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:

TBA

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 on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 12 noon. We’ll be at our usual location, Old Country Buffet, 5504 N. Division St., Spokane, Washington.)

This month we will have no guest speaker. Instead, we shall celebrate the holidays, honor those who have had works published in 2010, and vote for new officers who will serve in 2011. As the end of the year is nearly upon us, let us hear selected excerpts from those who have completed writings of magnificence during these past 12 months. Let us also prepare ourselves for the new year by electing our 2011 SASP officers.

The President’s Page

November 2010

OUR LAST MEETING

At our meeting on November 4^th, Lee Moore gave a short presentation from her book about Scooter, her grandson’s Scottish Terrier. Following that, I had the opportunity to pass along what I know of standard format for manuscripts. I was gratified to hear I had cleared up some of the mystery for a few of you. I should caution that what I provided were the basics. There is a lot more to standard format. I would advise any and all of you to find a good authoritative source, either on-line or via a printed book, in order to become well versed on the topic.

We almost always have a guest or two attending our meetings, trying to determine if our organization will be one worth belonging to. Unfortunately it appears that I did not get the names, or the full names of some of these visitors. I know more were there than Wally Parker, and a Scott, but unfortunately that is all that is in my notes. If you did attend as a guest and we do not mention it, please understand that we did enjoy your presence, hope you found the experience positive, and look forward to you returning and joining us.

Surprisingly, we had no new members in attendance. At the same time, several current members did renew that membership and pay their dues for the 2011 membership year. Thank you, and welcome back.

Although she was unable to attend, Barbara Cagle had announced via e-mail that her book 16 X MOM is now on Amazon.com. While the book is available on her web-site, Barbara is hoping for as many sales as possible on Amazon and the potential of joining its best seller list.

Chuck Lehman announced a book signing at Auntie’s Bookstore on November 18^th. Jim Parry, Paul Lecoq, John Heffernan, and other Gray Dog Press authors will have a signing on the 10^th. Pat Freeman brought along flyers for classes at the Continuing Education Center. Soul Karriem told us he had ordered more copies of his book Divine Power, and Rod Stackelberg mentioned that his memoirs had recently been published by iUniverse.

OTHER COOL STUFF

We are still looking for members to submit bios for the web-site. I pointed out that Anne Mini had recently run a series of posts about author bios on her Author! Author! blog at www.annemini.com. I also noted that we are actively seeking book reviews of members’ books for the web-site as well.

The fact that the calendar year is drawing to a close, and that dues will be due come January 2011 was relayed to all. “Pay early and avoid the rush!”

With the end of the year it is also time to think about the organization’s ongoing leadership. I called for, and continue to call for, volunteers or nominations of individuals willing to serve in some capacity. I also asked, and still ask, to be notified if anyone serving currently wishes to step down. From my own perspective, it is humbling and yet rewarding that you all might want me to continue as President. If so, I will, and I believe many of the others currently in office feel much the same. However, we do need a real Treasurer and would welcome a volunteer or nominee for that position. As I am fulfilling that role at present, should someone desire the office of president, I would be willing to give that up and become the actual Treasurer.

Currently I plan to e-mail a ballot to those with computers in the next couple of weeks. For those who rely on the United States Postal Service, it will be in the next newsletter, with additional copies available at our next meeting. Current office holders will be listed, and if anyone is nominated or volunteered for an office, they will be listed as well. Space will be provided so that you may write in the names of those you feel would do well in a particular position.

A couple of organizational or operational changes were suggested recently. One is that we should drop the “self-publishers” from our name. It was felt that this might be keeping writers from joining or investigating our organization. While we were originally founded as a group of self-published authors, we have expanded greatly in scope over the past years. To date, “custom publishers,” “independent publishers,” and simply “Spokane Authors” have been suggested. The ballot will ask if we should drop “self-publishers,” and if so, what we should be known as in the future. (See Jim Parry’s propaganda below)

After our October meeting, a member suggested we schedule every third meeting during the evening to allow folks to attend that cannot make it during the day. While reaction when mentioned at the November meeting was quite negative, I believe it should be on the ballot.

