Savannah Writers Group

The first meeting of the New Year will be held at the Atlanta Bread Company on the 2nd Tuesday of January, which falls on Jan. 8. We'll meet at 7 PM. Please bring your ideas for future meetings in 2013; presentations, special guests, discussions, and the like which you would like to experience with the Savannah Writers Group!

It’s time for our Holiday Dinner, Tuesday, December 11, at 7:00 PM, at the Exchange Tavern and Restaurant on Waters Avenue. Please take a moment to let Sally know that you are coming! The Exchange Details and Menu

Gemini MAGAZINE   Andrew Stancek has won the 2012 Gemini Magazine Flash Fiction Prize and $1,000 award for “Always There,” a vivid snapshot of a military occupation as seen through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy.                 Cindy Rosmus won second place for “Heal Me,” about a cancer patient who attends a healing mass given by a rather antagonistic priest.   Third place: “The Strangers of Dubai” by Victoria Kelly.   Plus: four honorable mention stories and poetry from Cynthia Manick and Lyn Lifshin.   Thanks for reading!   David Bright, Editor   Note: Our Poetry Open competition runs through January 2. Grand prize: $1,000.     PS: The next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group will be held December 11, 2012, at the Exchange Tavern. We're having a holiday dinner! Please RSVP with Sally and f...

Happy Thanksgiving, Darlings! Our next meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 27, featuring a discussion on "Show versus Tell". Get ready to complete a few short writing exercises at the Atlanta Bread Company.

The next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13th. We will meet at The Atlanta Bread Company. This meeting will focus on sharing your work! Bring something to read to the group and if you wish to be critiqued, 6 or more copies of the material, as well as 6 or more copies of our handy critique cheat sheet. At the last meeting of the month, to be held Tuesday, November 27th, we'll discuss "Show versus Tell".

The workshop discussion on "Show versus Tell" has been moved from the 13th, to Tuesday, November 27th. This is the way our calendar looks for the rest of the year ( UPDATED 11/12/12 ): NOVEMBER Tuesday, November 13th: The Savannah Writers Group will meet at 7PM at The Atlanta Bread Company. We'll focus on sharing our work. Bring something to read to the group and if you want feedback, you know what to do! Let's also give back to the Atlanta Bread Company by ordering something to eat. This will be our "Thanksgiving at the Atlanta Bread Company". Tuesday, Novembe r 27th: Join the The Savannah Writers Group for a discussion on "Show versus Tell" at the Atlanta Bread Company at 7PM. DECEMBER Tuesday, December 11th: Join us for a holiday dinner at The Exchange restaurant on Waters at 7 PM instead of our regular meeting. We'll be having a social dinner. Your guests are welcome.   Note: There will be no meeting o...

The next meeting of the Savannah Writer’s Group will be held October 23 at 7:00 PM, at the Atlanta Bread Company. Our very own published member and keeper of the SWG blogspot/website, Sasha McBrayer, will be our guest speaker. By popular request, Sasha will be speaking on writing effective dialogue. Sasha asks that you bring at least six copies of one page of dialogue that you have written, perhaps from a current work in progress. After her brief talk, volunteer readers will have the opportunity to share and receive critiques from Sasha and the group. Our friends at the Bread Company are kind enough to allow us to meet in their space gratis. Please patronize them appropriately. As per our guidelines, we will have a brief business meeting and regular sharing if time permits after the speaker. This means you can share other things you've written, as usual. It doesn't have to include any dialogue. If you do want to share for written feedback after t...

The Savannah Writers Group is pleased to host guest speaker Mark Murphy at the October 9 meeting. The fun begins tonight at 7:00 pm at The Atlanta Bread Company.

The next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group will be Tuesday, Sept. 25th, 2012 at 7:00 PM at the Atlanta Bread Company, in the Twelve Oaks Shopping Center on Abercorn Street in Savannah, GA. That's tonight, folks!  Please bring your work to share/review. If you would like feedback, please bring at least six copies of the group critique sheet. Don't have a copy? You can email Sally Klein at customer (at) coastalnow (dot) net to request a copy. Watch the blog for upcoming events. We meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. At the Oct. 9 meeting, we're thrilled to host guest speaker Mark Murphy, author of The Shadow Man , a mystery set in Savannah. We have tentatively scheduled a dialogue critique for the Oct. 23rd meeting.

