Welcome to 2011 -  we do hope the seasonal break has been good for your creativity,

Our February meeting was upset by weather. We do hope that is the end of the ‘Wet’ as far as our meetings are concerned.

We were able to do some planning for the coming year and hope it will, be inspirational for us all.

The main and most urgent aspect is the Competition for 2011. There were suggestions for a number of changes; these will be presented at the March meeting.

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Yes this is the subject for the 250 word exercise for March, having been delayed from previous meeting, so if you haven’t written yet you have three weeks until the 17^th.

Tropical Writers are going to produce another Anthology this year, so we will have details for you.

Everybody was so pleased to have the author James Phelan and his partner attend our November meeting, we know everyone gained from the conversations; we are endeavoring to have other published authors attend during the year.

We are all reading every month, so we would request everyone to bring a book review. It should be short and mainly accent the reason why you consider it to be, good writing, have a strong storyline and add any other points relating to your endeavors as a writer.

To our poets, we would love you to do the same exercise with a poem, or poetic piece.

 As usual we try to bring good information that can be instructional or informative. In this issue, its good sense and advice for any trying or considering publication.

5 Lies Unpublished Writers Tell Themselves (and the Truths That Can Get Them Published)

 by Matt Mikalatos, freelancer,
and author of the novel "Imaginary Jesus"
(BarnaBooks, April 2010)

With thanks to ‘Writers Digest’

Writers tend to be creative in many areas of life, so it's no surprise that we can get creative with the truth. Or, as my mother said, "You lie a lot." This is especially tempting when we are debating why we aren't published. Before I was a published author, I embraced a few cherished lies because they blunted the pain of rejection. But the road to publication required discarding these lies and facing reality. Here are five lies I believed before I was published:

1. THE RULES DON'T APPLY TO ME.

I write amazing first drafts. If there were a contest for first drafts, mine would win every time. So I told myself, "Writing is not rewriting." Other people might have to do multiple drafts, but my first drafts are so solid I could publish them as-is. For years I believed this.

One day I did three drafts of an article, and it became my first published article. A solid first draft is not good enough to be published. All those "rules of writing" that you read in Writer's Digest, on blogs, and in
creative writings classes are rules because they are true most of the time. So if there are some rules that you think don't apply to you, think again. It might be the rule preventing you from getting published.

2. AGENTS AND EDITORS HAVE IT IN FOR ME.

Ah, those blood-sucking agents and editors. I'm pretty sure they have meetings in a secret underground lair where they talk about how jealous they are of my writing skills and how they should team up to keep me from being published.

This is a lie that is so prevalent among unpublished writers that editors and agents have to go to psychologists so they can feel good about themselves again. I know one editor who calls herself "Dream Crusher" to assuage her pain. Here's the truth: Editors and agents desperately want you to be good enough. They make a living by writers being publishable. If you're getting rejected it's because you still have work to do. either as a writer or as a marketer.

3. I'M NOT A MARKETER, I'M A WRITER!

Which is exactly why you aren't published yet. You have to do the hard work of writing a spectacular query and proposal. Notice that you have to "write" the query and proposal. You're not being asked to do an interpretive dance or draft blueprints to a rocket ship. It might not be your style, and it might be hard work, but being a published author is hard work, complete with e-mails you don't want to answer, deadlines, accounting and marketing!

4. I SHOULD SPEND A LOT OF TIME FANTASIZING OVER WHERE I WILL BE PUBLISHED NOW THAT I'VE WRITTEN TWO CHAPTERS OF MY NOVEL.

It is way more fun to read Writer's Market over and over—memorizing the publishers and agents—than it is to write your book. And while this is good practice for when your book is ready to shop, if the fantasy-to-writing ratio tips toward fantasy, it's time to get back to writing. Unless you are writing a fantasy, in which case you are probably fine and keep up the good work.

5. I'M A BETTER WRITER THAN MOST PUBLISHED AUTHORS.

If you're like me, you love picking up a book from the "Top 10" rack, flipping it open and cringing at the terrible prose. But this author (who is, keep in mind, a worse writer than you) somehow got a contract, got published and is selling well. I said this most often before I had finished writing the first draft of my first novel. Perhaps it's just that the "hack writers" out there actually finish their books.

Here's an exercise: Find a writer online who is published but far inferior to you as a writer. Look at what magazines they are published in. Then write stories or articles to submit to those magazines. This is a guaranteed way to build your writing resume. Unless—they are actually better writers than you, in which case, it's a good reality check.

These are a few of the lies that I wish someone had confronted me with when I was an unpublished writer. Now, here's one last truth for you: You can do this. Work hard, keep writing, improve your craft and be persistent. We're all waiting to read your masterpiece!

***
WORD OF THE MONTH

PREPOSTEROUS

Pronunciation: pree-PAH-stêr-ês

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Outlandish, perversely absurd, way, way, way beyond the bounds of reason. 2. (A bit dated) Putting the cart before the horse, having the front and back (or heads and tails) reversed.

Notes: Have you ever wondered what preposterous things become later on, once they become really "posterous"? Today's word is

what I call a "curve word" since, like a curve ball in baseball, it isn't what it seems to be. We are right to separate the prefix 'pre-', but if we do so, we also have to separate 'post' for reasons the Word History will make clear. The adverb here is

'preposterously', and the only noun we have is 'preposterousness'.

In Play: In order to use today's Good Word accurately, its reference must be outlandishly absurd: "When I said that the boss's idea of manufacturing helicopter ejection seats was preposterous, everyone at the conference table glared at me." If you know someone else who subscribes to our Good Words, you can also use the original meaning of this word when speaking with them: "I've never heard of anything so preposterous: Mikey says that he has a preposterous nickel. How could he know?"

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Latin praeposterus "in reverse order, perverse", made up of pre- "before" + posterus "behind". 'Posterus' was derived from post "after", found in

several phrases borrowed from Latin, such as post hoc "after the fact", ex post facto "retroactively", and post war "after the war". The prefix pre- "before" in Latin came from the same source as English 'fore' in, well, 'before', as well as 'forecast',

'foretell', and 'forebode'. 'Post' came from a root that also ended up as English 'off' and 'after'.

Next month’s meeting Thursday 17 March 2011 Don’t forget bring some work for critique

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