Hello again! Here’s the second part of the update, as promised, including more events that have just appeared in my inbox.
Join British author Sonia Purnell (First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill and Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition) at the Fairfield University Bookstore from 4-5:30 on November 3, as she discusses her latest book A Woman of No Importance, the astonishing but true-life tale of Virginia Hall. Hall, a young American socialite with a wooden leg, was a female spy in WWII who helped fan the flames of French Resistance. The rights to the book have already been sold to Paramount for a major film starring Daisy Ridley.
Also on November 3, Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend will be appearing at the Norwalk Public Library from 2-4pm as part of their AuthorSpeak series.
The Norwalk Library runs a regular series of AuthorSpeak events, and they provide lunch, too. If you are a local author with a book, you can apply to be one of their speakers. Here’s a brief list of upcoming appearances, including several by members of the Writers’ Rendezvous:
Friday, November 1, at noon: member Gail Ingis talks about her latest novel, The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin
Wednesday, November 6, at noon: member Amy Oestreicher discusses her memoir, My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful 
On Thursday, 7 November from 2-3pm, Play With Your Food is performing a series of provocative one-act plays by Ray Bradbury at the Greenwich Arts Council, followed by a discussion with the actors and director. A must for anyone who want to enter the contest to be held by the Westport Library for stories inspired by Ray Bradbury.  Free and open to all, but registration required.
Wednesday, November 13, at noon: Helen Stapinski talks about Murder in Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy (program co-sponsored by the National Organization of Italian-American Women Connecticut Chapter).
Wednesday, November 20, at noon: member Zeb Appel discusses her debut novel, Good Luck and a Benevolent God 
And a quick reminder: I’ll be at the Plumb Library in Shelton on Monday evening, November 18, as the featured speaker for the monthly meeting of SW CAPA, the SW chapter of the Connecticut Authors & Publishers Association. I’ll be speaking about Overcoming the Obstacles to Getting your Work Published, and attendance is free.
There are a number of book awards given annually in the United States. You’ll need to do your own due diligence as to which are worth entering, but here’s a list of indie book awards, put together by KOBO Writing Life. They include:
Benjamin Franklin Awards: Deadline December 15.
Reader Views Literary Award: Deadline: December 31. Apply here
The Eric Hoffer Award, deadline is January 21 for each award year. Apply here
The Independent Publisher Book Awards (several categories)
The Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award: deadline: January 31. Apply here
The Next Generation Indie Excellence Awards: Deadline: February 14. Apply here
The IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDA’s) Deadline: February 28. Apply here
The National Indie Book Awards: Deadline: March 31. Apply here
The eLit Book awards, for eBooks: Deadline: March 31. Apply here
Readers’ Choice Awards: stay tuned for 2020 registration
National Indie Excellence® Awards: Deadline March 31st, 2020.
I keep mentioning Authors Publish, because I find them an excellent resource. They’ve recently produced a list of publications currently open to reprints, so if you have published work you’d like to see published again, now’s your chance. Sign up for their newsletter to be updated regularly. And they offer a free download of their Guide to Manuscript Submission.
Seeing it Clearly Now, a blog/newsletter for people of a certain age, has a rolling submissions policy for fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
If you can’t think of what to write and need a hand, or if you simply want to feel productive while stuck, try this British website: Plot Generator.
And if you’re looking at independent publishers and want to check their credentials, try Writer Beware, which monitors publishing scams. Here’s a post highlighting just the Philippine companies that rip people off—there are over 50 of those alone!
Sandra Beckwith, a book marketing guru, has written a recent blog post with details of where to find all the statistics of book sales you might need. For example, did you know that 18-29 read the most books? (N.B. This doesn’t mean that they buy them necessarily, but I was surprised, just the same.) No surprise that Amazon sells 83% of eBooks. But there’s a lot of other info to be had. Take a look.
I continue to add events for writers throughout the month on the Writers’ Calendar page, so if you’re looking for something to do, check it out. And if you have an event you want me to add, let me know.