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Wednesday, May 02, 2018

May Days for Writers

May days are upon us, offering another month of writing opportunities here in NE Florida. Here are this month's FWA meetings.

  • Visit the River City Writers on Tuesday, May 8, 7PM at the SE Regional Library off Gate Parkway. Gregg Golson has more information.
  • Maureen Jung leads the Clay County Writers meeting on Wednesday, May 16. The group gathers at 6:15PM at the Orange Park Library. Contact Maureen for details.
  • Nassau County writers will make their way to the Amelia Island Museum of History at 6:30PM on Thursday, May 17 for the Writers by the Sea meeting. Group leader Nadine Vaughan will share meeting details with you.
  • Writer, lecturer, and performer Randy Ross discloses the lessons he learned trying to get his comedic novel published after rejections from 110 agents and 15 small presses. Randy will appear at the Ancient City Writers meeting on Saturday, May 19, 10AM at St. Augustine's Main Library. During his presentation, "A Debut Novelist's Rocky Road to Publication," Randy will discuss lessons learned the hard way, and perform scenes from his one-man show.
  • Crafting strong beginnings and endings to your novel is the subject of Vic DiGenti's talk at the Ponte Vedra Writers meeting, Saturday, May 26 at the Ponte Vedra Beach Library. Vic will tell you ten reasons why the opening is so important, and let you write your own opening. He'll also show you how to bring the story home with a great ending. The meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. on the 26th.
And in other news:
  • The 3rd Annual I "Heart" Books event is scheduled for Satuday, May 19 at the Schultz Center, 4019 Boulevard Center Drive in Jacksonville. All the author spaces for this multi-genre book signing event have been filled, but there's no charge to attend and support your fellow authors, and pick up some good books. The signing runs from noon to 4PM.
  • Did you know FWA offers monthly Webinars designed to help improve your writing and marketing skills. The cost for the live Webinars is only $10 for FWA members and $15 for non-members. And a number of the past webinars are available absolutely free. Click here to learn more.
  • Submissions have closed for both the annual Royal Palm Literary Awards competition and the FWA Collection, but you may still register for the 17th Annual Florida Writers Conference, October 19 - 21 in Altamonte Springs. In fact, you'll save money and add the Thursday evening Boot Camp workshops at no extra cost if you register before July 31, which is not that far away. Visit the conference pages for all the exciting details of this year's conference.
  • And while you're on the conference website, consider registering for Chuck Sambuchino's Celebrity Workshop, "Everything You Need to Know About Agents, Submissions, Queries, and Frst Pages" on Thursday, October 18, the day before the annual conference. Chuck is the go-to guy when it comes to finding an agent and writing query letters. Bring a first page  and/or your query letter and Chuck will critique it for you during the workshop.
  • The military arts nonprofit, MilSpeak Foundation, supported by a grant from Wounded Warrior Project®, will host a FREE weekend "On Point Women Warriors Writing Workshop" for women military veterans and women military family members May 18-20 at The University of Tampa. Interested in attending? Visit the MilSpeak website.
  • The Florida Heritage Book Festival presents author and book coach Janice Hardy in a full-day workshop, "How to Turn Your Idea into a Novel," on Saturday, May 12 at the Ponte Vedra Library. Registration and info at fhbookfest.com.
  • And on Thursday, May 17, Dr. Melinda Jay Stephenson guides you through a class demonstrating how to turn your family stories into fiction. Her workshop is titled "Telling a Story that Matters." Also presented by the Florida Heritage Book Festival, and  held at the Ponte Vedra Beach Library. Visit www.fhbookfest for details.
That's all folks. I'll leave you with these sage words of wisdom from Jack London.

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

Vic

Vic DiGenti
FWA Executive Vice Preisdent