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

5504 N. Division St.

Spokane, WA 99208

(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: Spokane Authors & Self-Publishers

P. O. Box 18573

Spokane, WA 99228-0573

2010 Officers

President:

Dave McChesney (509) 325-2072

daveeva@comcast.net

Vice-President:

Bob Weldin (509) 327-2897

minersquest@comcast.net

Secretary:

Robert Pillsbury (509) 842-6803

rvpsasp07@comcast.net

Treasurer:

Suzi Johns (509) 747-5572

suzi.johns@comcast.net

Public-Relations:

Russ Davis (509) 768-6206

info@graydogpress.com

Newsletter Editor:

Jim Parry 509) 325-9922

parry9922@q.com

Web Master:

TBA

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 for our first meeting of 2010 on Thursday January 7^th at 12 noon. We’ll be at our usual location (Old Country Buffet, 5504 N. Division St., Spokane, Washington.) Mr. Sam Le will be our speaker.

Lien Le (Sam) will be speaking about his first book, The Spirit Stills the Storms, 2008, published by 2020 Films and, currently being made into a screen play. It is a true story about a Vietnamese refugee’s bold journey to Freedom; a journey of a boat person through the storms to arrive in the United States of America from Vietnam.

Lien Le was born in North Vietnam, December 21, 1946. He and his family fled to South Vietnam in 1954, along with hundreds of thousands of other refugees. He was taught French in grade school and English in high school. He picked up his American-English accent from a friend and U.S. combat pilot, who came to his school once a week to teach vocal skills. This fortunate skill allowed the teenager to become a combat interpreter for the Green Berets. It was while serving in the U. S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War that he received the nickname, “Sam”. He married and became the father of two young sons, endured imprisonment after the collapse of the South Vietnam. For years, he plotted and planned his audacious quest for freedom from tyranny.

It took a lot of courage, tenacity, creativity and cunning for Sam to reach his long term goal---taking his family from tyranny to freedom and, giving them a chance at the American Dream. Sam and his family currently have a very successful home furnishings business in Spokane.

Board of Directors and the Advisory Board meeting(s) will follow the general membership meeting!

THE PRESIDENT’s PAGE

2009

Wasn’t our December meeting great? We should thank Mr. Patrick McManus for visiting. I know all enjoyed his talk and the opportunity to have him sign copies of his books for us. We certainly hope that he enjoyed his time as well. It was great to see several individuals at the meeting who have not attended for some time. Hopefully these folks will get back to once again coming on a regular basis. Whether it has been said directly or not, we have missed you. Finally let’s thank fellow SASP member Trish Gill for bringing a selection of Patrick McManus’s books from Hastings so they would be available for purchase and signing.

We also held elections and results are as follows. Robert, Bob, and I shall continue in our present duties as Secretary, Vice-President, and President. It surely was a vote of confidence that no names were written in and voted for in regards to these positions. Newer member Suzi Johns won a fairly close contest to be our Treasurer, and Jolene Feher, Gail Mangano, and Bob Manion have been selected to the Advisory Board. James Parry was chosen as Newsletter Editor. Individuals were also designated for the Public Relations and Web-Master positions, but as I write this, I am unsure if they have agreed to serve or not.

Ideally the Board of Directors and the new Advisory Board should meet sometime before our January meeting. With the bustle of the Christmas/Holiday Season, that might prove to be a little inconvenient for some, so the current thought is to have those groups meet immediately after the next regular meeting.

I’m sure that when I mentioned that James Parry has agreed to be Newsletter Editor, many of you no doubt said, “what newsletter?” In truth, we haven’t published one for quite some time. After our November meeting I decided to revive it because we do have members who are not on line and need to be kept informed. Also, there are those four or five individuals whose e-mail addresses don’t seem to work. Every time something is sent their way it bounces back as undeliverable. Figuring that it was high time to include these members (and former members) in the loop, I put together a small newsletter and mailed it out to them. I’d like to think that that effort resulted in the attendance of at least a few individuals we haven’t seen for some time. That particular newsletter consisted of a short introduction, a copy of last month’s President’s Page, and a selection of items from the web-site’s News page. I did not e-mail it to the general membership as its contents were already on the web-site. I also printed out and mailed the meeting announcement and ballot to those same individuals. Hopefully reestablishing a newsletter will keep up in better touch with all of our members. Truthfully we have been remiss at that, and as President, I apologize.

With James’ agreement to be editor, it is my plan to do one or two more newsletters and give him something to go on, something that he can work with and change over time. With regards to the Newsletter itself, my personal thought is that it should be something brief and to the point. I do not intend it to be a fancy and as thorough as the one from the Idaho Writers League, but merely a means of ensuring communication with all SASP members.

Speaking of SASP members, let us welcome Rebecca Rainer, Joan Kopezynski, and Jeff Schoonmaker to the group. We should also extend a big “welcome back!” to Bill Ferguson, Lester Smith, and M. Phoebe Daniels. Your names will soon appear (or reappear) on the web-site roster. (Please note, if you were last paid up in 2008 and do not rejoin Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers, your name will be removed from the current e-mail or surface mail lists.)

Trish Gill, on behalf of the Shadle area Hastings donated a copy of Patrick McManus’s DOUBLE JACK MURDERS as a door prize, which was won by Jim Vasquez. Lee Moore donated two packages of her famous handmade greeting cards, but with the excitement of the day, I did not record who won them. In addition, Joan Carter provided center pieces/table decorations for the meeting and insisted that members take them home if they wanted to.

