Tulare-Kings
Writers
Minutes: TKW meeting, 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday
2/18/2017 in the Blue Room at the Visalia Library. Tulare-Kings Writers is
under new leadership.
Introduction: TKW President Gloria Getman introduced
herself to the room, including several newcomers. She then related information
about a "core group" meeting that took place at the Porterville Library
1/21/2017.
Mission Statement: Vice President Judith Boling was
assigned the task of creating a mission statement, which she read as follows: Inspiring,
empowering, enlightening and supporting writers of all genres.
Membership Form: A membership form was also deemed
important, again with Bowling as the creator. She passed out copies to all, to
discover everyone's talents and preferred genres.
Critique Groups: Another task TKW is undertaking is to
create a list of critique groups in Tulare County. President Getman added that,
"If we run out of available critique groups, members can start one."
This was
followed by testimony on the efficacy of critique groups by VP Boling and Hostess
Coordinator, Sylvia Ross.
Boling: Critique groups challenge and encourage you.
Ross: Traditional and self-published author offered that she was
inclined to put things off, and her critique group "prompted me and got me
through it."
Boling: "One of my beta groups said, 'Your critique group
really did a good job, compared to those without critique groups.'"
Springville
resident and TKW Secretary, Carolyn Barbre, was volunteered to form a critique
group in that foothill community, with Peyton Ellis and Deborah Sierra agreeing
to participate. Details to come.
Beta Readers: Boling also encouraged members to
volunteer as beta readers. "The more eyes on your book, the better,"
she said.
Presenters: Boling noted that TKW is "always
looking for presenters," to speak
to the assemblage each month. TKW Media
Manager Marilyn Meredith, with more than three dozen books to her credit, and a
presenter par excellence, will be speaking at the Saturday, March 18 TKW
meeting. She is always enlightening and always provides handouts.
FACEBOOK: Wishing to continue in the tradition of
making announcements on the TKW Facebook Page, it became apparent that the only
way to identify as being under new management, was to create a new page, with
Meredith coming to the rescue. Please note that the only way to pull up the new
page is to put a hyphen or dash between Tulare and Kings as demonstrated:
Tulare-Kings Writers.
Future group events: VP Boling suggested having a one-day
writers conference, perhaps in the spring of 2018. Other suggestions included having a booth at
Taste the Arts organized by the Arts Consortium--the official arts council of
Tulare County, that takes place in downtown Visalia each fall.
Another project
is to publish an anthology of selected authors' works, both fiction and
non-fiction. Getman noted that she'd already undertaken this task for the
Exeter Writers Guild, in creating the anthology, Leaves from the Valley Oak, through Create Space.
Secretary Barbre
suggested attending the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books held on the USC
campus April 22-23, 2017. It is reportedly the largest book festival in the
country, and attendees are warned that there is "a lot of walking."
The last
suggestion for this meeting was to "eventually do a newsletter," as
suggested by Getman. Meredith noted that on her blog she has "all sorts of
guest authors." That she puts up book covers and bios and links to buy said
books, and gets "300-500 hits a day." TKW authors are welcome.
Business Cards: Sylvia Ross, who is also an artist in her
own right, designed TKW business cards and passed the design sheet around for
members to vote on.
Secretary Barbre
has traditionally written brief bios of new members. However this meeting
covered so much ground, she will be introducing all new members next month.
Most of the
officers dressed in a celebratory fashion. Hostess Coordinator Sylvia Ross
provided gourmet cookies and hot coffee along with a small bank for donations,
to reimburse costs
