Upstate SC SinC January, 2016 Meeting

Upstate SC SinC January, 2016 Meeting

The first Upstate SinC meeting in 2016 is going to be different. Since January is an iffy weather month and our chapter must have officer elections, we hated to invite a speaker who may have to fight the weather to get to us and then have their time cut short for elections. So, our Executive Committee decided to take advantage or our great wealth of member knowledge with a guided information discussion. In February, we will return to our normal format and again host the psychic. She was so much fun the first time that we couldn’t resist bringing her back.

The trouble with the discussion was finding topics that interest everyone considering the wide range of our member’s experience. We have everything from individuals who read, to those who have just started writing, to those who have published multiple books. The decision was to let the members vote.

The winning topics in order of popularity are: What readers hate, What readers love, Plotting, Mechanics of ebook publishing, and tied for fifth, Editing and Decisions related to paperback sales/production.

The meeting will be framed as an information session, not a class. As an example, one of the topics is plotting. An actual course on how to plot could take days, and truthfully, it’s a subject a lot of our writers aren’t interested in. We came up with this topic by asking a couple of readers what they would like to know from our authors. Their first question: how do writers come up with a story? Do they know the ending when they start? Do they start with characters, and then let them decide what happens next? Or do they just make it all up as they go along so they’re as surprised by the ending as everyone else? It’s my intention to ask our writers these questions. Of course, anyone can ask a follow-up. We’ll start with the most popular and go as far as we can in the list.

I’m hoping this will be a fun session and that everyone will get something out of it. Look at the topics and think about how you would answer the questions. I will do my best to respect those who do not want to talk and give an opportunity to those who do.

Prior to the information session, we will have officer elections.

The monthly meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 7 at the Runway Café, 21 Airport Rd, Greenville, S.C. Come at 6:15 p.m. to mill around and ask everyone else how their Christmas was. Dinner should be served around 6:30 with the meeting beginning at 7 p.m. We’ll have elections first then the information session. Both the dinner and the meeting are open to the public.

The Runway Café prefers our group’s dinner orders be emailed in advance to speed service. To see the special menu for our group and the procedure for placing an order, please visit our website — www.sincupstatesc.blogspot.com  — click on the Advance Order Menu tab at right.  Please send your selection to Ellis Vidler at evidler@att.net If you do not receive a confirmation of your order, please try again. Dinner orders need to be placed by noon the day of the meeting. If you place an order and do not attend or cancel by noon, you will be charged for the meal. And we will, as always, eat it with gusto.