Pure Fiction League

21 APRIL MEETING NOTES

A cozy seven people attended: Burt (read three chapters from Madness of March), Casey, JoAnne, Lance (read 1.5 chapters of Identity), Maddie, Rosie and Stace.

News & Notes

This will be our last weekly meeting at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District). We’ll come back occasionally for the days when the library isn’t available.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May at 6:30 PM, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start. Note that we can bring water and clear drinks, but no coffee or food.

28 APRIL READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Stace (4/21)
Casey (4/21)
JoAnne (4/21)
Glenda (4/14)
Julia (4/14)
Shari (4/7)
Jonathan (4/14)
Melodye (4/14)
Maddie (4/21)
Rosie (4/21)
Burt (4/21)
Lance (4/21)
Marianna (3/31)
John D. (3/31)

14 APRIL MEETING NOTES

Ten people attended: Burt, Glenda, JoAnne, Jonathan, Julia, Lance, Maddie (read two chapters from Hit Me), Melodye (read an excerpt from Can I Have a Witness?), Rosie (read two chapters from On Thin Ice) and Stace.

News & Notes

Since Panera Bread closes at 9 PM (as does the library), we’ll continue to meet at 6:30 to leave enough room to get in a third reading.

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May at 6:30 PM, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start. Note that we can bring water and clear drinks, but no coffee or food.

21 APRIL READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Stace (4/14)
Casey (3/31)
Marianna (3/31)
JoAnne (4/14)
Glenda (4/14)
Julia (4/14)
John D. (3/31)
Burt (4/14)
Lance (4/14)
Shari (4/7)
Jonathan (4/14)
Melodye (4/14)
Maddie (4/14)
Rosie (4/14)

7 APRIL MEETING NOTES

Ten people attended: Burt, Glenda, JoAnne, Jonathan (read 1.5 chapters of Bummin’ It), Julia, Lance, Maddie, Rosie, Shari (read two chapters of Lost in Dance) and Stace.

News & Notes

Since Panera Bread closes at 9 PM (as does the library), we’ll meet on 14 April at 6:30 to leave enough room to get in a third reading. If this works and the members choose to continue this, we can move the start of our regular meeting time to 6:30 PM.

Jonathan had his first author event on 8 April as a speaker at LibertyChristianHigh School in Huntington Beach.

Rosie alerted us that some publishers have begun including bonus content in selected YA titles sold through major chains such as Target and Barns & Noble. This content isn’t available from other retailers.

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start.

14 APRIL READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Melodye (3/31)
Casey (3/31)
Marianna (3/31)
JoAnne (4/7)
Glenda (4/7)
Kermit (3/17)
Julia (4/7)
Maddie (4/7)
Rosie (4/7)
John D. (3/31)
Burt (4/7)
Lance (4/7)
Stace (4/7)
Shari (4/7)
Jonathan (4/7)

31 MARCH MEETING NOTES

Eleven people attended: Burt (read two chapters of Madness of March), Casey, JoAnne, John D., Julia, Lance (read 1.5 chapters of Identity), Maddie, Marianna, Melodye, Rosie and Shari.

News & Notes

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start.

7 APRIL READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Melodye (3/31)
Casey (3/31)
Marianna (3/31)
JoAnne (3/31)
Glenda (3/24)
Shari (3/31)
Jonathan (3/24)
Kermit (3/17)
Julia (3/31)
Maddie (3/31)
Rosie (3/31)
John D. (3/31)
Burt (3/31)
Lance (3/31)
Stace (3/10)

24 MARCH MEETING NOTES

Eight people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, Jonathan, Lance (read 2.5 chapters of Identity), Maddie, Melodye and Rosie (read two chapters of On Thin Ice).

News & Notes

Dear Bully, the anthology that includes Melodye’s autobiographical essay about school bullying, will be released by HarperCollins on 23 August.

Glenda’s short story “What’s the Real Story?” was accepted by the 2011 Arkansas Literary Festival.

Burt recommends agent Donald Maass’ Twitter feed. Maass wrote Writing the Breakout Novel, which was a PFL homework reading.

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start.

31 MARCH READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Stace (3/10)
Melodye (3/24)
Casey (3/24)
Marianna (3/17)
JoAnne (3/17)
Glenda (3/24)
Shari (3/17)
Jonathan (3/24)
Kermit (3/17)
Julia (3/10)
Burt (3/24)
Maddie (3/24)
Rosie (3/24)
Lance (3/24)
John D. (3/3)

17 MARCH MEETING NOTES

Eleven people attended: Burt (read five chapters of Madness of March), Casey, Glenda, JoAnne, Jonathan, Kermit, Lance (read 2.5 chapters of Identity), Maddie (read a chapter from Hit Me), Marianna, Melodye and Shari.

