APW Book Club – 11/22/25 Beautiful Daughter! by Maria Greenhalgh
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: APW Book Club – Beautiful Daughter! with Maria J. Greenhalgh
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting: The Zoom link has been sent to APW members
Beautiful Daughter! – ¡Te Quiero, Te Quiero Mucho!: A Story of Growing Up Different by Maria J. Greenhalgh
Screenshot
A young mother hugs her baby girl and looks at her lovingly. She frequently tells her, ¡Te quiero, Te quiero mucho! (I love you. I love you very much!) This is a story of how that little girl goes through the stages of growing up to become her authentic self. She is different, not at all like the magical princess her mother expected her to be. The story is also about a mother’s love for her daughter and a parent’s journey to loving a child without the deeply rooted expectations set forth by culture and tradition. Beautiful Daughter is a book written for both children and adults to enjoy and shares the message of unconditional love and acceptanmce.
Maria will also spend a few minutes talking about her Kickstarter project in case any of you have considered running a campaign.
Bio: Maria J. Greenhalgh
Maria J. Greenhalgh is a bi-lingual author, a lifelong learner, wife, and mother of two. She writes children’s books in English and in Spanish. Maria left the corporate world to pursue her dreams, one of which was to become a published author. Literacy and love of nature, in particular anything ocean related, changed Maria’s life as a child.
She learned English at the age of ten, when her family immigrated to the United States. Maria fell in love with learning and credits her education for helping her find a career she loved, leading teams in the financial services sector. Now her focus is on inspiring children to love learning, as well as appreciate and take care of the world we live in. Her books also encourage adults to value and love the uniqueness of each child. With her newest book, she is hoping to inspire the youngest of readers to be advocates for marine life and for conservation. Her first book, Beautiful Daughter! – ¡Te Quiero, Te Quiero Mucho!: A Story of Growing Up Different focuses on unconditional love. It is available in English, Spanish, and in French.
APW Book Club – 10-25-25 Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: APW Book Club – 10/25/25 Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Date: Oct 25, 2025
Time: 01:00 PM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting: The link has been sent to APW members. It is also listed in the Members only section. Otherwise, contact Karen Lateiner for the link.
Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Kathy Whitaker works tirelessly to build a future for herself and her family in 1953 Cottondale, Mississippi. She’s turned Weaver Variety Store, inherited from Minnie Weaver, into a successful business, and despite her long hours, their family is thriving. Now, she eagerly waits for her husband, Towanna, to complete his last semester of medical school in New Orleans and return home to intern with a local doctor. However, two strangers arrive in town who threaten to upend her life: Richard Coswell, who claims to represent a large variety chain wanting to buy her store, and Ellen Mathe son, a single mother seeking a fresh start for herself and her daughter.
Kathy rejects Coswell’s offer but soon finds herself entangled in a legal battle when Coswell discovers the probate on her inheritance was never properly closed and fabricates a claim that could force her to sell. Worse, her new sales clerk, Ellen Matheson, claims to be Minnie Weaver’s long-lost, illegitimate daughter and only surviving blood relative, entitling her to a share of the Weaver estate.
Then Towanna calls home with shattering news. He’s been offered a five-year surgical residency—but only if he stays in New Orleans. Caught between Towanna’s dream of becoming a surgeon and the threats to her inheritance, Kathy must choose which path to pursue. Sell her store and give up her dreams, or risk losing everything that really matters.
APW Book Club 9/27/25 with Dr Dawn Filos
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: APW Book Club 9/27/25 Tales of a Pet Vet with Dr. Dawn Filo
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Zoom: Contact Karen Lateiner or Jaimie Bruzenak for the Zoom link by 9/25. Guests are welcome. The link will also be posted in the Members Only section of the website for members, if you have misplaced the link.
