Reminder to Attend April 5 The Art of Networking w/Lisa Wiley Parker of Find A Fit, LLC via Arts Council of Greater Lansing

The Art of Networking with Lisa Wiley Parker of Find A Fit, LLC Where: MICA Gallery 1210 Turner St Lansing, MI 48906 Driving Directions When: Thursday April 5, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT Add to my calendar   Spring Greetings!    This is a reminder to join Lisa Wiley Parker, owner of Find A Fit, LLC as she gives tips for how to talk about your artwork or creative projects with others. Come learn the basics for how to network and make good connections in the community!   Please join the Arts Council of Greater Lansing for the seventh workshop in the 2011-2012 series as a part of the new "SmArts Program: A Professional Development Program for Creatives."  The program is generously supported by Title Sponsor Michigan State University Federal Credit Union with additional support from the Capital Region Community Foundation and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.    Register Now! Hope to see you there!   Sincerely, Katie   Katie Robiadek Arts Council of Greater Lansing katie@lansingarts.org 517-372-4636 extension 3 Arts Council of Greater Lansing | 1208 Turner Street | Lansing | MI | 48906

News from Auburn Hills Public Library

. Auburn Hills Public Library Newsletter April 2012 In This Issue Adult Young Adult Youth Friends of AHPL For Your Information Quick Links Our Web Site   Friends of AHPL News    Events Registration Calendar   Download Destination    Join Our List   A Note From The Director    Spring is in the air!  I would like to welcome the warm weather, sunshine and many long walks. We have been very fortunate this year by having a mild winter.  Please be aware, however, that tornado season is upon us.  Oakland County will sound the tornado drill on April 18, 2012 in recognition of Severe Weather Awareness Week.   Once again, we are kicking off National Library Week by offering our patrons amnesty from library fines!  From April 9-14, return your overdue (undamaged) AHPL materials to the Check-Out Desk, and we will waive the fine.  We do ask that for every overdue item you return, bring us one unopened, non-perishable food item.  All donations will go to the Auburn Hills Emergency Food Pantry.   GoGreen@yourlibrary!  We at Auburn Hills Public Library continue to strive in our campaign to save our planet's resources by developing innovative ways to conserve and go green.  You can assist in this effort by providing your email address to the Circulation Staff, as a way to send you important information about your library account.  By doing this, you can receive information about the items you have checked out, including: holds, upcoming due dates, and overdue notices.  In Fall 2012, we will be eliminating paper copies of library notices.  Also, GoGreen@yourlibrary by telling a friend or neighbor about how to receive our monthly eNewsletter.   On a final note, what better way to combine libraries and spring than to welcome back Michigan's Park and Read Program?  This is the free program for Michigan library cardholders to "check out" a one-day pass into any Michigan state park or recreation area, or the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing (new this year).  The program runs from April 1-October 1, 2012.  Ask for more details at the Check Out-Desk.     Regards,   Stephanie McCoy, Director  Adult   MANGO LANGUAGES IS HERE!   Mango is the fast, easy, and most effective way to learn to speak a foreign language!  Learn a language online!  This foreign language learning tool offers over 30 different language courses, including German, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Greek, French, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese, as well as 15 different ESL Programs, including those for Polish, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese speakers.  Please contact the Adult Services Department for more details on how to access Mango.       Lighthouses of the St. Clair River and Surrounding Area  Monday, April 9, 7:00-8:30 pm  Lori Feret, active member of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, will take you on an imaginary tour from Detroit to Port Huron, Michigan, looking at lighthouses both past and present.        Book Bingo  Thursday, April 12, 2:00-3:00 pm  Play Bingo at the Library to win book prizes, have fun, and make new friends!  We meet in the Library's large meeting room the second Thursday of each month from 2:00-3:00 pm.     Book Buddies Discussion Group Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese   Wednesday, April 18, 12:30-1:30 pm If you enjoy reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction titles, then join us for Book Buddies.  We meet the third Wednesday of each month from 12:30-1:30 pm in the small meeting room for a casual book discussion.        Auburn Hills Writers' Group  Thursday, April 26, 6:30-8:30 pm  Are you a local writer looking for a "local" writers' group?  Interested adult writers, 18 years and older, are encouraged to meet, mingle and discuss their work.  Bring your notebook, a fellow writer, and a small portion of the work you wish to share.  Support and valuable feedback await you!  We meet in the small meeting room.          Murder by the Book Discussion Group     The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo   Saturday, April 28, 10:30-11:30 am If you can't resist a good mystery, then join us for "Murder By The Book," the Library's mystery book discussion group.  We meet on the third Saturday of each month from 10:30-11:30 am in the large meeting room.         Please register in advance by calling (248) 364-6706,  or online at our Events Calendar at http://auburn-hills.lib.mi.us   Young Adult   VIDEO GAME CAFE Grades 6-12  Monday, April 2, 4:00 - 8:00 pm (Drop in anytime) Meet up with friends and enjoy playing games on our Wii systems and X-Box Kinect!        70's RETRO PARTY Grades 6-12 Friday, April 13, 6:00 - 8:30 pm (Note date change) Come travel back in time to the groovy 1970's!  