month, Ralph Bieber and George Appelt attended a meeting of the Horror Writers Association, where much of the emphasis was on the importance of establishing your own space on the Web. Facebook is one option, but if you ever plan on having your own web site, now might be a good time to secure your domain name.
George, who was planning to attend a writers conference and make his pitch to an agent, told us of his adventures in creating a last minute web site. You can see the fantastic results of his efforts at www.georgerappeltjr.com.
Energy in the room was high as Mike Bender began reading a second installment to the short story he started last month. This set off a lively discussion on how to handle a deviation from reality, the importance of researching your subject, "how long should a short story be, anyway" and how to cut down on the number of words.
George also attempted to read an updated version of a short story from last month. The conversation continued. We decided to make an effort in future meetings to bring copies of what we plan to read, so comments can be written down and none of this good stuff gets wasted.
Ralph let us in on a top secret project, but if I tell you about it, one of his characters will have to kill ya.
As usual, Ed Guion came to our rescue. This time, with an enlightening poem. The subject was the Model A Shay which is a replica of the original Model A. Apparently, there's a whole club full of people who own them and Ed's poem will appear in the July/August edition of the club's publication.
Mostly, this month, we learned the value of having "a safe place to come and try things", as Rich defined our gathering.
Just as we come with different levels of writing ability, we are also finding ourselves in a world that requires us to overcome our varying degrees of intimidation when we face that great entity, the internet.
Be brave. You are not alone.
-Rita Morrow
Secretary CPWO
This month, eleven writers found their way to our haven in the upper room.
The call to order came in the form of a question. "Does anyone object to Rich Barley becoming our vice president?"
There were no objections. Rich's first duty was to take over the meeting since Carol, our president, was late!
Several subjects needed to be discussed. Our usual space will not be available for the meeting in July. Meena is making arrangements for us to meet in the community room of her apartment complex near the Hershey Country Club. There will be food! Directions are to be posted, soon.
Details for our annual writers contest will also be posted soon. We would like to start accepting submissions in January of 2009. Give it some thought.
Membership dues are $15.00 and payable by the end of the year. What membership means is still evolving. It is up to all of us to define it. Further development of the web site will be a big part of the discussion. Please e-mail your suggestions and ideas.
Carol, who is happy to have such a capable vice president, read her monthly letter from the president to be posted on the web page. She had lots of thoughts on how we are adjusting to a rapidly changing world.
Meena announced that she has been given her own column in the Dauphin County Edition of 50plus Senior News! She will also be able to include her web site, www.tumbledowntales.com. If you haven't been to her site yet, go there. It's a nice place to visit.
A discussion began about making your presence known on the internet. Last month, Ralph Bieber and George Appelt attended a meeting of the Horror Writers Association, where much of the emphasis was on the importance of establishing your own space on the Web. Facebook is one option, but if you ever plan on having your own web site, now might be a good time to secure your domain name.
George, who was planning to attend a writers conference and make his pitch to an agent, told us of his adventures in creating a last minute web site. You can see the fantastic results of his efforts at www.georgerappeltjr.com.
Energy in the room was high as Mike Bender began reading a second installment to the short story he started last month. This set off a lively discussion on how to handle a deviation from reality, the importance of researching your subject, "how long should a short story be, anyway" and how to cut down on the number of words.
George also attempted to read an updated version of a short story from last month. The conversation continued. We decided to make an effort in future meetings to bring copies of what we plan to read, so comments can be written down and none of this good stuff gets wasted.
Ralph let us in on a top secret project, but if I tell you about it, one of his characters will have to kill ya.
As usual, Ed Guion came to our rescue. This time, with an enlightening poem. The subject was the Model A Shay which is a replica of the original Model A. Apparently, there's a whole club full of people who own them and Ed's poem will appear in the July/August edition of the club's publication.
Mostly, this month, we learned the value of having "a safe place to come and try things", as Rich defined our gathering.
Just as we come with different levels of writing ability, we are also finding ourselves in a world that requires us to overcome our varying degrees of intimidation when we face that great entity, the internet.
Be brave. You are not alone.
-Rita Morrow
Secretary CPWO
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Mother of All Titles
Greetings, Writers.
The question was:
If you wrote a book about your mother, what would the title be?
For some the answer came quickly,
for others it was agony.
Some said there was just no time,
others, just no interest.
'Tis the nature of the business.
