Next Meeting: Thursday, 29 January, at 6:30 p.m.
at the Tustin Marketplace Corner Bakery (13652 Jamboree Road, Irvine)
13 Feb meeting notes; 20 Feb reading list
13 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES
Nine people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Jo (read a chapter from Moonspell), Lance (read a chapter from Fake), Maddie (read the almost-final chapter from Hit Me), Richard, Rosie and Shari.
News & Notes
Maddie brought PFL business cards for members to hand out to interested people at other writers’ groups, bookstores, and the like. Thanks, Maddie!
20 FEBRUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (2/6)
Glenda (2/13)
Richard (2/13)
Jonathan (2/6)
Rosie (2/13)
Burt (2/13)
Casey (2/13)
Shari (2/13)
Stace (2/6)
Maddie (2/13)
Lance (2/13)
Jo (2/13)
Don (1/16)
6 Feb meeting notes; 13 Feb reading list
6 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES
Eleven people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Jo (read part of a chapter from Moonspell), JoAnne, Jonathan, Lance, Maddie, Richard, Rosie and Stace (read a chapter from Wild Bird Daughters).
News & Notes
The PFL brand extension proceeds apace: Maddie will be searching actively for a venue for our first event, a group author reading/Q&A targeted for late April or early May. Stay tuned.
13 FEBRUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (2/6)
Glenda (2/6)
Richard (2/6)
Jonathan (2/6)
Maddie (2/6)
Don (1/16)
Rosie (2/6)
Lance (2/6)
Burt (2/6)
Casey (2/6)
Shari (1/30)
Stace (2/6)
Jo (2/6)
30 Jan meeting notes; 6 Feb reading list
30 JANUARY MEETING NOTES
Eight people attended: Burt (read the first two chapters of Blood on the Edge), Casey (read a chapter from The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly), Glenda, Lance, Maddie, Rosie, Shari (read a revised query for Raised to Win) and Stace.
News & Notes
The PFL blog is now attached to the PFL twitter feed and the shiny new PFL Facebook page. For now, this means it should repeat the meeting notices. Once we start putting more/better content up, it will let us extend the reach of our messaging.
6 FEBRUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (1/9)
Glenda (1/30)
Richard (1/23)
Jonathan (12/5)
Stace (1/30)
Maddie (1/30)
Jo (1/16)
Don (1/16)
Rosie (1/30)
Lance (1/30)
Burt (1/30)
Casey (1/30)
Shari (1/30)
23 Jan meeting notes; 30 Jan reading list
23 JANUARY MEETING NOTES
Nine people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Lance (read two chapters from Fake), Maddie, Richard, Rosie (read a chapter from On Thin Ice), Shari (read a revised query for Raised to Win) and Stace.
The first meeting of the PFL Brand Extension Steering Committee happened before the main meeting. The attendees discussed extending PFL’s reach into the social-media world and establishing online documents for members to use to list possible event venues and contacts in local writing groups. More to come.
News & Notes
Glenda reported on a recent writer’s retreat she attended in Palm Springs. Headlined by local writing maven Barbara Demarco-Barrett, the first Pen on Fire Desert Writers’ Retreat took over a B&B for five nights in September and featured author presentations and writing exercises. A sequel is planned for this spring. There are no details online yet for the next retreat, but Barbara’s blog has a brief post about the September event.
30 JANUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (1/9)
Glenda (1/23)
Richard (1/23)
Burt (1/23)
Jonathan (12/5)
Stace (1/23)
Maddie (1/23)
Casey (1/23)
Jo (1/16)
Don (1/16)
Shari (1/23)
Rosie (1/23)
Lance (1/23)
16 Jan meeting notes; 23 Jan reading list
16 JANUARY MEETING NOTES
Nine people attended: Burt, Casey (read a chapter from The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly), Don (read a revised chapter from Alexander’s Lighthouse), Glenda, Jo (read a revised chapter from Moonspell), Lance, Maddie, Shari and Stace.
News & Notes
Maddie scheduled the first meeting of the PFL Brand Extension Steering Committee for 5:30 p.m. on 23 January (before the next meeting) at Panera. If you’ve already signed up or want to, please attend so you can help get the ball rolling.