Tales of A Pet Vet: Stories from the Clinic and House Calls by Dr. Dawn Filos (pen name)
Dr. Dawn Filos’s own menagerie of pets, including Willie the woolly monkey, primed her for a career as a veterinarian. With emotional honesty, Dr. Dawn shares her heartfelt, and often hilarious journey, from nervous novice to seasoned, self-assured doctor. This modern-day James Herriot finds her niche as a house-call vet, with unique, intimate access into the homes and lives of her beloved patients and their human families. She understands with all of her heart that no visit or emergency is too trivial to a pet parent. After reading Tales of a Pet Vet you will never see your own vet the same way.
BIO
Dr. Dawn Filos grew up in New Jersey, in a family of eccentric animal lovers, preparing her for a lifelong career spent with like-minded pet people. She spent most of her career in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bucks County), where she remained after veterinary school for most of the last 32 years. She now splits her time between Scottsdale, Arizona and East Hampton, New York.
Her blog DrDawnThePetVet.com was originally started to augment pet first aid classes, and pet CPR courses she taught for years. It began as more informational and evolved to focus on the benefits of the human-animal bond, a topic which interests her and features prominently and often throughout the book. She has contributed several Medical Mystery pieces to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, and hopes to pursue further writing in journals and other media, and is available for public speaking engagements. dawnfmauro@gmail.com 267-994-2415
APW Typerider July 2025
National Federation of Press Women
2025 Professional Communications Contest WINNERS
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- Jody Sharpe, At-Large -Arizona 2nd Place – Fiction for Adult Readers > 11B – Novellas for “The Dog Who Came For Christmas”
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- Chrisann Dawson, At-Large – Arizona 2nd Place – Fiction for Adult Readers > 11A – Novels for “Congo Ebola”
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- Carol Baxter, At-Large – Arizona 3rd Place – Public Relations Materials > 53 Catalog, Manual, or Handbook for “Day Tripping”
Congratulations to the winners!
Happy writing,
Carol Baxter, APW President
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CHAPTER NEWS
Rim Country
Central
BOOK CLUB CALL FOR AUTHORS
The APW book group was established to provide an opportunity for members to read, discuss, and post reviews of one another’s books. We generally meet via Zoom on the fourth Saturday of every month at 10 am, September through June. It’s a great way to support our journeys as authors and get to know each other.
Some people attend regularly, others not so much, or only a few times, and that’s okay. We are currently looking for APW members who would like to join our group, and potentially present their book for our reviews.
If interested, please contact Karen Shiffman Lateiner, or call 973-997-7204.
White Mountain
White Mountain Festival of Books
2025 NFPW Conference
Registration is now open for the 2025 NFPW Conference, hosted by Colorado Press Women Sept. 11–13 at the Denver Marriott West hotel in Golden, Colorado.
APW Book Club 5/24/25 with Dr. Dawn Filos
Notes from Karen Lateiner, Book Club Chair
Turns out our author for our May Book Group is not ready, however one of our new members, Dr. Dawn Filos agreed to present her book, Saturday, May 24 at 10 am via Zoom.
Reminder: APW Annual State Conference will be held Saturday, May 17th. Information and registration can be found on the APW website http://www.arizonaprofessionalwriters.org. I hope to see you all there.
Our Purpose: The purpose of our book group is to hear wonderful presentations, read amazing books by members, and support each other by writing reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Please take some time to acknowledge our authors.
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Tales of A Pet Vet with Dr. Dawn Filos
Date: May 24, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84792846640?pwd=Qaf9qsoOeZ5xbbIQ95IubMz3zbPq2O.1
Meeting ID: 847 9284 6640
Passcode: 208050
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kjLmLAAh9
All are invited to attend.
Tales of A Pet Vet: Stories from the Clinic and House Calls by Dr. Dawn Filos (pen name)
Dr. Dawn Filos’s own menagerie of pets, including Willie the woolly monkey, primed her for a career as a veterinarian. With emotional honesty, Dr. Dawn shares her heartfelt, and often hilarious journey, from nervous novice to seasoned, self-assured doctor. This modern-day James Herriot finds her niche as a house-call vet, with unique, intimate access into the homes and lives of her beloved patients and their human families. She understands with all of her heart that no visit or emergency is too trivial to a pet parent. After reading Tales of a Pet Vet you will never see your own vet the same way.
