Magic Hour Writers

Our Mission: To encourage and promote excellence in writing for children through
friendship, education, and peer support to writing colleagues.

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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Christmas Party / Meeting Highlights 12-11-14

Members Present:   Andrew, Bernardo, Bob, Jackie, Judy, Luneil, Pam, Sharon, Suzy

Suzy demonstrates how to navigate picture e-books on her iPad

Members decided to lower the annual dues to $10. 2015 dues will be due in January. Make checks payable to Judy Whitcomb. A year end statement will be available at the next meeting.

Judy passed around a survey / information sheet. She will send it electronically so members can submit answers to her easily. It asks about what members are writing right now and what genres they are interested in. We are also asking for ideas about future meeting topics and guest speakers. Judy put together a book list of our lending library.

Luneil knows a writer that is interested in our group. Jackie will get her email address and contact her.

Judy passed out an outline about a webinar she participated in entitled Easy Picture Books: Top Strategies to Create Passive Income with Kindle Picture Books. The webinar included information on promoting yourself and using pseudonym names (which is important if you plan to write across several genres). The Guardian and a Flavorwire article both reported picture books and young adult novels sales have increased significantly over the past few years. Members discussed ipiccy.com which is a free web based tool for photo editing and looked over a handout from writeforkids.org that breaks down different types of books for children based on age and ability.

Here is a link which further explains book formats: http://www.summeredward.com/2013/04/types-of-childrens-books-formats.html

Bob read the first chapter in his latest story geared toward children ages 7-10. Cody discovers something mysterious in the doghouse out back.

Bernardo read the next chapter in his adventure book. The action is now taking place in the upside-down forest.

Luneil read Barty the Clumsy Vampire. She wrote it years ago but has since added several more details to the story as well as more dialogue and conflict. Members encouraged her to keep writing and were eager to offer suggestions.

Suzy read Getting Ready for Christmas at Mrs. Walters. Mrs. Walters begins to come to terms with the real meaning of Christmas and being on her own.

Pam and Judy passed out hand-made stocking ornaments and candy; what a Merry Christmas!



Next Meeting is January 8th, at Panera Bread in Merrillville, IN at 6:30 p.m.

Happy New Year!


JSH

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