August Letter from the Editor, intro & a word from our sponsor

By: Donnell Ann Bell

As the new managing editor of Writing from the Peak, I’ve been putting off writing my first Letter from the Editor column, not because I’ve been waiting for inspiration; I wanted to talk about what I hope to bring to this blog and the writing organization I represent.

First and foremost, Writing from the Peak belongs to Pikes Peak Writers. So if you’re a member—and why wouldn’t you be? (Pikes Peak Writers has no geographical restrictions and membership is free), this is your blog. Yes, we have columnists who do a great job, and we depend on them a great deal. But if you have an idea that you think would make a great blog article, contact me at editor@pikespeakwriters.com. We have guest columnists, and I will consider all relevant, well-written topics.

Don’t want to write an article but still have something to say or a question to ask? No problem. We’re adding something new for our members. Each month, starting this month, Pikes Peak Writers’ President, J.T. Evans, will post his ASK THE PREZ column. This is your opportunity to take your questions and comments straight to the top. Look for J.T.’s ASK THE PREZ on August 9^th.

Thanks for bearing with me while I get my editor feet wet. And I'd like to do a special shout out to Debi Archibald, my predecessor, who for fourteen months did an outstanding job, held my hand, and made this such a smooth transition. Thanks, Debi.

As always, look for compelling quotes, helpful, amusing, and thought-provoking articles from our regular columnists, upcoming monthly events, and Sweet Success stories. However, know that Pikes Peak Writers has some of the most talented writers in the publishing industry, and I plan to introduce them to you.

Also, don’t look now, folks, but it’s August. You know what that means. The Zebulon Writing Contest opens in 43 days. On September 14, 2015, the Zebulon is open to both published and unpublished authors in novel-length fiction. For rules and further information check out www.pikespeakwriters.com

Speaking of August, let’s get to it.   

About the author: Donnell Ann Bell is the new managing editor for Writing from the Peak and the coordinator for the monthly Open Critique held on the first Wednesday of every month. She is a best selling romantic suspense and mystery author. To learn more about her books, find her at www.donnellannbell.com

July Letter From the Editor

By Debi Archibald

I am writing this on Saturday morning, the 239th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Before I start cutting up the watermelon and slicing the tomatoes and onions. Before the yard is filled with the summer sound of five kids shrieking as they dash through the sprinklers. Before I drag the cooler outside and fill it with ice.

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I have always been grateful that I was born in this country, particularly as a female. Politics aside, we have been blessed with freedoms and liberties that few other nations enjoy. Yet somehow I never really connected that freedom with the writing life. With the exception of out-and-out libel, writers are free to tell their stories or publish their opinions. There are still countries on this planet where those acts cost you your freedom, if not your life. I suspect we don't value this privilege as often as we should when we sit down to write.

Add technology to the mix and opportunity and liberty explode. Can you imagine the Founding Fathers reactions if they slipped through a time warp and sat in front of an internet-connected screen? (Knowing what we do about Mr. Franklin, I suspect he would have been all over it!) What took days of painstaking hand-printing, nib repeatedly dipped in inkwell, could now be accomplished in minutes. Is something lost, some thoughtfulness or caution, when our hands can move faster than our minds? Maybe, but this is the world we live in.

So with these musings, I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Fourth of July and are looking forward to the remainder of summer. Donnell Bell will be writing her first Letter From the Editor in August so once again, I say goodbye and thank you.

About the Author: Debi Archibald is the outgoing Editor of the Writing From the Peak blog. Having put a long career in healthcare administration behind her, she is the author of two novels: Crushed and Form and Function. When she is not at her desk, she is passionate about the Colorado mountains, hiking, gardening and most especially her five grandchildren.

June Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

It's probably safe to apply the same advice that tells us not to start our stories with the weather to blog posts. Yet it's nearly irresistible today when there is finally enough sun to splash shadows across the sidewalks and a garnet-colored songbird is serenading me from the bush right outside my office window. The variety of birdlife here in Colorado has really been a revelation to me. I hale from Arizona, and in the desert every winged creature was either a sparrow, a finch or if it was really big, a crow. (This is more a demonstration of my lack of avian knowledge than the actual scarcity of the bird population in the desert Southwest.) When our Colorado Springs weather was doing its best to mimic the climate of the Pacific Northwest over the last couple of weeks, my neighborhood enjoyed a migration of all sorts of wildly colored birds. I told my grandkids it was like watching Rio in my own backyard. Now I can add tanagers and orioles to the list of a half-dozen birds I can actually identify.

So now that I have broken the rule about starting off with the weather, and then doubled my sins by not starting my story at the beginning, I'll get down to business.

