* One-Page Poetry Contest *

All Winners, Runners-Up, and Honorable Mentions will be posted tomorrow, May 1st.

* In Honor of Poetry Month *

If you live in the St. Louis Metro Area:

Marian Janssen to speak on acclaimed mid-century poet Isabella Gardner.

 Janssen returns to WUSTL to discuss her biography of Gardner, titled Not at All What One Is Used To: The Life and Times of Isabella Gardner, at 4 p.m. Friday, April 29, in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room. Free and open to the public, the event will include a lecture as well as a brief audio recording of Gardner reading her poetry, with a reception following.

 

For more information, call the Department of Special Collections at (314) 935-5495.

* April Meeting is this Saturday *

Our meeting for April is this Saturday, the 30th, at the usual time and location. See info on left side bar for meeting time, address, guest speaker's name, etc. Open to members at no charge; visitors pay $5.00.

Snacks provided, but NO COFFEE. If you want coffee, please bring your own. Our coffee urn broke last month and we're not going to replace it. There is a vending machine with soda and water bottles, but no coffee!! We WILL have snacks, as always.

I hope we have another large crowd! We will be in one of the larger banquet rooms again this month.

And of course.....we'll have.....

(courtesy Google)

Any questions, please e-mail Becky at: BeckySatWriters@aol.com.

* St. Louis Area Tornadoes *

The St. Louis metro area was hit by multiple tornadoes last night, according to the latest news. I have no idea if ALL our members escaped damage, but I know there doesn't seem to be any serious bodily injuries and there are no fatalities. So, that is wonderful news!

Thanks and welcome to our 2 newest followers: Martha and Lydia! We hope you always enjoy your visits!

* Our Web Site is Partially Complete *

Hurray! Our Saturday Writers web site is getting close to being totally revamped and updated. The additonal info for Members and Contact pages will follow in the next couple of days.

(image courtesy google)

Our wonderful Webmaster Guru has been living on about 2 hours of sleep every night (well, maybe a few more!) for weeks/months, and is doing this pro bono. When it's finished, it will be awesome.

Click on the link here, or above, to see what's finished at this point.

* Renovated Web Site *

Good News! Our web site has been undergoing a renovation the past few months and it appears as if the remodeled version will be up and running by this Thursday, April 21, 2011.

(courtesy Microsoft Word 2010, clip art)

The last test page I saw was fantastic, so hold onto your laptops and keyboards, and be prepared to be blown away!

Book Signing, Upcoming Classes, & Contests

Lots of news to share this evening:

1) BOOK SIGNING: This Saturday, April 16, Bill Mueller, Jo Heistand, and Paul Schmitt will be signing their books at the Barnes and Nobel Chesterfield, Mo store.  The signing lasts from 12:00 noon until 3:00pm. Location: 1600 Clarkson Road, across the street from Chesterfield Mall.

2) CLASSES: Summer Writers Institute, held annually at Washington University in St. Louis. The Institute provides attendees with the opportunity to both immerse themselves in their craft, via workshop and afternoon lectures, and also learn about the business-side of writing (publishing, editing, etc).  It runs from June 13th to 24th this year. Click on the link above to find all the pertinent information.


3) Ghost story writing contest The Scare The Dickens Out of Us ghost story writing contest for 2011 is entering its third year. First place prize of $1000, second place prize of $500 and third place prize of $250 will be awarded this year for the best original, previously unpublished ghost stories 5000 words or less that are submitted. For younger writers, The Junior Scare The Dickens Out of Us ghost story contest, which follows the same rules, offers $250 for first place for writers aged 12-18. This contest is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas. The main contest requires a $20 entry fee and the Junior contest a $5 entry fee. The contest is privately funded. All entry fee money goes directly to the Friends where it is donated to the library for library projects. Entries are accepted beginning July 1. The contest postmark deadline is October 1, 2011. Full rules are at www.clarklibraryfriends.com. No publication is involved. Writers retain full rights to their stories. The contest is open to published and unpublished writers, and to local, national and international writers as well. The only rules are that you write an original, unpublished ghost story and that it be 5000 words or less in length.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4)  Book Cover Photo and Design Contest  (I copied and pasted this info directly from Sugati's blog)   Sugati Publications announces our first cover design and photo contest for our upcoming book The Moment I Knew:  Reflections from Women on Life’s Defining Moments.  In keeping with the spirit of the “Women’s Collaborative Empowerment Model” for writing and publishing, we have opened this contest to encourage women from around the globe to be an additional and integral part of our book. It is most important to us that our books reflect women’s experiences, insights and talents.  Please share this announcement with any woman you know who might be interested in photography or graphic design.

About the book:  The Moment I Knew—Reflections from Women on Life’s Defining Moments is a collection of essays and poems about transformative events in the lives of women.  Thirty women from six different countries share their personal experiences and insights from the wonder and sublime of everyday life to the unexpected events that can occur and disrupt our lives.

Entry options:  1. Cover photograph or 2.  Cover design
1. Photograph:  Highlights the theme:  The Moment I Knew or is consistent with photo cover from our premier book When One Door Closes (a different scene in nature).
2. Book Cover Design:  Connects the Reflections from Women series for recognition and appeal.

