Word Pirates

Deb’s Historical Research Page has links to all sorts of resources for finding things out such as what card games were popular in the 19th century or the price of foods in the 17th century. I found this site through the site of a well-respected researcher, Lisa Gold. I suspect she’ll continue to feature more […]

The New York Times Book Review has a piece on “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” — the memoir of Lee Israel, a biographer who turned to forging letters from famous literary and entertainment figures when times got tough.
She bought a gaggle of vintage manual typewriters, had famous letterheads printed up on antique paper and used […]

How come no one celebrates my alcoholism like John Cheever’s?
You know, seminal American author John Cheever and I have a lot in common. He needed to drink a fifth of scotch before he had the courage to utter a word to another human being, and so do I. Much like Cheever, I’m completely blotto by […]

For the rest of 2008, our meeting schedule is:
July 15
August 5
August 19
September 9
September 23
October 7
October 21
November 4
November 18
December 2
December 16

We are going to be revamping this website. Stay tuned.

Petaluma’s Word Pirates put on a show to entertain and scintillate your senses… with literature!
Petaluma, Calif., May 15 – Word Pirates, a professional writing group, will host its second annual reading on May 15. True to their name, the Word Pirates will commandeer the Phoenix Theater to tell tales that could […]

Vladimir Nabokov’s son says he will publish his father’s unfinished work “The Original of Laura” rather than destroying it. Since Nabokov’s death in 1977, his son Dmitri has been torn about whether he should follow his father’s last wishes and destroy the novel or share the work of a great 20th-century novelist with the world. […]

On Thursday, May 15, 2008, we will be holding the Second Annual Word Pirates Reading. There will be artists and excitement and several short, witty pieces read with charm and grace by our members. Come one, come all! Time TBA. Keep checking back here for more info.

The “New York Times” has an essay about literary dealbreakers. Is there a book that, if seen on the shelf or favorites list of a potential mate, would make you turn around and run?
We all have our dealbreaker lists, I’m sure. Although, in the throes of passion, these kinds of lists usually disappear until the […]

If you have a short story, you best submit it to Glimmer Train. There’s no reason not to. It’s a quality publication. It’s free to submit your story, and payment for accepted stories is $700 plus 10 issues. The current reading period is the entire month of April, so you still have a few weeks […]

Here is the schedule of upcoming meetings. It is also on the sidebar.
February 5
February 19
March 4
March 18
April 1
April 15
May 6
May 20
June 3
June 17
~ Joy

“The Atlantic Monthly” has posted some of its book reviews from as far back as the 1800s online. While I wish they had given us access to more than just a smattering of them (as well as access to ones where they were unimpressed by a work that time has elevated to a classic), it […]

Word Pirates!
Hope you had a great holiday and are excited to start the writing year off right with a Word Pirates meeting. We are moving the meetings from Thursdays to TUESDAYS. So from now on, we will meet the first and third TUESDAY of the month at my new house in Petaluma. We will keep […]

Novelists Inc. (a nonprofit representing novelists) is pushing for legislation to require used-book sellers to pay a percentage of sales to publishers and authors for any book re-sold within two years of its original publishing date. You can read some discussion about it here.
To me, a law like that sounds like it would lead to […]

Each year Lake Superior State University releases a list of words and phrases that should be banished. Some are terms that are overused in the media or popular culture. Others are words that have been mutated from their original meaning to represent something else. Regardless, this compilation is necessary, even if non-binding.
Among […]

Memoirs are tricky business. As someone who writes almost exclusively about things that have happened to me, I am interested in the ethics and conventions of the memoir. James Frey aside, there was also the whole hullabaloo with Augusten Burroughs settling with the foster family portrayed in “Running With Scissors” and changing the author’s note […]

I prize clarity in writing above linguistic cartwheels. But am I straying away from the “big words” (or more accurately, obscure words) out of fear in a way that is slowly homogenizing my writing? Am I ignoring something that could enhance my writing?
In a book otherwise devoted to simple, straightforward writing, the style manual The […]