Our January 7^th 2010 meeting will feature Mr. Sam Le. He has written a book about his experiences in leaving Viet Nam that is currently being converted to a movie script. February will feature Doreen Kelsey speaking on financial writing.

With that, I will leave you with wishes for a most Joyous Holiday Season. (I hope you had a) Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! If you celebrate a particular Holiday that I do not mention, may your festivities be grand and glorious as well!

UPDATES

When the PRESIDENT’s PAGE was concocted a few weeks ago, I had not yet received word that Russ Davis had agreed to the Public Relations position. I now know that he has. Congratulations and welcome, Russ.

An individual was selected or elected to the Web Master position. The last word I have is that he is still mulling it over. If anyone is interested, that job may still be available.

Based on a suggestion by Russ Davis, fellow SASP member Paul Lecoq has devised a peer review program. (See below) All SASP members are invited and encouraged to participate. If you have written something and think it (and you) would benefit from having other members critique it, please bring along copies as Paul suggests. As announcement of this program is so close to our January meeting, you might consider bringing your work to the February or later meetings. (A copy of the cover sheet will be published elsewhere in this newsletter.)

SASP Volunteer peer review program

Paul Lecoq

Rationale:

Self-publishing allows you to avoid the arduous job of making your writing great – if you so choose. To go beyond family journals, to compete in the marketplace, you must become competent. Having others evaluate your work, bringing others into the process of creating, builds that competence.

Process:

Before each meeting I will set up a table for the review. Participants will stack five copies of their work in the following format on the table. Leave a copy of your cover sheet for reviewers to sign upon.

· Cover sheet – listing your name, title, audience and purpose

· five pages, double or 1 ½ line spacing to allow specific comments

You leave your work for others to critique. During the break, you take three other people’s work for you to review. Interested members who aren’t submitting may also review. Reviewers, put your name on the register for the manuscripts you take. You agree to dedicate an appropriate time to review each before the next meeting. (Please don’t wait until the night before.)

Review for:

Grammar, spelling, structure, content,

persuasiveness, and style. Point out both the good and the less than great. Be honest but helpful.

Return your reviews to the next meeting and leave them in one stack per writer.

Reading the reviews:

Don’t take criticism personally; it’s the quickest way to learn. There will be differences of opinion and style. If someone wrote something, he must think it’s important. Pay attention even if you don’t take the advice. Don’t just look at it as editing; apply what you learn throughout your manuscript.

News

Listed below are acknowledgements of our member's accomplishments,

book signing dates, locations, and other items of note:

Contests:

It’s time once again to start polishing up your work for entry into the annual

Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s Annual Literary Contest.

The twelve categories include full length fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, screenwriting, short stories, and short non-fiction work.

For more information go to

www.pnwa.org

From CRESTED BUTTE WRITERS

Give yourself a (belated) Christmas treat and enter The Sandy! The Sandy’s back, bigger and better than before! Genres, 5 fantastic final judges all eager to find new talent! Check out our beautiful new website at www.thesandy.org. It’s chocked full of useful information as well as specific instructions on rules, submission guidelines, and category final judges.

Welcome mystery writers, we’re happy to announce that we’ve given you your own score sheet and added you to the Suspense/Thriller category.

Categories & Final Round Judges

Romance - Megan McKeever, Editor, Pocket Books

Mainstream Adult Fiction - Christine Pride, Editor, Broadway / Random House

Suspense / Thriller / Mystery - Mark Tavani, Sr. Editor, Ballantine

Fantasy / Science Fiction - Ginger Clark, Literary Agent, Curtis Brown

Children's & YA - Julie Scheina, Assistant Editor, Little, Brown Books

The Deadline is February 15, 2010—so tell all your writing pals, post on all your writing loops, polish up those entries and send them on in!

Something of Interest

Rather than continuing to post the e-mail announcements from www.WritingRaw.com, we’ll simply include this link to their web-site.

Check it out for interesting interviews with both new and established authors, as well as with literary agents and others in the publishing industry. (The site is apparently updated on a monthly basis.)

A Local Publisher

Recently, Ditto’s Print and Copy Center has expanded to become Gray Dog Press.

Besides publishing SPOKE WRITE, The Spokane/Coeur d’ Alene Journal

of Art and Writing, Russ Davis and his crew offer three levels of printing and publishing for local writers. Depending upon the writer’s desires and the marketability of the work, Gray Dog Press will print self-published work, publish in partnership with the author, or publish totally at their expense.

For more information, go to:

www.graydogpress.com

Wishing you all the best, including of course, writing success in 2010!!!!!

Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers

By Lester L. Smith

People gathered together

To harvest Wisdom and more

And to meet old friends indeed

People that our hearts adore

Thank You God for these people

That we look up to in so many ways

When we have a storm in our life

They are the Rainbow that sunshines the day

Voluntary Peer Review Program

Cover Sheet

Your Name: _________________________Title of work: __________________________________

Intended Audience: ________________________________________________________________

What kind of work is this? (Category or Genre) __________________________________________

Why are you writing it? _____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Reviewer’s rating: (From “0” through “10”) _____

(10 = “ready for publication.” 5 = “good but needs improvement. 0 = “needs too much work.)

Reviewer’s General Comments: (Specific comments are made within the manuscript.)

Please a dark pen or pencil so your comments will be readable!

________________________________________________________________________________