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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Sunday, January 29, 2017

Meeting Highlights January 11, 2017

Members Present:  Jackie, Karen, Luneil, Patty, Pete, Rachael, Valia

Jackie collected the annual $10 dues.

Pete signed a contract with Pen-It Publishers. His poetry book will soon be available on Amazon.com and the Pen-It bookstore. There was a very minimal charge for illustrations and Pete will receive 45% of proceeds. See their website for submission guidelines and further details. We are excited for Pete and anxious to hear more about his experience.

Karen talked about Print On Demand. She also talked about her experiences as a guest speaker and other ways she promotes her books. She has a tiny projector and had help making Power Point slideshows. Jackie said that Eric Litwin, author of Pete the Cat books, visited Homan last year. She said videos of author school visits can be found on Youtube. Authors need to come up with unique ways to keep their young audience involved and excited. Often times a book pre-order form is sent home to parents which obviously helps with sales. Schools may even allow the author to do an additional presentation at night for parents and siblings.

Valia is going to give Miracle Called Earth presentations to different school groups up to 5th grade. He also wrote another book for older children entitled Earth Giver.

Karen emailed the first chapter of Ghost Lessons to members before the meeting. She would appreciate any feedback. Karen and Valia again discussed the invaluable advice they got from a local editor. Esther's website's link is http://www.estherhershenhorn.com.

Rachael read The Blue Pencil. She had spent a lot of time editing and revising since reading it at the Write-On Hoosiers meeting. Members encouraged her to read other rhyming books and keep working on perfecting her story to get it ready for submitting.

Luneil read Barty, The Vampire Sleuth. She would like members to give her ideas for subsequent chapters.

Valia read an emotional article he wrote for The Times as a guest commentator. Father waited to say his final goodbye to me was published in 2008.

Jackie passed around pictures she took of the iced over St. Joseph Lighthouse in Michigan a few days earlier and read the related poem That’s Annoying. She also announced Chicken Soup for the Soul is accepting stories and poems on cats and dogs. Submissions are due January 31st. Guidelines can be found on their website.

Patty read the synopsis she wrote for Vienne.

Next meeting will be February 8, 2017 at Rosati’s in Schererville at 6:30 p.m.


JSH