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JANUARY
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/ MARCH /
APRIL
/ MAY /
JUNE
JULY / AUGUST /
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER
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DECEMBER |
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January
2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
'Polish Your Skills'
workshop with five presenters
scheduled for Wednesday, January 8
Five TWA members will share tips
and techniques for improving your writing at the Tampa
Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, January 8, 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 meeting will be held on 2nd
Wednesday due to New Year holiday.
Each attendee will leave with
handouts to help keep the information presented in mind and at hand.
Each presenter has been given 15 minutes with time for questions,
comments, and any additional information following each segment.
Presenters and topics will be:
Warner Conarton,
Critique Workshop coordinator, discussing the philosophy and etiquette of
workshopping.
Sandi Scionti, published
non-fiction author, offering interviewing techniques.
Lark Underwood,
newsletter editor, discussing manuscript formatting basics.
Bill Penrose, TWA
president, proposing ways to work around, over, and through writer’s
block.
Karen McKinney,
freelance travel and restaurant writer, giving suggestions on approaches
to research.
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Tampa Writers Alliance
Annual Awards Banquet
Friday, January 17, 2003, 7 p.m.
Valencia Gardens Restaurant, 811
West Kennedy Blvd., Tampa -- $25.00 per person
Winners of the 2002 TWA Writing Contest were
announced.
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February
2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Winning scripts in TWA
Writing Contest to be performed at February 5 meeting
Winners of the 2002 TWA Script Writing Contest will be
performed in staged readings at the Tampa
Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, February 5, 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.
Winning
playwrights are: First Place, James MacEachern, "Once Upon A Time in
the West"; Second Place, Sandra Kischuk, "Dark Current";
Third Place, Cindy Turner, "Cruisin' at 80"; Honorable Mention,
Clarissa C. Thompson, "Returning." The awards were announced
January 17 at the Tampa Writers Alliance Annual Banquet.
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March 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Romance
Novelists
to Address TWA Wednesday, March 5
Two
successful Tampa-area romance writers will share information about writing
and publishing romance novels and will describe their national
organization, Romance Writers of America (RWA), as well as their local RWA
chapter, Tampa Area Romance Authors (TARA), at the Tampa Writers
Alliance meeting, Wednesday, March 5, 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.
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Julie Leto
Klapka, who writes as Julie Elizabeth Leto
for Harlequin in their Temptations and Blaze
series’, (left) and Kathy Carmichael, who publishes with smaller
presses, address Tampa Writers Alliance March 5. Both are active in the Tampa Area Romance Authors
(TARA)
chapter of the Romance Writers of America
(RWA). |
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Addressing
the group will be Julie Leto Klapka, who writes as Julie Elizabeth Leto
for the well-known publisher Harlequin in their Temptations and Blaze
series’, and Kathy Carmichael, an active RWA member and TARA
past-president who publishes with smaller romance presses.
An
estimated 50-million people in the United States, nine percent of them
men, have read a romance novel in the past year. Including both paperbacks
and e-books, the genre has moved with the times, offering a widening range
of characters and situations and, for those who want it, more explicit
sex.
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Leto’s
novels are definitely not your grandmother’s romances. According to a
2002 Weekly Planet profile of the Tampa-born writer, they are
“aimed directly at the Sex and the City crowd,” featuring
“heroines (who) are tenured Ph.D.s, marketing CEOs and restaurateurs”
in romantic Tampa settings. After earning a creative writing degree from
the University of South Florida in 1989, Leto taught English for five
years at her alma mater, Tampa Catholic High School. She had completed
four novels before Harlequin brought out her first published romance, Seducing
Sullivan, in 1997.
“I discovered my niche with Temptation's sensuous, sexy tone
and character-driven stories,” Leto says on her website, www.julieleto.com,
adding, “My desire to ‘push the envelope’ fit perfectly in
Temptation's Blaze series. All the rejection letters and years of working
to improve and hone my style paid off.” Since then, she has sold ten
books -- seven to Temptation and three to the new Blaze line.