On his blog, this editor is sharing a pitch he received. From said pitch:
“As Ginger unearths her ancestry, she discovers what it means to be a witch and the fine line her kind walk between good and evil.” (from My Soccer Mom’s Séance)
I hope to high heaven to never appear on such a site. In […]

n other news, starting November 1, the same day of the meeting, some of us are starting our month-long writing stint for National Novel Writing Month. We changed it slightly to be more along the lines of National Writing Goal Month, where we are undertaking a writing goal for the month and trying to finish […]

If you pitch Chronicle Books and it rejects you, be on the lookout for them to pitch you back a self-publishing service. If a writer referred by Chronicle uses the self-publishing service Blurb, Chronicle gets a piece of the action. [UPDATE: Chronicle Books says the information in the article I read to get this information […]

All of the winners of the New Writing Ventures awards this year were women. The chair of the judging committee had this odd comment:
“I think it’s harder for a fledgling male writer to establish themselves, because market forces are swayed towards women,” he suggested. “But in this case women produced the best writing, so perhaps […]

Bonus: If you’re all up in social networking, there’s a network for book lovers called Goodreads.
Word Pirates: Our next meeting on Sept. 20 is part two of the essay critique. Since Joy will be on the open road traveling, the meeting will be at Laura’s house. The deadline for e-mailing your essay to the group […]

Just a reminder we have a meeting next Thursday, September 6. Bring in your attempts to be empathetic with your character so we can judge your efforts. Also don’t forget that we have a second critique workshop on September 20th for the essay. Lets send the revised essay around via e-mail on September 13 so […]

MtvU – the MTV channel for college campuses – chose John Ashbery as its poet laureate. At first, it sounded like a well-meaning attempt that would accomplish little. However, I was less cynical after reading about the contest associated with the new appointment. A contest with a real prize!
In another first, mtvU will help sponsor […]

One in four Americans polled by the Associated Press-Ispos said they didn’t read any books at all last year. Not even one?
“I just get sleepy when I read,” said Richard Bustos of Dallas, Texas, a habit with which millions of Americans can doubtless identify. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he […]

So, we* knew we’d be sorry that we didn’t go to the “Literary Death Match” recently held in San Francisco.
I usually get something out of the readings and literary panels that I go to – sometimes inspiration, sometimes a good laugh that I have to hold in until I’m a polite distance from the event. […]

So, here’s a British TV show that America is unlikely to steal adapt: Balderdash & Piffle. (I love that name)
It’s a show about people updating the Oxford English dictionary. Viewers are given a wordhunt in which they are supposed to research the etymology of words and phrases to see if they can find an earlier […]

Here is the somewhat overdue update on the fabulous Word Pirates writing group.  Thanks to the potential new members who came to check out the group. We hope to see you again. If you have any questions, please feel free ask.
1. As mentioned before, the regularly scheduled July 5 meeting is canceled. Instead, we will […]

Word Pirates is looking for a new member. The North Bay-based group meets twice a month to focus on creative non-fiction and short fiction. Our goal is to inspire and support each other as we get our work ready for publication. A typical meeting splits time between reading our […]

I was wondering how they could afford all that fancy packaging! Thought I would share this e-mail from McSweeney’s:
As you may know, it’s been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney’s included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000 — actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the […]

There are musicians who take their turn at being bad writers. (I’m talking to you Madonna!) Apparently, there are also writers who take their turn at being (presumably bad) musicians.
The Rock Bottom Remainders is a band that includes Amy Tan, Stephen King and Dave Barry, among other well-known writers. The article about them in the […]

OK, so the “adorable baby” part may have been a ploy to get your attention. But there is a campaign to save book reviews, led by the National Book Critics Circle.
Over the past five years, one by one, newspapers have begun to forsake books and their readers. … Not long ago, the San Francisco Chronicle […]

Word Pirates,Hiya. There’s a meeting this Thursday, April 5. Please bring in something to read, especially if you haven’t read for the last couple of meetings. The prompt for last time was to write a single memory in a short essay form, ala something that might fit in a journal like Brevity. Start with the […]

