What a great May we’ve had in the club.  As you’ll see in this issue, our club members have brought home some big honors this month for their writing.  All the hard work and discipline does pay off.  I’m especially happy for Dawn Prater.  After the harrowing year she’s had, she deserves some fantastic news.
    The OWFI conference was great.  It was a relaxing and exciting weekend spent learning more about our craft, seeing old friends, making new friends, and networking with other writers and professionals in our field.  Though I was tired when Sunday came, I drove home renewed.  Just spending time with other writers makes me more determined than ever to write.
    In response to a member’s request, I’ve found a great article on copyrighting.  It’s a bit long, but covers the basics and then some.  Vicky Hinze’s article on creating a novel notebook will be beneficial to most of us. I heard Merline Lovelace speak on a similar topic and thought it might interest you.
    Paw Prints articles for June are due June 5th.

Happy May to all,
    I'm wonderfully excited this month about so many things that are happening within our group.  Dawn carried off four prizes at OWFI including first place in the confession category, while Kelli brought home a first place in the novel category.  Way to go, girls!!!  You made us all look good.  I can't wait to hear about all the great workshops I missed.
    Karen Anderson continues to work hard for our October conference.  She's convinced several professional writers' journals (like Writers' Digest) to provide us with copies.  She also has our speakers set, the bios in, and a zillion other things done.  Kudos to Karen.
   Remember all, our contest deadline is August 2 so get busy on your entries now, polish them up, and be ready to send them in.  We have published judges for every category, so the feedback should be good.  See you at the meeting.

    This month we have lots of club news – and all FANTASTIC!!
    First, the conference and contest are coming together beautifully thanks, in large part, to Karen Anderson.  Not only will we have complimentary copies of Writers’ Digest to hand out, but Karen has also got Romantic Times to send us free issues as well.  I’ve registered our conference and contest with several web sites and it looks like that’s paying off.  Our first contest entry was from Tuscon, Arizona!  Elaine and I passed out lots of flyers at the OWFI conference and hopefully those with prove fruitful.
    In last month’s meeting, PAWS held a contest based on characterization.  Doris Novotny and Kelli McBride tied for 1st place, but all of the entries were well written.
    Linda Goodnight has been a busy bee lately.  Her latest confession story is now available in the last ever issue (May) of True Life Stories.  The full manuscript of As Long as the Canary Sings has been requested by Zondervan Books, Hopkins Literary Agency, and Kirkland Agency.  Hopkins also requested a partial manuscript of the category novel, Katt’s Cowboy. Redemption Mountain won first place in OKRWA's Soon To Be Published Contest.  The prize is a paid fee to the national RWA convention in Chicago.  BIG APPLAUSE:  As Long As The Canary Sings is a Golden Heart finalist in the RWA national contest.  This is a HUGE honor.  The winners in the different Golden Heart categories will be announced at the convention.  This ceremony is telecast over the internet, so if you have access make sure to tune in.
    Last, but not least, we have wonderful news from the OWFI front.  Again, PAWS has been represented well in the OWFI contest.  Dawn Prater took home 1st place in Confessions, 2nd place in Feature Article and SF/Fantasy/Horror Novel, and 3rd place in SF/Fantasy/Horror Short Story.  Kelli McBride took home 1st place in Contemporary Romance Novel.  The Evan Marshall Agency requested Janice Imel send them her mystery novel.  Considering how new and small our club is, taking home 5 awards – all in the money – is incredible.  Of course, we’ve done so well in the past, we almost expect to bring home something.  And I know that many of our talented writers don’t submit to the contests.  I can only imagine how many more prizes we’d bring home if everyone entered.

May Meeting...
        Bring plenty of paper because, Elaine Wells and Kelli McBride will be doing a recap of the 1999 OWFI conference.  They'll have notes to share of the various workshops they attended and of course a list of all the
PAWS members who walked away with contest winnings.
        The meeting, as always, will be held the third Monday of the month at 7p.m. at the Catholic church, so be sure to plan on attending. Visitors are always welcome.

    What is a novel notebook, and why do you, a creative genius need one?
    A novel notebook is simply a binder in which you organize and store all the information pertinent to a single novel.
    Why do you need one? Because the more organized you are, the less time you spend searching for things you can't remember where you put, and the more time you spend creating. In other words, more fun time and less frustration.

    One of the most important legal concepts that a freelance writer must become familiar with is that of U.S. copyright law. Many misconceptions exist regarding this topic, especially on the Internet. The Internet itself poses some tricky problems regarding copyright, not all of which are settled under U.S. law. This article will address some of these basic concepts and will give some practical advice for freelance writers on protecting their work.

    Do you have trouble getting those elusive 25 lines on a page when you use MS Word?  Here’s what a writer on my RWA Link shared with us:  Set one inch margins at top, and sides and .75 at bottom. (This will give you a one inch margin in printing).  Set headers at .6.  Set line spacing at [26pts], at least,  which is theoretically equal to double, but gives exactly the right amount of lines per page.  Make sure your paragraph format is set with widow/orphan protection off (under paragraph formatting “Line and Page Breaks” tab).
  And voila!  You have 25 lines per page consistently.

    Not all books need dark moments, but properly used, this point of crisis can intensify the conflict and at the same time, initiate its resolution.
    Think of the dark moment as the time when the protagonist reaches rock bottom. All seems lost. This will usually precede the climax (where the major plot problem is resolved), and thus take place near the beginning of the final part of the book. This is when all the torturing you've done has its greatest effect. But, just as Mommy always tells Tot during the spanking, the torture is meant to build character. The protagonist should experience despair, and then through courage come out of it with redoubled determination and greater wisdom.