Who is St. Patrick and What are we Celebrating?

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. The interesting thing about that is he wasn't even Irish. He was actually captured by the Irish and taken as a slave from his home in Britain. He worked and lived in Ireland for about 6 years before he escaped and went back to his family.

After entering the church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained Bishop and worked in Ireland. He became the Patron St. of Ireland in the 7th Century and we celebrate the date of his death on March 17, with St. Paddy's Day!

In Ireland the day is celebrated as a holy day. Here in America, it has become a celebration of Ireland and all that is Irish.

However you celebrate the day and whatever you are celebrating - I hope you have a Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Answer to Word for Wednesday

The word Flappable means easily upset or confused - especially under stress.

If you want to read more, check it out here.

Word for Wednesday - Game for Writers

Guess the meaning of the word. Put it in comments and then come back around 3:00 to see if you were "write" or wrong.

Word: Flappable

What does it mean?

SPEED DATING - LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME

(FIRST-PAGE LOVE)

Lisa Schroeder will be a guest speaker at this First Page - critique
session - April 30, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. to noon

Bring your first page and have multiple readers give you immediate
feedback.

"Do you Love it?" or want to "Leave It?"

It will be quick and "hopefully" not to painful. Like speed dating ;)

Refreshments served - afterward (feel free to bring a guest)
This event is free!
APRIL 30, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at: Village Gateway Condo - 859 NE 90th ,
Portland (in the clubhouse)


Any questions, email me at kasch5 at comcast (dot) net

Magazine Market Monday

National Geographic Kids

Seventy percent freelance written.

Queries accepted by mail

National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036

Email: kids@nationalgeographic.com
Website; www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids

Needs: General Interest, science, technology, pets.

Length: 100-1,000 words

Word Counts for Novels

I culled this info from Agent sites and hope it helps all you other wannabe writers out there:


MG or Middle grade fiction = 25k-40k
YA or Young Adult = 45k-80k;
PR or Paranormal Romance = 85k-100k
Romance = 85k-100k
Cozy mysteries = 65k-90k
Horror = 80k-100k
Sci-Fi = 90k-110k

Went to Willamette Writer's meeting

On Tuesday, March 1st, I went to the Old Church to listen to screenwriter Randall Jahnson talk about why he moved away from L.A. to Portland.

He says P.O. is the perfect place to reinvent yourself as a screenwriter. And he should know. The author of "Slaughter Alley," "The Doors" and "The Mask of Zorro" talked about his early days and aging in tinseltown.

He talked a lot about Portland, which he didn't need to sell me on, heck, I live here and love it too. But he also spoke about the new "digital culture" and making friends with Code Monkeys.

At first, I thought it wasn't so nice to be referring to people as "monkeys" but then I talked to my son, who writes code. He explained to me that it's not an offensive term at all. Programmers call themselves "code monkeys". I had no idea.

So, I learned a few things.

Randall said, "I was drawn to Portland's creativity and quirkiness."

Aren't we all?

The city is rife with the arts. And, one perfect example is Willamette Writers. They host these wonderful writers and have them share their words of wisdom with all us wannabe writers for $5 to $10 per month. So, the price is 'write' and the bargain is even better. So, if you're in Portland on the first Tuesday of the month, you might want to check out what's going on at the Old Church.

All Willamette Writer guest speaker meetings are held at the Old Church, SW 11th and Clay (1422 SW 11th). Doors open at 6:30 pm; the speaker or panel starts at 7 pm. Meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and students; guests of WW members are $5. Non-members pay $10 to attend meetings. Refreshments are served.