Halloween on the Square

We put up our display in front of Magadalena’s Cafe on the Square, as arranged. Yes, it was chilly, but not too bad. We sold and signed books, passed out our brochures, enjoyed watching people, and schmoozed with anybody who stopped by. We petted a rat. A real one, but a tame one, not a wild one, and a very pretty rat it was, too.

One couple we met were the Alstotts. They’ve recently bought a building on the square in Corydon, with plans to turn it into an independent bookstore within two years. They want to feature local and regional writers, and we were delighted to swap information with them.

During a break in the festivities, we filled in by reading Joy Kirchgessner’s story “Hungry” from GHOSTS: ON THE SQUARE…AND ELSEWHERE…. When the story was over, the reader asked a young listener if the story scared him. “No,” he said. Then, apparently consumed with honesty, he said, “…Well, a little.” Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa!

Our roving photographer took this hideous picture of a clown (what else?) in front of the Tent of Horror. Some people don’t care what they do to innocent children.

Here is a picture of T Lee Harris in her Renaissance costume, reacting to the news that there was a clown in the vicinity. With apologies to King David: Yea, though we walk through the valley of the Tent of Horror, we will fear no blue-haired clowns, for T is with us. Her whacking big stick, it comforts us.

We packed up and left before the parade. As usual, a fine time was had by all.

Only one more appearance scheduled for the group this year, as listed on our calendar.

SIW

Hawksview Gig

The Southern Indiana Writers invaded Kentucky this past weekend. We set up headquarters at the Hawksview Gallery and Cafe, a fabulous showcase for local artists, an art glass factory and a restaurant featuring above-the-ordinary but reasonably priced food. They are not paying us to say that.

Some of the SIW couldn’t make it, some preferred not to wear costumes and some–okay, ONE, and you know who you are–threatened to hurt your humble webmaster if she saw her picture up here with kitty ears on it. Naming no names, but look back through these postings for the picture of the one with the name badge stuck to her forehead.

Anyway, we were at the Hawksview on Friday for the dinner crowd and on Saturday for the lunchers. We read stories from our various anthologies, talked about the group and mingled with the patrons.

Joanna dressed as a fortune teller, Ginny is our own little Nanny Ogg, T wore a Renaissance gown she made herself and carried a cedar staff she fashioned out of a limb that fell from a tree in her back yard, Jeannine wore a beautiful Colonial-style dress, and Marian says she was dressed as October. Smart money says she was just too lazy to assemble or make a real costume.

We met a woman who writes poetry but had no one with whom to share her love of writing, and we were able to give her the contact information for a couple of groups near her. We met a woman who doesn’t like to read but who discovered, through our presentation, that she loves being read to–she’s going to look into getting books on tape. She also asked if we have any of our stories recorded. We don’t, but we have a new project…. We met another woman who doesn’t write, but is a creative decorator, who wants to catch us at another gig sometime. We hope she does; she was a lovely and fascinating person.

Our next gig is, in fact, this coming Saturday, October 24th. We’ll be selling books at Halloween on the Square in Corydon, Indiana, in front of Magdalena’s Restaurant and Cafe on the Square. We may also be reading at the First State Capitol Building–that part of the plan is still under construction. We’ll be in front of Magdalena’s at the very least from 5-9, but may be there earlier. Whether or not we read at the First State Capitol Building, we can probably be persuaded to do requests. Oh, and we’ll be GIVING AWAY FREE COUPONS for Magdalena’s with every purchase. You know the routine–the more you spend, the more you save. Makes a great gift, too.

Hope to see you in Corydon at Halloween on the Square on the 24th!

MA

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Happenings–Then and Now

On the evenings of October 2 and 3, members of SIW participated in Corydon’s Unsavory Past, a recreation of hair-raising happenings unearthed and compiled by C.M. Keasling of the Hoosier Elm Chapter of the DAR. We used her compilations as inspiration for our stories in GHOSTS: ON THE SQUARE… AND ELSEWHERE…. Ms. Keasling and her cohort Sharon Uhl were there, too, selling copies of the DAR books.

