Tag Archive | Carol Baxter
May 21, 2025  

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

May 20, 2025  

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.

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.

Recognizing and honoring past president and artist, Barbara Lacy

Other officers and chapter chairpersons in attendance

Other photos

April 30, 2025  

APW Typerider – May 2025

There is still time to buy your ticket to the APW Conference and mark your calendar for May 17th! Lunch is included.

I was touched by how many members reached out to me with words of encouragement and inspiration. Thank you!

I am looking forward to making and renewing connections at our Empowered Communication Conference, Saturday, May 17 at Paradise Valley Town Hall, 6401 E. Lincoln Blvd, Paradise Valley. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and we’ll begin at 9:15 a.m.

  • view Barbara Lacy’s stunning art
  • glimpse Arizona through Roger Naylor’s eyes
  • learn about publishing in a niche market
  • find out from Darlene what you didn’t know you didn’t know about writing as a business
  • discover tips to help your writing business thrive
  • allow Michele to inspire you to begin a podcast
  • seek podcast guest opportunities for yourself
  • explore fresh ideas
  • play a game
  • win a prize
  • buy a raffle ticket for a chance at a mystery box
  • grab your s.w.a.g. bag
  • delight in a new friend
  • hug a friend you have not seen for a while

See you soon!

Carol

Carol Baxter, APW President

 

 

April 8, 2025  

APW Typerider Newsletter – April 2025

I’ve heard the word “authentic” bandied about the past decade, and in being authentic advice on the amount to share on social media.

Practical advice: If selling a book or class, the 80/20 rule applies. That is 20 percent sales, 40 percent behind the scenes of the book or class, and 40 percent fan and potential fan engagement.

For me, March was filled with the anticipation of a first grandbaby and the loss of a family member.

I was deep in the mists (pun intended) of writing a novel that began with a death and a life, but reality struck hard. My heart grew heavier than the novel I wanted to share with my readers, about a crone that lives in a forest in a house built on the legbones of a dragon and the pair of children that adopt her. Eyes tired from tears, I stepped back from my to-do list. I sought solace in time with my daughter, placed my hands on her belly, and told her son, “I can’t wait to meet you!” I called and had a wonderful conversation with a friend who I wished lived so much nearer than Michigan. I found mirth binge-watching “Nobody Wants This” on Netflix. I’ve kneaded bread dough, walked in the woods, and moved the island table in my office back about three inches – ah, breathing room … joy rediscovered in my one wild and precious life.

Those last four words belong to a quote by poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

This month, I will hold a grandson in my arms, write grants, finish designing the pages of a cookbook, swim, write the crone and those foundlings into the next scene, and the next, and the next.

In May I will stare at the Grand Canyon, laugh and soak in the sun from the deck of a pontoon, and celebrate being a wordsmith with professional writers.

How about you? Care to celebrate your gift?

Wishing you health and joy,

 

 

 

 

Read the rest of the newsletter to find out what is happening in each chapter. And it’s not too late to sign up for our State Conference to be held May 17.

February 1, 2025  

APW Typerider Newsletter – February 2025

Get ready for EMPOWERED COMMUNICATION!

Save 20% when you buy your ticket by February 28th!
The cost for members only is $40. There are two ways to pay:
through your bank using the Zelle app (arizonaprofessionalwriters@gmail.com) or
a paper check. Checks should be mailed to
APW, PO Box 1495, Payson AZ 85547.

I believe that through each other, we learn. Especially when we slow down and listen.

 

 

 

 

Carol Baxter, APW President
Email

Download the flyer for the State Conference here or click on the State Conference tab.

Roger Naylor

 

 

“Most years I put close to 20,000 miles on my truck without ever leaving Arizona. And I never run out of things to see and do. I didn’t move to Arizona sit indoors.”
~ Roger Naylor, Arizona Explorer of one hiking trail and one restaurant at a time.

 

 

 

Darlene Ziebell

 

“I’m not your typical business coach spinning feel-good clichés. I’m a no-nonsense, results-driven consultant who delivers the unfiltered truth about what it really takes to achieve extraordinary success.”
~ Darle Ziebell, entrepreneur, business strategist, and author of the 7-Figure Sales Audit course.

 

 

 

Michele Nelson

 

 

“I hope my presentation to APW will illuminate and inspire us to recognize that all of us have a brain, we need to learn to take care of it.”
~ Michele Nelson, Payson Roundup Newspaper Reporter, Strength Beyond Struggle Podcast host, and NAMI Ending the Silence Program Specialist

 

 

 

Barbara Lacy

In addition to our three fine speakers, we will honor brilliant Southwest artist, author, former APW President, and staunch advocate of NFPW, Barbara Bayless Lacy. Her artwork is featured at the event venue.

