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Upcoming Events
October 6
Santa Cruz Chapter @ 1—2:45pm
Joyner Library, Green Valley
Ethel Lee-Miller, Denise
Roessle, and Duke Southard -
"Looking Back, Moving Forward: a Panel on Memoir"
see article HERE
October 18
Sisters in Crime @ 10am—2pm
Viscount Suite Hotel, Tucson
Morning: Sharon Arthur Moore, -
"The Plot Thickens When Well-Mixed"
Afternoon: TBA
see article HERE
October 19
SSA Forum @ 11am—2pm
Tucson City Center InnSuites
Writing Contest winners plus Scott B.
Rice -
"What Writers Might Learn From
the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest"
(see article this page)
November 3
Santa Cruz Chapter @ 1—2:45pm
Joyner Library, Green Valley
Nancy Turner -
"Threads
of History, Imagining a Revolutionary Woman"
see article HERE
November 16
SSA Forum @ 11am—2pm
Tucson City Center InnSuites
Alan Day & Lynn Wiese Sneyd -
"So
You've Published a Book: Finding
Fans for Your Masterpiece"
(see article this page)
November 21 (PHX)
November 22 (TUC)
Arizona Writing Workshops
"Get Your Writing Published"
Phoenix 9/21 - 9am—4:45pm
Burton Barr Library, 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
Tucson 9/22 - 9am—4:45pm
Pima Community College Downtown Campus. Amethyst Room, 1255 North Stone Ave., Tucson
(see more at arizonawritingworkshop.com)
December 6
Santa Cruz Chapter @ 1—4pm
Desert Hills Lutheran Church, Green Valley
Meet the Author Book Fair
see article HERE
To R.S.V.P. SSA Forum
Leave Phone Message
at 546-9382
or e-mail: ssabrunches@gmail.com
WEDNESDAY before the Forum
$25 with reservation or
$30 paid at the door
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Everyone wants to know, "who won the 2014 SSA Writing Contest?" Soon, the suspense will be over and we will know who won, placed and received commendations!
Did you enter? Will you win an award? Will you be published in the SSA Storyteller?
It was a fascinating year for the contest; we received 120 entries from all over the US, including Arizona, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Connecticut, and North Carolina. We even received an entry from Alberta, Canada! All winners are invited to attend the forum on Sunday, October 19, at the Inn Suites on Granada in Tucson, from
11 am until 2 pm. If you have won a prize, but are unable to attend, do not worry, we will mail your award and prize. Award winners and commendations will receive a copy of The Storyteller, but everyone who attends will have the opportunity to purchase their own copy to see the winning entries and read some quality stories and poems. If you can't make it, we will be selling them in upcoming forums and in The Write Word. Come and cheer on your friends!
We will also have a wonderful speaker, Scott B. Rice, who has a lot
of experience with writing contests. He will read winning entries, then
comment on what their authors were saying with their travesties. Here is his story:
It was not a dark and stormy night when I drew my first breath of air in Lewiston, Idaho, on July 22, 1941. My early years I divided between a dairy farm in southeastern Washington and Spokane where I attended Gonzaga Preparatory School and Gonzaga University. Graduating in 1964, I and my young wife spent four wonderful years in Tucson while I worked on my doctorate in English Literature at the University of Arizona. Degree in hand, I accepted a position at San Jose State College (later University) where I taught for forty-four years. This tour of duty was interrupted by a year in France where I participated in a teaching exchange with the University of Lyon. Among other responsibilities, I was chapter president of the faculty union and Chair of the Department for one term. I retired in 2012 and since then have been reading and golfing, golfing and reading, and traveling. Among my publications are scholarly essays on a now littleread 18th-century novelist named Tobias Smollett; a rhetorical grammar, Right Words, Right Places, and a composition reader, Reading and Revision. I also once placed an op-ed piece in The New York Times, one assailing on-line education. Oh, and I have published five collections of Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winners.
It's one thing to write a book, but a completely different endeavor to
promote it. Co-authors H. Alan Day and Lynn Wiese Sneyd join us to discuss the journey from book proposal to published book and what the ensuing marketing and publicity trail looks like for authors of all genres.
- How do you get a book reviewed?
- Are book signings worth doing these days?
- What about radio and TV interviews?
- When should an author develop a website?
- And what about social media marketing? Do authors need Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts?
- What is a virtual blog tour?
- Is it worthwhile hiring a publicist?
Day and Sneyd co-wrote The Horse Lover: A Cowboy's Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs, published by University of Nebraska Press and described by Booklist as "an instant classic." It is Day's personal history of creating Mustang Meadows Ranch, the country's first government-sponsored wild horse sanctuary and home to 1500 wild mustangs.
Alan Day is a lifelong rancher and horse lover. He and his sister, Sandra Day O'Connor, co-authored the New York Times bestselling Lazy B (Random House), their memoir about growing up on the their family's 200,000-acre ranch straddling Arizona and New Mexico. His website is www.thehorselover.com
Lynn Wiese Sneyd is a published author and owner of LWS Literary Services, an
agency specializing in book publicity, editing, ghostwriting, book proposals
and query letters. Her website is www.lwsliteraryservices.com
Forums are at Tucson City Center InnSuites. Remember, you save $5 when you register by Wednesday prior to the forum ($25 for registered guests, $30 at the door). Call in your reservations to 546-9382 or e-mail ssabrunches@gmail.com.
