January 9 Central Chapter with Marie Fasano
Join APW Central Chapter’s virtual meeting on Saturday, January 9 at 10 a.m. Featured speaker is our own APW President, Marie Fasano who will talk about interviewing for article writing.
Guest speaker: Marie Fasano, APW President
Topic: Interviewing for Articles
Date: January 9, 2021
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Both members and guests are invited to attend the Zoom meeting. If you did not receive the Zoom link, contact Barbara at lacyarts@gmail.com
Marie A. Fasano has been writing articles for over 40 years. She says the best part of her work has been interviewing people who have completed extraordinary tasks in their lives. Her articles have been as diverse as stories about places pilots fly for getaways and doing the PR for Air Shows to focusing on individuals who have helped others overcome challenges. Marie has enjoyed highlighting authors for the Payson Book Festival as PR Coordinator for five years. Currently, she writes a column for the Payson Roundup Newspaper titled “Roaming the Rim.” Her column is about anything that strikes her fancy. Some of her previous columns have been about nurses, the homeless, drones, sex education in the schools, telemedicine, and RBG.
Come join Marie to discuss the task of interviewing.
Christmas cheer!
Buckshot Dot aka Dee Strickland Johnson
Buckshot Dot gave us permission to post one of her uplifting Christmas songs!
“Buckshot Dot”* © 2012, ® 2020
Sing me the songs of the Prince of Peace,
Of joy and of firelight bright,
Of holly and ivy and mistletoe,
Sweet children whose songs delight.
Don’t tell me stories about lost love,
Tell me only of love that lasts.
Let us go dancing all through the streets,
As in all of our Christmases past.
Chorus: Tell me the tales of Christmas,
AKA “Dee Strickland Johnson”
President’s Page – November/December 2020
Happy Holidays to all members!
We are thankful for the treasures and friendships we have received this past year and we all look forward to 2021 with hope and promise. This has been a difficult year for many folks. Most of us have stayed close to home to be safe. Hopefully, this gave you an opportunity to write more novels, articles, newsletters and blogs.
I had some health issues in the last month and am now getting back to the real world. It hasn’t stopped me from taking part in several meetings of Central and Rim Country, hearing great guest speakers each time. It’s so easy to turn on the computer and be with wonderful, intelligent, articulate folks at these gatherings. Our members are terrific!
Our new APW Book Club, hosted by Karen Lateiner, is thriving with highlighting members books and having very lively and interesting discussions. Feel free to join us the last Saturday of every month. Contact me at mfasano.apw@gmail.com for the Zoom url.
Jaimie Bruzenak has kept us informed on our website and FB page. She can add you and your books to our new section called Holiday Bazaar to showcase our members’ books and websites. If you want to be included send your information to Jaimie at calamityjaimie@gmail.com.
We will be looking for some new officers for 2021. If you have any interest in taking a more active part in this thriving organization let me know. Our Bylaws are on the website under the members section. Here you can get an idea of what each position entails.
Here is another reminder to enter the NFPW Professional Contest under the At-large section. Several members have already entered their books, newsletters and articles. Go to NFPW.org for more information.
The APW Conference plans for April 2021 are going forward. We will look at the health of our community as we get closer. More information will be sent as our plans come together.
To close 2020, I wish each APW member the best of health and happiness.
Keep writing,
Marie A. Fasano
APW President
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.
December 5, 2020 APW Board meeting agenda
All members are invited to attend.
Date: Dec. 5, 2020
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Place: ZOOM (Contact Marie for the link)
Topic: APW Board of Directors Meeting
Agenda
Call meeting to order- President’s Report – Marie Fasano
Minutes from the May meeting- Secretary – Brenda Whiteside
Treasurer’s Report- Cheryl Kohout
Vice- President’s report- Bobbie Bennett
Membership Report- Connie Cockrell
Central Chapter report – Barbara Lacy
Rim Country Chapter report – Connie Cockrell
Southern Chapter report –
Webmaster report- Jaimie Bruzenak
Old Business:
Skirting Traditions Distribution of Book and new storage – Marie
Scholarship Committee
New Business
New APW Book Club- Barbara
Plans for April 2021 convention- Bobbie
Discussion of scheduling virtual meetings
Committee to select New Officers 2021-2022
Other Business
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.
November 2020 meeting of the APW Book Club
Join the NEW APW Book Club for our second meeting November 28, 10:00 am on Zoom (url to be emailed a few days before the meeting), showcasing Marylee MacDonald’s new publication, Surrender.
APW members and nonmembers are welcome to download a 15-chapter sample of the book. If you’d like to join our group and discuss it, then Marylee will be happy to provide the FULL COPY of the book for free. Email Marylee for a copy. Maybe this will be an incentive for you to join! It’s so interesting to see the diverse perspectives everyone brings to a book discussion. We really enjoyed discussing Karen’s memoir, Timeless Dance.
Below is the Amazon book blurb for Surrender:
Her young life changed in an instant. Now she shares her story with the child she gave away.
Adopted at birth, Marylee’s parents told her she was a “chosen child.” She tried her hardest to make them proud, but her parents’ divorce sent her into the comforting arms of a handsome Catholic boy. Convinced that he was her Romeo and she a modern-day Juliet, she surrendered to passion. Unfortunately, it was 1961. Pregnant girls were sent away, and their babies given up for adoption.
Nature vs. nurture: Which plays a greater role in who we become? The family we were raised in, or the parents we never knew? In telling her adult son the story of his birth, can the narrator find compassion for her own wounded inner child?