 

 

 

 

Buy your ticket to the APW Conference and mark your calendar for May 17th!
I don’t want you to miss out!

  • view Barbara’s stunning art
  • glimpse Arizona through Roger Naylor’s eyes
  • learn about publishing in a niche market
  • find out from Darlene what you didn’t know you didn’t know about writing as a business
  • discover tips to help your writing business thrive
  • allow Michele to inspire you to begin a podcast  seek podcast guest opportunities for yourself
  • explore fresh ideas
  • play a game
  • win a prize
  • buy a raffle ticket for a chance at a mystery box
  • grab your s.w.a.g. bag
  • delight in a new friend
  • hug a friend you have not seen for a while

SWAG opportunity for APW Members!
Mail 60 of your bookmark, or promotional item to me by April 30 and
I’ll include it in the goodies for attendees.
(Carol Baxter, PO Box 1384, Pine AZ 85544)

NFPW Annual Contest
Book Final Deadline, February 5, 2025 (noon in your time zone)
Due to the extended time it takes to judge book categories, all book entries must be entered by this date.
Final Deadline Everything Else, February 19, 2025 (noon in your time zone)
All remaining entries must be entered by this date.

Enter I dare you!

Categories and Requirements

You must be a member to enter

If you have yet to renew your membership,
please do so today!
It is $30 for the Arizona-only membership.

To see the rest of the newsletter, go here. Scroll down for Chapter News and Notable News

January 17, 2025  

APW Typerider Newsletter – January 2025


TYPERIDER – JANUARY 2025

Get ready for EMPOWERED COMMUNICATION!

Experience the synergy of being in a room filled with professional writers at our 2025 conference. You are invited to learn, chat with friends, and network on May 17th.

Save 20% when you buy your ticket by February 28th!
The cost for members only is $40 when you pay via Zelle or mail a check.  (arizonaprofessionalwriters@gmail.com)

SWAG opportunity!

MEMBERS ONLY: Mail 60 of your bookmark, or promotional item to me (Carol Baxter) by April 30 and I’ll include it in the goodies for attendees. (P O Box 1384, Pine AZ 85544)

In addition to our three fine speakers, we will honor brilliant Southwest artist, author, and staunch APW member Barbara Bayless Lacy. Her artwork is featured at the event venue.

If you are reading this on Wednesday, January 15th before 1 p.m. you can catch the Tim Country Chapter’s meeting via Zoom (links below). Attendees will be chatting about writing.

A bright, happy, healthy new year to you!

 

 

 

 

EARLY BIRD APW MEMBERS SAVE
Buy your $40 ticket by February 28th and pay via Zelle.
(arizonaprofessionalwriters@gmail.com)

JOIN OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW!

NFPW Professional Membership dues are $90.
APW membership dues = $15.
It is $105 to renew both, click here.
You must be a member of NFPW to enter the yearly contest.

If you only want to renew AZ dues, you can send a $30 payment via Zelle to ArizonaProfessionalWriters. Go to the JOIN tab to download the application to update your information and to find the address if you’d prefer to mail a check.

Enter, I dare you!Categories and Requirements

Early Bird entries until January 20, 2025 NFPW

Professional Communications Contest

CHAPTER NEWS

Rim Country

The next meeting is Wednesday, February 19th.

Meetings are held at 1 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month via Zoom and in-person in the chapel at Majestic Rim.

10th Annual Payson Book Festival

Author tables are selling quickly. Register here: https://paysonbookfestival.org/

Central

Author Betsy Love is the featured speaker at the next regular meeting is February 8th at 10 a.m. via Zoom (link emailed to members later).

White Mountain

Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 pm. If anyone would like to attend, click on the button above to contact Kathleen Osborne.

Festival of Books

The 2nd Annual Writers’ Conference and Festival of Books venue is booked for August 8th & 9th, 2025. Table registration will open to new authors in February.
Contact the White Mountain Chapter

BOOK CLUB Meeting

We will discuss Timeless Dance: A Story of Change and Loss by Karen Shiffman Lateiner, M.Ed. 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, Karen, host fo the Book Club, took the liberty of listing it again for discussion.
Saturday, January 25, 2025 via ZOOM at 10 am
(link emailed to members later)

December 5, 2024  

APW Typerider Newsletter – December, 2024

A Joyful December to all!
We are wordsmiths, tapping out sentences not quite as fast as our brain comes up with them, as we sit alone in a room with the door closed (or maybe out somewhere, yet encased in an invisible creative bubble).

