"Write to Win
in 2010" is our theme for 2010.
September 25 –
“Tales from the Trenches: How to Market Your Work in Your Own
Backyard.” Marketing
panel discussion with members on ways o get your book noticed.
October
30 – “Getting in the Door and Pokin
Around.”
Fall Workshop featuring Susan Swartwout,
professor at Southeast
Missouri State
University and editor of
“Big Muddy,” and Steve Pokin, columnist for the Suburban Journal.
Susan Swartwout teaches
creative writing and publishing at Southeast
Missouri State
University and is the
Publisher of Southeast Missouri State University Press which produces books and
Big Muddy: Journal of the Mississippi
River Valley, an interdisciplinary magazine. Her two collections of poetry
are entitled Freaks and Uncommon Ground. She co-edited Real Things: Anthology
of Popular Culture in American Poetry,Hurricane
Blues: Poems about Katrina and Rita, Balancing on a Bootheel,
and A Student’s Guide to Getting Published. Her poems and short stories
are published in literary journals such as Nebraska Review, The Laurel Review,
River Styx, Negative Capability, Mississippi Review, and Spoon River Poetry
Review, among others. She is a recipient of the Rona Jaffe Writers’
Foundation Award, the Dillinger Good Award, and St.Louis Poetry Center’s
Hanks Award.
Dr. Swartwout will share
her writing expertise as both a teacher and an author. She'll be talking about "Getting in the Door" in
literary magazines and small presses in today's economic climate – the research,
the query, the cover letter. She will also take pitches from workshop attendees
who schedule appointments in advance.
Steve Pokin’s popular column “Pokin Around” appears in the
Suburban Journal. Steve will talk about writing non-fiction.
****************************************************************************************************
2010
WORKSHOP REGISTRATION FORM
(Copy,
paste, and print)
Saturday Writers One-Day Workshop
“Getting in the Door and Pokin Around”
"Getting
in the Door" with Susan Swartwout.
Susan Swartwout will tell us
how to get into the literary magazines and small presses even in today’s
economic climate. She’ll cover research, the query, the cover letter.
Susan will also take pitches during the day for her literary magazine, Big
Muddy, and for the Southeast Missouri University Press. Please let us know when
you register if you’d like a five minute pitch so we can schedule appointments
accordingly.
“Pokin Around” with Steve Pokin. Steve
Pokin’s popular
newspaper column appears in the Suburban Journal. Steve will talk about writing
non-fiction and give us some tips on how to write for the area newspapers, or
perhaps how to get your own column.
When: October
30, 2010
Time: Registration
begins at 9:00 Meeting starts at 10:00 ends at 3:30
Where: St.Peters Community & Arts Center,
1035 St. Peters Howell Road
(off mid rivers Mall drive) St. Peters,
MO 636-397-6903
Bring a picnic lunch. There
are several restaurants and fast food places in the area, but we are
encouraging everyone to bring a picnic lunch and visit during lunch break.
Saturday Writers will provide drinks and dessert. A prize will be awarded for
the most creative container for your lunch. Door prizes and a
raffle. Bring your notebook and your pen and be prepared to learn.
Workshop Fees (Due October
15)
Saturday Writers Member $30 _______________
MWG or OWL Member $30 _______________
Full-time Student $40 _______________
Non-Member $50 _______________
After Oct 15 or at the door
(All) $60 _______________
Pitch appointment with
Susan _______________
Check payable to Saturday Writers:
Name ____________________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________________
Contact Information _______________________________________________________
Mail to: Donna Volkenannt
32 Country Crossing Est. Dr.
St. Peters, MO
63376
****************************************************************************************************
November
27 - No meeting - Thanksgiving Weekend.
December 4 - Annual
Christmas Party and Open House, including Book Exchange.
****
Events
that occurred in 2010
January 30 - SPOTLIGHT ON
OUR MEMBERS: Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Announcement of Saturday Writers 1/1/1 Kick-off Contest Winner and Open Mic
Session: As part of our
"Write to Win in 2010" theme, our first meeting will be dedicated to
our members.
Kicking off our "Saturday Writers
Featured Member Fifteen Minutes of Fame" will be Nick Nixon, who has been
a country music singer/performer and is founder and president of the Gateway
Country Music Association. Nick says he has had "marginal success at
song writing, and is currently working on a love ballad entitled ...'You Caught
My Eye When Your Husband Knocked It Out.' " Last October, Nick was also winner of our 2009
Workshop Writing Contest for his poignant essay, "July, the Wonder Dog."
After Nick's "Fifteen Minutes of
Fame" performance, the winner of our "Write to Win
in 2010 Kick-off Contest" will be announced. The winner will be invited to
read his or her winning entry.
Rounding out our meeting, members are invited
to read during our Open Mic Session. Bring their very
best, polished work to read. Advanced sign-up required to
read during the Open Mic Session.
Contact louturn@aol.com to sign up to
read.
***
February
27 - Award-winning Mystery and thriller writer DAKOTA BANKS (aka SHIRLEY
KENNETT) will talk about "BOOK PROPOSALS THAT SELL." A book
proposal is what you need to introduce yourself to an agent or editor, like an
expanded business card. It consists of a query letter, a synopsis, and a
fifty-page writing sample. The object is to get your full manuscript a reading
by an agent or editor. It's a foot in the door to let your full manuscript work
its magic. Without a compelling query and synopsis, the door closes rapidly and
you get a form rejection letter with a check in the box that says, "Sorry,
does not meet our needs." Dakota will talk us through a real-life query
letter and synopsis that sold, and talk about an opening hook for your
manuscript. You'll have a handout and you can feel free to e-mail her after the
presentation with any questions that weren't covered (shirley@shirleykennett.com).
Dakota Banks
(aka Shirley Kennett) grew up in a converted turn-of-the-century funeral
home, complete with blood gutters and multiple drains in the basement floor,
and it probably warped her mind. She set aside all those macabre thoughts
spawned by reading books in the basement at night with a flashlight and
undertook a relatively normal life. Dakota published six books, all hard-edged
suspense thrillers dealing with virtual reality, one of them set in a
near-future world. Something was missing, though, and it took her 600,000 words
to find out what. Although the thrillers extrapolated trends in forensic
science, computer simulation, and virtual reality, they didn't go far enough.
She felt hemmed in by reality. She
needed to get back into the basement with a flashlight and write from that
perspective. Dark Time, the first book in the Mortal Path series, is a
supernatural thriller/dark urban fantasy, with a little horror and romance
thrown in for seasoning. Book two, Sacrifice, will be out in September
2010.
Dakota lives on the western fringe of St. Louis, Missouri
with her husband. Her two sons, one adopted from Peru
and the other from Ethiopia,
are in college. She's a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, American Crime Writers
League, and a board member of International Thriller Writers. http://www.dakota-banks.com
March 27 - Creating Winning Manuscripts: An Insider's View. St. Charles Community College English professor and Mid Rivers Review Editor
Teddy Norris shares her insight about what grabs an editor's attention and
causes a manuscript to rise to the top of the submission pile. Teddy will also
discuss what she learned during a manuscript conference she attended while on
sabbatical.
Teddy Norris is Professor of English at St.
Charles Community College
where she teaches poetry and creative writing.
Since 2006 she has edited SCC’s literary
journal, Mid Rivers Review, and she
also hosts the SCC Coffeehouse. She
recently completed a poetry manuscript and has poetry forthcoming in Untamed Ink and The Mom Egg.
Jerrell Swingle will have is
fifteen minutes of fame prior to Teddy’s presentation, and winner of our March
Madness contest will be announced prior to Teddy’s presentation.
**
Saturday,
April 24 - Jen Cullerton Johnson is the author of Seeds of Change. She has
published fiction and creative nonfiction in literary journals and magazines.
She has led writing workshops for high school students, elementary children,
and continuing education students where she provides a positive and productive
workshop environment where respect and craft coincide. She holds a MFA in
non-fiction, a MEd in curriculum and development and
is Illinois
certified.
Want to dig up some stories and help the
environment? SEEDS OF CHANGE is a workshop designed to give participants
the tools to write about the environment around them. Participants will learn
how to observe nature through keeping a nature journal. They will also use this
inspiration to write a piece of their choice: poetry, short story, essay, and
so on. Adults and children are welcome to participate! Bring paper and pencil.
SEEDS OF
CHANGE (the book) received a
STARRED review in the 4/15 issue of Kirkus! "This debut picture biography, idealized
and inspiring, draws on Wangari Maathai’s
autobiographical writing to present an overview of the activist’s life
from childhood to the present. Johnson sows her narrative with botanical
metaphors: ‘Her mind was like a seed rooted in rich soil, ready to
grow.’ The mugumo tree symbolizes Kenya’s
transition from agrarian bounty to environmental precipice: It yields figs for
humans and animals yet bows to destruction as multinational corporations raze
forests to profit from coffee plantations. Richer than other treatments of Maathai for children and more grounded in her work’s
implicit feminism, this details her education in Nairobi and the United States,
her imprisonment for activism and her scientific and environmental work,
resulting in the planting of 30,000,000 trees and economic empowerment for
Kenyan women. Sadler’s beautiful scratchboard illustrations incise white
contoured line into saturated landscapes of lush green leaf patterns, brilliant-hued
textiles and undulating, stylized hills. Maathai
always wears a colorful headscarf or fabric bow, and the community spirit she
resuscitates is joyfully celebrated on every spread. Vibrant
and accomplished." (This book will be for sale at the workshop.)
**
May 29 – Annual Works-in-progress Meeting. Come listen to our members read their works in
progress. To sign up to read during the
meeting, e-mail Lou Turner louturn@aol.com
with YOUR NAME and Saturday Writers WIP Meeting in the Subject line no later
than May 20.
**
June 26 – EMILY JAYCOX, Librarian for the Missouri History Museum’s
Library, will give a presentation on “Research
Resources Available at the Missouri
History Library.” According to their website: “The Missouri
History Museum’s research collections contain unique regional history
sources and objects documenting St. Louis, Missouri, the Mississippi and
Missouri Valleys, the Louisiana Purchase Territory and the American
West.” No matter what you write: fiction, nonfiction, short stories,
novels, essays, articles, even poetry, Emily’s presentation will give you
an insider’s view of the library and its excellent research resources,
which include family history, Missouri history, genealogy records, photos, and
much more.
Bio: Emily Troxell Jaycox joined
the Missouri History Museum
library staff in 1989. Prior to that, she worked at the Newberry Library in
Chicago and Lake Forest College Library. Her undergraduate degree in History is from Oberlin College
and her master’s in Library Science is from the University of Chicago. While working among old books and documents,
much of her workday is spent planning ways to make more of MHM’s
collections searchable via the Internet.
Her research interests include historic maps, North
America in the late 1700’s, and the history of etiquette and
food. She lives in South St. Louis and enjoys
gardening and house tours.
**
July 31- Writing Fun with no Hot Sun
Here’s
what’s in store or us, courtesy of president, Louella
Turner:
As many of
you know, we had a scheduling conflict with the speakers we had lined up for
July. They have promised to do the workshop at another date next year. The good
news is we have the room from 10
until 3 for this
meeting, so we're planning to pack it with a whole lot of fun!
First. Everyone bring a picnic lunch of some kind. You can stop at a fast
food place, or you can fry up some chicken and put it in a vintage picnic basket.
To encourage you to be creative, we're going to have a prize for the most inventive
lunch...food, container...whatever.
You could even dress up
if you want and we'll
judge on that. Just have fun.
Second. We have such talented members. Bring
anything and everything that you've published and set up a book table to sell your wares. Bring flyers of upcoming book or
speaking events that you are involved in. This is your day to crow about your
achievements. We'll also have a prize
for the prettiest table. So bring
something to decorate it with. Tables are available at the center. Some may
have to share a table, but everyone
who participates in the book sale is asked to help with table set up and clean up.
Third. We'll have a short open mic
for anything you want comments on.
This will be a critique
session, so if you
want, bring a few copies. We'll take suggestions or comments from the audience,
so please bring something that you think could benefit from a good critique.
We'll have a sign up sheet at the registration table. Just two pages please!!!!
Just have fun.
Fourth.
Bring a new or used book for a unique
book exchange Donna and I
want to do. Now, do I have to say it again? We're just going to have fun.
We'll also
try to save a little time for just a good old-fashioned discussion about writing. I think we have so much we can learn
from each other.
****
The 2010 Children’s workshop and
contest are sponsored by:
*Missouri Writers’
Guild, (www.missouriwritersguild.org)
*Donna Volkenannt, (Donna’s
Book Pub http://donnasbookpub.blogspot.com and author of stories in Cup of Comfort for Christmas, Cup of Comfort
for Military Families, Cup of Comfort for Women, and Irish Inspirations)
*Cindy Allen, Saturday Writers board member
*Margo L. Dill, (Editor 911: editing services and
business writing, http://www.margodill.com/editor911.html)
*Lou Turner, (High Hill Press, http://www.highhillpress.com/)
*Amy Harke-Moore, (The
Write Helper, editing services http://www.thewritehelper.com/)
***
****
The members of Saturday Writers thank the
speakers who visited us in 2009.
