JUNE 2011
JUNE 2011
Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers (SASP) began in 1998 when Chuck O’Conner, Elmer Freeman, Joe Meiners,
and Dan Vollmer, Spokane area authors
formed a club in order to share their knowledge and experience with those
interested in writing and alternative ways of publishing. Today, SASP is a large non-profit
organization dedicated to anyone with interests in any aspect of writing and
art. Members now include aspiring (and
successful) authors, poets, journalists, illustrators, editors, publishers,
printers, writing instructors, and many others.
Monthly luncheon meetings provide inspiration and education by way of
knowledgeable and entertaining guest speakers, and the cheerful camaraderie of
people sharing common interests and goals.
Membership is open to all who love writing, art, and interesting people.
Spokane
Authors and Self-Publishers meets
the first Thursday of each month, September through May, in the banquet (back)
room of the Old Country Buffet
(509) 484-5026
Speakers’
presentations begin at NOON. The room opens at 11:00 AM to allow members and guests to dine, converse, join, pay
dues, browse, and perhaps buy other member’s books that are on display. Generally a short business meeting is held,
either before or after the formal presentation.
New members and guests are introduced, members relate their
accomplishments, and various door prizes are awarded.
All
members and guests are requested to buy lunch upon entering the establishment,
and to leave an appropriate tip for the waiter/waitress.
Members
need to be present to win door prizes.
Current
membership benefits include a
listing on the SASP website, www.spokaneauthors.org. Many
members provide short biographies and links to external personal websites,
creating more marketing exposure.
Current members may list and describe their published works on the SASP
website and offer their work for sale at meetings.
Guest speakers at our monthly meetings
inform, inspire, and entertain members and guests with a variety of topics, all
designed to provide knowledge pertinent to writing and publishing.
SASP
members are encouraged to purchase or trade completed works of and with fellow
members. They are also encouraged to
donate examples of their work for use as door prizes. Those who win other members’ works are
expected to provide a review of that work.
Dues for SASP
membership are $15.00 per calendar year.
Dues may be paid directly to
our Treasurer at our monthly meetings.
Alternatively, you may remit your dues to:
2011 Officers
President:
Dave McChesney (509) 325-2072
Vice-President:
Bob Weldin (509) 327-2897
Secretary:
Robert Pillsbury (509) 842-6803
rvpsasp07@comcast.net
Treasurer:
Bonnie Stichart (509) 684-0424
Public-Relations:
Russ
Davis (509) 768-6206
Newsletter Editor:
Jim
Parry 509)
325-9922
Web Master:
Dave
McChesney (509) 325-2072
Advisory Board:
Jolene Feher (509) 489-0544
fehersong@yahoo.com
Gail Mangano (509) 535-1434
mamamia3224@comcast.net
Bob Manion (509) 448-2901
gunnerbob@comcast.net
OUR
NEXT MEETING!
Please join us on Thursday,
June 2 at 12 noon. We’ll be at our
usual location, Old Country Buffet,
This month’s speaker: BLYTHE THIMSEN. Ms. Thimsen is the editor of
The
President’s Page
April 2011
Our
May meeting was a little unusual.
Because some other group managed to lock in the first Thursday of the
month, we met nearly a week later. We
did not have a planned speaker, but invited members to talk about their novels
(and other) writing experiences. Topics
touched upon included writing styles, the need to provide conflict, tension,
and obstacles for a story’s characters, the importance of specific words, and
writing to answer the question, “what if?”
Although the group attending was a bit smaller than normal, the brief
presentations by Chuck Lehman, Bob Magart, and Dave McChesney sparked several
interesting discussions.
One
guest, Barbara Boyer, joined us for the afternoon. Let us hope she enjoyed her visit and will
return as a member in the future. We
also met one of two new members who joined via the mail. Joyce Wilkens had sent dues for her and
daughter Emily a few weeks ago. Welcome!
Doug
Huigen told us he had recently shipped out two cartons of his book. Jim Parry again mentioned that he is hoping
to step down from the newsletter editor position to devote more time to his
next book. Even so he presented us with
a sign up sheet that will allow members with upcoming reading or signing events
to better let others know. Jim also
asked for guest column writers and letters-to-the-editor. He suggested that these should be between 100
and 600 words. Dave McChesney mentioned
that he would welcome offers to read or edit his first book, and that he would
be willing to do the same in exchange.
