NightScripts March 2014 Jim Laughter, Editor

Waldenschmidt’s PondAfter work, I curled up on the couch, bundled in two blankets, an article due, sewing

spread out off-kilter, a painting dried and waiting, and what did I do? Watched four “Perry Masons” in a row. I didn’t move except to let the dogs out.

An article in the Sapulpa Daily Herald caught my eye, something about excuses hindering achievement. Ginny Grimsley wrote a nice, friendly article, but it didn’t make me get up.

What makes you move? I wish I could bottle it and dose it out, a tonic every morning. My friend, Jane, says “mojo” is from voodoo, a magical power that allows someone to be successful. Is there any difference between “mojo” and “jitters”? I must be thinking “mo-Go”!

I pile everything up for weekends – like a procrastination Mount Hatteras – and then spend two days driving to errands, visiting family, and doing laundry. I never touch my procrastination mountain. You, too?

According to the article, great people have failed repeatedly reaching their goals. Isn’t that wonderful news? When you fail (the more miserably the better, I suppose) you’re on your way to greatness!

The article quoted Dan Waldenschmidt, an international business strategist and author of Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Achieve Outrageous Success. (Don’t worry, I never heard of him, either.) Apparently ideas, brilliance, and genius mean nothing without the guts, passion, and tenacity to make your dreams a reality. He said most people have dreams, even big dreams, but few of us actually see them through. Isn’t that great? More failure/greatness to rack up.

Lottie WildsThe Commander in Ink

www.tulsanightwriters.com

Here’s his advice to “jump off the excuse train”:

1. Avoid blaming others. This is obviously flawed. Who else can you blame? He thinks small-minded people are cranky and critical of others. That is just plain silly. How would we ever get a critique group going?

2. Stop working on things that don’t matter. Another gem. What, like making dinner? Sorting laundry, washing the dog, scrubbing those little pans under the burners? How do you know these don’t matter, until you don’t do them? It is patently obvious that when a deadline looms, rolling pennies is of vital importance. If not, why would I be doing it? My sock drawer is a disaster!

3. Replace entertainment with activity toward your goal. Mr. Waldenschmidt has never seen “Perry Mason” reruns from 1957. They are as comforting and meaningful as macaroni and cheese. I have 40 “Perrys” TiVo’d for my discretionary viewing. Waldenschmidt recommends cutting out meetings. Hello?

4. Don’t wallow in self-doubt. Anything else to wallow in that doesn’t require “OxiClean”? He says you are “alive to succeed.” Makes a marvelous motto, but I am alive to wait in lines, get my nails done, and find parking spots at the new eatery downtown that has no lot. Waldenschmidt continues,“Your entire life has been a training ground to capture your destiny right now.” Too long for a bumper sticker.

5. Ask yourself what you can do better next time. And then do that. This is akin to “Practice makes perfect,” which is another cruel hoax. Practincing perfectly makes perfect. Practicing badly makes bad.

6. Take time to do things that fuel your passion. Then, he mentions exercise. As if “living in the moment requires peak performance.” Tell that to Hemingway.

7. Apologize to yourself and others for having a bad attitude. Or not. Remember when your mother made you apologize for shaving your sister’s head? You’re not really sorry yet, are you? Me, either.

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names? Names are a hair’s-breadth away from greatness.”

Lottie Wilds

Only those who will risk going too far

can possibly find out how far one can go.

T. S. Eliot

Bill Wetterman Planning and Research – Don’t Start Writing Without It!

Are you writing a book, a screenplay, a memoir, or anything else that requires more of you than just sitting at a keyboard and watching words magically appear on your screen? Do your characters or locations require a certain degree of depth to make them believable? If so, you gleaned a mountain of information at our February 18th meeting.

Our very own Bill Wetterman spoke to us about researching our work. He showed us why locale and character authenticity is absolutely essential to draw a reader into our story, and why even a minor detail gotten wrong can detract from a story because the author didn’t do the proper research?

Bill Wetterman is an accomplished and meticulous researcher who spends two months researching before starting a new manuscript. He doesn’t write your standard novel. He is a blunt—tell-it-like-it-is—author. He prides himself on this and the fact that his research techniques, outlining, fact searches, and world-development gives life to the characters he creates. The information he shared with the group will make us all better writers. Good job, Bill.

Our Februar

y Speaker

March 18th Meeting

Our March meeting is dedicated to poetry. Lottie Wilds will be leading the group in an adventure through the

world of haiku and other poetry forms. We’ll also have various members of the NightWriters share their poetry

with us and talk about their journey in rhyme.

Haikus by Lottie

Intelligent Design

Sky blue, the colorof hope. Favored for the sky,

not for a sofa.

Oklahoma

Still wind, still waitingFor a breeze. Spring sprung, its

breathLike a flag, unfurled.

Luck

Fate is chosen chance.Happy accidents occur.

Serendipity!

Dreamers

Freedom comes to thosewho dream. Send realityscrambling with your art.

Youth

Oh, to be forty,when I first felt too damn old,Laughed, and kept digging.

It’s Raining

The sky is roiling;Tea kettle’s boiling. At

least,Raindrops are not hot.

