Monthly Archives: November 2012

November 2012 Open Mic

. Notes from Laurel Leigh . , , , , , , , , ,
Dear Writers,
Stories + Art at November’s Open Mic!

This month we welcomed poet Keith Moul to our midst. He writes poetry that pairs with his photo art, including this gorgeous road-in-the-desert scene. Thank you, Keith, for giving us a lovely backdrop for your reading. (The other backdrop is the half-built holiday sleigh at Village Books.)

Jim Milstead was the night’s opener with a holiday-themed, oh-so-slightly sarcastic poem discussing shopping for the season. Lest we be lulled by a seasonal greeting, next came “Land of Milk and Honeybucket.” Susan Cross followed with traumatic and hilarious memories of prepping Sunday schoolkids for a pageant—Who moved baby Jesus? Nancy Canyon had us in stitches with a new story, “Holy Spirit Delivers,” featuring a character who has a go at a revival meeting in her living room, by herself. Continue reading →

Lisa Lewis on Literary Mama

. Notes from Laurel Leigh . , , ,

Dear Writers:

Here’s a wonderful post at Literary Mama from writer Lisa Lewis about the maturation of good story ideas. Living in the San Francisco Bay area, Lisa and I met in a writing class taught by the amazing Lewis Buzbee (author of several titles including Fliegelman’s Desire, which I have introduced in some of my classes). Lisa and I started graduate school at the same time—she want to Mills and I went to SF State. Along the way, we compared notes about our experiences and have kept in touch ever since. Nice post, Lisa!

http://www.literarymama.com/blog/archives/

2012/11/after-page-one-experience.html

September 2012 Open Mic

. Open Mic @ Village Books . , , , , , , , ,
Dear Writers,
Mopping, I discovered that my kitchen floor is actually light brown.

So how is your floor like your character? It’s not, but if you do the work to fully render the little moments that gradually strip away the layers obscuring your character’s true self, the critical scene in which the last of those layers falls away has potential to be extremely powerful on the page.

On to September’s open mic recap! Continue reading →

October 2012 Open Mic

. Open Mic @ Village Books . , , , , , , ,
Dear Writers,
October’s open mic was spooky good, frankly.

image from the dabbler.co.uk

Being born on Halloween, I was uniquely qualified to emcee this particular open mic. A few witches showed up to help me cast a spell that called for some eye of newt and toe of frog as well as some scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, gall of goat and a tiger’s chaudron. All of this they stirred into a cauldron. If you haven’t guessed who they were by now, you need to go read your classics. Continue reading →