National Novel Writing Month begins November 1st! This year Wordsmith Kelly Buffum is the Municipal Liaison for Western MA which includes Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. This is a large territory to be responsible for, but she's held an informational meeting at Blue Umbrella Books on Friday, October 20th, and is posting regularly on the Nano website in the western MA regional posts and on facebook page Western MA NaNo- look for the teal background with crossed pens.
The Nano kickoff party is October 29th from 4PM-6PM at Panera Bread in Hadley MA on route 9 in the WalMart, Barnes & Noble plaza.
This is Kelly's 7th NaNoWriMo and Susan's 6th.
Kelly will be holding write-ins on Friday evenings from 6-8 through the month of November at Blue Umbrella Books. There is a write in scheduled at Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Rte. 202 (North Road) and Country Road in Westfield (at the Ponds) November 5th from 9AM-11AM. Check the calendar on the NaNo website for additional write in dates and times.
If you're writing a novel this November- good luck!
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Notes From October 21 Meeting
The meeting immediately followed Susan's author event for her new contemporary vampire romance novel, Out.
There were four WhipCity Wordsmiths and one Wordsmith recommended author who signed up for the Artworks of Westfield, Inc, Art&Authors show that coattailed onto PumpkinFest on October 14th. Susan and Kelly Buffum, Sandy Sessler, and Sonia Ellis were the Wordsmiths who were selling books and talking to the public during the event. Wordsmith Shawn Flynn was unable to attend but recommended CT author, Connie Bombaci, who brought along her deaf Dalmatian service dog, Judea, who was a hit with young and old. The Wordsmiths had a raffle table to raise money so that they could donate a brand new 6 foot folding table to Blue Umbrella Books to increase the number of members who will now be able to sit around two tables rather than one. Susan bought the table and delivered it to Blue Umbrella on the 21st of October. Connie was made an honorary Wordsmith.The event was well-attended, books received a lot of exposure and many were sold.
We have another new member, poet and blogger Erin Joy Seibert of Amherst. Erin has a book of poetry published titled A Field Guide to Falling, published under the pseudonym Em Jollie.
Glen Ebisch was unable to attend but asked that the group be advised that his author event scheduled for October 28th at Blue Umbrella has been rescheduled to December 2nd at 1PM. Glen will be speaking on Contemporary Women Mystery Writers. Please attend- he is a terrific speaker and exceptionally knowledgeable! I've been to two of his author events and enjoyed both!
Joyce Collins was unable to attend but sent her best regards. She hopes to see everyone in November.
A fan fiction writer, whose name escapes me at the moment, also attended part of the meeting,
Joyce Fetteroll joined us for this meeting. Kelly and I met her two years ago during NaNoWriMo and met with her at Dunkin Donuts at Little River Plaza to do nanowriting. She attended Kelly's NaNo informational meeting on Friday evening and came to the Wordsmiths meeting to check us out.
Susan and Kelly have put out a jointly authored anthology of mostly ghost and supernatural stories titled Disturbing.
Mike Walsh is asking for a beta reader for a friend's work if anyone is interested in taking on a project. You can contact Mike at justsomeoldman@gmail.com
It's time to think about holiday book sales if you have books to sell! Christmas is already out in the big box stores! Craft and vendor fairs are a good place to promote your books. Shop small is November 28th, the Saturday following Black Friday! Support your local small businesses-and stop into Blue Umbrella Books if able to say hello and maybe buy a book to help support the book store.
Sandy Sessler will be the Agawam Public Library on November 20th at 7PM to discuss her novel The Legacy of Aidan McManus, If you haven't been to one of Sandy's book discussions at Blue Umbrella or elsewhere, this would be a great time to go! Plenty of parking!
Susan, Kelly and Melissa Volker will be on Bob Plasse's local radio program Tuesday morning, the 24th at 7AM. Tune into WSKB radio, 89.5 FM broadcast from Westfield State University.
Ghost Stories LIVE! with Russell Atwood and cast members Susan and Kelly Buffum, and Melissa Volker will be reading new and classic ghost stories at Blue Umbrella Books on Saturday, October 28th from 6PM-8PM, with open mic following should anyone care to relate their own paranormal experiences. Always spooky fun!