News & Notes

After discussing Melodye’s proposal to close membership until May, the membership voted to carry on with our current policies.

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Remember that on Wednesday, 4 May, we’ll be moving to our new home at the Heritage Park branch of OC Public Libraries, 14361 Yale Avenue (@ Walnut Av), Irvine. If you need to rearrange your schedule in order to stay with us, now’s a good time to start.

24 MARCH READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Stace (3/10)
Melodye (3/17)
Casey (3/17)
Marianna (3/17)
JoAnne (3/17)
John D. (3/3)

Glenda (3/17)

Shari (3/17)
Rosie (3/10)
Jonathan (3/17)

Kermit (3/17)
Julia (3/10)
Burt (3/17)
Maddie (3/17)
Lance (3/17)

10 MARCH MEETING NOTES

Ten people attended: Burt, Glenda, JoAnne, Julia (read three revised chapters of White Russian), Kermit (read a revised first chapter of an unnamed SF novel), Lance (read 1.5 chapters of Identity), Maddie, Rosie, Shari and Stace.

News & Notes

Melodye suggested in absentia that we close PFL to new members until we settle at the library in May. The members discussed this idea briefly at the end of the meeting and will come to a conclusion at the 17 March meeting.

We’ll continue to meet at the Tustin Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

17 MARCH READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Stace (3/10)
Melodye (2/24)
Casey (2/24)
Marianna (2/24)
JoAnne (3/10)
Maddie (3/10)
Burt (3/10)
John D. (3/3)

Glenda (3/10)

Shari (3/10)
Rosie (3/10)
Jonathan (3/3)

Kermit (3/10)
Julia (3/10)
Lance (3/10)

3 MARCH MEETING NOTES

Nine people attended: Burt, JoAnne, John D., Jonathan (read 1.5 revised chapters of Eyes Like Gods and a revised query letter), Lance, Maddie, Rosie (read two revised chapters from On Thin Ice), Shari (read two chapters from Lost in Dance) and potential newcomer Jeff P.

News & Notes

The Panera Bread experiment worked fairly well, so we’ll continue to meet there (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) until May or until they kick us out, whichever comes first. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

Jonathan’s YA novel Normal for Once is now available for the Kindle on Amazon for $3.99.

You can subscribe to our blog at purefictionleague.org either by entering your email address or by following the RSS feed. If you’d like us to link to your website or blog, send us your URL. If you want to contribute to the blog, you’ll need to sign up for a free WordPress account, then contact Stace or Lance for additional instructions.

10 MARCH READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Kermit (2/17)
Stace (2/24)
Melodye (2/24)
Casey (2/24)
Marianna (2/24)
Julia (2/24)
JoAnne (3/3)
Maddie (3/3)
Lance (3/3)

Burt (3/3)
John D. (3/3)

Glenda (2/24)

Shari (3/3)
Rosie (3/3)
Jonathan (3/3)

24 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES

Thirteen people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda (read her autobiographical sketch “A Proper Fist”), JoAnne, Jonathan, Julia, Lance, Maddie, Marianna, Melodye, Rosie, Shari and Stace. This meeting was also a tryout for Paradise Perks in Irvine and became a trial in more ways than one; we discovered Thursdays are not viable at this café.

News & Notes

The Borders at Tustin Legacy is no longer available. We’ll meet at Panera Bread (2467 Park Ave, Tustin, also at The District) for our 3 Mar meetings. (Props to Maddie for arranging this.) We’ll see if this works as an interim home until May. While you’re not required to eat there, it would be politic to buy some coffee or dessert.

The new group website at purefictionleague.org is now active. You can subscribe to the blog either by entering your email address or by following the RSS feed. If you’d like us to link to your website or blog, send us your URL. If you want to contribute to the blog, you’ll need to sign up for a free WordPress account, then contact Stace or Lance for additional instructions.

3 MARCH READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Kermit (2/17)
Stace (2/24)
Melodye (2/24)
Casey (2/24)
Marianna (2/24)
Shari (2/24)
Julia (2/24)
Rosie (2/24)
Jonathan (2/24)
JoAnne (2/24)
Maddie (2/24)
Lance (2/24)
Burt (2/24)
John D. (2/17)
Glenda (2/24)

17 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES

Eleven people attended: Burt (read three chapters from Madness of March), Casey, Glenda, JoAnne, John D. (read the opening chapter of The Age of Arthur), Jonathan, Kermit, Lance, Maddie, Shari and Stace.

