North Carolina Writers Network Conference

On 13 April 2013, I attended the NCWN Conference that was at UNCG.

 I had never really been to a writing conference, so I didn't know what to expect. I had been to too many dance conferences. I knew that if one goes to a dance workshop one learns different styles of dance and things dealing with dance etc...Naturally, if one goes to a writing conference one would learn about writing and things dealing with writing.

Well at least I got one thing correct before walking through the door of the conference, which was everything, was going to be about writing etc. 

In all honesty, the conference reminds me a lot of being a student (which I am) taking writing courses. Golda Fried really likes the NCWN Conference because she gets to feel like a student again. So she was overly excited about attending the conference. Though she really likes to learn about writing too, this helps her in her own writing. Such as when she wrote her novel and collections of short stories Nellcott Is My Darling novel and Darkness Then a Blown Kiss stories.

I took two different classes, self-publishing and a fiction workshop. Both interesting in their own right.

The self-publishing workshop made my head spin and made me question if I personally should try self-publishing? I'm still undecided about it. Maybe I should make a poll and see what my friends think about me self-publishing a book? 

The teacher and Golda tried to convince me that self-publishing is a good idea since getting a literary agent hasn't worked so far. Also the teacher said one can still pursue getting a literary agent and be a self-published author. Not sure how all that works? 

The second class on fiction was more about forms of writing and how other authors use them. 

The teacher gave us many handouts, which was cool. I think Golda felt like it was her second birthday and each and every handout was a new present. 

Golda loves handouts! 

The major thing I learned from going to this conference was that one can find others who like the same things, like writing, and one can learn a lot from each other.

Number The Stars by Lois Lowry

Number The Stars by Lois Lowry is a book that I first read in middle school. The novel Number The Stars can fit into more than one genre, since this story is set in 1943, in one of the most dangerous times for one to be a Jewish person under the Nazis regime.

If one looks up this book on goodreads, which I personally, recommend this website for those who are avid readers because it suggest books that one may not know about. As well, it helps one find books by their favorite authors too.

Anyway, back to the genre, Number The Stars can fall under ten different genres according to  goodreads.  Though I’m going to pick a couple and list them in the macro to the micro genres: Juvenile, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, and History, World War II, World War II, Holocaust.

Number The Stars is set in Copenhagen Denmark in the 1940s at the heart of the Nazis regime. The main character Annemarie Johansen, a ten-year-old girl and her best friend Ellen Rosen lives in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark under the Nazis occupation. In the course of the story, the Johansen family with other families goes on a dangerous mission to help Jewish families including Ellen’s family escape to Sweden, which was one of the very few countries that were free of the Nazis control.

I personally feel that through the treacherous mission of getting Ellen and her family to Sweden, the veil of a child’s innocents is stripped away from Annemarie and she learns the real danger that the Jewish people who live in Denmark are really in. Annemarie learns through this story, that loyalty and sacrificing her own life to get her best friend and family to a safe country is the greatest gift she can offer to her best friend Ellen.

In my opinion, Number The Stars by Lois Lowry is a book I highly recommend for anyone who likes stories that have a strong friendship bond through a real dangerous period of world history. However, this book being fiction there is enough historical facts woven through the story that people who like historical fiction would enjoy this book too. I believe children, who are in middle school, and being first introduced to World War II and the Nazis regime will connect to this story.

The book Number The Stars would be an excellent introduction for children to grasp the real danger that people living in the 1940s under the Nazis control. This book also gives young readers the understanding that there were people, who were against what the Nazis were doing to the Jewish people and did everything in their power to help get the Jewish people to safe countries.

Finding a literary agent

After one’s done writing their full manuscript and editing their work. The next step is to write a query letter and then find some literary agents that you believe your manuscript fits what they are looking for. Here are three literary agents and what types of works they are looking to represent. 


Kathryn Green is the literary agent for Laurie Faria Stolarz, who wrote The Blue is for Nightmare series and many other books too. Ms. Green owns her own literary agency called Kathryn Green Literary Agency, LLC. That is located in New York. She only accepts e-mail query letters with no attachments. She also wants the first ten pages at the bottom of their query letters that is all placed in the body of the e-mail. The genre Ms. Green likes to read is General fiction, Mystery, Romance, Juvenile fiction…


Rosemary B. Stimola is the literary agent for Suzanne Collins, who wrote The Hunger Games series, with many other books too. Ms. Stimola owns her own literary agency called Stimola Literary Studio. This literary agency is located in New Jersey. She only accepts e-mail query letters with no attachments. The query letter must be placed in the body of an e-mail. Ms. Stimola also wants the first ten pages located at the bottom of the query letter right after their personal information. She likes to read Young Adult, Children’s Middle Grade and Graphic Novels. In nonfiction, she likes to read cookbooks.


Susan Ramer is the literary agent for Kathryn Stockett, who wrote the novel The Help, with many other books too. Ms. Ramer is part of Don Congdon Associates, INC. This agency is located in New York. Ms. Ramer only accepts e-mail queries with the first chapter after their personal information. The query letter must be placed in the body of the e-mail with no attachments. The genres she likes to read is literary fiction, up market commercial fiction (contemporary and historical), and narrative non-fiction.     


The literary agent that I would especially like to represent me would be Kathryn Green. This is because she seems to like to represent people who write in the supernatural genre, which is the genre that I like writing  in.

Booktuber

Personally, I’m too old school for BookTubing, but if I had to say what is considered a good bookTube, it is a person who tells a little about the book/film and if they know, anything about the author/director like the AmirasBookRviews does. I rather have a physical peice of paper in my hands and read reviews that way. I guess I'm not too hip on the 21 century new waywaves of things.