January 31 -
"Out of the Silence Cometh the First Line." Saturday Writers is pleased and
honored to present WALTER BARGEN, Missouri's first poet laureate, at the first
Saturday Writers meeting of 2009. Bargen will cover
his topic for approximately 45 minutes to an hour, followed by questions and
answers from attendees. His books of poetry will also be available for sale
after his talk. He has published twelve books of poetry and two chapbooks of
poetry. His four most recent books are, The Feast (BkMk Press-UMKC, 2004), which was awarded the 2005 William Rockhill Nelson Award, Remedies for Vertigo (WordTech Communications, 2006), West of West
(Timberline Press, 2007), and Theban Traffic (WordTech
Communications, 2008). His poems have appeared in the Beloit
Poetry Journal, Poetry East, Seattle
Review, and New Letters. He was the winner of the Chester H. Jones
Foundation prize in 1997 and a National Endowment for the Art Fellowship in
1991. In 2008, he was appointed to be the first poet laureate of Missouri. www.walterbargen.com
Walter Bargen at 2008 MWG Conference
(Photo by Donna Volkenannt)
February 28 - BOBBI SMITH, The best-selling
"Queen of the Western Romance" talks to Saturday Writers about
"Motivation."
(Photo courtesy of Bobbi
Smith's website)
New York Times and USA Today bestselling
novelist Bobbi Smith worked in retail sales until her graduation from the University of Missouri,
St. Louis in
1971. Zebra Books purchased her first manuscript in early ’82, and the
rest as they say, is history. In the past twenty-six years, Bobbi has written
forty-nine books and six short stories, and the love affair has become a
sizzling romance between author and her fans. To date, there are over six
million Bobbi Smith novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious
‘Storyteller of the Year’ Award from Romantic Times Magazine
(New York) and attained positions on the New York Times Best Seller
List, the USA Today Best Seller List, the Walden’s Best Seller
List, B. Dalton’s List, and the WalMart and
K-Mart Best Seller Lists. She has been a guest speaker at the Romantic
Times Conferences and is currently coordinating an entire Writers’ Track
for them. She has also spoken at numerous writers’ groups around the
country. Ms. Smith was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award from Harris-Stowe
and was inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta Literary Fraternity. She taught
creative writing courses at the University
of Missouri – St. Louis for the Adult Education Courses.
The foreign rights to Ms. Smith’s books have been sold to China, France,
Germany, India, Israel,
Italy, Russia and Sweden. Smith’s current
novel for her publisher Leisure Books, a division of Dorchester,
is Wanted! The Texan out in January and Runaway will
be out in July. Zebra Books is re-releasing Desert Heart this spring
and The Gunfighter (originally titled Beneath Passion’s Skies) this fall!
Smith also writes contemporary faith-based novels (Haven and Miracles) under
the pseudonym of Julie Marshall.
March 28 - "Just the
Facts" - A panel of
experts answer questions and talk about their careers in law
enforcement. This question-and-answer panel discussion is an excellent
opportunity for writers of mystery, suspense, or crime novels to get an
insider's perspective from experts in a variety of law enforcement
careers. Here's the list of panelists:
Cindy Allen is deputized as a Federal law
enforcement officer. Voluntarily, she offers her service as a Federal Flight
Deck Officer. Since 1978, she's been employed in the airline industry. At
TWA, she served as captain on the B717; currently she flies the 757/767 at
American Airlines. In addition to her pilot training, she's trained on
the use of firearms, defensive tactics, the psychology
of survival, legal issues, and the use of force. When she is not working,
she enjoys target shooting practice at the local shooting range.
Christopher DiGuiseppi (Chris)
has over eighteen years in law enforcement at various levels up to and
including Assistant Chief of Police. He is a graduate of the FBI National
Academy and Northwestern
University School of Police Staff Command. He is trained in various aspects of
law enforcement and holds degrees in Management and Human Resources.
Chris lives with his wife and children in Missouri.
Michael Force (Mike) has over eighteen years
in law enforcement as a Police Chief with numerous certifications in various
areas of law, forensics, investigations and criminology. He is a graduate of
the FBI National Academy
and served twenty-two years in the U.S. Marines, where he retired as a Captain
who oversaw operations for twenty-seven military installations
worldwide. He holds degrees in Political Science and Human
Resources. Mike lives with his wife in Missouri and has three grown children.
Jeffrey
L. Fulton is
currently the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in St.
Louis, Missouri.
He is responsible for ATF’s enforcement operations in eastern Missouri and the states of Nebraska
and Iowa.
Prior to arriving in St. Louis in October 2002, Jeff was the Chief of
ATF’s State, Local and International Training Division in Washington,
DC, overseeing all of ATF’s external training initiatives dealing
with firearms, explosives, arson and the Gang Resistance Education and Training
(G.R.E.A.T.) Program.
Between
January 1997 and January 2000, Jeff was the Resident Agent in Charge of
ATF’s Omaha, Nebraska,
field office where he had geographical responsibility for the entire state of Nebraska and the western tier of Iowa. Jeff has been a Special Agent with ATF
since April 1984. Prior to that, he was with the Customs Service in El Paso, Texas, and Houston, Texas.
He graduated from the University of Texas at El
Paso in 1982 with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal
Justice. Jeff’s previous assignments with ATF were in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
from April 1984 through November 1993. He was assigned to the
Intelligence Division in Bureau Headquarters in Washington, DC,
from December 1993 to January 1997. Jeff’s investigative specialties
include explosive and firearm investigations. He is a Certified
Explosives Specialist with ATF and has made explosive and firearms
presentations both domestically and abroad. Jeff and his wife, Nancy, along
with their two teen age children, reside in Wildwood, Missouri.
Lisa Harke came to the position of 911 operator and dispatcher quite by
accident. While working as an assistant manager of a gas station, which some of
the local police officers frequented, she asked one of her favorite officers
about an ad she'd seen in the paper for a dispatcher. He told her not everyone
was cut out to do the job, which she soon found to be an accurate statement.
That was seven years ago, and she still loves the job today. When she's not
"answering the call," she enjoys catering, photography, crafts, and
spending time with family and friends.
***
April 25 -
NOTE: As part of Saturday Writers theme for 2009 of "Taking Your Writing
to the Next Level," prior to Max's presentation, High Hill CEO and
Publisher Louella Turner will give a brief tutorial
on "Point of View."
April 25 - Photojournalism - Multimedia
photojournalist MAX GERSH will discuss:
* His background in photography and photojournalism
* What separates a photographer from a photojournalist
* Breaking into the field
* Why today's photojournalists have to know many visual
media
* How to react to news/how we see news
* Maintaining objectivity when covering tragedy/covering
exciting stories
Max has been studying and practicing journalism for twelve
years and photography for nearly nine. Gersh is a
2008 graduate of Webster
University with a B.A. in
photography. He spent one semester abroad in Shanghai, China.
In his final years at Webster he studied interactive digital media and web
design in addition to photojournalism. He
participated in the design and construction of Web sites for one of St. Louis' leading
interactive advertising agencies, working on projects for clients such as
Nestle Purina. His work has appeared in publications like The Alton Telegraph, The St. Louis Jewish Light and the St. Louis Journalism Review. He
currently is the photography intern at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
(Photo courtesy of Max Gersh)
***
May 30 - Saturday
Writers presents, "The First 300." Ladies and
Gentlemen, start up your writing engines!!!!!
According to most editors and agents, a writer has to capture their
attention right away-in the first paragraph or the first page-but for sure by
the first 300 words. Members of Saturday Writers are invited to submit their
fiction, non-fiction, or essays, up to 300 words (double spaced) which will be
read during the May meeting and critiqued by a panel of editors. Writers of all
levels are welcome to submit. And, you don't have to submit anything to
attend the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend!!!
Editors Lou Turner, Donna Volkenannt, and Amy Harke-Moore
will read the submissions ahead of time and offer practical comments to
help you improve your writing. They will let you know what's working as well as
what needs work.
The day of the meeting, after David "Kirk" Kirkland gives a
brief tutorial on "Self-editing," he will read your submission
anonymously, after which members of the editors' panel make comments, followed
by reading the revised version. After the meeting we'll have the copies for
submitters to take home.
***
June 27 -
"Getting Paid to Tell the Truth" - Local newspaper columnist and non-fiction writer
Shelly Schneider and husband-and-wife writers Dianna and Don Graveman will participate in a panel discussion and
share what they've learned about writing and publishing non-fiction.
Shelly Schneider spent much of her life trying to find a
painless method for removing her foot from her mouth. She’s matured, a
little, thanks to her husband, Jim, and their three children: Christopher,
Michael and Samantha. She is an award-winning columnist for Community News (www.mycnews.com) and alter ego to Sarcastic
Woman. Shelly is a lifetime fan of most sports and an 18-year fan of classic
and muscle cars. When she’s not doing that other stuff, she tries to keep
track of her daily points allowance, because hey, if
you bite it, you write it!
Dianna Graveman is an editor for Liguori Publications. She holds an MFA in writing and a bachelor's
degree in education and has taught most grades from Kindergarten through
college. Her writing has been published in the U.S. and U.K.
and has been recognized by the Missouri Writers Guild, Saturday Writers,
Whispering Prairie Press, Women on Writing, ByLine
Magazine, Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, and
Catholic Press Association of the U.S.
and Canada. She
is a St. Louis
Writers Guild "member of distinction," where she served on the
organization's board of directors in 2008-2009.
Don Graveman is a historian and freelance photographer, as
well as an account manager for Butler Communications in O’Fallon, Missouri . The recipient of a variety of sales awards, Don’s
business travels regularly take him across a multi-state territory, mostly in
the American West. Don holds a degree in economics from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Don and
Dianna are co-authors of the recently-released pictorial history, St. Charles: Les Petites Cotes, which
was published as part of Arcadia Publishing's national "Images of
America" series. They are currently under contract with Arcadia to develop three additional books for
release in 2010.
***
July 25 - New York Times bestselling author Angie Fox steps
in for Agatha-Award nominated writer Joanna Slan, who
is out of town due to a family emergency. Angie will share her thoughts on:
"ANATOMY OF A BEST SELLER."
Angie Fox is the New York Times bestselling author of
the Accidental Demon Slayer series. She claims that researching her books can
be just as much fun as writing them. In the name of fact-finding, Angie has
ridden with Harley biker gangs, explored the tunnels underneath Hoover Dam and
found an interesting recipe for Mamma Coalpot’s
Southern Skunk Surprise (she’s still trying to get her courage up to try
it).
Angie earned a Journalism
degree from the University
of Missouri. She worked
in television news and then in advertising before beginning her career as an
author.
At the beginning
of the July 25 meeting, Saturday Writers newsletter editor and award-winning
writer Amy Harke-Moore will give a tutorial on
"Show, Don't Tell."
August 29 - DUSTY
RICHARDS, Western Writer and two-time Spur-Award-winning author, talks at
an extended meeting about "Developing Character and Setting." Since publishing his first novel, Nobel's
Way, in 1992, Dusty hasn't looked back. He has published 65 books under his
own name and pseudonyms. In 2003, his novel The Natural won the Oklahoma
Writer's Federation Fiction Book of the Year Award. In 2004, The Abilene
Train won the same award. He serves on the board of the Ozarks Creative
Writers Conference held annual in Eureka
Springs, Arkansas, as
well as on the boards of the Ozarks Writers League and OWFI. He is a past board
member of the Western Writers of America. In 2004 he was inducted into the
Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame. Dusty and his wife Pat live near Beaver Lake east
of Springdale, Arkansas.
Prior to Dusty's presentation, as part of our 2009 goal of
"taking our writing to the next level," Donna Volkenannt will give a
brief writing tutorial on "Brainstorming."
September 26 - "Exercising Your Writing Muscle." Multi-published and award-winning
writers Tricia Sanders (left, top) and Amy Harke-Moore
(left, bottom) (who both are left-handed, by the way) will get your right
brain working WRITE during a hands-on meeting, which will include:
exercises, how-to, handouts, and more. Now that summer is over, it's time to
get serious about your writing. So, if you want to rev up your writing engines
so your stories, articles, or essays zip to the top of an editor's desk, this
is a meeting where you get to flex your writing muscles. Bring your
enthusiasm, imagination, pen, and paper--and get ready to work! Oh, and don't
forget to bring your brain, too.
Tricia Sanders is a former instructional designer and
corporate trainer who has been writing since she
received her first chubby pencil and Big Chief tablet. Her first short
story "Christmas in July" was published when she was in fourth
grade. Her essays and short stories have won numerous awards and have
appeared in ByLine, Sasee,
The Cuivre River Anthology II and III, Magnolia Quarterly, Great
American Outhouse Stories; The Whole Truth and Nothing Butt and the 2007 Seven
Hills Review. She is currently working on a novel-length murder
mystery. Her website www.triciasanders.com
is under construction.
Amy Harke-Moore
has
won over sixty awards to date, most notably the Oklahoma Writers
Federation, Inc. Essay Award, 2001 and 2004, and OWFI Short Story Award, 2002
and 2005. Her work has appeared in The
Writer, Chicago
Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin,
Permafrost, Grit, Writers’ Journal, Spring Hill
Review, Echoes of the Ozarks,
Cuivre River Anthology,
and Bellowing
Ark. She also
served as co-editor of the 2006 and 2007editions of Cuivre River Anthology. She is past
president of Saturday Writers, a chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild, and
co-founder of The Scribe's Tribe critique group. Currently, she is
editor of Saturday Writers
newsletter. In her spare time she plugs away at her suspense novel set in the
early 1900s.
