Hey Writers!
Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been doing tons of writing lately. I wanted to let everyone know how my Jane Austen reading challenge is going.
So, I finished Northanger Abbey a little while ago. The plan was to move on to Sense and Sensibility, but I found another book I wanted to read, called The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. I started that, and I'm really enjoying it! It is a beautifully written book, with excellent use of imagery and metaphors. It is a truly inspiring work of literature. Later on, when I finish, I'll post a book recommendation for it. Note: I suggest that only teenagers read this book. There are parts of it that describe gory scenes and violence.
On to Northanger Abbey:
This is the shortest of Jane Austen's books, but that did not take away from it's appeal. It was an interesting story with a protangonist, Catherine Morland, who seems very alive. Many of the sentiments and feelings that she felt throughout the book were very familiar, and described well. Here's one of my favourite quotes from the book, said by Henry Tilney, another prominent character:

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
I highly recommend this book, and am excited to continue with Jane's novels when I finish The Book Thief.
-M

So, there was a slight technical difficultly with the survey on the previous blog post. I tested out the survey, and we can't recieve results, so here's another one that will (hopefully) work. Also, I wante to point out that by 'other' we want to know if there are any other things besides the look of the website that you'd like us to change, such as new pages we should add etc.
Thanks for your input!

Here at QPK, we are considering changing the look of our website to something that is more related to writing.
So...what do you think? Change it, or not?


READ THE POST ABOVE THIS FOR THE NEW SURVEY.

Hello Writers!
I just posted a new activity to the activities page. Go over there and have a look!
Enjoy
-M

Hey, What's up? It's R! After a few relaxing summer days, I've already come up with a story idea. It's a fantasy story and M has challenged me to write at least 30 pages over the course of the summer. Since my last story was a short story, this will be a big change for me. I encourage people to challenge themselves as well and write longer stories this summer, or try a writing style that's different from the one you usually use. 
    Tonight I'm going to start doing character sketches and story plans, which is always a good way to start out if you are unsure of where you want your novel to go. I hope to get my story done by the end of the summer because I'm often busy during the rest of the year. Hopefully M and I will be able to do a short meeting soon, and add some activities to the activities blog.
Write, write, write!
-R

    Sorry for the absense, but I've been busier than I thought! I'm now 40 pages into revisions of my novel. I hope to have 100 pages revised by the end of the month. In addition, I've been helping R come up with ideas for a new story. I hope that she can give you an update soon on how her writing is going. Once I've revised 100 pages, I'm going to write a blog post with some revising tips. Does anyone have any ideas that I can include? If so, post them in the comments.
Time

I said in my last post that the 29th of June was another beginning, besides the beginning of my writing summer. Here it is - My Jane Austen Summer.
Many of you probably know Jane Austen. She lived about 200 years ago and wrote 6 novels in her lifetime, as well as parts of novels, and some short works when she was young. Likely her most famous novel is Pride and Prejudice. It is about a family living in England in Jane Austen's time. When I first read Pride and Prejudice, I LOVED it. Jane Austen created a realistic yet romantic world that I could completely get lost in.
Here are Jane's six novels:
-Pride and Prejudice
-Emma
-Northanger Abbey
-Sense and Sensibility
-Mansfield Park
-Persuasion

So...here's my summer reading challenge:
By the end of the summer, I would like to read all Jane Austen's books. So far, I've read Pride and Prejudice (of course) and Emma. Right now, I'm part way through Northanger Abbey, and I will continue in the order above. Every so often, throughout the summer, I'll post updates on how my reading is going.

Now, as for my writing, I'm still trying to get back into my ritual of writing every day, at a certain time. Various events and activities have prevented me from forming a routine thus far, but as things settle down and I get used to cottage life, I hope to get a lot of writing done. Also, good news! Tomorrow, R will be coming up to the cottage, so we might be able to have a mini QPK meeting! 
That's all for now,
Happy Writing!
-M
 

Here it is. The final post in the series about how to start your own writing group. In this post, I'm going to talk about some of the special things you can do with your writing group, and some other things to consider when starting your group.
As a group, the QPK Society has done many things that have connected  us to the writing world, and to the world in general, so that we become more knowledgeable.

Here are some things to think about doing with your group:

Interview with a writer - Our interview was with Julie Johnston. For those of you who don't know her, she has won two governor general's Awards for her books, as well as countless other awards. Here is a link to a site about her:
http://www.tundrabooks.com/authors/Johnston_j.html
and here is a site about her books:
http://www.tundrabooks.com/authors/author.pperl?authorid=14667
She is an amazing author and you should really check out her books.
For our interview, we were able to contact Julie Johnston in person. If this option is not available to you, you may want to send a writer an email with some questions for him/her. Don't be too disappointed if they don't answer - writers are very busy writing their books, and likely get lots of emails. If you're lucky, you may be able to get some tips that you can apply to your writing.

Go to a book signing, or listen to a writer give a talk - If you check with a local library or book store, you may be able to find out about writers that are speaking in your area. It's a great experience to go withyour group to one of these events, and you can learn a lot.

Have a writing getaway - Everyone wants to get away from the buzz of everyday life. Pick a weekend where you all meet at the house of one of your group members, or a cottage if you can. You can all contribute to bringing food and cleaning up, and you can spend lots of time writing, reading, and discussing writing.

Go for walks, go to sports events, or volunteer - It's a lot of fun to get together with your writing group to do these activities. Having a break from writing can help you be more focussed, and, who knows? You might find the perfect idea for a novel or story that you've been wanting to write.

Participate in contests together - If you all live in the same area, find a local writing contest and have each person can submit a piece. Before you submit, you can read eachother's work and give suggestions, so everyone will have a better chance to do well in the contest. 

Other factors to consider when starting a group:

There are many options to consider when starting a writing group. Maybe you want to meet only to write, and not do writing activities, or vice versa. Perhaps you don't want to meet at all, and want to email eachother pieces of writing for critique. You also may want to think about the type of writers that you want in your group. Should they all be the same age? Do they have to write the same genre of fiction? Do you want to allow poets, short story writers and novelists in your group? How about non-fiction writers? Before you go searching for group members, take some time to consider these points.

Things you need for your meetings:
- a writing notebook. This is a place to do all the activities you do at each meeting, to jot down new words, and to scribble notes about new story ideas. You can also draw pictures and maps in your notebook.

- a dictionary and thesaurus. Officially, we only have a dictionary that we use at every meeting, but I also have a thesaurus that we use when necessary (and yes, she does have a name - Veronica).

-pens and spare paper. As a writing group, these are a must have. You never know when you're going to need pens and paper!

- Love - this is the cheesiest of all things that you need, but it's only partly a joke - love is important. You must love your writing, love words, and love the books that you read. You must nurture your other group members and their writing, because they feel the same way you do. Maybe you think that you won't be able to make it in the writing world. We all have  these doubts. Sometimes at meetings, we talk about our doubts, and how to overcome them. We all have the fear that our writing is going to go to waste, that it's not going to make a difference and that it will not be read. But, it all comes down to this:

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret.  Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.
                                       -Oprah Winfrey
A writing group can improve your work in many ways. It certainly improved mine! Even if the only thing that changes when you find a writing group is that you write more often, everything counts in the long run. All you have to do is get out there and take the initiative to start something amazing. Where it goes from there? You'll have to wait and see.

-M