APW Typerider November 2025
Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving!
I am delighted to be a part of a professional writing organization with members who are so giving of their time, knowledge, and talent. Thank you!
Once you renew your membership, we have two new potential opportunities for you to shine in 2026.
Reginald Manning is the artist behind APW’s logo when we were Arizona Press Women. He was an American artist and illustrator, best known for his editorial cartoons. The Arizona Republic hired Manning as a photographer and artist in 1926. “Hats” won him the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1951. (Thanks to Cheryl Kohout for his name.)
May your words flow,
Carol Baxter, APW President
P.S. The 2026 White Mountain Writers Conference date is July 31 (not the 3rd).
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Click on the link for the full President’s newsletter to read more including
- Opportunities to sell your books at 2 book festivals
- Registration opens for the Payson Book Festival
- 11/22 Book Club selection
- White Mountain chapter- open mic, contest, book festival and writers conference
- NFPW Communications Contest info
APW Typerider October 2025
Greetings!
Third quarter! How can that be? I feel exactly like the woman riding the typewriter in our logo. Better riding the typewriter than being sucked into my computer keyboard, eh? By the way, do you know who designed the logo? I do not.
You’ll see a few emails this month. The Board just met to plan exciting things just for you in 2026: the annual conference and potentially a new adventure in marketing. More on those things later this month or early next. VP Marie Fasano will be reaching out about membership dues.
Wishing you a marvelously spooky October,
Carol Baxter, APW President
Email
Click on the link to find out about what’s happening!
- Holiday Bazaar- get your book listed! #apwbookbazzar
- Upcoming chapter events including Carol’s talk on using Kickstarter to launch a book on October 15.
- APW Book Club selection Oct 25 – Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
- Dates for APW-sponsored Book Festivals in 2026 and other White Mountain events
- NFPW Communication Contest for works published in 2025
APW Rim Country Chapter10/15/25 Carol Baxter using Kickstarter
RESCHEDULED: Connie Cockrell is inviting you to a Zoom meeting.
Topic: Carol Baxter on using Kickstarter to release her book, Oblee Olie Olee’s Roly Poly Rally Race.
Date: Oct 22, 2025
Time: 06:00 PM Arizona
Where: The chapel at Majestic Rim in Payson and on Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting. Members have been sent the link. It is also in the members section. Nonmembers should contact Connie Cockrell for the link.
Topic: Entice angel backers for your book via Kickstarter
I am in pre-launch for my first Kickstarter campaign to fund my children’s picture book, “Oblee Olie Olee’s Roly Poly Pally Race.” I had an amazing mentor and did tons of research along the way. I am eager to share the backend work that perhaps you can replicate to showcase and fund your NEW creative project.
Bio: Carol Baxter has long followed the characters in her head down the winding paths of imagination. It only took five and a half decades for her to open the door and share the first of many stories with readers. Baxter is a mom, a nana, a wife, a successful grant writer, and a memoirist. She has garnered awards as a features reporter and for art marketing. She is currently the president of Arizona Professional Writers. Baxter feels fortunate beyond measure to live in a mountain chalet filled with music, dragons, a black hole where her desk used to be, and her personal Ray of sunshine.
Websites: https://www.gardenbugbooks.com/
https://www.talesofalifetime.net/
Musings: https://medium.com/@rainofstars.carol
APW Typerider August 2025
Carol Osman Brown gave me a plaque that says, “The ultimate inspiration is the deadline.” That was never truer than this past week when I tapped my keyboard into submission. My A, S, and E buttons are blanks. It is time for a reset. A trip to the White Mountains is calendared into my future. Will I see you there?
Carol Baxter, APW President
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CHAPTER NEWS
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White Mountain
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White Mountain Festival of Books
There are still a few seats remaining for Take Your Writing to New Heights on Friday, August 8th. Click the button to register.
White Mountain Festival of Books
Shop the White Mountain Festival of Books on Saturday, August 9th.
Location: Elks Lodge, 805 East Whipple Street, Show Low, AZ 85901 
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For news from Rim Country, Payson Book Festival recap, Central, the Book Club and NFPW Convention, click here .
Typerider Special Edition 7-13-25
Let’s head to the Mountains!
Learn something, network with authors, and feed your hungry bookshelves.
Hello!
Is the heat dry enough for you? Looking for a getaway?
You know you want to come to Payson and support Arizona authors at the 10th Annual Payson Book Festival on July 19th, but a mere 3 weeks later, there is more joy available to grasp with your inky hands.
August 8th, I am headed to what I hope will be the cool pines of Show Low for the Take Your Writing to New Heights conference and White Mountain Festival of Books hosted by the White Mountain Chapter of APW.
Hope to see your smiling face at one or both events!
Carol Baxter, APW President
*** Send the code: CAROLSPECIAL in your registration paperwork
to get the $50 earlybird price. ***
All the classes will be in the Main Room, and at least three will be interactive with the audience. In addition to the speakers, the last event will be a panel of all the speakers. In every swag bag will be index cards where people can write questions for any of the speakers. You can put that question on a card, and the moderator will direct it to that specific teacher or the entire panel.
