Pencils! 5th Anniversary Soiree in Wonderland photos are up!

Hello, folks,

...be sure to visit our page of photos from THE PENCILS! 5TH ANNIVERSARY SOIREE IN WONDERLAND at Al & Maryanne's on July 26. For those of you who missed it, we were all in costume and it was one hot day for a Mad Tea Party in the rabbit hole!

You can view the pictures here:

http://pencilswritingworkshop.googlepages.com/pencils%215thanniversarysoireeinwonderland

If the above link isn't working, just head to www.pencilswritingworkshop.com and visit The Pencils! Scrapbook page for a link. Happy perusing!

Soiree is on tap!

PENCILS! 5^TH ANNIVERSARY SOIREE will be held at 3 p.m. JULY 26 at Al & Maryanne's. We're looking at a fantastic turn-out! If I have your deposit from the original date, then I'm assuming you're attending. If you can come now and couldn't before, please drop us a line and let us know. We'll be doing all of our preparation in the next few days.

4th Annual Rejection Slip Burning slated for 2/23/08

Well, it's that time of year again: REJECTION SLIP BURNING time! Here's some details so you can mark your calendars..."official" invitations will be out sometime this week!

The 4th Annual
"Oh Sweet Rejection" Slip Burning Dessert Party
Saturday, February 23, 2008
7:30 p.m.
at
Al & Maryanne's
(address provided on official invitation)
Norwalk
We'll provide some sweets, but you may bring something sweet to share if you like. BYOB and don't forget to bring every slip that really pissed you off!
Snow date: Saturday, March 1

Writing stuff on the horizon...

Hi guys,

Here's a few things I've had forwarded to me by various people over the last month. I think Claudia may have sent me some news, too, regarding upcoming contests and events Pencils! members may be interested in, but I can't find that e-mail. Claudia, if you have it, can you re-send? Or maybe it was Vance? God, I'm a train-wreck...

Anyway, here's some stuff coming up. Take a gander:

The Vocabula
Well-Written Writing
Contest

Eligibility: The Vocabula Well-Written Writing Contest is open to all.

Write 200 to 500 words of readable, well-written, even beautiful
writing. Send your entries to editor@vocabula.com. Along with your
submission, you must include your name, address, email address, and
$20 entry fee.

Contest Dates: Entries for the Vocabula Well-Written Writing Contest
are accepted year-round. Each contest ends on May 31. The next contest
begins the following day.

Selection: We accept nonfiction submissions only. Entries are judged
on readability, beauty, and creativity -- in that order. Submissions
not meeting the word count requirements are disqualified.

Prizes: First prize is $200 and your choice of any three $40 Special
Offer books.

Second prize is $100 and your choice of any one $40 Special Offer book.

Winning entries will also be published in The Vocabula Review and may
be considered for publication in a forthcoming anthology.

Everyone who submits an entry will receive the PDF version of 101
Elegant Paragraphs, a $10 value.

Fees: There is a $20 entry fee.

Copyrights: The author retains the copyright to his or her writing.

Notification: Winners are announced every August 31. Winners are
notified by email.

Decisions: All decisions are final.

Privacy Policy: The Vocabula Review does not lease, lend, sell, or
share personal information collected.

Sponsored by The Vocabula Review. All rights reserved.

If you do not now subscribe to Vocabula, you may do so here.

You may send your entry fee through PayPal, or you may send a check
for $20, made out to Vocabula, to:

Vocabula
5A Holbrook Court
Rockport, MA 01966

~~~

CT Press Club Program
February 7, 2008

Self-Publishing Success

Self Publishing Success: From Manuscript to Mass Distribution

You Can Self-Publish Your Manuscript! Greetings!

Learn how to self-publish and market your book at the Self Publishing
Panel featuring four successful self published authors on February 7,
2008 at the Norwalk Inn in Norwalk.

Sincerely,

Patricia D'Ascoli

Self Publishing Success: From Manuscript to Mass Distribution

The Norwalk Inn
East Avenue
Norwalk, CT
February 7, 2008
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM Dinner and Informative Panel Discussion

Robert Crooke, Michele Turk, Stacy Lytwyn Maxwell and C.J. Golden,
all successful self-published authors, will share their
self-publishing know-how.

Learn how to make your book look completely professional, from
editing to cover design to quality of the printing. Learn how to
distribute your book (via Amazon and bookstores) and how to create a
marketing plan to get more publicity and to generate more sales -
something every author needs to know! RSVP for this Event NOW!
CT Press Club

Connecticut Press Club
P.O. Box 4099
Stamford, Connecticut 06907

pfdasc@aol.com
http://www.ctpressclub.com

$35 for CPC Members/$40 for non members. Reserve by contacting
Patricia D'Ascoli at (860) 354- 6488 or email pfdasc@aol.com.

~~~

Registration is open for the

2008 Nieman Conference

on Narrative Journalism!

Visit our Web site to register online and view our growing list of
speakers, including keynoters John Hockenberry, Sam Pollard, Sherry
Turkle, and the team of Dana Priest and Anne Hull. While you're there,
connect with other conference participants through our message boards.

To take advantage of our early-bird discount, register now. Don't
forget to make your hotel reservations at the same time to take
advantage of special conference rates offered by the Sheraton Boston.

Please forward this e-mail to all who have an interest in narrative
journalism.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard · One Francis Ave. ·
Cambridge, MA 02138 · 617.495.2237

NOVEMBER 27 MEETING LOCATION CHANGE

Hi folks,

As you know, I'm teaching English 102 at Gibbs College in Norwalk on Tuesday nights with Chris Emmerson-Pace. Our students are working hard on their writing skills, and have really responded to the "feedback" format--we've managed to show them that criticism does not mean "you suck", but rather, "here's how you can improve"!