BIO
Dr. Dawn Filos grew up in New Jersey, in a family of eccentric animal lovers, preparing her for a lifelong career spent with like-minded pet people. She spent most of her career in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bucks County), where she remained after veterinary school for most of the last 32 years. She now splits her time between Scottsdale, Arizona and East Hampton, New York.
Her blog DrDawnThePetVet.com was originally started to augment pet first aid classes, and pet CPR courses she taught for years. It began as more informational and evolved to focus on the benefits of the human-animal bond, a topic which interests her and features prominently and often throughout the book. She has contributed several Medical Mystery pieces to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, and hopes to pursue further writing in journals and other media, and is available for public speaking engagements.
dawnfmauro@gmail.com Dawn Filos 267-994-2415 via Zoom.
APW Book Club 3/22/25 with Fawzia Mai Tung
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Mirror in the Sand by Fawzia Mai Tung
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82608532051?pwd=RkNb8HPoPj2MnEeuia7xUfC3xqhsHY.1
Meeting ID: 826 0853 2051
Passcode: 855944
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcvUIUEdM7
Mirror in the Sand by Fawzia Mai Tung
About the Book
Why would a French-speaking Chinese/Taiwanese girl study medicine in Amman, Jordan in the 1970s? Why did she feel compelled to leave after 11 turbulent years? Amman, Jordan in the 1970s and early 1980s was mushrooming from a laid-back sleepy city into a modern metropolis. In her eleven years in the City of the Seven Hills, Fawzia too evolved from an accidental Chinese teenage immigrant into a journalist and a psychiatrist, mesmerized by its rose gold dust at sundown, its archaeological treasures littering the landscape, the generous hospitality of its people, yet also some of its harsher cultural baggage: male chauvinism, honor killing, and attitude toward psychiatric patients. Fired with youthful ardor for reform, she threw herself wholeheartedly into work, only to find herself burned once too many times.
About the Author
Fawzia Mai Tung is a retired psychiatrist, journalist, and educator. Born in a diplomatic family, she grew up internationally, eventually settling down in Arizona in 1995. Now a mother of seven and grandmother of ten, she has published a middle grade picture book, The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin, the first of a series of retold fairy tales. Mirror in the Sand is book 2 in her memoir series “Life of a Rooster”, now available in paperback (Amazon) and on Kindle.
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- Eagle hunter
APW Book Club Saturday, 2/22/25- Nancy Marshall
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Finding Zachariah by Nancy Marshall
Date: Saturday, February 22, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83806126638?pwd=2rgd2bPPxpcWotx6mTM9Q15rN9Pweb.1
Meeting ID: 838 0612 6638
Passcode: 020331 (You will need the passcode to enter)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdAovOpBQ2
FINDING ZACHARIAH Synopsis
A feral cat finds a homeless human on an abandoned couch in an abandoned lot. Who knew that Sebastian, the cat, would become Zachariah’s best friend and help set this wounded warrior, a vet with PTSD, on the path to recovery and healing—and reconciliation with his estranged wife and two children? When Zorro, CeCe and their mom, Otoña, arrive at the community garden, little do they know what and who they will find. Meanwhile, Big Joe, a community garden activist, brings many things to the garden—volunteers, gardening science, and second chances for all who participate. FINDING ZACHARIAH in a Community Garden has layers of meaning and holds out hope for all of us who have faced hardship.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nancy Marshall
Nancy Hicks Marshall, a Long Island native and Arizona resident since 1975, brings a wealth of experience and passion to her writing. She is deeply influenced by her early life and love for gardening. Her father tended an organic vegetable garden, from his first “Victory Garden” during World War II through his retirement years. Nancy’s early exposure to gardening planted the seeds of her lifelong interest in cultivating both plants and ideas.
