Book Festival nabs acclaimed bestseller – John Jakes named 2013 Literary Legend | PRLog

Sounds like it will be a great conference. I’ll be there for the Friday sessions. Truly looking looking forward to learning the latest perspectives on publishing. ,marketing and promotions — and of course, writing!

Short story contest news — Writers Weekly

Better hurry! Registration is limited to 500 for this popular short story writing contest at writersweekly.com

We did it again – and even better – Inspired Mic thrives!

The Inspired Mic event sponsored by FWA/Palm Coast, Words Etc., Clearview Press and BeachHouse Beanery is the place to be the 3rd Tuesday of every month – 7 – 9 pm

The Inspired Mic

Palmcoastnow's Blog

July 16th at 7pm began the third Inspired Mic of the season at Flagler Beach.

Michael Ray King owner of ClearVeiw Press, http://www.clearviewpressinc.com/ , started the event along with Christine Speno with Words Inc.  http://www.wordsetc.info/ The event is an evening of up to 18 writers who have five minutes to read from their works.

The Beach House Beanery http://www.beachhousebeanery.com/hosts The Inspired Mic by opening their doors much later than usual. Owners of the Beanery, Carol and Jeff are great supporters of the arts and The Inspired Mic. The quaint coffee shop normally closes around three o:clock,  opening for breakfast and lunch. However once a month they re-open before 7pm with a lovely snacking menu of appetizers, sandwiches, salads. deserts, wine, beer, and of course coffee.

The presenters are not always writers. Tuesday night we had two magicians on the stage.

Tom Sisti          And Dima Zale along with a young helper

The pictures I took did not…

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First FWA Palm Coast Open Mic a great success with more on the way….

FWA Palm Coast Open Mic Event – May 21

Open Mic Event next week in Flagler Beach, Florida

Sorry to confuse you!

Hello readers. I’ve been working on dividing my old Words Etc Blog. You’ll find the “fun stuff” on my new WordPress blog here. I call it Pudbudder. What is Pudbudder? You’ll have to visit me there to find out!

For business posts, please visit me at my business website blog here.
Thanks for reading and please subscribe to my new blog locations! Thank you!!

Time – where does it go?

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Palm Coast Neighbors: Tradition of giving | StAugustine.com.  January 7

Christine Speno: Christmas events continue | StAugustine.com.  December  17

Here we are again at the beginning of another new year.  Where has the time gone?  I’ve spent some time thinking about just that – time.  It moves way too fast, and it seems the older we get the faster the time goes. Take me for instance – I haven’t posted my columns from The Record here since early December, and I apologize to my readers if you’ve looked for them here.  I promise to do better in the coming months.  You will find links to the two most recent pieces above or at the end of this post.

Last week I wrote about the wonderful ways that my community gives back with time and resources to help others.  You’ll find a  story shared by Janet Kibrick of Palm Coast about a very special senior event that took place this past holiday season.  Through the colloborative efforts of Home Instead Senior Care® , local Walgreens locations and our giving residents,  many seniors had a brighter season.  The Walgreens stores in Palm Coast generously offered space for trees decorated with “wish lists” of senior residents that were then fulfilled by “Santas” in our community.  Read more in the January 7 column.

Now back to that time thing. 

Like most, a year ago I made some resolutions.  One resolution was to join the Florida Writers’ Association.  Well, it took me a year to do it, but finally on December 31, 2011, I fulfilled that resolution.  Last year I also committed to blogging more.  I did okay with the blogging part – not excellent, but okay.  According to the annual report I received from WordPress, I added 52 new posts to my blog in 2011.  Obviously that averages to a weekly post.  However, it’s been a month since my last post, and that just won’t do.  So once again, I’ll commit to be more devoted to this blog.  since 52 was the magic number last year, I’m going to try to increase that number by 50% to 78 new posts.  Wish me luck.

Time is a mysterious element of our lives.  We are surrounded by ways to track it, like apps, calendars, clocks, Smart Phones, Ipads, desktop or laptop computers, and even just plain old hand-written lists;  And yet, it still slips away.  So what are we to do?  My answer is just to make the most of it.  Surround yourself with as much positive energy as possible.  Whether it’s new goals at work or for your personal life, or spending time with family, reconnecting with old friends or just staying in touch, use each day to its fullest potential.  What are you going to do to make better use of your time in 2012?  I’d love to hear from you!!

Okay, let’s get started!  I’ve got 77 more blog posts to write.  See you next time!!

Palm Coast Neighbors: Tradition of giving | StAugustine.com.  January 7

Christine Speno: Christmas events continue | StAugustine.com.  December  17

Art – How do you express yourself?

Art can be found in anything....

Palm Coast Neighbors: Attic full of treasures | StAugustine.com.

We are surrounded by talent.  Humans express themselves in so many artistic ways.  We paint, sculpt, sing, play an instrument, write and more.  No matter how we express ourselves, it is our art.  I think it is so interesting to explore the ways that we find our way to our art.  When you think about it, just about anything we do can be perceived as an art.   People sew, cook, garden, design roads and bridges, develop web sites, just to name a few.  And the results of all of these endeavors can be considered that person’s art.   Even if we don’t all agree on what is beautiful, to the “doer” of these expressions, there is beauty.

