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!

August BBQ

We had a small but engaged turn-out for our 2nd annual Writers BBQ (we included the fiction writers even though they tend to be a little long-winded- just kidding, ladies and germs). Pat once more manned the BBQ, spray-bottling and turning the chicken and the corn into a succulent mass of food. Everyone was beyond satisfied and satiated. Andy brought deserts (popsicles and fudge-pops) and the rest of the crew brought poems to read and share. In all, Cheryl and her husband, Gerry, Julie and her husband, Diana and a friend, Jesse (our fiction group representative), Pat, and myself were in attendance.

After sharing poems, I discussed the new writing groups for the fall (replacing our Fiction and Poetry Groups) with more/less critique oriented groups:

Writer's Club (a more casual, come when you can, bring what you have group led by Cheryl)

Writer's Workshop (more comprehensive critiques for improving your writing led by Andy)

Check the library or email me for updated schedules and times for each of the groups.

July Meeting

We had a full group for our latest Poetry Group meeting: Patrick, Diana (plus one friend), Cheryl, Julie, Don, and Rundell. We even had the Detroit Creative Writing Examiner, Erica Martin, attend and participate in group critiques (see Erica's article on our program in the previous blog post).

Not everybody brought poems but Julie and Patrick brought enough for everyone :) Julie has begun writing haiku with Cheryl's direction and produced a prodigious amount in the short time she has started writing them. She also brought in her own more philosophical work (brought on by an incident at work) as well as an updated version of her haunted house poem.

Cheryl was so excited by Julie's new work that she read a few of her new haiku inspired by Emily Dickinson and tomatoes as well another of her works. We spent some time talking about Dickinson's life, as Julie is also a big fan of her work.

We read two of Patrick's poems that he had submitted earlier in the month, but he surprised us with two new poems, one titled "handsome" and all about what hands do (or don't do). This 5 pager was engaging and full of witty wordplay (as Patrick's poems are wont to do). The second poem was a short ditty about a goat with a longer story behind the work.

The group even conjured up an exquisite corpse poem. Don came in toward the end of our session but was still able to contribute some linesl. Talk to Andy if you'd like to see a copy of the project.

The Poetry BBQ has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 4th from 6-8 p.m. We are thinking about holding it at the park we had it at last year or another close by (to hopefully avoid mosquitoes) . We are inviting our friendly Fiction Group attendees, too, so if someone breaks into a story, you'll know where they came from. If you're interested in attending, please give me (Andy) $5 as Patrick will be buying the goods and cooking them up for us again. If you have something you'd like to BBQ yourself, just bring it along. Any questions talk to me. We'll also be talking about the fall sessions and a few changes taking place for the Fiction and Poetry groups.

Interview with Detroit Creative Writing Examiner

Recently, I was interviewed by the Detroit Creative Writing Examiner, Erica Martin, regarding our Writing Programs here. She posted a brief article about our program at this address:

http://www.examiner.com/x-50963-Detroit-Creative-Writing-Examiner

If you're interested in reading the full interview/article, let me know and I will give you a copy at our next meeting. I will see about posting it on our website, too, in case it is easier for folks to look up that way.

June meeting

I neglected to post for our last meeting until nearly the time for our next meeting (next Wednesday, 7/7 from 7-8 p.m. Geez, 7's sure seem lucky there, maybe one of us will win the lottery). Sorry, blame it on music and movies and Summer Reading Program business on my part.

We had 6 members attend, including Patrick, Cheryl, Diana, Julie, and Don, as well as one new member whose name has been lost to a month of library (and 1 year old) activity. I apologize sincerely to above-namelessed poet, but will be sure to catch all names next week.

Patrick, being his usual prolific self, brought in a number of works for us to peruse (I say "peruse" b/c we often move speedily from one to the next). Don did not bring in any poems but recounted a lengthy evening at the Westland July 4th fairgrounds with his nephew. Diana, as I recall, did not bring in any new works, but offered her opinion on many subjects from police/medical neglect to sheer wonder. Julie brought in new works- her natural poems offer much equanimity.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!

A really eye-opening article about the services libraries provide for all of us:

Opportunity and Access: The power of today's public libraries

Just thought I would pass this along in lieu of recent events instigated by the city's desire to charge the library rent.

Gathering of Writers

"A Gathering of Writers" celebrates its 8th anniversary of open mics and poetry readings by hosting Amy Gerold of Grand Rapids on Thursday, June 17th starting at 7:30 (open mic to start, featured reader to follow) . Readings are held at the Plymouth Coffee Bean (884 Penniman Ave. in Plymouth)

Long time, no post

Well, I sincerely apologize for not posting more lately. Running all these programs has me lacking on some of my more enjoyable duties. But I do have lots of good news to report like ...


and also this ....