Next month we shall hold elections, honor those members whose work was published during the year, and in general celebrate. I would imagine that we might be able to entice recently published members and perhaps others to read a bit from their works.

Lastly, if you have ideas for future speakers, let me or other SASP Officers know. We already have some suggestions and will be investigating those.

Write on,

For What It’s Worth

Two weeks ago, at a book signing Paul LeCoq so kindly arranged, a middle-aged male stopped by our table and harrumphed, “Gray Dog. Isn’t that the publisher who publishes books no one else will?”

I assume that comment irritates you as much as it did me. Instead of unleashing my feelings verbally (or physically) on him, I simply inquired as to which large publishing house he had dealt with. He, of course, had had nothing published, nor, apparently, did he have anything in the works.

Several hours after his departure I managed to calm myself to the point of rational thought. That’s when my brain began to tie his remark to last month’s SASP discussion of a possible name change for our organization. The title Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers begs the question: Are self-publishers not authors? Our group’s name seems to indicate that authors and self-publishers are two distinct entities. What is the definition of author? There are two schools of thought regarding this. Some say that an author is someone who has been published. Others, including me, say that if you have written anything of substance – be it a short story, a poem, a technical article, or a complete manuscript – you are a legitimate author.

At first, I thought we should call ourselves Spokane Writers. (I would prefer Inland Northwest over Spokane, as it’s more inclusive, but that name’s being used by another group.) However, at second blush, since 99% of us have authored something, and the other 1% is on its way, how about shortening our current name to Spokane Authors? Possibly, Jesse Walter and other monetarily successful authors would join us. They may not have time in their busy schedules to attend meetings, but simply by lending their names our association would gain even more legitimacy.

Regardless, we are all authors, and I hope we’re proud of our accomplishments. (Do you know how many people talk about writing a book but never follow through?!) Be loud and be proud. Or, maybe, just be proud.

Jim

(The spark for this month’s column came from Penelope Rundle.)

News

Listed below are acknowledgments of our member's accomplishments, book signing dates, locations, and other items of note:

Signings

This time, several Gray Doggers will be signing copies of their books at River Park Square (2^nd Floor near Made in Washington) on Fri. 11-26, Sat. 11-27, & Sun. 11-28 10am-7pm. (Again, it will be Dawn Nelson, Penny Rundle, Paul LeCoq, John Heffernan, and Jim Parry.)

A New “How to” Book

THE WRITER’S PORTABLE MENTOR

A Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life

By Priscilla Long

ISBN: 978-0-9842421-0-8, $17.95, Wallingford Press

www.priscillalong.com

Web-site Improvements

Those web pages that had been saved in mht format have been converted to htm. This should make it easier for all to link to and open up these pages.

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 the format is changed somewhat.

Publishing Accomplishments

Jim Parry’s book, Book All the Teachers, is featured in the fall issue of E.W.U.’s magazine, Eastern.

New “LINKS”

We’ve recently added several “general interest” links on the web-site page of the same name. (It seems that we are adding new links every month!)

Price Reduction

SASP Member and former President Barbara Cagle has announced that the price of her book 16 x MOM: A MASTERY OF MOTHERHOOD is now $17.95 and can now be purchased on Amazon.com.

barbara@barbaracagle.com

www.barbaracagle.com

http://blog.barbaracagle.com/

A Local Publisher

Ditto’s Print and Copy Center has expanded to become Gray Dog Press. Andrew Corder has recently come on board as senior editor. Depending upon the writer’s desires and the marketability of the work, Gray Dog Press will print self-published work or publish totally at Gray Dog’s expense. For more information, go to: www.graydogpress.com

SASP 201O Speaking Schedule

(as of November 21)

Dec. 2---A Holiday Celebration in which we honor our members who have published a book or completed a manuscript during 2010. Each will read a short excerpt. Also, we need to elect officers for 2011.

BALLOTS FOR THE ELECTION OF THE 2011 SASP OFFICERS ARE ON THE BACK OF THIS PAGE. Bring it with you to the meeting or send it to:

Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers

P.O. Box 18573

Spokane, WA 99228-0573

2010 Ballot (for service in 2011)

President: ____ Dave McChesney