Upcoming Events

   April 1
Santa Cruz Chapter @ 11am—2pm
Harvey Stanbrough will discuss "Folding Reality Into Imagination: Writing Speculative Fiction."
Santa Cruz Chapter website

   April 13
Arizona Mystery Writers @10-2PM
Morning—René Noriega, "Tracking Drug Smugglers on Horseback" Afternoon—Elizabeth Gunn, "The First Draft Is Just The Beginning." El Parador Restaurant 2744 East Broadway Blvd.
RSVP at www.arizonamysterywriters.com.

   April 20
Sisters in Crime @ 10am—2pm
Morning—Betty Webb, "Creativity and Fear: The Perfect Combination."
Afternoon—FBI Special Agent John DeSouza, "Body Language in Criminal Behavior."
Viscount Suites Hotel, 4855 E. Broadway. $20 members, $25 non-members includes lunch. RSVP tucsonsistersincrime.org tucsonsistersincrime.org

   April 21
SSA Forum @ 11am—2pm
Tucson City Center InnSuites
Donna Young - "Everything You Wanted to know about Social Media, but Were Afraid to Ask."
(see article this page)

   May 6
Santa Cruz Chapter @ 11am—2pm
Barbara Marriott, Ph.D., "The Lives of Arizona Pioneer Women: 1850-1890."
Santa Cruz Chapter website

   May 11
Arizona Mystery Writers @10-2PM
Morning—speaker, "TBA"
Afternoon—Winners of the 2013 AMW Story contest and elections. El Parador Restaurant 2744 East Broadway Blvd.
RSVP at www.arizonamysterywriters.com.

   May 18
Sisters in Crime @ 10am—2pm
Morning—Darrell James, "The Path to Publication." Afternoon&mdashKaren Paquette and Rescue K-9 Matilda.
Viscount Suites Hotel, 4855 E. Broadway. $20 members, $25 non-members includes lunch. RSVP tucsonsistersincrime.org tucsonsistersincrime.org

   May 19
SSA Forum @ 11am—2pm
Tucson City Center InnSuites
Rajendra Kumar - "Writing From Experience"
(see article this page)


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


   Everyone these days is talking about Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In, but do you feel like you have no idea what they're talking about? Or do you have a Facebook page, and wish you could use it to build your readership? Donna Young will discuss everything from the pros and cons of each social media outlet, to how to make it all work for you. She will cover how to set up Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter pages and how to upload photos, links, and videos. How to set up privacy options, settings, business pages, tips for getting your page noticed and building your platform will also be covered. In addition, Donna will demonstrate how to access both of SSA's pages, and how to utilize them for your benefit.

   Donna is a Social Media addict. She is the administrator for 3 pages on Facebook: the Society of Southwestern Authors page, the Wrangling with Writing page, and the Books on Goa, India page. She used Social Media to promote the 2010 and the 2012 Wrangling With Writing Conferences, and also taught a workshop at the 2010 WWW Conference on Social Media. She is the author of two books, Defining Goan Identity (May 2009) and Mirror to Goa (January 2010). She also has published an article titled "Author Speak: A Sting of Peppercorns," in the Navhind Times, in Goa, India. (Oct 14, 2012).

NOTES: we will be having an "After the Forum Fun and Feedback" session for members who would like a critique—see how to participate below.

SSA elections are also on April 21; see "SSA Needs You" below.

   Rajendra Kumar, a retired psychologist, has been immersed in literary writing since the age of 12. He has two English language publications: The Devils and The Damned (2009), a novel that deals with the issue of white supremacists in the US Prisons, and Memories of a Distant Star (Love Stories from Heaven and Hell), about relationships.

   "Raj" will cover the questions writers ask every day: What is personal experience? Why is personal experience important in writing? How can personal experiences help when writing fiction? How can you use personal experience to enhance creativity?

   Raj will break down examples from his own publications to illustrate how he used personal experiences to make his fiction come alive.

