Next Noble Pen Meeting

August 3rd, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Here’s a broadcast about little free libraries and the future of libraries.

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Randy’s book signing in Bellevue has been moved to the afternoon of Sept 16th.

Victories

Aime is writing a guest column to submit to the newspaper.

Ciuin wrote 3,000 words on the King story and also a make-up school paper.

Dakota wrote every night this week despite dealing with family medical care.

Education

Nancy Kress has some words of wisdom about getting published that she has accumulated over her writing career.  Sarah Maine talks about her world of writing.  Kelsey Miller focuses on the writing process.

Upcoming Schedule

August 3
Nick
Aime
Laura

August 10
Shannon
Ciuin
Uriah

August 17
Randy
Dakota
Ciuin (would cede)

August 24
Open slots

August 31
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 27th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

Thirty area authors, including some from Noble Pen, will participate in a book signing at Lindale Mall on Saturday August 5.

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Back in April, reports circulated that a time capsule had been found, possibly placed by science fiction pioneer Jules Verne. (Although the term time capsule was not in use in his day.)  A search for more recent news turns up little, so it seems likely it was not as hoped. If you hear of any news, let us know.

Victories

Dakota participated in a book signing and sold 30 books.  The event raised $8k in admissions for a charity.

Shannon finished the first draft of a story.

Dylan has written Second Hand Dresses up to “the difficult middle”.

Ciuin wrote and submitted part of a new story.

Aime wrote a speech.

Education

Interesting sentences are building blocks of readable stories.  Gary Lutz, after some personal background, discusses what makes interesting sentences.  He finds a lot of depth in simple words.   An old article discusses great sentences.   Some editors have selected what they think are the 10 best sentences in literature, and tell you why.

We’ve seen recommendations for a book called It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences.  It uses humorous-by-exaggeration examples to make you more aware of subtle problems you might be having in your sentences.

Upcoming Schedule

July 27
Dakota
Randy
Ciuin

August 3
Nick
Aime
Laura

August 10
Randy
Shannon
Ciuin

August 17
Open slots

August 24
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 20th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

A study finds that people who read are nicer folks than those who watch a lot of TV.  They don’t prove whether that’s a cause or effect.

Victories

Randy gave a copy of his book to a friend, whose father read it, bought four copies and gave them to his friends.  Randy thinks he’s sold 100 to 125 copies of his book.

Dylan worked on his web site and cleaned it up and some of the stories.

Education

Robbie Blair points out words that may “gum up your text” and be candidates for elimination or change.  Tameri has a longer list of words to reconsider.  Then think about everything you wrote to see if it really adds to the story.  See what to leave out, while still giving the reader what they need with a good flow.

The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in. ~Henry Green

Upcoming Schedule

July 20
Aime
Ciuin
Dylan

July 27
Dakota
Randy
Ciuin

August 3
Nick
Open slots

August 10
Randy
Open slots

August 17
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill

Next Noble Pen Meeting

July 13th, 2017 at 7 pm

Scott’s Family Restaurant

1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

News

An essay tries to explain why Jane Austen remains popular with readers in a much different world.

Victories

Dylan wrote 10k words.

Randy’s book made the Coe Alumni magazine.  Next Page Books is taking his book on consignment.  He will have a book signing in Bellevue.

Dakota sold 19 books on pre-order and is going to participate in an 81-author book signing in Peoria.

Education (reprint)

Every author may dream of having a book on the best-seller lists. The most famous of many such lists are the ones from the NY Times. Publishers Weekly has lists. Amazon has theirs and other organizations publish them.

Making such a list one week will greatly help following sales of that and future books. What goes on behind the scenes to come up with the lists and to get on them? As mentioned in that article, there are sometimes shenanigans, as authors pay dearly for that momentary acclaim that could bring long-term benefits.

Critics point out the defects in relying on best seller lists, and even call for eliminating such lists, which seems unlikely.

One author found that making a best-seller list did not bring financial rewards because her publisher went bankrupt before sending her any royalties.

Upcoming Schedule

July 13
Aime
Randy
Dylan

July 20
Laura
Aime
Open slot

July 27
Dakota
Open slots

August 3
Nick
Open slots

August 10
Open slots

Keep Writing,
Bill