Event: Writers Guild of Texas Meeting---Monday, 11/15/10

Years ago, I was an undergrad at The University of Texas at Dallas and took a couple of classes from Mr. Reynolds. I strongly suggest if you are interested in the writing process at all, you should make every effort to attend the meeting next Monday night.

Writers Guild of Texas Meeting

Monday, November 15

7:00 -8:30 pm

The Art of the Short Story: Neglected or Merely Forgotten?

Presented by Clay Reynolds

The short story, and the American short story in particular, has been nearly pushed off the map of publishing by a disappearance of high-profile, commercial periodicals gradual phasing out of the form. Even so, among the small and literary magazines of the country, the form is alive and well. Ironically, perhaps, the best American writers find their reputations resting more often on the short fiction form than on the novel. Today, almost all writers will attest that the well-made story is a far more challenging writing task than a full-blown novel. Its precision and demanding form exacts the best of a writer’s skills, and for many readers, the short fiction form proves more satisfying and fulfilling than even the largest and most complex of novels.

Native Texan novelist, essayist, scholar, and literary critic Clay Reynolds is a multi-published author of scholarly studies, novels, short fiction, poems, essays, and critical reviews. A Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas, he holds academic degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, Trinity University, and a PhD from the University of Tulsa. His published novels include The Vigil, Agatite, Franklin's Crossing, Players, Monuments, and The Tentmaker, Ars Poetica, Threading the Needle, a collection of essays, Of Snake and Sex and Playing in the Rain, and a collection of short fiction, Sandhill County Lines. His nonfiction books, authored and edited, include Stage Left: The Development of the American Social Drama, Taking Stock: A Larry McMurtry Casebook, A Hundred Years of Heroes: A Centennial History of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show, Twenty Questions: Answers for the Inquiring Writer, and The Plays of Jack London. Forthcoming is his edited anthology of 19^th century dime novels, The Hero of a Hundred Fights. His novels, short fiction, and essays have won numerous awards; he is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Reynolds was part of the Writers’ League of Texas Task Force that was instrumental in linking the organization (then the Austin Writers’ League) to the Texas Commission for the Arts, back in 1992, and he was the architect of the Literary Touring Program that thrived for the rest of that decade. Reynolds lives in Lowry Crossing, a community near McKinney, Texas, with his wife Judy, a medical technologist.

Mark the third Monday of every month for the Writers' Guild of Texas meeting.

Meetings are free and open to the public. Held at:

Richardson Public Library
900 Civic Center Dr.
Richardson TX 75080
Basement Room

Please forward.

Writers’ Guild of Texas website: http://writersguildoftexas.org

WGT Yahoo Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritersGuildofTexas/messages

The Writers' Guild of Texas is a nonprofit professional organization whose primary purpose is to provide a forum for information, support, and sharing among writers; to help members improve and market their writing skills; and to promote the interests of writers and the writing community.

Annual 2010 WGT dues of $20.00 may be paid at meetings, by mail to Writers' Guild of Texas, 6009 W. Parker Road, Suite 149-175, Plano TX 75093, or online at www.writersguildoftexas.org