February Newspost

AWWG is such a lively and vital group! Listening to our “News & Goods” each month is inspiring and heartwarming – pat yourselves on the back, dear Writers, and give yourself 5 gold stars, you are shining!

 

Here are some highlights from February’s meeting:

Facilitators Needed!

Due to Patrise’s NEW JOB we will be rotating meeting facilitators. Watch for the email, we need a facilitator for March and April, ASAP!

Lydia’s Revenge now available!

Libby’s first novel Lydia’s Revenge is now available via Amazon, B&N, and other places. For the moment it’s FREE!

Libby recommends the free service from PRONOUN, that helped her format her book, including creating a cover, book layout, even an ISBN! Great for start-up writers. LINK HERE

Yes, You ARE Working:

Carol B. wasn’t sure she was accomplishing much writing, with everything else going on in life. So she printed that past 6 months work. Resulting in a nice bright stack of pages! Sometimes we need to SEE it to believe it. Watch for Carol’s 2nd Storyweaving Playbook coming soon. First one available HERE and HERE

Charles Co. Library hosts local writers!

Georgette and Carrie are among that local writers celebrated at Waldorf West Library, Saturday Feb. 18th from 2-4. Sponsored by the Charles County Arts Alliance, the conference room was packed with authors and readers, and after presentations we had a chance to visit authors’ tables, chat them up and buy books. Congratulations, Carrie and Gee!

Gee dressed for the occasion

including her tights!

Carrie and friends

Also, Georgette has a play in development, and met with a local writer who recently saw her work come to life on the stage.

Screenplay submitted!

Pat C. submitted her screenplay, “Below the Radar,” to the Maryland Film Office. We look forward to good news soon!

Written Treasure

Clara’s partner Cynthia passed away last year. While going through things Clara discovered a treasure trove of her poems and writings, inspiring her to write more. What a beautiful tribute.

More Newsbits

Cheryl appeared on Deborah’s talk show, discussing love and romance just prior to Valentines Day.

Sarah suggested we consider a writer’s table at the Reisterstown Festival, a 2-day community fest in September.

Melinda recommends the book Red Notice, non fiction that reads like a gripping thriller. A true story of murder, corruption and intrigue involving Russia. Timely!

And that’s just some of the News from AWWG!

Remember you can send me items to post here, and/or you can get positing access for yourself and share writing -related content with us all.

See you in March

Monday the 13th, when Beverly will be our featured writer. We have room for one more, if you’d like to share your ongoing project work for feedback.

 

 

 

Nov. 14 Special Program on Submitting to Publishers

At our next meeting Monday November 14 we’ll hold a special workshop. Everybody is welcome. There is a $10 suggested donation.

So, You’re Ready to Push to Publish?

Special Guest writer and publisher Elliott BatTzedek joins us for our November meeting with a terrific program to help you get your work out there!

In this hands-on workshop you’ll learn all about the world of poetry magazines, journals, and online publications, including:

• how to find journals that are a good match for your work,
• how to sign up for online submission services
• how to prepare your work for submission
• how to avoid wasting money on unnecessary submission fees

Elliott will share professional strategies and practical tools for submission that are applicable to most genres.

About Elliott BatTzedek

• holds an MFA in Poetry and Poetry in Translation from Drew University
• Her work appears in: Sakura Review, American Poetry Review, Massachusetts Review, Apiary, Sinister Wisdom, and Passageways: the 2012 Two Lines Translation Anthology
• Her chapbook the enkindled coal of my tongue is forthcoming from Wicked Banshee Press
• Founder of Poetry Business Manager, a service that helps poets get their poems into journals and their manuscripts off to publishers

For more details about the workshop, contact Carol.

Remember Marley Dias of #1000BlackGirlBooks?

Remember this post?  Young Activist’s Call for Books

She interviewed Madame President Hillary Clinton and it’s awesome:

Hillary faces toughest interview yet

from Elle Magazine 10/6/16

When I was really little, I wanted to be our first woman president. I always knew I want to be the kind of grownup who makes people’s lives better. And since that’s pretty much the job of the President of the United States, it seemed like a good idea.

But I’ve realized that you don’t have to be very old to start trying to fix the problems you see in the world around you. (I’m 11.) That’s why I created #1000BlackGirlBooks, a book drive to collect stories about young black girls. I wanted to be represented in books and show people that it’s possible to create spaces to be seen and represented.

 Hillary Clinton is someone who’s never waited around for someone else to do the hard work. She’s been an organizer and a change-maker for her whole life practically. But people don’t really talk a lot about what she did when she was a kid like me. It turns out she’s…. READ MORE

Readers, members, fans: send your books

Sign-ups Open NOW for Some Like it HOT!

Do you love the sensuality of language? Do the right words warm you up and make your heart beat fast? As women we are more likely to be aroused by reading than looking at images. What if you wrote the beautiful words that move you?

Erotic Writing – def. writing that focuses on the sensations, emotions and experience of sensuality, sexuality, love, and/or romance.

The short definition of ‘erotic’ is ‘of, relating to, or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement.’ But as writers we know there’s more to it. What is and is not erotic is wholly dependent on the viewer’s culture and personal tastes, yet we know it when we experience it.

What are the elements that incite that awakening of desire? Poet Audre Lorde says “The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feelings.”