23 JANUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (1/9)
Glenda (1/16)
Shari (1/16)
Richard (1/9)
Rosie (1/9)
Burt (1/16)
Jonathan (12/5)
Stace (1/16)
Lance (1/16)
Maddie (1/16)
Casey (1/16)
Jo (1/16)
Don (1/16)
9 Jan meeting notes; 16 Jan reading list
9 JANUARY MEETING NOTES
Ten people attended the first meeting of the new year: Burt, Don, Jo, JoAnne, Lance (read the first two chapters of a remake of Fake), Maddie (read the penultimate chapter of Hit Me), Richard, Rosie, Shari and Stace (read the beginning of a new novel, Wild Bird Daughters).
News & Notes
The write-in JoAnne hosted at her office on 28 December was a success, with five PFLers attending.
Maddie mentioned that San Diego Writers, Ink co-hosted a panel discussion/book signing/salon with the San Diego Library in November. This event featured seven local authors, and is a model for one of the kinds of events PFL has discussed hosting in this area. She gathered names and emails for PFLers interested in helping define a program for PFL’s brand extension and to organize events. If you’re interested in pitching in, corner Maddie at the next meeting.
16 JANUARY READING LIST
JoAnne (1/9)
Glenda (12/5)
Shari (1/9)
Richard (1/9)
Rosie (1/9)
Burt (1/9)
Casey (12/5)
Jo (1/9)
Jonathan (12/5)
Don (1/9)
Stace (1/9)
Lance (1/9)
Maddie (1/9)
5 Dec meeting notes; 9 Jan reading list
5 DECEMBER READING LIST
Ten people attended 2013’s final meeting: Burt, Casey (read the first chapter of The Boy Who Couldn’t Fly), Don (read a chapter from his historical novel Alexander’s Lighthouse), Glenda, Jo (read a chapter from Moonspell), JoAnne, Lance, Richard, Rosie, Shari, and the long-anticipated return of Jonathan.
News & Notes
The first meeting of 2014 will occur on 9 January, since members may not be recovered from New Year’s Eve by the 2nd.
The annual PFL Holiday Party went off as planned on 11 December at Shari’s house. There was much food and conversation and no casualties. Thanks much to Shari for hosting us again this year.
JoAnne is hosting a write-in on Saturday, 28 December, at her office in Laguna Hills. It will start at 1:30 pm and go until 3:30 or thereabouts. For the address and directions, go to the Her Place website.
In case you want statistics: in 2013, the average PFL member attended 29.46 meetings and read 8.69 times. The average meeting had 8.3 attendees and 2.4 readings (as opposed to 9.2 attendees and 2.4 readings in 2012). This is the second-lowest average attendance since 2007. Just a reminder: if you find likely recruits in your other endeavors (especially other productive writers), please tell them about PFL and try to get them to come to a meeting.
9 JANUARY READING LIST
Stace (11/21)
JoAnne (11/21)
Glenda (12/5)
Lance (12/5)
Maddie (11/7)
Shari (12/5)
Richard (12/5)
Rosie (12/5)
Burt (12/5)
Casey (12/5)
Jo (12/5)
Jonathan (12/5)
Don (12/5)
21 November Meeting Notes
Nine people attended: Stace, Richard (read his short story “Blue Eyes”), Casey, JoAnne, Rosie (read one chapter of On Thin Ice), Glenda, Burt (read new prologue/epilogue of Jocks), Jo (read one chapter of Moonspell), and Don.
News & Notes
Dec 5 will be the last meeting of the year. The first meeting of 2014 will occur on 9 January, since members may not be recovered from New Year’s Eve by the 2nd.
JoAnne is hosting a write-in on Saturday, 28 December, at her office in Laguna Hills. It will start at 1:30 pm and go until 3:30 or thereabouts. She will provide directions at the 5 Dec meeting.
5 December Reading List
Stace (11/21)
Casey (11/21)
JoAnne (11/21)
Glenda (11/21)
Lance (11/14)
Maddie (11/7)
Shari (11/14)
Richard (11/21)
Rosie (11/21)
Burt (11/21)
Jo (11/21)
Don
14 Nov meeting notes; 21 Nov reading list
14 NOVEMBER MEETING NOTES
Ten people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Jo, JoAnne, Lance, Richard, Rosie, Shari (read a query letter for Raised to Win) and Stace. After Shari’s reading, the group spilt into two parts to discuss members’ upcoming writing projects and to help talk out plot issues.