Carmichael’s
first published romance, My Lady Mischief, is an historical novel,
set in England’s Regency period and described by a reviewer as “a
delightful…romp…with a special blend of humor….” Her new book, Chasing
Charlie, a light romantic comedy set in Dallas, was compared by one
reviewer with the film Runaway Bride. Originally from Texas,
Carmichael pursued several careers, including advertising copywriter and
account executive, systems analyst, and computer programmer, before
becoming a stay-at-home mom and fiction writer. Her website is www.kathycarmichael.com.
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April 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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TWA
to Explore
‘Writing for Online Readers’
on April 2
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Writer
and website designer Dewey Davis-Thompson makes a point as panelist
Chelsie Vandavere, botanist and creator of www.killerplants.com,
listens during April 2 presentation on "Writing for Online
Readers." |
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Two website experts – Dewey
Davis-Thompson, an Internet author who
has created successful sites for hundreds of organizations since 1991, and
Chelsie Vandavere, who has been creating her own lively and informative site since
2001– will share tips on “Writing for Online Readers” at
the Tampa Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. in the
John F. Germany Main Library.
Dewey
Davis-Thompson describes himself as “Tampa Bay’s first professional
webmaster.” He has written copy and features for and about the World
Wide Web since earning a degree in anthropology from New College of
Florida in 1991 and has published Daily Revolution News (www.dailyrevolution.org)
since 1995. Dewey currently writes for several newspapers and e-zines and
is president of Internet Adept, Inc., of St. Petersburg (www.internetadept.com),
which provides webmaster and consulting services. Since 1991, Davis-Thompson
and his staff have helped hundreds of clients plan, develop, and manage
web projects. In 1996, he and his group wrote a grant to make WMNF the
first Florida radio station on the web. They have served clients on every
continent and in dozens of industries. Local clients have included the
Tampa Theatre, Tampa Housing Authority, New College, Eckerd College, and
the Florida Humanities Council.
Field
botanist Chelsie Vandavere created her site, www.killerplants.com,
in 2001 to share “the mystery and excitement of botanical connections
that make our lives, our civilizations possible.” Her knowledge and love
of plants and her concern for the environment are evident throughout her
attractive site, filled with both commonplace and obscure plant lore and
aimed at gardeners, plant lovers, collectors, and anyone interested in the
natural world. Currently employed with an environmental engineering firm,
Vandavere studied liberal arts, anthropology, and writing at St. Louis
Community College, Meramec, and holds a bachelor’s degree in botany from
the University of South Florida.
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May 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Staci
Backauskas will discuss common elements of successful creative writing May 7
Do you want to know the secret for
developing page-turning pieces that will engage your readers?
In an interactive talk with author and
teacher Staci Backauskas at the Wednesday, May 7 general meeting, Tampa
Writers Alliance members will identify the common elements of successful
creative writing and learn how to implement them in their own work. The
meeting will be held 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
Of interest to both fiction and
non-fiction writers, Staci’s presentation will offer techniques that
provide texture and structure, as well as those that assist writers in
accessing their own unique voices.
Owner of Triple Moon Productions,
Staci Backauskas is a writer and consultant with nearly twenty years of
experience in marketing, advertising, training, and small business. She
has written seven books, as well as articles for numerous national and
local publications, including American Profile, Imprint, Entrepreneur
Start-Ups, and The Carrollwood News. She has been widely
published on the Internet as well, and currently teaches creative writing
for Life Enrichment Center in Tampa.
Staci is the author of “Desiree's
Dream Job - A Career Transition Fable” and “Desiree's Dream Kit – A
Practical Guide for Intentional Career Transition.” She is also the
author of a novel, The Fifth Goddess, which details a woman’s
journey toward self-acceptance, examining what happens when we refuse to
confront the pain in our lives
In addition, Staci is the founder of
The Follow Your Bliss Foundation, a non-profit organization distributing
scholarships and providing a support network to those living their dreams.