This week is memoir week at Slate. The online magazine frequently has week-long themes about books or genres.
Over the next three days, our critics will be weighing in on new memoirs. What has been most striking to us at Slate is how many memoirs these days are anything but coming-of-age stories; instead, they tackle issues […]

Hiya. I will be going to this on March 21 if any of the Word Pirates want to come along.
~ Joy
The San Francisco Bay Area claims the highest concentration of literary journals in the United States, publishing hundreds of new works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction each year.
Editors read thousands of manuscripts, culling the pieces […]

Esquire magazine did something totally awesome. I wish I had thought of it. Then again, I am not a famous old magazine, so my attempt would not have been as successful. Here’s what Esquire did:
We put 250 napkins in the mail to writers from all over the country — some with a half dozen books […]

Hiya folks,
Are you ready to start fresh? Try out some new prompts and produce some new work? Then come to the Word Pirates meeting this Thursday at my house, 7 p.m.
Also: Marcia is bringing a tasty snack treat. Yay!
As usual, please let me know if you can’t make it.
~ Joy

Hello Word Pirates,
Thanks for helping to make last night a smashing success. The positive feedback has been phenomenal. People are asking when the next one is!
There will be no meeting next week 2/15. (Let’s enjoy some well-deserved rest) The next meeting will be 3/1. Then we’ll hit the ground running with prompts again.
Until we meet […]

Check it out, Word Pirates: Marcia published an essay on Common Ties about her adventures in speed dating called Bless Their Ugly Little Hearts. Very funny stuff. Give it a read.
And congratulations, Marcia.

… that won’t bore you 
Up-and-coming writers put on free reading and arts event at the historic Phoenix Theater
Petaluma, Calif., Jan. 23, 2007 – Word Pirates, a professional writing group, will host its first public reading on February 8. True to their name, the Word Pirates will be storming the Phoenix Theater and turning it into […]

I didn’t know who Ellen Tanner Marsh (pictured) was before reading this story on Slate.com. Apparently, she is a “New York Times best selling author.” When she’s not writing romance novels, she writes effusive book-review blurbs in exchange for cash. If you have $399, Marsh will praise your self-published book. And if you don’t like […]

I hope to see you at the meeting tomorrow. We will be settling the details of the reading and assigning any jobs that need to be done. We are going to have some snacks available for about 50 people, since we’re hoping to get a crowd of at least that size. Also, we will need […]

Hiya folks. Today is the day I need to know who is reading and what they are reading on Feb 8. Also, I need an estimate of how long the thing is you are going to read.
People who are not reading:
Ellen
Laura
Leona
People who are definitely reading:
Joy, Professional Mourner’s Convention, approx 7 minutes
Marcia, Let Me Be Frank, […]

JANUARY 15: DEADLINE to tell us whether you will be reading, what it is, and how long it will be.
JANUARY 18: Meeting at 7 p.m. at Joy’s house.
FEBRUARY 8: Word Pirates Reading.
FEBRUARY 15: Meeting at 7 p.m. at Joy’s house.

Hello,
We have extended the deadline for The Big Ugly Review (”The Body”) to January
31, and welcome your submissions.Categories are:

* fiction (short stories of 3,000 words or less), flash fiction (stories of 1000 words or less), and the “And So It Begins” contest” (500 words or less, starting with the first sentence: “I’m not built for […]

Happy New Year! Just a reminder about tomorrow’s meeting. So far, Noelani is the only person who told me she can’t make it.
I do plan to send you something to read tonight. If you get around to it, that would be awesome. If not, I understand. I’m sorry I sucked on this one.
As of right […]

That’s right, our very own Steve Reid, fearless Word Pirate extraordinaire, submitted The Typing Contest to en fuego, an online magazine I have preached to you all about over and over again, and it has been accepted for publication in Issue 2, due out in March (or April — still working out the kinks.) So […]