The Savannah Writers Group is pleased to host guest speaker Mark Murphy at the October 9 meeting. Dr. Mark Murphy, local gastroenterologist and writer, will speak to the Savannah Writers Group at their regular meeting October 9, 7:00 PM at the Atlanta Bread Company in the Twelve Oaks Shopping Center, Abercorn Street, Savannah, GA. Dr. Murphy is receiving increasing recognition for his writing and is scheduled to appear at the 2013 Savannah Book festival with his new book, The Shadow Man , a mystery set in Savannah. You can access Murphy's blog here . His book is available for purchase at Amazon . Be sure to look for the kindle version as well. Amazon describes the thriller this way: Savannah surgeon Malcolm King had a perfect life--a loving wife, devoted daughter, and a thriving medical practice. But when a random airport parking lot hit-and-run links him to a dead body in a Florida hotel and an acquaintance is found dismembered and stuffed into a garbage bag...

1. ANTIOCH REVIEW is based in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This long-running and respected literary journal considers submissions of essays, fiction, and poetry between September 2 and May 31. The journal pays $15 per printed page. 2. THE CINCINNATI REVIEW is also based in Ohio. Though a relatively newer journal, it also considers submissions of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and translation features between September 1 and May 31. This journal pays $25 per printed page for fiction and $30 per printed page for poetry. 3. GULF STREAM MAGAZINE is based out of Miami, Florida. This magazine's submission period actually opens tomorrow September 15 to November 15 (and then re-opens on January 15). Writers can submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. However, this market is purely a place to build clips as it pays in contributor copies. 4. PLEIADES considers submissions of fiction, poetry, and essays. Submissions are open from August 15 to May 15. Writers receive $10 as com...

A note from the desk of Jonah Cummings, We Produce Audiobooks, LLC ... I am forwarding a wonderful blog article from Mike Shatzkin who is sort of a publishing guru type who has been in the business a long time.  He has been writing about the lawsuit that was brought involving three major publishers, Apple, Amazon etc. This article lays the groundwork of what all of us might see in the next six months as Retailers will be allowed to price as they wish. He also mentions WhisperSynch which is great technology from Amazon along with Immersion Reading. Cheers! Jonah Cummings From the Shatzkin Files http://www.idealog.com Hats off to Amazon Posted: 10 Sep 2012 04:18 AM PDT When the story of how Amazon came to dominate the consumer book business is written ten years from now, there will need to be a chapter entitled “September 6, 2012″. Of course, that was the day that Judge Cote approved the settlement agreed to by ...

The next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group will be Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 7:00 PM at the Atlanta Bread Company, in the Twelve Oaks Shopping Center on Abercorn Street in Savannah, GA.  That's tonight, folks! Please bring your work to share/review. If you would like feedback, please bring at least six copies of the group critique sheet. Don't have a copy? You can email Sally Klein at customer (at) coastalnow (dot) net to request a copy.

September greetings to you, writers! Open Mic is this week! We're accepting submissions on Monday and Tuesday (Sept 10-11). At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday,September 12th, they'll go live for 24 hours of fine feedback frenzy. Here's a handy-dandy link to the submission form:  http://openmic.hazelandwren.com/submit/ If you're not able to submit something this time, but still want to participate, you can simply join in on Wednesday at http://openmic.hazelandwren.com and leave feedback. And don't forget to keep tabs on our  Calendar of (Un)Deadlines for more journal and contest submission opportunities! Be sure to follow along on  Facebook  or  Twitter  if you don't already, because we'll be posting reminders and updates there. See you this week, Hazel & Wren In order to prevent submissions from being considered previously published, Open Mic is now password-protected ( more details here ). You will only h...