For
door prizes, a total of four free meals were given away. John Heffernan and Anne Washington each won a
meal from Old Country Buffet, while Lee Moore and Esther Hildahl won checks
covering the cost of a meal at Old Country Buffet from SASP. In addition, Doug Huigen, Michael Marsden,
and Joan Carter each took home a pack of Lee Moore’s famous homemade greeting
cards.
The
idea of canceling our August meeting was discussed briefly. It was decided to postpone the decision until
next month. We will vote on the matter
at our next meeting, but if you feel strongly one way or the other about it and
can’t be there, contact one of your SASP officers and let them know.
As a
reminder, contact information forms are now available at our meetings. If you are a guest, a new member, or a long
time member whose contact information has changed, please fill out a form so we
may update our records. We are also
looking for members’ biographies to put on the web-site and reviews of member’s
books to post there as well.
By
this time, the web-site member list includes only those who are paid members
for 2011. If your name has disappeared
from the list, it is because you are no longer a current member. Paying your dues for the year will cause your
name to reappear. Additionally, the
e-mail contact list is being purged of those who have not been members in a
couple of years, those whose e-addresses reject messages sent regarding SASP,
and in particular, those whose e-addresses prevent messages from being sent at
all. Quite naturally, should you express
interest in remaining upon the SASP e-mail list, you will remain.
Depending
upon what our decision is regarding August, we have either five or four
meetings left in 2011. We are still
searching for speakers for those meetings.
If you have ideas or suggestions, either as to whom should speak or what
topics should be addressed, please contact Vice-President Bob Weldin or any of
the SASP officers.
Next
month, on Thursday the 2nd of June, our speaker will be Blythe
Thimsen. She is the editor of Spokane/Coeur d’ Alene Living. On Thursday July 7th, Ruth Danner
will talk about editing one’s work.
Please note that we will be back to our time-honored first Thursday of
the month.
Write
on,
For What It’s Worth
During
conversations with casual acquaintances, as well as strangers, I usually am
able to work-in the fact that I wrote a book.
The stock reply from these people goes something like this: “Oh, you wrote a book, eh? What made you write a book?” My answer over this past year has been: “Because I’ve always wanted to” or some-such
meaningless drivel.
Lately,
I’ve been saying to myself, “Dude, there are better answers than that!” Answers such as:
My mom
made me.
Because
I own a sharp pencil.
It kept
me from roaming the streets at night.
It was
better than writing a jingle.
It was
better than eating a rutabaga.
There
was nothing on TV.
Jim
P.S. – The above is sample of my writing. As you can see, I’m running out of ideas and material. What I would like to do now is ask you, the SASP members, to submit samples of your writing or “Letters to the Editor”, or “real” editorials, or anything that’s on your mind or in your computer – AND WE’LL PRINT IT RIGHT HERE IN THE NEXT (OR FUTURE) FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH COLUMN. Just send an e-mail with an attachment to: parry9922@ q.com. It must be between 100 and 600 words and will be on a “first-in/first-printed” basis, sort of. The editor will have some discretion. (We at SASP Newsletter did not receive any submissions last month. Who out there will be first?)
NEWS
Listed below are acknowledgments of
members’ accomplishments, book-signing
dates, locations, and other items of note:
New Members
Please welcome mother and daughter writers
Joyce and Emily Wilkens.
They joined via the mail but promise
to attend one of our next meetings.
Joyce has a book out called TEACUP ART…and
REFLECTIONS.
Emily’s book is AFRICAN RICE HEART.
SASP member Book Release
Anna Goodwin
Hurrah! JUSTICE
FORBIDDEN, my
psychological thriller, murder mystery is finally out.
You can get it on my website www.anaparkergoodwin.com
for 20% off regular price: $13.50.
10% of my profits will go to counseling
abused children. Or you can get it at Barnes and
Noble or Amazon. ISBN:
978-0-9845566-0-1
What is the story about? Of course it’s
all about what I know best.
I am a psychotherapist who had a private
practice for many years.
Although the plot is fictional, the
character of the client and
much of her past is based on true events.
What are the facts about memory? Are there
false memories?
Can memories be repressed and then
remembered years later?
This is one of the greatest controversies
still raging in psychology today.
