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UID:2152-1423405800-1423409400@writersalliance.org
SUMMARY:The Virtues of Brevity
DESCRIPTION:by Noel Neff\nRon Cunningham said he has given serious consideration to changing his business card to include the words “Trained Observer of the Human Condition.” \n“That may be actually the best definition of a writer I can give you today\,” he said\, followed by a wry grin. \nCunningham\, former editorial page editor of The Gainesville Sun\, served up 45 minutes of gems and wisdom on Feb. 8\, 2015 during the Writers Alliance of Gainesville’s monthly meeting at the Millhopper Branch Library. His self-titled talk was called\, ironically\, “Life\, the Universe and Everything in 500 Words or Less: On the Virtue of Brevity.” \n“The dirty little secret of our business is that writing short is harder than writing long\,” he said. “There’s an old saying in the newspaper business that goes\, ‘I didn’t have time to write short!’” \nCunningham reflected on a newspaper career that began in the 1970s\, as editor of the Independent Florida Alligator in the years immediately after the University of Florida campus newspaper became independent. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel hired Cunningham directly out of journalism school\, but he soon returned to Gainesville to cover politics for the Sun. Now retired\, he still contributes a Sunday column focusing on environmental issues and serves as the Sun’s theater critic. He also is executive director of the nonprofit Bike Florida\, which promotes responsible cycling and bicycle tourism in the state. \nFor all the writing Cunningham has done\, however\, he said he doesn’t have the discipline or interest to write anything long form. \n“I really have no desire to write a book\,” he said matter-of-factly. “You could hold a gun to my head and I couldn’t write a book.” \nThat doesn’t mean Cunningham doesn’t appreciate a good read. In fact\, he is a voracious reader. \n“If you want to write well\, you have to read well\,” he said. “Reading ought to be as essential to your life as eating and drinking and\, indeed\, breathing.” \nCunningham was turned on to reading at age 16 when he discovered Webb Miller’s I Found No Peace: A Journey Through the Age of Extremes in an attic while working a summer job at a New England inn. \n“From the time I learned to read\, I wanted to write\,” Miller wrote at the very start of his book. \n“And I thought\, ‘Me\, too\,’” Cunningham said. “And from that summer\, I never wanted to be anything but a newspaper man.” \nCunningham offered  tips for effective writing: \n\nBrevity is indeed a virtue\, “especially in this social media/tweeting era when attention spans seem to be growing shorter by the very hour.”Keep the tone conversational by avoiding the language of lawyers\, academics\, engineers or\, “even worse\, land-use planners.”\nGrab your readers’ attention by making the first paragraph interesting\, intriguing and provocative.\nBe careful using irony\, satire and sarcasm because “some people will take you literally.”\nDon’t get personal. “If you can’t sway your audience on the basis of reasoning and the facts\, you shouldn’t do it.”\nDon’t be afraid to be in love with the sound of your own words.Write about things that are relevant to your life and that you are passionate about.\n\nFor his final tip\, Cunningham quoted “Alice in Wonderland’s” Red Queen—“Start at the beginning. Go through to the end. And stop!” \nLooking back at a half-century of writing\, Cunningham mused: “I still have this recurring nightmare that one day somebody is going to walk up to me while I’m typing away\, put his hand on my shoulder and say\, ‘How long did you think you could get away with this?’”
URL:https://writersalliance.org/event/the-virtues-of-brevity/
CATEGORIES:Speaker
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20150111T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20150111T153000
DTSTAMP:20150408T095639Z
CREATED:20150408T095639Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150408T095639Z
UID:462-1420986600-1420990200@writersalliance.org
SUMMARY:Dragonflies\, Manatees and Snakes\, Lots of Snakes - Writing About Place
DESCRIPTION:Lambert’s Passion for Place is Crystal Clear  \nThere is not a single illustration in Sandra Gail Lambert’s debut novel\, The River’s Memory\, and yet each of its 238 pages comes alive with captivating imagery. For example\, in a passage written in her compelling first-person narrative\, Lambert invites you to skinny-dip with her young female character in the spring-chilled waters of Ocala’s Silver River. \nUnderwater grasses stroke down my back and bottom. Minnows gum at my heels. The water pushes me into the shallows\, and left sitting waist deep. Spikes of red flowers surround me. Mating dragonflies float through the air liked jeweled bracelets. Yellow swallowtails flicker around my nipples. \nSimply put\, Lambert paints with words. Her ability to describe settings in vivid sensory detail allows readers to immerse themselves in the environment her characters are experiencing. \nShe was kind enough to share her writing process during WAG’s first monthly meeting of 2015\, at the Millhopper Branch Library. She stressed the use of setting not just as a backdrop to stories but as a unifying force. The writer’s challenge is using distinct and evocative language. \nThe process did not come naturally to Lambert. “What I wrote early on was pure insomnia\,” she said\, eliciting chuckles from the audience. By reading other authors\, notably Randy Wayne White and his descriptions of Florida\, Lambert developed a knack for writing about place. \nShe often wraps the description around the plot. “My plot is revealed throughout the book\,” she said. “By the end\, it pulls together.” However\, there can be pitfalls. Lambert cautions writers about wanting to share all their research and becoming too absorbed in setting. \n“Any place will want to escape its bounds and take off\,” she said\, noting that she