Here is a picture of some of us. Nevertheless, we sold some books and so did the DAR, so we were all pleased with the event and hope to participate again next year.

Coming up is a marathon reading at the Hawksview Gallery and Cafe in southern Louisville. We’ll be there on Friday the 16th for the dinner crowds–5-9–and again on Saturday 17th for lunch–11:30-3–and again for the dinner hours. Reservations are recommended. We’ll be reading from and signing/selling whatever books we have currently in print, including GHOSTS, NOVEL INGREDIENTS (stories followed by relevant recipes) and MOST WANTED (stories of crimes and desires).

Y’all come!

MA

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We Are All About Field Trips!

In belated honor of the publication of member Joanna Foreman’s book, GHOSTS OF INTERSTATE 65, we met at a restaurant and chowed down. We actually got some conversation and business taken care of, although the noise level and multiple large-screen tvs showing different shows while an unrelated soundtrack played…. Well, as one member put it, “This is not a good place for someone with ADHD.”

Fellow Southern Indiana Writers Group members T. Lee Harris and Marian Allen and friend Dale met at T’s house. Friend Dale had loaded books in the back of the Dalemobile. We three piled in on top of them and Dale drove us to the Indianapolis library, where we met fellow member Joanna Foreman, who brought copies of her book GHOSTS OF INTERSTATE 65. The Indy library was having an authors’ awards celebration, including a book fair featuring Indiana authors. We had one and a half tables between the three of us.

Here is a picture of the SIW table, being manned by adjunct member Cal A. Vera, a seasonal writer. We met some terrific people and heard great stories. Gave away a lot of information on self-publishing, forming and maintaining a critique group and on our 15 titles.

Next stop: Corydon.

MA

ConText 2009 part 2

Saturday, the actual convention actually began for us, although there had been programming on Friday which we pretty well missed, what with one thing and another.

The hotel had a dynamite breakfast buffet but guess what? We only got two tickets per day. Five people, two days, four tickets. Our friend Dave Creek, who had his own room, also had two tickets per day. One person, two days, four tickets. Since he’s a stand-up guy, he gave us his extra tickets. Since SOME of us slept in, we had enough to cover us. I’m sure the literary world is happy to hear that.

Saturday, we participated in a panel called “Yeah, I’m A Geek, and Your Point Is?” There were lit geeks and tech geeks, computer geeks, history geeks– The upshot seemed to be that anyone who is passionate about anything, so passionate that he/she wants to share that passion with everyone, whether everyone wants to share or not, is a geek. There are just some forms of geekiness that society accepts and applauds (mostly sports and celebrity obsessions) and some not so much. To raise a happy child into a happy adult, be open to his/her particular geekiness, and don’t try to impose your own.

From noon to 2pm, we participated in a mass autograph session. Most of the attending authors were there, ready to sign their work. Not all of them, because there were panels, readings, workshops and gaming going on concurrently, not to mention lunch, and not all authors were there, and relatively few fans. At a small, friendly con like this one, where everyone mingles all weekend, there’s really no pressure to hit the autograph session in order to get your favorite author’s signature.

Two members went to the session on using fortune telling cards to brainstorm stories, something some of us have used for years. The session was informative, nevertheless, which is why it’s a good idea to take advantage of presentations telling you about things you “already know”–a fresh take on a familiar subject can open doors and windows in your mind and make everything you already know new and invigorated. Later that night, we found a couple of free online tarot reading sites and had a character ask, “Why am I not as cool as the villain in my book?” One of us thought the answer was, “Because your author won’t let you be,” but the character’s author thought the answer was, “Because you aren’t.” Or something. It was late.

Back to the conference: Some of us were on a panel called “Why Write About Freedom?” One panelist said it for all of us when he said, “Lest we forget.” We write about freedom because freedom is a basic human drive, and we need to keep being reminded that it isn’t free and it isn’t easily held. The balance between liberty and security is one, the panel and audience agreed, that has to be constantly monitored both socially and in our individual lives. The panel had a wide range of participants, from a Libertarian to a Labor Union proponent. Lively.