Dr. Faythe Bradington, Clinical
Psychologist, is shocked to discover that
an ex-client is suing her for implanting
false memories of childhood abuse.
Faythe rushes to her office to read her
files, but when she arrives she
discovers a body in the waiting room. Now
terrified, she calls 911.
To make her situation worse, her insurance
company insists she settle out of court.
There will be no justice for her unless
she discovers what actually
happened to her ex-client 25 years ago.
Determined to clear her name and discover
the truth, she hires a private
investigator, who unknown to her, has
psychic powers that become
crucial in solving the case. As Faythe and
L.P. probe into her ex-client’s
haunted past, they discover dark secrets
so ominous that
just knowing them will set off unstoppable
deadly events.
Read the
book, leave a comment at my website, at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and then
pass the book to someone else you know would enjoy it. If you want me to do the
same for your book send me an e-mail: jargoodwin@msn.com. We are very
fortunate to have a wonderful group. Let’s cooperate and help each other reach
our writing dreams.
Another
Contest
We will run four short story competitions
in 2011. The deadlines will be the end of February, May, August and November.
Our main writing competitions have an open theme with a 3,000 word limit. There
are three prizes to the top three winning writers of £100, £50 and £25. There
will also be the opportunity for the stories to be published on our website as
well as being recorded for broadcast on Brighton’s Coastway Hospital Radio,
which provides music and entertainment to a network of
The competition is just four pounds to
enter, via PayPal or cheque, and the competition is open to writers worldwide.
Stories can be submitted online along with payment or by post with a cheque. We
will notify all entrants of receipt of their story. Each entry will be judged
impartially and be read at least twice in full before judging decisions are
made.
We are planning some fun free to enter contests too. Our first
is a flash fiction- 250 word limit. Deadline 31st January 2011. Five
song titles are on the site as themes. Three ten pound prizes and publication
on site.
Thank you
Andrew Campbell-Kearsey info@brightoncow.co.uk
(The COW part stands for Community of
Writers)
A New “How to” Book
THE WRITERS PORTABLE MENTOR
A guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing
Life
By Priscilla Long
ISBN:
978-0-9842421-0-8, $17.95,
Recent Newsletters now on
Site
All issues of our recently revived SASP
Newsletter
are now posted and available on the
web-site.
Simply go to the Newsletter Tab on our
home page
and click on the month you are interested
in. All content
of the e-mailed or “snail-mailed” versions
is there,
although format is changed somewhat.
New “LINKS”
We’ve recently added several “general
interest” links
on the web-site page of the same name.
Many SASP members’ web-sites and blogs
are linked here as well.
A Local Publisher
Andrew Corder has recently come on
board as senior editor at Gray Dog Press.
For more information, go to:
A Most Generous Offer
Writer Kirt Hickman has generously
provided
SASP with several “how to” articles on
various
aspects of writing. We are reposting Kirt’s articles
on the WRITER’S
TOOLS page.
Each will remain for approximately one
month or until replaced by the next.
A New Publishing Company
Hello
My name is Bob Griffin. I have just
started
a small publishing company that will be
publishing fantasy, science fiction and
horror.
If anybody is interested in submitting
their works of fiction, please visit us at
Greetings
As a member of
either the Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) and/or the Society of
Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) you know there are a large
number of writer’s on the eastern side of the state. From seasoned pros, to
up-and-comers, to those of us working to get there, we have no shortage of
writers. What we don’t have however, are many opportunities to create the
connections with other writers that enable us to further our writing careers.
Enter Writers To Writers - a social couple of hours intended to get as many
To that end, we’d like to
find out how many of you would be interested in joining us on Saturday. July 16th,
at the Bookwalter Winery Tasting Room in
ACTION: If you
think you'd like to join us, please reply to this message by June 6th. There’s no need to respond if you
don’t want to participate. (Contact
Randy LaBarge at randellob@charter.net)
Once we have made all the
necessary arrangements with the winery, we'll send out a more formal
invitation. Please also feel free to forward this message to any writer
friends we may have missed.
Thanks for taking the time
to respond. And whether you join us or not, good luck with your writing.
Best Wishes. . .
Randy R. LaBarge (PNWA) and
Maureen McQuerry (PNWA, SCBWI)
Book
Signing and
Saturday, June 4, 9:00a.m.--3:00p.m.
Rathdrum Farmers' Market,
in