The answer is:
A Quiet Strength by Rich Barley
When Crickets Sing by Margie Cullen
How to Raise a Motherless Child by Rita J. Morrow
O Mother, Where Art Thou? by Alice Rowan (Rita's sister)
She Named the Liesas Kudas Rozinante by Irena Rusenas
Superwoman by Todd Watson
Mother's Day is Like a Baseball Glove by Charlie Yordy
A Mother's Steadfast Love by Roselle Zubey
Please, God, Don't Let Me Be a Copy of Her by Carol Causey
Oh, My God! I am My Mother! (also by Carol... but as a mother)
1. Go Play in Traffic
2. All She Could, Everything She Knew: All for Us
3. Chasing Plates
4. Trusting My Grandfather's Daughter by Alison Beard, in four volumes
Hopefully we all thought a little bit about what a title means for a book. Ralph Bieber had a suggestion for a title . . . but it had to be censored. Probably would have sold a lot of books, though.
I hope you all have a good day. Thanks to all your mothers for getting you here! Hope to see you, soon.
~ Rita, Secretary, CPWO
@>--;--
The question was:
If you wrote a book about your mother, what would the title be?
For some the answer came quickly,
for others it was agony.
Some said there was just no time,
others, just no interest.
'Tis the nature of the business.
The answer is:
A Quiet Strength by Rich Barley
When Crickets Sing by Margie Cullen
How to Raise a Motherless Child by Rita J. Morrow
O Mother, Where Art Thou? by Alice Rowan (Rita's sister)
She Named the Liesas Kudas Rozinante by Irena Rusenas
Superwoman by Todd Watson
Mother's Day is Like a Baseball Glove by Charlie Yordy
A Mother's Steadfast Love by Roselle Zubey
Please, God, Don't Let Me Be a Copy of Her by Carol Causey
Oh, My God! I am My Mother! (also by Carol... but as a mother)
1. Go Play in Traffic
2. All She Could, Everything She Knew: All for Us
3. Chasing Plates
4. Trusting My Grandfather's Daughter by Alison Beard, in four volumes
Hopefully we all thought a little bit about what a title means for a book. Ralph Bieber had a suggestion for a title . . . but it had to be censored. Probably would have sold a lot of books, though.
I hope you all have a good day. Thanks to all your mothers for getting you here! Hope to see you, soon.
~ Rita, Secretary, CPWO
@>--;--
Saturday, May 10, 2008
COPY THIS...
As a community of writers, many of us, however wishful, do not depend soley on our creative abilities as a way to make a living. But, recently, it has been brought to my attention that there is a bit of legislation in the works which merits some consideration from us all.
The Orphan Works Act was originally introduced to Congress in 2006. An "orphan work" is a work that is protected by copyright but whose owner cannot be located. The Orphan Works Act is an attempt to regulate the outcome of potential situations which arise from the use of such works by others.
The 2006 version of the Orphan Works Act was not passed, largely due to the organized outcry of the creative community.
This year, there are two revised versions of the bill.
It seems to me, anyone who hopes to benefit from copyright laws, should be concerned with any attempts to change their future.
If you would like to further educate yourself, there are plenty of sites devoted to this issue.
John Keeley, an attorney who served as counsel to the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, has a site set up to follow the progress of this legislation. http://www.orphanworks.net/
If you go to http://orphanworks.blogspot.com/, you will find an active blog set up by the Stock Artists Alliance with links to several other groups who are devoted to keeping discussion alive.
If you are interested in reading the actual bills, you can download them from http://www.georgesheldon.com/docs/The_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf
and
http://www.georgesheldon.com/docs/The_Shawn_Bentley_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf
Think about it. Talk about it. Pass it on... Rita, Secretary CPWO
The Orphan Works Act was originally introduced to Congress in 2006. An "orphan work" is a work that is protected by copyright but whose owner cannot be located. The Orphan Works Act is an attempt to regulate the outcome of potential situations which arise from the use of such works by others.
The 2006 version of the Orphan Works Act was not passed, largely due to the organized outcry of the creative community.
This year, there are two revised versions of the bill.
It seems to me, anyone who hopes to benefit from copyright laws, should be concerned with any attempts to change their future.
If you would like to further educate yourself, there are plenty of sites devoted to this issue.
John Keeley, an attorney who served as counsel to the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, has a site set up to follow the progress of this legislation. http://www.orphanworks.net/
If you go to http://orphanworks.blogspot.com/, you will find an active blog set up by the Stock Artists Alliance with links to several other groups who are devoted to keeping discussion alive.
If you are interested in reading the actual bills, you can download them from http://www.georgesheldon.com/docs/The_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf
and
http://www.georgesheldon.com/docs/The_Shawn_Bentley_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf
Think about it. Talk about it. Pass it on... Rita, Secretary CPWO
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