July 2017 Blog Post

It's a steamy day, with rain in the forecast. So what else is new? Take advantage of the summer heat and humidity by staying indoors and writing, but save time to attend one of these FWA meetings here in NE Florida.

• The River City Writers continues its pursuit of concluding the Writing Great Fiction tutorials. On Tuesday, July 11, the group takes on "The Mechanics of Writing Dialogue," and "Integrating Dialogue into a Narrative." They will meet at 7:00 p.m. at the SE Branch Library.
• There will be no meeting of St. Augustine's Ancient City Writers this month due to a lack of a meeting facility. The group hopes to be back in their home base of the Main Library next month. Stay tuned.
• Clay County Writers can double their writing pleasure this month as the group meets twice at its new venue of Panera Bread, 661 Blanding Boulevard. Group leader Maureen Jung reports that the topic for the two meetings is "Book Marketing and Fund-Raising," with discussions of how to launch and market their Clay anthology. The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, July 12 and July 19 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Maureen, 904) 298-5714, if you are attending.
• Amelia Island Writers will not meet in July. Watch for news of its August meeting in next month's blog post.
• Robyn Gioia is the author of the nonfiction book, America's First Real Thanksgiving, and several works of fiction, including the upcoming historical fiction YA novel Under Siege. She's just returned from South Korea, where she's been teaching and will present a workshop on writing historical fiction to the Ponte Vedra Writers group. Her talk is titled, "Teleporting Readers into the Past; A Guide to Writing Historical Fiction." Join the Ponte Vedra Writers to hear Robyn's talk on Saturday, July 22 at 10:30 a.m.

And in other news:

Be aware that the early bird registration ends at the end of the month, and it will cost more to register for October's Florida Writers Conference. Early registration not only saves you money, but it includes the four Thursday evening Boot Camp sessions, a $39 value. Click here to check out the conference schedule and register.
• Not many of us have the opportunity to learn from a true master of the craft. David Morrell is the bestselling author of 34 novels, including his debut novel, First Blood, which became the 1982 blockbuster film Rambo starring Sylvester Stallone. His influential espionage novel, The Brotherhood of the Rose, became the only TV miniseries to be broadcast after a Super Bowl. Morrell is the National Guest of Honor at this year's conference and will present "Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing," the Celebrity Workshop on Thursday, October 19.  This requires a separate registration and benefits the Florida Writers Foundation. More information here.
• Florida Sisters in Crime will meet Saturday, July 8 at 10:00 a.m. at the SE Branch Library to hear Leonard Birdsong present "A Courtroom & Trial Primer for Authors." Professor Birdsong teaches Criminal Law and White Collar Law at Barry University in Orlando. He's worked as a private attorney and as a federal prosecutor. This is a good opportunity to learn how to write accurately about courtroom proceedings. BTW, Professor Birdsong is also an RPLA winner.
• First Coast Romance Writers welcome Nancy Quatrano speaking on “Rising to the Point and Backstory: How, Who and How Much” to their July 8, 2017, meeting from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the West Regional Library located at 1425 Chaffee Road S, Jacksonville, Fl, 32221. Visit http://www.firstcoastromancewriters.com for more information.
• Susan Boyd is the hard-working Chairperson of the Florida Writers Conference Silent Auction, which benefits the Florida Writers Foundation. She's issued a call for auction items and can use your help. If you have an item(s) you wish to donate to this worthy cause, please contact Susan for more information.
• A Gathering of Poets meets on the first and third Thursdays of every month at the Ponte Vedra Library at 2 p.m. and new poets are very welcome.

That's it for now. I'll leave you with a smile (hopefully), with the wish no writer ever receives such a bad review.

“I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.” Ohio State University writing professor

Cheers,

Vic

Vic DiGenti
FWA Executive Vice President
FWA Regional Director
2017 FWA Conference Chair