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GENERAL PROGRAMS 2003 |
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General Meeting Location: John Germany Public Library, 900 N. Ashley Dr, Tampa, FL 33602 at 7 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. |
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January 2003
Five TWA members will share tips and techniques for improving your writing. The meeting was 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. |
Winners of the 2002 TWA Script Writing Contest were presented.
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.
 Julie Leto Klapka, writes as Julie Elizabeth Leto for Harlequin in their Temptations and Blaze series’, (left) and Kathy Carmichael, publishes with smaller presses. Both are active in the Tampa Area Romance Authors (TARA) chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA).
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Two successful Tampa-area romance writers
shared information about writing
and publishing romance novels and ddescribe their national
organization, Romance Writers of America (RWA), as well as their local RWA
chapter, Tampa Area Romance Authors (TARA). 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. 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. |
 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." |
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– shared tips on “Writing for Online Readers.”
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. |
Do you want to know the secret for developing page-turning pieces that will engage your readers?
An interactive talk with author and teacher Staci Backauskas identified the common elements of successful creative writing and illustrated how to implement them in your own work.
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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SPECIAL...FOR MYSTERY, CRIME, AND OTHER WRITERS, TOO... |
Rebecca Lynn explains jury procedures |
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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, had the answers for crime, mystery, and other writers. 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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(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. (Below) 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 presented the first public talk about her new novel, “Shadow
Over Cedar Key.”
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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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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St.
Pete Times Food Editor Janet Keeler spoke on 'Putting A Face
on Your Audience'
Keeler
discussed how and why she considers the reader when she writes, a
daunting task when writing for a general circulation publication.
Booksellers from Inkwood Books and Book Swap Shared the Platform
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Carla Jimenez (left) from Inkwood Books in south Tampa and Arlene Swartzman from Book Swap of Carrollwood discussed what writers need to know about bookselling and stressed the importance of supporting independent booksellers. |
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 Members had plenty of questions for Dr. Jacqueline Lee. |
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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Florida
Author To Discuss “Writing About Your Own Back Yard”
Native
Floridian Bruce Hunt, author of many books and articles about Florida,
offered advice on "Writing About Your Own Backyard".
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 –
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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Joan
Strauman Performed and Discussed Writing Monologues |
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Performance artist, actress, and writer Joan Strauman performed
monologues and offered advice on writing monologues. 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. |
Beginning
her performance layered 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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TAMPA WRITERS ALLIANCE
Date and time last modified: 4/09/08 11:00am by Sandra Kischuk |
