Crazy Buffet Club

  Meeting Notes

Our group of writers meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 5:30. We are meeting at a restaurant those days. An automated email is sent out reminding us of the meeting   There is also a Zoom meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month An email reminder with a Zoom link will be sent.   If you are not getting the emails, please let Jim know, and he will make sure you are on the email list. Zoom may not be for everyone. The group is encouraged to stay in contact with each other through personal email, text, phone, or carrier pigeon if need be. Keep checking in with each other, reading each others work, and encouraging each other during these weird times.    And keep writing.

Link to send Jim money for author copies https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/UZHQPMXH9F34C I will order them and ship to your address. Just let me know: how many you need Your mailing address   For the 2025 Omnibus collection: The list price on Amazon is $12 + shipping and handling. The member price is be $6.60 + shipping and handling. Estimated shipping is determined by quantity and your address. May change by a few cents.  You can pay me after they arrive.  Jim  

Things to look for when reading stories from other contributors. This will help their story and the process will hopefully also make you think more about these things in your own story. FIRST DRAFT EDITING AND COMMENTS How well the story is working as a whole What's working well. What’s not working as effectively as it might and could be strengthened Point to specific places, and offer her reasons for making a comment. If you suggest ways the author might address an issue try not to impose your own vision on the author’s intentions. Consistency of voice, if you are comfortable understanding the authors voice. Awkward or clunky narrative or dialogue. Syntax. Extraneous or echoed words/phrases. Consistency. Things like character and place names, descriptions, timelines. Sensitivity. If an author request this, according to Writers Digest, "An increasingly popular service involving a professional reader who is expert or has a personal background in an area of story that the...

 The 3rd Tuesday of each month we will discuss writing that has been submitted by two members for critique Submission word count should not exceed 8 pages, at least not by very much. The submissions should be emailed to Crazy Buffet Critique mailing list by the 1st Tuesday meeting. The writers submitting should include something about what they hope to get from the critique comments. Any member can provide comments. They can email them to the writer, or wait until the critique meeting to give comments. The writers will read their submissions on the 3rd Tuesday, and then the work will be discussed. Before the end of the meeting, the next writers to submit for the next month will be identified. Writers that have submitted the least recently will be considered first.   More thoughts on critiques: I want to add something about critiquing. (Actually a couple of things) PAGE FORMATTING: Typically when doing page counts, the industry used this format: Double spaced, 12 point font (co...

Time to make a 8th collection.    CONCEPT   We have agreed to create a collection of short stories that members of our group will write and edit for the purpose of publication.  All group members are invited and encouraged to contribute. All fiction genres, non-fiction, and poetry are acceptable. Authors are encouraged to keep their submissions to a maximum of 7,500 words, although that can be broken down into multiple pieces, and you can also write fewer words if you wish. . Remember, that though we are not putting strict limits on anything except total words, we would like like to be able to refer readers of all ages to this collection.     DEADLINES First draft to writers@crazybuffet.com by June 1. Two other members will read each story and provide comments and edits. If you contribute a story, plan to also read others'. Jim will make sure two people get the First draft to concentrate on developmental and overview edits .     Ready-to-polis...