SEPTEMBER 2011
SEPTEMBER 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,
Sept 1 at 12 noon. We’ll be at our
usual location, Old Country Buffet,
GUEST SPEAKER: Our very own
DAVE
McCHESNEY. Fascinated with the age of the sail and
the great sailing navies, D. Andrew McChesney served in the modern US Navy as
an aviation electronics technician.
Sometime after completing a twenty-two year career he revived and
revised a story first conceived in high school.
The first two books of the Stone
Island Sea Stories are complete and work continues on the third. He edits the Rear Engine Review, the Inland Northwest Corvair Club’s monthly
newsletter. An essay, Tennis Balls and Broadsides, won first place in the initial Author! Author! Periodic Awards for
Expressive Excellence, and was published in Gray Dog Press’ SpokeWrite. The next book of the series placed second in
the Author! Author! Great First Pages Contest. Usually answering to “Dave”, he is President
of Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers, and a member of the Pacific Northwest
Writers Association.
He
resides in
The President’s
Page
August 2011
I
hope everyone enjoyed the August hiatus and the unique situation of a first
Thursday without a SASP meeting on the agenda.
As there was no meeting to write about, this will no doubt be one of the
shorter President’s Pages I’ve written.
While
I have your attention, I’d like to remind all concerned that we would like a
little biography of you for the SASP web-page.
What you include and how you write the bio is up to you. Taking a look at those we have posted, I
think you’ll see two or three basic styles.
One approximates the short bio “blurbs” that often get attached to the
back cover of an author’s book. Others
are closer to what an agent or editor would expect to see when they ask for an
“author-bio” as a part of a submission’s package. (Learn more about these in the Bio category
on Anne Mini’s Author! Author! Blog at www.annemini.com
.) A few go beyond that point and become
virtual resumes and life histories. If
you haven’t a bio on the site, consider writing one and sending it along to me
for posting. Help us get to know you a
little better.
Barring
unforeseen circumstances, I’ve volunteered to speak at our September
meeting. I’ll be talking about the
process of going from a writer aiming for traditional publication to one
currently self-publishing. I’ll detail
the experiences that led to my choice to self-publish, explain why I chose the
self-publishing service company I’m working with, and bring you up to date with
the progress of the process.
I
hope everyone is having a great summer and I look forward to seeing you all on
the first of September.
Write
on,
For What It’s Worth
Did You Lose
the Summer Muse?
1. Did you intend (as I did) to do a lot of writing over the summer, but…
a)
totally failed?
b)
got in a little
writing?
c)
completed all of
your goals?
2. Is your favorite place to write…
a) at the lake…
i) on a beach chair?
ii) in the cabin?
b) at the ocean…
i) on a beach chair?
ii) in the condo?
c) in the mountains/woods…
i) by a tree?
ii) by the campfire?
iii) in the cabin?
3. Did you, at least, jot down a few thoughts?
4. Are you an outliner or a steam-of-consciousness
writer?
5. Were you constantly interrupted by…
a) visitors?
b) family
c) fun events
d) beckoning waves/smores
6. Did you stay at home and…
a) freeze in June
b) enjoy July
c) swelter in August
7. What is your mode?
a) computer for everything
b) computer for final draft only
c) run to computer every time an idea floats through brain
d) notes on old envelopes & scraps
e) pencil and paper
f) quill pen
8. What time of day do you write?
a) immediately after arising
b) whenever
c) between reruns of Frazier
d) afternoon
e) early evening
f) late at night
g) after 2 gin-and-tonics
9. Does you chewing gum lose its flavor on the
bedpost overnight?
Jim
NEWS
Listed below are acknowledgments of
members’ accomplishments, book-signing
dates, locations, and other items of note:
SASP Member Book Soon to
Be in
E-Format
James Bartlett Parry’s thrilling memoir, BOOK ALL THE TEACHERS!, is about to be released as an e-book. Stay tuned.
This move might just revive the lackluster sales of late. Youngsters are sure to buy it in the e-book
format, and it will become a monster hit - which it so richly deserves. Watch for it!
It’s not just for teachers.
It’s for anyone who has suffered through junior
high/middle school.
It’s for anyone who has ever been 13.
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)
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 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