APW Book Club – 10-25-25 Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: APW Book Club – 10/25/25 Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Date: Oct 25, 2025
Time: 01:00 PM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting: The link has been sent to APW members. It is also listed in the Members only section. Otherwise, contact Karen Lateiner for the link.
Southern Woman by Kathleen Parrish
Kathy Whitaker works tirelessly to build a future for herself and her family in 1953 Cottondale, Mississippi. She’s turned Weaver Variety Store, inherited from Minnie Weaver, into a successful business, and despite her long hours, their family is thriving. Now, she eagerly waits for her husband, Towanna, to complete his last semester of medical school in New Orleans and return home to intern with a local doctor. However, two strangers arrive in town who threaten to upend her life: Richard Coswell, who claims to represent a large variety chain wanting to buy her store, and Ellen Mathe son, a single mother seeking a fresh start for herself and her daughter.
Kathy rejects Coswell’s offer but soon finds herself entangled in a legal battle when Coswell discovers the probate on her inheritance was never properly closed and fabricates a claim that could force her to sell. Worse, her new sales clerk, Ellen Matheson, claims to be Minnie Weaver’s long-lost, illegitimate daughter and only surviving blood relative, entitling her to a share of the Weaver estate.
Then Towanna calls home with shattering news. He’s been offered a five-year surgical residency—but only if he stays in New Orleans. Caught between Towanna’s dream of becoming a surgeon and the threats to her inheritance, Kathy must choose which path to pursue. Sell her store and give up her dreams, or risk losing everything that really matters.
APW White Mountains Chapter meeting 10/28/25 with Beth Freely
Kathleen Osborne is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Monthly White Mountains Chapter of APW with Beth Freely
Date: Oct 28, 2025
Time: 06:00 PM Pacific & AZ Time
Join Zoom Meeting: The Zoom link has been sent to White Mountain Chapter members. Other APW members and guests who would like to attend should contact Katherine Osborne for the link. It is also published in the Members’ Only section.
Bio: Beth is a prolific romance author with a career spanning her entire life. She has written over fifteen novels and several novellas, using her skill to blend romance, history, and detailed storytelling. Experiences from living in Great Britain, and her current residence in New Mexico influence her work.
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 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
APW Book Club 5/24/25 with Dr. Dawn Filos
Notes from Karen Lateiner, Book Club Chair
Turns out our author for our May Book Group is not ready, however one of our new members, Dr. Dawn Filos agreed to present her book, Saturday, May 24 at 10 am via Zoom.
Reminder: APW Annual State Conference will be held Saturday, May 17th. Information and registration can be found on the APW website http://www.arizonaprofessionalwriters.org. I hope to see you all there.
Our Purpose: The purpose of our book group is to hear wonderful presentations, read amazing books by members, and support each other by writing reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Please take some time to acknowledge our authors.
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Tales of A Pet Vet with Dr. Dawn Filos
Date: May 24, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84792846640?pwd=Qaf9qsoOeZ5xbbIQ95IubMz3zbPq2O.1
Meeting ID: 847 9284 6640
Passcode: 208050
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kjLmLAAh9
All are invited to attend.
Tales of A Pet Vet: Stories from the Clinic and House Calls by Dr. Dawn Filos (pen name)
Dr. Dawn Filos’s own menagerie of pets, including Willie the woolly monkey, primed her for a career as a veterinarian. With emotional honesty, Dr. Dawn shares her heartfelt, and often hilarious journey, from nervous novice to seasoned, self-assured doctor. This modern-day James Herriot finds her niche as a house-call vet, with unique, intimate access into the homes and lives of her beloved patients and their human families. She understands with all of her heart that no visit or emergency is too trivial to a pet parent. After reading Tales of a Pet Vet you will never see your own vet the same way.
BIO
Dr. Dawn Filos grew up in New Jersey, in a family of eccentric animal lovers, preparing her for a lifelong career spent with like-minded pet people. She spent most of her career in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bucks County), where she remained after veterinary school for most of the last 32 years. She now splits her time between Scottsdale, Arizona and East Hampton, New York.
Her blog DrDawnThePetVet.com was originally started to augment pet first aid classes, and pet CPR courses she taught for years. It began as more informational and evolved to focus on the benefits of the human-animal bond, a topic which interests her and features prominently and often throughout the book. She has contributed several Medical Mystery pieces to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, and hopes to pursue further writing in journals and other media, and is available for public speaking engagements.
dawnfmauro@gmail.com Dawn Filos 267-994-2415 via Zoom.
APW Book Club 3/22/25 with Fawzia Mai Tung
Karen Lateiner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Mirror in the Sand by Fawzia Mai Tung
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82608532051?pwd=RkNb8HPoPj2MnEeuia7xUfC3xqhsHY.1
Meeting ID: 826 0853 2051
Passcode: 855944
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcvUIUEdM7
Mirror in the Sand by Fawzia Mai Tung
About the Book
Why would a French-speaking Chinese/Taiwanese girl study medicine in Amman, Jordan in the 1970s? Why did she feel compelled to leave after 11 turbulent years? Amman, Jordan in the 1970s and early 1980s was mushrooming from a laid-back sleepy city into a modern metropolis. In her eleven years in the City of the Seven Hills, Fawzia too evolved from an accidental Chinese teenage immigrant into a journalist and a psychiatrist, mesmerized by its rose gold dust at sundown, its archaeological treasures littering the landscape, the generous hospitality of its people, yet also some of its harsher cultural baggage: male chauvinism, honor killing, and attitude toward psychiatric patients. Fired with youthful ardor for reform, she threw herself wholeheartedly into work, only to find herself burned once too many times.