My community is filled with beautiful talent.  Last week  I attended a critique group that is part of the Florida Writers Association/Palm Coast chapter, and what struck me most was that in a small group of people, we had talent in abundance.   Although the group members are all writers, both published and aspiring to be so, the one strength that came through was the variety of other skills that this group demonstrates.

For instance, one member is an ER trauma nurse and besides being part of The Rogues Gallery Writers, she also creates beautiful fabric panel wall  art by transforming photos with fabric, needle and thread.  See it at her FB business page here.  Another member has written a beautiful children’s book (yet  unpublished, but we keep encouraging her) that not only entertains young children, but teaches valuable lessons and provides tools for teachers.  And yet another member is a publisher, as well as a writer.  Check out his site here.   And the list goes on.  See many of their backgrounds at the FWA blog.

Recently I learned of yet another person in our community who took attic finds and family memories of his wife’s grandmother and uncle and using those tools, he discovered his own hidden talent for writing.  Mr. John Cordasci of Palm Coast is a delightful gentleman that I had the opportunity to sit down with recently.  The love he has developed for the craft of  writing is evident and the pride he takes in telling a family story is inspiring.  Cordasci’s first book is a novella entitled, Stalag17B and The Pete Skripka Story.    Go to buy books on the web to learn more.  The author is a retired senior systems analyst that relocated to Palm Coast, Florida with his wife Judy.  He was educated at City College of New York and New York University.  He served in the Korean Conflict and also spent time in Germany during his military career.  He and his wife have three children and four grandchildren.  He spends his retirement developing his unfolding writing talent.  Find out more in this week’s Palm Coast Neighbors feature  where you’ll also learn more about our local community events.

Thanks for reading!!

Related articles

• Why We Write: Hart Hanson (gointothestory.blcklst.com)
• Creativity Tweets of the Week – 8/19/11 (artistsroad.wordpress.com)
• Still Lives of Wilting Flowers  (watchingthehotoreelsgoroundandround.wordpress.com)

2011 Good Housekeeping Fiction Contest deadline nears

I ran across this contest on one of my favorite blogs, Sherry Zander’s  Writing4Effect.  This is a great opp for many of my writing buddies, but time is running out to enter.  The Good Housekeeping Short Story Fiction Contest deadline is September 1st!  Get your manuscript in.  Check out more about the content, including rules and potential prizes at the contest link on the Good Housekeeping website.

This is just one of many opportunities that are out there.  Check out the local writers’ associations where you live for more contests that may interest you.

Why participate in writing contests?  Aside from the potential monetary and publication benefits, you’ll develop your writing portfolio and it’s also a great exercise in tuning not only your writing skills, but also those of performing within guidelines.  Deadlines, word counts, focusing on a specific subject, accepting critique of your writing — all of these are important areas that will help you be a more polished professional.  So let’s talk about these ideas.

Deadlines – Sticking to deadlines is a valuable skill.  If you aspire to do freelance work, this is something you will have to learn to keep your clients!

Word Counts  – Many of us writers have a hard time saying what we need to say in a concise and “to the point” manner.  Again, this is an important skill.  And entering these contests that set guidelines for you to work within will help you improve your ability to adhere to word counts.  If you want to write for newspapers and/or magazines, you’ve got to pay attention to word counts.  And what’s more, you cannot let yourself get upset when parts of your writing gets cut.  It’s all part of the territory.  It’s okay to get upset, but get over it.  As someone who has been on the editor side of a publication, I understand the importance of balance copy with advertising space.  Now that I am more on the writer side, it helps me to keep things in perspective when I do find parts of my column getting cut.

Subject focus  –  staying on target with your writing is another challenge.  If you run off on  tangents when you write,  try practicing developing an outline for your writing project.  Sometimes if you “map it” you can see how ideas fit into each other and this will assure that you are staying on the path.

Criticism of Writing  –  Like I said above, it is important that you are willing to let your writing be edited and this includes accepting constructive criticism by others.  Think about joining a writing group that has a critique sector where you can practice both giving and accepting criticism.

Okay now you’re ready to start on those contest submissions.  It might be too late for you to get your manuscript ready for the 2011 Good Housekeeping Fiction Contest,  but there are plenty more opps out there (see the links below).   Talk to your fellow writers, look online and be sure to check with some of your favorite publications to explore some of their contests.

Check it out and happy writing and competing!!

Related articles

• Flash Fiction Writing Contest (With Prizes) (strugglingwriter.wordpress.com)
• Writers’ Village Story Contest Fall 2011 (teacherwriter.net)
• A quick poll on the 2011 Irreantum fiction contest (motleyvision.org)
• FenCon 2011 Short Story Free Writing Contest (teacherwriter.net)
• Entry for the “Elemental” Flash Fiction Contest (damyantiwrites.wordpress.com)
• Contests, Announcements,And Other Stu (clara54.wordpress.com)