July 2018 Post

Glenn Frey had it right when he sang "The Heat Is On!" And not just on the streets, but throughout the nation with record highs. A good time to enjoy an air conditioned writing room. Am I right?

Despite the heat many of you will be visiting one of the FWA writers groups here in NE Florida, so read on to find out specifics.

• Gregg Golson leads the River City Writers. They meet the second Tuesday of the month at the SE Regional Library off Gate Parkway. The next meeting is Tuesday, July 10 at 7PM. Send Gregg a query email for details.
• The Clay County Writers are still enjoying a summer break. Meetings will resume in August.
• Writers by the Sea meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30PM at the Amelia Island Museum of History in Fernandina Beach. Truth in advertising requires me to say that this is not really "by the Sea," but close enough. Nadine is putting the July 19 program together and will send you information when you contact her at nvaughanwilliams@gmail.com.
• You can visit the nation's oldest city on Saturday, July 21 and take in a meeting of the Ancient City Writers. They meet at St. Augustine's Main Library at 10AM. I'm guessing Nancy Quatrano will have information about this month's meeting. 
• Science fiction/fantasy author Tim Robinson discusses how to use real world knowledge to create your fictional worlds and characters. Tim is the featured speaker at this month's Ponte Vedra Writers meeting, Saturday, July 28 at 10:30 a.m. at the Ponte Vedra Beach Library. 

In other news ...

• Cheri Roman will lead a critique group at the Florida Writers Conference in October. This small group of ten people will have their ten pages critiqued, as well as critique one another's work. The class will fill up quickly, so you might want to register for the conference now, if you haven't already, and register for Cheri's workshop.
• The early bird conference discount is in place through the end of this month, and it includes Thursday night's Boot Camp Workshop.
• Are you ready to pitch your book to an agent, editor or publisher? Then you have another good reason to attend this year's Florida Writers Conference. You can make an appointment to sit down with agents from Writers House, Fuse LiteraryAgency or Folio Literary Managerment. Or speak with acquiring editors from University Press of Florida and St. Martin's Press, as well as publishers from Twisted Road Publications and Sunbury Press Books.
• We've told you before about the outstanding faculty at this year's conference, including National Guest of Honor Linda Fairstein, Florida Writer of the Year Heather Graham, and Florida Poet Laureate Peter Meinke. But good news bares repeating, doesn't it? And don't forget Chuck Sambuchino's Celebrity Workshop, "Everything You Need to Know About Agents, Submissions, Queries, and First Pages."
• Northeast Florida Sisters in Crime chapter meets Saturday, July 7 at 10AM at the SE Branch Regional Library to hear from author Robbie Cox on cross promoting your book.

I intended to end this edition with a couple of lame joke a la Johhny Carson's "How hot is it?" routine. For example, It's so hot that cows are giving evaporated milk. Or chickens are laying boiled eggs. Why don't you send me your favorites and I'll share them in August's post, when I'm sure it will still be so hot.

Until then, stay cool and keep on writing.

Vic

Vic DiGenti

FWA Regional Director