Spring has finally sprung. Now it's time to regenerate our creative spirits, and grow as writers. You can start by selecting one of the six FWA meetings planned for this month.

• First Coast Christian Writers, an affiliate of FWA, meets each Thursday at 6:45 p.m. in Room 513 of Christ's Church at 6035 Greenland Road. Contact Tracy Redman at tlsl72@yahoo.com
• River City Writers meets the second Tuesday of the month at the SE Regional Library in Jacksonville at 7:00 p.m. On Tuesday, April 13, freelance writer, Paul May, who has written dozens of articles and short stories for children, will address this in his talk, "Writing for Children as a Fulltime Career." Contact chapter leader, Gregg Golson at gtgolson@comcast.net.
• Ancient City Writers meet at St. Augustine's Main Library at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, April 17 to hear from book coach and publishing consultant Rik Feeney. Rik will present a program on how to grab the reader's attention with headlines, titles and subject lines.
• Moving to Nassau County next for the April 20 meeting of Amelia Island Writers. They meet at 6:00 p.m. at Books Plus in Fernandina Beach, 107 Centre Street. This month, editor Emily Carmain will lead the group in an editing workshop. Contact chapter leader Maggie deVries, maggie1948@yahoo.com.
• Clay County Writers will talk book promotion at their Wednesday, April 21 meeting. They'll gather at 6:15 p.m. at the Fleming Island Library to hear Vic DiGenti present "Book Promotion 101," in which Vic leads us on a fast-paced journey toward marketing success with tips on what obstacles to avoid, and how to plan your trip. Contact chapter leader Maureen Jung, mjung@wordspringconsulting.com.
• The Ponte Vedra Writers have a program for everyone trying to get published. On Saturday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. in the Ponte Vedra Library, hear from a panel of authors and publishers addressing the subject, "The Many Roads to Publication." All writers learn quickly, often with the help of rejection slips, that there's no easy way to their publishing destination. Our panel has been there and done that, but they all ended up getting published via different routes. Panelists are Julie Compton, a traditionally published suspense author (Rescuing Olivia) with St. Martin's Minotaur; Erwin Wunderlich, who shared the Book of the Year honors in the published category at last year's RPLA for his historical novel, Salvos on the Backwater, published through Xlibris; Pamela Bauer Mueller, a multiple Georgia Writer of the Year, and her husband Mike Mueller, are a team of independent publishers who through their company, Pinata Publishing, have published all of Pam's books, including the latest, Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires' Club; and Kent Holloway, author of a paranormal series and who, with Kathy Boulos, started Seven Realms Publishing, a new small traditional press located in St. Augustine. Each will respond to a series of question about their personal roads to publication and later sign their books to benefit the Friends of the Library. Light refreshments will be served at this special program. Contact Vic at vicdig@mac.com.

More writerly happenings, events & opportunities:

• North Florida Writers next meet on Saturday, April 10 at 2:00 p.m. at the Webb-Wesconnett Library where they'll hear from SF writer, Chris Berman.
• The First Coast Romance Writers also meet on April 10, but at 10:15 a.m. at the West Regional Library on Chaffee Road. Get ready for a steamy session as Cheryl Alldredge and Shelby Reed "Throw Open the Bedroom Door on Love Scenes." Sounds like this one is made for voyeurs.
• The First Coast Register, a general interest magazine published by The Ponte Vedra Recorder and Journal Community Publishing, will begin adding a short piece of fiction in each issue starting with the June/July issue. Editor Mark Pettus says he's looking for 1,000 words or less in a story by a First Coast writer, and one that preferably references the First Coast. They will pay $100 for the selected story. Since he expects a large number of submissions, he urges writers to only submit their very best work. Send your submission to mpettus@jcpgroup.com.
• Cinemania is a community-based group for filmmakers and film fans sponsored by Jacksonville.com. Led by Sharon Cobb, the group screens films, TV shows, videos, and more and supports local writers with staged readings held at the Five Points Theatre on the fourth Monday of each month. They find the actors who perform before a live (hopefully) Theatre audience. If you'd like to have your screenplay considered, contact David Pratt for all the details. He can be reached at drpratt@comcast.net.
• And if you're still struggling with your screenplay, you might want to attend Alexandra Sokoloff's master class on Screenwriting Tips for Novelists. Presented by First Coast Romance Writers, Alexandra, who won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel for The Harrowing, will present the full day workshop at the Arlington Congregational Church from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• There's still time to enter the Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition, but the July 16 deadline will sneak up on you if you're not prepared. Check out the guidelines online.
• And finally, for you mystery/thriller fans, author Wayne Barcomb, The Hunted, will be the featured author at the Ponte Vedra Library's Book Talk Cafe program on Monday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. The Sarasota author's latest thriller was praised by Kirkus Review, "...the warp speed of Barcomb's storytelling will keep you turning pages."

And that's all for now. See you on the bestseller's list.

Vic