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February 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Winning
play scripts to be read at
Tampa Writers Alliance meeting February 6 |
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Readings of the three
winning play scripts from the Tampa Writers Alliance
annual writing contest will be presented at the group’s monthly
general
meeting, Wednesday, February 6, at 7 p.m. in the John F. Germany Main
Library,
900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The program is open to the public without
charge.
Play/script writing winners
were -- first place, Diane F. Anderson of Tampa
for "Last Words"; second place, M. Lark Underwood of Tampa for
"One Thing After Another"; third place, Jeff Corydon of Lutz for
"Daddy and the Venus Boat."
The Tampa Writers Alliance
serves writers of all genres and levels. In
addition to its regular monthly meetings, the group sponsors an annual
writing
contest, as well as poetry and critique workshops, and publishes a
monthly
newsletter and an annual anthology. For more information, call or email
TWA’s
president, M. Lark Underwood, (813) 908-3095, the1lark@hotmail.com,
or visit the group’s website, http://members.tripod.com/tampawritersalliance/
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March 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Sylvia Hemmerly of New Port Richey is in the business of
helping writers self-publish, with small two firms she and her husband
run, Inkling Press and Publishing Professionals.
(Sylvia was not able to attend due to health problems, but
the information below is Lucy Parker's summary of the planned program -
ed.)
Sylvia has just published her own book, Unlocking
the Secrets of Publishing: Simplified Guide to Independent Publishing,
for which she managed to get a good review from Margo Hammond in the
St. Petersburg Times and from the Midwest Book Review (no small
feat for an independently-published book). Because of her new book, she
is seeking speaking engagements and was happy to accept my invitation.
Hearing Sylvia's presentation clarified current book
publishing options for me -- and if this is agreeable to the Board, I
propose a review of book publishing options over the next year or so
through occasional TWA monthly programs. We could use the newsletter
and website to explain what we are doing with this overview.
As some of us will recall, many years ago, most book authors
had only two choices:
- traditional publishing and
- vanity
publishing which was notorious for victimizing authors.
In the 1980's, with the advent of home computers and Whole
Earth-type "power to the people", independent publishing became a much
more viable option. Soon an entire industry grew up around the new
tiny publishing firms that began to emerge.
With the advent of four important new technologies,
self-publishing has further evolved to include
- on-demand publishing where books can be affordably printed
for authors one-at-a-time by firms such as Xlibris and iUniverse,
- e-books
to be read on Palm Pilots or other types of readers,
- on-line
publishing where books or chapters can be downloaded for free or a fee,
to be read either in print or on an e-book reader, and
- on-line
book sales, allowing tiny publishers to be listed with huge ones at
sites like Amazon.com.
Sylvia
simplifies all of this to three options:
- Traditional publishing: no
money investment, must do own publicity, very small profit
for all but a successful few
- On demand publishing: small
money/time investment, must do own publicity, profits limited
(authors buy books at 40% off)
- Independent publishing: major
money/time investment,must do own
publicity author-publisher
keeps all profits
She dismisses e-books and on-line
publishing as currently suitable for academic and other
specialized books, especially those that change frequently,
and points out that the initial promise of on-line publishing for
fiction and other popular genres has not yet been realized. Some
people are committed to it, but most readers still prefer to hold
a book in their hands.
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April 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Mystery novelist Ann Cook to
address
Tampa Writers Alliance Wednesday, April 3
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Ann Cook signs
copies of her mystery novel,
"Trace Their Shadows," at April 3 meeting.
Behind her is TWA President Bill Penrose.
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Longtime Tampa Writers Alliance member and
past-president Ann Cook will
discuss her recently-published mystery novel, "Trace Their Shadows,"
at the group’s monthly meeting Wednesday, April 3, at 7 .m. in
the John F.
Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The public is invited
to attend
free of charge.
Cook wrote the novel, her first, with the encouragement
and help of the TWA
Critique Group. She will explain its acceptance by two different New
York
agents, its torturous 10-year odyssey, and its eventual publication
last
November as a Mystery Writers of America presentation of iUniverse.