Thank you to Susan, Kelly, Russell, Sandy, Shawn, Lynnmarie, Joyce F., Lindsay, Andrew, Geri and Sue for attending.
The date has been set for Artworks of Westfield, Inc's Articulture event. This will be the third annual event and will be held on Saturday April 28th, 2018. Susan is in charge of booking authors for this event which will be at the Church of Atonement this coming April. Artists and Authors will be located at the church, and musicians will be at The Westfield Women's Club so we'll have plenty of space. Unsure how many author tables there will be, but the past two years there have been 6. I'm going to push for 8 this coming year-we'll see what happens. But if interested, let me know as soon as you can so I can reserve your table space. Artworks does ask 10% of sales. The still new non-profit org has a lot of enthusiasm and they are strong supporters of all the arts in the community.
Our writing prompt this month was to look over the period elements table and find one that represents you the closest, write some notes and then during the meeting write how the chosen element fit you...not a simple task, but everyone jumped right in and wrote some good stuff- some of it thought provoking, some of it humorous. I chose samarium and my sister Lynnmarie, completely unbeknownst to me, chose cobalt. Samarium and cobalt together form a powerful magnet! Weird stuff like that always happens between us. Go figure.
Melissa was unfortunately suffering an upper respiratory infection so wasn't available to talk.VP Shawn Flynn was present this month and asked to talk about his experience with multiple author appearances for his book The Kitty Who Rescued Me After I Rescued Him at Barnes & Noble stores. Shawn spoke about his experience with B&N, Then he discussed how if you buy your own ISBN number from Bowker, and created your own publishing label, then publish your book through someplace like IngramSpark then big box bookstores are more willing to sell your book because it is available through the book channels big retailers use to stock their stores. Shawn explained all the footwork involved in doing this and making his book look as professionally published as possible by studying big brand publisher's books- basically doing his homework before putting out the second self-published edition of The Kitty.
Self publishing can be very daunting and often not very rewarding, but listening to Shawn and jotting down notes on his tips, a little rosy glow appeared on the horizon. This topic can be discussed again later on.
Geri Johnson was able to join us this month and Shawn was able to give her some advice about an alternate way to put out a second edition of her book about a young female racer.
The six foot folding table was presented to Russell Atwood from the WhipCity Wordsmiths for being such generous hosts of our meetings. Combined with the six foot table they already have we'll have double the space for our next meeting!
The meeting broke up about 4:15 or so as some people had other obligations, others had to go to work, and I was just plain tired from doing too much with RA...
A final note, Josepha Vass has emailed me letting me know he is disappointed that I schedule meetings on the Saturdays he has to work. Unfortunately, I check the book store calendar and grab open spots...however, he has sent me his work schedule and I will do my best to accommodate him so he can attend at least every other meeting. If anyone else has schedule conflicts, sent me an email at sebuffum415@gmail.com so when start looking at 2018 dates I'll be able to plan some so everyone who wants to can attend as many meetings as they're able to.
The next meeting is Saturday, November 18th at 3PM-5PM at Blue Umbrella Books. There is no December meeting due to December being such a busy time for people with holiday shopping and preparations, company, parties, etc. If anyone wants to get together informally, let me know and we can meet at a coffee shop or something just to sip and chat.
There were four WhipCity Wordsmiths and one Wordsmith recommended author who signed up for the Artworks of Westfield, Inc, Art&Authors show that coattailed onto PumpkinFest on October 14th. Susan and Kelly Buffum, Sandy Sessler, and Sonia Ellis were the Wordsmiths who were selling books and talking to the public during the event. Wordsmith Shawn Flynn was unable to attend but recommended CT author, Connie Bombaci, who brought along her deaf Dalmatian service dog, Judea, who was a hit with young and old. The Wordsmiths had a raffle table to raise money so that they could donate a brand new 6 foot folding table to Blue Umbrella Books to increase the number of members who will now be able to sit around two tables rather than one. Susan bought the table and delivered it to Blue Umbrella on the 21st of October. Connie was made an honorary Wordsmith.The event was well-attended, books received a lot of exposure and many were sold.
We have another new member, poet and blogger Erin Joy Seibert of Amherst. Erin has a book of poetry published titled A Field Guide to Falling, published under the pseudonym Em Jollie.