Hang out with friends while enjoying some fun 70's-themed activities. To get into the spirit, wear some 70's-inspired clothes like bell-bottoms, peace signs, or happy faces.      Please register in advance by calling (248) 364-6712,  or online at our Events Calendar at  http://auburn-hills.lib.mi.us      Youth     BATTLE OF THE BOOKS 2012 On March 26, 106 fifth graders on 19 teams participated in our annual Battle of the Books at Avondale High School. Each time brought along their adult team advisor, who acted as a monitor for another team during the battle.  The participants read 8 books, and competed to find the team who remembered those books the best.     Congratulations to the winning team from Auburn Elementary:  Daughters of Athena.      Two teams tied for second and third place:  The Speed Readers from Graham, and the Terrific Tie Dye Readers from Woodland.   Check out the picture of the winning team on our Facebook page!     SATURDAY SPECIAL:  AGES 3-7 "A Candyland Storytime with Grandma Nutt" Saturday, April 14, 2 p.m.   Calling all lollipops!  Come to the Library and join fun-loving Grandma Nutt for an exciting hour in Candyland!  Spend the hours filled with sugary-sweet stories, a milk chocolatey snack, a magical movie, and a delicious craft. You don't want to miss this treat!   Registration for residents begins on March 31.        ROCK  'N' RHYME Mondays, 10:30 am, April 9 and 23 This program is for babies under 2 and a caregiver.  ONE CHILD PER LAP, PLEASE!  The program includes organized songs, stories and finger plays followed by a free-play time for parents to chat with one another.  Registration is limited to 15 children.  Non-residents may register one week prior to each date if spaces remain.  If less than 8 children register, program will be cancelled.       PRESCHOOL STORYTIME Preschool Storytime is held on Tuesday mornings at 10:30 am or Tuesday or  Wednesday evenings  at 7:00 pm.  This program is for children who are age 3 through kindergarten.  They must be able to go into the story room without a parent.  This is a good introduction to being in a group, practicing listening and following directions.  The program features books, fingerplays and movement.  Registration for residents and Avondale school district families is ongoing.   This year's theme is "Awesome Animals" April 10 & 11:  Birds April 17 & 18:  Rabbits April 24 & 25:  Frogs May 1 & 2:     Ducks          KNITTING CLUB    Adults and children ages 7 and up Saturdays at noon   Whether you already know how to knit or if you'd like to learn, you are welcome to come to the Library on Saturday at noon.   A volunteer will be on hand to assist beginners. Parents: come along with your kids and learn, too! Please register at the Youth Desk by calling 248-364-6712 or online at our Events Calendar.      SPRING BREAK CRAFTS Monday, April 2 - Thursday, April 5 10:30 am-7:00 pm Drop in to make some crafts. Parents must remain with children in the craft room and supervise them.     CAN YOU HELP?  Throughout the year, the Youth Department does many craft programs.  If you could help us by donating any of the following items, it would be greatly appreciated!     Boxes from bar soap (or similar boxes) Wooden craft sticks Wooden ice cream spoons Colored tissue paper White paper plates Wiggly eyes (not the tiny ones) Glue sticks Tacky glue Sheets of art foam   During our Summer Reading Program, we give prizes from our treasure chest to children in the preschool program.  We accept donations of small toys (like Happy Meal Prizes) all year long.  It's a great form of recycling!   Friends of the Auburn Hills Public Library   Did you know that the Friends of the Auburn Hills Public Library maintain a used book store year-round in the Library? It is open the same hours as the Library, so please check it out. You'll love the bargains, and all proceeds support our Library.   APRIL SPECIAL TRAVEL books:     3 for $2.00! CLASSICS books:  3 for $2.00!     SPRING BOOK SALE (Downstairs Meeting Rooms) April 18, 2012   5-8 pm  (Friends-Only Pre-Sale) April 19, 2012   10 am-8 pm April 21, 2012   10 am-4 pm   There will be hundreds of items at bargain prices, including Fiction and Nonfiction Books, Teen and Youth Books, Paperbacks, Videos, DVDs, and Music CDs!   Membership rewards for Friends of the Auburn Hills Public Library include...preview book sale days, offering you first pick of books before the public sale. You can join at the door during the Pre-Sale on the 18th.  Support your local library Friends!  Memberships are fully tax deductible. Contact us at friendsofauburnhillslib@gmail.com or call 248-276-1258.   For Your Information   What is Your Library Worth to You? -  Individualized Return on Investment Calculator   Using Kroger Community Rewards is making a difference. Thank you to all who have signed up with Kroger Community Rewards. Auburn Hills Public Library has received over $250 since last May because of patrons shopping at Kroger. If you have not registered your Kroger Rewards Card yet, go to: www.krogercommunityrewards.com click on Michigan, click on enroll now. You will be asked for your email address and a password in order to create an account. The next step is to type in Auburn Hills Public Library as the organization you would like to support (the website has very clear directions). This is an easy way to contribute to your local Library.   Homebound Library Delivery Service Did you know the Library provides a FREE home delivery service to City of Auburn Hills residents who are disabled, or have mobility limitations that make visits to the Library difficult? Please contact the Adult Services Desk at (248) 364-6706 for more information.   The Library has many free resources available to help you improve your English, including Rosetta Stone for English. Call the Adult Services Desk at (248) 364-6706 for more information or to set up an appointment.   New Library Hours Monday-Thursday, 10 am-9 pm   Saturday, 10 am-6 pm Friday and Sunday, Closed   3400 East Seyburn Drive, Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326 248-370-9466 http://auburn-hills.lib.mi.us Auburn Hills Public Library | 3400 East Seyburn Drive | Auburn Hills | MI | 48326