We'd like to extend a hearty congratulations to Savannah Writers Group Member Lynne Bendoly whose fabulous illustrations will be published in the new book Dragon Kids . Lynne had the opportunity to show the proof of the book at our last meeting. The title will be published by Publish America. That's not all the good news! E-Treasures has also agreed to publish Lynne's book, Princess and Unicorn . Lynne now has 5 publications to her name! In other news, the next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group will be held Tuesday, August 28 th at 7:00 PM at the Atlanta Bread Company, Twelve Oaks Shopping Center. That's tonight, folks! Don't forget to check this blog for information regarding the Crossroads Writers Conference in Macon, a unique paid proofreading opportunity and a Christian Writing Workshop in Savannah/ Bluffton.

There is an upcoming Christian Writing Workshop right here in Savannah. Here are the details. http://christianaotnetworkpd.blogspot.com/ September 15, 2012 - COASTAL GA (Savannah/Bluffton) Writing Evangelism 101 Sanctuary of Restoration 3123 Bull Street Savannah, GA 31405 10 a.m. - Noon $35 Online Registration or $45 On-Site Registration (includes a continental breakfast) September 22, 2012 - ANNAPOLIS, MD Writing Evangelism 101 Cecil Memorial United Methodist Church 15 Parole Street Annapolis, MD 21401 10 a.m. - Noon $35 Online Registration or $45 On-Site Registration (includes a continental breakfast) December 8, 2012 - BALTIMORE, MD 2012 Christian Writer's Literary Festival Enoch Pratt Free Library -Central Branch 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. 400 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD FREE ADMISSION Thanks! Lynn Pinder Senior Consultant

A Note From Jonah Cummings, of We Produce Audiobooks, LLC: Hi Sally.  Thank you again for inviting me to speak to the group.  I enjoyed the time and look forward to hearing future guests. I wanted to also let you know that I am adding Audiobook Proofreaders to our database of available talent at We Produce Audiobooks, LLC . Audiobook Proofreaders should love reading, have excellent hearing and enjoy finding mistakes that need to be corrected.  Audiobook Proofreaders will read a PDF manuscript on a computer screen while listening to an mp3 recording of the audiobook narration making sure that the recording reflects the written manuscript verbatim. (Narrator mistakes)  In addition, Audiobook Proofreaders will be listening for audible sounds that distract a listener from the story being told (i.e. loud clicks, mouth noise, stomach rumbles, birds in the background, ambient noise, hacking breaths etc) These are noted along with actual word mista...

At the 4th annual Crossroads Writers Conference, we recognize that sometimes the hardest thing about writing... is the writing. As hundreds of writers have discovered, Crossroads will help give you the insight, motivation and connections to get your writing done. That's why we bring such creative, versatile and prolific professionals for you to meet and with whom to hang out. Some of our other guests--novelists, screenwriters, poets, memoirists, comic book writers and freelancers--include New York Times bestseller Adam Mansbach, the critically-acclaimed Bernice McFadden, cult lit "penmonkey" Chuck Wendig, writer/producer Nichelle Tramble, "Louder Than a Bomb" co-founder Kevin Coval, Forbes.com blogger Susannah Breslin, Ga Writers Association co-founder Tony Grooms, writing coach Rosemary Daniell, graphic novelist Robert Venditti and several others. The conference is uniquely structured with lots of breaks so you c...

What: Freelance Writing 101 (one night class) When: Tuesday, October 2  6PM-9PM Where: Coastal Georgia Center - downtown Savannah If you're interested in creating a lucrative cache of writing credits in magazines and growing your writers platform, then this workshop is for you. What will you learn? How to break into feature writing with very little or no clips. Where to start in choosing the right market. Where to find the appropriate editors' contact information. How to create compelling query letters. Take home a dozen query letters that were successful in achieving publications in national markets such as Draft ("America's Favorite Beer Magazine"), GO (AirTran Airways' in-flight magazine) and Dog Fancy , to localized pieces for The Durham News . Workshop to be hosted by Tara Lynne Groth. She started freelance writing five years ago with no connections in the publishing industry. Her writing business consistently outgrew ...

