Noble Pen Meeting

March 10th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.
–Ray Bradbury

Victories

It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon. Of course, as everyone predicted, Nick Tharalson’s ice fishing equipment rental business went under. Nick saw early on that the business wasn’t doing so well, as everyone in town has more  of ice-fishing gear than they could ever use, usually passed down from their grandfathers. Last week, Nick was spotted several times at dusk, pushing his shack towards the thin side of the ice.

Tony Mione was seen hiking with his fourteen children. It’s kind of a sad thing to watch, really. No matter how often he takes them out into the wilderness, they always make it back.

And once again, Bill Hart organized the Sons of Knute Pancake Breakfast. This year, his wife Karen supervised, given the tragic events of last year’s pancake breakfast in which twelve bachelor Norwegian farmers were killed.

News

The Times has an article on why authors abandon projects.

Cat Rambo has some tips on sentence and paragraph construction.

An interesting note about how libraries and e-books are clashing.

Upcoming Schedule

March 10th
(7) Dylan
(7) Nick
(7) Kelly

March 17h
(7) Shannon
(7) Tony
(7) Kris

March 24nd
(7) Bob
(7) Ciuin
(7) Educational

March 31st
(8) Tyree
(8)Ciuin
(8)Shannon

April 7th
(8)Nick
(8)Kris
(8)Mark

April 14th
(8)Tony
(9t) Tyree
(9t) Ciuin

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

March 3rd, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

The idea that all ideas are partly true, partly false, and partly meaningless is partly true, partly false and partly meaningless.
–Hagbard Celine

Victories

John checked us out.

Ciuin finished her class, “the EU.” She also finished the poetry section of her creative writing class–poor, poor Ciuin.

Tyree is done with Kafka–poor, poor Tyree.

Dylan is done with two commissions–that’s not too bad actually.

News

Name of the Wind author Patrick Rothfuss has offered to give part of his next novel’s royalties to Nathan Fillion, so that they can buy Firefly from Fox.

Eric at Pimp My Novel explains that publishers like money.

Upcoming Schedule

March 3rd
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

March 10th
Dlyan
Nick
Kelly

March 17h
Shannon
Tony
Kris

March 24nd
Bob
Ciuin
Educational

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

February 24th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

When Reginald Iolanthe Perrin set out for work on the Thursday morning, he had no intention of calling his mother-in-law a hippopotamus.
-Opening sentence, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, David Nobbs

Victories

Sams’s Dot is now on Smashwords and selling electronic editions. Welcome to the year 2000, too bad it’s 2011.

Ciuin’s materials arrived from Montreal and is on to some serious translating.

Dylan submitted a story to an anthology, for which he will no doubt be arrested.

News

J.A. Konrath has an interesting article on ebook pricing.

The Daring Novelist has written about pesky dialog tags.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 24th
(6) Tyree
(6) Bill???
(6) Shannon

March 3rd
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

March 10th
Dlyan
Nick
Kelly

March 17h
Shannon
Tony
Kris

March 24nd
Bob
Ciuin
Educational

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

February 17th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

As far as I was aware, he’d never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready. When I came here as a child, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. I guess he considered me old enough now not to shoot myself by accident, and not depressed enough to shoot myself on purpose.
–Stephanie Meyer, Twilight

Victories

Kelly is American. Her name changed, and she now owes $45,000 on the national debt.

Nick wrote the end of his Medieval epic, which takes place in Milwaukee.

Tony saw his first short story in print, a sure side effect of over-medication.

Tyree is working on two new publications: one involving procedural investigation in space and a second devoted to paranormal activity. Looks like it’s time to dust off my stories about Ecto Hardbullet, Interplanetary Ghost Detective.

News

You can make it by self-publishing.

The shitbird cometh.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 17th
(6) Tyree
(6) Bill
(6) Bob

Feb 24th
(6) Dylan
(6) Bill
(6) Shannon

March 3rd
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

March 10th
Tyree
Nick
Kelly

March 17h
Shannon
Tony
Kris

March 24nd
Bob
Ciuin
Educational

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

February 10th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

The three of us, and millions of primitive hew-mans… I like those odds.
-Quark, Deep Space Nine, “Little Green Men”

Victories

Hopefully, by this point, Kelly as been sworn in as a US citizen. If everything has gone right, congratulations. If, however, something has gone wrong, you’ll be missed.

Dylan has another commission, a repeat customer, and yes that was a double entendre.

News

An interesting video on the importance of mastery.

Behold, seven ways to eliminate passive sentences.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 10th
(5) Mark
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Feb 17th
(6) Tyree
(6) Kris
(6) Bob

Feb 24th
(6) Dylan
(6) Bill
(6) Shannon

March 1st
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

February 3rd, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs, a very endearing sight, I’m sure you’ll agree. And even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe.
— The Patrician, from Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals

Victories

Nick, along with P Diddy, Kim Porter, and Rodney King is being sued for $1 trillion. They have been accused a stealing a poker chip worth $100 billion and causing the destruction of the World Trade Center.

News

NPR has a story about writing great sentences.