   You don't want to miss this one! Sunday, May, 19, 2013. 11 am to 2 pm.


SSA Needs You! (really, we mean YOU!)
Volunteers for the SSA Board are wanted! I am working to put a cast of nominees together for the Board of Directors for the Society of Southwestern Authors. I have a base group who have volunteered to be on the ballot but we are getting close to election day at the April 21 forum and would like more nominees to round out our choices.

   If you have an interest—either as a member of the Board or to assist us as a volunteer on our committees—please let me know. My phone number is 743-0940 or you can e-mail azwritten@gmail.com.
                       Thank you! Chris Stern, Nominating Chair


After the Forum Fun & Feedback
   After the main SSA forum on April 21, we will hold a "Feedback Forum" for up to six members (to start) who'd like to participate in an informal critique group. We'll follow standard procedure where authors bring enough copies of their manuscript for each participant. Each author reads their work, then passes around a comment form for written feedback (see sample below). Word limit is 1,500 words (six pages double spaced, three pages single spaced). Our time and space limitations allow for written comments only, not oral discussion.

   To determine how many will be attending, authors should email coordinator Molly McKinney at mtmwriter@gmail.com by the Wednesday before the forum—first come, first served. At this time Molly will answer any questions, and will email attendees a copy of the comment sheet with the appropriate number of spaces, to print out and bring to the forum along with their manuscript. Compliments must accompany concerns. The faint of heart need not apply.




Successes

Dan Baldwin has been accepted for membership in Western Writers of America. WWA membership is granted to authors who derive their livelihood, in whole or in part, from writing pertaining to the traditions, legends, development, customs, manners, or history of the American West, or early frontier. An applicant must meet specific publication requirements to join—in Dan's case, publication of his two Caldera novels and his Trapp Canyon novel. Fingers crossed department: "I hope to be writing you soon with publication or at least representation news about some other novels. Here's hoping."

Pat Barey and Therese Burson's Julia's Cats: Julia Child's Life in the Company of Cats was published by Abrams Image in August to help celebrate what would have been Julia's 100th birthday. It garnered a lot of attention (Wall St. Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, Epicurious, National Culinary Review, Dallas Morning News, Tucson Weekly and Daily Star) and of course, Cat Fancy and Modern Cat, among others). "We were happily swept along on a tsunami of press interest in remembrance of a true American original, the woman who changed forever the way Americans eat and think about food." Julia's Cats is in its fourth printing and enjoyed a dramatic sales spike during the Christmas season. Apparently Santa is a cat person. Julia's Cats is an unusual biography that begins with Julia, a newlywed at 36, as she experienced what she called Ňan opening of the soul and spiritÓ and discovered her lifelong passions—husband Paul, Paris, and French food—and was adopted by her first poussiequette, Minette. "We interviewed family and friends and researched her papers at Harvard's Schlesinger Library where we were delighted to discover both Julia and Paul wrote almost daily letters home, detailing their new life in Paris. When we found how much Julia adored cats, we knew her life story would be incomplete unless it included Julia's cats. So our biography follows her personal and superstar career from Paris to Provence, and finally to retirement in Santa Barbara, always in the company of cats. We also found that Paul was an accomplished photographer, and lucky for us, his favorite subjects were Julia, Paris and cats. Forty-five of his photos, many from family collections, illustrate the book."