***
October 24 - "Vision, Voice and Viewpoint." Acclaimed writer Pat Carr
will headline our annual workshop.
Pat Carr’s twelve books of fiction include The
Women in the Mirror, winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award, If We Must Die,in
the 2003 PEN book awards, and The Death of a Confederate Colonel, published
by the University
of Arkansas Press. Her
more than one hundred short stories have been published in such notable publications
as... Southern Review, Yale Review, Best American Short
Stories...
ForeWord magazine named Pat Carr's, The
Death of a Confederate Colonel, one of the top university press books of
2008, praising Carr's economic narrative as being precise and dramatic.
Regina Williams, publisher and editor of
Storyteller Magazine, will also give a presentation about writing for
Storyteller. During the workshop, Regina
will take pitches from attendees.
Regina Williams, editor of Storyteller Magazine will speak
in the morning about how to submit your short story, essay or poem to any
magazine or anthology. She’ll tell you what to include in your query, and
what to avoid. Regina
will also be taking pitches throughout the day.
This will be a hands-on workshop, limited to the first 50
people. A workbook will be provided so bring nothing but a sharpened
pencil and your enthusiasm. (Lunch on your own.)
A Workshop Registration Application and Contest
information can be found on the Member Application page.
****
December 5 - Saturday Writers Annual Christmas Party and Open
House. Put your party hat on! You’re in for a treat on Saturday, December 5,
is the annual
Saturday Writers Christmas meeting and Pot Luck Lunch will be held at the St. Peters Community and Arts Center
from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m.
* Members bring a snack to share. ** Note: We’re not doing a gift exchange this year.
* Members read works-in-progress
(Sign up at the door. First come, first served. Limit five, double-spaced
pages,)
* MEMBER BOOK SALE
and signing event. This is a perfect time to do some Christmas shopping and
support your fellow writers. Members, if you have published a book or have a
story in a book or anthology, this is your chance to make your book available
to our members and guests. If you will have book(s) you would like to have available for sale,
e-mail dvolkenannt@charter.net with the title of your book to
post on the website. Members are responsible for their own sales.
* Announcement about our
exciting “Write to Win in 2010” Kick-off contest
for members only.
* Announcement about new tee-shirts.
* Announcement about our annual children’s meeting
and writing contests.
* Other announcements
from the board about future events.
* Guests are welcome! Invite your
writing friends!
**************************************************
We thank the following speakers who visited
us in 2008. Please let them know how much you appreciate their support of
Saturday Writers.
January
26 -
LAURA
BRADFORD: "Tricks of the Promotion Trade."
In "Tricks of the
Promotion Trade" Laura will discuss the changes in the publishing world
that make it even more important for writers to learn the ins and outs of
promotion. Securing articles in newspapers, taking advantage of the World Wide
Web, catching the eye of local television stations, and increasing one's
overall visibility are all vital to an author's success. But, unless you know
what you're doing or have the money to hire a publicist, the task of
self-promotion can be quite daunting. If you let it be.
LAURA BRADFORD, a local mystery author, will
share some tried and true promotion tricks she's learned along the way--both as
a promoter and a promotee. Click on her
name to visit her web site and learn more about this amazing author.
*****
February 23 - DAN DILLON: "Picking up the Pieces: How
to Turn a Failed Project into a Successful Book."
In
"Picking up the Pieces," Dan will discuss how he was able to shift
gears on a work-in-progress. Dan’s original book topic was Prom Magazine,
a local monthly magazine read by St.
Louis high school students from the late '40s through
the early '70s. Problems forced him to withdraw from the project. He was
fortunate enough to be able to salvage much of his research on the
"Prom" project and turn it into the second edition of "So,
Where'd You Go to High School?"
DAN
DILLON has been a writer/producer at KMOV Channel 4 since 1983. He is the
recipient of 14 Mid-America Chapter Emmy Awards for writing, directing and
editing. Dan is a graduate of the University of Missouri
School of Journalism. He is also a proud alum of St.
Thomas Aquinas High School. Dan lives in Olivette with his wife Kim, and daughters Kylie and
Mackenzie.
March 29 -
JULIE EARHART. "First Sentence
Expectations."
The first sentence of every
written piece is the hook. It is crucial in drawing your reader into your work.
A first sentence often determines whether a reader moves to the second
sentence. Learn what it takes to make a great sentence.
Bring the first sentence of a story, essay, nonfiction
piece, or a poem to the meeting and discover how it affects readers.
Be one of the first to hear an added
category suggested by Arthur Poltnick.
(Photo courtesy of Julie
Earhart)
April 26
- Poet, editor and translator MICHAEL CASTRO will talk about Collaborations:
Translating the Voices in My Head. Castro is a poet, translator, and
performance artist. He is the co-founder of the literary organization
and magazine, River Styx, in operation in St. Louis since 1975. He has hosted three
poetry radio programs, broadcasting poetry programming over twenty years--most
recently, Poetry Beat (1989--2003, KDHX-FM St. Louis). He has published
ten books of poetry, including Human Rites (2002), and two books of
translations (with Hungarian poet, Gabor Gyukics), Swimming
in the Ground: Contemporary Hungarian Poets (2001) and A Transparent
Lion: Selected Poetry of Attila Jozsef (2006). His
performance work with music is reflected in two recent CD's: "Kokopilau" with wind player J.D. Parran,
and "Endless Root" with multi-instrumentalist Joe Catalano (both
2008). Castro teaches at Lindenwood University, where
he founded the MFA in Writing Program.
May 31 - Critique Groups 101. A panel of multi-published,
award-winning writers, including Tricia Sanders, Tricia Grissom and Amy Harke-Moore, will share their experiences about belonging
to critique groups. Critique group discussion topics include: how to form one,
how to find one, tips on giving and receiving critique, tips on running a
critique group, online critique groups and online sources about
critiquing. SPECIAL NOTE: During the May
meeting SW President Tricia Sanders will make a special announcement about the
October Workshop.
June 28 - Works in Progress. "Saturday Writers Cafe" Members read their works in
progress at an open mike session. Come read, come listen, just come and enjoy
good works. This annual meeting is dedicated to showcasing the talents of
our members. It is a special opportunity to listen to our members read
from their works in progress.
July 26 - PATRICIA RICE. "Writing Realistic Fiction." Be sure to bring a pen and paper
for this hands-on workshop with Patricia.
With several million books in print and New York Times and USA
Today's bestseller lists under her belt, former CPA PATRICIA RICE is one of
romance's hottest authors. MYSTIC RIDER, her forty-fifth book and the
second in her Mystic Isle trilogy is a July 2008 release about an ancient
island invisible to anyone except the mysteriously gifted people who live there.Patricia Rice's
emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances have won numerous
awards, including the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement
Awards and the Bookrak Bestselling Paperback award.
Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA
finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
( A firm believer in
happily-ever-after, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and
has two children. A native of Kentucky, a past
resident of North Carolina, she currently
resides in St. Louis, Missouri, and now does accounting only for
herself. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Authors Guild, and
Novelists, Inc., as well as numerous professional accounting organizations and
local charities. Here’s
her website www.patriciarice.com
August 30 - Saturday Writers Presents Mystery Writer SUSAN
MCBRIDE.
Today's publishing market is tighter--and crazier--than
ever. With celebrity books taking over publishing budgets, boundary
lines being crossed between literary genres, and some genres shrinking out
of sight, what's a writer to do? Being open-minded and versatile is the
best game plan, and St. Louis
author Susan McBride will discuss how she's kept her literary muscles
flexible in order to adapt to these tricky times. Susan is the
author of five Debutante Dropout Mysteries from HarperCollins/Avon,
two darker small press mysteries, and the forthcoming young adult series,
THE DEBS, from Random House/Delacorte. Susan
will share her tricks for working with very different editors, keeping
your eyes open for opportunities, and always thinking outside the
box!
September 27 - Saturday Writers presents JANE HENDERSON, book
editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jane's talk at our monthly meeting will focus on book
reviews. This is a meeting you won't want to miss!! Read about books and
writing-related topics on Jane's Book Blog
October 25
- SATURDAY
WRITERS PRESENTS "TURN THE PAGE" WORKSHOP from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St.
Peters City Hall, Room A, One St. Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO. (Note
different location from regular meetings.)
Finished your novel or almost have it finished?
Have new ideas for a smashing article? Well, turn the page and join us
for an all-day workshop featuring Krista Goering, literary agent from The
Krista Goering Literary Agency LLC; Susan Swartwout,
professor, director of the University Press and editor of Big Muddy; Rebecca
French Smith, Managing Editor Missouri,
Life, and Anna Genoese, Consulting Editor for Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Since the
year 2000, ANNA GENOESE has worked for Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, in some
capacity or another. Currently, she is a consulting editor, which means
that she acquires and edits books project by project. Prior to becoming a
consulting editor, Anna conceived and executed Tom Doherty Associates’
first dedicated romance imprint, Tor Romance. For the first two years of its
existence, Tor Romance focused exclusively on the genre of paranormal romance.
It became a great success, and currently has some of the most successful
paranormal romance books on its list. Anna likes character-driven action, lots
of sexual tension, and alpha heroes. And, of course, a
heroine who can stand up to an alpha hero. If there are ninjas, witches,
spies, or Navy SEALs involved, so much the
better. Outside of the romance genre, she likes stories. Good stories.
About characters who have at least two-and-one-half dimensions.
KRISTA GOERING,
attorney-at-law and literary agent, moved from New York
to America's heartland when
she married a Kansas City
area businessman. "I've never considered living in the Midwest
a disadvantage," says Goering. "Everyone communicates by email, phone
and fax, anyway. When I have business in New
York, I'm happy to make the trip."
Earlier in her
career Goering studied creative writing at Tufts, German in Vienna,
and Danish in Copenhagen.
She graduated from the Copenhagen Business School
and worked in Europe as a Danish/English
translator. She received her juris doctor
from the University of Kansas School of Law. Since the
1980s Goering has lived in the U.S.,
working as a freelance writer, publishing a regional magazine, acting as
Editor-in-Chief of a law journal, and practicing law.
SUSAN
SWARTWOUT, Professor in English, teaches creative writing and publishing at Southeast Missouri State
University and is the
Director/Publisher of Southeast Missouri State University Press which produces
books and Big Muddy: Journal of the Mississippi River Valley, an
interdisciplinary magazine. Her two collections of poetry are entitled Freaks
and Uncommon Ground
and she co-edited Real Things: Anthology of Popular
Culture in American Poetry, Hurricane Blues: Poems about Katrina and
Rita, and A Student’s Guide to Getting Published. Her
poems and short stories are published in literary journals such as Nebraska Review, The
Laurel Review, River Styx, Negative Capability, Mississippi Review, and Spoon
River Poetry Review, among others. She is a recipient of the Rona Jaffe
Writers’ Foundation Award, the Dillinger Good Award, and a St. Louis
Poetry Center Hanks Award. For book-length manuscripts, Susan prefers prefers pitches for historical fiction or nonfiction--no
romance and no children's.
REBECCA
FRENCH SMITH has written for Missouri Life since 2005. She has been an
editor with the magazine since 2006, appointed managing editor that year. Prior to that she was a contributing writer for Inside Columbia
magazine at Columbia, Missouri. She has worked in both
newspaper and magazine media, doing everything from writing and design to
old-fashioned color separation in production and copy editing.
As a native
Missourian with roots that run five generations deep in the Ozarks, Rebecca is
passionate about Missouri.
She is always looking for interesting places, people, and events to share with Missouri
Life readers. She lives in central Missouri
with her husband, David, and their four boys.
Saturday
Writers Presents - Annual Celebration of Writing
for All Ages, featuring award-winning children's author JODY FELDMAN.
Jody
Feldman holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri,
which has led her to write a television special, a travel book, speeches, all
means of advertising, and now - more fulfilling than that giant fortune cookie
message she was assigned to create - The Gollywhopper Games (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2008), her first children's novel.
Targeted
to 10-14 year olds, The Gollywhopper Games leads readers through the
challenges, puzzles and stunts of a nationally televised, once-in-a-lifetime
competition along with the contestant who wants to win it for more than
the prize at the end. The Gollywhopper Games has been named the Midwest
Booksellers 2008 Choice Awards Honor Book for Children's Literature, is an
ALA/YALSA BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults) nominee, is on the 2009-2010
Texas Bluebonnet Award Master list.
**********
2007 Events that have occurred:
We thank Amy Harke-Moore for her
vision, dedication, and leadership during her two years as president.
We welcome 2007 and Amy Willoughby-Burle
as our new president.
January 27 - Inspiration
101 Panel, featuring Amy Willoughby-Burle,
Amy Harke-Moore, and Margo Dill Balinski.
Do you make a resolution
every year to lose weight, work smarter, WRITE MORE? Has another year flown by
and you really didn't make a change in your writing career? Here's your best
first step to making this year the year you really see a differnce.
