The Fiction Focus Group of Cobb County
Sylvia. Darrell. Cathi. Teresa. Jennie. Jeff.
Let us all be like savage chickens this year, and peck the hell out of the slush pile. Let us be as Poultry from Hades, flying fearlessly into the face of the publishing world. We’ve all got it in us to do just that, or to make real progress toward whatever goal we set for ourselves, if we want it badly enough. Don’t let your blank page mock you with its blankness! Rise up! They may send us rejection letters, but they’ll never take our freedom!
*exhausted* *calming down after that amazing Braveheart moment*
°
Opportunity: The What We’re Interested In page at Donald Maass Literary is usually updated once every two months. They’re only one agency, but they are an A-List one that has good insight on what is considered “fresh and new” out there, and what might interest other agencies as well. So keep an eye on this link.
°
November FFG
Critiquefest: 11/29/2011@ our usual haunt, the Daily Grind Coffee House & Cafe, 7 P. Hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving holiday!
Agenda: TBD. No submissions.
October FFG
Critiquefest: 10/25/2011. Hit us up at the Daily Grind at 7 PM.
Agenda: TBD. No submissions.
September FFG
Critiquefest 9/27/2011. We’ll be chewing over our daily grinds at The Daily Grind at 7 PM, so come on down.
Agenda:
• “Stick Figures” (short story) — Darrell. He emailed the manuscript on September 11, so if you don’t have it please contact him. Thanks!
Meeting Note: Cathi will not be in attendance. She and the hubby are headed out of town, and she’ll see us in October.
August FFG
Critiquefest 8/30/2011, at 7 P at The Daily Grind.
Agenda: No submissions this month. Come ready to wing it with whatever you’ve got, which seems to work quite well for people the likes of us! Haha. 
July FFG
Critiquefest 7/26/2011, at 7 P at our new haunt, The Daily Grind.
Agenda: TBD. No submissions as of yet. Last month, we used the time to further dig into things that Sylvia needed to discuss about her Still Life novel, and that turned out to be pretty productive.
We’re all writers. We flap our gums really well without an immediate subject to latch onto, so bring yourself on to the meeting. Besides, Cathi should be back and we can hear about her experience at the Oregon coast!
Edited to Add 7/26, from Jennie: “Hey, I would like to ask the group a few questions tomorrow night related to a process that Holly Lisle teaches in one of her writing courses, if no one objects. One that I’d like you to think about ahead of time has to do with the definition of the genre known as Fantasy, and in particular, Young Adult Fantasy.
I know that some of you are very well-versed in the genre and some of you don’t care for it, but I would still be interested in hearing what each of you thinks. I need to know what you think the five defining characteristics of Fantasy and of YA Fantasy are. I would really appreciate any help all can provide and I think, if nothing else, it could lead to an interesting discussion.
Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night at Daily Grind!”
June FFG
Critiquefest 6/28/2011, at 7 P at The Daily Grind.
Agenda: TBD. No submissions.
May FFG
Critiquefest: 5/31/2011, at 7 P at The Daily Grind.
Agenda:
• Still Life, Chapters 7-11 (July — November) (novel) — Sylvia.
April FFG
Critiquefest: 4/26/2011, at 7 P at our new haunt (hopefully our new haunt if everything works out swell) The Daily Grind Coffee House and Café. Fingers crossed… See you all there.
Agenda:
• “Europa” pages 1-15 (short story) — Jeff. He emailed this as an .rtf around April 11, so everyone should have it.
°
March FFG
Critiquefest: 3/29/2011, at 7 P to 9 P, at Barnes & Noble Book Store on The Avenue At West Cobb. This is a transitional meeting place, as we expect to give The Daily Grind Coffee House and Café a try, beginning in April. Here is a West Cobb Life write-up on the place.
Of course, we’re just feeling our way at this point, so nothing is set in cement. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to pull up stakes and find new digs.
Agenda:
• Still Life, Chapters 1-6 (Before — June ) (novel) — Sylvia. We’ve seen this before, but it’s been a long time and Syl has been in rewrite mode. Good to see you again, “Amy” and “Mac”! 
°
February FFG
Critiquefest: 2/22/2011, at 7 P @ Borders Book Store on the East/West Connector.
You all know by now that our Borders will be closing down. *long, mournful wail*
*cutting that short and getting on with stuff* There are rumors and rumors of rumors as to when the doors might be closing, and some of the cafes are closing before the actual stores do. So… if we show up Tuesday and the doors are closed, Teresa has offered her dining room, which we’ve been in before (there was plenty of room to get comfy, and it’s right around the corner from Borders, so it’s a great temporary fix). In any case, we’ve got to have a discussion about what we do next… where we go for meetings now, with our longtime haunt snatched from under us. Please think on that and come with some suggestions for a new FFG home. Thanks!
Agenda:
• ACROSS THE SEA, pages 1-30 (screenplay) — Jeff. This is a screen adaptation of Across The Cytoplasmic Sea (the novel of Ren’s story, that we partially critiqued last year). It was emailed towards the end of this month, so Jeff asks that you only critique the amount of it that you can comfortably get to.
**Meeting Note: Sylvia will not be in attendance.
°
January FFG
Critiquefest: 1/25/2011, at Borders Book Store on the East/West Connector. You know the drill. Be there or be talked about. To death.
Agenda:
• Wrestling The Death Angel, Chapter 1: The Scales of the Leviathan — Jeff
There was a snafu of sorts last month, where some folks didn’t get the email with the above submission. (I did find it in my Inbox, Jeff. I don’t know how I missed the thing.) If anyone doesn’t have this, please contact Jeff so that he can resend it to you. Thanks much.
Emergency here at work. May be a little late.
Teresa