How (and How Not) to Write Witty Characters

In This Issue Featured in Gotham Writers' Workshop E-Letter Quotes of the Month Featured Book: Give the Lady a Ride by Linda W. Yezak Helpful Links & Resources Creativity Exercise Your Questions Answered Something to Ponder... April Article Roundup How (and How Not) to Make Characters Witty ______________ Quotes of the Month "One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple." —Jack Kerouac "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." —Stephen King "An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere." —Gustave Flaubert ______________ Helpful Links & Resources Add Verbs: Creating Characters That Pop off the Page: Damon Suede talks about how and why the right choice of verbs can bring your characters to life. Ten Things You Should Know About Endings—Chuck Wendig on ten components of successful endings and how to make them work. Want to Be More Creative? Stop Focusing—Patrick Ross on why over-focusing can dampen our creative abilities. ______________ Creativity Exercise Make a list of all the things you want to write about. For each item, freewrite story ideas. ______________ Something to Ponder How do you feel about the last scene you wrote? ______________ April Article Roundup The Benefits of Reading Deprivation The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 2: The Hook Are You Giving Readers the Tools to Understand Your Story? What Makes Fiction Literary The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 3: The First Act The Biggest Danger of Multiple POVs Why You Should Kill Your Darlings The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 4: The First Plot Point Do You Know the Two Ingredients in a Perfect Ending? Do Authors Need to Travel for Research? The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 5: The Inciting Event and the Key Event When Not to Tell Your Character's Backstory When Arguments Are a Good Thing: Conflict in Dialogue Illustrate Characters Through Their Possessions Featured in Gotham Writers' Workshop E-Letter Something fun and exciting that happened this month was an invitation that landed in my inbox from the Gotham Writers' Workshop. Gotham is the largest adult-education writing school in the country, with an e-mailing list of over 75,000, so, of course, I was both a little flabbergasted and very excited when they offered to feature an excerpt from and giveaway of Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success in one of their e-letter issues. Plot snarls were the name of the game these last few weeks. I realized I'd created quite a little conundrum for myself by placing two characters who needed to be in the same scene on opposite sides of the country. Whoops. I then further realized that an important military maneuver in the subsequent chapters was similarly hampered by geographical improbabilities. So it was back to the drawing board, the map, and the calculator as I tried to devise routes that would get all the characters where they needed to be when they needed to be. Looks like we'll have to add cartographer and military strategist to the job titles of an author! We all know there are days when writing is chore. You know the ones—when the ones words come harder than honey from an angry beehive, when the infernal internal editor is harping on your worthlessness and utter lack of talent, and when you can't stand your characters and they can't stand you. Fortunately, aside from those plot snarls, my writing days of late have been more of the opposite. I've been having a grand old time, writing away. My infernal editor seems to be largely on vacation in the Bahamas, and I find myself cracking up over my own silly in-jokes probably entirely more than is good for me. It's been a good month! Happy writing! Featured Book: Give the Lady a Ride This month, I'd like to point your attention to the rom-com inspirational western of my very special critique partner Linda Yezak: Patricia Talbert is a high-class social coordinator from New York. Talon Carlson is a rugged bull rider from Texas. He thinks she's too polished. She thinks he's insane. Opposites aren't quick to attract when the lady who enters the cowboy's world is on a mission to sell the ranch. But a box of letters changes her mission—letters of unshakable faith and a love deeper than anything she's ever experienced. Soon she finds his integrity appealing. Her spunk draws him in. He has the faith she craves; she may be the love he longs for. But faith and love aren't achieved in a single weekend. To buy time to explore the possibilities between them, she issues a challenge: "Teach me to ride bulls." From here on, they're in for the ride of their lives. Clck for more information! Your Questions Answered Q: I'm writing a historical novel, but the opening chapter is set in a contemporary setting, so that the historical part is told by a contemporary character. On reflection, I wondered how best to do this, as the opening chapter (and characters) is what grabs a reader, and is it all right for those characters then to disappear until the very last chapter?—Chiara Keren Button A: What you've described in your question is called a "frame technique," and it can often be very effective at pulling disparate elements and lengthy timelines together into a coherent whole. (For a good example of how this technique can be used, you may want to check out Barbara Wood's Green City in the Sun; I discuss her book and this technique in this post.) However, in general, I would recommend skipping the frame technique (which essentially is nothing more than a matching prologue and epilogue) and letting the reader get right to the main character. Prologues—or any technique that forces readers to begin a story twice—get in the way more often than not and can end up frustrating readers because they don't offer clear indications about which characters should gain the readers' primary loyalty Contact Me Have a writing question you'd like answered? I respond to all emails and will publish one question a month in this e-letter. Email Me How (and How Not) to Make Characters Witty What reader doesn't enjoy a genuinely witty character? Even the darkest of stories can benefit from the presence of someone whose snarky tongue can bring a chuckle to his compatriots and his eavesdropping readers. But wit is easier said than done, and nothing is worse than forced wit. In the last few years, there have been a rash of movies (mostly summer blockbusters) that try really hard to live up to the witty legacies of films such as Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars, only to fall sadly short. Why is this? Often it isn't the jokes that are to blame. Words that might have been hilarious coming out of the mouth of Han Solo fall flat on their faces coming out of the mouths of other characters. So what's the difference? In a nutshell: character. The secret to pulling off a witty character is putting the emphasis, not on the wit itself, but on the character. As we're planning or writing our stories, it's easy to say, "You know, it would be fun to have a witty character. A wisecracking hero or a bumbling sidekick." So we stick 'em in. But our immediate problem with this decision is that we're trying to force the humor, instead of allowing it to emerge organically from the character. Humor grows all the more funny in context. And when that context is a fully developed personality, the humor is then able to offer not just a bigger laugh, but a deeper understanding of both the character and the plot. If your character is nothing more than a smart mouth, readers will instantly perceive he's cardboard cutout, stuck in by a lazy author who wants to garner a cheap laugh. Some readers will forgive you for this, particularly if you happen to be able to write hilarious dialogue. But others will resent it and go looking for something that manages to combine both entertainment and intelligence. So the next time you decide to write a witty character, make sure you're not just sticking witty words in his mouth. Rather, create a complete personality from whom the wit can flow realistically, organically, and engagingly. If you are experiencing difficulty reading this e-letter in your inbox, click to read the online version. Behold the Dawn For sixteen years, Marcus Annan has remained unbeaten on the field of battle, but standing before him now is the greatest enemy he has ever faced... His past. A Man Called Outlaw Faced with vicious land wars, ranch foreman Shane Lassiter must choose between the cattleman he reveres as a father and the truth about a dead man everyone called an outlaw.

