Official Web Newsletter for Riverside Writers

The club had a terrific turnout for the open readings at our

July 8, 2017 meeting. We had poetry, haiku, excerpts from

books, short stories and a little humor! Thanks to all who

participated – a few of whom you might recognize below!

John Wills

Other members who participated: Ummi Higgins Danielle Dayney

Steve Pody Aaron Barlow

Welcome Visitors to our July

Meeting!

Dawn Whitmore

David Pody (son Steve Pody)

Erin Unger

write

Go to weekly critique

Re-write

Refreshment Volunteers

FOR 2017

February 11- Madaline Bickel

March 11 – Andrea Reed

April 8 – Pot Luck -Poetry Readings

May 13 - Judy Hill

June 10 – Carolyn Rowland

July 8 – Steve Pody

August 12 – Ummie Higgins

Sept 9 – Bronwen Chisholm

Oct 14 – Pot Luck -Prose Readings

Nov 11 – Maxine Clark

December 9 - Christmas Party

Thanks to all of our snack providers. A Great

Way to say thanks to all of our great members.

QUICK UPDATES: Treasurer’s Report: July 8 - $1830.30. Jim Gaines gave an Anthology Update: Book Setup

Format nearly complete. 6” x 10” Size Chosen. Minor late proofing issues but still anticipating publishing by

late August. President Jim announced 15th Annual Conference Oct 13-15 at Richmond Convention Center – Info

James River Writers.org Riverside’s outreach to Young Writers in the Fredericksburg Area is bearing fruit. An

annual schedule of Young Writers meetings can be found on the “Young Writers” page of this website – Next

Meeting scheduled 1-4, July 22, 2017 at Snow Library. THE ANNUAL GOLDEN NIB CONTEST is closed for

new entries. Andrea Reed is coordinator for the NIB waiting for final judging. Website now includes minutes

of Young Writer’s Club meeting. Found on Young Writers page of website. Summer Shorts will be starting soon

– keep an eye on newsletter for further details. Riverside is sponsoring a table at the Book Fair 9-22-17 from 10

am to 5 pm. at Fredericksburg Riverside Park. Contact Bronwyn Chisholm to sign up. England Run Library is

venue for Workshop/Panel Riverside is providing workshops for writers on how to submit excerpts from novels

and preparing query letters. Scheduled for 11-11-17. President Jim highly recommends that members consider

attending workshop/seminar sponsored by the Virginia Writers Club August 5, 2017 at the Piedmont

Community College in Charlottesville, VA. Name of the daylong event is “Navigating Your Writing Life –

Taking the next step in your writing journey.” Details at website: www. VirginiaWritersClub.org.

Riverside Writers would like to take

this opportunity to welcome new

members for 2017

Richard Dawson Lifetime member

Ruth Anne Allaire

Teresa Mohme

Lois Powell

Ron Gillette

Allita Irby

Danielle Dayney

Suzanne Shelton

Becky Traver

Willie Brown

Life Memberships in

Riverside Writers A motion to change our by-laws voted on and

passed by the membership at the March 2013 meeting. The change established a new

category of club membership. For a one- time fee of $100. The member will be considered a

Lifetime Member.

WEBSITE IS LOOKING FOR MORE

MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE.

Make money from your personal website.

Sell your books, offer literary services such

as proof reading or editing. Beginning in

2014, you will be able to promote your

website on our website.

We still need writers who want to tell their

story about why they write, how they write,

gain inspiration, ideas, or any other facet of

their writing life. See Dave Miles or fill out a

request on the contact the website.

JUST FINISHED THAT GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, POETRY WORTHY OF WORDSWORTH? BEFORE YOU GO FURTHER YOU

MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT THESE SELF-EDITING TIPS AND APPLY WHERE NECESSARY TO YOUR MASTERPIECE!

Halve long sentences – Convert adverbs to meaning-inclusive verbs – Replace negative structures with positive – Simple

words work best – Axe redundancies – Minimize prepositions (of, in to, for, etc..) – Never use ‘start to’, go straight to the

verb – Use ‘that’ only when needed – Replace ‘thing’ with specifics – Omit ‘very’ and ‘really’ as superfluous – Don’t start

sentences with ‘there is’ or ‘there are’ - Contractions sound more personable – ‘Who’ gets a comma. ‘that’ doesn’t -

Don’t hyphenate modifiers that end in …I – Find and replace your personal mannerisms, word and structure patterns.

Of course there are always spelling errors, tense problems and finding a cracking good idea to be the basis of your work!

Maxine Clark – Refreshment Chairman says:

Many thanks to all of our volunteers who will provide refreshments at our

monthly meetings. We are happy to inform the members that refreshment

volunteers for 2017 have covered all meetings. THANKS TO YOU ALL!

The Critique Group meets every Monday at

7:00 PM at the Books a Million Coffee Shop.

March 14th, 2016, seventeen readers

showed up and read their poems and prose

for all to enjoy.

It was quite a presentation and everyone

had the opportunity to read their work.

Thanks for attending this crucial part of the

writing experience. You never know how

someone will react to your hard work but

chances are the criticism will be helpful!