Labor Day Labors

Most of us have plans for this Labor Day weekend. And most of us will head for the beach or the mountains. Wish I was joining you, but we're having company and I'll spend today cleaning house and getting the yard in order. Consequently, this post will necessarily be brief. Just the essentials.

FWA Chapter Meetings for September

• First Coast Christian Writers, an affiliate of FWA, meets each Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at Christ's Church on Greenland Road. Contact Tracy Redman for details, tlsl72@yahoo.com.
• River City Writers meets on Tuesday, September 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the SE Regional Branch Library off Gate Parkway and Deerwood Blvd. in Jacksonville. Gregg Golson has the meeting info, gtgolson@comcast.net
• Clay County Writers are back at their regular Fleming Island digs, meeting on Wednesday, September 15 at 6:15 p.m. Speaker Carol O'Dell will bring her branding talk to the group, presenting "Creating YOU the Brand: How to Market with Brains, Heart and Courage." If you missed Carol at last month's Ponte Vedra Writers meeting, don't miss her this time. Contact group leader Maureen Jung, mjung@wordspringconsulting.com for more details.
• Ancient City Writers meet Saturday, September 18 at 10:15 a.m. at St. Augustine's Main Library. The husband and wife true crime writing team, Marie and Mac Vernon, authors of Deadly Lust and Deadly Charm, will present, "How to Research and Write for the True Crime Market."
• High Pitched Hum publisher, W. G. "Bill" Reynolds, holds forth at the Amelia Island Writers meeting on Tuesday, September 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Books Plus in Fernandina Beach. Bill's topic is "How to Get Published in Today's Market." Contact bookstore owner and group leader Maggie deVries, at 321-6180.
• And we end the month of FWA chapter meetings in beautiful downtown Ponte Vedra Beach where laid back writers will meet on Saturday, September 25 at 10:15 a.m. at the Ponte Vedra Library. Their mission, to absorb a craft lesson about the structure of a scene. Since the scene is the essential building block of the novel, this is an important lesson, but group leader Vic DiGenti, who will give the presentation, promises a fast-paced, interactive workshop. See you there.

In other news

• The Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, SCBWI, meets on September 18 at 1:00 p.m. at the SE Regional Library. Middle grade English teacher Zara Hunt will discuss "Reading Levels." The group will have a critique session in the second hour, and group leader Janet Walter suggests bringing no more than 5 pages of a novel in progress to read aloud if you want to participate. Contact Janet at jgwalter@comcast.net.
• The Ancient City Romance Writers hold their 2010 Fiction Writers Boot Camp on Saturday, September 25 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Author Patricia Potter and agent Joyce Holland are the speakers. Visit the website to register.
• John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, will keynote the Florida Publishers Association 2010 Publishing Ed-U-Conference on October 9 at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel on Lido Beach in Sarasota. Click here for details.
• The SE Chapter of Mystery Writers of America presents Polish to Publish, October 1- 3, at Honey Creek in Waverly, GA. The conference features a keynote by SF author Jack McDevitt, and workshops by Holly McClure, Maggie Toussaint, and Charlotte Babb. Visit the website for registration details.

That's it for now. Enjoy the holiday and be sure to use sunscreen.

Vic

Victor DiGenti

FWA Regional Director