Jason made the deposit for the Hurst Convention Center.  The 2012 DFW Writers Conference is scheduled for May 18–19^th, 2012

Carpooling:  If anyone is interested in carpooling, email Shawna at shawna.m.smith@sbcglobal.net.  Please include your name, contact info (email or phone number, your choice) and the city you live in.  If you live in Dallas or Fort Worth, include the area.  Please note the information you send on the email will be posted on the bulletin board at the Workshop.

Kyle White’s work schedule has changed, and he is now unable to attend the Workshop. Kyle was serving as secretary for his second year and was a wonderful asset. He devoted his invaluable time and effort to the Workshop. His voice on the board will be sorely missed.

We hope that he will be able to join us in the future.

Ron Soule, serving as director, also received a new assignment at his job. He will attempt to attend the Workshop, but can no longer fulfill the time requirements of a Board position. He was ready to represent the Workshop to visitors and serve as a guide to our new members. We will miss his presence on the Board.

Anyone willing to contribute their time to the Workshop is deserving of praise. Both of these men helped see us through the tumultuous upheaval that landed us at our wonderful new location. They were present at the packup, and the move in, as well as the many board meetings that were necessary to safeguard the future of the DFW Writers’ Workshop.

We recognize them for their service and hope they continue writing and critiquing.

Fridays
Monitor Musings: how to be a monitor from the greatest monitors in DFWWW history

Mondays
Critiquer’s Calisthenics: how some of our best critiquers form their thoughts

As you can see, I have a thing for alliteration.

If you would like to contribute a post to either of these series, send it to me. If you think these ideas are stupid, you can tell me that, too.

Kate Cornell

Kate

While you may equate my reappearance on this blog to a certain Beach Boys song involving the stolen vehicle of a patriarch, I do have a something to share.

If you have attended any meeting of DFWWW in the last year or so, you may have noticed our visitors mentioning they heard about us on the Internet. You may have also noticed that we only post about once a week on this blog.

I put it to the members: What would you like to see up here?

A few weeks ago, I implored a certain member to write a guest post on how to be a monitor. I’m sure he’s still considering the offer, but I believe that would be something you would want to see. I can’t come up with all this stuff by myself. I would love ideas (aside: you can comment directly on this post).

What do you want to see? Do you want to know what my overweight cat is up to? Do you want to know what our members are up to? Do you want me to steal the RSS feeds from other sites and post them up here? Do you pray for someone who isn’t me to write something that is at least coherent and organized?

Let me know.

I’m from the DIY generation, which comes with fast typing speech-to-text, built in Intel processor, technobabble translator,  and built-in Internet navigational computer. Even when I’m wireless, I’m still plugged in.

If you want to contribute a blog post, that would be great, too! You see, once I post this, it goes out all over the Internet. Twitter, Facebook, and, of course, the DFW Writers’ Workshop homepage. We tag your name, and (bam) Google takes notice. While I understand the gritty underworld of the Internet (Search Engine Optimization, reputation management, synergy) is not everyone’s cup of tea, you can use it as a tool to brand yourself and get your name circulating.

And, I wouldn’t let you post anything that would make you look bad… *wink*

I do believe our group can offer a great deal to each other and the writing community.

Send me your thoughts. On Facebook, Twitter, or right here.

It’s Kate here. You’re 2nd Vice President and Social Media Manager. They gave me a password to this blog thing (hehe), so I’m using it.

Was anyone as excited about the great social media stuff that surrounded our conference as I was? There was so much buzz! The biggest bump we received was during the first Gong Show. New topics exploded that helped draw attention from the writing community to our little conference. Two big winners were #portalshappen and #TeamFury. “Portals happen” referred to stories that depend too heavily on a character being sucked through a portal as a plot point. Team Fury referred to the “Simon Cowell” of the Gong Show, Louise Fury. You were all thinking it. She’s the one who said it.

Almost everyone used the #dfwcon modifier when talking about presenters and classes. Some preferred to actually mention the conference (@DFWCon) directly in the post to promote an open dialogue.

User participation in social media is what makes it so unique. You’re only going to tweet whether you’re having a great time or a terrible time. Our great times outnumbered the terrible because our conference was amazing (not that I’m drawing from my own experience or anything).

From a social media standpoint, that is a great success. Our attendees are connected, our workshoppers are connected, and I think I read through Twitter that Weronika Janczuk is having lunch with Amy Boggs some time next week (stalking accomplished).

Let’s try to use some of that momentum for the workshop and future conferences.

Gushing finished. Now, to business.

If you or anyone you know took pictures at the 2011 DFW Writers’ Conference, please send them to me

Kate Cornell

with the subject line “Conference Pictures” or some such nonsense that doesn’t make me delete it immediately.

The membership of the Workshop is honored to be included in the recommendations of such a venerable organization.

 Candace Havens will autograph copies of her newest title, Dragons Prefer Blondes, at Legacy Books, 7300 Dallas Parkway in Plano at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 22. Candace will be joined by two other writers. The event is billed as “a lively afternoon’s conversation with a trio of authors behind hot, very popular paranormal romantic adventures”.   

 A. Lee Martinez will autograph (and probably illustrate the inside pages with fire-breathing ducks or whatever else tickles his fancy) copies of his recently released novel, Monster,also on Saturday, August 22. He says the Borders located at 5500 Greenville Ave in Dallas has an impressive display of his books. In typical A. Lee Martinez fashion, the event starts “some time in the afternoon”.   

Announcements from the monthly business meeting:  Gabe Guerrero has been awarded the Glenn Bavousett Fund to attend a writers’ workshop. Discussion continues about integrating the monthly poetry group into the weekly read and critique sessions. The Workshop welcomed eight new members in the last week alone. To keep up with membership growth, the Workshop is moving more services, such as paying the annual dues, online.    

In other news, Rosemary Clement-Moore announced she was selected to write a monthly column about the Young Adult genre for FreshFiction.Com. The Hook ‘Em Writing Contest has been officially launched, and the tote bags for the 2010 DFW Writers’ Conference have arrived. They look snazzy.