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Who, What, When & Where...?

Sleuths' Ink has lots of good things in store for this year.

Informative speakers, market news, contests, handouts and lots of writer support!!

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·        APRIL 10 – Wayne Holmes, local author and former Drury English professor will discuss how he tackled writing his memoir as well as his publishing experience with a small, independent publisher right here in Missouri . Wayne taught English at Drury University for nearly 25 years. Expect a reading and his famous Saturday Night poem. ROCKY COMFORT highlights Wayne ’s hardscrabble youth in the Ozarks complete with his very poor family driving from KS to OK to MO in a covered wagon. The six siblings hunted, gardened and got into all sorts of mischief. (Wayne is Beth Carter's uncle--her dad's brother.)

·        MAY 8 -  Write-in! Our Sleuths' Ink meeting on Saturday, May 8, will be a coveted write-in! Let's take advantage of the time to do some great writing. This will be perfect for our JANO members who haven't touched their JANO projects since, oh, say, Jan. 31 (if you're like me).

This will also be a great time to try poetry or writing a short story. Maybe you want to write a nice note to Mom or your kids for Mother's Day.
Also, there are many spring contests so you use this time to spruce up your entries. We can all get a lot done in one hour of concentrated writing.

Just bring your laptop, legal pad (or whatever you write with) and join us. The coffee is always great and the writerhood (my new, coined phrase) is even better. Since writing is so solitary, it will be nice to be in a room with like-minded folks doing what they love best. See you Saturday!

·        JUNE  12 – Ruth Hunter and Beth Carter will discuss the importance of  social networking on Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs. Agents and editors emphasize that writers must enhance their online presence, i.e., develop a following, by building their platforms. If you don’t yet know how to navigate Facebook, Twitter or have a personal blog, come to this meeting and find out how.

·        JULY – No meeting due to the ORA conference. Will we have a picnic or something and give out prizes for Six Months After JANO (or will it be too hard to gather everyone? If so, we could do it in August or Sept at the write-in)

·        AUGUST  14 – Patrick Neagle, Sleuths’ Ink member, will discuss two interesting topics—his job aboard ship where he teaches English and travels to such places as Israel, Crete and Jordan as well as his occasional job as a private investigator.

First, we’ll hear about Patrick’s PI experience, specifically, how he became a PI, what training/education/ licensing is involved, the types of people who hire private detectives, some of his most interesting cases and so on. What a fun character this would be – whether you’re creating a character who is a PI, hiring a PI, dating a PI, have a vendetta against one or whatever.

Additionally, Patrick will give us insight as to being aboard a ship for months—specifically, what ship life is like, the size of the ship, the food, the other passengers/sailors, storms, seasickness and more. This two-punch topic should be quite interesting for many of us who want to create unique characters!  "Private Investigator Meets Naval Life."

·        SEPTEMBER – Write-in! Write a short story, finish your JANO project, write a synopsis, poem, short story or whatever you prefer. Just WRITE.

Check back later:

More to come.

The ghosts of Sleuths Ink's past:

March 13th: Dr. Susan Anderson who will discuss Multiple Personality Disorders.

February 13th: Terry McDermid. She'll be talking about how to edit our JANO manuscripts.

January: gets started with a big bang!

Those of us who participated in the JANO project were encouraged to read a page from our work and discuss how the experiance was going for us. Most of the members who were not doing JANO were recruted! : )

Go here if you want to know more about Jano.

Then, please join us for lunch at Panera Bread adjoining the Library Station on North Kansas. I'm sure more questions will follow during lunch.

http://sleuthsink.blogspot.com

Sleuths' Ink sponsors a quarterly contest.

Members in attendance at the Feb. meeting will begiven guidelines for a story and told to write their own ending.

• The only catch is that you must be a paid member of Sleuths' Ink

• You must be be present to receive the guidelines

• you must be present to turn them in.

• The winner will receive $10.
  
  Members who have published within the month receive an inspirational stone.
  Need more info? contact fictionrus@aol.com

We are discussing:

• Handwriting Analysis

• Ghost Hunting

• To learn more or make a suggestion e-mail: Shirley McCann

mail $15 dues to:

Sleuths' Ink
c/o Pat Elliot
S.I. Treasurer
3953 West Groton St.
Springfield, MO 65803

Or better yet attend a meeting

membershipform