DFW Writers' Workshop

Sum­mer vaca­tions finally caught up with the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop as a light crowd atten­ded the July 28th meeting.

In the news, Nik Hol­man recei­ved a par­tial request for his novel The Boy Who Wasn’t There from agent Brandi Bow­les. Del Cain had two poems accep­ted by Cross Tim­bers maga­zine. A. Lee Mar­ti­nez announ­ced Gil’s All-Fight Diner and In the Com­pany of Ogres will be relea­sed as a com­bi­ned book by his Ger­man publisher. In addi­tion, Mar­ti­nez has a book sig­ning for his newest release, Divine Mis­for­tune, this Satur­day, July 31 at 10 a.m. at the Bor­ders books­tore in Arlington.

In offi­cial news, trea­su­rer Jeri Bur­bage dis­pla­yed a new form that mem­bers need to com­plete to receive reim­bur­se­ments when purcha­sing items for the Workshop. Sec­re­tary Kyle White advi­sed this blog and regu­lar mee­tings are now the source for all mem­ber news, inc­lu­ding inc­le­ment weather clo­sings (but we all know DFWWW never clo­ses — not mat­ter the weather). Finally, Pre­si­dent Rus­sell Con­nor sta­ted a party will be held on Octo­ber 27th to cele­brate the recent miles­tone of 300 tra­di­tio­nally published books writ­ten by Workshop mem­bers. It’s sure to be a big event.

Sum­mer­time typi­cally means lower atten­dance at the Workshop, but not this year as good-sized crowds have con­ti­nued to pack the buil­ding. The July 14 mee­ting was no excep­tion with four visi­tors joi­ning the already large group.

In the news, Jason Myers recei­ved a par­tial request for his novel Mayhem Inc. from agent John A. Ware. Paula Laro­que announ­ced that the Marion Street Press has bought her series, “The Ben Gallagher Mys­te­ries”, for a new line of imprints. The first title, Chalk Line, should be relea­sed in Sep­tem­ber 2011.

Finally, Larry Enmon gave a sti­rring talk on the impor­tance of deli­ve­ring detai­led and infor­ma­tive cri­ti­ques. Mem­bers, both esta­blished and new, enjo­yed a remin­der that we’re all here to help one another.

What a night it was at the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop. Both amend­ments to the By-laws pas­sed by an overwhel­ming majo­rity. Accor­ding to the Treasurer’s report, the con­fe­rence and the workshop con­ti­nue to ope­rate in the black. And plans are under­way to invite seve­ral agents and/or edi­tors to visit later this year to speak and hear book proposals.

 In other news, A. Lee Mar­ti­nez is a guest spea­ker at Myth­Con 41 this wee­kend in Dallas. Can­dace Havens tur­ned in her latest manusc­ript, She Who Dares Wins, to Har­le­quin, and sub­mit­ted a book pro­po­sal tit­led, Tri­ple Dare Ranch, to the same publisher. Jamie Harring­ton announ­ced her par­ti­ci­pa­tion in Wri​teOn​Con​.com, a free online wri­ters’ con­fe­rence now accep­ting registrations.

But in the big­gest news of the night, his­to­rian Stephen Man­ning announ­ced the dona­tion of the 300th tra­di­tio­nally published book by a DFWWW author. A party is being plan­ned to com­me­mo­rate this momen­tous miles­tone, 33-years in the making.

A sum­mer down­pour did little to thin the ranks at the June 30 mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop, as six visi­tors and two new mem­bers joi­ned the already sizea­ble crowd.

In a busy news night, A. Lee Mar­ti­nez was inter­vie­wed by The Dead Robot Society Pod­cast about his series of fan­tasy novels. Richard Young’s book-length manusc­ript, Ame­ri­can Health Scare, is a top 20 fina­list in a con­test spon­so­red by The May­born Lite­rary Non­fic­tion Con­fe­rence. Harry Hall’s short non-fiction narra­tive, “Michael Hylands Marathon Vic­tory over Cys­tic Fibro­sis” is also a fina­list in the same con­test, but in a dif­fe­rent cate­gory. Books in Motion purcha­sed George Gold­waithe’s newest novel, Bugles and Bag­pi­pes. Also, George atten­ded the Wes­tern Wri­ters’ of Ame­rica Con­ven­tion where three dif­fe­rent agents reques­ted manusc­ript sub­mis­sions. Rose­mary Clement-Moore sta­ted that the hard­co­ver edi­tion of her newest book, The Splen­dor Falls, has gone into its second prin­ting. Addi­tio­nally, Rose­mary will speak on Thurs­day, July 8 at 2 p.m. at the Has­let Public Library.

Finally, Rus­sell Con­ner remin­ded mem­bers that next week, Wed­nes­day, July 7, is the final vote on the pro­po­sed amend­ments to the Workshop Bylaws.  

The June 23 mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop was full of momen­tous news from seve­ral people.

Lea­ding the pack, Rose­mary Clement-Moore announ­ced she’s sig­ned a two-book deal with her publisher, Ran­dom House. Jason Myers recei­ved a par­tial request for his manusc­ript, Mayhem Inc., from lite­rary agent Robert Thix­ton. Merris Doud won second place in the Bra­zos Wri­ters’ Wri­ting Con­test in the cate­gory of memoir / per­so­nal essay. Writer’s Digest has con­trac­ted with Kyle White to write a feature-length article on the use of social net­wor­king to land an agent or secure a book deal.