resisted going on ad nauseum “about the mating habits of dragonflies.” \nLambert not only uses place to develop characters\, she tells herself that the setting — in her case\, the river — is a character in itself with an omniscient point of view. “I got to write about a place close to my heart.” \nIn The River’s Memory\, Lambert introduces a number of female characters: “depressed women who have given birth to just too many babies that  die on them\, people escaped from slavery who lived quiet but dangerous lives on the Florida frontier\, disabled women who find a way to explore their worlds\, artists of pre-Columbian Florida who yearned for better materials and more skills.” \n“I know these type of people existed\, but their lives are lost to a formal historian\,” because\, of course\, no facts were recorded. “But as fiction writers\, we can believe in their existence and write their lives back into history of an era. Because there’s a way a novel can preserve history\, especially the history of women\, especially the history of marginalized people\, that would otherwise have been lost to us. We can meld history and story into a novel or story that perhaps reveals the emotional truth of an era. And that’s not a small thing to offer the world.” \nIn a question-and-answer period following her talk\, Lambert admitted\, “I never thought of myself as a creative person. I ran a bookstore.” Now she tells writers not to be discouraged by rejection letters\, especially when a publisher  goes through the trouble of providing a personalized response. \nIn addition to her book\, Lambert’s essays have appeared in the journals New Letters\, Brevity\, Water’s Stone\, Weekly Rumpus\, North American Review and Arts and Letters. \nLambert\, a longtime WAG member\, published The River’s Memory through Tallahassee-based Twisted Road Publications. \n 
URL:https://writersalliance.org/event/dragonflies-manatees-and-snakes-lots-of-snakes-writing-about-place/
CATEGORIES:Speaker
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20141214T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20141214T220000
DTSTAMP:20170926T190111Z
CREATED:20150408T095454Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170926T190111Z
UID:460-1418580000-1418594400@writersalliance.org
SUMMARY:Holiday Spirit: Celebrating a Year of Writing and Reading
DESCRIPTION:Although WAG’s annual member shindig on Sunday\, Dec. 14\, 2014 was a holiday party\, there was little doubt that the evening was more about a changing of the guard. Outgoing WAG president Art Crummer handed over the reins to Susie Baxter in the symbolic form of a 9-pound hammer and a large bucket of gravel (Susie had suggested by eMail a ceromony where Art passed the gavel\, but spell check had changed it to “gravel”). \nIn return\, Art received an Amazon gift card and a six-pack of a brew whose identity was kept secret\, for he cleverly left it part way in the lighted gift bag\, which blinked merrily away. \nThe potluck dinner allowed WAG members to showcase their favorite dishes and desserts. Food tables overflowed with baked ham\, chicken salad\, black-eyed peas\, casseroles\, corn pudding\, green salad\, fruit salads\, key lime pie\, apple pie\, brownies\, fudge\, tea and water. Some members even contributed bottles of wine. \nThe diversity of the food offerings contributed to the success of the party\, said WAG member Joan Carter.”Worked out better than having a caterer\, though it was a puzzle for those like me who don’t cook!” \nArt serenaded those in attendance with his unique brand of folk\, blues\, and swing music\, beginning with Don Groom’s ode to Payne’s Prairie\, “Vitachoocho\,” followed by Will McLean’s “Wild Hog” (in keeping with some of the organic\, free-range pork Mary Crummer provided). A number of original compositions followed (“I Never Ever Sing Old Lost Love Songs”\, “I’d Rather be Your Number Three”\, “Interstate I-75 Rag”\, and “Lovebug Blues”). He closed with “Elmer’s Tune” and “My Blue Heaven”. He was accompanied by WAG members Patsy Murray on fiddle (or was it violin?) and Jeffrey Shapiro\, his clarinet adding wind under Art’s lyrics. \nWAG members also took time to reflect on the loss of co-founder Kal Rosenberg\, who passed away on Nov. 11 after a battle with kidney disease. Kal would have enjoyed the camaraderie that he helped establish. He is missed.
URL:https://writersalliance.org/event/holiday-spirit-celebrating-a-year-of-writing-reading/
LOCATION:Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville\, 4225 NW 34th Street\, Gainesville\, FL\, 32615\, United States
CATEGORIES:Retreat
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20141109T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20141109T153000
DTSTAMP:20160507T180651Z
CREATED:20150311T224912Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T180651Z
UID:184-1415543400-1415547000@writersalliance.org
SUMMARY:Presentation by Editors and Writers of Bacopa Literary Review 2014
DESCRIPTION:Once again the editors of the Bacopa literary review\, the annual printed work of the Writers Alliance of Gainesville\, presented the master work of poetry\, short fiction and nonfiction. Winners of contests in each category were announced\, and selections were read by writers and editors. This was a not-to-be-missed meeting as WAG celebrated great submissions from around the world. \nBacopa Literary Review 2014\, the fifth annual volume of poetry\, creative nonfiction and fiction by authors from around the globe\, is published by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville\, with contests and general submissions from authors anywhere with an internet connection. \nContest winners (receiving cash awards and publication) were announced and other selected submissions from Bacopa 2014 were read at the launch Nov 9. \nThe beautiful print copies are free to WAG members (pick up at any monthy meeting).
URL:https://writersalliance.org/event/old-program-one/
CATEGORIES:Panel Discussion
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