Write Your Own September Song

 

“I’ve found you’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.”

    ~ John Coltrane

Music often accompanies me while writing. I'm listening to a Dave Brubeck classic—Blue Rondo a la Turk—at the moment, which may be why this is the second blog post referencing specific songs. Either that or a dearth of ideas. In July I focused on Summer Songs, and since we are about to enter the month of September my one-track mind naturally went to the classic, September Song. There are many September songs, including September by Earth, Wind & Fire, Wake Me When September Ends, by Green Day, and the haunting Pale September by Fiona Apple. I'm sure you can name others, but to people of a certain age (that means old) September Song voiced by the one-and-only Frank Sinatra reigns supreme.

Here's the opening stanza :

Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Admittedly, this is rather melancholy but it tells us that time waits for no one. We can't sit around hoping for the muse to arrive like an Amazon package on your doorstep. As Jack London was purported to have said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” With that in mind let's get down to business.

• 
  The Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library hosts the first in-person meeting of the Ponte Vedra Writers in nearly two years. We'll come together on Saturday, September 11 at 10:00 a.m. This is a special date for a special program where we welcome developmental editor and writing coach Heather Whitaker discussing The Opening Fifteen Pages. Heather tells us, "The opening pages of your story are the most important “real estate” in your manuscript. They are your first impression on agents, editors, and—most important—your readers. Not surprisingly, they have the most work to do. In addition to introducing the world and main character(s) of your story, they need to set the tone and hook the reader." We'll begin early for Heather's jam-packed presentation. All are welcome.
• The River City Writers are back! Join new group leader Kathy Bain at the SE Regional Branch Library off Gate Parkway on Tuesday, September 14 at 6:30 p.m. for another instructive program for writers. Kathy is the author of multiple novels and is well-prepared to talk about Your First Paragraph Hook. In this interactive meeting, Kathy will show a video on the subject, lead the discussion and help critique your first paragraph. To participate, send the first paragraph of your WIP (up to 100 words) to kathrynbain@comcast.net no later than Sunday, September 12, 2021, at 5:00 p.m.
• The Clay County Writers next meeting is on Wednesday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Orange Park Senior Center at 414 Stowe Avenue. Group leader Melanie Pronia reports they will be discussing Self-Publishing and Marketing. "We will go into detail about Book Traliors, Blogs/Vlogs. Facebook Author Pages, book format, editing options, and book cover design. We will also be discussing our short writing assignment related to something that we have dreamed about."
• The meeting of Ancient City Writers takes place on Saturday, September 18 at St. Augustine's Main Library at 10:00 a.m. Yours truly, Vic DiGenti, is the guest speaker and I'll address one of the most important tasks a writer has—revision. My workshop, Attacking the Revision Process, rolls out specific strategies to make the process more efficient and productive while enhancing your manuscript.
• The Amelia Island Writers are back in action for their quarterly meeting on Tuesday, September 28 at 3:00 p.m. at the Story and Song Bookstore Bistro. Emerging from 2020, the theme of First Impressions continues. The program topic is the All-Important Cover Design, led by Nancy Blanton. Nancy's book covers are rich in color and detail. In addition to her award-winning historical fiction novels, find out how to Brand Yourself Royally in 8 Simple Steps by purchasing Nancy's quick guide to create your very own brand.

The beat goes on ...

• You may have heard by now that the 2021 Florida Writers Conference has been canceled due to Covid-19 concerns. This had to be a difficult decision for the FWA Board after the tremendous amount of work that went into the planning of the event. Having been the conference faculty chair for two years I know about the months of behind-the-scenes effort by so many people, particularly the longtime Conference Chair, Chrissy Jackson, to pull together all the disparate strands that make the conference possible. Hats off to Chrissy and all the others for their work.
• The cancelation announcement stated, "We ask for your patience as volunteers process full refunds for conference registration fees, guest meals, interviews, and headshots, and we remind you to cancel your hotel reservations." Also that the RPLA Awards will be announced in a virtual ceremony on October 16, 2021, via Zoom. Stay tuned for more details.
• And speaking on canceled conferences, Bouchercon 2021 was canceled this month. The mega-event for mystery writers and readers was to take place in New Orleans earlier this month, where in normal times it would have attracted close to two thousand people. But Bouchercon is making available a conversation between bestselling novelists Alafair Burke and her father James Lee Burke. You may watch it tonight at 7:00 p.m on this YouTube channel: James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke: https://youtu.be/qQF-CDc-zW0 Next year, if all goes well, Bouchercon 2022 will be held in Nashville, TN starting on September 1.
• A Gathering of Poets is on the move due to the heat and rain bombarding the library's gazebo. For details of future meetings shoot an email to Sharon Scholl at sharonscholl527@comcast.net.
• And speaking of poets, Pam Jam Jax features poets from North Florida Poetry Hub sponsored by Hope at Hand paired with artists from the Art Center Cooperative to present the Jax Showcase, October 3 - 29 at the Art Center Cooperative in San Marco. PAM Jam PVB features poets from A Gathering of Poets paired with artists from The Art Center Cooperative at the PVB Showcase at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library, November 1 - 30. Click here for more information.
• Congratulations to all writers in our region for being selected as semi-finalists in this year's RPLA. Be sure to tune in to the virtual awards ceremony next month.
• Congrats to Kathryn J. Bain on the release of her latest in her KT Morgan suspense series, Sucker Punched. It's now available on Amazon.
• Science fiction author and military historian Chris Berman has released his latest military history adventure, A White Star in a Red Sky. You can find it on Amazon.
• 
  The Alvarium Experiment, a consortium of accomplished and award-winning authors, is at it again. In The Light Fantastic, the nine authors unite to bring laughter, giggles, guffaws, and amusement to the masses amidst speculative twists and turns. In this collection, the authors explore every facet from dark humor to slapstick, deadpan to satire, dry humor to parody. The featured stories fall into fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres, but they do get up again and brush themselves off. This is the sixth project by the Alvarium Experiment, and individual stories will be available for Kindle readers in a few days with the anthology launching via a special Facebook launch party on September 9. I only mention this because one of my favorite authors, Parker Francis, contributed one of the stories. 

