Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Invitation to Be a Guest on Karen's Blog

What stirs your writer's soul? Answer this question in 250 words or less and Karen M. Rider will upload it as a guest post on her blog "Soul of a Writer."
Karen invites writing colleagues of all genres to submit about any of the following topics related to "what stirs the soul of a writer?"
  • Why did you write your most recent story?
  • What made you stick with a character that gave you more trouble than fun to write about?
  • What compelled you to share details of your life in a personal essay or work of creative nonfiction?
  • What made you want to tackle historical fiction and why did you choose the time period your most recent work is set in?
  • Why do you write?
  • How do you feed your muse?
  • What made you choose the setting for your current work-in-progress or most recent published work?
  • Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
  • Write about what the topic "stirs a writer's soul" means to you!
Karen's blog receives 250-600 hits a month, depending on time of year, content and frequency of posts. Her website receives 300 hits per month (since February 2011) with more than 100 return visitors each month. 12% stay on site to read from 2-10min. 5% read for an hour or more. She will post the content that has the best match for her blog audience. Submit your post with a 60 word bio on or before September 25.

Subscribe to Karen's newsletter to find out if your post will be uploaded and the date. You'll also find out when other CAPA member's posts are going up.
Questions? Contact Karen by replying to this email.


All the best,

Karen M. Rider



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Journaling Workshop: 5 Ways to Journal Your Best Life


This is the flyer for the upcoming program at Cromwell Belden Library
Dec 14 2011
6:30 pm

A Westport Writers Workshop

SPECIAL EVENT

"Where Do You Get Your Ideas?"
Children's Authors Share Invention Strategies

At the Westport Writers' Workshop
3 Sylvan Road South, Westport

TONIGHT!
December 8
7:30-9 pm


Discovery of a mysterious diamond reveals a girls’s connection to Shakespeare...a boy cast out of his Amazon tribe finds new life with an American adoptive family but needs to return to prove himself...a group of kids with wacky but limited powers put their heads together to solve a crime...

Do you ever wonder where best-selling children’s authors get their ideas?

Anyone who writes or loves middle grade fiction will enjoy this evening with successful authors of middle grade fiction. The panel, which includes the surprise guest NY Times tech columnist David Pogue along with authors Elise Broach, Tony Abbott and N.A. Nelson, will address questions such as:

  • How do you repeatedly come up with fresh, inventive ideas?
  • How do you know that the idea is right for your target age range – in this case, middle grade fiction?
  • What strategies are useful when you get stuck working on a story?
  • How do you decide when it's time to abandon an idea and move on to something else?

Panelists will include:

Tony Abbott: Firegirl (Little, Brown & Co.); Lunchbox Dream (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); Secrets of Droon (Scholastic); Cracked Classics Series (Hyperion); award-winner The Secret (Little, Brown & Co.)

Elise Broach: Missing on Superstition Mountain (Henry Holt & Company); New York Times Bestseller Masterpiece (Henry Holt & Company); Shakespeare's Secret (Henry Holt & Company); Desert Crossing (Henry Holt & Company)

Nina Nelson: Bringing the Boy Home (Harper Collins);

David Pogue: Abby Carnelia's One and Only Magical Power (Roaring Brook Press)

The presentation will include time for Q&A. Copies of the authors’ books will be available for purchase and book signing.

Registration $25, bring a child for free. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required.

REGISTER NOW



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Karen Rider's News

I have a feature fiction piece coming out in Om Times digital magazine in the DEC 15 and JAN 1 issues. The story is "The Parade" It is a visionary short story:

"I really enjoyed The Parade. There are spiritual instructions on how to achieve wellbeing, happiness and success. Your writing is very descriptive, it captured my imagination and pulled me into the story. In your writing, you use your metaphysical knowledge in a creative and enlightening way."

Ingride Elguleta, Canada

Visitors to my website who sign-up for my e-newsletter will receive a personal copy of the story and the interpretation of the symbolic imagery— spiritual, angelic and metaphysical— depicted in the story.

Also, recently published in Om Times is an article, "Menopausal Madness". In the Cromwell Chronicle in December 2011 issue: "2012: Beginning of the End or Just the Beginning"

My website: www.karenmrider.com

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Using Our CT IWWG BLOG

From Trish Lapidus, one of your CT reps:

Hello, Writing Sisters of the Connecticut International Women's Writing Guild,

This is our blog and a way to keep connected locally as well as share in IWWG. I invite you to tell us your publications and successes--or ask questions about your writing practice.

I'm just catching on to my new post as a CT IWWG Rep. Let me know how I can help you the most.

My news: I have published a second edition of Sweet Potato Suppers: A Yankee Woman Finds Salvation in a Hippie Village. My essay "A Musical Thanksgiving" was published in an anthology Thanksgiving Tales: True Stories of the Holiday in America, edited by Brian D. Jaffe. My essay on the magic of the elder years was included in Unraveling Mysteries: An Anthology on Woman and Aging, edited by Jyoti Wind, a member of IWWG. Several of my poems have appeared in Off the Coast, along with a review of my book of poems Red Hen's Daughters.

I have enjoyed created a series of video clips and posting them on You Tube to support memoir writers and all writers as well as to discuss the themes of my books. You can also catch these clips on my blogs.

Enjoy your holidays. Blessings, Trish