BookTuber is a website that everyone can record themselves talking about books or films they like and suggest books to their veiwers.


I like AmirasbookReviews because she seems like she is up with the latest books and seems to like many different genres, which is good for her audience to become more knowledgeable of books in general. Here is one review she does that I personally like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWTUfzXzvbo


When it comes to technical quality, I like to see a clean image of the person, not too close up or too far back with the camera showing from the waist up. With film editing, I do not like seeing many jump cuts or cut aways like some people have on their BookTuber, it is somewhat distracting and it makes it hard for me to focus on what the person is talking about. Production quality, I want a clear shot of the person and the background can be either clear or blurry. Though clear, enough so one can tell its book/film etc. on the shelf, so the audience can see the object is a bookshelf and what is on it. 


I think having pretty bookshelves or at least a bookshelf, which is well organized and connects to the subject, is important. Having a shelf behind the person who is speaking can help the audience connect to the topic. Even having a nice background that does not have bright colors or crazy designs on it can draw more people to your Booktuber site.


In all honesty, I have never thought about doing BookTuber. I’m not one who likes talking to a camera as it records me or being recorded.


I think when it comes to how blunt a book/film review should be is one should be careful on what one says because this is something that anyone can access. You do not want to come across as rude or  insulting. There is a difference in stating you did not care for a book versus I just hated the book etc.

People who have BookTube say, “I just finished reading,”  “I would like to talk about,” “This book is so amazing,” “I have so much reading to do etc.”


Though this type of reviewing books is not my preference, I think many people would like BookTuber, I would recommend it to my friends who love to read, and looking for some new books to read.

Darkness Then a Blown Kiss by Golda Fried

Darkness Then a Blown Kiss was Golda Fried’s premier book. This book is a collection of short stories.

This book shows the genius and creative mind of Golda Fried, and how effortless she can flow from telling one story to another. Her Darkness Then a Blown Kiss book draws her readers in quickly. The words in the story will mesmerize and entice the reader to want to read more.

In addition, there are drawings that help capture and enhance the stories Golda is telling and brings the stories that much more closer to life for the reader.


This book anyone can connect to from having crazy grandparents to having a friend that one will have for life. Also people who enjoy being able to pick up and read a short story will gravitate to this book. Though I must warn the readers Golda has such a rhythmic way of writing words, phrases, sentences, and flowing from one story to another that the reader will find themselves so entranced that they will keep reading until the book is finished.


Darkness Then a Blown Kiss shows the many dimensions that Golda Fried writes in from the more playful side of what best friends talk about to a darker and mysterious side of darkness that the subconscious veils one as they sleep.


Darkness Then a Blown Kiss is one of those books that I would recommend to anyone who likes reading short stories or stories that have many dimensions to them and like the emotional turmoil that everyone goes through at some point of life.   

Nellcott Is My Darling by Golda Fried

One novel that I personally like is Golda Fried’s Nellcott Is My Darling. She is a very amazing writer, who knows how to weave words, sentences, and phrases together to cast a vivid picture of the world she places her main character Alice Charles in.

Nellcott Is My Darling is an amazingly crafted story that takes a reader through a journey of a young adult's milestone of life, with the main character Alice Charles, who is off to McGill College in Montreal from the one she is acculturated to in Toronto.

This shows Alice's true ingenuous beauty and the feeling of being set free for the first time. Alice meets new people like Allegra an arty young lady that seems to have an appeal for hip fresh Montreal guys, engrosses herself in her art projects, and is addicted to coffee.

After Alice gets involved with The Film Society, she seems more comfortable with her new surroundings. Followed by meeting the mysterious Nellcott Ragland, who seems to have a little bit of a dangerous edgy side to him is when Alice's world seems to be swept away and she learns the true reality of the "real world," from the sheltered world she knew and understood before going to school in Montreal.

While one is going along reading the marvelous narrative one may feel like they are physically in the story watching all the action that Alice is doing or feel like they are passing Alice on the street as she goes along in her own quiet way.

The characters, that Golda creates from Allegra, Nellcott, and Alice etc. are well crafted and seem like real people that one would meet in real life. Golda has an astonishing imagination that she can formulate characters that people can relate to and create an emotional bond. When one character feels happy or sad so does the reader.

This novel is a very good representation of what a young person, who is leaving home for the first time, and going away to college has to face, with all the life experiences that they learn from. I highly recommend that people pick up this novel and read it.

I'm also intrigued about Nellcott Is My Darling that at this time is in the beginning stages of becoming a movie.

I hope one day +Golda Fried, writes another world-winning novel that her readers can be swept away into a world that is not so far from their dreams.


 

Goodreads

Goodreads is an online database where one can find books they have read, would like to read, and suggest books to reads to read.

+Golda Fried was the one who explained what Goodreads was and suggested this website as a good resource to find authors and books one has read or want to read.

She is doing a Goodreads giveaway with her book Nellcott Is My Darling book. She has 261 people who are trying to win 1 of the 10 copies of her amazing book.

I have found many of my favorite authors on Goodreads such as

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee

author of

Neela: Victory Song 

There is a cool way of organizing books by creating shelves. Right now I have shelves called historical fiction, high fantasy, and young adult. 

Shelfari looks very similar. 

To find book clubs that you may want to join you have to go under the groups tab. The book club that seems interesting to me is The Penguin Press. 

Goodreads is a website I would suggest to all my friends and family.