This was the turn-out for our "Westland Writes" Poetry Reading last night. It turns out that almost 60 people showed up to hear our poets read their work- and the audience reviews were raving (well, that sound too close to "stark raving mad", but suffice to say their were excited). We ran out of chairs, people overflowed into the aisles- and the food was great! 14 of the 19 poets who contributed to the book came to read their works, which was delightful. To actually hear the poems in the poet's voice is something beautiful. If you could not make it, you missed out.

Next week we're having our first Poetry Group of the summer, Wednesday June 2nd at 7 p.m. While it would be great if we had 60 people show up to that one, we'd probably have to have find a new format :) Hope to see you all there!

Chico's Muse and Blues

This is from our buddy, Chico Hernandez. Hope you all can attend.

------------------------------------------------------

Friends,

My Irish friends tell me St. Paddy's Day fun does NOT end on the 17th.

Come celebrate some more on the 27th. Several of the finer Blues Performers from the Metro area will entertain us. As always, we feature an Open Mic / Open Jam, where all Writers, Musicians, Singers, etc., ALL, Performers are welcome.

Our new venue is at City CoffeeHouse in Allen Park just west of Southfield Road on Allen Road.

Actual start time is 7 PM [ flyer states 8 but it is in error ]

see you there

Rogelio "Chico" Hernandez

ARTSPEAK

April Poetry Book

In celebration of April being National Poetry Month ...

Anyone interested in getting their poems published in the second annual "Westland Writes ... Poetry" book, should contact me when they get a chance. Starting April 1st, we will have a box out by the 15 minute Internet stations near the Reference desk for anyone to drop off poems. If you can't make it in, you can just email them to me (which is generally easier for me since I don't have to type them).

The deadline for submissions to this book will be: Saturday, April 24th at 5 p.m.

We will have a reading in May for all who contributed (date/time TBA).

March Group Meeting

We had a small crowd this time around, but that just meant more time was spent discussing the poetry (which I enjoy). Patrick, Diana, and Don shared their work with us.

Don started out by discussing a poetry group he used to belong to here in Westland, which was run out of a coffee/gift shop, but eventually the shop had to close down. He brought in copies of the anthology they created (though Don didn't add any poems to the anthology, he did add his workman's aesthetic to the construction of the book, which, instead of being held together with binding clips, was held in place by nuts, bolts, and washers. It looked really great). The coffee shop part got me to thinking about having our summer group over at Biggby on Ford Road, since they have a patio (though the patio is right on Ford Road).

Patrick brought in two poems, one a direct response to my email query for blues poems, the other a philosophy of poetry. Both poems were infused with Pat's characteristic humor and subtle subversion ("Boss Man Andy" was referenced in the blues poem). In his "Philosophy" poem, Pat posited: "IT IS HOW IT IS PUT / IT IS HOW IT IS SAID / LITTLE OF TONGUE / MOSTLY OF HEART / BUT / CRAFTED, A BIT ..." We all liked that one a lot.

Diana tried the other exercise I sent out, automatic writing (an old Beat Generation trick to get a lot of writing down with spontaneous energy to it). Diana succeeded at this in creating a work about her grandchildren eating out with her, a great setting for spontaneous, contradictory energy. A favorite line: "she is a tomboy and a tumbler so whatever he throws her way is okay with her."

Don performed two of his works and we talked a fair amount about how to best memorize your poems. Rhyme certainly helps, I suggested, and Don agreed, as most of his poems are written this way (though not his birth dream poem, which he began to recite to show us). The man has an incredible memory.

February Group Meeting

I apologize for getting to this so late- it kind of slipped out of my mind and set up residence in a small dustball by my memoir writing folder, but it finally snuck back in. So here we go: we had many of our usual suspects bring new work in as well as 2 newcomers who showed artful eyes for detail and commentary.

Diana, Patrick, Don, and Cheryl were our regulars. Diana, as usual, brought along her skewering wit (at least for those she's had relationships with). Patrick showed off his unusual flair for witty short verse. Don brought down the house with a couple more of his performed poems (one was his JonBenet work, which always brings sympathy and cringes). Cheryl brought more of her vivid haiku, which flow right out of her pen as easily as breath.

Elsa was one of our newcomers and she brought domestic poems happening both in and out her house. One was about how her dog always seems to be everywhere you are, even tho she didn't see/hear him coming. I cannot remember our 2nd new group member's name at this time, but she did go beyond the superficial in commenting on both Don and Patrick's work- and an honest, thoughtful critique is always appreciated.

New Writing Group

This posting came to me via Ann E. Horvath, from the Plymouth Gathering of Writers series.
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Want to write but never joined a writing group? Are you already writing memoir/ travel pieces/essays and/or poetry? Want to start new work or get published? This class is right for you! Spend six stimulating evenings with us. Winter won’t seem bleak anymore! Participants receive prompts/reading material, write a piece each week, receive feedback from the class and guidance from the instructor --Zilka Joseph, an award winning, Pushcart- nominated writer.