Cook’s heroine, Brandy O’Bannon, is a young
newspaper reporter in the
Tavares-Mount Dora area of Florida who sets out to investigate rumors
of a ghost
in an aging mansion and the disappearance there of a woman 45 years
earlier.
Although Brandy stumbles on a skeleton, a murder, and unexpected
danger, she
also finds unexpected romance. She copes with eccentric suspects, tries
to save
the century-old house from developers, and discovers a secret that
explains both
ghost and murder.
Themes developed in the mystery novel include the need
to protect Florida’s
fragile natural environment and its historic buildings, as well as the
enduring
bond between mother and child.
A retired Hillsborough High School English teacher, Cook
is remembered by
many TWA members as the model for the Gerber baby. She will sign books
following
her presentation.
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May 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Fawn
Germer to share "Hard Won Wisdom"
with Tampa Writers Alliance on May
1
Pulitzer-nominated investigative
reporter Fawn Germer of Tampa will describe how she developed and wrote
her
current best-seller, Hard Won Wisdom: More Than 50 Extraordinary
Women Mentor
You to Find Self-Awareness, Perspective, and Balance, at the
monthly meeting
of the Tampa Writers Alliance Wednesday, May 1, at 7 p.m. in the John
F. Germany
Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The public is invited to attend
free of
charge.
In her talk, "Writing Hard Won
Wisdom," Germer will discuss what she learned and what the women
were
like during the Hard Won Wisdom experience. She will also share
tips on
interviewing and be available to sign copies of her book. A former
staff writer
for the Miami Herald and editor for the Tampa Tribune,
Germer has
received many journalism awards and has worked as a Florida
correspondent for
both the Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report.
She has
written for Working Woman, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and the American
Journalism Review and has taught as an adjunct journalism professor.
Described by Publisher’s Weekly
as "The sleeper hit of the season," Hard Won Wisdom has been
featured on Oprah Winfrey. It includes depth interviews with primate
researcher
Jane Goodall, former U.S. Surgeon-General Joycelyn Elders, columnist
Ellen
Goodman, Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller, actress Frances
McDormand,
political commentator Cokie Roberts, Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, and
many
others. Their insights are distilled into guiding principles which
include,
"Be passionate, know your value, take risks, don’t define
yourself by
your failures, walk alone if you must, and pave the way."
More than a book in some respects, Hard
Won Wisdom is a personal approach to success coaching for women
that has
become a career in itself for Germer. In addition to speaking
nationwide, she
does individual coaching and consulting and is preparing a companion
workbook
and an audio CD. Her website
includes
a women’s career survey and tools for interactive feedback.
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June 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Vandamere
Press head to discuss
‘The Business of Traditional Publishing’
for Tampa Writers Alliance June 5
CLICK HERE FOR VANDAMERE
HANDOUTS IN PDF FORMAT
What do writers need to know about the publishing
business? How are
traditional publishers adapting to new technologies and changing
markets? These
and other questions will be answered Wednesday, June 5, when Arthur F.
Brown,
publisher and editor-in-chief of Vandamere Press and ABI Publications
of
Clearwater addresses the Tampa Writers Alliance at 7 p.m. in the John
F. Germany
Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The public is invited to attend
free of
charge.
In his talk, "The Business of Traditional Publishing,"
Brown will
stress that publishing is, first and foremost, a business and will
explain the
importance of targeted marketing, since bookstore sales account for a
relatively
small percentage of today’s book purchases. With over 25 years of
experience
in all phases of the publishing industry, Brown is a board member of
the
Publishers Association of the South and teaches a continuing education
seminar
on publishing with the Metropolitan College of the University of New
Orleans.
One of the few trade publishers in Tampa Bay, Vandamere
Press recently
relocated here from the Washington, D.C., area. The firm, founded in
1984,
publishes 6-10 titles per year for a national audience in the fields of
history,
biography, fiction, military, disability studies, and Washington, D.C.