Shannon Lawrence handed Writing from the Peak off to me over a year ago and it truly has been a rewarding experience. Editing the blog has afforded me the opportunity to interact with many PPW authors whom I would not normally have met, as well giving me a sneak peak at a lot of valuable teaching and advice.

And now it's time to hand the baton off again. Donnell Bell will be assuming the editorship of the blog some time in July when her plate is a little less overloaded than it is at the moment. Donnell brings a great deal of publishing experience as well as an extensive network in the writing community, both of which will contribute to keeping your blog vital and fresh.

Thank you for the experience. It has been an honor and a privilege.

About the Author: Debi Archibald is the outgoing editor of Writing from the Peak and the author of two novels, Form and Function and Crushed. She is also passionate about gardening, reading, and hiking, but most particularly about grandmotherhood, the most gratifying do-over around. Find her at pikespeakpen.com

May Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald 

I am writing this on Sunday, one week post-conference, still processing the workshops, the random meetings, the keynotes, the volunteer experiences. Working to find the process that will take three intense days worth of information and infuse it into my writing life for the next 51 weeks. My "to-read" shelf is stacked with several books that are way outside my genre comfort zone. I finally entrusted the first several chapters of a rough draft to a beta reader. And I learned more from sitting in on several R&C sessions than I ever have in a formal writing class.

Over the next several weeks you will see some guest posts from the writers who received scholarships to attend PPWC15. They'll provide a wide range of fresh insight and perspective into the conference experience, as well as their own personal take-aways.

What did you take away from Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2015? And where will it take you this year?

Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. Two novels, Form and Function and Crushed, are in various stages of editing. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

Quote of the Week and Week to Come

"Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer. There are people who write, but I think they're quite different from people who must write."

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(Nelle) Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 - )

To Kill a Mockingbird 

Go Set a Watchman (July 2015)

This week on Writing from the Peak:

Linda Rohrbough will give some advice on making the most of post-conference.

Jennifer Lovett Herbranson will continue her posts on marketing, giving some "pointers" on what you should keep in mind when you tweet, post or pin.

Debi Archibald will give you the news and events coming up in May. 

April Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

I am writing this on Good Friday so we are exactly three weeks away from PPWC15. This will be my third conference and I find myself reflecting on how differently I feel about Conference, writers'

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groups and writing in general than I did in Spring 2013 when I joined PPW. I had just walked away from a management career that required a grueling travel schedule. One of the promises I made to myself was that I would make use of the time I now had to return to a long-neglected love of writing. But the world of publication, promotion and "real" writers seemed very other-wordly and looking back, I can see I participated in PPWC13 with that mindset.      

Now two years later I have completed two novels, been privileged to edit the Writing from the Peak blog and attended dozens of workshops. Two concepts that continue to bubble up as a result of this engagement are demystification and accessibility. PPW has drawn back the curtain and revealed that the world of published authors is populated by people who are just like me. And the group has given me access to an insiders pass for information regarding craft, editing, trends, and the workings of the industry.

I share this not because my journey is unique or fascinating. As writers we all want to think we are special but I suspect there are many others out there who feel safer in the periphery just as I did that first year. So let me encourage you not to waste the opportunity of this upcoming conference as well as all the other PPW events through the year. Take risks, make friends and realize this world really does belong to you as much as anyone else. There is no Wizard behind the curtain; just the door to the wonderful, nerve-wracking world of words.

Quote of the Week and Week to Come

"Tricks you need to transform something which appears fantastic, unbelievable into something plausible, credible, those I learned from journalism. The key is to tell it straight. It is done by reporters and by country folk."

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Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3/6/27 - 4/17/14)Love in the Time of Cholera
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Recipient, Novel Prize for Literature

This week on Writing from the Peak:

* Letter from the Editor                                 Debi Archibald

* Faculty Interview: Pam McCutcheon       Jason Henry

* First Wednesday Post                                  Deb McLeod

* Faculty Interview: Robert Spiller              Jason Henry

* PPW March News & Events                       Debi Archibald

* Faculty Interview: Pete Klismet                Jason Henry

February Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

Hello, Pikes Peak Writers.

As I sit down to write this on Super Bowl Sunday, I discover that I find February to be a particularly uninspiring month. Winter is starting to lose its charm. I want to run outside without worrying about ending up in urgent care. I want to garden. A little happy hour on the back patio would be heavenly.

And I'm not an especially enthusiastic fan of Valentine's Day. However, the last two years have brought a mid-February event that helps put some spark back into this month that tends, at least for me, toward doldrums.