WRITERS EXPO: Enduring the Battle to Breakthrough... ~ VIA Minister Celeste april 14th

You are invited to the following event: Writer's Expo and Book Release of "The Drama Queen's Prophecy: Breaking the Chains and Bursting into Breakthrough" by Minister Celeste Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 3:00 PM (ET)   The Upper Room 24200 Grand River Detroit, MI 48219 View Map   Will you attend? No Maybe       The reason you don't achieve all that God has for you, both secularly and spiritually, is because you don't want to endure through the battle of what it will take to break through the barriers, the obstacles, and sometimes dismiss the people you need to in order to get to your destiny.   PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY ONLINE!   Share this event on Facebook and Twitter We hope you can make it! Author Minister Celeste and Sister Girl Ministries

Newsletter - Editorial - Should I Write a Memoir? (and New Book Giveaway) via @bloggingauthors

AUTHORS FEATURED THIS WEEK     Lee Edward Fodi Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah Fiction - Fantasy, Adventure, Young Reader Read review of Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah     APRIL BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST Go here to enter March winners April 2, 2012 Newsletter Editorial: Should I Write a Memoir? click here to read newsletter     Reader Views Literary Award Winners Herman University Award for the Best Business Book of the Year Big Wave Surfing: Extreme Technology Development, Management, Marketing & Investing by Kenneth J. Thurber, PhD Read review of Big Wave Surfing Black Belt Mindset Self Improvement Award Just Like That!: How to Get Anything You Want by Janet Poole Read review of Just Like That!     See Complete List of Winners Enter Awards Program     Read Newsletter: http://www.readerviews.com/Newsletters/2012/04/2.html Share: