Writers’ Mill Minutes May 18 2025
Housekeeping
4 people attended May’s meeting in-person and 11 were on Zoom for a total of 15 (+1 other briefly). We started with usual housekeeping reminders.
- Online: switch off mics if noisy; switch on captions (and use headphones) if hard to hear; use chat if hard to make yourself heard.
- In person: Speak toward the mic; try not to speak away from the mic or no one hears anyone.
Ezines, Votes, and Upcoming Writing Prompts
- https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/may-2025-ezine-contest-page/may-2025-entries-voting-page/ is a link to May’s “Peering through a Window” ezine. Our host Ruth gave us the titles which gained the most votes, a brief synopsis, and some favorite lines from each of these winning pieces, which should surely be enough to entice you into reading. (But Sheila didn’t manage to note the favorite lines, so you’ll have to read them yourselves to find them.)
- First, Karin, “The Pink Monstrosity”, a tale of love, home and feelings
- Second, Mark, “Peer through a Window”, the wisdom of an 11-year-old escaping disharmony and learning about choice
- Tying for Third, David F, “Cow Tag”, practicalities of farm life, growing up, and human/animal connections
- Tying for Third, Clayton, “At a Distance”, longing, disconnection, conversation
- Other entries were
- A Room on the Water – Sheila
- Bedroom Windows – Jessie
- Bittersweet – Sara
- Counting – Mary
- Disturbance on Lake Durbin – Judy
- Flight Beyond the Known (poem) – Judy
- Here Lies a Tale – Jean
- Independence – Matthew
- My Husband Thinks “Lawn Boy” is a Mower! – Gary
- Peering Through Pandora’s Portals – Lyndsay
- Windows of my Mind (poem) – Sheila
- Windows of Space and Time – Peter
- https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/ is your link for upcoming contests/ezines. Writing prompts are
- June – Sun, Sea, and Sky – Sheila – Dance with the summer blossoming around you as June calls to us all and remember your many visits and/or adventures in the sun, by the sea, beneath varied skies—and let your muse be inspired, your story, poem, or essay come to life.July – something that takes place in a moving vehicle – Steve – Any kind of “conveyance” is acceptable, from one as simple as a tricycle to bicycle to horse and wagon, or just a wagon, a car, Parasail? Beer tram? Parachute? Bungee jump? Snowmobile? Sleigh ride?
- August – county fair confessions – David F – Being as this is a summertime month, the theme reflects a common event around this country and likely around many parts of the world (though perhaps ‘country fair’ might arise as a title of the event vs. ‘county’).
- Writers’ Mill members may submit up to two pieces for each month, and all members are encouraged to read and comment, even if your writing is not in the ezine. Ruth pointed out she prefers not to vote, as it’s hard to compare a poem with a story with an essay. That said, if you feel you can, we appreciate your letting us know which three pieces affected you the most by voting, just for fun.
1,200 words (or 6, or fewer if you prefer), any genre, send to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org by the end of the first Sunday of the month, which is actually the first DAY of June for the upcoming ezine.
Speaker Presentation
Our speaker this month was Cindy Brown, the author of some really fun mysteries with the coolest titles – MacDeath, Sound of Murder, Oliver Twisted… She’s also a ghost writer, copywriter, scriptwriter, content writer, remote worker, traditionally published, self-published with Draft 2 Digital, and more.
Cindy’s presentation included
- a look at traditional, small press, hybrid and indie/self publishing
- author experiences with agents, editors and publishers
- how your writing goal can determine your path
- red flags and contracts
- self publishing with Draft 2 Digital
Find out more at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/19/do-you-want-to-be-published-with-cindy-brown-and-draft2digital-20250515/
Anthology News
The deadline for anthology submissions is the end of the first Sunday in August – August 3rd. So far we have two submissions. Obviously, we are hoping for many more. (Rules below)
If you have sent submissions to our ezines, you might want to note the ezine word limit (1,200 words) means you can easily send 4 of your ezine submissions to the anthology, where your total word limit is 5,000 words. There are no rules about topic or genre for the anthology. Brave volunteers will find a way to put all your submissions together in a smoothly flowing, nicely titled volume. And the rules are:
- Writers’ Mill Members only
- Up to 5 entries per person
- No more than 5,000 words in total
- Pictures, yes, but not AI
- All submissions to be received by the end of August 3rd.
- If you are sending simultaneous submissions, the last date to withdraw your submission is August 3rd.
- We will ask for volunteer editors, collators, titlers, illustrators etc soon.
- Send submissions to anthology @ portlandwritersmill . org
The anthology will be uploaded to KDP (on the library’s account) at our November meeting in time for Holiday gift giving. Look in the library, or on Amazon, to see the anthologies from previous years – it’s a high-quality production, and it’s YOUR chance to be published.
What Sheila Forgot – KDP Royalties
Amazon is reducing the royalties on books priced at less than $10, so…
Do we want to increase prices on our older anthologies? Sheila will check and increase them anyway if the books would go out of print. But please reply to this email and let her know if you have an opinion on the subject. Library proceeds from sales will go down if we do nothing (but the proceeds are small anyway).
Dates to remember
- Sunday June 1st deadline for Sun Sea and Sky submissions
- Sunday June 15th, Father’s Day, a special (recorded) presentation from historical fiction author Melanie Dobson. If you can’t join for the whole meeting, why not just join for the first hour for the speaker?
- Sunday August 3rd deadline for anthology