March Gladness

We're approaching the one-year anniversary of Pandemic Pandemonium, and I hope there's nothing but good news ahead. My wife and I have joined the ranks of the fully vaccinated and are counting the days until we can travel to visit loved ones again. That's one reason why I titled this blog post "March Gladness." The other reason is that we've continued to meet monthly via Zoom and receive excellent instruction and motivation to help us with our writing. As you'll see below, we have more great Zoom sessions in the months ahead, and I'll provide a hat tip to several of you who have been so productive during these months. So, read on.

• Tune in on Saturday, March 20 at 10:30 a.m for an eclectic session with Rik Feeney. Rik will present "Using Creative Techniques to Develop Story Ideas." We're billing this as a joint meeting of the Ponte Vedra Writers group and Rik's Orlando Area Writers group. Here's Rik's description of his presentation: What can you do to give your book some pizazz, a sense of uniqueness; literally
  
  make it stand out from the crowd? It has been said that “…there is nothing new under the sun. It has been already in the ages before us.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11). It is only the unique spin your imagination puts on the topic that will draw the reader’s interest. In this talk, author, book coach, and speaker, Rik Feeney will show several creativity techniques you can use to kick your writing up a notch and make your books truly unique. After the presentation, we'll have some Q&A time so please come willing to share your ideas on creativity with other writers and authors. 

        As always, our waiting room doors will open at 10:20 a.m., and once the meeting begins we ask that you please mute your microphone. Here's the link to participate in the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82590941347?pwd=WitFMEZKc0hvU0F1MWd1WjlGM2VIdz09

Meeting ID: 825 9094 1347

Passcode: 430670

• We have two more outstanding Zoom meetings scheduled for April and May. On Saturday, April 24, FWA Executive VP Arielle Haughee (Hoy) will bring her expertise to the topic "KDP or IngramSpark: Which is Right for You?" And for those of you thinking about creating or upgrading your author website tech guru, Nate Hoffelder will present "DIY Author Websites: From Blah to Boss." Nate's scheduled for Saturday, May 29. Watch this space for details of these meetings in coming blog posts.
• Most of our NE Florida FWA groups are still hibernating because our libraries have still not opened their meeting rooms to the public. One exception is the Amelia Island Writers group. On March 30, 3-5 pm at Story and Song Bookstore, the group holds its first general meeting of the year, aptly named First Impressions, with the topic being 15 Title Types. Several authors will discuss how they arrived at their titles. Due to space restrictions still in place, rsvp to Lee Ann at jimlee.shobe@gmail.com by March 25.
• A Gathering of Poets continues to hold socially distanced meetings on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 2:00 p.m. in the gazebo behind the Ponte Vedra Beach Library. Contact Sharon Scholl at sharonscholl527@comcast.net for more information.
• The First Coast Christian Writers group is making a change to meet once a month on the third Thursday of each month. The time (7:00 p.m) and location (Maranatha Church) remain the same.
• Jacksonville Public Library presents another Writer's Lab series, this time with author M. M. Schill. She will present a four-part Zoom workshop on selling genre short fiction. The series begins Saturday, March 13 and you can register here.

Competitions and Opportunities

• I hope many of you are submitting your work to this year's Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. This is a great opportunity to have your work judged and receive valuable insights from the judges' rubrics. The deadline is April 30, the same deadline holds for the annual FWA Collection. This year's theme is Footprints. Visit the new FWA website for all the details.
• The Masters Review Anthology is open now through March 28, offering a $1,000 prize to ten finalists. Visit this page for details.
• The Women's National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter, is holding an Agent and Pitch event called Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2021 on Saturday, April 10 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Click here for details. And if you have a short piece of fiction or nonfiction ready they also have a literary contest open until the end of the month. Herre's the web page.
• Craft Literary has announced another short fiction contest for unpublished works up to 5,000 words. The deadline is May 2. There is $2,800 in prize money and a $20 submission fee.

A Tip of the Hat

While some of us have been binging on Bridgerton and Yellowstone (so a friend tells me) others have been busy completing and publishing their books. A tip of the hat and an atta-boy to these writers.

• Melissa Kosciuszko (writing as Melissa Koslin) co-wrote a Christian romantic suspense novel with her former agent, Mike Nappa. Publisher Revell is offering a limited number of free copies in exchange for an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads. The novel, Never Miss, involves a former CIA sniper and bioterrorism. Contact Melissa at activevoice09@gmail.com if you're interested.
• Retired US Navy officer, physician, and prolific author Bill Yancey has published another novel. Exploded View: Nightmare Cruise takes us aboard the luxury liner Marilyn Monroe for a voyage that turns deadly.
• Dr. Debora G de Farias has published Standing Tall, historical fiction about a woman who beats the odds to become Argentina's first female physician.
• Neuropsychologist Dr. Norman Plovnick published a concise and easy-to-read guide to better mental health, AIYOBI: Act In Your Own Best Interest—Five Principles to Live by Because There is No Future in Staying the Same (Windrusher Hall Press).

Congratulations to these and all the other productive writers in NE Florida. Let me know if you have a recently published book and I'll highlight it in a future blog post. Until then, stay safe and keep writing.

Cheers,

Vic

Vic DiGenti

FWA Regional Director