President’s message – July 2022

Greetings!

I want to thank everyone who was able to for attending our 2022 Arizona Professional Writers conference. The venue was exceptional, and we had terrific speakers. We also held elections; many thanks to those who could stay on for another term. Thanks everyone as well for electing me as President. Many, many thanks to Bobbi Bennett, Marie Fasano, Jaimie Bruzenak, and everyone else who had a hand in organizing and putting on this wonderful event. I do hope you all can attend next year.

Treasurer needed: Most importantly, we are in need of a Treasurer. Our previous treasurer, Cheryl Kohout, has been an officer in the organization for decades now and has decided to step down. Of course the treasurer is a vital role in any organization and if you have some time, I promise you will not be overwhelmed with the role. You can contact me at connie.cockrell@gmail.com to talk about it.

June was the National Federation of Press Women annual conference. I had a great time in Fargo, N.D. It’s a lovely city and the venue was fantastic. Best of all, three of our APW members won or placed in the national Communication Contest. Let’s give hearty congratulations to Rebecca Goodrich who won a 1st place in her category, Jan Cleere who won a 2nd place, and Brad Graber with an Honorable Mention. I want to again honor the 9 members who won in the At-Large competitions, winning 15 awards total. These are stiffly competitive categories so all of our winners should receive a round of applause.

If you are thinking of attending next year’s NFPW Conference, it will be in Cincinnati, Ohio. The time spent with these fantastic, intelligent, and pretty darn witty women and men was a boon to my soul. The presentations were wonderful and one, on treating your customers as a non-profit treats their donors, was worth the price of the entire conference. Not saying the other presentations weren’t good, it’s just that that one had info that could be pressed into service that very minute. Don’t miss out on next year’s event.

July features the Payson Book Festival. It will be held July 23rd at the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino from 9am to 2:30pm. We have over 80 authors this year and an all-day, on-demand children’s program. In the Fireside room we have presentations by authors: Ditto Abbott, Jody Decker, Chrisann Dawson, Bryan Lee (aka Bullseye the Clown), and TJ Boyer. The topics range from poetry to bullying. I’m sure each one will be very interesting. 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!

Spread the word! 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 each post. It’s an easy way for you to get to know the authors appearing and to help us drive attendance to the festival.

https://www.facebook.com/PaysonBookFestival and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArizonaPressWomen

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

Connie Cockrell
APW President