About the Author
Fawzia Mai Tung is a retired psychiatrist, journalist, and educator. Born in a diplomatic family, she grew up internationally, eventually settling down in Arizona in 1995. Now a mother of seven and grandmother of ten, she has published a middle grade picture book, The Wonderful Tale of Donkey Skin, the first of a series of retold fairy tales. Mirror in the Sand is book 2 in her memoir series “Life of a Rooster”, now available in paperback (Amazon) and on Kindle.
-
- Eagle hunter
APW Central Chapter Zoom Meeting 3/8 – Virginia Mohler
Susan Anderson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: “To Retire or Retread, That is the Question.”
Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81633563990?pwd=rGSwTTbQi414NCHk4nHbPzgs59rf25.1
Meeting ID: 816 3356 3990
Passcode: 415018 – You will need the passcode at sign in.
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcFBAgQFqq
To Retire or Retread, That is the Question
Author Virginia Mohler retired from teaching in June of 2020 after over 50 years in the classroom. She presently writes children’s books that inspire and encourage young minds, as well as history and humor for adults. Virginia writes a weekly blog on her website to inform and entertain. These funny stories and little-known historical facts are meant to encourage and uplift those of any age.
Takeaways from Betsy Love’s talk
Betsy Love spoke on Zoom to the Central Chapter of APW on Saturday 2/8/25. Betsy is a prolific writer. She has 33 published titles with two more that are close to completing. Her website is https://betsylove.com. Besides writing, she provides editing services and speaks at writers conferences. She agreed to share some of the resources she mentioned.
What do you do to jump start your writing if stalled? One inspiration for Betsy is the book The Elephant and the Ant: Leadership for the Self by Vincent Poscente. Poscente likens the dynamic between the conscious and subconscious minds to an ant and an elephant: “Our minds are separated into two distinct functions: the conscious and subconscious elements. Our ant is the intentional part of the brain, but our elephant is the instinctual, impulsive part of the brain that houses emotions and memories and even guides the body to perform vital functions. While we tend to know our conscious minds—our ants —rather well, we often overlook the power of our elephantine subconscious minds. When we do, unfortunately, we squander a wellspring of human potential.” Recognizing this makes a world of difference.
Betsy also shared the 5-count method for switching gears. If you are procrastinating, for instance, on working on a piece, then switch to that tab or program and count backwards aloud from 5 to 1 and start. The counting acts like a switch in your brain and helps you get out of that feeling of procrastination. Mel Robbins, author of The Let Them and other works, explains how it works on this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRzWRZahOVU Betsy also finds this podcast on the 5 things you do before you go to bed here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFFsYZhn8Rg
Setting goals is also important. The Kanban Board developed by Sarra Cannon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3TN_CsT7Dc&t=585s – helps layout your quarterly goals which more workable than monthly or yearly goals. You get a bigger picture but not as overwhelming as looking at a whole year. With it you visually track your progress, current tasks and successes. Betsy posts it on her bedroom door so she passes it many times a day.
One example she gave from her writing life was deciding to write 12 books last year. She listed four on the first quarter that she was working on. She broke down her tasks. Most satisfying is when she could move a task to the completed section. She wrote 11! She admitted she’d never have written that many without having set a lofty goal.
If you get the opportunity to hear Betsy speak, take it. And go to her website for inspiration.
APW Rim Country Chapter hybrid meeting 2/19/25 with Brenda Whiteside
Connie Cockrell is inviting you to the APW Rim Country Chapter hybrid meeting 2/19/25 with Brenda Whiteside
Topic: Brenda Whiteside will speak on using Book Funnel, a platform that lets authors reach readers through giveaways and book bundles for marketing.
Date: Wednesday February 19, 2025
Time: 01:00 PM Arizona
Location: Majestic Rim Living Retirement Home in Payson. Meet in the chapel off of the mail lobby
or attend on Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89156371937?pwd=mWoxbVRXNSg1d8HZVHbjLDYDiISzYp.1
Meeting ID: 891 5637 1937
Passcode: 879712 You must have the passcode to join
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kux0yrWST
Bio:
Brenda Whiteside is the award-winning author of romantic suspense, cozy mystery, and romance. She writes children’s books with her granddaughter under the names of Brenda Sue and Sadi Belle. She’s a born and bred Arizona native who sets her fictional stories in imaginary, but recognizable, Arizona locations. She and her husband live in Central Arizona. They share their home with a rescue dog named Amigo. While FDW fishes, Brenda writes.
To receive special offers, news about her latest books, and to be eligible for quarterly and year-end gifts that only members of BNG receive, join Brenda’s Newsletter Group.
https://us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4804e039587723cfe02e83f2c&id=5e4b22a4ac
Brenda is a prolific writer. Two of her more recent titles:
-
- Brenda Sue (aka Brenda Whiteside)
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.
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
Arizona Professional Writers 