Thoughts To Ponder

Thoughts to Ponder

From the February 4 meeting

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him," Jesus (John 7:37-38).

What does that look like—streams of living water flowing from us?

Christ is the outflow of a life filled with Him. Like refreshing streams, the Living Water tumbles from our lives, extending its blessing to others— generous, abundant, constant blessings.

What does this say to us as writers?

Prov. 10:11 tells us “the mouth [words] of the righteous is a fountain of life….” Our words are more than letters on a page. They are a fountain of life, sparkling with refreshment.

Take-away thought: Ask God to flow from your heart through your words and by all means, let your words flow.

~ Barbara

Meeting - Feb. 4 - Release the Writer Within You!!

The next meeting of the NJCWG -


Saturday Feb. 4
2:00 - 4:00 pm


High Mountain Church
681 High Mountain Rd.
North Haledon, NJ 07508


If you're a regular attendee who canNOT make our meeting, please contact Barbara or reply to this email. Thank you!


This month's topic: Release The Writer Within You! 


Receive encouragement to release the writer within.

Be prepared for a brief writing exercise and bring suggested topics you would like addressed in 2012.

Next Meeting - Sat. Jan. 7

Dear fellow scribes,
Let's start the new year off right!

Our next meeting (sorry for the last notice!) is tomorrow - Sat. Jan. 7th at 2 pm.
Same place:
High Mountain Church
681 High Mountain Rd.
North Haledon, NJ 07508

Bring your goals for 2012!

Active vs. Passive Voice

One of my greatest struggles in writing is my bent toward Passive Voice. My husband says it's because I'm a passive person ;D Maybe that's it. Maybe it's because we're Christians, or just naturally polite, we'd rather say "I am loved by God." rather than "God loves me." OR "I was hoping that..." rather than "I hope that...." Just two quickie examples. I'm sure you can come up with many more. 

Here 2 posts from Grammar Girl to help us identify and overcome the Passive monster within. 

Active Voice:

http://tinyurl.com/86llxae

Passive Voice:

http://tinyurl.com/74uh8ht

 

December meeting - Note TIME CHANGE

The next meeting of the NJCWG is 
Saturday, Dec. 3rd 
10:00 - 12:00
681 High Mountain Rd., North Haledon, NJ


Our meeting will be a Christmas brunch. 


Please bring a 250 word Christmas-themed piece to share with the group. 










Food signups:
 - Orange Juice and Fruit Salad: Ann
 - Veggie Salad: Sr. Jane
 - Coffee Cake: Roberta
 - Potatoes: Clare
 - Quiches: Susan
 - Muffins, Bagels or Rolls: Barbara
 - Decorations & Paper Goods: Clare and Barbara
 - Salmon Mousse: Maude
 - Coffee: Debbie

If you weren't at the Nov. meeting to sign up and want to bring something,please just check the list above and fill in with whatever you'd like to bring.

Looking forward to being with you all on the 3rd!
Blessings,
Susan

Query Letters

Jody Rein of Author Planet is writing a series about writing effective query letters for nonfiction books. She shares excellent information, and another post in the series is coming tomorrow. Be sure to check her blog at:
http://authorplanet.org/

Query letters.  Yet again.

Holy smokes there’s a lot of query letter advice out here on the World Wide Web.   

And like everything in information-overload-land, that’s good and bad–it’s terrific for writers to have easy access to models and thoughtful counsel, but at the same time I’m a little concerned about the stressing out I see–the agony over each detail in each query; and the stridency of the dogma.  As in, “All query letters must start with x, end with y, and never, never include Popsicles.” 

Query letters are crucial, don’t get me wrong.  And yes, each book pitch does haveto include some standard elements, like, well, the title of the book. 

But ultimately each letter is as individual as the book that is being pitched and the author who is writing it.  So rather than trying to fit your query into someone else’s mold, I suggest you sit back, take a deep breath, scribble out a quick rough draft, andthen ask yourself if you’ve achieved the following goals.  I’ll elaborate on each in future posts.

To read the rest of the post including Jody's Seven Goals for Query Letters, click here: http://bit.ly/rvTr05

Next Meeting - Saturday, Nov. 5

Next meeting: Saturday, November 5, from 2-4:00 pm

We will continue to discuss blogging with these focus points:

• Defining your goal
• Narrowing your focus
• Writing to be read
• Connecting to other bloggers

Our exercise will be to write a Thanksgiving blog post appropriate for our real or imagined blog. A children's blog is a viable option.
We will critique our writing and consider its adherance to the parameters defined in our discussion.

You do not need a blog to benefit from this meeting. You only need to be a writer!


Meeting at:
High Mountain Church
681 High Mountain Rd.
North Haledon, NJ 07508