Glad to see you too, in spite of the drums and general noise. Someday we will meet in a nice quiet room and we won't know what to do with ourselves. I would actually like to read your book as well. The whole setup sounds quite nifty. I didn't do fantasy this year, because I may have burned myself out *last* year. The offer stands on "Trial by Light". There should still be one excerpt hiding in the journal's archive. Very fantasy and magic oriented, but no critters, just lighthouses and ships. I based most of geography and setting on Vancouver Island itself. The lighthouse I saw was named "Trial Island" and that just seemed too appropriate to not use.
The CVS Website (http://www.jenniferbrinn.com/cvs) can answer some of basics, but yes, unless there is a major holiday or B&N is closed, we meet every Thursday night, usually downstairs in the cafe. The group is fairly large now. We started with a few hardy souls, acquired a bunch more from last year's Nano including Mike and myself, and then B&N started to notice us. They didn't know how to deal with a writing group, so we're a kinda book group, reviewing a writing book at the beginning of the month. Those discussions are usually pretty short, though.
We do pass around our work and receive critiques as detailed as you want. We cover the wide range of genres with everything from young adult to mystery to science fiction and fantasy to the unexplainable. (We have one member whose stories vary from outright horror to Douglas Adams style wackiness. It was very disconcerting the first time we critiqued him and realized "wait, this isn't his usual funny stuff!")
We have done random writing exercises during the meeting with topics generated on someone's Palm, but we have gotten out of the habit lately. Some people are of two minds how much they work, especially for people with ongoing projects. *shrugs* I personally liked having one period where I knew I'd be writing, but I seem to work differently than others. I don't outline nearly as much as Jennifer either.
We also do weekly goals which I alluded to in my post. Each week we go around and say what we're going to work on during the week. Goals are voluntary. You can pass if you don't want to set a goal. It can be writing oriented "Revise X project" or it can be planning oriented like outlining or research. During the pre-Nano, my goal was usually a "find a Nano idea" or preparing for Nano, gathering the ideas and background.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2003-12-06 07:28 am (UTC)The CVS Website (http://www.jenniferbrinn.com/cvs) can answer some of basics, but yes, unless there is a major holiday or B&N is closed, we meet every Thursday night, usually downstairs in the cafe. The group is fairly large now. We started with a few hardy souls, acquired a bunch more from last year's Nano including Mike and myself, and then B&N started to notice us. They didn't know how to deal with a writing group, so we're a kinda book group, reviewing a writing book at the beginning of the month. Those discussions are usually pretty short, though.
We do pass around our work and receive critiques as detailed as you want. We cover the wide range of genres with everything from young adult to mystery to science fiction and fantasy to the unexplainable. (We have one member whose stories vary from outright horror to Douglas Adams style wackiness. It was very disconcerting the first time we critiqued him and realized "wait, this isn't his usual funny stuff!")
We have done random writing exercises during the meeting with topics generated on someone's Palm, but we have gotten out of the habit lately. Some people are of two minds how much they work, especially for people with ongoing projects. *shrugs* I personally liked having one period where I knew I'd be writing, but I seem to work differently than others. I don't outline nearly as much as Jennifer either.
We also do weekly goals which I alluded to in my post. Each week we go around and say what we're going to work on during the week. Goals are voluntary. You can pass if you don't want to set a goal. It can be writing oriented "Revise X project" or it can be planning oriented like outlining or research. During the pre-Nano, my goal was usually a "find a Nano idea" or preparing for Nano, gathering the ideas and background.