Attention all Savannah Writers Group members, and those of you planning to attend a meeting for the first time: We have a new meeting location! That's right! Our next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, August 14th Will be held at the Atlanta Bread Company located at the 12 Oaks Shopping Center off of Abercorn. This is the address: 5500 Abercorn Street, Savannah, GA Our meeting time is still 7:00 PM. We will join The Poetry Society of Georgia there! Please follow the link to visit their website. That's not all the news that's fit to print. We also have a wonderful speaker scheduled for this meeting. Mr. Jonah Cummings , voice actor and audio book professional, will be explaining a new venture in the arena of education. Click on his name to visit his website. As usual, the Savannah Writers Group meeting is free and open to the public! I look forward to seeing you all as we test drive this new location. Note: Today, 8/13/12, I have updated the...

If you are looking for an opportunity to get your short story (any genre) in front of some editors for a chance at publication, this opportunity may interest you. Gemini MAGAZINE   Revolution in Thailand, tears in Tehran, a topless, dental hygienist in New York and more can be found in the Short Story Contest issue of Gemini Magazine .   Denis Wong’s winning, 500-word story set in Bangkok , “Nothing, Everything,” is as powerful as they come. Also: unforgettable short stories from finalists Patricia McNamara, Katy Motiey, Linda Davis and Barbara Mayor. Poetry by Louie Crew and Diana Raab, and a memoir from Diana Woods about a difficult choice in Mexico City . And a great cover photo of singer Willie Nelson with his battered, old guitar.   Our Flash Fiction Contest , featuring a Grand Prize of $1,000, is open through August 31. General submissions remain open year round.   Thanks for reading!   David ...

The  next meeting of the Savannah Writers Group will be a social dinner! WHERE: The Exchange Restaurant at 6710 Waters Avenue WHEN: July 24 at 7:00 PM RSVP: Please email Sally Klein at customer (at) coastalnow (dot) net if you can attend. If you cannot, it is not necessary to email. You can find the menu here .

(Re-blogged from the Writer's Digest site...) In her session at ThrillerFest, Catherine Coulter—who has had a stunning 62 New York Times bestsellers—shared her wisdoms on how to “Kill ‘Em Clean: Writing Sharp, Fast and Deadly.” These are the basics, Coulter said, you must master before you worry about finding an agent , or dive too deeply into your book. “Always kill with lean writing,” she said. “Sloppy writing is not acceptable. … You don’t want to end up being a murder victim in your own book.” 1. Nix the adjectives. “Treat adverbs like cloves of garlic,” Coulter said. “A few go a long way.” Moreover, listen to the way your prose sounds—“If you wouldn’t say something aloud, then don’t write it. All you’ve got to do is read it aloud, and therein lies the truth.” Coulter added that nothing any of us write is set in stone—you’re allowed to tear up the bad stuff, and start anew. 2. Avoid other words for “said,” and avoid redundancies. Cut “She joked.” “He qui...

I hope to see you tomorrow night at the Savannah Writers Group Meeting! We've been on the hunt for a new meeting location. If you have any solid leads, please share the news with us on Tuesday, July 10th. Nothing has changed yet! We'll gather in the usual place at Barnes and Noble in the Oglethorpe Mall. If you have work you'd like to share, please bring copies to pass around, as well as copies of our Critique Cheat Sheets in order to obtain written feedback. You'll find a copy of this in Sally Klein's last group email. Also, don't forget to participate in our little survey on the right hand side of this blog.

Found on the web: Writing Fellows are being sought for the Fall 2012 Cohort. We are accepting applications no later than 1 August, 2012. Deep is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides creative writing workshops for public school students in Savannah. At the end of each semester, Deep publishes students' work in an anthology-- professionally illustrated, printed, and bound. Deep’s Writing Fellows are a group of local writers who volunteer to help Savannah’s kids tell stories. The Writing Fellows plan and lead ten writing workshops with as assigned co-teacher, in an assigned Savannah public middle school. Fellows attend a two-day training session and lesson-planning workshop prior to the start of the program. Ten 75-minute workshops take place once-per-week, after-school, some time between the hours of 2:30 and 5pm. Specific Responsibilities: •Attend a two-day orientation in September •Plan with a co-teacher weekly, for ten weeks •Co-Lead a 75-minute...

