Report from Denver

LLL Denver. Seated (L-R): Sara Megibow, Kristin Nelson, Kelly Notaras, Debra Fine.
Standing: Janet Singleton, Tamara Greenleaf, Carleen Brice, Elizabeth Wrenn, Bella Stander.

Today was the third Denver LLL. We've had exponential growth: just two Ladies in June, five in July and nine today. Denver being just a wee bit (make that almost 15x) bigger than Charlottesville, we had to make some concessions to geography. Which means we had to forego Royal India at the SE end of town in order to accommodate the Ladies who live in the Boulder area.

So today we met in an Irish pub in NW Denver, Mead St. Station in Highlands Square. Upside: Good location, good prices, good food, great iced tea. Downside: Catch-as-catch-can parking, no reservations, noisy. Next month we'll probably meet at a larger, quieter (hooray for sound-deadening carpet!) Chinese restaurant with its own parking lot.

Hot tip from agent Kristin Nelson: If you're an author, freshen up your website periodically by posting "deleted scenes" from your novel. Your readers will love it, and you won't have to worry about giving away protected material.

Calling All Blog Virgins!

So, you want to post a comment, but you're not sure how to go about it?

Gather 'round: You can do this. (If I can do it, anybody can!)

It will be easier if you open another browser window, and go to the LLL blog. That way, you can read these instructions in one window, and click on stuff in the other window.

Choose a blog entry (such as "Poet Perseveres" or "You Don't Hear About the Rejections"). At the bottom of the post, you'll notice a line of small print. You'll see "0 comments" (or maybe "127 comments," if people have responded). Click on the word "comments".

If this is your first time posting on this "blogspot" site, you'll need to create a Google account. (If you have a gmail account, you can use that username and password.)

Find where it says "No Google Account? Sign up here." And click that link.

You'll enter your email address, and choose a password (at least 6 characters long). Type in your name as you want it to appear with your comment.

You'll see a graphic with 5 or 6 letters, and it's distorted. You'll be asked to type those letters into a box. (Why? This is a way of deterring spammers from using programs to make mass-postings on blogs. It takes a human eye to discern what those letters are.)

Check the box to accept the terms of service, and continue to the next window.

Type your comment in the box, and, once again, discern what the distorted letters are and type those in. Then click on "publish your comment" and that's it!

This "blogspot" site must have a bajillion blogs on it. Now that you have a blogspot account set up, you'll be able to post on any of the blogs hosted here.

Website Insights

Are you a Literary Lady with a website? Or maybe someone who'd like a website, but you're not sure how to go about it? Elizabeth Howard asked me for advice about this the other day, and I was no help at all. (My son Waldo does my site for free and charges other people more than the average writer could afford.)

So, we're looking for advice: How much should one expect to pay? Do you look for someone online? Should that someone be in Charlottesville, or does it matter? What other tips can you pass along?

[posted by Janis Jaquith]