Inspiration 101: Published & experienced writers here in your midst
talk how they made the jump from
"wanting to" and "doing it." You'll get the inspiration you
want and the practical tips you need to make this year the year you keep your
resolution to write. You'll hear:
"Writing Through the Changes in Life.","Light
Bulb Moments & How to Change a 40 watt bulb to 300 watt.",
"Excuses, Excuses, Excuses & the Medium Method." and "Two Keys to Staying Motivated."
Members of the Inspiration 101 Panel will
share their stories on what inspired them take their writing to the next level,
the "ah ha" moments in their lives where they realized something
important to their writing career, and where they go to get
inspiration. Bring your pen and paper and be prepared to be enlightened,
entertained, and inspired!
Amy
Willoughby-Burle is a tranplanted member of the
GRITS society (Girls Raised in the South) now living in
Missouri and
learning, finally, to love that season called "winter." Her fiction has
been published in Potomac Review, Sycamore Review, & Cuivre River
Anthology. Her Non-fiction has appeared in Family Digest, Natural Health
Magazine and I Love Cats.
Amy Harke-Moore lives
and works on her family's dairy farm in eastern Missouri, a great place to collect stories,
she says. Hers have appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin, Permafrost, Grit, Writers' Journal, Spring Hill
Review, and Bellowing Ark. Currently she is working on a suspense novel set in
the early 1900s.
Margo L.
Dill-Balinski is a freelance writer and editor
and a substitute teacher in Champaign,
IL. She will discuss Writing Through the Changes in
Life. Newlywed Balinski, who recently
moved from Columbia, Missouri,
to Champaign, llinois, will talk about how major changes in her life have
not kept her from writing. In fact, some of these changes have been
inspirations for her stories. She has been published in magazines and
anthologies such as: Cuivre River, Echoes of the Ozarks, Grit, Pockets, On the Line,
ByLine, The Storyteller,
Octavo, Living by Faith and God Allows U-Turns Vol. 4. Her
first on-line picture book, Operation
Color Change, has been accepted by the educational company, Reading A-Z. She has upcoming
articles in Highlights for Children and
Fun for Kidz.
Margo is also member of the SCBWI, Ozarks Writers League, and the 1st VP
of the Missouri Writers' Guild.
February
24 - Bob McEowen, Photographer and Managing Editor of Rural Missouri Magazine, will
talk about "The Ins and Outs of Freelance Writing." McEowen has been to just about every little place you can
image taking photos and writing articles for Rural Missouri. He's
now the managing editor and a guy who doesn't just know how to tell other
people what to do--he knows how to do it. Click on Bob McEowen's name to see some images he has had published
in Rural Missouri Magazine.
March 31 - Flash fiction and short story
writer, William J. Donnelly, will talk
about "What To Do When the Engine Stalls:
Pressing Past Writers Block." Donnelly is a 29-year-old fiction
writer from Gainesville, Florida. His work has appeared in
"Quick Fiction" and "Jump! Magazine,"
and he was a finalist in the 2005 "Many Mountains Moving" Flash
Fiction Competition. He teaches English literature at the University of Iowa and is currently studying at the
Iowa Writers' Workshop.
April
20-22 - No Saturday Writers meeting due
to MWG conference.
May 26 - Works
in Progress for May. "Saturday Writers
Cafe" Members read their works in progress at an open
mic session. Come read, come listen, just come and
enjoy good works. This annual meeting is dedicated to showcasing the
talents of our members. It is a special opportunity to listen to our
members read from their works in progress. Contact SW President Amy
Willoughby-Burle to sign up. president@saturdaywriters.org
June 30 -
Literary Potpourri: College Writing Teachers Answer Questions About Their
Craft. This is a special opportunity to get
first-hand advice from writing "prose" (and poets, too).
Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, our panel of award-winning
writing teachers (and editors) will inform, educate, and inspire.
Be sure and bring a pen and paper--you'll want to take lots of notes!
Literary Potpourri Panel Members:
Dianna Graveman: Dianna's writing has been included in newspapers, literary journals,
anthologies, and magazines. She recently received two Missouri Writers'
Guild awards and was recognized by the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada for Best Short Story in a
Magazine. Dianna will talk about "five common-sense hints for
writing and selling short fiction."
Tricia Grissom: Tricia is a Lindenwood
University English instructor and freelance writer. Her writing will soon
be appearing in Missouri Life,
Fiery Foods & BBQ Magazine, and
the online parenting magazine Babble.com.
She also created and maintains a blog for the Coffee and Critique
Writers Group at coffeeandcritique.blogspot.com.
Among the topics Tricia will discuss are: researching your writing projects,
finding ideas for articles, and creating a writer's blog.
Mary Horner: Mary has worked for several
local and national publications as a writer and an editor. She also worked for
the City of St. Peters
as a communications specialist. She teaches oral communications at St. Charles and St.
Louis Community Colleges.
She is currently writing a bad novel. Her presentation,
"What I wish someone had told me about writing before I started
writing," will focus on nonspecific and somewhat warped ideas regarding
the non-fiction process.
Teddy Norris: Teddy is an Associate Professor
of English at St. Charles
Community College, where
she teaches Intro to Creative Writing, Intro to Poetry, plus various literature
classes. She edits Mid Rivers Review, St Charles Community
College's literary journal, and hosts the SCC
Coffeehouse. She was recently named a finalist in the
Writers Exchange Contest, sponsored by Poets and Writers, Inc.
Teddy will discuss poetic forms and scansion as it relates to sound in poetry, etc.
July 28 -
"The Business of Writing" As busy writers, our creative sides work overtime pumping
out books, short stories, articles, memoirs, and poems. Yet we often
overlook the business aspect of writing, which is so critical not only after
our works are finished, but even before the creative process is engaged.
The business end of writing involves strategies and tactics to make money as
writers, tips on how to sell our works once they have been written, and
suggestions on how to target markets for our works even before we pick up a pen
or sit down at our PCs. Panelists will field questions such as: How do I
find a market for my article, poem, short story, etc.? What can I do to
get attention for myself and my book by the media? What writing-related
expenses can I claim on my taxes? Is there an easy way to keep track of my
expenses? What' the best way to contact a bookstore to set up a book signing? A
panel of writing-related business specialists, including a marketing whiz and
business owner, along with an attorney, who also happens to be a writer, will
discuss "The Business of Writing."
*****
July 28 -
Right before or right after our meeting, hurry over to Barnes and Noble on Mid
Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters
to catch Bobbi Smith's Book signing, where Bobbi will be signing copies of her
latest novel from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
*****
August 25
-
DICK WEISS is a journalist and writing coach with more
than three decades at American newspapers. Weiss will
talk about "Telling Stories in a Media World Turned Upside Down
and Inside Out." He will share with us storytelling techniques and
how they can be adapted to the new media environment. To contact Dick,
e-mail him at weiswriter@gmail.com
*************
Sep 8
-SPECIAL BOOK SIGNING EVENT to help fund Saturday Writers' literacy efforts,
which include our annual children's and teen's writing contests.
Jamie Duly, proprietor of
Dahlia's Distinctive Designs, 525
S. Main Street in St. Charles (across from the Crow's
Nest,) has opened the doors of her lovely shop, which is rumored to be
haunted, for a book signing. This special event will be from noon until
3 p.m. on Saturday, Sep 8, and will feature some local contributors to
the CUIVRE RIVER ANTHOLOGY.
The following
contributors are scheduled to be there with Sharpies ready to sign copies of
the anthologies: Louella Jo Turner, Amy Harke-Moore, Dianna Graveman,
Tricia Sanders, Joy Wooderson, Doyle Suit, Candace Carrabus Rice, Jerry Swingle,
Julia Failla Earhart, Diana Davis, and Donna
Volkenannt.
********
2007 EVENTS
Sep 29 -
SUSAN KIRKPATRICK, editor and publisher of OZARKS MAGAZINE, will talk on
"Everybody Fishing in the Same Pond."
SUSAN KIRKPATRICK IS A FIFTH GENERATION OZARKER WHO VACATIONED AT THE LAKE OF THE OZARKS ALL HER LIFE. Her mother’s
family hails from Dade and Lawrence
Counties. Tradition has
it that one of her great, great, great grandfathers was a Cherokee Indian who
came down the Trail of Tears. Her family has had a place on Mill Creek at the Lake of the Ozarks since she was a child. She is a former
reporter for the Springfield News-Leader, where her job was to “stay out
of town,” so she traveled the Ozarks and wrote stories to keep the
surrounding area in the paper. She and her husband Joel bought the place next
door to her family property about 10 years ago,
remodeled it and moved in full time three years later.
Susan’s
career includes being a reporter in St. Louis
and Springfield, and a newspaper column in south
Texas. She
has authored a book on Route 66. For 20 years she worked as a corporate public
relations executive in St. Louis, Europe, and Chicago; most recently as
vice president of Sandoz Agro, Inc., a Swiss company. She also owned her own PR
and writing firm in Chicago and Houston, where she wrote executive speeches,
published corporate magazines, and wrote annual reports. Ever since Susan was a
reporter in Springfield,
she wanted to own a magazine in the Ozarks. About five years ago she realized
she’d better get with it. And the result is Ozarks Magazine.
Born in Berkeley, CA, Susan grew
up in Kirkwood, MO. Her education credentials include:
graduate of Kirkwood HS (for St. Louisans), BS Purdue
University, MA Saint Louis
University, and Certificate, Northwestern’s
Kellogg School of Business
Susan is married
to Joel L. Kirkpatrick, Ph. D. Susan and Joel have
three children: Brendan Kelly, Kaylee Kirkpatrick,
and Bradley Kirkpatrick. No grandchildren, two dogs & one cat. Her favorite
pastimes: Italian cooking, travel, investigating the Ozarks.
*************
Oct 27 - Saturday Writers' Annual Workshop. This year's workshop features Gail
Galloway Adams.
WALK-IN REGISTRATIONS ARE WELCOME!!!
Galloway Adams is an
Associate Professor at West
Virginia University,
and author of the Purchase of Order,
winner of the Flannery
O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Spend the day
at the St. Peter’s Community and Arts Center
with Gail Galloway Adams. An exciting combination of lecture
and “pen to paper” on-site writing that will send you home with
knowledge inspiration, and the beginning of your next masterpiece. Lunch
provided. This is one
event you won't want to miss!!!
Here's
an what Julianna E.
Thibodeaux had to say about Gail in a conversation published in The Kenyon Review.
"Writer Gail Galloway Adams has a distinctive voice.
Reflective of a reverence for hard-edged beauty and poignant humor, Adams deftly unearths hope even in the face of loss. One
could say this beauty is another way of getting at truth, her characters
“real” people whose lives are anything but indifferent, frequently
characterized by some subtle revelation."
December 8 - "Get Real: Using Life
Experiences to Craft Fiction Stories for Readers of All Ages,"
presentation by BARRI BUMGARNER. Workshops by Barri,
MARGO DILL BALINSKI, and Saturday Writers board members Patricia Sanders, Amy Harke-Moore, Tricia Grissom, and Donna Volkenannt.
Third and Fourth Grade Workshop Leader:
Margo L. Dill-Balinski is the children's events
coordinator for Saturday Writers. She is a freelance writer and editor and a
substitute teacher in Champaign,
IL. She has been published
in magazines and anthologies such as: Cuivre River, Echoes of the Ozarks, Grit, Pockets, On the Line,
ByLine, The Storyteller,
Octavo, Living by Faith and God Allows U-Turns Vol. 4. Her
first on-line picture book, Operation
Color Change, has been accepted by the educational company, Reading A-Z. She has upcoming
articles in Highlights for Children and
Fun for Kidz.
Margo is also member of the SCBWI, Ozarks Writers League, and the
President of the Missouri Writers' Guild. Her middle-grade novel, Finding My
Place, is due out in 2008 by White Mane Kids.
Flash-Fiction Workshop Leaders:
Four Saturday Writers board members will discuss these
elements of writing short-short fiction: Generating Ideas, Characterization,
Theme, and Plot.
Newsletter
Editor Amy Harke-Moore lives and works on her family's
dairy farm in eastern Missouri.
A great place to collect stories, she says. Hers have appeared in the Chicago
Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin, Permafrost,
Grit, Echoes of the Ozarks, Writers' Journal, Spring
Hill Review, Bellowing
Ark, and forthcoming in The
Writer magazine. Currently she is working on a suspense novel set in the
early 1900s. Visit her website at www.thewritehelper.com.
Amy will talk about "Generating Ideas" for fiction.
President
Patricia Sanders is
a former instructional designer and corporate trainer who has been writing since she received her first chubby pencil
and Big Chief tablet. Her first short story Christmas in July was
published when she was in fourth grade. She is the 2008 President of
Saturday Writers and lives with her family in Foristell, Missouri.
Her essays have won numerous awards and have appeared in ByLine,
Sasee, The Cuivre River Anthology II and
III, Magnolia Quarterly, Great American Outhouse Stories; The Whole Truth and Nothing Butt and the 2007 Seven
Hills Review. She is currently working on a novel-length murder
mystery set in St. Charles,
Missouri. Patricia will
cover "Characterization" in short stories.
