Communicator of Achievement Award – Connie Cockrell
Connie Cockrell was named “Communicator of Achievement” for 2019, APWs highest award. Her certificate and original “storyteller” carving made by a Pueblo Native American were displayed at our virtual State Conference in May. Connie was also honored at the virtual awards NFPW Awards Ceremony. She will receive a stipend to attend the 2021 NFPW Awards Ceremony.
“Local writer wins Communicator Achievement Award,” written by Marie Fasano, tells more about Connie and the award and appeared in the 6/30/2020 issue of the Payson Roundup. Photo by Randy Cockrell.
Connie Cockrell, winner of the Communicator of Achievement Award
President’s page – June 2020
Our APW Annual meeting was a success. We had a quorum and were able to make some important decisions. If you were there, thank you, if you missed it, try again next year.
We honored our Arizona APW Communicator of Achievement, Connie Cockrell, and gave her a gift of the Native American Storyteller doll. Connie has done so much for the Rim Country chapter as Chapter Director and coordinating the Payson Book Festival for six years. She started writing novels in 2011 with a NaNoWriNo project and now has 20 to her name! Congratulations to Connie.
We purchased a ZOOM PRO virtual account that members can use for their own promotion. All you need to do is let me know when you want to schedule an event to promote yourself and your work. Since someone had to be the Administrator of the account, I got the job. This is an excellent perk for members. I am willing to schedule a one-on-one with any member if they want to learn the process. It worked really well for the APW Annual meeting with shared documents, a power point presentation and discussion among those present.
We have updated the Bylaws so they are consistent with our current goals. Go to the website to the member-only section. You will need the code to get in and can contact Jaimie Bruzenak, website coordinator, or me for the latest code.
We are promoting our book, Skirting Traditions. The book, written by APW members, has wonderful accounts of early women Arizona writers. It is available on Amazon and from other booksellers. In addition, members can purchase copies for personal use or for resale at a discounted price by contacting your Chapter Director or Marie Fasano. One idea to promote the book would be to give a copy to your local library.
With COVID-19 cases increasing and hospitals ICU’s filling up, please stay well, wash your hands, wear a mask and encourage others to do the same. A friend gave me a button that I wear. It says,” I wear my mask TO HONOR AND PROTECT YOU.”
Enjoy your summer and keep writing.
Marie A Fasano
President
Arizona Professional Writers
APW 2020 Virtual State Conference – June 20
Greetings all APW members,
The APW Board has decided to have a short virtual conference this year in June in place of the May one that was cancelled. We hope you are all well.
Date: Saturday June 20
Time: 10:00 am to about 12 noon.
Zoom information will be sent prior to the meeting.
Our agenda will include:
- Vote for new incoming officers (Ballots to be sent out shortly).
- Brief reports from Board Members and Chapter Chairs.
- Approval of the Revised Bylaws (Copies will be sent out for your review prior to the meeting.)
- Presentation to honor our APW 2020 Communicator of the Year, Connie Cockrell.
- Notification of winners of the At-large NFPW communications contest.
- Ceremony honoring our members who have passed.
We encourage all members to be present for this short meeting.
If you have any questions about the Zoom meeting, please contact me at mfasano.apw@gmail.com.
Marie Fasano, President
President’s message – December 2019
Christmas Luncheon APW RIm Chapter 2019
President’s Page – December 2019
As we end this year, we want to thank each member who has been participating in all of our monthly meetings with many excellent speakers.
What we have accomplished in 2019
- We have increased our State and National membership.
- The PHX Central Chapter is up and running again, thanks to Barbara Lacy. (She will need more help in 2020.)
- Southern Chapter had a meeting and Barbara Marriot has agreed to be the contact person there.
- Our Trade Name is current with the Secretary of State.
- We revised our Bylaws and will be voting on them in May at our Spring Conference May 9.
- We were involved with ASU for several programs.
- Our joint fall conference with ANA was a success. Bobbie Bennett helped me with the logistics.
- We had a successful Payson Book Festival AGAIN thanks to Connie Cockrell and all our volunteers.
- The website and Faceboook pages are current with interesting information thanks to Jaimie Bruzenak.