Ten percent of all monies earned by Triple Moon Productions go to the
foundation.
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June 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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SPECIAL...FOR
MYSTERY, CRIME, AND OTHER WRITERS, TOO...
Jury-picking
expert Rebecca Lynn to discuss juries June 4
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How are juries selected? What are their duties? How do
attorneys try to influence them? Tampa Bay litigation consultant Rebecca
Lynn, whose firm Rebecca Lynn & Associates of Clearwater specializes
in jury selection, will have the answers for crime, mystery, and other
writers when she addresses the Tampa Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday,
June 4, 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.
Lynn has worked in the field of
litigation consulting since 1980. She trained under and worked with Cathy
E. Bennet, then opened her own firm in 1987. She has assisted attorneys on
a wide range of civil and criminal trials in both federal and state courts
and has assisted in over 400 jury selections and more than 40 death
penalty cases. Lynn also lectures and conducts training seminars for
attorneys.
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Rebecca Lynn explains jury procedures |
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July 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Mystery Novelist
Ann T. Cook to unveil her new novel at TWA meeting July 2
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(Above)
A cameraman from Channel 10 was a surprise guest at the July 2 TWA
meeting, shooting footage for a feature on Ann Cook, who has started
a new career in retirement as a mystery novelist.
(Left)
Ann signs book for member Bob Schill as members Karen McKinney
(left) and Sandi Scinoti look on |
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Mystery
novelist and past-Tampa Writers Alliance President Ann Turner Cook of
Tampa will present the first public talk about her new novel, “Shadow
Over Cedar Key,” at the Tampa Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, July
2, 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
book is the second in Cook’s Brandy O'Bannon series set in small
historic Florida towns. Her heroine, a young newspaper reporter, was
introduced in her first novel, “Trace Their Shadows,” set in the Mount
Dora-Tavares area, published in late 2001.
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Parts of both
books were critiqued in an early stage by TWA members and by TWA’s
longtime mentor, the late Dr. Ed Hirshberg of the University of South
Florida. Staci Backauskas, a recent TWA speaker who teaches creative
writing for Life Enrichment Center in Tampa, also assisted in the editing.
“The TWA critique group and contacts there have been invaluable in
giving me the courage to write and to submit my work,” Cook maintains.
A
retired Hillsborough High School English teacher, Cook had several mystery
novels accepted by New York agents as long ago as 1991 – and she
received strong encouragement from fellow writers and writing coaches. But
after several years of discouragement, she gave up on the traditional
publication route. When Mystery
Writers of America, of which Cook is a member, made an agreement with the
print-on-demand publisher iUniverse to publisher members' novels at no
cost, she took them up on the offer. Both of her novels are included in
iUniverse’s “Mystery
Writers of America Presents series.”
In her TWA talk, Cook will explain the different
publishing choices now available to writers, with special emphasis on
print-on-demand. She will also discuss some of the pitfalls of mystery
writing and will offer some advice.
“Writers must realize,” Cook says, “that the
marketing burden in print-on-demand publishing falls on the writer, but
even with traditional publishers, that is usually the case. Writers do
receive advice and tools from iUniverse,” she adds.
According to Cook, the Mystery Writers of America
currently recommends that even well-established writers hire their own
editors prior to sending their work to an agent or publisher, “because
even the big traditional publishing houses no longer provide the quality
of editing that they used to.”
Cook
will present her new novel as a kick-off for the Mystery Club at the
Carrollwood Barnes & Noble at 7:30 p.m. on September 25, and will also
speak at the Island Hotel in Cedar Key, where the owners have invited her
to appear.
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August 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
St.
Pete Times Food Editor Janet Keeler to speak August 6 on 'Putting A Face
on Your Audience'
"Putting
A Face on Your Audience'' will be the topic of St. Petersburg Times Food
Editor Janet K. Keeler's presentation at the Tampa Writers Alliance
meeting, Wednesday, August 6, 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.