A Plague So Deadly:   The 1918 Influenza Pandemic   Lecturer: Nancy Brandon Offered: 5:00-6:00 p.m.   Thursday, August 2   Program Fee: $5 for TLC members; $10 for visitors     Shocking and unprecedented in the age of modern medicine, the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic claimed more lives than the First World War, which was still jarring the world with its deadly warfare technology and unimaginable casualties.  Armstrong Atlantic State University professor and newly published fiction author Nancy Brandon discusses the facts surrounding this frequently misunderstood pandemic that swept the planet, and explains how this compelling saga lent impetus and background to her new novel--set in Savannah and rural Georgia--entitled Dunaway's Crossing. Senior Citizens, Inc. will host a launch party for the author, following the lecture program. Lecture attendees are invited to stay for the party.   Sign...

I hope to see you tonight at the Savannah Writers Group Meeting! We will have a guest speaker. Her name is Suza Kates. Suza Kates is a local author who specializes in romantic suspense novels. She’s currently working on the Savannah Coven Series, which follows the paranormal romances of different witches living in our fair city.  Three books are out so far, including the latest, titled BINDING OF A WITCH. May 23rd marks the debut of book four, called HAUNTING OF A WITCH. Suza plans to finish nine books in this series.  One reviewer called WHISPER OF A WITCH, the first book in the series, “the perfect blend of suspense, romance, danger, and intrigue!” Suza has also recently become a full time writer! You can learn more about her at  her website .

 We offer a hearty congratulations to Savannah Writers Group member and Savannah resident, Edwin Chase, who was honored Saturday night, June 16th, at the 48th Georgia Author of the Year Awards held at Kennesaw State University. Chase's book, God's Relentless Love , won second place in the "inspirational" category. In his work, Chase depicts "a God whose wondrous love is more gracious, kind and remarkable than we can imagine or words can express." The Georgia Author of the Year Awards are the oldest literary awards in the Southeast. One hundred and five authors were nominated for this year's awards.  Chase also won a prize at the San Francisco Book Festival two years ago for Patches of the Quil t, a "collection of true stories written by the men and women who grew up at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth in Macon, Georgia." You can purchase God's Relentless Love on Amazon or at Tiger Iron Press . You c...

Announcing the Show Us a Better Way Contest The 3rd Annual Redstone Science Fiction Summer Contest 1) Read Sarah Einstein’s column in June 2012, RSF #25 to learn what we are looking for – “show (us) a hopeful future made better by scientific advancement”. 2) The contest will open to submissions between June 15 and August 15, 2012. 3) The word limit is 5000 words, firm. 4) The winning story will be chosen by Guest Editor Sarah Einstein and the Redstone staff. 5) The winning author will be paid 5 cents per word. 6) The story will be published in the September 2012 issue of Redstone Science Fiction. 7) Submission Specifics: In general, we prefer the manuscript formatting as outlined by William Shunn . - Double spaced - 12 pt. Times New Roman or Courier New - 1″ borders - Name, contact info, and word count at the top of page one - Title and page number in header The email: - in the subject line include: The word “Contest”, your full name, and story title -...

I hope to see you at tonight's Savannah Writers Group Meeting! The agenda for Tuesday, June 12th is as follows: We will finalize some business at this meeting. Please feel free to bring writing of a reasonable length to share with the group!

