2002 Programs

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/

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
Wednesday, April 3
Mystery novelist Ann Cook addressed Tampa Writers Alliance

Ann Cook signs copies of her mystery novel, "Trace Their Shadows," at April 3 meeting.
Behind her is TWA President Bill Penrose.

Longtime Tampa Writers Alliance member and past-president Ann Cook discussed her recently-published mystery novel, "Trace Their Shadows."

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
Wednesday, May 1

Fawn Germer shared "Hard Won Wisdom"

Pulitzer-nominated investigative reporter Fawn Germer of Tampa described 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.

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
Wednesday, June 5

Vandamere Press head discussed ‘The Business of Traditional Publishing’

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? Arthur F. Brown, publisher and editor-in-chief of Vandamere Press and ABI Publications of Clearwater, addressed these questions.

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
Wednesday, July 10
Mary Kinney Alpaugh offered 'Success Motivation for Writers'

Mary Kinney Alpaugh discusses writing success at Tampa Writers Alliance meeting on July 10, 2002.

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
Wednesday, August 7

Tampa Writers Alliance learned about frauds and scams

Frauds and scams – of interest to all of us, but especially interesting to mystery and crime writers – was the subject of a presentation by a detective from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

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September 2002
Wednesday, September 4

Richard Matthews, Tampa Review editor, discussed 'Getting Published'

"Getting Published: How Editors Choose What to Print" was the topic when Richard Matthews, Dana Professor of English and editor of Tampa Review, addresses the TWA.

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
Wednesday, October 2
Acclaimed Florida novelist Tim Dorsey spoke to TWA on October 2

	Tim Dorsey discussed his new novel and described life on a book tour.	Tim Dorsey, author of Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, and other popular mystery novels spoke on “Tales from the Book Tour.” 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.
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
Wednesday, November 6
Motivational speaker Mary Alpaugh discussed 'Expanding the Writer's Vision'

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.”

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
Wednesday, December 4

‘Print-on-Demand for Pennies’

“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.

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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