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Successes
Dan Baldwin, writing under the pen name Michael Baudoin, released a collection
of his short stories in Vampire Bimbos On Spring Break: A Romance With Bite.
An aging vampire with a bad head cold
and a yearning for family is just one of the
fascinating characters and hilarious events
you will encounter. You'll meet Curley—the unluckiest man
in Arizona, discover what really went on behind the hissing doors of a certain
starship going where no man has gone before, explore the dark side of 1950s
white picket fence television comedy, meet a private eye with a flirtatious
public, see the past deliver a surprising
present in reality television, and head
back to Dodge City to find out what really
went on upstairs at the old Longbranch
Saloon. So, saddle up, arm your photon
torpedoes, adjust the rabbit ears on your
black and white television set, and head
on down to the water's edge for beaches,
bums, bimbos and belly laughs. The
collection includes "Curley," "Star Truck,"
"Meet Your Past," "We'll Always Have
Botswana," "Gunsmirk," "Make Room for
Ozzie," and the novella "Vampire Bimbos
On Spring Break."
Richard Coan's latest book, Lost in Another
World, is a dream fantasy in the tradition of
Lewis Carroll and C. S.
Lewis. It will appeal to
children from 9 to 95.
Actually it is suitable
for children from 9 to
12, but any adult who
remains in touch with
the inner child, forever
a part of each of us,
will enjoy it.
Abandoned in the
woods by his parents, a young boy
named Teddy slides downward into a
dream world where he is faced with many
challenges to his ingenuity and courage.
In a realm that is home to a variety of
animals and ruled by a gigantic jackrabbit,
the king puts him through three major
tests to determine whether he is worthy
of remaining there. Passing the tests,
Teddy moves to a neighboring realm,
where he meets a girl named Mindy,
whom he would love to have as a sister.
She disappears, and he encounters many
other creatures as he endeavors to find
her. They include a family of mischievous
imps, an overpowering and controlling
mother, a brutal giant, and a little bluebird
who serves as a guide. At the end of an
elaborate journey, Teddy awakens to a
promising new life.
The book is available at Mostly Books
and Antigone Books, as well as from the
author. A Kindle edition is available on
Amazon.
Ronny Herman de Jong, a survivor of
Japanese prison camps on the island of
Java during World War Two in the Pacific,
and author of two books about her camp
experiences, In the Shadow of the Sun, now
out of print, and Rising from the Shadow of
the Sun: A Story of Love,
Survival and Joy, has
published an anthology
of stories by other camp
survivors and WWII
veterans titled Survivors
of WWII in the Pacific. It
is currently available as
an ebook and in print
from Amazon, Apple,
Barnes & Noble, KOBO and other online
distributors.
Mike Rom's "Gila Monster" color pencil
sketch was on the cover of the Cababi—Pima
College Downtown Art
& Literary Magazine,
which was released as
an e-book in September.
His digital photos,
"Eye-to-Eye" and
"Neon Look," were
also included. You
can read the book at
http://tinyurl.com/pcc-cababi
John Stickler and Soma Han's Maya
and the Turtle: A Korean Fairy Tale was
published by Tuttle in September.
Poverty is all Maya has ever known, but
she doesn't allow it to stop her from caring
for her father, and others, as best she can.
Kind and gentle, she is a lovely young girl
who always puts others first. One day, she
finds a little turtle and
takes him home, raising
and loving him, never
knowing that he will
play an instrumental
part in her destiny.
Similar to The Korean
Cinderella, Maya and
the Turtle, is an original
Korean fairy tale by authors John Stickler
and Soma Han that teaches children that
the road to greatness lies in selflessness
and that the loving kindness of a pure
heart can awaken great love and power
in another. Beautifully illustrated by
Han, this book contains fascinating bits
of information about Korean culture and
is a poignant tale about the rewards of
kindness, patience and courage.
The Morning Calm Medal Committee in
Seoul, South Korea, recently announced
that Maya and the Turtle: A Korean Fairy
Tale has won the 2013-14 Morning Calm
Medal in the upper elementary category.
The prestigious Medal, now in its second
year, is an annual award given to deserving
authors from around the world. Each year,
international school librarians from across
Soputh Korea nominate a range of English
language books for the Morning Calm
Medal. Students then read these books,
share their thoughts and comments online
and in their schools, and then vote for their
favorite books. Once all of the student
votes are counted, a Morning Calm Medal
is awarded to the winning authors in each
of the four categories (lower elementary,
upper elementary, middle school, and
high school).
In its award letter the committee thanked
John and Soma for "the contributions that
you have made to children's literature
and to enhance children's reading
enjoyment." Maya's book trailer may be
found at: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=4eajGr7vFhE
Additionally, John and Soma's previous
picture book, Land of
Morning Calm: Korean
Culture Then and Now
(Shen's Books, 2003),
recipient of an Honor
Award from Skipping
Stones Magazine, was
reissued this summer in a paperback
edition by Lee & Low Books.
Stuart Watkins' poem, "There Is No
Reason," was published in Saddlebag Notes
September issue.
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