Resolutions

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” ~Abraham Lincoln

As a new year begins, it’s time to talk resolutions and make goals for the new year. Go ahead and groan, but be sure to join us for the PWP Networking Session! January 25, 2012 at 6:00 pm.

MEMOIR WRITER TO SPEAK TO GROUP IN JANUARY

Writer Jill Williams will speak about “The Evolution of A Memoir” at the Professional Writers of Prescott group on January 25, 2012, at 7 p.m. In this workshop / presentation, Jill will share her personal experiences and share her latest book “Confessions of a Love Addict” (Aberdeen Bay Books). Jill Williams is a poet, musical playwright, and author of six books over the past several decades. Her websites are www.jillwilliams.com and www.sedonarugpaintings.com. Professional Writers of Prescott meets the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., and informal networking starts at 6 p.m. For more information about the meeting, contact Tara Fort, 928- 458-9303, tarafort@cableone.net

Ken Hedler
The Daily Courier

Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier Clockwise from top left, Gary Rogers, Tom Erdmann Jr., Lee Reeves and Robert Carlile gather together before a monthly meeting of the Professional Writers of Prescott Wednesday night at the Prescott Library. The authors read their winning entries for the 2011 writing contest for fellow club members.

First-place winners Lee Reeves (nonfiction), Garry Rogers (fiction) and Tom Erdmann Jr. (poetry) read their entries to applause and occasional laughter during a meeting of the writers group Wednesday evening in the Prescott Library. Robert Carlile read his second-place, nonfiction entry in which he reminisced about visiting a candy store years later.

The third annual contest drew more than 100 entries – the most ever – said Tara Fort, who co-chaired the contest with Nancy Turcich and handles publicity for the organization.

She said judges named the top three winners in the three categories based on factors such as the quality of writing, preparation of their work and grammar.

The contest is open nationally, not just to the 141 members of the writers group. Prizes are $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

Reeves apparently moved the judges with “No Sad Faces,” a reflection on the death of her daughter, Leta, at age 20 in 1997 after an unsuccessful bone-marrow transplant.

“I had imagined grief as a constant, like the flat Michigan skies of my childhood,” Reeves wrote.

“The story is kind of about the process of recovery and the determination to make a legacy of my daughter’s life,” Reeves said before she read her entry. She said she formed the National Neutropenia Network to help people to cope with the rare disease.

Following Reeves was Rogers, who entertained the audience of about 40 people with “Dinner” from his unpublished novel, “Corr Syl.” He described a character named Allon Trofeld who is descended from mountain lions “and grinned, exposing very larger teeth.”

Rogers comes to fiction writing after teaching geography at Columbia University and working as a consultant for the U.S. Justice Department. He lives in Dewey-Humboldt, where he is president of the Agua Fria Open Space Alliance Inc.

“This group is very supportive of beginning writers,” Rogers remarked.

By contrast, Edrmann is no beginner. A published poet, he formerly taught high school English. He read five poems for the audience.

His poem “Outboard” starts: “On that gray, far morning/he hauls each foot toward home.”

Discussing his poems, Erdmann said, “This is straight history. I embellish a little, of course.”

Editor’s note: If you have a suggestion of a local person to feature in Achievers, call 445-3333, ext. 2041, or send an e-mail to khedler@prescottaz.com

This article can be found at:
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Winners of the 2011 Writing Contest sponsored by Professional Writers of Prescott, had the opportunity to read their winning pieces at the November 16 meeting held at the Prescott Public Library at 6:00 p.m. Among those reading were: First Place Winner for Nonfiction Lee Reeves who read “No Sad Faces”; Second Place Winner for Nonfiction Robert Carlile who read “Wisteria Candy”; First Place Winner for Fiction Garry Rogers who read “Dinner”; and First Place Winner for Poetry Tom Erdmann who read his poetry series “Salt Cycle”. Other winners were not present for this meeting. Winners received monetary awards for the winning entries.

