April in NE Florida

It looks like spring has finally sprung here in NE Florida. Time to jump into another month of FWA meetings and other announcements for writers.

• River City Writers meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the SE Regional Branch Library. You may contact group leader Gregg Golson for details of the April 12 meeting.
• There's a double header of FWA meetings on Saturday, April 16. Due to meeting room conflicts at the Ponte Vedra Library, the regular fourth Saturday meeting of the Ponte Vedra Writers has been moved to April 16, dueling with the Ancient City Writers in St. Augustine. Sorry about the conflict, but you have two very different programs to choose from. Keep reading to learn the details.
• The Ancient City Writers meets at 10:00 a.m. at St. Augustine's Main Library to hear from Rik Feeney who will present, "Offline Marketing for Online Success." Rik will show you how to develop a marketing plan to create word of mouth campaigns,  and how to use your book as a business card.
• The Ponte Vedra Writers also meet on April 16, but at 10:30 a.m. at the Ponte Vedra Library. The guest speaker is Howard Denson, writer, editor, blogger and former professor of English-Humanities at Florida State College. Howard's talk is titled, "The Evolving Defaults of the Novel." He explains, "Just as computer programs have certain settings or defaults (i.e., rules that enable programs to work in a certain way) the writer has to discover what settings work for a novel, especially in the areas of Point of View, Voice, and the requirements of the narrative ethos." We'll be in the smaller PGA Tour meeting room this month, so come early to get a seat.
• The Clay County Writers gather at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20 at the Orange Park Library. Group leader Maureen Jung will have more information.
• Writers by the Sea meets at the Amelia Island Museum of History in Fernandina Beach on Thursday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m. The guest speaker is author and historian Berta Arias, who will discuss the exhaustive research she did for her novel Mango Rain. The book is set in Cuba and starts with the Cuban revolution when twin sisters are separated as infants, but find each other many years later as adults. This is a timely topic considering recent events.
• FWA affiliate First Coast Christian Writers meets each Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at the Webb-Wesconett Branch Library.

And in other news:

• Florida Sisters in Crime will hear from FBI Jacksonville Division Special Agent in Charge Michelle Klimt this Saturday, April 2 at 10:15 a.m. at the SE Regional Brach Library. SAC Klimt leads the Jacksonville Division, which encompasses all investigative efforts in a 40-county area. She'll talk about the FBI's work to protect American citizens here and abroad.
• FWA's Writer's Nest Mini-Conference is scheduled for Saturday, April 30 at the Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs, the same hotel where the annual conference was held last fall. The conference offers a mix of full day and half day workshops for writers of every level of professionalism. An added bonus for you poets out there is Peter Meinke, Florida's Poet Laureate, will hold a workshop. Click here for registration and more information.
• The day after the mini-conference, FWA hosts the 1st Annual Multi-Genre Book Signing at the Hilton Orlando hotel. Fifty authors will be on hand to talk about and sign their books. A VIP Brunch with authors and readers will be offered from 10:00 a.m. to noon, and the Book Fair runs from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Join me and 49 other authors on May 1. Details can be found here.
• Riverside Arts Market will host its 4th Annual Local Authors Expo on Saturday, April 16. They're looking for local authors to join them for the day. The cost is $25 for a booth space. Contact Jennifer Paulk at vendors@riversideartsmarket.com to request a vendor application.
• The Ancient City Romance Writers meets Saturday, April 23 at 12:30 p.m. at the SE Regional Branch Library to hear from romantic suspense author Lorelei Confer who will discuss self editing. A Bring-Your-Own-Lunch gathering precedes the meeting at 12:00 noon.   

Author visits:

• New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry returns to the Ponte Vedra Library on Wednesday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m. to talk about his latest Cotton Malone thriller, The 14th Colony.
• David Sibley, author/illustrator of the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America will be at The BookMark in Neptune Beach on Saturday, April 2 at 3:00 p.m.

And that's all the news for now. I hope to see you at one of our FWA meetings.

Vic

Vic DiGenti

FWA Regional Director