Like Us and Win!

During the month of November (2010) the Chico Writers Group will be holding a drawing to win a hardback copy of Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris and a paperback copy of On Writing by Stephen King.

 

Here are the rules:

• Only available to persons living in the continental United States, void where prohibited.
• Entrants must have a Facebook account, be 18 years of age or older, a human being (sorry, pets, cartoon characters, and other non-human entities are not eligible) and "like" us (http://www.facebook.com/ChicoWritersGroup). 
• When we hit 1,000 total fans in the month of November, we will draw a name and that person will receive the two books.

That's it!

And coming in December, we'll run another contest, so stay tuned for more information.

Additional rules and restrictions:

• In the event the person whose name is drawn is not a resident in the continental United States, another individual will be chosen.
• We will notify the winner via Facebook private message.
• The member has 14 calendar days to respond to the message, providing us with their USPS mailing address and phone number (never shared with anyone).
• Should the winning member fail to respond within the specified period of time, another member's name will be drawn.
• The books will be mailed via PaperbackSwap.com, standard rate media mail service with delivery confirmation. Recipient need not be a member of PaperbackSwap.com.
• In the event the total fans does not reach 1,000 by midnight Pacific Coast Time, November 30, 2010, this contest will be null and void.
• The administrator of the group, the "Chico Writers Group" on Facebook, reserves the right to block and/or remove any individual from the group should the individual appear to be spamming or otherwise attempting to interfere with the group's members and or goals.

Contact: For further information, clarification, and questions, please contact us via Facebook or write to us at TheChicoWritersGroup@gmail.com and include "FACEBOOK" in the subject line.

Good luck!

Ready, Set, Go! NaNoWriMo Tips

In less than four short days, National Novel Writing Month will be upon us. In thirty-days, writers around the world will be attempting to write 50,000 words all for the glory of saying "I did it!". If you are one of the crazed that will be joining in this event, here are some tips to help you make the most of this endeavor:

• Cordon off your work area.
  • If need be, stop off at your local animal shelter, offer to house a dog, the meaner the better (or perhaps the more loyal to it's caretaker) for the month and set up a kennel just at the door/opening to your work area to keep visitors at bay.
  • Post Do No Disturb signs liberally about your work area.
  • Offer to water potted cacti for the local nursery for the month on the condition you can take the cacti with you, then set it about your work area. This is something most anyone, even those with the blackest of thumbs can do, seeing that much like camels, cacti don't require a whole lot of watering.
• Stock up on beverages, protein powered snacks, and yes, chocolate.
• Change your answering machine/voice mail outgoing message. Remember to issue a threat to anyone attempting to contact you if it has nothing to do with getting your novel done.
• Flatly turn down all offers for Thanksgiving unless they are willing to feed you without disturbing you, your headphones, and whichever medium you are electing to use to write your novel.
  • A word to the wise, do not offer to host Thanksgiving dinner at your house. Only an insane person (yours truly) would even contemplate such a ridiculous thing.
  • On that note, also don't be tempted to hit the stores, shopping centers, malls or any other commercial wasteland of consumerism. Yes, there are incredible Black Friday deals, but you were going to run over to that POD (publish on demand) site online and have your novel printed and bound as a gift for each and every one of holiday "shop for" list, weren't you?
• If you are responsible for the care and feeding of children, it's perfectly acceptable to stock up on frozen and instant-meal-in-a-box dinners, they are more nutritious than the stuff that our mother's fed us and easy enough for even a five-year-old to make. Heck, that dog you brought home from the pound? Put 'em to work! And while you're stocking up, don't forget to get some for you too.
• Collect, buy, borrow, steal the following books:
  • Unabridged dictionary
  • Rand McNally Global Color Maps
  • 2008, 2009, 2010 Writer's Market Editions (preferably the deluxe edition)
  • Thesaurus
  • And/or several Encyclopedia Britannica volumes
• Put the aforementioned books under your desk and use them as a footrest. You won't be needing this, you are writing, not researching, not editing, not proofing - just writing!
• For those of you with a needy spouse/partner/mate, for $14.50 you can alleviate that concern. Just follow the link here [mature, open-minded, humor-filled folks only, please]
• Be sure to get plenty of exercise as that keeps the blood circulating in your cranium and fingers. Remember that dog? Grab up a rubber ball and toss it around. That'll do it. Now get back to writing!