So as you plan and begin to write, call on that power and beauty within you, and let her express herself!

What if you penned a sexy rom-com? A naughty limerick? A fleeting fantasy imagined like a dream? A hot encounter with an alluring stranger? What if you wrote something you never before dared to write?

Sign-Up PDF version

Guidelines PDF version

Sign up today for AWWG’s Some Like it HOT! Erotic Writing Challenge and you have the perfect opportunity to create something fabulous and share the process with your sister writers.

Please review the Guidelines, below or attached as PDF.

Here’s the Sign-Up Form due May 9th* (next Monday)

Some Like it HOT!

Stay tuned for more details about our First Ever Erotic Writing Challenge!

We’ll have a fabulous Celebration at the end, open to all members, featuring readings from your steamy work, and prizes for all participants.

Watch your mailbox!

FEMINIST WRITING FELLOWSHIP

Are you a feminist writer? Check out this opportunity!

Fellowship Program

Everyday Feminism is offering a Fellowship Program in order to grow the number of intersectional feminists who can write about social justice issues in a way that reaches a more general progressive audience.

The Fellowship is a 6-month training and mentorship program for activists who write at the intersection of personal and social liberation. Fellows will learn the very writing approach that has helped Everyday Feminism reach 3-4 million people per month in less than 4 years and made more radical politics accessible, appealing, and relevant to a more mainstream audience.

This is a virtual program and Fellows can be anywhere in the world as long as they have Internet access and can participate in the webinars, which will be held during US business hours.

CLICK HERE

Writerly April

There are so many writerly events in April!  Of course, we have meetings April 11th for the Main Meeting, April 4th for the Memoir Group.

But there’s lots going on in all over! Here’s just a taste:

It’s National Poetry Month

there are so many ways to celebrate. (Does anyone want to volunteer to post poetry-related content here in April? Leave a comment or drop me an email. Or, just do it!)  Poets.org has lots of cool suggestions like:

• Follow the thousands of National Poetry Month celebrations taking place using #npm16 and follow the Academy of American Poets on Twitter @POETSorg.
• Participate in National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 21, 2016.
• Sign up for Poem-a-Day.
• Host a Poetry event!
• there’s more suggestions at their page, HERE

It’s time for Camp!

NaNoWriMo is holding the first Camp NaNoWriMo of the year. (there’s another one in August.) It’s a chance to join a ‘cabin’ of fellow or sister writers, encourage each other and write like the wind around the virtual campfire every day this month.

Here’s your Camp NaNo to-do List so you’re ready for April 1!

Bethesda Literary Festival

Downtown Bethesda MD celebrates the diversity of modern literature from April 15 through 17. This is the 17th year for the festival which includes more than 20 free events, including readings, talks, book signings, and contests. Featured authors include Joanne Bamburger, Cokie Roberts, Kater Alcott, David E. Hoffman and more. Learn more HERE.

Split this Rock Festival

Running in Washington DC from April 14 to April 17, this annual poetry festival is dedicated to “calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.”

Visit their Featured Poets page or check out their Poet Interview Series on the blog to read more about the line up for 2016.

 

Young Activist’s Call for Books

Marley Dias with examples of POC girl-power books

Marley Dias recently applied for and earned a grant from Disney to help feed orphans in Ghana. She is eleven years old.

Recently Dias came home from school frustrated, and explained to her mom that all her school reading assignments seemed to be monochromatic.

“I was sick of reading about white boys and dogs.”

Her mother Janice asked her what she was going to do about it, so Marley started a book drive for stories where non-white girls are the main characters, not just in the background or minor characters.

Now gaining followers via twitter for her #1000BlackGirlBooks drive, Marley explained:

“I’m hoping to show that other girls can do this as well…I used the resources I was given, and I want people to pass that down and use the things they’re given to create more social action projects — and do it just for fun, and not make it feel like a chore.”

Read more about Marley and her project in the Philly Voice, and send books to her project at the address below.

Book donations can be sent to 59 Main St., West Orange, N.J., 07052, Office 322.

Tonight! AWWG hosts NaNoWriMo KickOff Party

Celebrate Writing in Your Community Tonight!

Monday, November 2
6:00 – 8:30 pm

PGMLS Accokeek Branch Library & AWWG present a NaNoWriMo Kickoff Celebration.

• NaNoWriMo leaders, veterans and newbies share their ideas!
• Learn about your Library’s resources for writers of all ages
• enjoy refreshments
• Everybody is welcome

Accokeek Branch Library
Main Conference Room
15773 Livingston Road
Accokeek, MD 20607
301.292.2880

Support your local NaNo writers!

NEXT MEETING: Monday November 9th, 1:15 pm

Special Guest Author Jennifer Handford speaks about her new novel The Light of Hidden Flowers

Submit Your Work Workshop begins!!

Join us for the first of a series of Submit Your Work Workshops! 

We’ll meet for the next two 4th Mondays at the Potomac Library (Bryans Road) from 1:00-3:00 pm.

We’re working to develop a regular practise of submitting our work to contests and for publication, or any other opportunities to get our work out there.  Leader will have The Writers Market and latest issue of Poets & Writers magazine

Come with your challenges and successes, and bring work to submit, and ideas or listings to share.