Finally, mem­bers were remin­ded of the vote to be held on Wed­nes­day, July 7 to amend the Workshop’s Bylaws. Also, Larry Enmon encou­ra­ged new mem­bers to pick up a copy of a pamph­let tit­led 20 Hints for Workshop Cri­ti­ques for an upco­ming class on the subject.

The esca­la­ting sum­mer tem­pe­ra­tu­res haven’t den­ted the atten­dance at the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop, as demons­tra­ted by the healthy crowd at the June 16^th meeting.

In offi­cial news, Rus­sell Con­nor remin­ded mem­bers of the pro­po­sed amend­ments to the By-laws, with the vote to be held during the July busi­ness mee­ting. The pro­po­sals are pos­ted on the bulle­tin board for all to review.  

In other news, lite­rary agent Sara Megi­bow reques­ted a par­tial of Carolyn William’s manusc­ript, Love on the Run. Rose­mary Clement-Moore sold the Por­tu­guese rights to her Mag­gie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series of Young Adult novels. Addi­tio­nally, Rose­mary will speak this Satur­day, June 19, during a mee­ting of the North Texas chap­ter of the Society of Children’s Book Wri­ters & Illus­tra­tors in Arlington.

Finally, Stephen Man­ning announ­ced that the 2011 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence has gone inter­na­tio­nal with the regis­tra­tion of an atten­dee from the country of England. Ever­yone is exci­ted by how the conference’s repu­ta­tion has grown in only three years of existence.

Des­pite omi­nous skies and the threat of a thun­ders­torm, the June 2 busi­ness mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop saw a standing-room only crowd.

In offi­cial busi­ness, Jeri Bur­bage repor­ted that both the Workshop and the Con­fe­rence bank accounts are in the black. Rus­sell Con­nor and Kyle White intro­du­ced two pro­po­sed amend­ments to the By-laws. One would change the start of the fis­cal year from January to Octo­ber, and the other would pro­tect member’s per­so­nal infor­ma­tion. These pro­po­sals will be pos­ted for 30-days, and then voted on at the July busi­ness meeting.

In other news, Julian Har­ber dona­ted a copy of his novel A Nail in the Body of Christ. Joyce Holland of the D4EO Lite­rary Agency reques­ted Jason Myers’ full manusc­ript. Pat Haul­dren was a guest blog­ger at Savv​yAuthors​.com.

With Pre­si­dent Rus­sell Con­nor on vaca­tion, the May 26^th mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop was a little disor­ga­ni­zed, but the Board pulled together to con­duct busi­ness. This inc­lu­ded wel­co­ming five new mem­bers to the gro­wing list of weekly attendees.

In the news, A. Lee Mar­ti­nez dis­pla­yed the German-language edi­tion of his book Too Many Cur­ses. Ken­neth Ingle pre­sen­ted the audio ver­sion of his novel First Con­tact. John Keith announ­ced that Jes­sie Cam­mack with the JAB­ber­wocky Lite­rary Agency reques­ted the full manusc­ript of his work 74 Degrees. Stephen Man­ning advi­sed the tally of tra­di­tio­nally published novels by Workshop mem­bers now rests at 299.   

Finally, Jeri Bur­bage was sea­ted as Trea­su­rer to fill the spot vaca­ted by Fred Cam­pos. Don’t worry, Fred’s not lea­ving the Workshop, he just has other obli­ga­tions that make step­ping down from the Board the right deci­sion for him.

Five visi­tors joi­ned an already siza­ble crowd at the May 19^th mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop.

In the news, Mike McMu­llen dis­pla­yed the cover for his upco­ming non­fic­tion work, I, Superhero. Carolyn William­son has an article in the May issue of Heart to Heart, the North Texas Romance wri­ters news­let­ter. Crys­tal­wi­zard’s  poem “Por­ker” was published in a maga­zine tit­led Pig in a Poke. Rose­mary Clement-Moore has a book sig­ning this Satur­day, May 22 at the Hurst Bar­nes & Noble at 2 p.m. for the paper­back release of her Young Adult novel High­way to Hell.

Spea­king of books, Carolyn reminds all Workshop mem­bers they may check out the refe­rence books for three weeks. After that, there is a twenty-five cents fine for each week the books are over­due. There are seve­ral books outs­tan­ding and mem­bers will be con­tac­ted soon if they don’t return them.

The May 12^th mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop saw a large crowd that inc­lu­ded two visi­tors and three new members.

In the big­gest news of the night, Jenny Mar­tin announ­ced she has sig­ned with Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Lite­rary Agency, Inc. What’s even bet­ter is that Jenny met Mary at the 2010 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence, making this yet another suc­cess story for an event desig­ned to con­nect authors with agents and editors.

In other news, Carolyn William­son announ­ced the addi­tion of three new writer’s mar­ket books for the Workshop’s library. While these refe­rence books may not be chec­ked out, there are many others avai­la­ble for use by DFWWW members.

Finally, it’s rumo­red that 15 lite­rary agents have already agreed to attend the 2011 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence. With suc­cess sto­ries like Jenny’s pro­ving the value of the event, atten­dees will want to regis­ter early for the best chance to meet with one of next year’s agents.