The APW Treasury is in good hands thanks to Cheryl Kohout.
Member News
- Carol Osmon Brown lost her husband and best friend, Bing this year. She had to resign as Secretary and moved with her family to California. I keep her updated about APW happenings.
- We lost a long time member in 2019 Jane Eppinga and will be having a celebration of her life next year.
The Board of Directors: We will be having an election in May 2020. In the meantime, we want to thank Joan Westlake for her many years of service on the Board. She is busy with her consulting work. She will be turning over the membership duties to Connie Cockrell as of January 2020. Brenda Whiteside has agreed to replace Carol Osman Brown as Secretary. We thank them for their willingness to help at this time.
Enjoy your Holidays!!
Keep Writing,
Marie A Fasano
President, Arizona Professional Writers
Summary of APW Central Chapter October, 2019
Connie Cockrell, Rim Country Director
At our October APW meeting, APW member Connie Cockrell told us how she can write multiple series at the same time without mixing up her characters in a lively meeting October 12, 2019, at the Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ, 5524 East Lafayette, Phoenix, AZ.
Connie has written over 20 books in series as diverse as cozy mysteries, science fiction, Westerns, young women and historical.
Want to try some of her techniques?
• Start with a story board.
• Put small notes on a wall of the locations of the story and mini-descriptions of your characters. Add a location or character, update your wall as you work.
• Connie prefers action scenes to descriptive paragraphs..
• Then, write!
New to novel writing? Here is how Connie started: November is Novel Writing Month! Her daughter challenged Connie to enter the contest with her by writing the required 1,667 words per day! So she did . . .and at the end of the month she had her novel . But alas, her daughter didn’t. So Connie is the novelist.
Here is the teaser for next month: Our own Jodi Weisberg will show her comedy stripes and give tips on using them in your writing.
Jodi Weisberg
Save the date: 10 a.m., Saturday, November 9, 2019, Shepard of the Hills, United Church of Christ, 5524 East Lafayette, Phoenix, AZ.
In December, we will hear from a new member who has written from China.
Central Chapter Series Author Talks – October 12, 2019
Central Chapter Series Author Talks
Members and non-members of Arizona Professional Writers are invited to hear prolific novelist Connie Cockrell, Payson, AZ, tell how she manages to to keep her several series going at the same time.
The meeting will be from 10 a.m-1 p.m., Saturday, October 12, 2019, at Shepherd of the Hills United Church of Christ, 5524 East Lafayette Blvd., Phoenix, AZ.
A salad lunch will be served, $10. R.S.V.P required: 480-620-1358.
Connie says her life, which includes 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 her 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 20 books so far, has been included in six different anthologies and been published on EveryDayStories.com and FrontierTales.com. Her book, Gold Dreams, won a 2019 new Mexico-Arizona Book Finalist Award.
Connie is always on the lookout for a good story idea. Beware, you may be the next one!
She can be found at ConniesRandomThoughts.com or on Facebook and on Twitter at: @ConnieCockrell or find her books on Amazon.
Save the date- Central Chapter Meeting Oct 12
Save the date- Central Chapter meeting October 12. We will be meeting from 10-1 at the Shepherd of the Hills in Phoenix. Connie Cockrell, APW member and prolific author, is our speaker. More details will follow soon.
Photos from “An Illustrator’s Perspective”
Michael Hale was the speaker for “An Illustrator’s Perspective,” Rim Country District’s November 15, 2017 presentation held at Majestic Rim Retirement Community in Payson. As an author and illustrator of children’s books, Michael Hale provided an insider’s view of what it takes to create a book from concept to final production to an interested audience.
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- Connie Cockrell introducing the speaker, Michael Hale. Photo by Carol Osman Brown.
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- Michael Hale with a fascinated audience. Photo by Bing Brown.
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- Demonstrating the illustration process. Photo by Bing Brown.
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- Michael Hale showing “Bad Monkey Business,” which he wrote and illustrated. Photo by Carol Osman Brown.
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- Michael Hale showing examples of illustrations. Photo by Bing Brown.
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- Speaker Michael Hale with Carol Osman Brown. Photo by Bing Brown.