Glen Ebisch was unable to attend but asked that the group be advised that his author event scheduled for October 28th at Blue Umbrella has been rescheduled to December 2nd at 1PM. Glen will be speaking on Contemporary Women Mystery Writers. Please attend- he is a terrific speaker and exceptionally knowledgeable! I've been to two of his author events and enjoyed both!
Joyce Collins was unable to attend but sent her best regards. She hopes to see everyone in November.
A fan fiction writer, whose name escapes me at the moment, also attended part of the meeting,
Joyce Fetteroll joined us for this meeting. Kelly and I met her two years ago during NaNoWriMo and met with her at Dunkin Donuts at Little River Plaza to do nanowriting. She attended Kelly's NaNo informational meeting on Friday evening and came to the Wordsmiths meeting to check us out.
Susan and Kelly have put out a jointly authored anthology of mostly ghost and supernatural stories titled Disturbing.
Mike Walsh is asking for a beta reader for a friend's work if anyone is interested in taking on a project. You can contact Mike at justsomeoldman@gmail.com
It's time to think about holiday book sales if you have books to sell! Christmas is already out in the big box stores! Craft and vendor fairs are a good place to promote your books. Shop small is November 28th, the Saturday following Black Friday! Support your local small businesses-and stop into Blue Umbrella Books if able to say hello and maybe buy a book to help support the book store.
Sandy Sessler will be the Agawam Public Library on November 20th at 7PM to discuss her novel The Legacy of Aidan McManus, If you haven't been to one of Sandy's book discussions at Blue Umbrella or elsewhere, this would be a great time to go! Plenty of parking!
Susan, Kelly and Melissa Volker will be on Bob Plasse's local radio program Tuesday morning, the 24th at 7AM. Tune into WSKB radio, 89.5 FM broadcast from Westfield State University.
Ghost Stories LIVE! with Russell Atwood and cast members Susan and Kelly Buffum, and Melissa Volker will be reading new and classic ghost stories at Blue Umbrella Books on Saturday, October 28th from 6PM-8PM, with open mic following should anyone care to relate their own paranormal experiences. Always spooky fun!
Thank you to Susan, Kelly, Russell, Sandy, Shawn, Lynnmarie, Joyce F., Lindsay, Andrew, Geri and Sue for attending.
The date has been set for Artworks of Westfield, Inc's Articulture event. This will be the third annual event and will be held on Saturday April 28th, 2018. Susan is in charge of booking authors for this event which will be at the Church of Atonement this coming April. Artists and Authors will be located at the church, and musicians will be at The Westfield Women's Club so we'll have plenty of space. Unsure how many author tables there will be, but the past two years there have been 6. I'm going to push for 8 this coming year-we'll see what happens. But if interested, let me know as soon as you can so I can reserve your table space. Artworks does ask 10% of sales. The still new non-profit org has a lot of enthusiasm and they are strong supporters of all the arts in the community.
Our writing prompt this month was to look over the period elements table and find one that represents you the closest, write some notes and then during the meeting write how the chosen element fit you...not a simple task, but everyone jumped right in and wrote some good stuff- some of it thought provoking, some of it humorous. I chose samarium and my sister Lynnmarie, completely unbeknownst to me, chose cobalt. Samarium and cobalt together form a powerful magnet! Weird stuff like that always happens between us. Go figure.
Melissa was unfortunately suffering an upper respiratory infection so wasn't available to talk.VP Shawn Flynn was present this month and asked to talk about his experience with multiple author appearances for his book The Kitty Who Rescued Me After I Rescued Him at Barnes & Noble stores. Shawn spoke about his experience with B&N, Then he discussed how if you buy your own ISBN number from Bowker, and created your own publishing label, then publish your book through someplace like IngramSpark then big box bookstores are more willing to sell your book because it is available through the book channels big retailers use to stock their stores. Shawn explained all the footwork involved in doing this and making his book look as professionally published as possible by studying big brand publisher's books- basically doing his homework before putting out the second self-published edition of The Kitty.
Self publishing can be very daunting and often not very rewarding, but listening to Shawn and jotting down notes on his tips, a little rosy glow appeared on the horizon. This topic can be discussed again later on.