Attended a panel called “Can You Love Your Characters?” Consensus was that you must love them–even the unlovable ones–or you’ll write flat characters; you mustn’t love them TOO much…or you’ll write flat characters. The “wicked” ones have to have important virtues and the “good” ones have to have important flaws. A personal note: It seems to be easier as a writer to give villains endearing characteristics than it is to give “the good guy” serious flaws.

Back in the room, we were out of towels (five women, two nights, four towels), so one of our number went to the desk and requested more. She had no sooner returned than Housekeeping brought a stack of towels that seemed to say, “Take some showers. Please.” The phone rang. The desk wanted to be sure the towels had arrived. We were like, “Are they having trouble with Housekeeping embezzling towels, or what?” “Yes, the towels arrived.” “Was there anything you need?” “…Um, two blankets.” “Certainly, right away. Will two be enough?” “…Yes, two will be enough.” Then we were like, “Did they run out and buy more? Did somebody check out? Are these infected with chicken pox or diphtheria?” But we slept well and we slept warm. Turn off the light. Click

SUNDAY
We had back-to-back panels on “Writers Groups and Workshops” and “How To Publish Your Group’s Anthology”. Neither was well-attended, since check-out was at 11, but the people who were there REALLY wanted to know about the subjects. Writers Groups: If you can’t find one, start one. Starting one is good, because you can make up the rules you want and tell any members you attract, “These are the rules.” A critique group should work to make each member’s work do what that member wants his/her work to do. If all the stories from that group sound alike, the group isn’t working correctly. A workshop should know what it’s purpose is, state its purpose to people who might want to attend, then do its best to deliver. The publishing panel brought out the importance of shopping around for publisher and publishing packages. It also underlined the frustration of trying to find the right price point for selling a self-published anthology: Price it too high, and no one will buy it; price it too low, and bookstores that require a 40%-50% commission for selling the books eat all the profits and bite into the production cost.

And so ended the conference. Lovely time. Looking forward to next year.

Our next stop: Indianapolis Author’s Fair on September 26.

MA

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ConText 2009 part 1

There were too many of us to go up in one car, so we had ourselves a convoy. Well, we had two vehicles.

We made stops at two independent discount bookstores on the way because…you know…none of us has enough books.

At the hotel, the Designated Payer whipped out her plastic and asked what the charge was. Was told. Prepared to log the expense. Was told, “Oh, plus taxes and mumblety-mumblety.” Said, “…Okay, so what’s the CHARGE?” Was told. Prepared to log expenses. Was told, “And I’ll have to add $25 a night for extraneous charges.” “Like what?” “Like phone calls and room service and things.” Finally got a firm amount–”Is that your final answer?” and we had a ROOM.

Five people. One bed. Oh, the sofa in the chocolate chip room opened into a bed. I call it a chocolate chip room because it was a semi-suite. ONE bedroom containing ONE bed and a lounge area containing a couch and a chair. The bathroom, however, was big enough to declare independence.

But this is all by the way.

Went to registration and got registration packets. All was well, except that one member’s last name was spelled incorrectly in one place–her name badge. She corrected. We are nothing if not adept at edits. And–oh, yes–another member acquired an additional name. Member Marian Allen’s husband will be interested to learn that she is now to be known as Rinaldo. Or, as she was called with increasing panache over the weekend, RrrrrrrinAHHHLdo!

The Huckster’s Room (also known as the Dealer’s Room–the place people sell things) was lovely: wall-to-wall books, hand-made clothing and jewelry, board games, dice with a wide variety of colors and sides–(games, for the playing of). The ConText staff had a table at which they sold the books of anyone who didn’t claim a table in time. They asked for a paltry 10% commission, which would go to support the 2010 con. Good deal.

We checked out the Hospitality Suite, apparently among the first to do so. There were snacks and, because we were perishing for some, the Con Staff in charge of the Hospitality Room made coffee. Other attendees drifted in on the scent, and soon we were spread out in the room, making new friends–fellow fans, fellow writers, agents, publishers of small presses, nice people all around.