One of the keynote speakers, Bing Bruce, was on NewAZ, AP News, and BizNews.
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 Typerider – June 2025
June 2025
Click here to see this month’s issue with the recap of the winners of At-large Communications Contest. our annual State Conference and to see coming events.
APW Central Chapter Zoom Meeting 6-14-25 Carol Baxter
Susan Anderson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Carol Baxter – At the Intersection of Wordsmithing and Art, One Woman’s Journey
Date: Saturday, June 14, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81862254003?pwd=KFVyqUyfiQcc9yHzQkoAieOnCmCftQ.1
Meeting ID: 818 6225 4003
Passcode: 979135
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbFsjuLHKR
Topic- At the Intersection of Wordsmithing and Art, One Woman’s Journey
Peer inside the mind of an award-winning author who wears (too) many hats. Carol Baxter will regale you with how she went from crafting stories in her head, to being a features reporter at the Payson Roundup Newspaper, to writing grants, to curating content for art supply companies, to website creation, to writing memoirs for people to give to their children and future generations, to trying to crack the first draft of a novel. Carol has a fun, quick, writing exercise planned. You can download the PDF and print it out on your computer: https://www.talesofalifetime.net/memoir-starter-questions-examples-musings-carol-baxter-blog/my-lil-memoir-zine
Website: www.talesofalifetime.net/
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/caroljeanbaxter/
Blog: medium.com/@rainofstars.carol
Winners At-Large Communications Contest!
Congratulations to APW members who won awards in the At-Large Division of the NFPW Communications Contest this year! Arizona Professional Writers no longer has it’s own contest, but instead competes against entries from 20-some state affiliates that also do not have their own contest. Winning and placing is quite an honor! First place winners go on to compete at the national level contest. Winners of the national contest will be announced in June.
Carol Baxter
First place in Public Relations materials for “Day Tripping”
Chrisann Dawson
First place in Writing novels for adult readers for Congo Ebola
Jody Sharpe
First place in Novellas for adult readers for The Dog Who Came For Christmas
Nancy Marshall
Second Place in Writing novels for adult readers for Finding Zachariah in a Community Garden
Susan Anderson
Honorable mention in writing fiction children’s books for Cool, Cool Cactus Critters
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- Carol Baxter
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- Carol Baxter, At-Large – Arizona 3rd Place – Public Relations Materials > 53 Catalog, Manual, or Handbook for “Day Tripping”
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- Chrisann Dawson
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- Chrisann Dawson, At-Large – Arizona 2nd Place – Fiction for Adult Readers > 11A – Novels for “Congo Ebola”
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- Jody Sharpe
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- The Dog Who Came for Christmas – Jody Sharpe – https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Who-Came-Christmas/dp/0988562057/ref=mp_s_a_1_1
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- Nancy Marshall
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- Finding Zachariah
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- Susan Clair Anderson
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- Cool, Cool Cactus Critters
Photos from 5/17/25 State Conference
We had an excellent turnout at our 2025 APW State Conference. The speakers were excellent and we had fun playing Communication Bingo! Lunch was delicious too. Barbara Lacy, along with three of her four daughters, was guest of honor. Barbara is Artist of the Year for Paradise Valley and a number of her paintings were on display. Paradise Valley Town Hall was an excellent venue.
Kudos! These two ladies made this year’s conference a special event. Our president, Carol Baxter planned and led the event, adding Communication Bingo – a great way to get to know our fellow attendees – and several prizes including a raffle for a fabulous Mystery Box, making it even more fun this year. Vice President Bobbie Bennett searched out venues, choosing Paradise Valley Town Hall where one of our former presidents and Central Chapter chairperson, Barbara Lacy, had many paintings on display. She also ordered an amazing lunch from Panera Bread.
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- Carol Baxter – President
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- Bobbie Bennett – 1st Vice President, organizer for event
Speakers – Our speakers were excellent. Michele Nelson spoke on her podcasting journey. Darlene Ziebell surprised us with the multitude of ways AI helps her market and can be used by writers and authors. “Rock,” her AI Assistant, put together her presentation based on her instructions. And, Roger Naylor entertained us with his stories of how he came to Arizona and to be a writer and the importance of location.
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- Michele Nelson on podcasting
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- Darlene Ziebell, AI in marketing
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- Roger Naylor, travel writer and the importance of location
Recognizing and honoring past president and artist, Barbara Lacy
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- Honoring Barb Lacy – daughter Jessica
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- On display at Paradise Valley Town Hall
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- Barb with turtle painting
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- Her little dog
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- Jill, Whitney, Jessica – Barb Lacy’s daughters. London was not able to attend.
Other officers and chapter chairpersons in attendance
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- Marie Fasano 2nd VP Membership
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- RuthAnn Hogue Treasurer & winner of the Mystery Box
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- Nancy Marshall
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- Connie Cockrell Past President and Chairperson of Rim Country Chapter
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- Carol Baxter with Kathleen Osbourne Chairperson of the White Mountain Chapter
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- Karen Lateiner APW Book Club
Other photos
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- Learning about podcasting
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- What AI can do for you
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- Location, location, location!
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- Delicious lunch from Panera Bread
Arizona Professional Writers 