The Future is Now. Kindle books are now outselling paperbacks at Amazon. And some more proof that we are living in the future: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x35r4m_the-future-is-now-1955_tech

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 3rd
(5) Nick
(5) Kris
(5) Shannon

Feb 10th
(5) Mark
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Feb 17th
(6) Tyree
(6) Kris
(6) Bob

Feb 24th
(6) Dylan
(6) Bill
(6) Shannon

March 1st
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

January 27th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

A cut from the cloth of the Kennedy’s
Frank Sinatra having dinner with the Genovese
This is the genesis of a nemesis
Mother America’s not witnessing

-Jay-Z, “Pray”

Victories

Dylan never heard back from an anthology he submitted to, but he’s considering the lack of his name in the Table of Contents to be a clue.

Aoife’s Kiss is now 50,000 words. Tyree is still unemployed. If you call being the managing editor of a small press unemployed, which, lets be honest, most people probably do.

News

NPRs Ira Glass talks about storytelling. One thing I found interesting: instead of using the words “Scene” and “Summary,” he uses “Anecdote” and “Reflection.”

Ricky Gervais said something profound about comedy which relates to writing in general. “You do your own thing, and then you see if you survive…if you’re trying to change it to make people like you, you’re finished.”

Upcoming Schedule

January 27th
(4) Shannon
(4) Ciuin
Something Educational — I guess I got this one.

Feb 3rd
(5) Nick
(5) Mark
(5) Shannon

Feb 10th
(5) Kris
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Feb 17th
(6) Tyree
(6) Kris
(6) Bob

Feb 24th
(6) Dylan
(6) Bill
(6) Shannon

March 1st
(6) Ciuin
(6) Mark
(6) Nick

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

January 20th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

From the air, Vatican City looked like a marble Monopoly set. The Church owned all the property from Broadwalk to Illinois Avenue, had three hotels on every lot, and no matter how often it tossed the dice you just knew it would never land on Go to Jail, it would be forever passing Go and collecting $200.

-Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction

Victories

Tyree quit his day job to do more writing. This will no doubt lead to human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, and mass hysteria.

Ciuin has been invited to lecture in Rome. These are methods she might use to get there.

News

A long and bitter article about how many spaces go after a sentence. If you don’t want to read it, the answer is one.

Agent Mary Kole writes about the role of agents in the digital age.

This site can tell you the bestsellers from the week you were born (year you were born if before 1950). Take note that they use European date style day-month-year.

Upcoming Schedule

January 20th
(4) Tyree
(4) Mark
(4) Kris

January 27th
(4) Shannon
(4) Ciuin
Something Educational — Volunteer?

Feb 3rd
(5) Nick
(5) Mark
(5) Shannon

Feb 10th
(5) Kris
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

January 13th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Mmmmm, I’m really diggin your lips
but be careful where you walkin when you’re swing them hips.
I’m kinda concerned you’ll be causin a crash
with your traffic jam booty, heads pausin so fast

-Ludacris, “Pimping All Over The World”

Victories

Ciuin’s author friend has suggested she become a professional author harasser. They are considering an SBA loan which will be reinvested to make Ciuin 10% more distressing.

Kelly actually wrote the piece we’re going to review this week. I am considering having Ciuin give her a stern look.

News

From Nina D’Angelo, A Writer’s Perspective on Writers.

Geoffrey Pullum, head of Linguistics and English at the University of Edinburgh, writes about why The Elements of Style is dumb. Okay, this isn’t really news, because it was written in August of 2009. However, it’s a good read, and well worth your time.

Upcoming Schedule

January 13th

(3) Kelly
(3) Tyree
(4) Dave Shannon

January 20th
(4) Tyree
(4) Mark
(4) Kris

January 27th
(4) Shannon
(4) Ciuin
Something Educational — Volunteer?

Feb 3rd
(5) Nick
(5) Mark
(5) Shannon

Feb 10th
(5) Kris
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

Noble Pen Meeting

January 6th, 2011
Scott’s Family Restaurant
1906 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids

Richie Cunningham: A shark? That is the *stupidest* thing I have ever heard!

Fonzie: Stupid, yes. Also dumb. But it is something I’ve gotta do.

Richie Cunningham: Fonz, you’re not jumping over garbage cans on a bike. You’re jumping over a shark. On nothing! On a couple of little skis! One little slip and chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Fonzie: Thanks a lot for your support. Look, I was challenged. I gotta jump.

—Happy Days, “Hollywood: Part 3”

Victories

Like ghosts of Christmas past, George and Ron stopped by.

Tyree kicked out 20,000 words this week on a new fantasy novel. This makes me feel quite inadequate, as I’ve just thrown away 10,000 words written over the last 2 weeks.

Tony is ready for his Chapter Five critique, which given the chaos of his life, counts as a major victory.

Ciuin continues to make the rest of us look like slackers. She made Honor Roll again. She is also taking creative writing in the spring. Hopefully, she can teach them something.

News

From Michael Chabon: How to salvage a wrecked novel.

An interesting perspective by Josh Olson.

Upcoming Schedule

January 6th

(3) Kris
(4) Nick
Educational Bit — Ciuin

January 13th
(3) Kelly
(3) Tyree
(4) Dave Shannon

January 20th
(4) Tyree
(4) Mark
(4) Kris

January 27th
(4) Shannon
(4) Ciuin
Something Educational — Volunteer?

Feb 3rd
(5) Nick
(5) Mark
(5) Shannon

Feb 10th
(5) Kris
(5) Tony
(5) Kelly

Keep Writing, Penites.

Shannon

And without further ado:

THE SHARK JUMP