I had forgotten the synergy created in a room full of people who speak the same language, not English but AUTHOR. It’s how I felt at the World Fantasy Convention and my first NFPW conference, both nearly 20 years ago, long enough to forget. Consider joining me at our APW Conference on May 17th (in the Phoenix area).

I spent the second week in November in Las Vegas drinking from a firehose of information at a gathering of 1,100 independent authors. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the notes I took, but it is clear that human creativity and AI are here to stay. Harper Collins just made an AI training deal with Microsoft (there are many articles, here is one).

We have come a long way from writing with a piece of charcoal on a flat piece of tree bark.

Meanwhile this month, there are

  • gatherings with friends to attend (RSVP to the Rim Country for our holiday party),
  • deadlines to meet,
  • APW memberships to renew,
  • preparation for NFPW contest entries,

and for me, working on a novel.

May your keys never stick, and your pens never run out of ink,

To see the newsletter and the coming events, click here.

NOTE: If you join NFPW you also pay an extra $15 for your APW membership. If you join APW as a state-only, the dues are $30/year.

November 4, 2024  

APW Typerider Newsletter – November, 2024

Arizona Professional Writers November, 2024 Typerider

Central has a speaker for their November 9 meeting you are invited!

The Holiday Bazaar is happening on the APW website from Black Friday through Christmas. Shout out to Jaimie Bruzenak for putting this online event together.

I am headed to the Author Nation Conference in Las Vegas this month. I was in a pre-event networking group and we played a game via Zoom called Bring Your Own Book. There are prompts and each person in the group has a minute or so to look up a line in a book (could be a book you wrote or not) to match the prompt. Whoever has the “best” answer wins the round. If you are interested and want to download the game cards, it’s available on Amazon.

Author Cory Doctorow has a blog I manage to read about once a month. A recent article caught my attention, Penguin Random House, AI, and writers’ rights. His language can be colorful, although not so much in this article, so be warned.

To read the rest of this issue with information on what’s happening,  click here.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Carol

October 5, 2024  

President’s message October 2024

Typerider Newsletter – APW – October 2024

One of our members, Bobbie Bennett writes the award-winning Beaver Valley Newsletter. The October issue highlights Beaver Valley Days.

I have a fond memory of going to a Beaver Valley Day Pancake Breakfast. Bing Brown (he and Carol are sorely missed as APW members and human beings on the planet) was happily filling plates with pancakes and link sausages.

I don’t like my food to touch. Yeah, I am one of those people. Bing must have seen my face as the syrup he’d just ladled on my pancakes ran into my sausage and I quickly nudged my scrambled eggs to the side. He encouraged me to taste the sausage. “You’ll like it!”

You can guess how I almost always eat sausage now. (My eggs sit on a plate alone.)

I hope you make lots of fond memories this month!

If you have any writing-related announcements you would like included in an upcoming newsletter, please email them to me.

 

 

 

Carol Baxter, APW President

Read the rest of the newsletter including the date for the State Conference and chapter news  by clicking this link

September 12, 2024  

President’s message September 2024

Greetings and salutations!

In the early Roman calendar, September was the seventh month. By that reckoning, I am ten months ahead instead of sprinting from two months behind, trying to catch up to a deadline.

I participated in a writing sprint contest last week with one prompt per round, then five minutes to write a story that left the reader wanting more. The genre was up to the participants. The host played electronic music in the background with a distracting beat – so much so to me that it infiltrated one of my stories. We had 90 seconds to read our stories to the group before a vote via Survey Monkey. Unused writing muscles flexed? Check. Challenge accepted. Endorphins triggered.

Participants seemed to be:

  • Extremely good at using dictation to process their authorly thoughts, or
  • Possessed nimble keyboarding skills well above 60wpm, or
  • Had programmed their AI services to write from prompts – we could/should have a discourse about AI, but I will leave that for another time.

I was the only participant who wrote a rhyme and the only one who took one of the prompts literally. Color me surprised that my rhyme-on-the-spot and taking ellipses at face value, dot dot dot, earned me unexpected entrance to the next round as a runner-up.

Whether you are sprinting to catch up to a deadline or sprinting to finish your writing project I hope you enjoy the journey and stretch a less oft’ used writing muscle along the way.

Carol Baxter, APW President

Email Carol

To read the remainder of the Typewriter, click here.

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