June is here!  Spring is in full swing, as are my allergies!  But, even though I suffer during this season, I love it!  Everything is so tempestuous - a perfect season for writing!  I’m gathering all sorts of new ideas for stories.
    This month’s program is going to focus on journalism.  Jeff Cox, the Journalism Instructor at Seminole State, will be here to give us all sorts of great information on this field. Take good notes because we’ll be holding a writing contest next month for members based on the information Mr. Cox gives us.
    This month’s Paw Prints has articles on writing beginnings  and endings by Robin Nobles and a detailed biographical sketch for characters.
    Make sure you enter the PAWS’ writing contest and get ready for our fantastic September workshop!
    Deadline for July articles is July 4th.  Send them to kellimcb@chickasaw.com.

By Line's July Deadlines:
    SHORT STORY - Deadline July 3, 1998. Fiction on any topic, up to 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $70, $30, $15.
    SUMMER POEM - Deadline July 15, 1998. Any style poem that captures the heat/essence of summertime. Entry fee $3. Prizes: $40, $20, $10.
    SHORT HUMOR - Deadline July 20, 1998. Nonfiction or fiction; original material only. Funny prose, anecdotes, daffynitions, satire--anything goes. Maximum 800 words. Entry fee $4. Prizes: $40, $20, $15.
    FREE VERSE - Deadline July 30, 1998. Any topic or length, unrhymed.  Entry fee $3. Prizes: $40, $20, $10.

    Beginnings are your first impression, or rather, expression.  We know that the first impression is often the most important one, and that after all kinds of other impressions settle, the last impression will probably resemble the first.  While it is important to be interesting in the first lines, beginnings must accomplish much more.  If you respect your reader, don't resort to tricks in the opening, for these are short-lived.  An opening of fiction must accomplish more urgent goals than "brilliant combinations."  Reserve those for the climactic action.  Introduce your characters, give us the place and time where the story occurs, and raise a question, complication or crisis, that we are to follow--something to intrigue us, so we want to keep reading.

    This month’s program will feature Jeff Cox, the Journalism Professor from Seminole State College.  Jeff will speak to us about writing for newspapers and other facets of that field.  Mr. Cox also teaches English Composition and has been the editor of Par Excellence for the last seven years.

    Congratulations to Patti Marshall!  She won 3rd place for  her short story, "Net of Love" in the Tellable Tale category for the Mid South Writers Conference.
    Linda Goodnight has finally received the contract from Guideposts for her inspirational article, “Jacob’s Angel.”  Unfortunately, the magazine has changed so much about the article that Linda says she wouldn’t have sold it to them if her name was to be on it.  For anyone interested in inspiration markets, you might ask Linda about her negative experience with Guideposts before you submit to it.
    Linda is also a finalist in Juvenile Novel and Contemporary Romance Novel in the Frontiers in Writing contest in Amarillo, TX.  Good luck, Linda!
    Dawn Prater and Linda Goodnight are speaking to Tulsa Night Writers on the Confession Market this month.
    Don’t forget to enter PAWS’ writing contest.

    Are you sitting at the computer, frustrated because you can’t make heads or tails of your character’s actions?  Maybe you haven’t flushed out that character fully.  Here’s a great character sketch I found at WordSmith’s WebBook.  I've listed the major categories of this sketch but to see the actual questions under each category, click here to link to WordSmith's web site.

I.    CHARACTER PROFILE
II.   CHARACTER TRAITS
III.  FAMILY/CHILDHOOD HISTORY
IV.   CURRENT HOME
V.    SIGNIFICANT FRIENDS
VI.   OCCUPATION
VII.  CLOTHING
VIII. PERSONAL DETAILS
IX.   MOTIVATION AND INTENT
X.    DOMINANT AND SECONDARY TRAITS
XI.   THE INTERVIEW
XII.  CHARACTER QUESTION
XIII. DESCRIBE CHARACTER IN ONE . . .
XIV.  DESCRIBE AREAS IN WHICH CHARACTER CONFLICTS WITH HIM/HERSELF ON
       OPINIONS, IDEAS OR GOALS

    As I was writing the Greetings for this month, it hit me that the year is nearly half-way over.  Yet, it seems like only yesterday when I wrote the January greetings!  Time has a funny way of tricking us.
    I remember an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data, the android who wanted to be human, was trying to grasp the idea of time as humans do.  He conducted experiments using tea kettles.  He would watch one and mark the time it started boiling.  He would then set a new kettle to boil and not look at it.  In both experiments, the times it took the kettles to boil were exactly the same.  He didn’t understand how human impatience and fear (among other emotions) can effect how we perceive time.
    As a writer, I have a very limited amount of patience when it comes to hearing from an editor.  I mail my piece, and the six months I may have to wait for a response seems an eternity.  Plus, I can’t totally get my mind off the waiting.
    However, when I’m trying to find time to write, it seems like the days just whiz by.  I look back over a week that seems to have disappeared in an eyeblink and realize that I’ve only written a couple of hours - at best!  Where did the time go?
    It didn’t go anywhere that it wasn’t supposed to.  Time is always the same, but my schedule changes; my mood changes; my health changes.  Though I blame time, I really must look to myself.
    So how do we deal with the issue of time?  I think the keys are scheduling and preparedness.