President’s Page – July 2021

April was a month packed full of activity. First of all, Welcome! I’m Connie Cockrell, newly elected President for the Arizona Professional Writers. The biggest event was the April 17th Virtual State Conference. In our short business meeting, we elected new officers. I was elected President, Marie Fasano steps into the Past President role, Bobbie Bennett remains Vice President, and Brenda Whiteside remains Secretary.

Most importantly, we are in need of a Membership Director and a Treasurer. These are vital positions in any organization. Both areas are in good shape, we just need a couple of people to see the value in keeping our organization vibrant by stepping up to volunteer. You can contact me at connie.cockrell@gmail.com to talk about it.

June was the National Federation of Press Women virtual conference. In the national contest, Dianne Beeaff from Tucson, won second place in the category Collection of Short Stories, with her book titled On Traigh Lar Beach. See her website for info on the book. Wynne Brown, also of Tucson, won second place for the category Newsletter, Web, and Social Media. Her entry, Personal, The Sara Lemmon Project can be found at her website or contact her at wynne@wynnebrown.com. Congratulations to both as there were thousands of entries nationwide making competition very high.

Our Communicator of Achievement, Marie Fasano, attended the NFPW virtual award ceremony. We’re sorry to say that she didn’t win. Sherri Burris was selected. You can find her details at NFPW. Congratulations to Ms. Burris.

July features the Payson Book Festival. It is July 17th at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino from 9am to 3:30pm. We have over 70 authors this year. We’ll have a shortened children’s program in the morning and entertainment by Marshall Trimble, Buckshot Dot, and a panel of Grand Canyon experts scheduled for the afternoon. I do hope you can make it to the festival even if you aren’t a “seller”. It will be a great time to catch up!

Speaking of the book festival, we’re doing a lot of posting on our Facebook pages for both APW and the book festival. Take a look at those pages and share the posts. Lots of people sharing creates a big boost in the number of people who get to see the post. It’s an easy way for you to get to know the authors appearing and to help us drive attendance to the festival.  Payson Book Festival Facebook page and Arizona Professional Writers Facebook page.

That’s it for July. Everyone stay safe, enjoy the summer, and hope to see you at the book festival!

Connie Cockrell
APW President