President’s Page
OUR PREVIOUS/MOST RECENT MEETING
Information about our most recent
meetings is available via a link on the “Welcome” page. (To the left)
Visit the “Programs” page (to the left)
to learn about our next meeting and other writer related events.
We now post current and most recent
columns from our President, our Editor/Web-master, and
any member or guest who wishes to contribute to ensure everyone sees them.
(Newest is at the top)
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Happy New Year!
The start of a new year—in this case, 2023—has
traditionally been a time of planning for the year ahead. Some people call it making resolutions. I prefer to think of it as setting writing
goals. It’s a little less intimidating
and dictatorial to me, and it actually works better. Here are a few insights and suggestions I have
applied in the past:
1.
Every good and successful
goal is specific and has a completion date. (The word “deadline” is scary and too negative
for me.)
2.
Write your goals down, seal
them in an envelope, and don’t look at them again until December 31, 2023. (You will be pleasantly surprised.)
3.
Take time to set realistic,
achievable goals for yourself. (Don’t
make it so hard that you defeat yourself before you even get started.)
4.
Make sure the goals you set
are yours, not ones you think someone else would want you to accomplish. (In the words sung by a long-ago singer, “You
can’t please everyone, and so you got to please yourself.”)
Have a wonderful rest of 2022, and enjoy the renewal the concept of a new
year can bring. I will see you at the
February 9th meeting. I hope
all of you enjoy the meeting on January 12th at the Shadle Library.
Sue Eller President
FROM OUR VICE-PRESIDENT
Hello
fellow writers/authors,
Before all else, I'd like to take a moment to remember Stan
Parks who passed away in June at the age of 98. He was a solid and enthusiastic presence at
most of our meetings and a remarkable man of character. I did not get to spend as much time with him
as I would have liked, but I am grateful to have met him. If you are reading this, I ask that you please
take a moment to remember him and maybe say a quick prayer. Thanks.
Now, heading into 2023,
our lovely President, Sue Eller, will be out of town for our first meeting of
the year. This means, my friends, you
are stuck with me in the lead. I'll do
my best, but any help/reminders/input is welcome.
With that in mind, Sue and I have been wanting to hear from all
of you. What we are looking for is a
10-minute presentation to be given after our regular speaker finishes up. We'd like to hear about your personal writing
experiences/lessons learned/expertise. If
you would like to address the group at any of our upcoming meetings
please see me and I'll put you on the calendar.
I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season and to see
you soon.
Marilee
Hudon Vice President
FROM YOUR EDITOR, WEB-MASTER, TREASURER
I hope everybody had a wonderful
Christmas and or Holiday Season and a Happy New Year Celebration. If you traveled anywhere, I hope you were not
super inconvenienced by all the problems we saw every day via the news.
As always, our December meeting was fun, as we
got to hear several of our members read a bit of their work to us. If my count was accurate, we heard from ten
of our fellow writers. It would be great
if that number were to increase next year.
It would also be nice to see a larger number of
members at our monthly meetings. We have
the largest of three meeting rooms at the library and can welcome many more
than normally show up. If you haven’t
been for a while, come on by and check us out.
Over the
past few months, I’ve been trying to feature books by our members on the cover
of SASP NEWS, and I’ve been trying to do so in member order, as we appear on
the Members list on the web-site. Las month I stepped away from that as I
wanted something appropriate for the Holidays.
This month I have again opted for something that should fit in with the
season. Next month should see us back on
track.
Now that 2023 is upon us, it’s time to pay your
dues if you haven’t already. Your dues need
to be current for you to be listed on our Members Page on the web-site, and to have a link to your Member Web-Page.
Paying dues is
easy. You can pay at any SASP meeting,
or you can send a check or money order for $15.00 to:
Spokane Authors
and Self-Publishers
P. O. Box
18573
Spokane, WA
99228-0573
I check the mail
weekly, and if we receive any dues payments, I take those payments directly to
our financial institution for deposit. I also try to notify anyone who pays that the
dues payment has been received… usually by way of e-mail.
If your personal
situation means paying dues will pose a financial hardship, please contact a
SASP Officer or Advisory Board Member. We will see what we can do to accommodate
you.
FROM OUR PRESIDENT (Previous)
The Weather Outside is Frightful
Well,
fellow writers, I could use all the old clichés about winter weather, but I
think the radio stations have already done that. My message to you is, “Take heart! The shortest day of sunshine is fast
approaching, and soon the days will begin to seem longer, although each day
will still consist of 24 hours.”
Enough
about time and the weather. Let’s talk
about our December meeting. It’s a time
to share a short excerpt from a work in progress, or a teaser from a book we’ve
already published, or whatever is relevant to the group
and you are willing to read aloud. Please keep your turn at the microphone to about five minutes.
Dave will have a signup sheet ready when you walk in the door, so be
brave and bring something to read.
The
December meeting has always been a less formal event and a time of fellowship
with friends. In that atmosphere, we
hope to allow plenty of time for visiting, munching on cookies and other
treats, and listening to others’ words of wisdom or whimsy.
We will
have a short business meeting to discuss the January speaker and have a drawing
for our usual book giveaway. Being one
of the worst offenders, I decided that for penance I should host a short
exercise in writing book reviews. Bring
a pen. I’ll provide paper. We can then give the results to Dave, who can
post them on our website. Don’t
worry. I’ve allotted only 15 minutes for
the exercise.
I look
forward to seeing your smiling faces Thursday, December 8, at the Shadle Library. The room opens at 1:00 p.m., and we have to be cleaned up and out of there by 5:00 p.m. Stay
warm, stay safe, and I’ll see you then.
Sue Eller, President
FROM OUR VICE-PRESIDENT (Previous)
Attention authors!
This month's meeting is
all about us. Everyone who wishes will
be given time to read from their latest or greatest
works. We do this every year, however,
as we are now partnered with the library, the public has more access to
us. With that in mind, I suggest that anyone
who will be reading from any published books bring a
few copies to sell in case your reading catches someone's fancy.
Drive safe, stay warm, and we'll see you soon!
M.J.
Hudon, Vice-President/ Public Relations
FROM YOUR EDITOR, WEB-MASTER, TREASURER (Previous)
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! It’s that time of year again when we expect
Holiday celebrations, snow, and of course our annual open mic session. This popular event is fast becoming a SASP
tradition, as it allows our members (and guests) to share a snippet of their
work with the rest of us.
If you are interested in sharing something, you may
want to practice before- hand and time yourself to make sure you don’t go over
the five minute time limit. While we
don’t plan on timing to the second, we want to ensure that all who wish to read
something have an opportunity to do so.
I stepped
away from our members list sequence for this month’s featured cover, as I
wanted something appropriate for the Holidays.
Next month should see us back on track.
It’s time to think about dues for 2023. You need to be current in your dues to be
listed on our Members Page on the web-site, and to
have a link to your Member Web-Page.
Paying dues is
easy. You can pay at any SASP meeting,
or you can send a check or money order for $15.00 to:
Spokane
Authors and Self-Publishers
P. O. Box
18573
Spokane, WA
99228-0573
I check the mail weekly,
and if we receive any dues payments, I take those payments directly to our
financial institution for deposit. I also try to notify anyone who pays that the
dues payment has been received… usually by way of e-mail.
If your personal
situation means paying dues will pose a financial hardship, please contact a
SASP Officer or Advisory Board Member.
We will see what we can do to accommodate you.
Dave McChesney
Spokane
Authors & Self-Publishers
Page revised 02/03/2023
DAM
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