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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!

Next Meeting: Wednesday, February 3rd at 7:00 p.m.
Guest Speaker: John Capouya
Topic: Biography Blitz
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 2010
President:
  Chris Taylor
Vice President:
   Sandra Kischuk
Secretary:
   (Newt) Newton
Treasurer:
  Paul DuBose
Member at Large:
  Jeff Corydon
Past President:
  Michael Darling

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:

Biography Blitz

All those interested in writing are excitedly invited to attend the TWA general meeting being held Wednesday, February 3rd, at 7pm at the Barnes&Noble on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. Attendees will benefit from John Capouya’s presentation, “Biography Blitz,” where we will learn the steps of how to create a biography. John will use his latest book, Gorgeous George, as a sample for the biography-creating process. Gorgeous George is published by HarperCollins and available in bookstores everywhere.

John Capouya

 

John Capouya is a professor of journalism and writing at the University of Tampa. He was formerly an editor at Newsweek, The New York Times, SmartMoney magazine and New York Newsday, among other publications. Though he has also been a sports writer, covering pro basketball, he knew nothing of wrestling and didn’t see his first pro match until he became intrigued by the story of Gorgeous George.

Capouya’s previous book was Real Men Do Yoga (HCI Books, 2003), and his most recent magazine work appeared in Sports Illustrated—an essay about Gorgeous George’s enduring impact on today’s athletes—and Travel & Leisure (reporting on a yoga cruise to the Caribbean). He and his wife, artist and photo editor Suzanne Williamson, live part of the year in Tampa and part in New York City.

http://www.booknoise.net/gorgeous/author.html

January’s Speaker

Ours thanks goes to our last month's speaker, Charrie Hazard. She shared her knowledge and inspired attendees how to write an emotionally charged poem at our January meeting. Please visit Charrie’s website: http://www.charriehazard.com/index.html

TWA Elections

Congratulations to the new officers of the TWA! They will be taking command here in February. Please check out the new edition of the TWA newsletter, Write Connections due out in late January for a list of those voted into office by a landslide! Again, congrats to them and thank you for stepping up to take the reins of the TWA for the next two years.

TWA Writing Contest Coordinator

Speaking of brave TWA members coming forward to help the group out in its time of need, there is a great necessity for someone to take over the post of Contest Coordinator this year. Many thanks to Paul DuBose for handling this post last year, but now is the time for someone else to volunteer. Paul can’t do everything. Prospective coordinators will need to contact Paul at mytwa@aol.com or the new president, Chris Taylor, at LTAYLOR190@tampabay.rr.com.

Awards Banquet

See you at the awards banquet on Thursday January 21st at the Golden Corral in Temple Terrace. We will be announcing winners of the 2009 TWA Writing Contest at the banquet. Seating will be from 6:45 pm to 7:15pm. The meal tickets, tan Wordsmith tickets, and red door prize tickets will be handed out at the door. Those TWA members who participated in the Writing Contest and non-members who purchased passes should be receiving an e-mail notification that their tickets will be waiting for them at the door. If you did not participate in the contest and would like to go to the awards banquet, please contact Paul at mytwa@aol.com immediately to purchase passes for the event! If you have an extra guest that you have not paid for yet, please contact Paul to do so ASAP.


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.

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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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