Geri Johnson was able to join us this month and Shawn was able to give her some advice about an alternate way to put out a second edition of her book about a young female racer.
The six foot folding table was presented to Russell Atwood from the WhipCity Wordsmiths for being such generous hosts of our meetings. Combined with the six foot table they already have we'll have double the space for our next meeting!
The meeting broke up about 4:15 or so as some people had other obligations, others had to go to work, and I was just plain tired from doing too much with RA...
A final note, Josepha Vass has emailed me letting me know he is disappointed that I schedule meetings on the Saturdays he has to work. Unfortunately, I check the book store calendar and grab open spots...however, he has sent me his work schedule and I will do my best to accommodate him so he can attend at least every other meeting. If anyone else has schedule conflicts, sent me an email at sebuffum415@gmail.com so when start looking at 2018 dates I'll be able to plan some so everyone who wants to can attend as many meetings as they're able to.
The next meeting is Saturday, November 18th at 3PM-5PM at Blue Umbrella Books. There is no December meeting due to December being such a busy time for people with holiday shopping and preparations, company, parties, etc. If anyone wants to get together informally, let me know and we can meet at a coffee shop or something just to sip and chat.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
October Meeting
Our October meeting is Saturday, the 21st at Blue Umbrella Books, 2 Main Street, Westfield, MA.
A few Wordsmiths have contacted me to let me know they will be unable to attend. A few others who were unable to attend last time will be there this time.
Melissa Volker has come down with a virus so her discussion is postponed, Here's hoping she will be feeling better soon! I work in a medical office and we've been seeing a lot of upper respiratory virus lately. Thankfully it passes in a week or so- rest, fluids...and lots of good books to curl up with!
Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it!
A few Wordsmiths have contacted me to let me know they will be unable to attend. A few others who were unable to attend last time will be there this time.
Melissa Volker has come down with a virus so her discussion is postponed, Here's hoping she will be feeling better soon! I work in a medical office and we've been seeing a lot of upper respiratory virus lately. Thankfully it passes in a week or so- rest, fluids...and lots of good books to curl up with!
Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it!
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
National Novel Writing Month
Hi all.
I know some of you expressed interest in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) at last month's meeting. That said, I wanted to let you know I'm hosting an info session on Friday (20th) to talk about NaNoWriMo and answer any questions you might have. It'll be at 6 o'clock at Blue Umbrella Books. Or you can catch me after the meeting on the 21st.
I know some of you expressed interest in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) at last month's meeting. That said, I wanted to let you know I'm hosting an info session on Friday (20th) to talk about NaNoWriMo and answer any questions you might have. It'll be at 6 o'clock at Blue Umbrella Books. Or you can catch me after the meeting on the 21st.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
In Which I Gush
I just want to take a minute this evening to thank the WhipCity Wordsmiths who are a cohesive, collaborating, cooperative, competent, group of writers, authors and others who jump right in with both feet to promote the literary arts in this community (and surrounding communities, too, when called upon!)
When Artworks of Westfield, Inc. opted to sponsor an event during the upcoming PumpkinFest I was called upon to book the authors for the Art & Authors portion of the plan. As soon as I put the word out that we were looking for authors I had responses- all Wordsmith members. When Shawn Flynn realized he was already booked elsewhere on the 14th he contacted me and recommended an author acquaintance of his who readily agreed to take his place when I emailed her. We had five authors, originally, and then Geri Johnson expressed interest and we had room so she was onboard as well.
To get that kind of enthusiastic response on fairly short notice- and to have so much solid talent signed on is nothing short of amazing. I am incredibly thankful to our authors who will be with Kelly and me on the 14th, and also thankful to the authors who expressed regrets at being unable to attend because they too were previously booked elsewhere. The support and camaraderie of this group is beyond belief!
So, please excuse me for gushing this evening when I say "Thank you so much!" to all of our authors for putting their hearts and souls not only into their writing but into volunteering, making themselves available, jumping onto the bandwagon,...for everything you do in addition to having taken WhipCity Wordsmiths as a group and making it your own.