Cheers and the best of luck! Let us know how your venture is going by leaving a comment. Care to pick up a few supporters along the way? Leave your NaNoWriMo screenname with your post and let the real fun begin.

Brand New Day

Fall 2010

New Policy Changes - effectively immediately
The Chico Writers Group was founded in January of 2008 and has been going strong ever since. We've changed quite a bit since we first started and are presently in the process of changing our format to meet the needs and wishes of the current membership. This is an incredible, bold move and yet one that we are greatly excited about. For the time being, until we iron out the kinks, make sure that our plans for changes work as well in application as they did in conception, we won't be entertaining any new members.  Come January 2011 we will decide on whether the revisions need more time and work or if we will begin accepting new members.

Look for more news and information here in the future regarding the outcome.

[Revised Wednesday, October 6, 2010]

Do the Write Thing for Nashville: Day 1 - Item 2

Between May 1 and May 2 of this year (2010), Nashville was flooded when the city was deluged with nearly 13.5" of rainfall. Sadly, this wasn't covered well by the media. "The Grand Ole Opry, The Nashville Symphony Hall, Opryland, the downtown area and countless homes" according to Victoria Schwab were flooded.

Victoria decided to do something about this. She's contacted countless authors, editors, agents, and publishers in an effort to "Do the Write Thing for Nashville", raise money to restore her beloved city. She and other authors are donating signed books, manuscript critiques, and much more. These items are being put up on auction with just a few days to submit your bid and check back at the end to see if you've won. More items are being added daily, such as this:

Do the Write Thing for Nashville: Day 1 - Item 2: From author Rachel Hawkins, 2 signed copies of her debut, Hex Hall (Disney*Hyperion), along with a rocking t-shirt. One copy and t-shirt will go to each of the highest bidders.

To learn more about the cause, visit The Nashville Story and to review the items up for bid, visit Do the Write Thing for Nashville blog.

Spread the word and bid!

And, as always, write on.

Newsletter & Upcoming Meetings

The May edition of the newsletter is online with articles by Christina Arbini with tips on how to pitch your latest novel, an interview with professional editor, Erin Brown, and guest authors (and CWG members) Donna Hole and MaryRose Lovgren. Hurry on over to our newsletter and [check it out!]

Our upcoming meetings are:

• Saturday, May 15, 2010 from 2:30 - 4:30 pm [RSVP here]
  • Chat Topic: Genres
• Saturday, May 29, 2010 from 2:30 - 4:30 pm [RSVP here]
  • Chat Topic: To Be Determined

Craft Chats & Critique Workshops

Workshops are held every other Saturday from 2:30-4:30 p.m. The following is a list of upcoming workshops and dates manuscripts must be submitted for distribution:

Date Manuscript Due	Date of Workshop
XX Already Passed XX	Saturday, May 1, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, May 6, 2010	Saturday, May 15, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, May 20, '10	Saturday, May 29, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, June 3, '10	Saturday, June 12, 2010*
	*At Chico Library Meeting Room
5:00 pm Thursday, June 17, '10	Saturday, June 26, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, July 1, '10	Saturday, July 10, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, July 15, '10	Saturday, July 24, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, July 29, '10	Saturday, August 7, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, August 12, '10	Saturday, August 21, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, August 26, '10	Saturday, September 4, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Sept. 9, '10	Saturday, September 18, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Sept. 23, '10	Saturday, October 2, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Oct. 7, '10	Saturday, October 16, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Oct. 21, '10	Saturday, October 30, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Nov. 4, '10	Saturday, November 13, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Nov. 18, '10	Saturday, November 27, 2010
5:00 pm Thursday, Dec. 2, '10	Saturday, December 11, 2010

 

We are a no-fees, no membership dues writing group open to serious writers ages 18 and older. For more information, please contact us by writing to TheChicoWritersGroup@gmail.com

April Yet-to-be-Named Newsletter

The April edition of the newsletter is here! The first page can be found: http://www.ejourn.net/YTBNnews/apr2010/index.html and the new location for the newsletter is at http://cwgnews.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!