Website
Editor Donna Volkenannt lives in St. Peters,
Missouri, with her husband and
grandchildren, who give her great joy. Since retiring as a management analyst
with the Department of Defense, she has devoted herself to raising her
grandchildren--and writing in her spare time. Her words have been published in:
A Cup of Comfort for Women, A Cup of Comfort for Christmas, Mysteries of the
Ozarks, Echoes of the Ozarks, Cuivre River Anthology, Writing on Walls, Mid
Rivers Review, Sauce, ByLine, Storyteller, Ozarks
Mountaineer, and other publications. She currently reviews books for Bookreporter, Kidsreads,
and Teenreads.com, while very slowly working on a middle-grade mystery
set in St. Charles.
Her writing has received numerous awards, including honorable mention in the
national Steinbeck short story competition. She is a founding member of
Saturday Writers, co-founder of the Coffee and Critique Writers’ Group,
and a past president of the Missouri Writers’ Guild. Donna will
tackle "Theme" as it relates to short fiction.
Publicity Chair Tricia Grissom has published articles in various
food and lifestyle magazines. Her essays have been read on NPR's St. Louis on the Air and published in
the parenting ezine Babble.com. She teaches English at Lindenwood University
in St. Charles, MO, and manages the Coffee and Critique
Writers' Group blog coffeeandcritique.blogspot.com. Tricia's workshop
presentation will be on "Plot."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006 - OUR FIFTH YEAR - Events That Were
Great!!!
January
28 - MARY KIM SCHRECK will speak on "THE
CREATIVE JOURNEY: YOURS AND MINE." Mary Kay is a familiar workshop
presenter across the state, emphasizes creative, hands-on strategies for
increasing student achievement through reading, writing, and thinking.
After 36 years in public education--over 23 spent in the Francis Howell
School District--she
currently is serving as an independent contractor for various organizations
such as MNEA, CSD, Gateway Writing Project/UMSL, as well as a Cooperating
School Districts Cadre member. Her first book of poetry, Pulse of
the Seasons, was published by Tigress Press in 2004, and her second
book, The Red Desk, was published this year. She lives with
her husband, a former principal in the Francis
Howell School
District, at the Lake of the Ozarks.
February
25 - HARRY JACKSON, JR. will speak on the
topic, "How to write good so people will read and buy your
stuff"--or, in other words, "How to take your average news feature
and make it into thought-provoking storytelling."
As a journalist with more than 30 years experience, including 21 with the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, Harry Jackson's specialty is using narrative to spice up the
usual mundane feature. He is an adjunct professor at Lindenwood University, where he teaches narrative
feature writing and documentary history. He has won more than a dozen journalism
awards. His freelance work has been published widely and has appeared in
dozens of publications across the United States,
including UNDER THE ARCH, a collection of St. Louis Stories, which is
available from Borders on Brentwood
Blvd, Sunset Hills, and Crestwood, as well as Left
Bank Books in St. Louis.
March
25 - QUESTIONS WRITERS ASK (Saturday Writers Panel).
From conference pitches to copyright laws, press releases to
promotion, we’ve assembled a panel of our in-house experts to answer the
questions you have as a writer. There will be a short presentation on the
following: BOOK PROMOTION - Finding your place on the bookshelf, CANDACE
RICE; MAXIMIZING CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE, How to get the most out of a conference
(specifically the upcoming Missouri Writers’ Guild Conference) MARGO
DILL; THE PERFECT PITCH, How to pitch your idea to an editor or agent - LOUELLA
TURNER; and COPYRIGHT LAWS AND WRITING PRESS RELEASES – PATRICIA HAYNES.
Question and Answer session will follow all presentations.
April
7 - St. Charles
Community College English Department presents - Coffeehouse Open Mike
at St. Charles Community College, 7-9 p.m.
April
15 - "AN AFTERNOON OF COMFORT" - Book signing featuring Saturday Writer members and
"A Cup of Comfort" contributors: CANDACE CARRABUS RICE (A Cup of
Comfort for Courage), JOY WOODERSON (A Cup of Comfort for Christians) , AND DONNA VOLKENANNT (A Cup of Comfort for Women),
At the new Barnes and Noble, 320 Mid Rivers Mall Drive (Across from Wendy's and
McDonald's), St. Peters, MO From 1-3 p.m.
April 28-30 - MISSOURI WRITERS' GUILD CONFERENCE AT THE HILTON AIRPORT HOTEL IN
KANSAS CITY. MASTERING THE CRAFT, the 91st Annual Missouri Writers' Guild Conference.
SEE MWG website for details. www.missouriwritersguild.org
April 29 - NO MEETING DUE TO MISSOURI WRITERS' GUILD CONFERENCE IN KANSAS CITY.
May 27 -Saturday
Writers Annual Works-In-Progress from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. is returning for
another round! Like last year, members will have the chance to read from
their works-in progress in an open-mike style with a time limit of five
minutes. Fellow members will then give constructive feedback after each
reading. Sign-up will begin May 5th for those wishing to have a chance at
their five minutes of fame! (More details to follow.) Even if you don't
sign up to read, you can come and listen to your fellow talented Saturday
Writers. So make plans to join us for the fun!!!
June 24 -
NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, BOBBI
SMITH, talks about "WRITING
FAITH-BASED NOVELS." www.bobbismithbooks.com
In the
past 23 years, Bobbi Smith has
written 39 books and six short stories, and the love affair has become a
sizzling romance between the author and her fans. To date, there are over
six million Bobbi Smith novels in print. She has been awarded the
prestigious "Storyteller of the Year" Award from Romantic Times
Magazine and has attained positions on the New York Times Best Seller's List,
the USA Today Best Seller's List, the Walden's Best Seller's List, B. Dalton's
List, and the Wal-Mart and K-Mart Best Seller's Lists. The foreign rights
to her books have been sold to China,
France, Germany, India,
Israel, Italy, Russia,
and Sweden.
Her
current novel for Leisure Books is HalfBreed
Warrior. She recently published
her first faith-based contemporary, Haven,
writing as JULIE MARSHALL. Miracles, another faith-based story, was published
in January 2006, and Defiant, a western historical, will be out in April
2006.
July 29 - SATURDAY WRITERS Sizzling Summer Book Fair held at the St. Peters
Community and Arts Center, 1035 St. Peters-Howell Road in the Assembly Hall
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Published members of Saturday Writers discuss and
read from their works every half-hour. Participating authors (subject to
change) include: Jeane Whittenburg,
Jackie Endraske, Joy Wooderson,
Donna Volkenannt, Mary Kim Schreck, Gary Hoffman,
Candace Rice, Randy Schuppan, Sherri Richardson, and
Doug Wilmes. The event is free and open
to the public. Books will be offered for sale. Free refreshments, door
prizes, a raffle, and an on-the-spot writing contest.
Back by special request, Saturday Writers presents Suzann
Ledbetter.
Suzann comes to Saturday Writers from the heart of the Ozarks in Nixa, Missouri.
Suzann has been inducted in the Writer's Hall of Fame,
and her writing has received the Western Writer's Spur Award. Don't miss this
special opportunity to learn from one of Missouri's
most informative and entertaining writers.
August 26 SUZANN LEDBETTER, "Myth of Fantastic First
Chapters" Suzann's
mother taught her to read at age four, assuming a tomboy couldn't have her nose
in a book and get into trouble, simultaneously. It didn't work, but somehow,
Suzann's insatiable curiosity, smarty-pants mouth, tendency to make up stuff
and love of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden novels
became the basis of a diverse writing career.
Suzann www.SuzannLedbetter.com
is a Writers Hall of Fame of America
inductee and received a Western Writers of America Spur Award for her
biography, NELLIE CASHMAN, PROSPECTOR & TRAILBLAZER. Suzann was an
editor-at-large for Family Circle magazine for over a decade and is a client of
Greater Talent Network, an international talent agency.
In April 2006, Suzann's short story "How To
Murder Your Mother-in-Law" appeared in Avon's
DEADLY HOUSEWIVES anthology. May marks publication of her latest
suspense/caper, ONCE A THIEF (Mira) and in August, SHADY LADIES, a biographical
collection of 19th century nonconformists is due out from Tor/Forge.
Suzann and her husband share their Missouri Ozarks home with three retired
racing greyhounds, two morbidly obese cats and way-more books than the
children's library her mom hoped would tame the ornery streak Suzann allegedly
inherited from her father's side of the gene pool.
September 30 - Saturday Writers Panel Discussion
(11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) "ELEMENTS OF A
PRIZE-WINNING STORY" Panel members AMY HARKE-MOORE, DAVID LEE KIRKLAND, DONNA DULY VOLKENANNT,
MARGO DILL-BALINSKI, CANDACE CARABUS RICE, and DOYLE SUIT will
use examples in their discussion of elements they have used to craft
prize-winning stories. No matter where you are on your writing
journey--just beginning or multi-published--this panel discussion will give you
something to think about.
Here are bios and discussion topics of "Elements of a
Prize-Winning Story" panel members.
Margo L. Dill-Balinski is a
freelance writer and substitute teacher in Champaign, IL.
She has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Grit, Pockets, On the Line, ByLine,
The Storyteller, Octavo, Living by Faith
and God Allows U-Turns Vol. 4. Her first on-line picture book, Operation Color Change, has been
accepted by the educational company, Reading
A-Z. She has upcoming articles in Highlights for Children and Fun for Kidz. Margo is
also member of the SCBWI, Ozarks Writers League, and the 1st VP of the
Missouri Writers' Guild. She will talk about "From beginning to end: telling a complete
story," describing what it takes to make a story symmetrical by bringing it full circle.
Amy Harke-Moore lives and works on her family's
dairy farm in eastern Missouri,
a great place to collect stories, she says. Hers have appeared in The
Chicago Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin,
Permafrost, Grit, Writers' Journal, Spring Hill Review,
and Bellowing Ark.
Currently, she is working on a suspense novel set in
the early 1900s. Harke-Moore will cover "Word Choice Matters," talking about
lyrical quality in stories and choosing the right words to complement your
character (in dialogue and thought) and story.
David Lee Kirkland has numerous publication credits including short fiction,
non-fiction, and poetry. His present efforts are focused on the
(hopefully final) rewrite of a Civil War novel set in Eastern
Tennessee. Kirkland will talk
about "Grounding Your Reader" to
establish early on a sense of time and place and character so your reader does
not flounder.
CANDACE
CARRABUS RICE has
been writing stories and riding horses--frequently simultaneously--for as long
as she can remember. She grew up on Long Island
and spent her formative years in the saddle--just imagining. She lives on
a farm outside St. Louis
which she shares with her wonderful architect husband, a delightful daughter
who keeps her on her toes and in a constant state of wonder, and seven
cats. She is a member of Saturday Writers, a
chapter of the Missouri Writers Guild , as well as a
founding member of Thursday Writers, the best little critique group west of the
Mississippi.
Her writing has won awards in fiction, essay, and poetry categories, and
appeared in UMSL’s Litmag,
The Storyteller, The Rockford Review, A Cup of Comfort for Courage,
and elsewhere. Not surprisingly, her fiction and non-fiction are
both frequently infused with the mystery and spirituality horses have brought
to her life. Rice will talk on "Thickening
the Plot," to start their characters in hot water. Add a
cup of conflict, a tablespoon of tension, and a pound of pressure. Stir
well to keep readers begging for "More!" Rice will use excerpts from her
novel, On the Buckle, such as the very first page which pretty much starts
out with Vi in hot water, then adds a heaping cup of
conflict between her parents and her life choices. The tension is
demonstrated between Vi and Malcolm, and the pressure
. . . well, if a body in the manure spreader the third day on a job you don't
want but you have to keep for a year isn't pressure, Rice doesn't know what is.
Doyle
Suit is a retired
engineer who lives in St. Charles
with his wife, Irene. In addition to writing, he plays and sings bluegrass
music. Doyle and Irene golf, play bridge, and do
country western dancing together. Since kids and grandkids live close, they
double as chauffeurs for their grandkids. Doyle's fiction and non-fiction work
has appeared in The St. Louis Suburban
Journals, Storyteller Magazine, The Cuivre River Anthology, The Spring Hill
Review, Good Old Days Magazine, Sweetgum Notes, and
other publications. During his presentation, "Getting
Started: Tips for the Novice Writer," Doyle will share some
thoughts and suggestions to help writers just starting out.
Donna Duly Volkenannt got bit by the writing bug in eighth grade at Most Holy
Name of Jesus School in North St. Louis and later at
St. Alphonsus (Rock) High, where she was sports
editor of The Rocket school newspaper and a reporter for Prom
magazine. She lives in St. Peters
with her husband and their two grandchildren, who fill her heart with
joy. Her work has appeared in literary and commercial
publications, including: A Cup of Comfort for Women, A
Cup of Comfort for Christmas, Sauce Magazine, Mid Rivers Review, The
Storyteller, ByLine, Mysteries of the Ozarks, Echoes
of the Ozarks, and others. She is a past
president of the Missouri Writers’ Guild and founding president of
Saturday Writers. Her writing has won numerous awards, including honorable
mention in the national Steinbeck Short Story Competition. Her presentation,
"Whose Story Is It?" will
discuss how writers can remain true to their character's voice to make their
stories real. She will also talk about listening to the voice that inspires you
so you can write until your heart sings.