A quick hop over to our "Calendar" page will show you what's on the agenda as far as upcoming events are concerned. Just to remind everyone of what's going on, I'll paste that information here, too. Tuesday, June 12th: We will finalize some business at this meeting. Please feel free to bring writing of a reasonable length to share with the group! Tuesday, June 26th: GUEST SPEAKER Suza Kates , author of paranormal romance will speak. The local author specializes in romantic suspense novels. She’s currently working on the Savannah Coven Series, which follows the paranormal romances of different witches living in our fair city. She plans to complete nine books in this series JULY Tuesday, July 10th:  TBA Tuesday, July 24th:  We will have a summer dinner party instead of meeting on July 24. Sally will make the reservation for 7:00 PM at The Exchange Restaurant and Tavern , 6710 Waters Avenue at Stephenson Avenue. AUGUST Tuesd...

Greetings from Sasha, your friendly neighborhood SWG blogger. How are you? I'm fine, thanks. Actually, this week, I'm feeling inspired. Please allow me to share why. One of the many hats I wear is the hat of "local film reviewer". As such, I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly magazine. I was surprised to come across a blurb in the last issue, in the book section, about one Hugh Howey, author of Wool . Hugh is my new hero. I think you'll find his story quite remarkable. According to the blurb, Hugh went from a veritable nobody to a literary super hero almost over night. He self-published a 12 thousand word novelette on the Kindle Store about a year ago. The title of the piece is Wool . It's a dystopian story about the future, in which the remnants of society live deep underground. You can find it on Amazon . Well, here comes the miraculous part. Even after zero advertising, readers couldn't get enough of Wool . They demanded more, so Hugh turned t...

One hurdle short story writers face is finding markets. Who is publishing short stories these days? Who is paying authors to publish their short stories these days? On my writer's journey, the website Duotrope has been an invaluable resource. The site is free to use. You do have to sign up with an email address and password, but they never send SPAM. In fact, I get about one email a week from Duotrope, and the email lists upcoming themed submissions, which is helpful to me. This information can also be accessed on the site under the "Calendar" page. For example, clicking there today tells me at a glance that the fledgling market called Wild Age Press is holding an "Anything Goes" contest for fiction of any length! That means short stories, poems and novellas are all game (up to 20,000 words)! The deadline for submissions is June 15th. There is no reading fee. http://www.wildagepress.com/submissions/ I wouldn't have this information without...

UPDATE: Apologies, folks. We will meet on May 22nd, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, our speaker, Mr. McAleer will be unable to attend. (05/21/12) Dear Colleagues, I am delighted  to announce that we will have Jim McAleer, a distinguished author, as our speaker at the May 22 meeting of the Savannah Writers Group. Jim enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of seventeen. He served during WWII in the Pacific theater, and again during the Korean War. Jim was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1953, where he was an attorney for fifty years. He was the President of the Savannah Bar Association, and a director of Memorial Hospital. His first book was published in 2003 and was the best-selling book in Savannah for two-weeks. The book was about a company of Marines (Dog Company) based in Savannah. Jim is currently finishing his second book. Please make sure to thank our colleague, Steve Goldberg, for arranging Jim’s appearance with us! ~Sa...

Get ready! We will meet Tuesday, May 8th at 7:00 PM at Barnes & Noble. As current SWG Members will have read in Sally Klein's last email, we will discuss the Cheat (Critique) Sheet and our web presence. It would helpful if you come with your own print outs from Sally's email. What's that you say? You aren't already a member of the Savannah Writers Group? That's okay! All meetings are free and open to the public. See you there!

Every once in a while in the publishing community, writerly folks get together at one website and auction their services for a good cause. Just such an auction is going on now. It's called Crits for Water and you can check it out now by following the link. How does it work? Over at the website an author, editor, agent, or some such person offers a service. Here are two examples: Numero Uno: Kicking off our adult fiction and non-fiction month is the Evil Genius Andrew Shaffer , the cackly and clever mind behind the upcoming satire Fifty Shames of Earl Grey . He is offering a critique of the first 2500 words of any adult non-fiction book proposal . Numero Dos: Rounding off the Romance month of April (a little extra, ’cause it’s awesome) is multiple RITA-Award winning Sherry Thomas , whose new historical Beguiling the Beauty releases today (so excited!!). Sherry also has a young adult fantasy series that will hit the shelves starting Fall, 2013. She is offeri...