Fifteen of us showed up at today’s meeting, and we covered a lot of ground. There’s so much happening for authors in October that I decided to send this out earlier than usual, because several of the events take place this week, some in person and some online.
HAPPENING THIS WEEK
On Thursday, October 19 at 3pm ET, you can sign up for a free webinar with Plottr, the #1 rated book outlining software, to learn strategies for ethically creating initial outlines and developing characters with AI. Powerful AI tools like ChatGPT have provided authors with a major opportunity, especially when it comes to outlining their books. This webinar will show you how you can use them effectively – and ethically. And you can ask questions.
I’ve mentioned the Fairfield County Story Lab before. They provide a shared working space for writers, but also offer a bunch of inexpensive or free events for writers. Here are some of them. One is their weekly Write to Prompts/Fiction hour, a generative hour on Zoom guaranteed to elicit a new piece of creative writing. $15 for non-members.
Many of their members join them each Wednesday either in-person or online for their Write-In from 9-10:30am ET. $10
This Thursday October 19, Lab member Sally Simon hosts “Just Hit Send,” a twice-monthly event on Zoom in which she leads you by the hand through the submission process to literary magazines. In addition to being a novelist, playwright, memoirist and all-around fearless writer, Sally is a reader for Furious Fiction and offers an insider’s tips on how to navigate the submission process with literary magazines. $15
This Friday October 20, they’re joining forces with the Connecticut Press Club to offer Friday Freelancers!! On the third Friday of each month, from noon to 1:30pm, you can BYO lunch and chat/learn about new markets to pitch, share tips with fellow freelancers, run queries by other freelancers, get advice on how to choose topics, learn to cope with rejection, and celebrate successes. $15
On Saturday October 21 from 2-3:30pm, Lab member Gaby Rosario hosts our first monthly Writers of Color Meetup. The special guest for the inaugural event is the amazing Sophfronia Scott, who is a novelist, essayist, memoirist and director of the MFA program at Alma University. $10
Register here for these events and several others.
The Westport Library’s StoryFest takes place this weekend, October 20-22, and begins with keynote speaker Neil Gaiman on Friday evening October 20 at 6:30pm Tickets for the in-person event are long sold out, but The Darien Library is teaming up with The Westport Library to live stream the event. Save a seat and watch Neil Gaiman on the big screen as you enjoy refreshments and good company. Neil Gaiman is widely recognized for his prolific writing career, encompassing renowned works like American Gods, Coraline, and the graphic novel series The Sandman.
StoryFest Saturday (October 21) will feature an array of award-winning authors and special events with members and friends of the Writers Rendezvous, Mitzy Sky and Sonya Huber, as well as Lynne Constantine, Wendy Walker, Tessa Wegert, and many more. Saturday evening offers a staged reading of a new play, a psychological thriller, Gentle Hacksaw, by Eric LaRocca with a chance to meet the author and discuss it after the event. And there’s more on Sunday. Check out the full schedule here.
Literary agent Ayla Zuraw-Friedland draws from her years of experience as an agent, editor, and writer to give advice on querying agents, and insight into the publishing industry as a whole at an online Q&A session on Wednesday, October 25 from:7- 8:30pm ET. $50 Register here.
Poets Jerry Johnson and founding member of the Rendezvous Ed Ahern will be talking about their work on Thursday, October 26 at the Norwalk Public Library at 6:30pm. They are both published by Finishing Line Press and will have lots to share about the publishing world and creating events. More info and registration here.
Rendezvous member Alison McBain provides a monthly list of poetry events and submission opportunities, and you can find out about the October events and deadlines here. A number of them feature events with several of our own members.
Hope this keeps you going for a few days. There’s more to come on Monday!
