Hard to believe another month is gone from this year already. Taking the place of what would have been our regular meeting tomorrow is the St. Peters Home & Garden Show at the Art Center. It's a free event and well worth checking out, if for no other reason than to see just why they gave us the boot!
April 1st will be here Sunday, and I promise not to pull any gags on any Saturday Writer friends. We've been busy updating our News & Happenings page on our website to include all sorts of fun events for April. We'll update it as the month goes along so be sure to check here when you are looking for a writer event to attend.
Requiescat in pace, dear March. Remember: April Showers bring May flowers and May flowers bring........ (wait for it)....... Pilgrims!! Hardy-har-har!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
...and in more news about our meeting
Our wonderful speaker blogged about us on her blogsite: http://anenewrites.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/faith-and-proof/
With wonderful folks like this to believe in us, how can we fail?
All I can say is, "Yes, Anene, you may have an Amen."
With wonderful folks like this to believe in us, how can we fail?
All I can say is, "Yes, Anene, you may have an Amen."
Monday, March 26, 2012
Our March Meeting by Marcia Gaye
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| Romance Short Story contest winners |
The March meeting passed quickly even at three hours, what with our anniversary celebration and entertainment. The cake with our new logo was tall and tasty. Door prizes of hats, mugs and t-shirts flew fast and furious from Jen’s magic bag. Margo Dill donated editorial services to one lucky winner. And speaking of winners, check out the photo to see Jen, Bea, Jack and Sioux with their contest certificates.
Brad Watson crooned an original song called “Writer’s Block” which had a hauntingly familiar melody, which according to Brad his old band mate stole from him. This writer was suddenly inspired to use the word suddenly in her next story. Thanks Brad! It may be just the impetus to suddenly catapult our stories to sudden success.
Guest speaker Anene Tressler-Hauschultz was delightful. She said that Saturday Writers has something special, a certain uncommon energy. And she’s right. And it wasn’t just that we ate cake at .
Speaking of , on April 28th we will again have a Reading Hour before the meeting. Jen is expected to read her prize winning romance story. Click on the guidelines link and bring your own work to share. Or just relax and listen. Surely there will be readings from the April 7th Writer’s Marathon participants – including lots of limericks.
By our April meeting, the state conference will be over. You’ll no doubt hear wonderful reports from the attendees. So don’t regret that you weren’t there! This is your opportunity to learn, network, and even pitch your book to an agent or editor.
For lots more about what Saturday Writers is up to, click over to our website. And do contribute your news by sending an email. Like our motto says, we encourage each other. And like Brad’s old band mates sang, “I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together …”
Fabulous March Speaker
I had so much fun at our March meeting. All of our meetings are a good time, but sometimes a particular one stands out.
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| Anene Tressler- Hauschultz Photo by Cyn Watson |
Our speaker, Anene Tressler-Hauschultz, author of Dancing with Gravity, was outstanding. She gave so much great advice, and she was entertaining to boot.
A couple things she said stood out in particular for me. She mentioned when she was deciding to go to school for her MFA her husband remarked, "It doesn't matter if you have it or not - you still have to write" Gosh... what a good point! You STILL have to write to be a writer. Anene went on to say that reading about writing is not writing, learning about writing is not writing, talking about writing is not writing - only WRITING is WRITING. All of the other things are quite important, but none of them are writing unless you are actually writing.
Anene is undeniably an "inspiring" type of speaker. I heard several people mention they wanted to run home and write after the meeting. What a great thing to hear.
Monday, March 19, 2012
March Meeting: March 24th
Oh me - oh my! Spring, Glorious Spring! The birds are chirping, the trees are flowering and blooming. I noticed ducks on the pond at the St. Peters Government Center
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| Spencer Road Branch - St. Charles City-County Library |
Exciting news! In case you haven't already heard: The new Spencer Road Library will officially open on Wednesday, March 21st at You can begin having your reserves transferred there for pickup now. I've heard the second floor has lots of meeting rooms (perhaps a new SW venue for next year?!) as well as several small study rooms. They've put in a comfy reading room with a fireplace and the building has a drive-up window with a drive-up book drop as well. I am very much looking forward to visiting this totally paid-for, gorgeous new addition to St. Peters
Francis Howell North is hosting a Book & Bake Sale on March 31st from . The sale will take place in the commons area of the school located on Hackman Road with used adult, children's, hard and soft cover, (both fiction and non-fiction) book prices ranging from $.50 - $1.50 and new books for $3.00. Early Bird gets the best book! Show up between and pay $5 to get choice picks. General admission is free after From until you can grab a bag of "last chance specials" for $3.00 a bag.