News & Notes
We have two meetings left this year: 21 November and 5 December. The first meeting of 2014 will occur on 9 January, since members may not be recovered from New Year’s Eve by the 2nd.
The PFL Holiday Party is on Wednesday, 11 December. Shari brought maps to her house and a signup list for food contributions. She’ll bring the same to the last two meetings of this year in case you missed it this time.
JoAnne proposed a write-in during the December break. She has access to office space in Laguna Hills on the weekends, but she needs to know which weekend is best so she can find out whether the offices are available. If you’re interested, come ready next meeting to nail down a date for this event.
21 NOVEMBER READING LIST
Stace (11/14)
Richard (11/14)
Casey (11/14)
JoAnne (11/14)
Rosie (11/14)
Glenda (11/14)
Lance (11/14)
Maddie (11/7)
Burt (11/14)
Jo (11/14)
Shari (11/14)
7 Nov meeting notes; 14 Nov reading list
7 NOVEMBER MEETING NOTES
Back into double digits! Ten people attended: Burt, Casey, Jo (read a chapter from Moonspell), JoAnne, Lance, Maddie, Richard, Rosie, Shari (read revisions to the final two chapters from Raised to Win) and Stace.
News & Notes
We have three meetings left this year: 14 and 21 November, and 5 December.
The PFL Holiday Party is a month away. Shari has volunteered to host it again, on Wednesday, 11 December. Directions and a food signup should be appearing in the next two meetings.
We once again discussed possible new directions for PFL.
- Maddie suggested that PFL members begin gathering contact information for reading/writing groups to add to the PFL mailing list.
- Two weeks ago, we assigned homework for the members: what kinds of events would you be interested in attending? Some of the candidates: a writer’s retreat; readings in which the author quizzes the audience on reactions and ideas (a la SCR’s NewScripts); talks by agents or publishers; a write-in (a group gathers to spend time writing together and discussing problems and ideas); and, a writers’ happy hour, or informal meetup with writers in a social setting.
14 NOVEMBER READING LIST
Stace (11/7)
Richard (11/7)
Casey (11/7)
JoAnne (11/7)
Rosie (11/7)
Glenda (10/24)
Lance (11/7)
Maddie (11/7)
Burt (11/7)
Jo (11/7)
Shari (11/7)
South, Lance Charnes, thriller
Luis Ojeda owes his life to the Pacifico Norte cartel. Literally. Now it’s time to pay.
Luis led escaping American Muslims out of the U.S. during the ten years following a 2019 terrorist attack on Chicago. He retired after nearly being killed by a border guard. But now in 2032, the Nortes give Luis a choice: pay back the fortune they spent saving his life, or take on a special job.
The job: Nora Khaled – FBI agent, wife, mother of two, and Muslim. She claims her husband will be exiled to one of the nation’s remote prison camps to rot with over 400,000 other Muslim Americans. Faced with her family’s destruction, she’s forced to turn to Luis – the kind of man she’s spent her career bringing to justice.
But when the FBI publicly accuses Nora of terrorism, Luis learns Nora’s real motive for heading south: she has proof that the nation’s recent history is based on a lie – a lie that reaches to the government’s highest levels.
Torn between self-preservation and the last shreds of his idealism, Luis guides Nora and her family toward refuge in civil war-wracked Mexico. The FBI, a dogged ICE agent, killer drones, bandits, and the fearsome Zeta cartel all plan to stop him. Success might just free Luis from the Nortes…but failure means disappearing into a black-site prison, or a gruesome death for them all.
In a day-after-tomorrow America where government has been downsized and outsourced into irrelevance, and none but the very wealthy few can afford hopes or dreams, Luis and Nora must learn to trust each other to ensure the survival of the truth – and of the people they love.
Available for Kindle on Amazon US/AU/BR/CA/DE/FR/IN/IT/JP/MX/UK
ePub available on Nook, Kobo and iTunes
Trade paperback available at Amazon US/CA/DE/FR/IN/IT/JP/UK | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Indiebound | Powell’s | Vroman’s
Lance Charnes has been an Air Force intelligence officer, information technology manager, computer-game artist, set designer and Jeopardy! contestant, and is now an emergency management specialist. He’s had training in architectural rendering, terrorist incident response and maritime archaeology, but not all at the same time. Lance tweets (@lcharnes) on shipwrecks, scuba diving, archaeology and art crime.
