The Coastal Connection
______________________________________________________________________________
Volume 12
Issue 1 RWA® Chapter 108 January, 2004
FCRW’s 2004 Board of Directors
President -- Marge Smith
VP/Education Chair/Beacon Coordinator -- Heather Waters
Secretary -- EJ Miller
Treasurer -- Pam Cross
Membership -- Dolores Wilson
Site Chair -- Lydia Filzen
Hospitality -- Shannon Juliao
PAL Liaison/Co-Conference Chair -- Vickie King
Co-Conference Chair -- Rebecca Andrews
Newsletter -- Cheri Clark
PRO Liaison -- Laura Barone
Awards/Awards Luncheon -- Anita Tooke
Dreaded Synopsis Contest-- Wendie Land
Historian -- Tara Greenbaum
Tape Librarian -- Heather Waters
Travel Pins -- Ellen Breen
From The President
By Marge Smith
Dear
Members,
It's the beginning of a brand new year and for FCRW that means a lot of
wonderful new things happening. This year will mark the 12th year for
FCRW and the new Board plans on making it one during which the members will be
presented with as many learning opportunities as possible.
Heather has a line up of knowledgeable published
authors willing to present online workshops and share their wisdom with all of
you. She also has a splendid lineup of monthly, in-meeting workshops
planned. Mark your calendar for our meeting day (the second Saturday of
each month) so you don't miss any of them. The January meeting will start with
a workshop on GMC, how to recognize it, use it to strengthen your stories and
hands-on examples. Don't miss it.
February will bring our very first Valentine's Party,
complete with induction of officers, presentation of the Service Awards and the
usual party fun FCRWers are used to having.
In May, our annual conference will be featuring two
top selling authors, Kathie Denosky, an award-winning, multi-published category
author and Sharon Sala, an award-winning, multi-published single title
contemporary author.
That's a very small sampling of what's in store for
2004. I'm looking forward to working with all of you to make this one of the
best years FCRW has ever had and seeing many of you publishing your very first
book!
See
you all January 10th at Hops at 11 AM.
Marge
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM FCRW!
January Birthday
21 Cheri Clark
HUGS AND KISSES
KISSES to Lydia Filzen (Lydia Hawke) for the release of her first novel, Firetrail. Check out her website at http://www.lydiahawke.us/.
KISSES to Trish Eachus who has two entries in the Golden Heart competition. Good luck, Trish!
KISSES to Judy Leigh Peters, whose debut novel, A Father’s Hope, is nominated for the Romance Studio’s CAPA award for Historical Romance. Judy is also nominated for Best New Author - Traditional.
HUGS to Kat McMahon, who’s recovering from surgery and KISSES for the encouraging prognosis!
HUGS to Marge Smith (Elizabeth Sinclair) on the loss
of her beloved pet, Sasha.
HUGS to Cheri Clark, for her rejection from Harlequin Superromance.
Please send your HUGS &
KISSES and other member news to Cheri Clark by, January 24, 2004 for the February
issue of the newsletter.
~*~
Each month,
we'll be asking authors what their favorite romances of all time are. A list of
5 will be presented along with a brief statement of why that book was chosen.
Hope you enjoy it!
Heather
Novel
Escapes
Featuring
Kathie DeNosky
1. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret
Mitchell
This book will always have a special
place in my heart because it was the first "big" romance novel I
read. I think that was at the tender age of fourteen. <G>
2. RUNAWAY BRIDE by Rosalyn
Alsobrook
It's a heart-wrenching story, but one
that I could read again and again. The focus is on doing what's
right for the sake of the heroine's child. A real tear-jerker.
3. NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE by Susan
Elizabeth Phillips
It's a Susan Elizabeth Phillips
book. 'Nuff said. <G>
4. A MEASURE OF LOVE by Lindsey
McKenna
I loved the interaction between the
hero and heroine. It was a prime example of how the power of love can
heal all wounds--even when the hero is too guilt-ridden and stubborn to realize
it. <G>
5. A GREEK GOD AT THE LADIES
CLUB by Jenna McKnight
This is a new release, but I knew as soon
as I finished the first chapter it was destined to be one of my all-time
favorites. It's absolutely hilarious.