Our new merchandise has arrived for door prizes at our March 24th 10-year celebration (from before our March meeting). We'll have tote bags, key chains, tee-shirt coupons and more! I'm ordering the cake for the celebration tomorrow and anyone that knows me knows of my passion for good cake, so trust me - showing up only for the cake will be well worth your while! Our regular meeting will begin at and our wonderful speaker, (whom I continue to hear amazing things about!), is Anene Tressler-Hauschultz, author of Dancing with Gravity,. As always, check our website for all the details.
Bring in your donation for our Basket Wars basket! We MUST keep our trophy this year. The theme for our basket this year is "Around the World in 80 Days". See or contact Becky Povich for more details.
Don't forget about the upcoming Saturday Writers field trip! Sioux Roslawski will lead us in a "Writing Marathon" on Historic Main Street in St. Charles
The deadline for our "Crime, Mystery, Whodunit" short story contest is THIS Saturday, March 24th. Mail your entry or bring it with you to our March meeting. (See our website for details). I'm working on my entry (when my children allow me the pleasure!) and I'm looking very forward to finding out the winners of our Romance contest!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Mid-March News
Hopefully everyone is enjoying this amazing weather our area has been blessed with the past few days. Can we really slip into spring this quickly and easily? Time will tell...
Happy St. Patty's Day!
Our March Meeting: Note: Our March meeting will be held in the same place as usual on March 24th, not March 31st.
Come early to our March meeting to be part of our 10th Anniversary celebration! We'll have cake and merchandise featuring our new logo. Door prizes, door prizes, door prizes! Merchandise will be available for purchase (by ordering your selections) beginning at the March meeting and later on our website.
I've heard from our March speaker, Anene Tressler-Hauschultz, and she is looking forward to our March 24th meeting. She is busy preparing a handout to go along with her lecture and wanted more information about our group. It sounds like she has a lot of interesting things to say tailored to our group specifically.
A Field Trip: Spending time out of doors reminded me of an upcoming field trip event Saturday Writers in planning. Sioux Roslawski will have full details soon, but on April 7th we're meeting in Historic St. Charles for a "Writing Marathon". We'll be directed to various sites along Main Street for round-robin writing/discussion sessions and then have lunch. This event is sure to be a ton of fun and having great weather like this will only make it better.
A Call out For submissions: Dianna Graveman, our speaker for September, is a St. Louis Writer working independently with Linda O'Connell, also a St. Louis Writer, on two Publishing Syndicate anthologies in the Not Your Mother's Book series. Dianna is seeking first-person funny and downright embarrassing submissions for Not Your Mother's Book on Being a Mom and Linda is seeking sassy, snappy, sincere and humorous for Not Your Mother's Family. Dianna and Linda will collaborate on the promotion of both title, so don't submit the same story to both books. They will determine which story fits which title. You can find submission guidelines at: http://publishingsyndicate.com/publishing_syndicate/submissions/nymb_submit_guidelines.html
Open Mic Poetry Night: Our friends at Sage Books in Historic Frenchtown St. Charles are hosting an Open Mic Poetry night on March 21st. For more information call 636-352-0515.
Sisters in Crime: Join the St. Louis Chapter of Sisters in Crime tomorrow evening from to hear Donna Volkenannt speak about the Do's & Don'ts of short story writing. For more information visit: http://www.sistersincrimestl.org/events Your own P & VP plan to attend, feel "free" to join us (but expect to pay $5 visitor fees at the door if you aren't a member of Sisters in Crime).
The Scoop on Donna's Recent Win : Our very own Donna Volkenannt's personal essay, "Honey, Can I Borrow Your Garter Belt," won First Prize in the 2012 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, Global Humor Category. The overall competition attracted submissions from 49 states and 7 countries, including China Spain Ireland United Kingdom Centerville , Ohio Dayton , Ohio University of Dayton
Our Short Story Contest Reminder: Don 't forget to work-up those stories and submit them for Saturday Writers' Crime, Mystery or Whodunit Short Story writing contest by March 24th. This is your Chapter - stay involved!
I hope to see a huge turn-out for our March meeting. As always check our website for any last minute details you may need to know about.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Kudos to Donna Volkenannt!
Saturday Writers member and founder, Donna Volkenannt, won first prize in the humor category for the Erma Bombeck writing contest at the Washington Centerville Public Library in Dayton , Ohio! We're all very excited for Donna. What an inspiration for us all.
Donna won $500 and admission to the workshop in Dayton ($375 value). Her essay will be published in the Dayton Daily news, and press releases will be sent to local newspapers. The essay will also be printed in the program for the Erma Bombeck celebration on April 18th.
On her blogsite, Donna made a special thanks to her critique group for their suggestions to improve my essay.
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