News & Notes

We’ll gather at Irvine’s Paradise Perks (15475 Jeffrey Road, at Irvine Center Drive) for our 24 Feb and 3 Mar meetings. We’ll try the place for two weeks, then decide whether we want to stay. Our Borders in Tustin is slated to shut down. The café breathed its last on 17 Feb; the clearance sale starts on the 19th.

The new group website at purefictionleague.org is now active. Stace has worked hard to bring up the site, and it’s already far better than what we had with Multiply. Stace and Lance are administrators; John D. volunteered to be one of the two editors. You can subscribe to the blog either by entering your email address or by following the RSS feed. If you’d like us to link to your website or blog, send us your URL. If you want to contribute to the blog, you’ll need to sign up for a free WordPress account, then contact Stace or Lance for additional instructions.

24 FEBRUARY READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Kermit (2/17)
Stace (2/17)
Glenda (2/17)
Melodye (2/3)
Casey (2/17)
Marianna (2/10)
Shari (2/17)
Julia (2/10)
Rosie (2/10)
Jonathan (2/17)
JoAnne (2/17)
Maddie (2/17)
Lance (2/17)
Burt (2/17)
John D. (2/17)

10 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES

Twelve people attended: Burt, Casey, Glenda, JoAnne (read a short sketch, "Super Bowl Vegas"), John D., Jonathan, Julia, Lance (read four revised chapters from Identity), Maddie (read two chapters from Hit Me), Marianna, Rosie and Stace.

News & Notes

The application has been turned in to the HeritagePark branch of OC Public Library in Irvine (14361 Yale Av.). It’s available Wednesdays 7-9PM starting 4 May except for the fourth Wednesday of each month (an exception that may be temporary).

Jonathan scouted Paradise Perks (15475 Jeffrey Road, Irvine) and reports that it’s large, writing-group friendly and available on Thursdays. If we decide to move there, we need to release our hold on the library. The only we can tell if Paradise Perks is for us, however, is to try it. Accordingly, we will hold our 24 Feb meeting at Paradise Perks. We’ll try the place for two weeks, then decide whether we want to stay.

The new group website at purefictionleague.org proceeds apace and should soon be ready for show-and-tell. Stace has worked hard to bring up the site, and it’s already far better than what we have with Multiply.

17 FEBRUARY READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

Kermit (2/3)
Stace (2/10)
Glenda (2/10)
Melodye (2/3)
Casey (2/10)
Marianna (2/10)
Shari (2/3)
Burt (2/10)
Julia (2/10)
John D. (2/10)
Rosie (2/10)
Jonathan (2/10)
JoAnne (2/10)
Maddie (2/10)
Lance (2/10)

3 FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES

Thirteen people packed the table: Burt, Casey, Glenda, John D., Jonathan (read a revamped chapter from Eyes Like Gods), Julia, Kermit, Lance, Maddie, Melodye, Rosie (read the opening chapter of On Thin Ice), Shari and Stace.

News & Notes

Because of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Borders’ imminent bankruptcy filing, we agreed it was time to find an alternate home for PFL. Options are not thick on the ground. City-owned meeting facilities, when available, charge rent; community- and church-based meeting rooms generally require a resident or parishioner to be part of the group. OC Public Library branches generally have free meeting rooms, but they’re popular, especially in the evenings. The best option we’ve found is the Heritage Park branch of OCPL in Irvine (14361 Yale Av.). It’s available Wednesdays 7-9PM starting in May except for the fourth Wednesday of each month (an exception that may be temporary). The PFL members voted to grab the space while we can and look further for a venue to fill in on the fourth Wednesday.

The current Multiply website does not allow for the reasonable addition of more resources for PFL members. Lance and Stace proposed obtaining the domain purefictionleague.org and hosting a site in WordPress, a popular and powerful blogging and content-management platform that offers free hosting. Registering and maintaining the domain will cost $25 a year, which the members can reimburse through donations. The members approved this plan. The new site should be open for business soon.

10 FEBRUARY READING LIST

Please review this list for accuracy. If you discover any mistakes or omissions, please let us know in advance of the meeting.

JoAnne (1/27)

Kermit (2/3)

Stace (2/3)

Glenda (2/3)

Melodye (2/3)

Casey (2/3)

Marianna (1/27)

Maddie (2/3)

Shari (2/3)

Burt (2/3)

Julia (2/3)

Lance (2/3)

John D. (2/3)

Rosie (2/3)

Jonathan (2/3)