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Write Connections

Monthly Newsletter
GENERAL MEETING:
Usually... First Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM.

If you are a writer or looking for a writer...contact us!

2009 Writing Contest! - Rules and Entry Form Page

Next Meeting: Wednesday July 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Guest Speaker: Nicholas Brown, author of Norman’s Assault and Norman Bereft
Topic: “HOW, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY OF WRITING.”
Location: Carrollwood Barnes and Noble bookstore


TWA Presents "Big Bucks" In 2008 Cash Awards to 18 Contest Winners!

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TWA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2008 - 2010
President:
  Michael Darling
Vice President:
   James Durlacher
Secretary:
   Chris Taylor
Treasurer:
  Paul DuBose
Member at Large:
  Ken Dye
Past President:
  Sandra Kischuk

APPOINTMENTS:
Write Connections Editor:
   Paul DuBose
Contest Coordinator:
   Paul DuBose
Publicity:
   Adele Walter
Webmaster:
   Dennis Pupello
Wordsmith Editor:
  Sandra Kischuk

CRITIQUE COORDINATORS Critique:
 Mac Wheeler
Poetry:
 Warner Conarton
Michael Darling

President Michael Darling's Monthly Message:

At the June general meeting Dr. John Porter described the good life of being a grant writer. Am I jealous? Absolutely! He makes good money writing for a living—exactly what we all want as writers, right? Dr. Porter determines his own hours. His workflow is good despite the shape of the economy. “Companies and charities need grant money even more so in a slow economy,” Dr. Porter said.

Interested in being a grant writer, but missed Dr. Porter’s excellent presentation? You can learn more on the American Grant Writers Association’s website www.agwa.us. You can sign up for their newsletter, register for a class on becoming a certified grant writer (a $599 course – not a bad investment for a new career opportunity), or browse information about grant writing. Dr. Porter stated that the AGWA was the first to issue certifications for grant writers. TWA thanks VP James Durlacher for recruiting Dr. Porter to present this program.


Is everyone writing stories to enter into this year’s TWA Writing Contest? Guidelines and entry forms are on the TWA website: www.TampaWriters.org. Cash prizes in all categories! If you did not win an award with a story last year, don’t give up. Try again. You can even sharpen that same story and resubmit it as long as it has not won before.

Sell your published book(s) at the St. Pete Times Festival of Reading October 24. TWA members are invited to share the TWA exhibitor booth for a $10.00 registration fee. Contact TWA treasurer, Paul DuBose, at mytwa@aol.com.

Got an article about writing? Send it in to the Write Connections editor, Paul DuBose. Got a poem you want to share? Attend the TWA Poetry Group with coordinator Warner Conarton. Meetings are held monthly. Got a story you would like to polish up? Attend the TWA Critique Group with coordinator Mac Wheeler.

The Tampa Writers Alliance is an organization of writers in the Tampa Bay area covering many genres and levels of experience. The Alliance membership includes published novelists, travel book authors, feature and newspaper journalists, and others who are just beginning to write or just have an interest in the literary world. All enjoy the networking opportunities, programs and peer critiques offered by the various work groups. Membership is open to all adults, and the public is invited to attend all general meetings. The Alliance supports the community as judges for the Hillsborough Teachers of English annual writing contest and through workshops and presentations to schools about writing.

Tampa Writers Alliance Critique Groups:

TWA Critique Group Coordinator – Mac Wheeler

The Tampa Writers Critique Group meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday at 7:00 pm.
NO MEETINGS IN DECEMBER.
Please e-mail submissions to Mac Wheeler in the subject line of your e-mail, mention "TWA Critique Group" This group meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month from 7-9 PM in the right rear of the Barnes and Noble bookstore at 11802 North Dale Mabry Highway.
Visitors are welcome to attend but only members' works will be discussed, generally 4-5 pieces per session. Works to be critiqued are distributed to TWA members via e-mail approximately two weeks before the next scheduled meeting. The author has a chance to respond after verbal critiques are finished. Emphasis is on "constructive criticism." We're striving to become better writers, not at tearing people up.

If you would like to attend the Critique Group and give it a once-over, it is best to let the coordinator know ahead of time so he can forward you the pieces being critiqued that meeting.  Otherwise, it's sometimes difficult to make complete sense out of what people are saying about the submissions. Such notification, however, is not a requirement. You're always welcome.


TWA Poetry Group Coordinator - Warner Conarton

The Tampa Writers Alliance Poetry Group meets on the 4th Thursday of every month, (excluding December and important holidays,) at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers (North.) That's just south of Stall Road on North Dale Mabry in Tampa. (Fletcher is one traffic light further north than Stall.) We meet at 7 pm. We sit around the table in the back and enjoy each other's poetry. Sometime a dozen of us, sometime twice that. It's not a big, noisy thing, although sometime folks bring songs and an occasional guitar or bong drums. Most stuff goes, unless it is totally gross. It's a membership thing, but anyone's invited a couple of times to check us out. The TWA is a splendid support organization for writers and poets and playwrights. Come by, bring copies of your writing so we can share.

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