San Antonio Writers' Guild Meetings, Critiques and Workshops

NOTE: The full shedule of upcoming events can be found on the home page.

SPEAKER/ACTIVITIES AT PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Programs planned for the monthly meetings of the San Antonio Writers' Guild:

In February of 2013, Poet Juan Perez spoke about and read some of his "Chupacabra" poetry, discussed his forthcoming anthology and revealed how South Texas lore and legends can inspire our writing.

Juan has been selected as the 2011-2012 Poet Laureate for the San Antonio Poets' Association.

Juan Manuel Perez is a native of La Pryor, Texas, and son to second Generation Mexican-Americans. He is also a former Navy/Marine Medic and currently a high school history teacher. Juan served in the First Gulf War earning the title of combat medic and extending his expertise to civilians in Florida in 1992 during the Hurricane Andrew operation. He is also the author of 6 chapbooks including BENEATH THE TIGHTS (2006), WITHIN THE FUNNY COLORED PAGES (2006), and the SPIRIT OF MOTECUHZOMA II, 2nd. ed. (2006). He is also a member of the San Antonio Poets Association, San Angelo Writers' Club, and the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Here is a link to his website: www.juanmperez.com

OCTOBER 2012

Lori will be discussing how to make your manuscript jump out of the sluch pile.

SEPTEMBER 2012

Jordan will be discussing Writing for the Young Adult Market – Where do I begin? (One author’s journey)

MEETING SCHEDULE

The San Antonio Writers' Guild meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Bethany Congregational Church at 500 Pilgrim Drive in San Antonio. The first Thursday date is bumped to the second Thursday when holidays interfere, such as New Year's Day, Independence Day, and church holidays. The Board of Directors Meeting begins at 6 p.m., before the general meeting. The directors meeting is open to the general membership, but closed to visitors, except by invitation.

What Happens at a SAWG Meeting?
At the beginning of meetings we welcome new members, members share good/bad/funny news, guild business transpires, sometimes we raffle donated books. A program follows, most often presented by guest speakers on a wide range of topics of interest to writers. Afterwards, membership splits into groups for workshops.
Learn more about workshops >>
View the programs archive >> (coming in the future)

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WHO'S INVITED

All persons interested in the writing profession are invited to the meetings of the San Antonio Writers' Guild. Visitors are welcome to attend. If you like our group, we encourage you to become a member and attend future meetings.

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FIRST THURSDAY WORKSHOPS

Workshops at the monthly meeting are divided into fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Each workshop has its own rules about how much is read, but generally a person's work is read and workshop participants offer friendly criticism and advice. Workshops are held after the business and program part of the meeting. Workshops are held 11 months of the year: January through November. (The December meeting is the Holiday Party.)

Fiction
A person must be a member to have their work read. Members sign up the month before to have their work read and critiqued. The piece must be no longer than 10 double-spaced pages in 12-point font (pica). Therefore, the piece is a short story, part of a chapter, or similar. The author needs to pick someone read his/her piece and the author can ask someone in the workshop to read it that day. The author should bring three copies of the piece, one for the reader, one for the author to follow along, and one for any member who is hearing impaired. With the author's copy, the writer can mark items that come to his/her attention during the reading. (If the reader stumbles while reading the piece, that indicates there might be a problem with the sentence structure. If the author can bring additional copies for other workshop participants to follow with, that's great, but not necessary. Just expect the other workshop participants to mark on those copies. The author can briefly "set up" the reading especially if the reading is a portion of a book, but shouldn't do any additional explanation before or after, especially if the piece is a stand-alone (complete short story) or the first chapter of a novel. The workshop participants critique the work after the reading and the advice is given on a "take it or leave it basis." Authors do not get a chance to respond to the advice (Writers don't get to respond to a reader's comments after the book is published. As an author, you can't go around the country and explain what's in the book)

Usually there are three pieces read at each workshop.

Non-Fiction
A person must be a member to have their work read. Each piece is up to five double-spaced pages. The author can bring enough copies so each person (usually from six to nine) can have a copy to follow along during the reading. The workshop members generally make notes on the copy and hand it back to the author. The author can read the piece and explain it. Advice given by workshop participants is on a "take it or leave it basis."

Poetry
A person must be a member to have their work read. Usually three poems from each person are read and there is time to read the poems from three or four people, which means from nine to 12 poems are read each night. After a poem is read, the workshop participants offer editorial and friendly comments. The workshop participants tell the poet how they saw the poem and the poet tells the workshop participants how s/he saw the poem.

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