Dear Members:
We had 35 members and 6 guests at our April meeting. We heard about The Rev. Dick Miller’s book launch which sold out, and Ruben Colon let the members know that two opening are available to the GCWA’s reading group. We had a sign up sheet for a new critique group that is being organized and it already is filled up. We heard four poets read their poems: Lee Wengrzyn, Carol Drummond, Mary Beth Lundgren, and Joe Pacheco. The speaker Sandy Lender was superb and brought to light the true marketing potential of the internet and Blogging.
Marge Phelps and Lee Wengrzyn organized an Open Mic Prose and Poetry reading at the L.A. Café in Leigh Acres. Mary Lou Williams, storyteller extraordinaire, was the principle guest. We also heard poems by Lee Wengrzyn, a reading by Dick Miller from his book The Boxcar Kid, a journal entry by Larry Ruebeling and a limerick by Larry Stiles. We had two members of the Press present and fourteen patrons in attendance.
I am pleased to announce that the Peace River Center for Writers has given our proposal for a reciprocal membership agreement the green light. They are in the process of setting up an association with Edison College in Punta Gorda, which would expand their educational programs.
Lynn Stuckert has been busy organizing a writing contest for this year, which we will open to the public. She will have details posted on our NEW website www.gulfwriters.org in the near future. I would encourage members to review our new website and let your Executive Board members hear from you. There will be more information at our May meeting.
Speaking of May, our speaker is Bonnie Vanak who is going to discuss the 3 R’s of writing; Rejection, Revision, and Rejoicing. Emma Wong Griffen from the Ruben critique group will read a piece of her work. And, does anyone have the answer to last month’s “Writer’s Puzzlement.” The question was: “In dialogue, if you refer to a book, is the title in italics, underlined, or not?”
Remember our raffle and bring along those books that need a new reader.
Sincerely,
Richard Georgian
President
| Past letters |
Dear Members:
I bring you greetings from the 14th Executive Board of the Gulf Coast Writers Association. We all owe a great deal to those who preceded us in executive positions with a special thanks to Carol DeFrank for two years of dedication as our President. Jeri Magg deserves a tribute as the longtime Webmaster and the hours spent keeping our web pages updated and interesting.
My vision for the 2008-2009 GCWA season is an expansion of our membership, more outreach into the southwest Florida region, increased learning opportunities, and mutual support through critique groups and marketing of published authors.
I have asked the publicity, membership, and program chairpersons to coordinate their responsibilities to improve our presence in the region. It is in GCWA’s best interest to continually expand membership, thereby, giving all of us access to more varied writing experiences. I see us gaining value through shared experiences with different writers.
We should support our published authors though participation in various southwest Florida conventions, book fairs, and other events where we have a display table. In return we ask the participants to help publicize our association at these events.I anticipate a diverse and dynamic speaker and workshop program this year. All of us, published or un-published, can learn by exercising our writing skills. The speaker theme for this year is education, teaching and learning. Some of the topics are: Let’s go Blogging, 3 R’s of writing, Pacing, Foundation of writing, Constructing believable characters, Prune your prose, Final preparations before a writer submits a novel to publisher or an agent, and The craft of writing.
I am eager to hear some of your poetry and writings. Now is the time to click those keys and generate an award winning piece. Contest anyone?
I hope I can help fulfill the desires, wishes, and educational needs of all our members. The April 19th speaker is Sandy Lender who will educate us on Blogging.
Keep writing.
Sincerely,
Richard Georgian
President