Specifications:
1. Photograph:   JPEG/TIFF image min 300 DPI, max 40MB. 
2. Book Cover Design:  Cover background must bleed by .125 beyond trim size of 5.5 x 8.5.  Images may be CMYK or RGB color. 
3.  Send a completed, signed contest entry form via e-mail attachment with each entry. ENTRY FORM AVAILABLE AT our Face book page or send an e-mail to the Editor at tsnelson@reflectionsfromwomen

Award recognition and honorarium:
1. Attribution in the book;
2. Announcement in national, regional, local press releases;
3. Recognition at our online websites; 
4. Award of $100 upon selection;
5. Two complimentary copies of the book.

Deadline:  Midnight, Wednesday, April 20, 2011. No exceptions.    THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED.

Selection:  
The selection for our cover will be made by a vote from our authors and editors in this edition. Announcement of the winner will be made by May 1, 2011. 

How to submit:  Applicants should send their entry AND contest entry form by e-mail attachment to Editor, Terri Spahr Nelson at tsnelson@reflectionsfromwomen.com with subject line:  cover contest.  Each submission requires an entry form.  You can enter up to 10 photos/designs. Questions?  admin@sugatipublications

More about the Missouri Writers Guild Conference

After posting last night about the conference, I realized I still had more to say about it!

I attended a workshop given by Catherine Rankovic. (Learn all about her on her website: Book Eval. I could never do her justice by posting just  a few sentences.)

I have to admit that I was truly terrifed to sit in on her session and it just proves how wrong we can be about someone. I made the assumption that since Catherine taught creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis, she would be extremely critical of anything I might say or write, or question I might ask. Boy, was I ever wrong! For one thing....none of us were required to write anything....AND she was the exact opposite of what I expected. What a lovely, soft spoken, funny, and of course, very intelligent woman! I had the pleasure of meeting Catherine after her presentation, and I also sat next to her at lunch. Fabulous woman! I would LOVE to take her evening writing course at Wash U, but I think I'll have to wait two more years when my tuition would be Half Price...due to reaching a certain age. (Getting older does have its benefits!)

I also briefly met Regina Williams, Editor of The Storyteller magazine.
I also met Wendy Drew, owner of Rose's Bookhouse, in O'fallon, Missouri.
And, I had the pleasure of meeting Cindy Lovell, Executive Director/Education Coordinator of the Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal, Missouri. Please check all these fabulous women's websites. They are all have remarkable stories to tell.

* Saturday Writers Wins Coveted Award *

The MWG Missouri Writers Guild Conference, Just Write!, was a huge success. It was wonderful to see so many writers join together to do what we writers like to do the most: Talk about writing. Learn more about writing. Learn important information from agents and publishers. Learn more about publishing opportunities. Listen to inspirational speakers. Have the opportunity to purchase books from our newly published friends. Etcetera!


It was fabulous to meet C. Hope Clark, owner of Funds for Writers. Hope's blog and newsletters are packed full of helpful information that we writers crave.

Our banquet dinner's keynote speaker was St. Louis' own, Elaine Viets. She traveled all the way from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to be part of our wonderful weekend. Elaine is an extremely funny lady. Check her website to learn more about her and possibly purchase a book or two!

I had the pleasure to be the shepherd (guide) to Linda C. Apple during the conference. Linda is a writer and speaker. She has stories published in thirteen (13) Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She's also written two books and is working on a historical romance. I purchased one of Linda's books, "Inspire! Writing from the Soul." (Instructional guide to inspirational writing.) She also has a blog. I can't say enough about how much I admire and like Linda. She inspired me to get back to my writing with renewed interest. It was truly a joy to be in her presence.

Some of our Saturday Writer members were winners of, or received honorable mention in the various conference contests. Jack Zerr, Marcia Gaye, Pat Wahler, Alice Muschany and Donna Volkenannt! Congratulations to all! (And if I've left anyone out, please let me know! There were so many names announced last night!)

And now....the coveted award we received was......drum roll please.......
MWG's Silent Auction: The Basket Wars! I don't know if Saturday Writers has ever won it in the past, but I was determined to win this year! Our large and lovely gift basket was: Death by Chocolate. Everything in it was either chocolate, or had something to do with chocolate, and not necessarily edible! Included were the DVDs Chocolat, and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. There were cookbooks with chocolate recipes and there were books with chocolate in the title such as Chocolate for a Woman's Soul. Add a lovely, handmade knitted dark brown scarf, and a chocolate candle, plus tons of chocolate candies and box mixes. Voile'...Death by Chocolate!

A big thank you to Barbara Hodges, the Basket Wars coordinator, and all the Saturday Writer members who donated items for our basket! And it wouldn't have come together if it wasn't for Sioux Roslawski who searched all over town for the right basket to hold everything, and presented us with the final beautiful result.

Thank you and congratulations to Cindy Lovell from Hannibal, Missouri, who was the highest bidder!

We received a nice check for our winning entry, plus a "traveling trophy", which we hope to hold onto for years to come!

Hello & Welcome to our newest followers: Word Eater and Vicki Rocho. Thanks and hope you always enjoy stopping by!

It's Finally Here!

The Missouri Writers Guild (MWG) Conference is this coming weekend, April 8, 9, and 10.

I haven't attended a large conference since 2007 when it was also held in this part of the state. That was an awesome event and from what I've heard about this year's, it will be equal or even better.

I've posted about the conference on March 1st and March 31st. Please click on the link in the Labels below, to read both entries.

There's still time to attend. Attendees are accepted at the door. Check out the MWG blog for more info.

Hello & Welcome to our newest followers: Bookie and nickname. Thanks and hope you always enjoy stopping by!