31 Oct meeting notes; 7 Nov reading list
31 OCTOBER MEETING NOTES
Serves us right for meeting on Halloween…five people attended: Burt (read reworked prologue and epilogue from Jocks), Casey, Lance, Richard and Shari (read the final two chapters from her rewrite of Raised to Win).
News & Notes
Burt brought an announcement for The Art of the Story, a 4-day intensive workshop in San Francisco led by former Esquire / GQ/ Paris Review / Scriber’s editor Tom Jenks. The workshops occur on 30 Jan-2 Feb and 20-23 Feb 2014. Attendance is limited to twelve people per workshop; acceptance is based on an evaluation of each applicant’s work. The announcement and website carefully don’t mention the cost. For more information, check the class page at Narrative Magazine.
Maddie forwarded a link to the San Diego Writers, Ink program calendar. More grist for the discussion mill regarding an expansion of PFL’s scope.
Lance’s near-future novel South officially releases on 1 November. Look for the post on the Published PFL Authors page.
7 NOVEMBER READING LIST
Stace (10/24)
Richard (10/31)
Casey (10/31)
JoAnne (10/24)
Rosie (10/24)
Glenda (10/24)
Lance (10/31)
Jo (10/24)
Maddie (10/24)
Burt (10/31)
Shari (10/31)
24 Oct meeting notes; 31 Oct reading list
24 OCTOBER MEETING NOTES
Eleven people attended: Burt (read the finale of Jocks), Casey, Glenda, Jo, JoAnne, Lance, Maddie, Richard, Rosie, Shari and Stace.
News & Notes
We once again discussed Maddie’s idea to branch out and emulate San Diego Writers, Ink by organizing events geared toward the larger writing community in Orange County. This could involve workshops, author events, and writing salons. We’d need to take care not to duplicate what other groups, such as SCWC, are doing. Homework: PFL members should consider what kinds of events they’d (a) enjoy and (b) support. We’ll go over ideas in a couple weeks.
Yes, we are meeting on Halloween.
31 OCTOBER READING LIST
Stace (10/24)
Richard (10/24)
Casey (10/24)
JoAnne (10/24)
Rosie (10/24)
Glenda (10/24)
Lance (10/24)
Jo (10/24)
Shari (10/24)
Maddie (10/24)
Burt (10/24)
17 Oct meeting notes; 24 Oct reading list
17 OCTOBER MEETING NOTES
Eight people attended: Burt (read three chapters from Jocks), Casey, Lance, Maddie (read a chapter from Hit Me), Richard, Rosie, Shari (read three chapters from Raised to Win) and Stace.
News & Notes
Rosie reminds us there is a slate of pre-NaNoWriMo activities scheduled hereabouts to get you set up for NaNo madness in November. Meetups and events are posted in the Nano website’s Orange County North forum.
Shari has volunteered to host the PFL Holiday Party. The tentative date is Wednesday, 11 December. More to follow.
Maddie brought up the idea that a way to grow the group — and to help promote indie authors, of which we have three in our normal rotation — is to take a page from San Diego Writers, Ink and consider organizing events geared toward the larger writing community in Orange County. This could allow us to make connections with the various other writers’ groups in the county, as well as provide value-added for ourselves and prospective members. She’ll gather some ideas from SDWI, Pen on Fire, and other similar efforts. Consider this, and we’ll discuss it in a couple of meetings.
24 OCTOBER READING LIST
Stace (10/17)
Richard (10/17)
Casey (10/17)
JoAnne (9/26)
Rosie (10/17)
Glenda (10/10)
Lance (10/17)
Jo (10/10)
Shari (10/17)
Maddie (10/17)
Burt (10/17)
Joe H. (9/5)
10 Oct meeting notes; 17 Oct reading list
10 OCTOBER MEETING NOTES
Seven people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Jo (read a chapter from Moonspell), Lance (read two chapters from South), Rosie and Stace.
17 OCTOBER READING LIST
Stace (10/10)
Richard (10/3)
Casey (10/10)
JoAnne (9/26)
Rosie (10/10)
Shari (10/3)
Maddie (10/3)
Glenda (10/10)
Burt (10/10)
Lance (10/10)
Jo (10/10)
Joe H. (9/5)
Pure Fiction League 