New Website Up and Running

Just to remind everyone, our new Writers Workshop blog is being hosted on Westland Library's new website. The address is the following:

http://www.westlandlibrary.org/read/workshop

Join us over there for more great local news regarding writers and writing in the Westland area. Cheers!

We're moving!

The Westland Adult Poetry Group blog is moving to the safe havens of the new Westland Library website. We will also be taking on the new name of Writers Workshop blog, but we will posting information relevant to both the Writers Club and Writers Workshop (ohh, I just had an idea- maybe we should call it the Writers Blog, since it caters to both groups- I'll see what I can do). I will post the new address as soon as the website goes live (likely a week from Sunday).

Writers Workshop

The 1st official meeting of the Writers Workshop met on Tuesday, Sept. 14th and was a small success. We had 5 members attend, 3 brand new to any of our Writers groups in the library. In attendance were John C., Jesse (both Fiction Group attendees), Dan, Jackie, and Remi.

We spent the first half of the meeting discussing the new guidelines of the Workshop, some of which include:

• · 10 members maximum
• · Any genre, any type of writing accepted
• · All levels--experienced or inexperienced
• · Who is our audience? This group!
• · We are here to offer encouragement and to help improve and polish our work. If each piece is a baby, we're here to help it grow up and go out into the world.

If you would like more information about the Writers Workshop or the Writers Club (led by Cheryl Vatcher-Martin), stop by or call the library and ask for me, Andy.

The next Writers Workshop is scheduled on Wednesday, October 12th from 7-8:30 p.m. (Meeting Room C) Ask Andy for copies of the submissions if you have not yet received them.

The next Writers Club is this coming Monday, September 27th from 7-8 p.m. (Meeting Room B) Bring your submissions along with you.

Kerrytown Bookfest- Ann Arbor

I thought I'd pass along this link for those of you interested in meeting Michigan authors and reading books about Michigan, the Kerrytown Bookfest happening on Sunday, September 12th.

http://www.kerrytownbookfest.org/

Mystery authors Steve Hamilton and Loren Estleman (this man spoke at my graduation from EMU- he is warm and funny and he knows his Detroit history) will be there, presenting and receiving awards, as well as talking, and poet Keith Taylor (who presented to our poetry group a year or so ago) will be interviewing author/poet, Thomas Lynch (whose life as a funeral home director provided much of the backdrop for the HBO series, "Six Feet Under"), among many other activities, including kids stuff.

Best of all, it is free and set in a pleasant area of Ann Arbor, off of campus but near some really great restaraunts and shops. Hope you can make it.

Elmore Leonard 's 10 Rules of Writing

I came across this today and thought anybody who writes, poets or fiction writers, would find something useful in the crime and western writer's rules toward writing (even some things we've covered in our Fiction Writers group, like overuse of adverbs and extra long paragraphs):

http://www.elmoreleonardliteraryartsandfilmfestival.com/10rules.html

Cheryl at the Westland Borders

Local author/instructor Cheryl Vatcher-Martin is having a book signing at the Westland Border's this Sunday , 8/29, starting at 1 p.m. Stop by and say hi to Cheryl, if you get a chance (she will be leading our new Writers Club, so this will be a good opportunity for newcomers to get a feel for her and her style).

I will not be able to make it as I am taking my way to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids to see a Dale Chihuly (glass artist) exhibit for her birthday (i'm not saying which one). Enjoy your weekend!

Members publishing books

One of our poetry group members, Julie Moffitt, put together a book on blurb.com If you get a chance, check it out- it's gorgeous. It's called Winter Song (click the title to see the book).

I also recently saw that John Smolinski published a book at Jafansta press based on his favorite poetic form, the pantoun. It is called We Fight to Remember.

Great to see so many of our poets publishing their work (not to mention our Fiction Group, with John Capraro publishing many of his Science Fiction stories recently, as well as getting his YA book looked at by St. Martin's Press).

We've got some talented writers here!