December 12 Central Chapter with Carolyn Neithammer
Are you a foodie?
Whether you love to eat or to write about food and cooking, join Central Chapter’s virtual meeting on Saturday, December 12 at 10 a.m. with author Carolyn Niethammer. She’ll talk about her latest book, A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary History, and her 50-year career of writing about Southwest food.
Date: December 12, 2020
Time: 10 a.m.
Zoom: Members and interested guests will be sent the Zoom link prior to the meeting. If you do not receive the link, email your request to Barbara Lacy at lacyarts@gmail.com
Carolyn Niethammer Bio:
Carolyn Niethammer learned to love and understand the West growing up in small-town Northern Arizona. She has spent her life writing about the foods and people of the Southwest in award-winning ethnobotanies, cookbooks and biographies. She began her career out of college as a newspaper reporter, then in the late Sixties spent a year going “back to the land” in Northern California where she learned about edible wild plants. For her first book, she traveled throughout Arizona and New Mexico interviewing Native American women on their use of wild plants. Other books followed on edible wild plants, Southwestern food, and Native American women. Her one novel is based on the life of a well-known Western cook.
Why She Knew the Story of how Tucson Became the first US UNESCO City of Gastronomy was Hers to Tell
Her latest book, her eleventh, is A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary History. In it she tells the 8,000 year story of how the residents of the Santa Cruz Valley subsisted on wild foods, learned to grow corn and eventually became expert farmers, and how today’s residents still grow and eat some of the same foods that nourished the local people so long ago. Carolyn has been writing about Southwest food for more than 50 years, so she had a good base of knowledge to tell the story of why Tucson received the UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation. But the most fun, was learning all the things she didn’t know.
November 14 meeting with Betty Webb
Join Central Chapter’s virtual meeting on Saturday, November 14 at 10 a.m. with mystery author Betty Webb! Betty topic is “How To Keep A Series Going.”
Betty at La Rotonde Cafe in Paris, doing research for her third series.
Betty Webb is the author of the popular Lena Jones mystery series: Desert Redemption, Desert Vengeance, Desert Rage, Desert Wind, Desert Lost, Desert Cut, Desert Run, Desert Shadows, Desert Wives, and Desert Noir. Betty shows her softer (and more humorous) side in the Gunn Zoo mysteries, set a fictional California zoo. The first book in the Gunn Zoo series was The Anteater of Death, followed (in order) by The Koala of Death, The Llama of Death, The Puffin of Death, The Otter of Death, and The Panda of Death. Despite their titles, no animals are ever harmed in these books, but unpleasant humans die like flies. Betty’s work at the highly-regarded Phoenix Zoo was the inspiration for this series.
Before beginning to write mysteries full time, Betty was a journalist. Writing articles ranging from hard news to features, she has interviewed everyone from U.S. presidents to astronauts who walked on the moon, as well as Nobel Prize winners, the homeless, the hopeless, the dying, and polygamy runaways. Her Lena Jones mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. She has been a syndicated book reviewer for 30 years, and taught writing at the university level. Betty is a member of National Federation of Press Women, The Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. She is starting a new mystery series, which involved a trip to Paris. The first book should be out next year.
You can learn more about Betty and her books at BettyWebb-Mystery.com and at BettyWebb-ZooMystery.com
APW members will be sent the Zoom link. Nonmembers are welcome to attend; request a link by sending an email to Central Chapter Chair, Barbara Lacy.
October 10 Zoom meeting – change of plans
Central Chapter October Zoom Meeting
Saturday, October 10, 2020 —- 10:00 am
Our speaker, Martha Blue, had to cancel. Instead, we will have a round table discussion. Share what you are working on. If you have ideas for future meetings – speakers or topics – share those too. It will be fun to catch up and meet new and potential members too.
Please RSVP to Barbara Lacy. You will receive the Zoom link for Saturday’s meeting.
Join us at 10 a.m. this Saturday, October 10 on Zoom!
Barbara Lacy
Central Chapter Chair
PS – Martha’s talk will be rescheduled for a date in the spring.
Martha Blue
One of my favorite people, writer Martha Blue, will be our speaker at 10 a.m., Saturday, October 10, 2020. On Zoom, naturally!
Martha was one of our first friends when we moved to the Navajo Reservation in 1971 and although our lives and locations changed over years, our friendship was solid. Martha and her first husband came to the reservation as poverty lawyers and thus they worked with my husband who oversaw the Social Services office on the western side of the Navajo Reservation.
As we moved on with our lives we kept in touch when Martha had story ideas for me to follow up on. When my family moved to Phoenix in 1980, I took a full-time PR job with the state and regretfully did not follow up on her many of her ideas.
You can read more about Martha by click Martha Blue’s Resume . She’s amazing!
