Announcement: Meeting Change

Tomorrow we will meet in the Wine Room, rather than the banquet room, of Rendezvous.

Hot off the Press: Coffee and Critique Anthology is Ready!

Hot off the Press! (I've always wanted to say that).

Lou Turner called this morning with the exciting news that the Coffee and Critique anthology will be finished today and will be available for pick up tomorrow at the Rendezvous Café.

Lou will be there at 10 a.m. to distribute contributor copies. 

Additional copies will be available for sale at a discount for contributors.

In addition to the wonderful stories and essays, the anthology includes photos and "Take Ten" interviews with several members, including the late Nick Nixon.

Bring your Sharpies so you can sign copies.

Hope to see you there!

Cover Reveal: Coffee & Critique Anthology

Here's a sneak peek at the front and back covers of the soon-to-be published Coffee & Critique anthology.

This first issue of the anthology includes short stories, essays, and interviews from more than a dozen writers, all associated with the Coffee & Critique group that meets each week at the Rendezvous Café in O'Fallon.

Check back for details about the book's official release date.

They Sold, They Signed, They Survived!

Cathi, Linda, Lynn (front)
Donna and Alice (rear)

Last Saturday, I had a great time visiting with four local celebrity writers (Cathi LaMarche, Linda O'Connell, Lynn Obermoeller, and Alice Muschany) at Barnes and Noble in St. Peters.

Coffee and Critique's own Alice Muschany is one of the four local contributors whose true stories of survival are included in "We Will Survive" by Grammy Award-winning artist, Gloria Gaynor, and Sue Carswell.

I arrived at the event a bit late -- after 2 p.m. -- straight from celebrating my baby sister Bridget's birthday lunch at McGurk's in O'Fallon. (Yum)

By the time I got to the book store, I stood in a rather long line. One of the contributors told me they sold out of the 25 copies of books the store had ordered in the first hour of their signing, so the ladies had to run out to their cars to get their private stashes of books.

In addition to the four local celebrity authors, I met several other celebrities: members of Alice's family, including her granddaughter Peyton, who was also celebrating a birthday on Saturday, and chatted with local writers Tammy, Teresa, Kim, and Jack.

Thanks to Kim for taking this photo with my iPhone.

Alice Muschany's Book Signing at Barnes and Noble in St. Peters

Alice Muschany, aka Coffee and Critique's "fastest red pen west of the Mississippi," is one of four  St. Louis area authors whose stories of survival are included in Gloria Gaynor's recently released anthology,  We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song.

In addition to Alice, local writers Lynn Obermoeller, Linda O'Connell, and Cathi LaMarche have stories in the anthology and will be on hand to sign copies of the book.

The event will be this coming Saturday, December 7 at Barnes & Noble, Mid Rivers Center Drive, St. Peters, MO from 1-3:00 p.m.

Noble Deeds: Jack Zerr to Speak at Duchesne High School on Veterans Day

Coffee and Critique member extraordinaire Jack Zerr will be a featured speaker at 7 p.m. on November 11 at Duchesne High School in St. Charles, Missouri, for a Veterans' Day talk and book signing event. His presentation will be on “Life on an Aircraft Carrier.”

 

Zerr graduated from Duchesne in 1959 and entered the navy, where he served for thirty-six years, most of that time as a carrier pilot.  

Following the presentation, Zerr will discuss his latest novel: “Noble Deeds.” The story involves a commanding officer taking his ship to sea for the first time and experiencing a devastating fire.

 When Zerr was asked what inspired him to become a writer, he said, “Sister Mathew. She taught me literature and creative writing my junior year at DHS. I also consider her to be the first drill instructor I encountered. She gave me an F as a mid-semester grade. I told her I should have gotten a C. She told me I should have gotten an A, and that for the semester I’d get either an A or an F. I did not get an F. Sister Mathew. That’s why I wanted to do this event here at DHS. I appreciate the DHS administration allowing me the opportunity.”

Copies of Zerr’s book will be for sale. All proceeds will benefit Duchesne High School.

 

In addition, everyone who buys a book will get a chance to win an iPad.

Take Ten with Lou Turner, Co-founder of Coffee and Critique and CEO of High Hill Press

Lou Turner is an unforgettable woman who wears many hats. As co-founder of Coffee and Critique, she dispenses candid and unvarnished suggestions to help writers become better at their craft. 

In 2008 Lou and her husband Bryan started High Hill Press.

High Hill is not a self-publisher or a vanity press, but a small publishing business to offer writers a small niche between the huge New York publishing houses and the often high-priced print on demands.