We returned to the room to eat. Hotel food is usually expensive and we didn’t want to leave the convention to forage, so we brought our own. Boy, did we bring our own! Bean dip salad, smoked spiced ham, foccaccia, French bread, three kinds of pickles, pimiento cheese, Benedictine spread (which spreads much better with a knife than it does with the edge of a paper bag, which we had to use in the car on the way up, the flatware being in the other vehicle), hummus, garlic butter…. Nom nom nom.

At 9:30, we took party supplies up to Sara Larson’s chocolate chip–I mean, semi-suite–for the event we were co-hosting with Apex Publishing and the Indiana Horror Writers. Good music, good conversation, a packed house, scheduled to go from 10pm to 2am, but at 12:30 comes a knock upon the door.

It was Security, in the form of an unsmiling man of considerable heft and totally no hair. Now, I’m a Yul Brenner fan from way back. I have no problem with bald. But, if your head comes to an actual, I-kid-you-not point, maybe bald is not the best way to go. I don’t mean to be snarky, but I take my oath, you could put this man in a Howitzer and he would totally hit the target. You could use him as a bunker buster. So he refuses to enter the room when invited, but wants the official occupant to step outside. She does. His idea of a first warning is not, “Turn down the music and speak quietly.” His idea of a first warning is, “Clear the room, or I’ll clear it.” Because it was a room filled with intelligent people who were there to enjoy conversation and company, the room was cleared and cleaned within fifteen minutes, no argument and no backtalk.

Back in the room, we filled in the SIW members who had left the party early. Uncertain whether to dub the Security guy Paul Blart, Mall Cop or Barney Bullethead, we settled on Barney Blart. Got ready to turn in and discovered that all the drawers and cabinets were empty. There were sheets for the fold-out couch, but no blankets. One member went to the desk to ask for more and was told there were no more. “WHAT! WHAT?” Holding up fingers, she did the math: “Five people, two beds, ONE BLANKET?” She came back to the room and said, “They’re going to send us a bunch of extra sheets, instead. Guess who’s bringing them.” Barney Blart.

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We Raid The Library

On May 30, we commandeered a table or two at the library. Under the stairs, in time-honored Harry Potter fashion, but we dispensed with the cupboard.

Present when the picture was taken: (standing) Ardis Moonlight, T. Lee Harris, Jeannine Baumgartle, Joanna Foreman, Bonnie Abraham.

(seated) Ginny Fleming, Marian Allen, Joy Brown Kirchgessner.

We had our GHOSTS: ON THE SQUARE… AND ELSEWHERE…. and our new book, MOST WANTED.

Excerpts from all our books in print are available at the Southern Indiana Writers web site. All except THERE’S SOMETHING UNDER THE BED-TIME STORIES–we sold out of that one at the Howard Steamboat Museum Chautauqua and need to do a reprint.

Had a fairly steady stream of browsers and we always enjoy that. We like it when people feel free to come and look and talk without feeling pressured to buy. Not that we’re opposed to sales, but we like it that people feel welcome at our table.

Frank Bill dropped by for a visit. Frank is a writer of gritty noir fiction–or, as he chillingly assures us, SEMI-fiction.

We talked to Ms. Snyder, who does Corydon’s Unsavory Past, and she thought, for some odd reason, we would fit right in with that presentation. We also talked to the folks at Magdalena’s about an eat-and-meet event there. We’re planning on hitting Context science fiction convention again this year, and hoping to go to Publishers Row Lit Festival in Chicago next year. “‘Roun’ ‘roun’ get around, we get around” is going to be our theme song, I do believe!

MA

Chautauqua is not a Vegetable

The Southern Indiana Writers Group had a table at the Howard Steamboat Museum’s annual Victorian Chautauqua last weekend. We sold bunches of books, not even counting a member who had a separate table to sell her own books. Yay, all of us! The Chautauqua had a few lectures, but mostly entertainment. They had games and activities for kids and a steam calliope which played between lectures and live music.

The live music ranged from acoustic guitar to big band, and this inexplicable Hawaiian-shirted barbershop group.