We thought it would be a WONDERFUL opportunity for our students to see a real writer's workshop in action, so the NOVEMBER 27 MEETING HAS BEEN MOVED TO GIBBS COLLEGE IN NORWALK. We'll have a nice, large -- QUIET -- space to meet in, and we'll invite the students to sit in on our circle and comment.

GIBBS COLLEGE is VERY easy to reach, and it's not that much further from our old meeting place at Barnes & Noble in Norwalk. Please consider joining us in inspiring young writers! Plan on arriving at 6:45, as usual, and we'll start at around 7:00.

Join Us in Sleepy Hollow October 20

...if you dare! We'll be taking a tour of Washington Irving's Sunnyside. Hope to see you all there!

Congratulations on a fabulous 4th Anniversary Party!

Ahoy, Maties! It was pure mutinous fun down at Carol's house for the 4th Anniversary Party! Not only did we have a great big Clam Bake and Barbecue, we had boat races on the river, the anniversary cake, the unveiling of the Pencils! Writing Workshop T-shirts, and, of course...fake tattoos and lots of beer!

A special thanks to our gracious and generous hosts, Kevin and Carol McManus. They truly went above and beyond with providing the festive decorations, extra victuals, and a comfortable place for us to celebrate. In addition, Lon did a phenomenal job at captaining our boat race project!

Wanna see pix? Visit our Pencils! Scrapbook page!

Conferences fast approaching -- register now!

The two conferences coming up in our area are fast approaching. Here's the info:

APRIL 14/15: THE 2007 NATIONAL WRITERS WORKSHOP SPONSORED BY THE HARTFORD COURANT. Registration costs $105 for non-students and $70 for students. Featured speakers include David Baldacci, author of several New York Times bestsellers (I believe he's commercial fiction); Lauren Baratz-Logsted, who has published ten books with major houses and is a personal friend of mine; Michael Patrick MacDonald, who has won the American Book and Literary Lights Awards; and several big names in journalism including Pulitzer Prize winners.

Our own Jen Connic will be attending.

Here is the link for information and registration (you may have to copy and paste this; I'm terrible at sticking links in e-mail):
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-nww2007,0,3796551.htmlstory

MAY 12: CAPA-U. They still have plenty of spaces left--so you're not too late. Registration is $140.00. Kaye will be speaking and attending this event, and you will, if you sign up and put in your requests, have a chance to conference for fifteen minutes with an agent. If you were thinking of signing up and haven't yet, NOW IS THE TIME. Information and downloadable registration forms can be found here:

http://www.aboutcapa.com/index2.html

Happy writing! Hope you'll all consider attending one or both. Conferences, no matter how large or small, are an important part of the writing process. While it's important not to be a "conference junkie," -- there are many writers and all they do is go to conferences -- it's good to try to attend one or two per year if your budget allows.

Rejection Slip Party Overwhelmingly Accepted!

Hey all,

A dozen Pencils! members watched their frustrations, angers and grievances go up in smoke at the 3rd Annual REJECT-A-RAMA held Sat. Feb. 10 at Al's. For those of you who missed it, it was a GREAT time and let's hope next year's event is even bigger! Here's a brief overview of some of the fun we had. TO SEE PHOTOS, VISIT WWW.PENCILSWRITINGWORKHOP.COM's Pencils! Scrapbook.

First, a MYSTERIOUS box of cookies showed up on Al's doorstep before the party. A bunch of wild stories as to how it got there ensued, but in the end, I found out a few days later THEY WERE FROM YVONNE, who couldn't attend at the last minute. THANKS SO MUCH, YVONNE!! THEY WERE YUMMY!!

Kaye ranted about certain editors that really pissed her off, including one that took AN ENTIRE YEAR?? A WHOLE F'N YEAR?? to respond (which was fine, because she sold the story elsewhere in the meantime); Vance griped about the fact that a certain editor sent him a rejection -- with sloppy typing and only on a half-sheet of paper! God, how disrespectful can you BE??; Kathryn bitched about the difficulty of finding markets for her work; Joyce had one rejection from a certain review ("Chattahoochee sounds like something you get from a dirty toilet seat!" -- AL), and the crowner on the night was Jerry, who read his only rejection thus-far -- a Pencils! e-mail he received in error (Kaye's bad and another story for another time, but WOW, that was truly HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!)

Kaye handed out Chocolate playing cards (for luck in the coming year, of course) and blank charts she made up for submissions tracking. The night finished out with a presentation of a few positive rejections, in which the editors were friendly or took time to comment.

And, when all was said and done, I can't even count how many bottles of wine we all consumed. And Jerry, I apologize forever that I forgot to pick up the diet soda. That's usually a trick I definitely don't miss.

Happy writing, and, as always, SEND OUT YOUR SHIT!!

Upcoming Conference put on by The Hartford Courant

On April 14 -15, The Hartford Courant will put on its 2007 National Writers Workshop. It's a two-day event. Jen Connic, has been to this event a few times, says it's a wonderful resource and she's learned a lot every time she's gone.

SHE IS PLANNING ON ATTENDING. ANYONE ELSE? Maybe some of us can get a group together to go for at least one of the two days, or, if we get really ambitious, maybe we can do some kind of overnight, as the event does take place at a hotel. For more information and to check out the cost and who's speaking (one of the speakers is my friend Lauren Baratz-Logsted, who's published ten books), visit:

http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-nww2007,0,3796551.htmlstory