 
Since becoming CEO, editor, and publisher of High Hill Press, Lou has nurtured scores of writers in navigating the publishing process to turn their writing dreams into reality.

Along with her team of five acquiring editors, Lou takes a personal interest in any book published by High Hill. While High Hill is a small press, it stresses quality in submissions. Only 25% of submissions are accepted for publication.

 

Lou took time from her busy schedule to respond to the "Take Ten" interview questions:

 

1. What inspired you to become a writer?

Lou: It has to be my childhood. Mystery author, Agatha Christie, said in the introduction to her autobiography, “One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood.” When I first started writing my parents were my only readers. I thought I was creating fiction, but every time my dad read one of my short stories, he would say, “I didn’t know you remembered that.” So between alligator wrestling Uncles, a grandpa that gambled for Al Capone, and everything in between, I’ve never had to grasp for something to write about.
 

2. What is your writing specialty? 

Lou: I’m not sure. I hate it when I hear an editor or agent telling people to stick to one genre. How boring would that be? I like to stretch and try new things and new styles when I write. I love the “what if” game. What if Scarlett O’Hara found her beloved Tara overrun with Zombies? Wow, that would be a great story…guess I’d better get busy on that one.
 

3. How would you describe your writing process?  

Lou: I used to challenge myself and sit in front of a blank screen to see if I could come up with something new, something I’d never thought of writing before. Now I just wait until an idea comes to me and head to the computer. Recently I was told to write about a specific topic. And although it was a great topic, I found it hard to work like that. My most recent essay is called The First Gray Hair, and I wrote it after a younger woman commented that older people are often behind the times. Anger, I found, is a great place to start when writing an essay about aging. The actual process is constantly changing for me. I don’t feel as though I have to write every day to accomplish what I want, but there are times when I will literarily write for 8 or 10 hours a day for days on end. I’ve worked many times right through the night.
 

4. What is the best part of being a writer?  What is the worst part of being a writer? 

Lou: Best: It’s all good. But probably just knowing each time you start a new project that your brain is still able to work is the best.

Worst: Having a great story rumbling around in your head and not finding the time to get it down before it flees.

 

5. What is the best writing advice you’ve received?  The worst?

Lou: Best: Just write. If you come to a dead end in one story, start another one.

Worst: I’ve probably never had any really bad advice. I can always tell when someone comments about my writing whether they’re doing it from a place of real helpfulness, or whether they’re just throwing out advice to be throwing out advice. I’ve learned to know the good advice from the bad…and I ignore the bad. I did have an editor put a zillion semi-colons in an article I’d written for a newsletter once. She didn’t discuss it with me, just plopped then in all over the place. It turned my humorous and conversational article into something unrecognizable. Which made me realize how dangerous a bad editor can be.

 

6. Which books on writing can you recommend for other writers?

Lou: Reading is the best advice I can give you. Buy all the writing guides you can pick up off the sale table and keep them at your fingertips for when you run into a specific problem…like grammar or punctuation. But for learning how to write and develop your voice, you have to read the work of authors who did it well.

I started reading before the first grade. I grew up on Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens, and then Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty. I don’t read as quickly as I used to, but I keep a book with me all the time. What amazes me now is that I can read a good book and see why it’s good. I can see how the author put just the right amount of imagery in his prose. How he put suspense in just when it was needed. How his dialogue flows, or sometimes doesn’t flow. But I can see what that writer did to make his story good.
 

7. How has belonging to Coffee and Critique affected you as a writer?

Lou: I think being with other writers has made me want to learn more about the craft. There’s nothing like being almost ready to take a piece in to read, and then after going over it that one last time, realizing it still needs work. Reading in front of a group will make you humble, that’s for sure. But it’ll also make you try a little harder.
 

8. If you’ve been published or have won awards, which are the most special to you?

Lou: All of them are special. I think the most special was the first publication, and probably that first, first place. But the last one is special too. I changed my expectations greatly after learning more about the craft. When I first started I was simply being a businesswoman and trying something new to make money. After a while I realized this wasn’t like running a gift shop, or even painting for a living. Writing was completely different. So instead of needing to make money, I changed and simply needed to be able to tell a story that could entertain, or bring about a laugh, or a tear, or make someone check the shadows before they jumped into bed at night.
 

9. What three words best describe you?

Lou: Eager to learn.
 

10. What is your writing dream? 

Lou: I’m not sure I have a writing dream. Years ago I would have told you it was to be interviewed by Charlie Rose because of my bestselling novel. But now I simply pray that I won’t run out of things to write about before I die. Or that I die with a thousand more stories yet to tell.

I don't know about you, but I hope Lou will be sharing her stories for years to come.