September 12 Zoom meeting with Karen Shiffman Lateiner
Our Central District September speaker will be Karen Shiffman Lateiner, M.A., M.Ed., author of Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss
Zoom call on September 12, 2020 at 10 am
Zoom details will be emailed closer to the date. If you are not on the email list, contact Barbara Lacy at barblacyapw@gmail.com to be added to the list and to receive details and a reminder.
Karen Shiffman Lateiner, M.A., M.Ed., author of Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss, has nearly twenty years of experience as a psychologist and infant/child development specialist providing service to vulnerable, at-risk children and their families.
As the parent of a transgender child who came out in the mid-nineties, she quickly became an advocate for gender minority youth, serving on the Affirmative Action Advisory Council and LGBT Task Force of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), and the Stop Bullying AZ Task Force. Her book, part memoir, biography, and primer on gender diversity, has garnered many positive reviews, leading to speaking engagements in a variety of settings, from educational to corporate. Combining her love of the Sonoran Desert, and her desire to encourage and support other writers, she created and facilitates a Hike and Write program in Phoenix. Karen is a member of numerous organizations for writers and authors. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, cooking, and baking sourdough bread.
See more about Karen at KSLateiner.com
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- Karen Shiffman Lateiner
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- Timeless Dance – Karen Shiffman Lateiner – https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Dance-Story-Change-Loss/dp/171743794X/
In the Spotlight: Nancy Pellegrini
Nancy Pellegrini
A member of PEN (Professional Editors Network), Nancy Pellegrini, who spoke at the December 14, 2019 Central Chapter meeting, was featured in their June 2020 PEN Networking News.
Originally from Long Island, New York, Nancy Pellegrini lived in England, Ireland, and South Korea before spending 18 years in Beijing, China. For more than 15 years, she was the stage editor and writer for Time Out Beijing and Time Out Shanghai magazines; she also edited United Nations policy papers and has written and edited for Penguin Books. She started regular editing in 2011 and today runs Nancy Pellegrini Editorial Solutions, LLC, a writing and editing services company. She lives in Phoenix with her fiancé (COVID-19 postponed the wedding a year) and their three cats.
Read the rest of the Nancy Pelegrini PEN spotlight 6-20 interview here as Nancy talks more about editing, what it entails and how it fits into her life. Very interesting is how travel contrasts with her normal life!
July 11 Zoom speaker Ann Narcisian Videan shares secrets of Ghostwriting!
How Ghostwriting Books Led to the Mutilation of Marilyn Monroe
Don’t worry about masks, social distancing or driving anywhere. Join us in your jammies, grab a latté and fire up your computer for the next Zoom-at-home presentation as Author Ann Narcisian Videan explores this intriguing topic!
You can even sleep in! The meeting will start a 10.a.m., Saturday, July 11, 2020. RSVP via email to Jaimie Bruzenak We’ll send out the Zoom link the day prior.
ANN NARCISIAN VIDEAN
Ann Narcisian Videan
See this grin? That’s me, sharing creative works and ideas with you, and a cup of tea.
Book Shepherd, editor, author, illustrator, composer Ann guides peers through the writing, editing, publishing and word-of-mouth marketing of both fiction and non-fiction titles.
A professional writer since 1981, she opened her own award-winning home-based marketing firm, vIDEAn Unlimited, LLC, in 1996. She has served as an editor for corporations, visionary entrepreneurs, and national publishers. She is also a novelist and is just starting a new business—Absolutely Wild! Enchanted Faerie Portals & Other Whimsy—inspired by the Fae characters in her Song of the Ocarina novel. She composed and recorded an original music soundtrack to accompany her first novel Rhythms & Muse.
Ann showed up in this world with a pen in her hand, a song in her heart, and the desire to share with you. She adores creativity of all types, and especially the people who live it. She “gathers” friends like flowers, including authors, musicians, and artists. The Colorado native lives in Mesa, Arizona, with her husband, two-grown-up children, and numerous invisible friends including mythical creatures and story characters.
Marketing Career Highlights
- 2007: Selected by peers for the Public Relations Society of America’s top honor: the PERCY Award
- 2005: Selected by a national panel for The Crown Jewel Award (top U.S. home-based business)
- 2004: Served as the catalyst to reintroduce white rhinos to the Phoenix Zoo 1996: Enticed 15,000 extras to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ, to film football movie scenes for Jerry Maguire
- 1995: Earned a Gold Quill honorable mention from the International Association of Business Communicators, for RealTime tabloid news magazine
The Books
- In 2016, Ann wrote and illustrated Absolutely Wild! Enchanted Faerie Portals Coloring & Creative Writing Pages, inspired by the Fae characters in her first sci-fi/fantasy novel Song of the Ocarina.
- Song of the Ocarina, Ann Videan. Her 2014 fantastical adventure Song of the Ocarina, is book 1 in the Delfaerune Rhapsody series. It tells the story of Lark, a New Zealand teen, who discovers she’s the “Maestra” in the realm of Delfaerune, and the only Noble Fae with the musical prowess and Earth connection to save humans from Dark Fae magic. She’s up against mythical creatures and Dark Fae who pattern themselves after burned-out rock stars.