Write Your Heart Out is a talent-and-information packed event that happens to fall right on Valentine's Day this year. It's a free, four-hour (1:00-5:00 p.m.) opportunity to get a little taste of Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2015. You can interact with some of the conference faculty at the Marriott, where conference will take place in April, and you might even break the ice with some fellow conference attendees. See the "Events" tab on the website for more detail.

Conference is now less than three months away. Many of the speakers and faculty have graciously responded to a set of interview questions, allowing you to get to know a little bit about them before you start making decisions on which workshops to attend. Watch for those Q&A posts on Writing from the Peak as we step up the frequency of blog posts.

And look forward to a slightly more upbeat editor in March!

Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has two completed novels in various stages of editing. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

It's the first Monday of January 2015 and the first letter from the Editor of the year. I felt almost obliged to craft a post along the theme of resolutions and goal-setting. After all, it's a brand-new year, a tabula rasa, a clean slate. Ring out the old, ring in the new. Right?

Yet while this tradition of lofty first-of-the-year promises dates as far back as the Babylonians and the Romans, Wikipedia cites a recent study showing that 88% of those making New Year's resolutions fail. That's a 12% success rate. I don't know about you, but I like odds tilted just a little bit more in my favor. 

So I'm thinking more along the lines of a New Day's resolution, or if I'm feeling wildly ambitious, a New Week's resolution. While it may seem noble to aim for a brand new body, a  polished, market-ready manuscript and a well-fed savings account by December 31, knowing there is only a one-in-ten chance of success can short-circuit those objectives at the first sign of a pan of dark chocolate brownies or a shoe sale at Dillard's. Twelve months is just too far away in our culture of instant gratification.

But a 24-hour commitment is manageable even for those of us with the most fleeting of attention spans. For a day I can write those 500 words, take a two-mile walk and abstain from retail therapy. And with the satisfaction derived from hitting those marks, I can muster the resolve to do it again the next day. Or the next seven. And by the end of the year, that just might mean jeans in a smaller size, a rough draft and enough discretionary funds to go on a writing retreat. 

Baby steps and small successes truly do build on each other. And if your daily or weekly goals revolve around your writing career, use Pikes Peak Writers as a tool to get you there. There are a minimum of three events every month (Open Critique, Write Brain and Writer's Night). That will get you from week to week. Looking forward to PPWC15 gets you all the way to April and by then you will have established routines and strategies to let you soar through the remainder of the year.

Don't set yourself up to fail and be part of the 88%. 

About the Author: Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has completed two novels (Form and Function and Crushed). In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

December Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

Did December 1st catch you off guard this year? There is something about a late Thanksgiving that makes the entire holiday season seem compressed. And if you were a NaNoWriMo-er, November likely flew by at an even more alarming pace. Were you basting the turkey with one hand and trying to amp up your word count with the other? I admit, I was not too far removed from that scenario.

On this Monday and first day of the last month of 2014, this is my holiday card to you all. I wish you a season that is busy enough to feel festive but buffered by enough quiet time to reflect and be creative. I wish you inspiration and courage as you make your 2015 writing goals. I wish for other writers to cross your paths who will challenge you and encourage you. I wish you whatever success looks like to you and you alone. And I hope that when you are looking back at this time next year you will be reviewing your most exciting literary year ever.

Thank you for the privilege of being your Editor and for the opportunity to interact with such a wide variety of talented authors. I have learned something from you each and every month and I look forward to spending time with those of you I haven't met at Conference in April.

So from my desk to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a prosperous New Year.

Debi

Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has completed two novels, one of which may actually see the light of day. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

Letter from the Editor

From Debi Archibald

We are officially in the dog days of summer. And with the purchase of today's blog, at no additional charge you get the backstory on that phrase. (If you have absolutely no interest in the origins of some of the terms we casually toss around, skip to the next section.) This particular turn of words has no connection whatsoever with the effect of high temps on our canine buddies but instead refers to the Roman designation of the days in late July and early August when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose and set with the sun. Syncing up with our modern Gregorian calendar extends this period from July 16 to August 24. You can now impress your friends and family with this trivial tidbit at the next barbecue. The reinvention of this phrase is so complete that if you search images for Dog Days of Summer, you get one constellation and 254 beagles floating in pools, sporting sunglasses.

www.vigilantcitizen.com

But no matter what we call this waning time of summer, fall and the school season are right around the corner. And even if it's been decades since you loaded up a backpack with No. 2 pencils and a groovy Trapper Keeper, I'm willing to bet you still experience some sense of transition and fresh start around this season.

Pikes Peak Writers is not exempt from this tradition. Efforts are ramping up for the 2015 Conference. The Zebulon contest will be opening next month. There is some new leadership that will be becoming more visible. It's a prime point in time to recommit to engaging with other writers in this vibrant organization and to writing the dates of PPW Events on your calendar in ink, not No. 2 pencil.