Keeler
will discuss how and why she considers the reader when she writes, a
daunting task when writing for a general circulation publication.
Keeler came to the Times in 1992 and has worked
at the newspaper in a variety of editing and writing positions, becoming
the food editor in June 2000. Her story, "The Crock-Pot That Saved
Dinner Time,'' which appeared in the Times in January 2001, appears in the
collection Best Food Writing 2001, an anthology of stories about food,
dining, and life by American food writers. The Times' Taste section was
named best in the nation by the Association of Food Journalists in 2002
for papers 200,000 to 400,000 circulation.
Before coming to the Times, Keeler was features editor of the Stockton
(Calif.) Record; national and world wire editor at the Las Vegas
Review-Journal; and a government and education reporter at the Lodi
(Calif.) News-Sentinel. Keeler and her husband, Scott, a Times
photographer, have a son, Jensen,
8.
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September 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Booksellers
from
Inkwood Books and
Book Swap to Share Platform at
Sept. 3 TWA meeting
Carla Jimenez from Inkwood Books in south Tampa and Arlene
Swartzman from Book Swap of Carrollwood will discuss what writers need to
know about bookselling at
the Tampa Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, September 3, 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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Carla
Jimenez (left) of Inkwood Books and Arlene Swartzman of Book Swap
both stressed the
importance of supporting independent booksellers |
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October 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Members
had plenty of questions for Dr. Jacqueline Lee.
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Medical
examiner to discuss her work at October
1 TWA meeting
Jacqueline
Lee, M.D., Associate Medical Examiner,
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Department,
will
discuss her work, especially those aspects of interest to mystery and
crime writers, at the Tampa Writers Alliance meeting,
Wednesday, October 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.
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November 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
Florida
Author To Discuss “Writing About
Your Own Back Yard” for Tampa Writers
Alliance November 5
Native
Floridian Bruce Hunt, author of many books and articles about Florida,
will offer advice on "Writing About Your Own Backyard" at the
Tampa Writers Alliance meeting, Wednesday, November 5, 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.
Writers
often fail to recognize the writing opportunities available all around
them, and Hunt will suggest ways to discover and use these resources.
Three books by writer-photographer Hunt –
Adventure Sports in Florida
and Visiting Small-Town Florida, Volumes 1 and 2 –
are published by Pineapple Press of Sarasota, which specializes in books
about Florida.
Hunt’s articles and photographs
have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines including the Tampa
Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, Metro News, Backpacker, Rock & Ice,
Skydiving, Parachutist, Water Ski, and Physics Teacher. His dachshunds,
Rudi and Cocoa, are his faithful writing assistants.
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December 2003
TWA PROGRAM ARCHIVES
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Joan
Strauman Will Perform, Discuss Writing Monologues for Tampa Writers
Alliance December 3
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Performance artist, actress, and writer Joan Strauman will perform
monologues and offer advice on writing monologues when she addresses the
Tampa Writers Alliance Wednesday, December 3, 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
author of five one-woman shows, Strauman will speak on “Writing
Monologues: Comedy/Dramatic.” She has performed her original works at
the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the Orlando Fringe Festival, and
the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading.
Strauman’s
monologues range from funny to serious. A special feature of her shows
is the layers of T-shirts which she wears, taking off one at a time
and becoming the character each T-shirt represents.
Two
of Strauman’s shows, “Snapshots” and “Body of Clay,” deal with
personal memories and events. Her shows “H2O” and “Angel Food”
deal with characters in a retirement home. Her fifth show is titled
“Dreams, Hats and Gorkey.”
Strauman
came to Tampa from Wisconsin when she was 16 and is now retired as a
media specialist after 13 years with the Hillsborough County School
System. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tampa, a
master’s from Florida State University, and a B.A. in theater
performance from the University of South Florida.
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Beginning
her performance layed with T-shirts that
represent her characters, actress Joan Strauman becomes many
women, both funny and serious, before her audience's eyes
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