What Day Is It?

When I was a child, sometime between the end of the Civil War and the Woodrow Wilson administration, I recall watching a program that always opened with these words: "Hey kids, what time is it?" And the answer was always—say it with me—"It's Howdy Doody time!"

Today, that refrain has changed to "What day is it?" Most of us are stuck inside working from home or staying safe at home, and it's easy to lose track of the days. And since I'm retired, every day seems like a weekend day. But I look forward to the time when we can gather together at libraries for our FWA writers group meetings. However, it looks like June won't be the month for those gatherings.

But I have good news. In June I'll host not one but two Zoom workshops with writing pros addressing valuable topics for writers. Here's what you have to look forward to in June:

• On Saturday, June 13 at 10:30 a.m. Charlene Edge will present the memoir writing workshop she would have given in person in May. "Open a Vein: Writing Your Memoir and Publishing It"  takes us through the steps Charlene took to write and publish her award-winning memoir, Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International.
• And on Saturday, June 27 at 10:30 a.m., tune in for Jane Wood's presentation detailing strategies for selling your books to schools. "Schools: A Niche Market for Authors" will show us how to contact schools, and what makes a book marketable to schools. Jane has sold thousands of books to schools, so you don't want to miss this.

I'll send out the Zoom meeting link and password the week before each session. There's a limit of 100 people for each of these webinars, so if you're interested you should sign up right away.

And in other news, Rik Feeney, who has done a great job keeping writers connected with Zoom meetings, has scheduled another one for Wednesday, June 3 at 7 p.m. This one is with Linda Hollander, who calls herself the Wealthy Bag Lady. Her topic is "Corporate Sponsorship for Books." She's the author of Corporate Sponsorship in 3 Easy Steps and the CEO of Sponsor Concierge. Here's the link to that Zoom meeting: www.SponsorZoomWithLinda.com

I had asked you to keep me informed of any news on the writing front, and two of you came forth to let me know their books are being published. Congratulations to Kaye Schmitz on the publication of her suspense novel, On Deadly Ground. Also to Melissa Kosciuszko on the publication of her Christian suspense novel, Within A Dream. And thanks to Jack Orth for sharing some of his fine writing with me.

I'll leave you with this quote and image I ran across some time ago and only recently uncovered as I was cleaning my file cabinet. They're both from artist Vincent Van Gogh, but if you replace the word painter with writer you'll see that Van Gogh is talking directly to us.

"If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then, by all means, paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced. One must undertake (work) with confidence, with a certain assurance that one is doing a reasonable thing, like the farmer who drives his plow, or like our friend in the scratch below, who is harrowing, and even drags the harrow himself. If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse."

Cheers,
Vic

Vic DiGenti
FWA Regional Director