Also, a special thank you to author Melissa Volker who is always there when I need her. Our late night messages back and forth always cheer me up. She has gone above and beyond for the Wordsmiths by volunteering to speak at our next meeting. And for stepping up to fill a gap in the Ghost Stories LIVE! permanent cast and agreeing to read on October 28th despite a previous engagement in eastern MA that day that she will have to leave early from. I owe her so much for all she does I'll be in her debt for the rest of my natural life!
Bill Westerlind has also been terrific, masterminding the events that Artworks of Westfield, Inc. will be sponsoring during PumpkinFest allowing me a walk-through of the Old Town Hall to preview the author space, for his enthusiasm and support of local authors and everyone else involved in this event. His quick responses to texts, messages, and emails have been most helpful.
I also should thank Andrew Curran for sending me his book and other writings which I am thoroughly enjoying. He has so much energy and talent!
Considering we've only just come together for the first time as a group this past month, we're already making things happen- and I'm grateful to each and every one of you for being the totally amazing, creative, oh...here I go again! You're the best and the highest praise I can give you is to say I am proud to call each and every one of you a WhipCity Wordsmith!
When Artworks of Westfield, Inc. opted to sponsor an event during the upcoming PumpkinFest I was called upon to book the authors for the Art & Authors portion of the plan. As soon as I put the word out that we were looking for authors I had responses- all Wordsmith members. When Shawn Flynn realized he was already booked elsewhere on the 14th he contacted me and recommended an author acquaintance of his who readily agreed to take his place when I emailed her. We had five authors, originally, and then Geri Johnson expressed interest and we had room so she was onboard as well.
To get that kind of enthusiastic response on fairly short notice- and to have so much solid talent signed on is nothing short of amazing. I am incredibly thankful to our authors who will be with Kelly and me on the 14th, and also thankful to the authors who expressed regrets at being unable to attend because they too were previously booked elsewhere. The support and camaraderie of this group is beyond belief!
So, please excuse me for gushing this evening when I say "Thank you so much!" to all of our authors for putting their hearts and souls not only into their writing but into volunteering, making themselves available, jumping onto the bandwagon,...for everything you do in addition to having taken WhipCity Wordsmiths as a group and making it your own.
Also, a special thank you to author Melissa Volker who is always there when I need her. Our late night messages back and forth always cheer me up. She has gone above and beyond for the Wordsmiths by volunteering to speak at our next meeting. And for stepping up to fill a gap in the Ghost Stories LIVE! permanent cast and agreeing to read on October 28th despite a previous engagement in eastern MA that day that she will have to leave early from. I owe her so much for all she does I'll be in her debt for the rest of my natural life!
Bill Westerlind has also been terrific, masterminding the events that Artworks of Westfield, Inc. will be sponsoring during PumpkinFest allowing me a walk-through of the Old Town Hall to preview the author space, for his enthusiasm and support of local authors and everyone else involved in this event. His quick responses to texts, messages, and emails have been most helpful.
I also should thank Andrew Curran for sending me his book and other writings which I am thoroughly enjoying. He has so much energy and talent!
Considering we've only just come together for the first time as a group this past month, we're already making things happen- and I'm grateful to each and every one of you for being the totally amazing, creative, oh...here I go again! You're the best and the highest praise I can give you is to say I am proud to call each and every one of you a WhipCity Wordsmith!
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Writing Again
After spending most of this year revamping the interior text layout of ALL my previous books, and updating the covers to make the books look much more polished and professionally published, and then creating 7 smaller volumes of Christmas stories (3 stand alone novellas- The Winter Solstice Ball, A Major Production and The Red Velvet Suit and 4 small collections by type of story- Family, Inspirational, Past and Present- Christmas With the Family, Christmas Inspirations, Christmases Past and Christmases Present), and then doing two stand alone novellas for Halloween- The Girl With the Ivy Tattoo and The Magic of Cross and Crowe, plus totally redoing a 9-12 year-old age group chapter book (Isabel's Initiation) and another novel geared toward new adults (The Unwilling Witch) that had previously been published under a pseudonym, also both suitable for Halloween, I am finally buckling down and getting back to writing new stuff. I think I've basically written only some ghost stories this year and put together some story anthologies of already written material. Oh, and then I put together the mother/daughter creepy story anthology Disturbing also which is a collection of fourteen of my ghost and horror stories, and five of Kelly's ghost and supernatural/paranormal stories. This should be available at Pumpkin Fest on the 14th also.