Joy, T Lee, Dale the Roadie and Marian came to set up at too-early a.m. on Saturday. T and Joy brought tables, all brought chairs, T brought ground tarp, rugs and canopy, T and Marian brought food. Joanna had organized everything beautifully, so set-up was a breeze, once the tent was up.

Not Us

It rained off and on during the first part of Saturday, but it didn’t seem to discourage the crowds. It cleared up by the afternoon and both days were cool and beautiful. We met a Goth girl named Elizabeth, who was

Not Us

tickled to hear that Marian’s Yahoo nick is MomGoth and who said we could show her picture. Also met a most beautiful pug dog named Darla Rose, whose mommy said we could put her picture on our blog.

Ginny and Joanna, Dirk and Samantha and Dave all came for shifts, but T was there all of both days. She is a trooper! Others would have been there all of both days, too, but prior engagements and sick family members interfered. Slackers! Where are your priorities??!!

Also Not Us

Ginny found that one of the costumed folks cruising the site is a distant cousin, which was cool. The man’s real name is Jamie Eiler. Who he was dressed up to represent, this writer does not know.

We walked around, meeting people and buying things from other merchants. We had so much fun talking with the people who stopped by our booth, we would have considered the weekend a success if we hadn’t sold anything. The sales just made it all so much better.

The books that attracted the most attention were the ghost/horror books. GHOSTS: ON THE SQUARE… AND ELSEWHERE…., GHOST WRITERS and THERE’S SOMETHING UNDER THE BED-TIME STORIES sold the most. NOVEL INGREDIENTS, stories about food with a recipe accompanying every story, and DRAGON: OUR TALES, stories about dragons–real or imaginary–did next best. Joanna Foreman’s GHOSTS OF I-65 also sold well. For excerpts of stories from most recent SIW anthologies including our latest, MOST WANTED, click here.

We even had time to do some work. Joanna brought a chapter of her WIP, and we read and critiqued it there in the booth. We meet every week, but we still spent most of the whole weekend together, working and sharing. This isn’t how artistic temperaments are supposed to go, is it?

We plan to return to the chautauqua next year. Meanwhile, come see us at the Harrison County Library on May 30, 2009 from 1-4.

MA

Woman Meets Cow. Fact Meets Fiction

Okay, so Ardis and I went to Dawn Creations in Lanesville, on St. John’s Church Road, just behind Zabel’s Hardware. At Dawn Creations, we had home-made soup, sub sandwiches and home-made lemon cake (all GOOD). The coffee was outstanding.

Anyway, we were leaving and started talking to the owner/baker, Dawn Clifton, and she turns out to be The Lady With The Cow In Her Kitchen! A couple of years ago, I wrote a story called “Home on the Range” for the Southern Indiana Writers Group’s anthology, IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING, based (very loosely) on a newspaper article about a cow that invaded a woman’s baking kitchen. This area being the way it is, I knew it was only a matter of time before I met her, and yesterday was the day.

She was very good-natured about it, and blessed us with a blow-by-blow personal account of what happened. SHE ought to be a writer–the way she told the story, which must have been harrowing at the time, had us holding our sides, laughing. She’s also a good cook and a lovely person.

Here she is, standing next to Dale the Whale–er, I mean me.

Today, I’m going back by the restaurant to take her a copy of the book with the cow story in it. To read the article in The Corydon Democrat about What Really Happened, click here.

To read an excerpt of the story, click here.

MA

Keep It Clean

Okay, we got a hit on this blog from somebody doing a search for “sex on leather couch”. That is SO not what we’re about! Do you know know that your search terms show up on our Dashboard for all of us to see and mock?

Just because one of our titles is UNBRIDLED LUST…. All the stories are no hotter than PG, most are more like G. You could read them to your maiden aunt and not raise a blush on her withered cheek. I believe that it’s one of the titles currently only available at booksignings.

Fortunately, we’re doing two booksignings the first part of this year:

April 25 at 4 pm at Destinations Booksellers

May 30 from 1-4 pm at Harrison County Library

We’ll also have our GHOSTS ON THE SQUARE anthology and this year’s anthology, MOST WANTED.

Hope to see you, but just forget about the couch thing, ‘k?

MA