word challenge – Page 4 – Writers on the Avenue

April doings

WOTA’s April started with a great Tuesday afternoon meeting! Among the writings on offer were an essay, a play, formal poetry, flash fiction, and micro-memoir–a varied and entertaining selection, and we enjoying sharpening our critique skills on each.

Meeting

Join us for the general meeting on Tuesday, April 16 at 6:00 pm. There will be a brief business meeting at 5:30 for members and those interested in becoming members. Writing work will start at 6:00 with an exercise in revision led by Jason Liegois, published novelist, and after that we’ll share our short works. Anyone is welcome to stay for the longer critique group, where we’ll be discussing “The Tooth That Time Forgot.” Email Misty if you’d like a copy of this work to read in advance.

Fair

WOTA will have a table at the Crossroads Spring Craft and Vendor Show on Saturday, April 13, held from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church on Mulberry Avenue in Muscatine. We’ll sell books and tell people where the writers hang out. If you’re looking to buy WOTA books, now’s your chance; and if you’re willing to sit behind the table for an hour or two and tell people about WOTA, even better! If you’re just interested in shopping vendors, this fair benefits Crossroads, an organization worth supporting. Plus, you can bid on WOTA’s basket for the raffle! Contact Pat if you’d like to help out.

Challenge

April is National Poetry Month! The challenge is to write a poem. If you’d like some guidance, try the tricube, a form invented by Philip Larrea. The rules are deceptively simple:
1. Each line has three syllables.
2. Each stanza has three lines.
3. Each poem has three stanzas.
Bring copies to the meeting to share! As always, if you’ve got something other than the word challenge, bring that, too.

Creative Writing Camp

Want to hang out with other creative writers at Langwood Education Center for two days and two nights from June 7-9? Who wouldn’t?? Click here for registration info and for the form to apply for a scholarship. WOTA members have priority through 4/30, and we can sponsor one day or the whole weekend, depending on your preference. The final workshop schedule will be available soon. Note: Scholarships for non-WOTA members will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis from May 1 – 31 as funds are available. Get your application in early!

T.S. Eliot says April is the cruelest month, and I think he was talking about the weather. Between flooding, wild swings in temperature, and daffodils shivering in the cold rain, the promise of spring seems distant at times. Let this be fuel for our hardship, turning our suffering into pure poetry.

March Madness

Join us for WOTA in the afternoon on Thursday, March 7 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in room 201 of Musser Public Library. Bring a pen, bring a friend, bring a short work to share.

Then join us again the evening of Tuesday, March 19 at 6:00 pm in the first-floor board room of Musser Library for our monthly meeting. Bring the same work, bring fresh work, bring the same pen or many others. We’ll do writing exercises, critique work, and talk through whatever is on our minds.

March’s word challenge is based on the exercise given to us by Paul Fitzpatrick at last month’s meeting. Find a book on your shelf – open to a random page – scan the page until a word leaps out at you. Then grab pen and paper and write something with, in response to, or around that word – story, poem, memory, whatever. It was amazing to hear what everyone came up with in February, and we’d love to hear what this exercise unlocks in you. Bring copies to share at a meeting, post to our Facebook page, submit here as a comment, or send it to WOTA through the Contact form for posting on the site. May the words be with you!

In other news

Congratulations to WOTA member Dustin Joy for winning honorable mention for his piece “Dan” in the nonfiction category of the Iron Pen contest sponsored by the Midwest Writing Center! The challenge to produce something from a prompt within the space of 24 hours would defeat many, but Dustin clearly rose to the challenge. WOTA actually walked away with two winners, as Misty Urban‘s story “A Many-Chambered Vessel” took second place in the fiction category. Way to represent, WOTA folk!

Congratulations also to member Jason Liegois for publication of his novel A Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt, just out from Biblio Publishing! Check out Jason’s blog Liegois Media for information on book signings and workshops near you.

Thanks to all who came out to support WOTA at our Read Local event at Bettendorf Public Library! It was wonderful to hear such great work from our members, and a special shout-out to Mary Davidsaver for sharing from her novel in progress.

January meetings

Happy new year, writers! There are two opportunities to meet up this January:

WOTA in the afternoon will meet on Thursday, January 3 from 1 to 3 pm in room 201 of Musser Public Library. Bring a pen, bring a friend, bring a short work to share.

We’ll have our monthly evening meeting on Tuesday, January 15 with the business discussion starting at 5:30 and the writing starting at 6. We have folks on deck to lead us in writing exercises and share work for longer critique, along with the usual sharing of short work. Hope to see you at one or both meetings!

If you’re up for a challenge, we generated this list of words at the holiday party. Use them in a poem, song, story, essay, whatever-you-like and share with us: flamingo, riotous, generate, elaborate, parrot, bright, Christmas, resolute, entertain.

Hope your 2019 is full of inspiration!

October events

Join us for an afternoon with WOTA on Thursday, October 4 from 1 to 3 p.m. in room 201 at Musser Public Library! We’re launching an afternoon meeting for those who can’t make Tuesday night or just want more WOTA in their life. Bring a pen, bring a friend, bring a short work to share.