As an aside, while there were not many burning questions submitted in response to my "What do YOU want" query last month, our talented contributors seized with enthusiasm on those that did come in. Columns on those topics will be appearing on Writing from the Peak in the near future.

See you in September!

About the Author: Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has one very bad novel under her belt (and in a drawer) and a second, hopefully not so bad, underway. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

July Letter from the Editor

By Debi Archibald

We are now officially into the second half of 2014 and, at least here in Colorado, smack dab in the middle of the season where the outdoors beckons us away from our desks. Are you at least halfway through your writing goals for the year? (You do have yearly writing goals, right?)

Part of the raison d'être for Writing from the Peak is to help the readership focus on goals and forward

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momentum. This blog is a communal effort with contributions from a wide spectrum of voices and perspectives. On occasion, the regular columnists have asked me what topic I would like them to address. As a rookie, I have deferred to their expertise. But today I find myself wondering if that isn't a really good question to ask you, the readers.

Is there some previously undiscussed aspect of writing or the writer's life you would like to read about? Or perhaps there is a subject we have addressed here at WFTP, but you would like to hear a slightly different slant or experience or viewpoint.

Now is your chance to speak up. Of course, if there are a hundred different ideas for blog topics it would take the next two years to catch up! But I suspect there may be some common threads of unanswered questions or concerns out there that we can pass on to our talented team of bloggers. Let me hear your thoughts in the Comment section and thank you for your participation in this forum.

About the Author:  Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has one very bad novel under her belt (and in a drawer) and a second, hopefully not so bad, underway. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find her at pikespeakpen.com.

June Letter From the Editor

Hello, Fellow Wordsmiths.

I have survived my first month as your new Managing Editor, due in no small part to the patient and diplomatic tutelage of Shannon Lawrence. My heartfelt thanks go to each of you who have sent an encouraging word along with your submissions.

I had my inaugural post planned and ready to write when I heard the news about the passing of Maya Angelou on May 28. Her voice crossed over two centuries and I believe will still be heard in the century to come. Many of us write hoping our words will outlive us but at the same time that hope can be daunting, almost paralyzing. I sometimes agonize over the way my writing will read two years from now (let alone 20) to the point that I am unwilling to let anyone look at it.

And then I bring to mind one of Ms. Angelou's best-known quotes. "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." We don't write because we have the answers, but because we have a story. Mine may be off-key. It may not stand the test of time. But there is only one way to find out.

A significant life of letters like Ms. Angelou's reminds us that the craft of writing is a sacred trust. It is my personal opinion that the written word is in trouble and it is up to those of us who believe clear, graceful prose and masterful storytelling will always matter to resuscitate it. Hold your heads high, writers. You are part of that effort.

About the Author:  Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has one very bad novel under her belt (and in a drawer) and a second, hopefully not so bad, underway. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find out more about Debi at her website: http://pikespeakpen.com/

Quote of the Week and Week to Come

"My fictitious characters will take the bit between their teeth and gallop off and do something that I hadn't counted on. However, I always insist on dragging them back to the straight and narrow."

Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds, Masters of Rome series) b.1937

www.abc.net.au

This week on Writing from the Peak:

*Letter from the Editor             Debi Archibald

*First Wednesday Post            Deb McLeod

*June News and Events          Debi Archibald

May Letter From the Editor

Well, folks, we've made it through the Pikes Peak Writers Conference yet again, and it was a smashing success. Fabulous keynotes, knowledgeable faculty, and hardworking staff, plus all the great people who attend and really make the conference.

This was my last conference as the Managing Editor of Writing From the Peak. While I've enjoyed my time here, thanks to the talented folks who write for the blog, it's time I stepped down and passed the bloggie torch to the incoming editor. My work with the Non-Conference Events committee has strained the time I have to volunteer in my other capacities, so I've decided to focus on NCE and give it my full attention. It was a hard decision, and I value the time I've spent here on the blog. I appreciate the phenomenal columnists and guest posters who strive to bring quality posts for our readers. They don't get paid. As with all other positions within Pikes Peak Writers, a non-profit, they donate their time, talents, and writing to the blog for the love of writing. I'm thankful that they stuck around with me during my tenure.

However, I leave you in good hands. Debi Archibald will be taking over in the next month, and I know she'll do an awesome job. Here's a quick peek at her bio:

Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has one very bad novel under her belt (and in a drawer) and a second, hopefully not so bad, underway. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find out more about Debi at her website: http://pikespeakpen.com/

Welcome to Writing From the Peak, Debi!