October 28 - FACT AND FICTION: A WRITING
WORKSHOP. Whether you've just
starting out writing, have been writing for a few years, or are an old pro, and
whether if you write fiction or non-fiction, the FACT AND FICTION writing
workshop presented by Saturday Writers has something for you!
WHO? Workshop is open
to both Saturday Writers members and non-members. Featured speakers are:
FACT - Harry Jackson will speak from 10 a.m. until
noon on "How to take your average news feature and make it into
thought-provoking storytelling."
FICTION - Rose Marie Kinder will speak after lunch
from 1-3 p.m. on "An Exploration of Character: Types of character, their
functions, and how to create them."
WHAT?
Annual writing workshop presented by Saturday
Writers
WHERE?
St. Peters
Community and Arts Center Assembly Hall, 1035 St. Peters-Howell Road, off Mid
Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters.
WHEN? Saturday,
October 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHY? Because this is
the writing workshop you've always wanted to attend but never got around to,
and because you want to learn more about the art and craft of fiction and
non-fiction story writing from two seasoned, award-winning
writers.
HOW
MUCH? Members of Saturday
Writers $43; all others $55. Workshop price includes lunch, door
prizes, and beverage. Checks payable to Saturday
Writers. Mail
to Saturday Writers Workshop, 104 Harke Lane; Old Monroe, MO
63369. Along with your check or money order, please
include: Name, e-mail, mailing Address, City, State, Zip, and Phone
number.
MORE
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:
HARRY JACKSON, JR. (10 a.m. - noon) "How to
take your average news feature and make it into thought-provoking
storytelling," Jackson is a journalist with more than 30 years experience, including
21 with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jackson's specialty is using narrative to
spice up the usual mundane feature. He is an adjunct professor at Lindenwood University in St.
Charles, where he teaches narrative feature writing
and documentary history. He has won more than a dozen journalism
awards. His freelance work has been published widely and has appeared in
dozens of publications across the United States, including UNDER
THE ARCH, a collection of St. Louis Stories.
ROSE MARIE KINDER (1 - 3 p.m.) "An Exploration of Character:
Types of character, their functions, and how to create them." Kinder is a writer, editor, and
publisher. Kinder is the author of Sweet Angel Band, winner of the
Willa Cather Award (Helicon Nine Editions 1991) and A Near-Perfect Gift,
winner of the recent University
of Michigan Literary Fiction Award,
published in Fall 2005. Her fiction has appeared in
numerous publications, including Passages North, Southern Indiana Review,
Other Voices, Connecticut Review, Whiskey Island, Notre Dame Review, Circles of
Influence (textbook), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, the Deadliest Games
(anthology) and elsewhere.
Kinder earned her M.F.A.
in Creative Writing and her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition and the Teaching
of English from the University of Arizona (Tucson).
From 1992-2002, she edited Pleiades at Central Missouri State University where she also
coordinated the Creative Writing Program. She is a co-owner and co-editor of
Cave Hollow Press, as well as an editor at Sweet Gum Press.
November - No meeting due to
Thanksgiving holiday.
December 2 - SATURDAY WRITERS SPECIAL EVENT
- "WRITING FOR ALL AGES" with SHEILA WOOD
FOARD, WHO will cover historical fiction
and conducting research. Sheila has written for both children
and adults.
Sheila Wood Foard
Sheila Wood Foard has sold stories, articles, essays, and poems
to more than 80 publications, including Cricket, Spider, Cicada,
Ladybug, Highlights for Children, WeeOnes, 'TEEN, ByLine, Country Home, Albuquerque Journal, and the Missouri
Conservationist's (Outside In). In 2005, her middle-grade novel,
Harvey Girls, was
released by Texas
Tech University
Press. Sheila devoted years to researching and
writing about the Harvey
Girls. As a docent at a Harvey House in New
Mexico, she interviewed former Harvey Girls to get their stories firsthand. In
1999, She designed and wrote a 20-page Junior Ranger
activities booklet for Ozark National Scenic Riverways,
with headquarters in Van Buren,
Missouri, near her home.
She also
designed and wrote several waysides for the Slough Trail at Big Spring. Her biography for teens of
Mexican muralist Diego Rivera was released from Chelsea House in 2003. She
earned a bachelor's degree in English and Communication Skills and a master's
degree in Education from the University
of New Mexico. She taught
high school English, creative writing, and journalism for more than twenty-five
years in New Mexico.
Currently, she is a freelancer and an instructor for the Institute of Children's
Literature.
************************************************************************************
2005 - OUR FOURTH YEAR
SPEAKERS WHO INSPIRED, EDUCATED, AND ENTERTAINED US!!!!
Jan 28
- Deadline for submission to the 2005 edition of The Mid Rivers Review. For complete guidelines, contact
Scottie Priesmeyer, Editor, St. Charles Community
College, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Dr., St. Peters, MO 63376
January
29
VALERIE VOGRIN (who teaches Fiction Writing and
Novel Writing at Gotham Writers' Workshop and WritingClasses.com and SIU) has taught
creative writing and English at the University
of Alabama, the University
of Colorado, and community colleges in
the Seattle
area. Her fiction has appeared in magazines including the Carolina
Quarterly, the Chattahoochee Review, and the Black Warrior Review.
Valerie has been a contributor to American Women Writers and The
Encyclopedia of Modern Dance (St. James Press). Valerie is a founding
partner of Smallmouth Press, a publisher of conventional and electronic books
located in NYC. She received her B.A. in English from Washington State
University. She
holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama,
where she was awarded a Teaching/Writing Fellowship and a grant from the
University of Alabama Council of Presidents
February 12 (Sat) - Scottie Priesmeyer (author of The Cheaters: The
Walter Scott Murder, Silent Justice, and A Quick Guide to Writing a Book: From
Ideas to Publication) conducts an seminar on "How to Write a Book" at
Kathyrn Linnemann Library
on Elm St.
in St. Charles City, 10:30-noon. This overview seminar
is free. For further info call 636/922-8557.
February
26 - Romance Writer IRENE HANNON - Although Irene can't remember a time when she didn't
write, her career was "officially" launched at the age of 10 when she
was one of the winners in a complete-the-story contest for a national
children's magazine. As an adult, writing became her vocation. After earning a
bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in journalism, she entered
the field of corporate communications, rising to the executive ranks in a
Fortune 500 company. In her "spare" time she penned her heartwarming,
uplifting novels.
For many years Irene
juggled her two demanding careers. But in 2003 she decided to give up the daily
rush-hour commute, the stress and the politics of the corporate world to write
full-time in her home office. Coincidentally (or is it), her 16th
book — titled Crossroads — came out the same month she
made this dramatic career shift.
Irene's decision to leave
the corporate world was made easier when her 15th book, Never Say Goodbye, won
the RITA® Award (the "Oscar" of romance fiction) for Best
Inspirational Romance of 2002. In addition, other books by Irene have been
nominated for Romantic Times awards.
At least once a year,
Irene hits the boards at local community theaters, where she has sung such
classic romantic roles as Nellie in South Pacific, Fiona in Brigadoon, Laurey in Oklahoma
and Anna in The King and I. She is also a church
soloist and choir member. When not otherwise occupied, she and her own romantic
hero — her husband, Tom (an ordained cleric who juggles
ecclesiastical duties with a full-time marketing career) — enjoy
traveling, Saturday mornings at their favorite coffee shop, and spending time
with family.
March 19
- MEETING
Danita Allen
Wood, Editor-in-chief of MISSOURI LIFE magazine, will be talking on the subject
"Making Successful Pitches." Danita's experience in the field of
magazine publishing is vast, from her 15 years with the Meredith
Corporation--publisher of such magazines as BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS, LADIES
HOME JOURNAL, MIDWEST LIVING--to teaching advanced editing, publishing,
writing, and reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism. She's lectured at
magazine conferences around the country, plus, she was the founding editor of
COUNTRY AMERICA, which was named by the industry as one of the Five Best
Magazines of 1991.
April 22-23 - MWG Annual Conference, Holiday Inn
Select, St. Peters, MO. Sepakers (subject to change)
include: KRISTA MARINO, Associate Editor at Delacorte
Books for Young Readers (a division of Random House), will talk about the young
adult and middle-grade market. GINGER
CLARK, an agent with WRITERS' HOUSE LITERARY AGENCY, will talk
about what she hopes to discover when reading a writer's manuscript. LEE NORDLING, Executive
Editor of PLATINUM STUDIOS, an entertainment film and production company, will
give workshops on how to give the perfect pitch. VICTORIA MONKS, Publications
Manager for the Missouri Historical Society and Editor of Gateway magazine.
HEATHER BERRY, Associate Editor at Rural Missouri Magazine. Poet MICHAEL CASTRO, a co-founder and an
editor at River Styx magazine. RICHARD
BURGIN, a Pushcart Prize-winning author and editor of Boulevard
magazine. ROSE
MARIE KINDER, an award-winning writer. Former editor of Pleiades and the publisher of Cave Hollow Press
and Sweet Gum Press. VALERIE VOGRIN, teaches Fiction
Writing and Novel Writing at Gotham Writers' Workshop and WritingClasses.com and SIU) has taught
creative writing and English at the University of Alabama, the University of
Colorado, and community colleges in the Seattle area. Pulitizer-prize
nominated author, JEFF FISTER, Owner
and Publisher of Virginia Publishing. WRITERS: JORY SHERMAN
will share his publishing secrets with us. Award-winning authors SHIRLEY KENNETT, BOBBI SMITH and DUSTY RICHARDS will talk about
their writing careers and offer tips for publication success.
May 28 - SATURDAY WRITERS ANNUAL
WORKS-IN-PROGRESS meeting
will be held. Members will have the chance to read from their works-in-progress
in an open-mike style with a time limit of five minutes. Fellow members will
then give constructive feedback for each reading. Sign-up will begin May 1st
for those wishing to have a chance at their five minutes of fame! (More details
to follow.) Even if you don't sign up to read, you can come and listen to your
fellow talented Saturday Writers. So make plans to join us for the fun!
June 25 - GREG MICHALSON
Greg Michalson is Publisher of Unbridled Books, an independent publishing
company devoted to publishing quality fiction and narrative nonfiction. He was
also a Founding Editor of BlueHen Books, an imprint
of Penguin/Putnam best known for discovering new writers. Previously he was the
General Editor of fiction at MacMurray and Beck,
where he developed a prize-winning novel series, and introducing such writers
as William Gay (The Long Home) and Susan Vreeland (Girl in
Hyacinth Blue). In addition, he served as the Managing Editor of The
Missouri Review from 1982 to 2000, during which time he was also fiction
editor, special projects editor and, from 1990, poetry editor. He is the author
of numerous short stories and articles that have appeared in a number of
magazines. His work has won several prizes and has been mentioned in Best
American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prizes. He is
co-editor of The Best of The Missouri Review: Fiction, 1978-1990
(University of Missouri Press, 1991), For Our Beloved Country: American War
Diaries from the Revolution to the Persian Gulf (Atlantic Monthly Press,
1994) and Conversations with American Novelists (University of Missouri
Press, 1997).
July 30 - "I've
written a story. . . Now what?" Board members
tackle the basics in short teachings designed to help beginning to intermediate
writers, followed by a Q & A time. Topics include: formatting,
finding markets and submitting work, writing query letters and cover letters,
entering contests, attending conferences, finding an agent, and much more. If
you're just starting out in the writing business or wanting valuable tips along
the road to publication, you won't want to miss this meeting.
August 27 - All-Day Writing
Workshop with Western Writer DUSTY RICHARDS and New York Times and USA
Today best-selling Texan author JODI THOMAS.
DUSTY RICHARDS says that when he was growing up,
if there was a Saturday Matinee, he was there with Hoppy, Roy and Gene. When his family moved to Arizona, he knew he'd
gone to heaven. A horse of own, ranches to work on, rodeos to ride in.
Dusty read every western
book on the library shelves. He sat on the stoop of Zane Grey's cabin on
Mrs. Winter's Ranch and promised the writer's ghost his book would join Grey's
on the bookrack some day.
After
graduating from Arizona State University
in 1960, Dusty came to northwest Arkansas,
ranched, auctioneered, announced rodeo, worked 32 years for Tyson Food in
management, anchored TV news, and struggled to get a book of his own
sold. In 1992, his first novel, Noble's Way, was published.
In 2003, The Natural won the Oklahoma Writer's Federation Fiction
Book of the Year Award. In 2004, The Abilene Trail won the
same award. This year his 65th book will be published. He's also written
five-dozen plus short stories and hundreds of articles and columns. In the
summer of 2004, Dusty was inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame.
Dusty
invests a lot of time helping others who want to learn how to write by speaking
at seminars, conferences, and workshops throughout the United States.
Dusty and his wife, Pat,
reside next to Beaver Lake east of Springdale,
Arkansas. If he can steal
time to do it, Dusty likes to fish for trout on the White River in Arkansas.