Hello Word Pirates,
Reminder: The deadline for e-mailing your story for the critique is Dec. 20. We will have the critique at our Jan. 4 meeting (along with delicious treats).
Things are coming along well for the reading in February. We have heard from several artists interested in showing their work. And would love to hear from […]

Fourth Genre is currently seeking the best creative nonfiction essay/memoir for its Fourth Annual Editors’ Prize. Authors of previously unpublished manuscripts in English are encouraged to enter.
The First Prize winner will receive $1,000 and publication in an upcoming issue of Fourth Genre. The Runner-Up essay will be considered for publication.
“Published biannually by the Michigan State […]

Merry Christmas ! You get extra time to work on your piece of the critique because we are cancelling the December 7th meeting. The critique will be on January 4, 2007.
Therefore, please send your piece to be critiqued to the group by December 20th.
If you are working away at your piece for the reading/critique […]

Greetings Word Pirates,For those of you who missed last night’s meeting (and those of you who were there but love summaries), here’s the scoop:

Part 1: The February reading
Are you excited yet? If anyone has special chef or foody friends who would want to donate food for the event, it’s time to butter them up. If […]

I am trying comments again. But only as long as WPs say stuff on here.

Word Pirates dress up for Halloween: Laura the devil, Lindsay the adorable construction worker and Noelani the tiger salamander.

We will have our reading event at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma on Feb. 8, 2007. Hurray! We will be able to feature a ton of visual artists, in addition to the reading stylings of the fabulous Word Pirates. Any artists interested should e-mail us.
We will have another critique sesssion for everyone in December. For […]

You should be able to comment on posts starting with this one.

As you may have noticed, we’re trying out a redesign of the site. Let us know what you think.
~ Joy
UPDATE: Word Pirates respond to the redesign:
Looks good and is easy to navigate. Thanks for all the work behind the site (and the group)! — Steve
Hi guys. The web site looks great. Thank you for […]

For those Word Pirates who missed last night’s meeting, you can play along at home. We had a fun prompt that I’m sure you’d love to do.
The idea is to look at something that you loved as a child — a toy, a book, a cartoon, etc. — through adult eyes. Here is a […]

Word Pirates,
Just a reminder for our meeting this Thursday, September 7, at the usual time at my house. Please bring paper, pen, and your short-short to read. I also have two pairs of sunglasses at my house from the last meeting. As usual, please let me know if you can’t make it.
Marcia and I would […]

Word Pirates:
To those of you who have finished pieces, or close to finished pieces– and I know a lot of you do because we just had a critique — you should be happy, because it is now September.
Why should September make you happy? Is it because leaves turn pretty this month and it’s not so […]

I declare the first Word Pirates critique a success!
Back by popular demand … Word Pirates will meet twice a month. Isn’t that great? We will meet the first and third Thursday of each month.
Meeting Schedule:

Sept. 7
Sept. 21
Oct. 5
Oct. 19
Nov. 2
Nov. 16
Dec. 7
(No meeting Dec. 21)

Word Pirates!
I am proud of you. Almost all of you have turned in something for the critique on August 17th at 7-7:30 p.m. at my house.
Before that, I want to remind you of the LIVEWIRE LITERARY SALON at Soho’s (formerly Zebulons) in Petaluma. Leona is reading on August 15th at 6:30 p.m. and, get this, […]

As you know, we are having a critique on August 17th, 7-7:30 p.m. Here is how it will go:
By July 31, please e-mail everyone in the group (e-mails above) whatever you want critiqued. It does not have to be a finished, polished draft. If you want the group to focus on anything specific, let […]

Hey, Word Pirates. How are you?
We had a great meeting last night. For those who couldn’t be there, here is the prompt:
Listen to Sarah Vowell read this “list” essay about her experiences. Now you write a list essay. Think of it as a series of connected memories. An example would be remembering five misconceptions you […]