Arriving in Phoenix in 1975, Nancy encountered the unique challenges of gardening in a hot, dry climate. She quickly adapted her approach, learning to plant in the fall and winter while dealing with the scarcity of natural decomposition. As both a home gardener and a volunteer at two community gardens in South Phoenix, Nancy has gained insights into the science and art of gardening in challenging conditions.
Nancy’s journey through gardening has shown her the powerful impact of community collaboration. She has seen first hand how these gardens provide healthy food for families and foster essential skills and productivity among volunteers—from all walks of life. Her experience underscores the importance of resilience and innovation in nurturing both gardens and communities.
Through her work, Nancy aims to share the spirit of possibility and growth she has discovered. She hopes that FINDING ZACHARIAH inspires readers to explore the benefits of community gardening and apply the lessons learned to their own lives.
Contact the author
cell: 602-708-4614; email: nanmar4009@gmail.com; web: http://www.nuggetpress.com.
Get your copy of FINDING ZACHARIAH at: https://www.amazon.com/ or https://www.ingramcontent.com/,
APW Book Club 1/25/25 – Karen Lateiner
The APW book group will not be meeting in December. Our next meeting will be Saturday, January 25, 2025 via ZOOM at 10 am. We will discuss Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss by Karen Shiffman Lateiner, M.Ed.
Date: Saturday, January 25, 2025
Time: 10 a.m. AZ
Zoom: to be sent out in mid-January
Timeless Dance was the first book our group reviewed on October 24, 2020. In light of current controversies regarding transgender issues, and since we have many new members, it is timely to discuss it again.
TIMELESS DANCE: A Story of Change and Loss, is just that — a compelling memoir about life, death, gender change, acceptance, advocacy, and coping within the family, the community, and the world. It is a well told story of generational challenges and reflections on life altering events; a skillfully woven mix of narrative, prose, poetry, and letters. A page turner by many accounts, Timeless Dance illuminates issues not often contemplated, especially those related to transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
About the Author
Karen Shiffman Lateiner holds an M.Ed. in Educational Psychology. Throughout her personal life, and her professional career as a developmental psychologist and mental health clinician, she has actively advocated for safe and nurturing school and home environments for all children, especially for those at-risk for marginalization and bullying.
A native of New Jersey, she moved to New York City, where she met and married her husband Roger. After spending a year living on a kibbutz in Israel in 1972-73, they returned to New York,before ultimately settling in Montclair, New Jersey, where they raised their two children. Upon retirement, she and her husband traveled the country in a motorhome for two years before making Arizona their new home. Combining her love of writing and the Sonoran Desert, Karen created a Hike and Write program to encourage others to write as a means of expressing their thoughts and telling their own unique stories. Currently, she is a member of her HOA Board of Directors and a member of Arizona Professional Writers.
APW Book Club 10-26-24 – Elaine Auerbach
October APW Book Club Meeting: Fairy Tales for Women Who Have Been Through the Mill by Elaine Auerbach
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: APW Book Club with Elaine Auerbach
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2024
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82967883848?pwd=VayyLNzOLOaICytw57eDUQoanKZoje.1
Meeting ID: 829 6788 3848
Passcode: 117047
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb42elaHXk
About Elaine: Elaine started writing poetry at eight and has been writing ever since. As an adult, after a brief stint on as a city newspaper journalist, I joined Reader’s Digest, where I served as an editor for thirteen years. After returning to school for her MBA, she put her new skills to work for corporate America, working for PepsiCo, Inc. for about 30 years doing all aspects of corporate communications. Since retirement, she writes for the joy of it. Fairy Tales is her third book, plus her work has appeared in anthologies.
About the book: Fairy Tales for Women Who Have Been Through the Mill presents new and original fairy tales for today–with lovers who can’t commit, husbands who cheat or tune out and women who somehow end up with all the burdens and none of the benefits. Gone is the trite “and they lived happily ever after” ending. Yet, there are happy endings as each tale leads the reader to self-awareness and empowerment that can be translated into personal growth.