A fifth generation Texan,
JODI THOMAS chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state,
where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. Thomas has earned an
impressive list of distinguished awards. Her first book, Beneath the
Texas Sky (1988) won the National Press Women’s Novel of the Year
in its category. Northern Star (1990) was named best novel by the
Panhandle Professional Writers and the Oklahoma Writers Federation. The
Tender Texan (1991) was Thomas’s first national bestseller and
won her the first of two Romance Writers of America (RITA) awards, the $1.5
billion romance publishing industry’s equivalent of an
“Oscar.” Her twelfth book, To Kiss a Texan (1999) was
her first novel to score on the USA Today Best-selling Books list. For The
Texan’s Wager (2002) sixteen was the magic number as she scored
on the New York Times extended bestseller list.
A Texan’s
Luck, the
third in her popular “Wife Lottery” series, was a November 2004
release by Berkley.
Her next contemporary novel for Mira Books, to be published in 2005, will be The
Secrets of Rosa Lee. By request, she is currently working on the sequel
to The Widows of Wichita County.
When not working on a
novel or inspiring students to pursue a writing career, Thomas enjoys traveling
with her husband and renovating a historical home they bought in Amarillo.
September
24 -
LINDA
APPLE http://www.lindacapple.com/ will talk
about "My Recipe for Chicken Soup." Apple served as a Parent-Teacher Liaison in the Chapter 1
Program, finding books and materials to interest and encourage
children who had difficulty reading. She published in Upper Room, Secret Place,
Woman's World, Obadiah, Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul and
Working Woman's Soul. Her story from Working Woman's Soul was one
of eighty selected from all stories published in the past ten years to be
included in their anniversary edition, Living Your Dreams. She and
husband, Neal, have five children and two grandchildren.
*****************
Rose Marie Kinder will
speak on the topic "DEVELOPING CHARACTER THROUGH SPEECH AND THOUGHT."
Rose Marie Kinder is the author of Sweet Angel Band, winner of the Willa
Cather Award (Helicon Nine Editions 1991) and A Near-Perfect Gift,
winner of the recent University
of Michigan Literary Fiction Award,
which will be published in Fall 2005. Her fiction has
appeared in numerous publications, including Passages North, Southern
Indiana Review, Other Voices, Connecticut Review, Whiskey Island, Notre Dame
Review, Circles of Influence (textbook), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
the Deadliest Games (anthology) and elsewhere.
Rose Marie earned her
M.F.A. in Creative Writing and her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition and the
Teaching of English from the University
of Arizona (Tucson). From 1992-2002, she edited Pleiades
at Central Missouri
State University where she also coordinated the Creative Writing Program. She
is a co-owner and co-editor of Cave Hollow Press, as well as an editor at Sweet
Gum Press.
Through Cave Hollow
Press's bi-annual short story anthology, Rose Marie has discovered, or
furthered the careers, of many Missouri
writers. At Sweet Gum Press, she promotes Missouri
writing with an emphasis on material depicting the Crowley's Ridge/Bootheel
region. Her current projects include seeking submissions for young adult
fiction.
December 3 - Annual Children's Writing Meeting and Children's Writing
Awards. SPEAKERS: CYNTHIA HITSCHLER and J.B. CHEANEY
CYNTHIA HITSCHLER was born and raised in the St. Louis area, where she
has lived all her life. She takes great pride in being a Missouri resident, hence: Celebration
Studios of Missouri or "Cel-Stu-Mo".
Married with six children ages 16 - 31, she lives with
her husband and a menagerie of pets in Wildwood. Cynthia started drawing and
painting portraits in grade school and attended Washington University School of
Fine Arts for two years. Without bias as to preferred subjects, she has
explored portrait/figure, still life and landscape, and strives for a firm yet
pleasing realism in all her fine art projects. Cynthia enjoys both two and
three-dimensional mediums: drawing in ink and charcoal, oil painting on canvas
and clay sculpture for bronze (lost wax) and plaster casting. Her first bronze
was cast in 1998 at the Johnson Atelier in Mercerville, New Jersey.In
2004, Cynthia realized a dream that had hibernated for ten years: publication
of her own illustrated children’s books: The Jacky Blue Series.
She plans to add three titles to the series in 2006.
J.B. CHEANEY (she may or may not tell you what the initials stand
for) was born in Dallas, Texas and grew from a baby to a shy, skinny
kid with straight brown hair and big teeth. She read a lot, but wasn't
that interested in writing--in elementary school she started one play and a couple
of short stories, but none of them were finished because she could never figure
out what would happen next.
After becoming a college dropout in order to get married,
she and her husband have lived in six different states and moved a total of 23
times, raised two children, and homeschooled them for twelve years.
She also wrote four fiction manuscripts, none of which were ever published.
In 1991 she published a workbook for middle graders
called Wordsmith, a Creative Writing Course for Young People. Two
more Wordsmith books followed in 1994 and 1996. Published by
Common Sense Press, these books have sold more than 300,000 copies.
After her son graduated from high school in 1996, she
started writing her first novel intended for young readers, based on an idea
she had been thinking about for at least eight years. It became The
Playmaker, published by Random House in the fall of 2000. The True
Prince followed in 2002. Her third novel, My Friend the Enemy, a World War II story for middle-grade
readers, was published in July 2005.
When not writing, or thinking about it, she likes to travel,
read, sing, sew, do needlework and sleep--though not necessarily in that
order.
2004 - YEAR THREE - Events that were
super!!!
1 January
- MWG 1VP JANE HALE
will talk about the 2004 MWG conference to be held in Springfield on Apr 30-May 1. DIANA LOSCIALE, Just Write Workshop
Teacher and Journalist. Diane's topic will be, "Those Who Can,
Edit...or how I grew a writing business by mistake." To include tips
and info on applying one's writing passion. Also a moment to
tie in the upcoming March workshop Diane's leads at SL Community/Meramec.
28 February - College Instructor and Writer JULIE EARHART will talk about
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY as it relates to writing. PATSY DECLUE, President of Writers
Society of Jefferson County and the Missouri
representative for ByLine magazine, will talk about
writing non-fiction.
7 March - EILEEN DREYER will talk about CHARCTERIZATION in
writing mysteries. Non-members
may attend the workshop for $3. Book signing immediately after the
workshop is open to all. We will have copies of Eileen's latest books on
hand for sale.
24 April - Workshop by RIDLEY
PEARSON, musician and best-selling and award-winning author of more than a
dozen thrillers, will talk about HOW
TO BUILD A THRILLER FROM THE BOTTOM UP. In 1991 Ridley Pearson was the first
American to be awarded the Raymond Chandler Fulbright to Oxford University.
Ridley's Lou Boldt and Daphne Matthews Series
includes: Undercurrents, The Angel Maker, No Witnesses, Beyond Recognition, The
Pied Piper, The First Victim, The Middle of Nowhere, and The Art of Decpetion. Seizing of Yankee Green, Probable Cause,
Hard Fall, Chain of Evidence, and Parallel Lies are Crime Novels. Never
Look Back and Blood of the Albatross are Espionage Novels. His Chris Klick mysteries, Dead Aim, Aim for the Heart, and Concerto
in Dead Flat, were written under the pen name WENDELL MCCALL. Ridley now
divides his time between his home out west and his new home near St. Louis. Workshop will be held at St.
Charles County Community College at the Student Center
in room SC205.
29 May - SUZANN
LEDBETTER
Western, Humor, and
Suspense Writer SUZANN LEDBETTER
will give a workshop on "USING ASSUMPTIVE ACTION." Suzann will
explain how what you leave out is as important to your writing as what leave
in.
Suzann has published two
humor collections with Random House/Crown, six historical novels with Signet,
two of which were based on the adventures of her real-life heroine and subject
of Suzann’s Western Writers of America’s Spur award winning
biography, Nellie Cashman, Prospector &
Trailblazer.
In May of 2000, MIRA
Books released Suzann’s East of Peculiar, the debut title of a
contemporary suspense series set in the central Missouri Ozarks. This book was
soon followed by South of Sanity, North of Clever and West of Bliss.
A Lady Never Trifles
with Thieves from
Pocket Books, set in 1870s Denver City was released in 2003, followed by a new
contemporary suspense novel, In Hot Pursuit, published by MIRA and set
in a fictional Missouri
town along historic Route 66.
Suzann is also a
contributing editor to Family Circle magazine and a frequent lecturer on
topics ranging from women’s history and writing to humorous
presentations. The former weekly self-syndicated newspaper columnist, she was a
1997 inductee into the Writers Hall of Fame of America.
26 June - WORKS IN PROGRESS. Members of Saturday Writers will
read from their works in progress. Members are asked to bring up to five
double-spaced pages of your story, article, or poem. Non-members may
attend for free.
31 July - PULITIZER PRIZE NOMINATED WRITER, JORY SHERMAN, has been a full-time writer for over forty years. Jory lives in Pittsburg, Texas
on Lake Bob Sandlin. He began his career as a poet in San Francisco and has published widely in
such journals as: Epos, Quicksilver, Renaissance, The
New York Herald Tribune, Laugh, Literary, Signet, The
Black Cat Review, The Ozarks Mountaineer, Flame, The
Galley Sail Review, and many other publications and anthologies. He
recently completed writing THE BARON HONOR, for Forge Books and BLOOD RIVER
for Berkley. He is currently working on the first novel of a
new series for Pocket Books entitled THE OWLHOOT TRAIL.
28 August - SCOTTIE PRIESMEYER,
Editor of the Mid Rivers Review
Literary Journal, will talk about "How to Write a Book." Scottie
has an M.A. English, University of Missouri-St. Louis; B.A. English, Lindenwood
University.
Associate Professor of
English at St. Charles Community College; previously, adjunct at Maryville University,
Concordia University-Wisconsin, and Sterling
College; editor of The Mid
Rivers Review Literary Journal, a literary journal at St. Charles Community
College
Wrote true-crime book, The
Cheaters: The Walter Scott Murder; and
co-wrote screenplay, The Cheaters
Wrote A Quick Guide
to Writing a Book: From Ideas to Publication,
and suspense novel, Silent Justice
Conducted raw research
and wrote a non-fictional historical book, An In-Depth Study of Winfield,
Missouri
President of Tula
Publishing, Inc. (small home-based book publishing company)
25
September - RICHARD BURGIN,
writer and editor of BOULEVARD
MAGAZINE, reads from his works and talks about the editing
process.
RICHARD
BURGIN is a fiction writer, editor, composer, critic and
teacher. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from Brandeis
University and received advanced
degrees from Columbia University in New
York. BURGIN is the author of ten books,
including the novel Ghost Quartet
(1999), and the short story collections The
Spirit Returns (2001), Fear
of Blue Skies (1998), Private
Fame (1991), and Man Without Memory (1989). The latter
three books were each listed as a Notable Book of the Year by The Philadelphia
Inquirer. His stories have won four
PUSHCART PRIZES (only Joyce Carol Oates has won more) and 11
others have been listed by that prestigious anthology as being among the year's
best. His other books include Conversations
with Jorge Luis Borges,
which has been translated and published in seven foreign language
editions, and Conversations with Isaac Bashevis
Singer. A major excerpt of Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer
appeared in two parts as the cover story in The
New York Times Magazine.
BURGIN was
the founding editor of the Boston Review
and New York Arts Journal and
the founding and current editor of the international distributed literary
journal BOULEVARD, now in its
nineteenth year of continuous publication. Published by Saint Louis University,
Boulevard is considered one
of the country's leading literary journals. Boulevard has won numerous city,
state and national grants awards, including seven consecutive maximum sized
grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Pieces from Boulevard are frequently reprinted in
the country's leading anthologies such as The
Best American Poetry, The
Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, O.Henry Prize Stories, the Best American Essays, and others.
For more
information, see www.richardburgin.com
30 October - JUST THE FACTS. To make your
mystery, suspense, or true crime stories more believable, writers will have a
chance to ask the experts questions . A panel of
law enforcement experts will talk about their areas of expertise. Former
prosecutor DEBRA ALESSI now handles criminal defense cases in St. Charles with the law firm of Shea, Kohl, Alessi, and O'Donnell. ED McCORMICK,
Fire Marshal for Warren County, served five years with the St. Louis City
police Dept and another five years with the Florissant Police Dept before
joining the Florissant Fire Dept, where he spent 23 years. After moving
to Warrenton seven years ago, he has worked with the Warren County Fire and
Rescue, and he was recently hired as Fire Marshal for Warren County.
25 November - HAPPY
THANKSGIVING!!! No meeting in November. Instead, the November meeting
will be held first week in December.
4 December - ANNUAL MEETING DEVOTED TO CHILDREN.
Awards presented to winners of Third and Fourth Grade Children's Writing
Contest followed by writing workshops for children by children's writer JEANIE
FRANZ RANSOM.
Jeanie Franz Ransom is an
elementary school counselor for the Wentzville
School District and a
freelance writer. Ransom is the author of five children’s picture books, I
Don’t Want to Talk About It, a story about divorce for young children
(Sept. 2000, Magination Press), Grandma U.,
(Fall 2002, Peachtree Publishers), Don’t Squeal Unless It’s a
Big Deal: A Tale of Tattletales (Spring 2005, Magination
Press), What Parents Do When You’re Not Home (Spring 2006,
Peachtree Publishers), and What Really Happened to Humpty?
