Sue Spitulnik described the process for creating the LCRWriters website using WordPress.com. An account can be opened for free or for a $92/year premium, where you can use your domain name.com instead of WordPress.com. Sue used her own website as an example, which had the Baskerville Theme and simple menu items: Home, About me, Publications and Contact Page. She walked us through the different WordPress menu options, such as themes, identity, color and background, font, photo, contact information, category of books, edit your material and how a reader can subscribe to the website. Sue’s talk was informative and easy to understand. Additionally, there are helpful tutorials and videos on WordPress to guide the user.
How to Identify Headhopping
Point of View: Vanquish Head Hopping and Identify Your Narrator
By Kim Gore
We’ve all done it. Written a story from our character’s vantage point. Added details to make it feel authentic. Described our character with amazing acuity. And then an editor or critique partner takes a look at our incredible work and asks, “Okay, but who is the main character?”
It’s like getting splashed with a bucket of cold water. Because, duh, isn’t it obvious? But no. It isn’t always. In this hands-on presentation, Kim Gore will demonstrate how to make your main character obvious to the reader, and how to recognize when you’re doing that horrid “head-hopping” writers grumble about.
We’ll be pulling out our acting skills for this one, so be prepared to be in the spotlight. You won’t want to miss your fellow writers getting their thespian on.
This is the presentation topic for the May meeting. Come visit us to gain more information.
Introduction to WordPress
On Saturday, April 22, 2023, the presentation starting at about 10:15 AM, will be an introduction to WordPress given by Sue Spitulnik.
Sue has a blog at suespitulnik.com, which is a WordPress-hosted site, and she recently designed, with input from the members, and built the new site for Lilac City Rochester Writers using WordPress. If you are on the site and look around, it looks like an easy project. But Sue will tell you she did everything multiple times to learn how to make the site easy to traverse, attractive, and user-friendly for anyone that doesn’t know how to write computer code. On Saturday, she will show the group some of the things she learned so they can build their own free sites.
It might be an idea to bring your laptop so you can follow along as Sue shows you what the tool buttons do, how to add pages, how to add a post, and use the chat feature.
Our first of three critiques is coming up on Saturday, March 25.
This is a great time to get a manuscript of up to 2500 words looked at
ALL manuscripts must be emailed to the moderator, Steve Yates at writingsbysay@yahoo.com by MIDNIGHT on Wednesday, March 15th. (Note, this is ten days before the critique session.) Any submissions received after that will be handled as time permits, at the end of the critique session.
Please include your email address at the top of the page. Non-members are welcome to have one piece critiqued, without joining the group.
Critiques will be discussed in the order they are received.
You will be receiving a manuscript from each participant and are expected to print it out and have your critique of their work at the meeting.
Your manuscript must be formatted using: Times Roman, Courier, Tahoma, or Verdana font at 12 points. Margins should be to one inch. Double space.
Be sure to number your pages (Insert / Page Number). Also, it makes critiquing easier if you insert line numbers (Open the Page Layout ribbon / Click Line Numbers in the Page Setup section / Select your options from the popup menu.)
Save your document in: .doc, .docx, or .rtf formant. (All major word processing programs have this capability.) All manuscripts will be converted to .pdf by the facilitator, with line numbers inserted if you have not already done so.
Please limit your submission to about 2500 words. (You may send as many words as you like. The person critiquing may stop at any time after 2500 words.)
Starting time is 9:00 AM Saturday, July 24th. Please be ready to start then.
Please do not submit first drafts. Spend some time editing before you send it out. Also, it is requested you don’t send a modified copy of your manuscript after the original has been dispersed to the group.
· Everyone who submits a manuscript will be expected to critique all other entries and ensure they receive a copy of your comments. (You are not required to send your critique to the recipient before the critique, but it is useful.) In addition, we always have people who wish to share their knowledge of writing, yet not submit. Those wishing to only critique are always welcome.
The following information should be on the first page, before your story begins. (You may wish to copy/paste this to your manuscript and answer them.)
· Genre: (Fantasy, Romance, etc.)
· Demographic (target audience):
· How long is the final piece (short story, novel):
· Is there back story we need to know to understand what is going on:
· Where does this fit in your manuscript (i.e.: two-thirds of the way through):
· What questions do you want answered:
When critiquing, consider:
· Are the characters developed. (You may not get to this in a limited piece)
· Is there a strong sense of the setting/time.
· Is it original (Not a requirement. Some of the best stories are a retelling.)
Lilac City Rochester Writers 