Here's another music-related quote. One I'm sure they wished they could take back.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962  

Francis Albert Sinatra had a traumatic birth, arriving blue and not breathing when yanked out of his mother with forceps. He grew into a bit of a bad boy, arrested twice, but went on to become one of America's first teen idols. The rest, as they say, is history. For those of you in a nostalgic mood, click on this link to hear Frank Sinatra crooning his version of September Song. You may skip the ads after five seconds. 

Cheers,

Vic

Vic DiGenti

FWA Regional Director

 

It's About Time

Time is the most precious commodity we've been given, and it's easy to fritter it away thinking there's always tomorrow. In fact, we have less time now than dinosaurs did when there were 370 days in a year. That's because the earth's spin has slowed due to the moon's gravity acting as a drag.

Don't obsess over that time fact since those extra days didn't help the dinosaurs, but when you're making time for yourself, be sure to put aside three or four days in October to attend the 20th Annual Florida Writers Conference in Altamonte Springs. Click here for all the details.

Here's another mind-blowing time fact: Everything we see is in the past because light takes time to reach us. The light you see out your window at this moment is eight minutes and twenty seconds old. I wonder if that means the scenes we write are really flashbacks? Hmm. Here's hoping all of this month's writers group meetings will begin on time. Or will they?

• Last month I put out a call for a stalwart volunteer to continue growing Jacksonvile's River City Writers chapter as a new group leader. I'm happy to say that author Kathryn J. Bain quickly answered the call and moved to keep the group in its established home base of the SE Regional Branch Library off Gate Parkway. Her first meeting is on Tuesday, August 10 at 6:30 p.m. and it will be a meet-and-greet to get your input on future meetings. Kathy is an established author of seven novels. She writes in the mystery-suspense genre, as well as humor and inspirational fiction. She's a past president of the NE Florida Chapter of Sisters in Crime and has been active in several other writers' organizations.
• Clay County Writers gather on Wednesday, August 18 at 11:00 a.m. at the Orange Park Senior Center at 414 Stowe Avenue. Jacksonville author John Maycumber will discuss a key component of fiction—the antagonist, who is just as important, if not more so, than the protagonist. He'll tell us how to create the best antagonists, and the group will review last month's writing assignment.
• Some beginning writers may think writing dialogue is as easy as talking. Something they've done all their lives. But there's an art to writing good dialogue and Nancy Quatrano is just the person to provide the answers to your dialogue questions. She anchors the meeting of Ancient City Writers on Saturday, August 21 at St. Augustine's Main Library at 10:00 a.m. with her presentation, "Let's Discuss Dialogue."
• Both the Amelia Island Writers and the Ponte Vedra Writers are on vacation hiatus this month but will return in September. The PV Writers open their first in-person meeting of the last sixteen months at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library on Saturday, September 11 at 10:00 a.m. with Heather Whittaker's timely workshop on the importance of those opening pages. Full details next time.

And in other news ...

• Rik Feeney's Orlando FWA group welcomes Nancy Quatrano (a very busy writer) to his meeting this Wednesday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. Nancy will connect via Zoom on the topic of "The Power Behind Writing a Series." Here's the link to join the meeting: Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/85364073400?pwd=zNlRTlzQzE2TndPZkUyZTY2dmJmQT09         Passcode: 783088
• Congratulations to Sharon Scholl on the publication of another outstanding poetry chapbook, Remains, available now on Amazon. And Sharon leads A Gathering of Poets group on the first and third Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at the Ponte Vedra Beach Library. All poets are welcome.
• And a tip of the hat to prolific author Edward Mickolus for his latest effort, this time with co-author Susan Schjelderup. Together, they created a satirical scientific journal qualifying for having the longest title of the year. The main title is Scatterplot, Scattershots, and Scatterbrains. Access the complete description here.
• And while we're patting folks on the back, a big congrats go out to some area authors who took home medals in the FAPA (Florida Authors & Publishers Association) Book Awards competition. The Awards Ceremony capped off the two-day conference this past weekend and at my table were three winners: Nassau County author R. W. Herman won Gold for his memoir, The Unopened Letter, Sharon Goldman of Ponte Vedra Beach captured a Bronze medal for her children's book, The Land of NO. And Parker Francis (aka Vic DiGenti) scored a Silver for his short story collection Ghostly Whispers, Secret Voices. At adjoining tables, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Rhonda Goodall collected a medal for her book, Where'd Grandma Go, and Jeff Walton for his novel Divine Return. Congratulations to all the winners, and to other area authors I may have missed.

That does it until next time, but I'll leave you with one more time fact. Did you know that time passes quicker for your face than your feet (assuming you're standing up). Einstein's theory of relativity dictates that the closer you are to the center of the Earth, the slower time goes. At the top of Mount Everest, a year would be about 15 microseconds shorter than at sea level. I guess that's why the sale of facial rejuvenation creams is booming.

Cheers,

Vic

Vic DiGenti

FWA Regional Director