(Spring 2007, Charlesbridge).
A member of the Society
of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Ransom speaks at schools,
libraries, and conferences about her craft. In addition, she has served as a
writer-in-residence and is available for school visits and workshops for
children and adults.
Her credits include: Boys’ Life, Girls’
Life, Boys’ Quest, Guideposts for Kids, Seventeen, Horsepower, American
Baby, FamilyFun, ParentSource,
Sesame Street Parents, Healthy Kids, Christian Parenting Today, Better Homes
and Gardens Do it Yourself, Traditional Home, Country Home, Country Home
Country Gardens, Decorator Show House, Southwest Sampler, Modern Bride, Country
Folk Art, Country Inns, Innsider, Yippy-Yi-Yea,
Victorian Decorating Lifestyles, Michigan Living, Detroit Monthly, the Detroit
Free Press, the Detroit News and the St. Charles Journal.
******
2003 - YEAR TWO AND WE KEPT ON GROWING!!!
25 January -
Inspirational speaker and author DR.
DEBRA PEPPERS speaks on "WRITE,
PUBLISH, AND SELL YOUR BOOK IN THREE WEEKS! NO KIDDING!" Dr.
Peppers is a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and hosts of
"Talk from the Heart" and TV talk show,
"Shakin' the Salt with Dr. Peppers."
She has been a motivational speaker for 28 years and a speech of hers won an
award from the National Federation of Press Women. She is author of the
book "It's Your Turn Now!" and
was recently published in Chicken
Soup for the Teacher's Soul. Dr. Peppers is also a
columnist and has written plays, one of which earned an Emmy. Her daily
call-in show can be heard from 3:00-6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, on KJSL,
630, on the am dial. www.pepperseed.org.
Call 636-379-9362 for meeting information.
22 February - Author and
past president of the Missouri Romance Writers of America CINDY APPEL presents "THE CURSE OF THE MANUSCRIPT-EATING SLUSH PILE
MONSTER" (and other ghastly tales of how NOT to become
successfully published). In her "day job" she reads manuscripts
of all kinds (fiction of all genres and non-fiction) for the manuscript listing
agency, Authorlink Inc. She's developed an
outline of things to avoid if you want to impress a manuscript reader so your
manuscript can crawl out of the slush pile.
29 March - MISSOURI
WRITERS' GUILD 1st VP VICKI COX
has written over 500 feature articles which have appeared in the St. Louis Post
Dispatch, the Christian Science Monitor, Grit, American Profile Magazine,
Western Horseman and newspapers in 14 states. She is the author of three
children's biographies, Diana, Princess of
Wales; Marion Jones, and Hosni Mubarak. Rising Stars and Ozark Constellations,
her fourth book is an anthology profiling people and places on the Ozark Plateau. A retired public school teacher, she now
teaches as adjunct professor for Drury
University. The
title of her talk is "ALWAYS
SHAVE YOUR LEGS AND OTHER TIPS ON FREELANCING."
26 April - POET IDA MCCALL, speaks on "SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL - POETRY FOR FICTION
WRITERS." Ida received her MFA in Poetry from Washington University
and has poems forthcoming in Boston Review, Pleiades, and Delmar. She currently works as the
program coordinator for the International
Writers Center
at Wash U, where one of her jobs is to compile the St. Louis Literary Calendar
every month. She has recently also become the director
of Wash U's Summer Writers Institute. Ida also will announce winners of
Saturday Writers One-Page Poetry Contest.
31 May - HOOK ME! Reading and critique. Successful writers usually begin
their work with "hook" to engage the reader. During the
first part of our meeting, participants will be invited to read the first
(double-spaced) page of their short story, novel, or essay. Readings will be followed
by a critique of what works in the first page to hook the reader or if the
first page needs help. BEYOND STRUNK AND WHITE. Round-table book discussion. The second part of the
meeting will be devoted to a discussion of books that members have found to be
helpful writing resources.
28 June - MARK TIEDEMANN, multi-published
science fiction and fantasy writer will talk about
"TELLING TALES IN THE
SHADOW OF TOMORROW: THE IRREGULAR EDUCATION OF A FUTURIST." Visit
Mark's Web site at www.marktiedemann.com
26 July - PAT CARR of Elkins, Arkansas,
will speak on WRITING AND REVISING
FICTION. Carr has published 12 books, including The Grass
Creek Chronicle, Bluebirds, Beneath the Hill, and If We Must Die. She has published
more than 100 short stories, which have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, Southern Magazine,
The Southern Review, and other
publications. Carr has a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) in English/History, M.A.
in English from Rice University, and Ph.D. in English from Tulane University.
Her awards include an Al Smith Fiction Fellowship, Library of Congress Marc IV
Award for Fiction, and First Stage Drama Award.
16
August - Ozarks Writers' League (OWL)
Qarterly Meeting. College of the Ozarks, Branson, Missouri.
Michael and Susan Farris of the
Farris Literary Agency in Dallas, Texas, will conduct
interviews with writers throughout the day. Preference for appointments will go
to OWL members. Contact Membership Chair, Fred Pfister,
for membership and meeting details. fpfister@coxbranson.com
30 August - CHRISSY WILLIS will talk about, FROM OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI TO OXFORD, ENGLAND:
USING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE TO WRITE FICTION AND NON-FICTION.
Chrissy is a freelance writer whose work has appeared
in such magazines as “Parents,” “Weight Watchers,” and
“Living with Preschoolers.” In addition, she is the author of
three non-fiction books and over 100 short stories which have appeared in
national and international publications. Her most recent book published
by McGraw Hill is a teacher resource book about children with special
needs. She is President of Ozark Creative Writers Inc. and
founder of Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas. Chrissy
lives in the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee with her husband Mike and
her dog “Barkinweenie.”
27
September - EDITOR/PUBLISHER PANEL. REGINA COOK WILLIAMS, Editor/Publisher of
The Storyteller:
A Writer's Magazine, will speak on
First Impressions, Cover Letters, and
Guidelines. JEFF FISTER, President, Virginia Publishing Company/West End
Word, will speak on Writing for Virginia Publishing Company
www.wordnews.com Jeffrey
Fister attended St. Louis University
and graduated cum laude in 1981 with a degree in Political Science and a minor
in Journalism. Fister worked as a reporter and
editor for the Suburban Journals of St. Louis. In 1982, Fister
began a seven-year corporate public relations career, working for McDonnell
Douglas and Martin Marietta corporations, serving as a writer, editor and
manager in public relations. In 1989, Fister
bought the West End Word newspaper, which grew from a twice-monthly publication
serving the Central West End to a weekly newspaper with circulation in the
city's central corridor from downtown St.
Louis to Clayton. Meanwhile, the company, known as
Virginia Publishing began publishing non-fiction books on local history and
local interest beginning in 1992. The company now publishes two or three trade
paperbacks per year, and has a list of about 20 titles still in print. Titles
due for 2003 include two on the 1904 World's Fair, Meeting Louis At The Fair, and Still Shining: Discovering Lost Treasures
from the 1904 World's Fair. Fister is married, lives
in the Central West End, and has seven
children. He is currently serving as president of the Central West End
Association.
25 October - CHILDREN'S WRITING
PANEL. Rachel Crandell
published, Hands of the Maya, (Henry Holt, June 2002).
She was keynote speaker at the March meeting of Missouri Association of School
Librarians. She is currently working on another book about the culture of
indigenous folks who still live very traditionally in the forest. Mary
A. Martin entered the field of graphic art where she works in advertising
and illustrating. Since 2001, Mary has regularly designed and illustrated a
3-page insert for a children’s quarterly magazine called Kids Country.
Miss Lilly and the Hollyhock
Garden is her first
published children’s book. It is the first in a series of five books with
the second book due for publication in the fall of 2003. Sandra Ure Griffin was the 1982 recipient of the Don Freeman
Memorial Grant-In-Aid award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers
and Illustrators. Her first book, Earth Circles, was published by Walker and
Company in 1989. In 2000, she was the winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Fellowship
Award. She currently teachers Art and Bookmaking to
young people. Her second book, The Big and Little ABC, is due out in
2003. She will also be mentoring an unpublished children’s book
illustrator through the Ellen Dolan Mentorship Program.
* 29
November - GENRE' WRITER'S PANEL. COWBOYS, CALL GIRLS, CRINOLINE, AND KILLING...WRITING
GENRE' FICTION.
MARTHAYN
PELEGRIMAS has written over 60 short stories in the dark fantasy, science
fiction, and horror genres, appearing in such anthologies as BORDERLANDS 3,
BEST OF THE MIDWEST, HOMICIDE HOST PRESENTS, LOVE KILLS, AMERICAN PULP, HOT
BLOOD IX and X, FLESH & BLOOD, the UFO FILES and Lawrence Block presents
SPEAKING OF LUST.
ROBERT (BOB) RANDISI is
author of over 400 novels, 40 short stories, and editor of 25 anthologies
written under 15 different pseudonyms. He was also the editor of
WRITING THE PRIVATE EYE NOVEL for Writer's Digest. He founded the Private Eye
Writers of America
and created the Shamus Award. He co-founded Mystery Scene Magazine and
the American Crime Writer's League. In 1993 he was awarded a Life
Achievement Award at the Southwest Mystery Convention. He has been
nominated four times for the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, in the
novel and short story categories. In the Western genre, Randisi,
writing as J.R. Roberts,
is the creator and author of The Gunsmith series. He is author of
seven other western series under seven different names. His latest, LANCASTER'S ORPHANS, will
be published in 2004. In LEGEND he conceived and edited a collaborative
novel written by he and Elmer Kelton, Loren Estleman, James Reasoner, Ed Gorman, Judy Alter and Jane Candia Coleman.
In 2003 another collaborative novel, THE FUNERAL OF
TANNER MOODY, will be published by Leisure. Authors include John Jakes, Elmer Kelton,
Kerry Newcomb, Jory Sherman and James Reasoner. Randisi the editor of the western
anthologies TIN STAR , BOOT HILL, WHITE HATS and BLACK
HATS.
WESTERN WRITER DUSTY RICHARDS, is author of more 40 novels and
hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. In 2003, his book, THE
NATURAL, received best book of
fiction award at the 2003 Oklahoma Writers' Federation Inc and
second place for best book award by the Missouri Writers' Guild. Dusty
was selected as the 2003 Honorary Life Member of Oklahoma Writers' Federation
in recognition of his support of OWFI and advancement of fellow writers.
ROMANCE
WRITER BOBBI SMITH,
has written more than 30 books and six short stories. To
date, there are more than five million of her romance novels in print.
She has been awarded "Storyteller of the Year" award from the
Romantic Times Magazine, as well as a Golden Certificate Award from Affaire de
Coeur. Foreign rights to her books have been sold to China, India,
Italy, Israel, Russia,
France, Germany, and Sweeden. Her recent novels from Leisure Books include EDEN, a Civil War
romance, LONE WARRIOR, and FOREVER AUTUMN.
********************************************
2002 EVENTS - OUR FIRST YEAR!!!!
26
January - Inaugural meeting. Discussion of chapter goals and
objectives. Election of officers.
23 February - Julie
Earhart, former editor of Saint Louis Events magazine and feature writing
teacher at UMSL, talks about "How to
Study the Lit Magazine Market."
30 March - Western
writer, Dusty Richards, author of 40 novels and hundreds of magazine and newspaper
articles, gives hints on "Writing
Fiction that Sells."
27 April - New York Times
best-selling author, Bobbi Smith, gives advice on "Publishing from Page One to the Bookshelf."
25 May - Reading of
"Works in Progress"
of up to five double-spaced pages, followed by brief critiques of works by
participants.
29 June
- Attending Writers' Conferences. Members and visitors participate
in a round-table discussion of what to expect from and the benefits of
attending writers' conferences.
27 July - Joe Dugan, Vice
President for Public Relations at Fleishman Hiliard
and former Press Secretary for Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton, talks about
"Creating a Buzz for your Work."
25
August - Deadline for 2002 Short Fiction Contest.
31 August - Author Marella Sands talks about "Writing Alternative Histories," dealing with agents
and editors, and alternative approaches to critique groups.
28 September - Joplin writer and MWG
President Veda Boyd Jones talks about "The
Writing Life" and presents certificates to winners of the
SC-LC 2002 Short Fiction Contest. (See Contest section
for list of top 10 stories).
26
October - Ghostly Tales. Reading of Works In Progress. Participants may read up to five
double-spaced pages of their work, followed by brief critiques, if time
permits. Stories with a ghost or Halloween theme are encouraged.
30 November - UMSL
professor and author, Dr. Louis Gerteis, talks about "The Civil War in St. Louis."
Dr. Gerteis will also sign copies of his book, Civil War St. Louis. .
28 December - Saturday Writers--Past, Present, and Future.
Holiday party and year-end wrap up. Round-table discussion of our first-year accomplishments, as well
as announcement of our goals, objectives, and planned events for 2003.
Members are invited to share their writing successes as well as their rejection
letters received during 2002, and to set their goals for the new
year. Prizes will be awarded for the "best" rejection
letter and most "creative" goal. Bring a covered dish and join the
fun!