Kathie
Silhouette Desire
IN BED WITH THE ENEMY, Lone Star Country Club, July '03
LONETREE RANCHERS: BRANT, August '03
LONETREE RANCHERS: MORGAN, October '03
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, A Lone Star Country Club Christmas with Leanne Banks and
Dixie Browning, Silhouette Christmas Anthology, November '03
LONETREE RANCHERS: COLT, December '03, an RT Top Pick
REMEMBERING ONE WILD NIGHT, Texas Cattleman's Club, January '04
BABY AT HIS CONVENIENCE, July '04
http://www.kathiedenosky.com
http://www.desireauthors.com
http://www.ditzychix.com
Let Your Heart Take Flight With the Ditzy Chix
Paying It Forward
By Trish Eachus-Crabtree
First, I’ll admit that an article I read by Susan Lanier-Graham of FTHRW
gave me this idea. However, my story is a bit different from hers.
During the 70’s and 80’s, I raised thirteen children. No, they weren’t
all actual births from my once petite figure. We both brought children
into the marriage, I had a foster daughter at that time, we had two more of our
own over the next few years and we adopted others. We weren’t exactly the
“Brady Bunch” , instead an accurate depiction would be closer to the “Waltons”.
During those early years, I was a stay-at-home Mom until all the children were
in school. You can only imagine how many stories I read to them and how many
homework assignments I had to complete. Ironically, at that time, I was a
published poet. One of my daughters had an assignment to write a poem for
her English class. She claimed to be stumped and asked for help. I
sat down with her and in moments had written a simple poem about “Grandparents”.
I suggested that she work on one of her own now that she had a guide to
follow. Now, what did my daughter do? You guessed it, she plagiarized my
poem, submitted it and won a school contest. Did I tell? Are you kidding?
We both knew who wrote it. My saving grace was that she’s never written
another poem since that day.
We finally arrived at the point where the older children had heard the stories
so many times, they were sick of them. I had to begin making up my own
stories out of self-preservation. Making them up was the easy part.
God gave me quite a talent, a gift for plotting stories.
While children’s stories are okay for kids, I needed more for the “adult” in
me. For the sake of my own sanity, I hit all the yard sales and bookstore
bargain shelves for reading material. My library card was so worn, the
librarian could barely read it. I have always been an avid, eclectic
reader.
One day, I discovered “romance novels”. WOW! The world opened up
and swallowed me whole. Give me a “Harlequin” and I would read the entire
story in an afternoon. Instead of taking fortifying naps, I read romance
novels. In a weird way, I felt I was actually with adults for part of
each day, absorbed into the story. The distinct advantage to reading them
was how they helped me to make up more stories of my own to tell the
children. To my kids, it was a game. Little did I realize, at the
time, because they knew I read on a daily basis, they also discovered the world
of books and the joy of reading.
Once my baby was in “Head Start”, a state sanctioned pre-school program, I went
to work fulltime. I thought I was busy enough with thirteen
children, who knew that working all day would add chaos to my life. I
thought it would be nice to get away from the house and have an opportunity to
interact with adults who can focus and actually hold conversations. You
know what I learned? They whined and complained better than my own
children. Worse yet, some were bosses who could MAKE me listen.
<sigh>
When I got home from work, I had to help with homework, do laundry, prepare
dinner, stop arguments, soothe deflated egos, clean house, make sure chores
were completed, and monitor telephone time among teens with a lot to say to
friends they just saw hours ago in school. I found the hardest part of
parenting was entertaining them. However, with all that happened during
my own workday, I discovered they found the boss’s complaints, and whining fits
to be highly amusing.
When I found my children laughed at many of the stories I made up for them, and
later when I described amusing events from work, I decided to start writing
some of them down. I had a portable “Corona” typewriter with a
self-correcting tape. Writing from 11pm to 1am every night eventually takes its
toll on the body when you have to be up at 6am every morning to get a houseful
of people ready to begin a new day. Even younger bodies need sleep and
mine was deprived. I finally got to the point where I was tired of
rewriting and then retyping pages I had finished editing. I convinced my
husband to allow me to purchase a word processor. Remember the “Tandy TL
1000”? It’s an antique now. It was new then.
It took three years to complete my first novel, which was rejected many times
over. While it was a good story, I look back and see how it lacked
structure, even though I made up for that in the enthusiasm of writing
it. It’s definitely a good story. I was so sure it was a best
seller -- I self-published that book. I don’t regret my decision.
It was a good learning tool. I had no idea I should write a synopsis and
had no clue about proper guidelines or submission procedures. It was no
small wonder I received all those rejections.
Over the years, I’ve been invited to many elementary and secondary schools to
teach creative writing (of stories) and also creative poetry in English
classes. My focus has always been to encourage children to use and
develop their imaginations. I like to believe I have influenced many
students, hoping I have captured the imagination of some of our upcoming future
writers. During this process, I’ve met many creative students with vivid
imaginations, showing promise and writing potential.
Since I’ve joined FCRW and RWA, I have learned more in the past two years than
I ever thought possible about the craft of writing and the publishing market.
I never dreamed I would have the confidence to enter a writing contest for a
full-length novel until this year. Ironically, I have two entries
completed for RWA®’s Golden Heart Award. I had no idea that joining a
writing group would propel my life in this direction.
I look back now and see all the benefits derived from reading all those books,
and how my children benefited by learning to love reading as well. As I
sit down at my computer these days, I thank God for blessing me with the talent
to write and the vivid imagination to pull it together into story form.
Writing and teaching the “craft of writing” is my way of PAYING IT FORWARD to
all the young women of today who have their hands full with raising families
and working fulltime jobs.
As you sit at your computer, composing your next fiction novel, take time to
recall all the stories you’ve read in your lifetime and realize that you can do
it, too.
God bless,
Trish ^i^
”OMEGA” by Trish Eachus
”ALMOST HEAVEN” by Trish Eachus
both novels submitted to RWA for the “Golden Heart Award 2004”
~*~
GRAMMAR
GURU
By Cheryl Norman
Sounds like…
When I edit my critique partners’ work, I find more errors in homonyms
than any other area. Notice I said critique partners--plural. Homonyms are a
wide-spread problem, common in drafts and overlooked in revision.
The list is endless, but here are the most common ones.
Hear, here
your, you’re
their, they’re, there
its, it’s
bridle, bridal
peek, peak, pique
sheik, chic (pronounced sheek)
stationery, stationary
capital, capitol
rain, rein, reign
affect, effect
accept, except
sheer, shear
die, dye
lie, lye
The list goes on. Unfortunately, you can’t rely on internal
spell-checkers to correct homonyms. You must keep a good reference handy,
including a collegiate dictionary. Don’t worry about homonyms in the draft
phase or you may stifle your creative flow. Just be sure you’ve eliminated all
homonyms before you submit your work.
Cheryl Norman is the EPPIE award-winning author of LAST
RESORT. Her latest mystery, FULL MOON LULLABY, is now available from Wings
ePress. Visit her website for more grammar columns: http://www.cherylnorman.com./
~*~
FIRST CHAPTERS, by Elizabeth
Sinclair, is a step-by-step instructional booklet on writing the first
chapter of your novel and including all the elements that an editor looks for
before she requests the full manuscript. It covers: hooks, inserting background
info judiciously, forming the reader-questions that keep them reading and much
more. A bonus section explains the difference between cover and query letters, when to use which,
and how to write them. $7.95 including postage
Order at www.elizabethsinclair.com
~*~
NEXT MEETING:
Saturday
January 10, 2004
11:00 - 3:00
meeting, lunch,
and workshop
Hops Restaurant
9826 San Jose
Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL