Monthly Archives: May 2016

The Tap Shoed Noble Pen Newsletter, June 2nd, 2016

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

June 2nd, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Hi guys, Shannon here. I’m taking over for a couple weeks while Bill is on vacation.

News

Aaron Bunce, local author, along with Dana Beatty, who as many times done PR for the ICON convention, and Terri LeBlanc who runs the Second Run Reviews website are doing an event called Imagine Other Worlds with Authors, a mass-signing event at Lindale Mall.
http://otherworlds.secondrunreviews.com/

Victories

Amie applied to do a blog/column/whatever for Publisher’s Weekly.
Stacie finished her rough draft, but she is afraid she will be torn apart by nurses with torches and pitchforks.

Education

A little bit on that gnats.

Upcoming Schedule

Jun 2
Nick
Randy

Jun 9
Shannon
Barbara

Jun 16
Aime
Ciuin

June 23
Stacie
Randy

Keep Writing,
Shannon

tap

The Noble Pen for May 26, 2016

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 26, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Hi guys, Shannon here. I’m taking over for a couple weeks while Bill is on vacation.

News

As we were discussing last night, there’s always more to learn:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/20/what-makes-bad-writing-bad-toby-litt If you don’t have time to read it, the big takeaway line for me was, “Bad writing is written defensively; good writing is a way of making the self as vulnerable as possible.” Along with, “To go from being a competent writer to being a great writer, I think you have to risk being – or risk being seen as – a bad writer. Competence is deadly because it prevents the writer risking the humiliation that they will need to risk before they pass beyond competence. To write competently is to do a few magic tricks for friends and family; to write well is to run away to join the circus.”

I was going to post another article that looked interesting, but after giving it a scan, it was overly pedantic.

Victories

Ciuin has (finally) graduated! On to grad school!

Cassie did her Facebook hop. It didn’t work (bad hop).

Dylan is setting up a Broken Typewriter booth for ICON.

Dylan made someone cry, in a good way.

Dylan turned his 2,500 word serial chapter into 8,000 words.

Dylan has mastered chainsaw juggling.

Education

Okay, I screwed up and forgot education, or I mixed it with news.  I’m rusty at this.

Upcoming Schedule

May 26
Aime
Stacie

Jun 2
Nick
Randy

Jun 9
Shannon
Barbara

Jun 16
Aime
Ciuin

June 23
Stacie
Open slot

Keep Writing,
Shannon

The Noble Pen for May 19, 2016

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 19, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Plagiarism isn’t confined to prose.  A recent scandal involves crossword puzzles.

–//–

Retiring co-founder of Barnes & Noble, Leonard Riggio reflects on changes in the book business.

Victories

Shannon edited a book for Dylan.

Cassie sold 14 books and made a lot of good contacts at the Clear Lake book bash.  She will participate in a “blog hop” where authors post to each other’s pages.  She will go to a signing event in Madison in August.

Dylan got his panel assignments for WisCon, including a reading.  He is signed up to help with DreamCon as part of ICON this fall.

Ciuin finished all school and paperwork to graduate.  She coached someone to improve their writing by expanding summary, removing passive, and better dialog.

Nick made progress on editing and sent a four-page train spotting report.

Barbara is editing her NaNoWriMo 2015 draft.

Education

Your first draft will be bad.  Everyone’s is.  Trina St. Jean offers advice on how to move a messy draft toward being a good story, with emphasis on the structure.  Chuck Wendig, foul-mouthed as always, nevertheless offers good advice on procedure for rewriting.  Kristin Lamb zeroes on on troublesome wordings.

Upcoming Schedule

May 19
Randy
Shannon

May 26
Aime
Stacie

Jun 2
Nick
Randy

Jun 9
Shannon
Barbara

Jun 16
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

The Noble Pen for May 12, 2016

Newsletters

Next Noble Pen Meeting

May 12, 2016 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Jim Hines did a post about SF doing good in the community and it has drawn several posts with examples.

–//–

More (crude language) commentary on the Hugo Awards controversy.

–//–

We have many physical and electronic options for writing, but that wasn’t always so.  A recent study looks into ancient ink.

Victories

Amie wrote a 20 page lawyer website and didn’t hurt herself.

Nick started on the 2nd part of his trilogy.

Dylan rewrote the end of his 3rd serial.

Education

Getting a decent book written and published is an uphill battle.  Dana Elmendorf says there are some hard truths a writer must face.  You can succeed if you are willing to put in the effort to overcome them.  Here’s another list of problems and ways to deal with them.

Upcoming Schedule

May 12
Shannon
Dylan

May 19
Randy
Open slot

May 26
Aime
Stacie

Jun 2
Nick
Randy

Jun 9
Shannon
Open slot

Keep Writing,
Bill