Walt's website and publishing news: his book due out from Wild Child Publishing soon!

Walt's book, Cruising the Green of 2nd Avenue, is due out soon from Wild Child Publishing! Congratulations, Walt...and especially for getting picked up by an Independent Press, which is not easy, as these presses are highly selective with regard to what they'll risk in terms of publication.

Anyway, he's also got a great website now with more details -- this info comes from Jen Connic -- thanks, Jen! To check out Walt's website, visit
http://allotropiclucubrations.blogspot.com/

Congratulations, WALT!!

Pencils! Points: October 23, 2007

YOU SHOULD HAVE ALL RECEIVED INVITATIONS FOR THE CHRISTMAS COCKTAIL ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1! Thanks to all those who have so far RSVP'd. Please remember to let us know if you're coming or not by November 27. Thanks.

Congratulations to all the Nanos out there! Jerry right now is doing very well at his word count. Kaye broke 50,000 today, but has to get it done by the end of the week (the book's not finished and will probably clock in around 65K) as she's got another book to get to an editor by Nov. 30 which needs clean-up. I know John P is out this year—got a little too much on his plate—and Judith, are you out there? I thought you were. My friend Rob Mayette is also doing well. Congratulations to all our first-timers, and best of luck.

Kaye taught allusion through Disney's Haunted Mansion at her English 102 class this past Tuesday and it was a success! Ricky at the Inside the Magic podcast shared the idea on this week's show, which was heard by 10,000 listeners, hopefully some of them English teachers. To check out Inside the Magic -- world's greatest Disney podcast -- check out show 136 here: http://www.distantcreations.com/insidethemagic/.
If you want to check it out after Sunday, November 18, the show gets moved to the archive. If you're a Disney fan, you simply should check out this show anyway. It's great stuff.

NOVEMBER 27 we will be meeting at GIBBS COLLEGE in NORWALK. I sent a prior e-mail with directions. Please make every effort to attend this meeting, as we are reaching out to the young writers of the future.

THANKS FOR RESPONDING TO THE SURVEYS! It's going to be helpful in determining how we can freshen things up over the next couple of years. I will share the results at the party, in a subsequent e-mail, and at the January meeting. Rest assured that all of the responses were anonymous -- it just shows up as numbers.

And now, on with the show:

1. Carol Becker read a poem first: "Tenth Anniversary": "I had so much to tell you…but I could not speak freely./…thirsty for the joys still waiting to be harvested in the autumn of my tentative life./Or is it winter?"

2. Joyce was up next with part of her novel Venus Ascending: "New Year's Eve December 31, 1953": "The blue taffeta was her color, the snug bodice was flattering and the full skirt made it easy to move. She thought of the excitement of her first date with Murray, and shook her head. She was older now. This was just Joe, who had been Audrey's neighbor for years."

3. Roger presented more of How My Retirement Went South: "When my mother was alive, I used to FedEx poppy seed roll to her in Florida because she couldn't find it down there." A vivid continuation of his adventures in North Carolina.

4. Nick was up next with a forthcoming Darien News-Review From My Post Road Window column installment entitled "A Matter of Taste": "I have excellent taste. I can tell when a sauce is blended correctly and is of the proper consistency. My sense of smell is well developed so I know wine. And a woman's motives."

5. Vance read "Nannyberry Tea": "…he had grafted fruit trees to produce the best varieties of the most tasty apples, pears, cherries, and plums. His strawberry fields in the summer were like fields of rubies. The flavor of those red jewels was indescribable."

6. Henderson closed out the meeting with more of "The Eight-Fold Way". "The President's image had just appeared on the red-line coded channel. There were streaks of gray in his straw-colored hair. The President's shirt ruffles hid his tentacles. Clean shaven, his face was lean but streaked with care-lines which were clearly visible especially since he was maintaining the light pink of Normal coloration."

Film of John's wins contest!

This from John Palisano: he's won the trailer contest for Sarah Langan's book, The Missing. For those of you who don't know Langan, she's an up and coming horror writer and I met her at a reading down at KGB in New York City last summer, when The Keeper, her first book, was being released. Congratulations, JOHN!! Here's what he sent me, and what she posted on her website. Be sure to click on the link to see his work!

http://www.myspace.com/themissingcontest

The Missing Trailer Contest Winner is...
John Palisano!

Congratulations John! I loved all the entries, but the one that suits that works best as a trailer for The Missing is this one:

Well thought out, thematically related to the novel, artistic, and technically skilled. Thanks, John!