Well, I did finish writing the second novella in Bending Birches, but it was mostly written so that really shouldn't count as something new since it took less than a weekend to complete.
The sequel to Black Knight, White Rook has been percolating in my brain pan for a little while now. On Sunday, the first of October, my favorite month, I began writing it. I've averaged about 5,100 words a day (yeah, that includes working 8-5 at my regular job, coming home, eating dinner, and then writing until 11:30PM the past two nights.) I'm satisfied with the direction the book is going. Already a lot has happened. The characters are about a year and a half older than they were in the last book. Romney and Ivy have a fourteen month old daughter. Ezra's about to start kindergarten. And a group of disgruntled black arts practitioners in Castleton has begun a reign of terror on the Black King and his White Queen and their family (and friends).In the first and second books Ivy has grown into her destined role as Queen, and she continues to grow and evolve in this book. But we'll also see more of Romney as King because he is furious about his family being endangered by this group. He's grown up among these people and now he's crossing swords with them. He has always thought of them as friends, but they are now his enemies. It's not an easy job being king, as he's finding out in this book.
I have a Nano novel to write starting November 1st, so I hope to get this one written before the end of the month! October is busy with an author appearance at Pumpkin Fest on the 14th, an author event for the official launch of Out on October 21st followed by the next meeting of the writer's group WhipCity Wordsmiths when the author event is over. I need to write a new ghost story this month for Ghst Stories LIVE! which will be held on October 28th. I'm also helping put together a second Ghost Stories LIVE! anthology in time for that event.
Busy bee me!
Oh, a few months ago I was driving through town and saw our infamous mechanical clock tower open at high noon (I believe I wrote about that previously.) The clock tower inspired a novel idea by the time I pulled into my driveway less than fifteen minutes later. Well, I made several false starts on that novel, but beginning on November 1st, I will finally be writing that werewolf (lycanthrope, actually) novel as my NaNo novel. Let's see if I can write The Clockmaker's Son in 30 days or less!! I love a good writing challenge!!
It feels so good to be writing again!
Well, I did finish writing the second novella in Bending Birches, but it was mostly written so that really shouldn't count as something new since it took less than a weekend to complete.
The sequel to Black Knight, White Rook has been percolating in my brain pan for a little while now. On Sunday, the first of October, my favorite month, I began writing it. I've averaged about 5,100 words a day (yeah, that includes working 8-5 at my regular job, coming home, eating dinner, and then writing until 11:30PM the past two nights.) I'm satisfied with the direction the book is going. Already a lot has happened. The characters are about a year and a half older than they were in the last book. Romney and Ivy have a fourteen month old daughter. Ezra's about to start kindergarten. And a group of disgruntled black arts practitioners in Castleton has begun a reign of terror on the Black King and his White Queen and their family (and friends).In the first and second books Ivy has grown into her destined role as Queen, and she continues to grow and evolve in this book. But we'll also see more of Romney as King because he is furious about his family being endangered by this group. He's grown up among these people and now he's crossing swords with them. He has always thought of them as friends, but they are now his enemies. It's not an easy job being king, as he's finding out in this book.
I have a Nano novel to write starting November 1st, so I hope to get this one written before the end of the month! October is busy with an author appearance at Pumpkin Fest on the 14th, an author event for the official launch of Out on October 21st followed by the next meeting of the writer's group WhipCity Wordsmiths when the author event is over. I need to write a new ghost story this month for Ghst Stories LIVE! which will be held on October 28th. I'm also helping put together a second Ghost Stories LIVE! anthology in time for that event.
Busy bee me!
Oh, a few months ago I was driving through town and saw our infamous mechanical clock tower open at high noon (I believe I wrote about that previously.) The clock tower inspired a novel idea by the time I pulled into my driveway less than fifteen minutes later. Well, I made several false starts on that novel, but beginning on November 1st, I will finally be writing that werewolf (lycanthrope, actually) novel as my NaNo novel. Let's see if I can write The Clockmaker's Son in 30 days or less!! I love a good writing challenge!!
It feels so good to be writing again!
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