We’ll meet again on Tuesday, October 16 in the board room of Musser Public Library for our regular monthly meeting. Business starts at 5:30 and the fun at 6. We’ll participate in a writing activity, share short work, and then anyone who wishes can stay for the critique group, where we discuss longer works in more detail.

If you’re looking for some inspiration this month, write a piece using these words: pumpkin, headless, shadowy, surprise.

As always, writers of any genre, any age, and any level of experience are welcome to WOTA meetings. There is a membership fee for those who want the WOTA perks (like discounts on books, access to grants and scholarships, etc.) but inquiry meetings are free.

And if you’re starting your holiday shopping, remember that books make great gifts! WOTA anthologies are available for sale on Amazon and from your favorite WOTA member.

See you soon, and happy writing!

August Word Challenge

Join Writers on the Avenue for our August monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 21 in the first-floor conference room of Musser Public Library, 408 E. 2d St., Muscatine. The business meeting starts at 5:30, and your input is appreciated; the writing portion, including exercises, sharing work, and the critique group, commence at 6:00 p.m.

If you’re looking for a writing prompt, the July group generated this list of words: peace, ferris wheel, penmanship, overboard, score, vacation, exhilarating, release, wing, county fair, spendthrift, exit, and jehosaphat (if you don’t have use for mild expletives, you can overlook this last). Can you tell it’s fair season? Remember to bring copies to share. Also, feel free to post your work here to share — we always love seeing what people come up with!

Come out to Muscatine’s Second Saturday in August and stop by WOTA’s table on 2d street to browse books, chat with local authors, and find out more about what we do. Hope your month is full of inspiration!

July meeting & more

Please join us for our monthly WOTA meeting on Tuesday, July 17 at the Musser Public Library’s new digs at 408 E 2d St. in Muscatine, right across from beautiful Trinity Episcopal church. We’ll meet in the board room on the ground floor and I imagine we’ll all have great fun in the swivel chairs. The business meeting begins at 5:30 to plan upcoming events and such; the writing fun starts at 6:00. Bring a friend, bring a pen, bring a short work to share.

If you’re searching for inspiration, we generated the following words for the challenge. Work them into a poem, story, memoir, screenplay, microfiction, collage, song, or whatever form you wish: ICE CREAM, FOLLOW, PENALTY, CORPULENT, APPLE, TOMATO, FLOOR, ELECTRIFYING, ANTICIPATION, HUMIDITY. Don’t ask me why there’s a food theme to this one. Just go with it.

As our writing exercise for the June meeting, we experimented with ways to make our writing more descriptive. The tips that Misty shared and the exercise she suggested are available at her blog, The Writing Well, for those interested.

Keep writing!

Upcoming in April

First and foremost: The deadline for our spring poetry contest in March 30, so send your entries if you haven’t already and you reside in the included counties. We can’t wait to read your work!

Our March meeting witnessed some old favorites and some new thrills as we continue to tweak our new meeting format. We tried our hand at writing haiku (and didn’t do too badly!) and the critique group had an earnest and successful beginning. This summer we hope to bring local authors and good lit to the Muscatine Second Saturday events, and scholarships are available for the Creativity Camp in June—contact us for more details.

Last but not least, if you’re up for the challenge, incorporate these words into a piece and post here or on our Facebook page: pear, redundant, agnostic, befuddled, intent, enlightened, elevation, procrastination, cement, admiration, and relief. Lots of feelings in those words. Have fun, and keep writing!

March Meeting

Join us on Tuesday, March 20 at the Student Center at Muscatine Community College for the next Writers on the Avenue meeting! The business meeting will begin at 5:30 to discuss the poetry contest and upcoming anthology. The writing fun will begin at 6:00. Bring a pen, bring a friend, bring something to share.

We will do a writing exercise, share our short works, and hold a critique session at the end. As always, there will be lots of camaraderie and inspiration as we try to bring out the best in one another. New members are always welcome!

If you’re up for a challenge this month, incorporate these words into a story, essay, song, poem, or whatever else suits your fancy. The words are: sestina, gerbil, lordosis, sabertooth, open, hilarious, queen, power, fidelity, and apricot. Feel free to post your response as a comment here, or share to the Facebook group. Write away!

December Word Challenge

The next WOTA meeting is Tuesday, December 13 starting at 6:00 pm in the Student Center at Muscatine Community College. Hope you can join us! We’ll have copies of the holiday anthology to distribute; come grab a few copies to gift to friends and family and sell to the other people in your life.

As always, bring work to share. If you’re looking for inspiration, the word list we generated at the November meeting includes:

Lace, lice, corn, acorn, lopsided, goosebumps, advantage effort, afford, gratitude, memory, evolve.

I love those word lists mostly as a snapshot of whatever is going on in peoples’ minds at the moment. Hope you can join us! Bring a pen and bring a friend!