ABI
Professional Publications, founded in 1995, publishes books and
journals in
facial prosthetics, dentistry, ophthalmic prosthetics, rehabilitation,
and
medical research.
In addition to the two publishing firms, Brown also
heads AB Associates,
founded in 1979, which provides book packaging and consultant services,
including warehousing and fulfillment, to companies and organizations
interested
in publishing their own line of books.
The June 5 program is part of a series of lectures being
offered by the Tampa
Writers Alliance this year on publishing options for today’s
authors. Future
programs will include a panel of print-on-demand authors and a panel of
online
authors who offer their final product to the public via the Worldwide
Web.
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July 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Mary Kinney Alpaugh
to offer 'Success Motivation for Writers' at Tampa Writers Alliance
meeting July 10 |
Mary Kinney
Alpaugh discusses writing success
at Tampa Writers Alliance meeting on July 10, 2002.
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Writers can "change their self-talk tapes" to "program their
careers as writers" according to motivational speaker Mary Kinney
Alpaugh,
who will address the Tampa Writers Alliance Wednesday, July 10, at 7
p.m. in the
John F. Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The public is
invited to
attend free of charge. The group’s regular "first Wednesday"
meeting
date was changed due to the July 4 holiday.
Alpaugh has been a pheasant plucker, duck gutter, and
deer skinner, a
filmmaker, television producer, and claims adjuster. She has served as
a teacher
from pre-school, with Operation Headstart, to the University of
Pittsburgh,
teaching science fiction literature in the early 1970's, while still an
undergraduate. She has been a Religious Science practitioner for 12
years during
which she has developed into a teacher of religious philosophy and a
motivational speaker on "Personal Visioning," which she defines as
learning to avail oneself of all the power in the universe.
Many TWA members will remember the speaker’s late
husband, Craig Alpaugh, a
successful Tampa playwright. Mary has volunteered to offer her seminar
to TWA,
specially tailored for writers, covering such topics as how you think
of
yourself as a writer, techniques for changing your self-talk tapes,
identifying
and clearing impediments to your writing, making a "Right to Write"
contract with yourself and others, defining success for yourself, and
making a
"Treasure Map" of your dream.
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August 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Tampa Writers Alliance
to learn about
frauds and scams at August 7 meeting
Frauds and scams
– of interest to all of us, but especially interesting to mystery
and crime writers – will be the subject of a presentation by a
detective from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at the
next monthly meeting of the Tampa Writers Alliance Wednesday, August 7,
at 7 p.m. in the John F. Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr.,
Tampa. The public is invited to attend free of charge.
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September 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Richard
Matthews, Tampa Review editor,
to discuss 'Getting Published' on September 4
"Getting
Published: How Editors Choose What to Print" will be the topic when
Richard Matthews, Dana Professor of English and editor of Tampa
Review, addresses the next monthly meeting of the Tampa Writers
Alliance, Wednesday, September 4, 2002, at 7 p.m. in the John F.
Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. The public is invited
to attend free of charge. (Click
for Map)
Prof. Matthews is also director of the
University of Tampa Press, and his poetry has appeared widely in
literary magazines, chapbooks, and anthologies. In addition, he has
published a number of books about science fiction and fantasy.
His most recent books include a collection of his poems, Numbery (Borgo
Press, 1995), and a survey of literary fantasy, Fantasy: The
Liberation of Imagination (hardback, Twayne/Macmillan/Prentice
Hall, 1997; paperback, Routledge, 2002).
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October 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Acclaimed
Florida novelist
Tim Dorsey to speak
on October 2 |
Tim
Dorsey discussed his new novel and
described life on a book tour.
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| Tim Dorsey, author of Florida Roadkill,
Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, and other popular mystery
novels will speak on “Tales from the Book Tour” at the
monthly meeting of the Tampa Writers Alliance, Wednesday, October 2,
2002, at 7 p.m. in the John F. Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr.,
Tampa. The public is invited to attend free of charge.
Dorsey will discuss his
forthcoming novel, The Stingray Shuffle, due out early next
year. The former Tampa Tribune reporter will also
touch on what it was like to go from beginning to best-selling novelist.