OwfiMay 1-3

Embassy SuitesOklahoma City

IT’s that time of year again. It’s time for the annual OWFI conference, a gathering of writers from around the state, country, and the world. OWFI is two days jam packed with presentations by authors, editors, and publishers. On top of that we also like to squeeze in as many extras as possible. If you’ve never been, you don’t want to miss it. If you’ve been, you know what a wonderful experience it is. Click HERE for all information. This is also the last week to register at a discounted price. Tulsa NightWriters always sponsors a table or two so we can all sit together at the awards banquet and celebrate with each other when the writing contest chairperson calls our names and passes out our prizes. Yep, you heard me, I said when the chairperson calls out our names.

Keynote Speaker: New York Times Best Selling Author: Eloisa James

Book bonanzaLast month we made a change to an old tradition. As you know, we’ve

always had our book bonanza, which means we offer everyone the opportunity to donate a dollar at the sign-in table to help support our club.

For this dollar, you’ve always been able to select a free book from a collection of books on a table or on the stage, just wherever we had room to

set it up. But over the past year, our donations have dwindled to two or three dollars a meeting, not making it worth the effort to lug that giant bag

of books back and forth every month.

Even though we still welcome donations, here’s what we did. Lottie took those books to Gardner’s Used Bookstore and sold them for $40, which

equals about a year’s worth of donations. That money went into the club treasury to help cover the cost of our door prizes, etc. Now instead of our

old traditional book bonanza, we’re inviting our published authors to create your own book bonanza. Here’s how it works.

If you’d like to make your books available to the club, please bring them to the meeting. We have plenty of room to set up a table to display and

sell your books before and after the meeting (not during). You’ll need to arrive early enough (around 6:30) to get set up. You’ll be responsible for

providing your own change, and taking down your table. There are plenty of tables available in the closet at the back of the room unless you want to

provide your own. All we ask for the benefit of the club is a 15% consignment paid to the club from your book sales. If you don’t already

have it, may I suggest you get the PayPal swipe device for your smartphone? Writers always carry credit cards. Cash seems to elude us.

One more thing. If you don’t want to set up a table and go through the hassle of setting up and taking it down, just bring a few of your books with

you in a bag and make them available. If nothing else, they will be an inspiration to our unpublished members who are dreaming of ink, or eBook

in our modern publishing world.

To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.

Frederick Garcia Lorca.

We didn’t receive many brags this month, but the ones we got were good. If you have an event or brag, be sure to get in to the newsletter.

Jim received another piece of good news this month about Polar City Red. The New York Times is doing a feature article on climate change. Polar City Red will be mentioned as one of the premier books to bring the advent of climate change to the attention of the world. Tentative date: March 21. There’s also the rumor (hope it’s true) that Polar City Red may be mentioned in a follow-on article in Time Magazine.

Jim is also pleased to announce the release of his new sci/fi novel First Contact, along with the re-release of his Galactic Axia adventure and young reader series, all now available on Amazon.

As of this date, March 9th, the first four of these books hold spots 2, 3, 4, and 5 on his publisher’s eBook best-seller list. Spot 10 is held by Jim’s novel From Victim to Hero – The Untold Story of Steven Stayner. Click on these covers and this link to get your copies. Also visit his page at AWOC.COM.

Karen Graham has been asked to speak at the University of Arkansas on their Morrilton Campus to the students about being an author and an entrepreneur/opening Books-A-Daisy, LLC. April 4th.

"Excellence is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution: it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."

Jim Laughter’s novel Polar City Red was mentioned in February in an international blog as being the first novel ever to be described as a cli fi (climate fiction) novel in press releases and publicity material before and after the novel's release. It also helped prompt the Macquarie Dictionary include climate fiction as one of its new words for 2013.

The Tulsa NightWriters have always sponsored book baskets at OWFI. It’s pretty simple. If you’re a published author, we ask you to donate an autographed copy of your book to the club. Pam Wetterman will include it in a beautiful book basket which will be auctioned off at the OWFI banquet. The monies raised goes toward helping fund scholarships and other worthwhile ventures of OWFI. It’s also a good way to get your work and name out there. Besides, it’s a boatload of fun…. So bring a copy of your book to the next meeting. It will be the best one in the basket – Promise….

OWFI

BOOK

BASKETS

Lottie Wilds, President

Bill Wetterman, Treasurer

Pan Wetterman, Hospitality

Jim Laughter, Editor

Do you have an idea to strengthen the Tulsa NightWriters? Send any ideas, suggestions, speaker recommendation, etc. by email to the officer of your choice.

Click on this banner to visit the Tulsa NightWriters website.

TNW Officers for 2014

President Lottie Wilds lottiewilds@yahoo.com

Treasurer Bill Wetterman bwetterman@cox.net

Greeter Pam Wetterman pwetterman@cox.net

NightScripts Editor Jim Laughter jimlaughter@att.net

Your 2014 TNW Office

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Schedule of 2014 Meetings

January 21 – Humor author Heather Smith Davis – how to submit to OWFI contest electronically.February 18 Bill Wetterman: Researching for your new novel. The fun behind the words.March 18 Lottie Wilds: Poetry night April 15 – Jim Laughter: Writing dialogueMay 20 – OWFI contest winner recognitionJune 17- John Taylor: Jazz Blogger & PromoJuly 15 – PendingAugust 19 – Jackie King & The Foxy