- Ann is also the author/singer/songwriter of a 2011 women’s fiction novel Rhythms & Muse, along with its complementary soundtrack of five original songs inspired by the story. You’ll follow Grammy-winning vocalist Alex on her journey toward fulfillment when dreams guide her to forego her glamorous, yet stressful, Hollywood lifestyle and return to her roots and first love in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Contact Ann:
602-769-8316
anvidean@videanunlimited.com
Ann online: itsmyurls.com/avidean
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- Enchanted Faerie Portals
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- Song of the Ocarina
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- Rhythms & Muse
Helen Ruth (DeFouw) Cornell 1933-2020
Helen Ruth Cornell
Long time APW member Helen Cornell passed away June 20, 2020. She was president of APW in 1980. In 1994 she was APWs nominee for the NFPW Communicator of Achievement Award. The Communicator of Achievement (COA) award is the highest honor bestowed by NFPW upon those members who have distinguished themselves within and beyond their field. Nominees are chosen for exceptional achievement in the communications field, as well as service to NFPW, the affiliate organization and the community.
A Memorial Service will be held later in the summer to celebrate her life. Anyone who is interested in receiving an update on this email her daughter, Kathy Hanrahan, at kchanrahan@yahoo.com
You can read her obituary at Legacy.com.
CANCELLED – Children’s Book Author To Speak at Central Chapter APW Meeting
Susan Claire Anderson
We will reschedule at a later time.
Want to write children’s books but don’t how to start? Picture book author Susan Clare Anderson will lead you through exercises that will get you started and lead you to the finished product at the March Arizona Professional Writers Central Chapter meeting.
DATE/TIME: Saturday, March 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
WHERE: Barbara Lacy’s home at 5425 E.Mockingbird Lane, Paradise Valley
COST: $15, which includes a light lunch. Pay at the door.
RSVP: by March 10 to Barbara Lacy- lacyarts@gmail.com or 480-620-1358. Members and nonmembers welcome.
Anderson has written, Illustrated and published three age-appropriate, fun-to read children’s books and will share her techniques in a hands-on session.
She used her knowledge of child development and teacher training in developing her books: “Metina, The Small Butterfly,” “Why the Rooster Crowed”, “Rattling Rocco” and her first chapter book, “Everything.”
It’s all about research! February Central Chapter meeting
Jan Cleere
Research is everything! When writing historical biographical books like our February speaker, Jan Cleere, it is easy to see how essential research is. But every book requires research—even fiction. What have you found helpful? Where do you find subjects or check important details of a location or time period? Jan will be sharing her research methods and material sources but would also like to hear how others find resources necessary for creating storylines. Our meeting will be a time of learning and sharing. We hope you can join us!
All about angels- January Central Chapter meeting
APW Central Chapter hosted Jody Sharpe in January on the topic of “The Angels On The Writer’s Shoulders.” Writing about angels became healing for Jody after losing her daughter. The valuable lessons learned about moving forward have set her on a mission to tell stories with love and spiritual awakening, which she shared with the attendees.
Central Chapter Director, Barbara Lacy, said of the meeting, “I have been thinking about ‘my’ Angel ever since!” Two memories came to mind. Here’s one of them in Barbara’s words”
“..two things that happened because of Amazing Coincidence’s. . .that I never could have imagined.
“In 1977, my family and I lived on the Navajo Reservation. I was working on a book about Navajo plant use—being careful to leave out anything about sacred plants. I even had a publisher.
“Then, the Navajo Medicine Men’s Association heard about the book and, as men who were charged with protecting the Tribe’s sacred knowledge of plants, they banned my book. I had finished my project by then. . .and left the Reservation that week.
“Almost 10 years later, a woman professor from Illinois who came to the reservation every summer to research Navajo music, walked into the (now defunct) Navajo Press Bookstore to see what was new. Sitting on the counter was my manuscript!
“’Oh,’ she said, ‘Are you publishing Nanise?’
“’We want to, but we can’t find the author,’ the clerk said.
“My friend (or Angel!) pulled her address book out of her purse and gave her my Phoenix address! (I had met her the summer I stayed behind, after my family had moved to Phoenix, to finish up book details. She spoke Navajo and had been in the room when the Navajo Medicine Men banned the book and told me of their decision right after the meeting. I knew her for all of three days that summer and had no contact with her once I left the Reservation.)
“Did my Angel put the manuscript on the counter that day and direct my friend to the bookstore? Had that meeting almost ten years earlier been directed by my Angel?”
Next month we hear from Jan Cleere who researches interesting Arizona women and writes about them and will talk about sources for research.
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- Barbara Lacy
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- Jan Cleere
Arizona Professional Writers 