Born in Indiana, Dorsey
moved to Florida at the age of one and grew up in a small town near
Miami. In 1983, he graduated from Auburn University, where he was
editor of the student newspaper.
From 1983 to 1987, Dorsey
was a police and courts reporter for The Alabama Journal, the
now-defunct evening newspaper in Montgomery. He joined The Tampa
Tribune in 1987 as a general assignment reporter. He also worked as
a political reporter in the Tribune’s Tallahassee bureau
and as a copy desk editor. From 1994 to 1999, he was the Tribune’s
night metro editor and night news coordinator. He left the paper in
August 1999 to write full time.
He lives in
Tampa with his wife and two daughters.
The Tampa Writers Alliance
is grateful to Dorsey for having served as a judge last year in our
annual Writing Contest.
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A crowd turned out to hear
Tampa's own best-selling novelist,
whose humorous mysteries
are crammed with Florida lore. |
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November 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Motivational speaker Mary Alpaugh
returns to discuss 'Expanding the Writer's Vision' Nov. 6
Tampa-area motivational speaker Mary Alpaugh, R.Sc.P., has
been asked back to the Tampa Writers Alliance for a follow-up session
to her successful “Personal Visioning” seminar presented to
TWA in July. Part Two will be “Expanding the Writer's
Vision,” to be held Wednesday, November 6, at 7
p.m. in the John F. Germany Main Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. (Click for Map) The public is invited to
attend free of charge.
The program will include a guided
meditation, analysis of what’s working and not working in the
writer's activities, an exploration of whether there is an "inner
child" sabotaging one's work, how to avoid such phenomena, and "action
steps" to take charge of one’s writing.
Alpaugh has been a
pheasant plucker, duck gutter, and deer skinner, a filmmaker,
television producer, and claims adjuster. She
has served as a teacher from pre-school, with Operation Headstart, to
the University of Pittsburgh, teaching science fiction literature in
the early 1970's, while still an undergraduate. She
has been a Religious Science practitioner for 12 years during which she
has developed into a teacher of religious philosophy and a motivational
speaker on “Personal Visioning,” which she
defines as learning to avail oneself of all th e power in the
universe. Using these principles, she has developed motivational
materials especially tailored to writers.
Many
TWA members will remember the speaker’s late husband, Craig
Alpaugh, a successful Tampa playwright.
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December 2002
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
‘Print-on-Demand for
Pennies’
Is topic of December 4 meeting
“Is
your manuscript finished and rejection letters getting you down?”
asks local
author and editor Barbara Cronin Harrington. To help writers in this
dilemma,
Harrington will conduct a workshop on the
latest innovations in print-on-demand books without inflated prices and
will
share her positive experience with this new technology at the Tampa
Writers
Alliance meeting, Wednesday, December 4, at 7 p.m. in the John F.
Germany Main
Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa(Click
for Map).
The public
is invited to attend free of charge.
The
author of a novel, Give Him Back to God, and Laugh Lines,
a
30-year collection of true boners, boo boos, and blunders, Harrington
cites
horror stories of authors spending thousands of dollars to self-publish
their
work in her presentation, titled “Print-on-Demand for
Pennies.”
”How
does $2.00 for a 140 page book sound?” she asks, adding,
“And you can
order as few as 48 books to get this price and not have to stockpile
your books
in your house.”
In
addition to marketing her own books, Harrington conducts workshops on
writing,
publishing, and marketing and is the owner of Shadow Publishing, a
writer-for-hire and line-editing service. She was formerly a casting
director in
major films, (Cocoon) and radio talk show host of TAKE ONE TALK.
Give
Him Back To God,
Harrington’s “sinsational” and controversial
novel, deals with the
bungled murder of a married Roman Catholic priest in Port Richey. The priest¹s molestation as a boy in a
seminary
in Italy sets the pace
for this timely tale and helps explain why some molestation victims
make
mistakes later in life–in this case, a mistake that cost a man
his life.
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