If you like truthful accounts laced with the passion of youth and the wisdom of age, read Marylee MacDonald’s funny and poignant memoir about how we grow up, grow old, and learn to accept ourselves.
The ebook version of SURRENDER is available for preorder now on Amazon with a delivery date of November 19.
Important links:
- Download a 15-chapter sample at https://BookHip.com/GPKGG
- Here’s the preorder link. https://www.amazon.com/Surrender-Memoir-Nature-Nurture-Love-ebook/dp/B08F7CYSNY/
- If folks would like to know more about Marylee and this book in particular, then please visit her book launch page. https://booklaunch.io/maryleemacdonald/surrender.
- Obtain a free copy of the book if you plan to attend the Book Club Meeting by emailing Marylee at mm@maryleemacdonald.org
- If you are a member and would like your book to be discussed at a future meeting, email or call Karen Lateiner: kslateiner@gmail.com, 973-997-7204
- Zoom link: APW members will be sent the Zoom link a few days before the meeting. If you are not a member and would like to attend, email Marie Fasano at mfasano.apw@gmail.com Put “Nov 28 Zoom link” in the subject line.
November 11 Virtual meeting with Connie Cockrell
This month APW Rim Country’s guest on Wednesday, November 11 at 1:00 p.m. is our own Connie Cockrell.
Topic: APW Meeting -How to conquer Amazon Ads with Connie Cockrell
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Time: 1:00 PM Arizona (MST)
Zoom: The link has been sent to members though all are welcome. If you did not receive the link and would like to attend, send an email to Marie Fasano. You’ll receive the link a day or so before the meeting.
How to conquer Amazon Ads
Connie Cockrell has just immersed herself in Amazon Ads. Think it’s too hard? Think again. Some tips and tricks to start small and, perhaps, gain much. Plus, some links to help you along the way.
Connie Cockrell Bio
A 20-year Air Force career, time as a manager at a computer operations company, wife, mother, sister and volunteer, provides a rich background for Connie Cockrell’s story-telling.
Cockrell grew up in upstate NY, just outside of Gloversville, NY before she joined the military at age 18. Having lived in Europe, Great Britain, and several places around the United States, she now lives in Payson, AZ with her husband: hiking, gardening, and playing bunko. She writes about whatever comes into her head so her books could be in any genre. She’s published twenty books so far, has been included in five different anthologies and been published on EveryDayStories.com and FrontierTales.com. Connie’s always on the lookout for a good story idea. Beware, you may be the next one.
She can be found at ConniesRandomThoughts.com, on Facebook, on Twitter or on Amazon.
President’s Page – October, 2020
We hear so much on the news about the upcoming election. Whomever you choose, your obligation is to vote. As writers we have the power of our pen to bring out injustices where we see them and to voice our opinion in a civil way. So be sure to vote.
I wrote an article that was published in the local paper honoring Ruth Bader Ginsberg for all she has done for gender equality.
We have a responsibility from the First Amendment to speak the truth and not feel cowered by negativity. I have had my candidate’s sign torn down three times and then defaced. I just keep putting one back up. I refuse to live in fear.
The NFPW Communications Contest is on! Go through all your published writings for 2020 and pull up your best material to enter the contests. There are numerous categories from which to choose. I’m sure one fits your writing style. Several of our APW writers have won awards over the years. Although we do not have an Arizona specific contest, you can enter the At-large section. Check it out at NFPW.org
Let’s see how many members we will have this year in the contest. See our website ArizonaProfessionalWriters.org or our Facebook page for more information. In fact, you can subscribe to our APW blog so you get notification whenever something new is posted. You’ll see the latest blog entry when you go to ArizonaProfessionalWriters.org. Look on the right-hand side for the signup.
Monthly meetings: I don’t understand why more members have not taken advantage of all our virtual meetings. We have had two guests a month from either Central or Rim Country chapter with all members invited. From my viewpoint, most are outstanding. They have created much discussion on a variety of topics.
Recently at the last Central meeting a Book review group was created. See it on the 4th Saturday of the month. Again check out the info on FB and our website. You will receive the zoom invitation before the program.
2021 Membership: APW is alive and thriving. Why not take advantage of all we have to offer. Membership renewal will be due soon. You will be receiving a notice from Connie Cockrell, state membership chair, for state dues or from NFPW if you are a national member.
APW Board meeting: Our next APW Board meeting is scheduled for December 5.It will be a virtual one and all members are invited. More informatioin in November.
Keep writing,
Marie A. Fasano,
President APW
New APW Book Club!
After a lively discussion during our October meeting, a few members expressed interest in forming a book group to read and review each other’s books. Book group meetings will be held virtually at 10 am on the 4th Saturday of every month. Karen Shiffman Lateiner has agreed to coordinate the group. If you are interested in participating, please email or call her: kslateiner@gmail.com, 973-997-7204.
The first meeting will be – Saturday, October 24, at 10 am. Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss by Karen Shiffman Lateiner is the first selection. It is available in Kindle or paperback on Amazon. If you are unable to obtain it, please let Karen know and she will arrange for you to get a copy.
The November selection will be Surrender by Marylee MacDonald, and December’s will be one of Jody Sharpe’s books.
Looking forward to seeing you at the launch of our APW Book Group. Contact Karen to join and stay tuned for further details.
Karen
973.997.7204
Karen Shiffman Lateiner, M.Ed.
Author,
Hike and Write Facilitator
Gender Diversity Educator
Arizona Professional Writers 