Monthly
Meetings
GLVWG meets from September
through June on the 4th Saturday of the month at the Palmer Library,
Palmer Township. Note: no monthly meetings are held in December,
July, or August. We typically skip either March or April due to
the conference—check the calendar on the home page for details.
Click here for upcoming programs.
Our
Schedule
9:45 a.m. Join us for
refreshments
10–10:40 GLVWG business
meeting
Open to all members;
prospective members are invited to attend up to three times. We
introduce new members/guests and what they write; encourage members
to share publishing news/writing triumphs; announce upcoming events;
gather member opinions about how best to use organizational funds
to serve their needs; and let people know about volunteer opportunities
within GLVWG and other ways to promote networking with other writers.
The participation of all members is highly valued--otherwise, you
are leaving important decisions up to others!
10:40 Spotlight or Tech
Talk
A member presents either
a Spotlight (a reading of original work) or a Tech Talk (tips on
writing craft for fellow writers). To volunteer, contact any Member
Representative.
10:50 Refreshments
11:00 Program:
A guest speaker—a published
author or other publishing industry professional—focuses on some
aspect of the craft of writing or the business of publishing.
On dates where an
afternoon
workshop is scheduled, don’t run off! Those staying through often
lunch together. An announcement to this effect will be made.
Morning
Programs
11 am-12 noon Following Monthly Meeting
No registration or fee for the morning
programs
September 25, 2010 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Sarah Arvio, “In the Translation”
Prize-winning poet Sarah Arvio
will talk about the role of translation in literary language, and read
from her work both as a poet and a translator of poets.
BIO: For her first book of poems, “Visits from the
Seventh,” Sarah Arvio was awarded the Rome Prize of the Academy of
Arts and Letters (2003-04) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005-06).
Her second book, “Sono:cantos,” was written during her stay at the
American Academy in Rome. A combined edition of the two books
was published in England in 2009, with an audio CD of “Sono.”
Recent poems have appeared in The New Yorker and The New
Republic; she won the Boston Review Poetry Contest for 2008. Her
latest accomplishments include “Chagrin,” from “Sono,” set by
William Bolcom as part of a song cycle (premiering at the Morgan
Library in October 2010), and several poems translated from the
Italian to appear in the “FSG Book of Twentieth Century Italian
Poetry” (2010). For many years a translator for the United Nations
in New York and Switzerland, Sarah also teaches poetry at Princeton
and elsewhere.
October 23, 2010 - 11:00am - 12:00pm
Mike Boushell, “The Writer as a Reader”
Award-winning author Mike Boushell will explain how the writer differs
from the average reader when reading a novel. He’ll discuss strong
opening paragraphs, strong endings, and the inclusion of various figures
of speech – alliteration, personification, metaphorical, and
poetic devices. He will also examine a number of writing styles and
how to choose an appropriate point of view for one's novel.
Mike
Boushell is the author of five novels, three of which have been
published to date. All of them may be found at both Barnes and Noble
and Amazon.com. He has written numerous poems, many
of which have been published, and he believes that his magazine
article: "The Perfect Husband" (purchased and published by Quilt
World Magazine) may have been the single greatest contributing
factor in causing it to go belly-up several months after his
piece was published.
Prior to his writing career, Mike taught English for thirty-two years
in Pennsylvania's Public Schools. During that time, his primary focus
was on writing. He taught AP Composition and Grammar, Creative
Writing, Remedial Writing, and American Literature, and was the
English Department Head at Palisades High School for a number of
years.
For much
of his teaching career, Mike coached varsity football, basketball and
baseball and he later taught a graduate level course on coaching which
he helped create for Marywood College and Duquesne University.
A member of GLVWG since 2002, Mike has been an invited speaker at high
schools, middle schools, writers workshops, and such organizations as
The Shriners and Writing Teachers of Bucks County.
His
first novel, Freshman Flash was nominated for a Pennsylvania
Young Readers Choice Award
and
was subsequently named to the PA School Librarians Recommended Reading
List for Middle School students. His second novel, Gridiron
Hero, was selected by The Kansas State Round Table for its Young
Adult Reading List.
He is currently working on his sixth novel, Shawnee, a
fictional account of Shawnee-on-the- Delaware based upon his teenage
years as a caddie.
November
28th, 2010 -
11:00am
- 12:00pm
The
Fine Art of Self-Promotion
An
interactive presentation with Jon Gibbs (aka ‘That bald, British guy
who keeps turning up at GLVWG meetings and The Write Stuff
conferences’)
For
well-known writers, self-promotion isn’t a problem.
In most cases, it’s not even hard work – they pay someone
else to do it. But what
if you’re not famous? What
if your book isn’t sitting atop the best-seller lists?
What if it isn’t even finished yet?
How do unknown writers develop that mystical ‘online
presence’ which we’re told is essential in this hi-tech age?
In
this interactive presentation, Jon Gibbs explains why good
self-promotion is vital to a writer’s career, and takes you through
the who, why, what, where, when and how of creating and increasing
your online presence. Plus,
there may be candy.
Upcoming
Afternoon Workshops
September 25, 2010 -
No Workshop in September
October
23rd, 2010
No Workshop in October
November
28th, 2010
1:30pm
to 3:30pm - IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU - the secret of good blogging
Register Here
Jon Gibbs
In
this two hour workshop, Jon (aka ‘That bald, British guy
who keeps turning up at GLVWG meetings and The Write Stuff
conferences’)
will show you how to achieve your
‘Writer’s Balance’ (ten parts self-promotion: one part
self-publicity) and give you an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to getting
the best out of the most underused or misused tool at a writer’s
disposal, the online journal.
Attendees will leave the workshop with a (pretty much
completed) new journal entry, a comprehensive set of 'How to'
notes, and a useful tip sheet (watch this space for a list of things
to bring with you on the day).
Everyone who books a place on this workshop by October 31st will
receive a written appraisal of their blog from Jon (which
he''ll give out on the day), along with specific suggestions on how
to increase web-traffic and make his/her journal even
better.
At the end of the workshop, Jon will write a guest blog
for the first three willing attendees' whose names get pulled out of
the metaphorical hat (subject and posting date tba).
BIO:
Born
in England but now based in New Jersey, Jon Gibbs is a member of
several writers' groups, including GLVWG, SCBWI,
The Monmouth Creative Writers
and The Garden State Horror Writers He is the founder of The New Jersey
Authors’ Network and FindAWritingGroup.com
His
popular online journal, An Englishman in New Jersey
, is read in over thirty countries.
Jon
can usually be found hunched over the computer in his basement office.
One day he hopes to figure out how to switch it on.