Mary Ellen Barnes' new book Peregrine is the fictionalized biography of Frances Latham Dungan Clarke Vaughan, a remarkable 17th-century woman with indomitable spirit. Born in England, Frances is the daughter of the royal falconer to England's Charles I. Despite her father's objections, she learns the intricacies of falconry.
Frances's adventures take her from a sheltered life in the country—where a young woman is persecuted for witchcraft—to the bustling streets of London, the royal court, and through the hell of the bubonic plague.
Widowed and remarried, Frances makes the grueling voyage to colonial America, where settlers fight against the elements and among themselves. She forms a strong friendship with the controversial Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. She even encounters Miantonomi, the Narragansett sachem who first welcomed the settlers to Aquidneck.
As she struggles to raise eleven children, Frances also strives to pass on a better legacy and to elevate the status of women from obscurity.
For more information about Peregrine visit: http://maryellenbarnes.com

Marion Ekholm won First Place (and a handsome check) for Las Vegas Romance Writers short story contest for "No Dogs Allowed," a 4,500-word romance written in the first person. The heroine considers moving into her boyfriend's apartment with her Great Dane only to reconsider their entire relationship when she learns no dogs are allowed in his condo.

Arthur Kerns' debut novel, The Riviera Contract, was released by Diversion Books in March. It features "Murder, Intrigue, and Romance on the French Riviera."
Six months after the World Trade Center attack, Hayden Stone, a retired FBI agent, is working as an independent contractor for the CIA. On his last assignment to Afghanistan a friend is killed and he blames himself for his death. A colleague in the upper ranks of the CIA offers him an assignment to the South of France. Stone accepts, thinking this is exactly what he needs to get his life back on even keel: French wine, sun, cuisine, and the French Riviera. Well, he's in for a surprise. He has little time for the French ambiance, as he becomes a target of terrorists, learns of a determined killer who wants to spread the Ebola virus in major US cities, and meets up with a former lover. Meanwhile, a seriously ill al Qaeda functionary is in the South of France seeking medical attention. A number of people want this man dead or alive, including the CIA and the French. Stone certainly has his hands full.
Award-winning authors Sheldon Siegel, Kirk Russell, and D. P. Lyle have already provided great recommendations. Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble offers The Riviera Contract in ebook format.

Greg Knowles's 24 years as a humor columnist for In-Fisherman magazine have built a loyal reader base across the country for his North With Doc series. Knowles has recently revisited his first 20 years of work, and created five e-books with 25 North With Doc episodes in each. The short stories follow Doc, a banker, an attorney, a policeman, a plant manager and a writer who make annual fishing trips to the Northwest Ontario bush, visiting lakes accessible only by float plane. Although much of the action takes place while the men beat the water to a froth to catch walleyes and pike, the stories are more about human foibles than fish. The five volumes of North With Doc are available for $3.99 each on Amazon and Smashwords. For more information, email greg@btrtms.com




The Write Word
published bi-monthly by the Board of Directors
of The Society of Southwestern Authors
P.O. Box 30355, Tucson, AZ 85751

Board of Dirctors

President
Carroll Rinehart:
c.rinehart48@gmail.com

Vice President; Membership Chair
Penny Porter: wporter202@aol.com

Treasurer
Jay McCall: jmccall415@msn.com

Recording Secretary
Concy Richardson: concy@comcast.net

Corresponding Secretary
Concy Richardson: concy@comcast.net

Forum Program Chair
Penny Porter: wporter202@aol.com

Forum Reservations Chair
Duke Southard: dukesout@dukesouthard.com
Reservations: 546-9382 or
E-mail: ssabrunches@gmail.com

Members at Large
Steve Adelson (advertising manager of events):
Adelson2001@gmail.com

Gayle Martin
(publisher & owner—Good Oak Press, editor, author, book cover designer):
info@lukeandjennybooks.com

Jan Holmes Frost: janholmesfrost@gmail.com

Cynthia Roedig: cynthia_33@msn.com

Danette Young: dmyoung3@gmail.com

Committees

Conference Co-Chair
TBA

Writing Contest
TBA

Speaker's Bureau Coordinator
TBA

Writing Group Coordinator
Barry Webb: Barrywebb3@yahoo.com

Write Word Editor
Mike Rom: writeword@ssa-az.org


SSA Home Page:

http://www.ssa-az.org

Webmaster
Mike Rom: writeword@ssa-az.org

NOTE: Deadline for next issue is the 15th day of May