WHERE: At the Valley Ranch Apartments Clubhouse, 1315 Oak Valley Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. (Behind Meijers on Ann Arbor-Saline Road.)

FEES: Non members -- $150. Members -- $100
Metro Detroit Writers’ Membership fee --$40. You will receive a monthly newsletter and free entry to an annual contest, readings and performances, special rates for workshops by visiting writers, and discounts for the Springfed Writers’ Retreats in Harbor Springs.

CONTACT: Director of Springfed Arts, John D. Lamb at www.springfed.org
email johndlamb@ameritech.net
Phone 248-589-3913.Register early! Space limited.


*Zilka Joseph, teacher and writer, has been published in journals such as Review Americana, Rattle, the MacGuffin, and the Connecticut River Review, andnominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her chapbook of poems Lands I Live In, wasnominated for a PEN America Beyond Margins Award in 2007. She was awarded a Zell Fellowship to pursue an MFA at the University of Michigan, where she won the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship and a Hopwood award.Currently, she is circulating a book of poems, collaborating on a project with a photographer and a dancer, and working on a memoir.

Action for Earth

If anybody knows Westland families with kids in K-8th grade, here's a great environmental/art program happening at the library:

Action for Earth is an innovative environmental and art program combining the hands-on science of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, the art of area children, and a community-wide environmental event to raise awareness in the Westland community of environmental awareness.

Families with children in K-8th grade that sign up will need to commit to 4 events (all on Saturdays), all held at the Westland Public Library except for the March 20th event:

1. Jan. 30th, 1-2 p.m.: Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum Workshop titled "Good Earth, Great Food" (more info on these workshops on the website);
2. Feb. 27th, 1-2 p.m.: Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum Workshop titled "The Uninvited" (about non-native plant species);
3. March 20th, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.: Community Event involving seed-planting for the new Westland Community Garden (event held at the Bailey Center); and,
   
4. March 20th, 12-5 p.m.: Environmental art creation and collection at library (don't have to stay for full 5 hours, only as long as art is created). All pieces of art work will be incorporated into a mural/mosaic that will be donated to the library.
   

There are 5th and 6th events on Earth Day that we would love the families to attend, but are not requiring them:

5. April 22nd, 4-5 p.m.: Grand opening of new Westland Community Gardens (will be located near AT&T building on Cherry Hill and Hix); mayor will be there, press, etc. Should be fun.
6. April 22nd, 6:30-8 p.m.: Earth Day concert at the library featuring the Biakuye Percussion Ensemble. All children who create art for the March 20th event will receive a free poster of the library mural so they can show off their artwork to family and friends.

Feel free to pass out my email (andy.schuck@westlandlibrary.org) or call me if people have questions which are not answered here. Thanks!

Rent-a-reviewer

I came across this today as I was reading another poet's poem: it's a writing service through Dzanc Books in Ann Arbor where you can email your work to a professional reviewer and they will give you an honest opinion about where it needs work.

The rates are totally reasonable (20 bucks for an hour, 30 bucks for two hours) and go from Fiction to Poetry to Novel-writing. Plus all the proceeds go to the non-profit organization's writing program. Almost too good to be true. I am intrigued.

Anybody who tries let us know how it goes (if I don't beat you to it first!). Here's the website:

http://www.dzancbooks.org/creative.html

Gathering of Writers- Plymouth

I normally send these to everyone in an email but thought that since I received so early I might as well put it in a place where it couldn't be erased. Come February, check out the Gathering of Writers in Plymouth at that awesome little coffee shop that could (and can- and will), the Coffee Bean. Here's the featured author info, c/o Ann E. Horvath (email me if you would like her email address):

A GATHERING OF WRITERS FEATURES: MARY JO FIRTH GILLETT

(PRESENTER: OLGA KLEKNER)

Thursday, 02-18-2010 at 7:30 P.M Mary Jo Firth Gillett poetry book Soluble Fish, won the Crab Orchard Series First Book Award and she's also published three prize-winning chapbooks: Not One (The Writer's Voice of Metro Detroit), Tiger in a Hairnet (Small Poetry Press), and Chandeliers of Fish (Poetry West Press). She co-edited with Diane DeCillis an anthology of Mona Lisa related poetry titled Mona Poetica. A Gathering of Writers Meets at the Plymouth Coffee Bean, 844 Penniman Avenue, Plymouth, MI and is associated with the writing group -- A Gathering of Writers Write. Instructor: Ms. Lisa Rye, MFA, Vermont College and assistant Co-Host. Hosts: Jane Saylor, Donna MeMeyer. - No cover charge. Open Mic. All are welcome. Direct questions to Director Annie Horvath CLOSED JANUARY, JULY, AND AUGUST.