APW Book Club selections 2024-25
APW BOOK GROUP SCHEDULE
Meeting via Zoom fourth Saturday of every month at 10 AM
Contact: Karen Shiffman Lateiner, kslateiner @ gmail.com, 973-997-7204
Mission: To support each other as authors (and authors in progress) by reading each other’s books, reviewing them on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and discussing them at our meeting.
2024-25 Calendar
February 24, 2024 First Encounter by Connie Cockrell
April 27, 204 The Downtrodden by Connie Cockrell
May 25, 2024 Candy, Cigarettes, and Murder by Brenda Whiteside
June 22, 2024 Leaning into Curves: Trusting the Wild Intuitive Way of Love
by Linda Sandel Pettit
July August No Meeting
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Sept 28, 2024 MacKenzie Chronicles, Secrets of The Ravine by Brenda Whiteside
Oct. 26, 2024 Fairy Tales for Women Who Have Been Through the Mill by Elaine Auerbach
Nov. 23, 2024 Hidden Dragons by Kathleen Osbourne
December NO BOOK GROUP – Happy Holidays
Jan. 25, 2025 Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss – an update by Karen Shiffman Lateiner
Feb. 22, 2025 California Missions Sketchbook by Robert Hershberger and Sandy Carver
Mar. 22, 2025 Finding Zachariah in a Community Garden by Nancy Marshall
April 26, 2025 The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker
May 24, 2025 Title TBD by Kathleen Kelly
June 28, 2025 Southern Women by Kathleen Parrish
Books previously read and reviewed
- October 24, 2020 Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss by Karen Shiffman Lateiner
- November 28, 2020 Surrender by Marylee MacDonald
- December 26, 2020 Children with Special Needs: Angels on my Shoulder by Jody Sharpe
- January 23, 2021 Everything by Susan Anderson
- February 27, 2021 Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writer and Journalists 1912-2012.
- March 27, 2021 On Traigh Lar Beach by Dianne Beeaff
- April 24, 2021 Tessie’s Tales: Growing up Italian in New York City by Marie Fasano
- May 22, 2021 What’s the Growing in My Sour Cream by Brad Graber
- September 25, 2021 Miracle of the Salt River by Meredith Whiteley
- October 23, 2021 – Nanise: A Navajo Herbal: One Hundred Plants From the Navajo Reservation by Barbara Bayless Lacy and Vernon O. Mayes
- November 20, 2021 Joyous Lies by Margaret Spence
- January 22, 2022 Boca by Moonlight by Brad Graber
- February 26, 2022 Power’s Garden by Dianne Beeaff
- March 26, 2022 Voices of the ER by Kathleen Kelly
- April 23, 2022 Body Language by Marylee MacDonald
- May 28, 2022 20 Moon Road, An Angels Tale by Jody Sharpe
- June 25, 2022 No speaker due to technical difficulties
- July 23, 2022 NO BOOK GROUP – Payson Book festival
- August 27, 2022 A Rattler’s Tale by Nancy Hicks Marshall
- Sept. 23, 2022 Democrazy, Version 2020 by Elizabeth Graham
- October 22, 2022 Second Son: A Novel of the Deep South by Kathleen Parrish
- November 26, 2022 NO MEETING HAPPY THANKSGIVING
- December 24, 2022 NO MEETING HAPPY HOLIDAYS
- January 28, 2023 My Saddest Pleasures by Mark Walker
- February 25, 2023 Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver.by Robert Hershberger
- March 25, 2023 Summer of Angels by Jody Sharpe
- April 22, 2023 Elizabeth Graham presentation
- May 27, 2023 Goodbye, Walter: A Reporter’s Notebook Ruthann Hogue
- June 24, 2023 A Dry Hate: Power vs The People by Nancy Marshall
- July August NO MEETINGS HAPPY SUMMER!
- Sept 23, 2023 Dirty Linen: How Women Sued The Readers Digest and Changed History by Elaine Auerbach
- Oct 28 , 2023 Both Sides of the Fire Line by Bobbie Scopa
Arizona Professional Writers 