Hey Word Pirates,
How are we liking being monthly? Is seems like forever since a Word Pirate’s meeting!
So I’m just reminding you of next week’s meeting, July 20 at 7-7:30 p.m. AFAIK, only Noelani and Leona aren’t going to be able to make it. Remember to bring a pen and paper.
Also, we are going to do […]

ok, i’m totally a web-posting rookie. i put up the note about en fuego, then realized i forgot to put the category and it automatically slotted it as news, which it is not, so i just hit “back” and changed it and it published twice! crap. since i couldn’t figure out how to delete this […]

I want to point out Leona’s love letter to Marcia and me for starting Word Pirates. Yay! We love to hear testimony from our members (especially those who write steamy stories!).
As Leona mentioned, for the last meeting, our prompt was to pick a “post card” from the site Post Secret and use it as inspiration. […]

I enjoyed last night’s prompt so much (taking secrets from postsecret.com and writing a story inspired by them) that I have actually worked on the story I did last night. Since I expect to miss the next meeting because of a family obligation, I am posting what I’ve got so far for your pleasure here.
 My […]

Dearest Word Pirates,
Remember how I told you at the last meeting that McSweeney’s publishes short humor pieces about celebrities alllll the time? Check out the newest: COMMENCEMENT SPEECH, WHITNEY HOUSTON, EAST SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, JUNE 9, 2006:
(Assistant whispers to Whitney, points to note cards on podium.) All right, right now, don’t you be bossing Whitney around. […]

I love me some McSweeney’s.
Last month, I posted this list of hi-larious writing prompts from McSweeney’s. Now they are having a writing contest based on those prompts. The deadline is June 21. Click here for contest details.
Do it! I think I will do this one:
“Write a story that ends with the following sentence: Debra brushed […]

So, I got tired of deleting comment spam. It’s true. I couldn’t keep up. So for now, there are no longer comments on WP. However, if you are a WP and would like to “comment” on the site, I can arrange it so you can post on the blog.
BTW, here is last week’s prompt: Write […]

The Word Pirates are going monthly! From now on, meetings will be on the third Thursday of every month. The next meeting will be June 15th, and then not again until July 20th.
ALSO our meetings are now starting at an earlier time at 7 p.m., not 7:30 p.m.
Change is good. Embrace it.

Dear Word Pirates,
This is a reminder that we’re having a meeting on June 1. No one has yet to tell me they can’t make it, so please let me know if this is the case.
At this meeting, we are going to discuss whether it would be better to make WP a monthly thing. The question […]

On May 16, Word Pirate Leona Laurie read at Soho’s, previously Zebulon’s. She was great, although my picture of her definitely wasn’t.

Brendan Riley was also there, so I got a blurry shot of him as well.

Dear-Word-Pirates-Who-Probably-Never-Come-Here: I have launched my professional site with a collection of my clips and a blog. Please check it out.

Last night the Word Pirates had their very first critiquing session. Each author brought in an essay-in-progress and read it aloud to the group. Following that, we spent some time on each essay, talking about what the author wants to do with it, how it might be improved, and possible markets that might take the […]

Check out the Sonoma County Writers’ Guide. Local links/writers/etc.!

At Thursday’s meeting, after getting a chance to catch up, each Word Pirate read something to the group. Some were based on our first writing prompt (pick a random sentence from a book and write based on it), others were based on past writing group exercises or personal experience. Though the formats varied — stories, […]

Last night’s meeting did not follow the typical Word Pirate’s schedule. It became more of an informal meeting about our writing goals.
Because the group was smaller, the Word Pirates had a fieldtrip to a sushi joint in downtown Petaluma where they ate shrimp tempura and unagi. They talked about writing in general — the […]

Just a reminder that tomorrow night is our meeting at 7:30 p.m.

I don’t think I have ever entered a writing contest in my entire life. But last week I found one that required about six minutes of effort on my part, and the prize was $50. I entered it and lost. But why should my six minutes of hard work go to waste.
So I submit […]

Hi Word Pirates! We have officially launched our website. What do you think?
If you look to your left, you will notice we have a calendar with all the dates of the meetings flagged. Click on the date and you can see the details. (The meetings are all going to be at my house at […]