The winners of the 2011 writing contest sponsored by the Professional Writers of Prescott (PWP) will read their winning entries beginning at 6 p.m. on November 16 in the Founders Suite at the Prescott Public Library.

Winners of the contest include: Poetry 1st place – Tom Erdmann, Jr.; Poetry 2nd Place – Sally Clark; Poetry 3rd Place – Lianne Mercer. Fiction 1st Place – Garry Rogers; Fiction 2nd Place – Marlene Baird; Fiction 3rd Place – Virginia Lloyd. Non-Fiction 1st Place – Lee Reeves; Non-Fiction 2nd Place – Robert Carlile; Non-Fiction 3rd Place: Kelly Hayes-Raitt. The public is invited to attend.

Professional Writers of Prescott meets the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., and informal networking starts at 6 p.m. (This November meeting is scheduled one week earlier than normal due to Thanksgiving week, and one hour earlier due to the readings. There will be no networking for the November 16 meeting.) For more information about the meeting, contact Tara Fort, 928- 458-9303, tarafort@cableone.net

We want to thank all those who entered the PWP Contest this year and we would like to congratulate all the winners. There was a lot of competition – fine writers and many entries from all over the country. And we’d especially like to thank Nancy Turcich and Tara Fort for running the contest. They did a spectacular job.

Poetry

1st : Tom Erdmann, Jr. – Prescott, AZ
Salt Cycles–Rich, Outboard, Flounders, Salt Cycle, The Spawner

2nd : Sally Clark – Frederickburg,TX.
Neighborhood Dogs, Room 232, Love Does The Hard Things, The Widow’s Mite, Widow’s Walk

3rd : Lianne Mercer – Frederickburg,TX.
Not Saying, Living, Tea at Three, Creation

Fiction

1st : Garry Rogers – Humboldt, AZ
Dinner

2nd : Marlene Baird – Prescott, AZ.
The Three of Us

3rd : Virginia Lloyd – Sedona, AZ.
A Romantic Weekend in the Country

Non-Fiction

1st : Lee Reeves – Prescott, AZ.
No Sad Faces

2nd : Robert Carlile – Sedona , AZ.
Wisteria Candy

3rd : Kelly Hayes-Raitt

LEARN HOW TO WRITE A MYSTERY

Have you always wanted to write a mystery? Have you just finished a new Grisham, Grafton, or Grimes and think you could write a better novel?

Tucson author Susan Cummins Miller (the Frankie MacFarlane, Geologist, mysteries) will give a brief overview of the mystery genre, help you discover the mystery subgenre that suits you best, and provide exercises for jump-starting your writing project when the Professional Writers of Prescott meet on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St. Guests are welcome!

Miller, a research affiliate of the University of Arizona’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women, writes the award-winning Frankie MacFarlane, Geologist, mysteries published by Texas Tech University Press. “Fracture,” fifth in the series, was released in 2011.

Also an editor and a poet, Miller edited “A Sweet, Separate Intimacy: Women Writers of the American Frontier, 1800-1922.” Her poems have appeared in regional journals and anthologies, including “What Wildness Is This: Women Write about the Southwest,” and “Roundup! Western Writers of America Presents Great Stories of the West from Today’s Leading Western Writers.” Learn more about Miller at http://web.me.com/scmiller46/Site.

For more information about the meeting, call Tara Fort at 458-9303.

“Y B Social?”

Writers are a solitary lot; we need hours and hours with our stories to give them life. But we are also human and humans require some contact with like kind if we are to maintain any sort of normalcy. Traditionally, we would (and still do) meet at cafes with fellow writers to talk craft. These days, however, the internet has captured part of our social time and is becoming an integral part of not only building friendships but also building professional connections.

Join us at the September PWP Networking session on Wednesday, September 28th where we’ll demonstrate and discuss the how-to’s and whys of Facebook and other social networking sites to promote yourself and your craft.

PWP Networking sessions are held in the Prescott Public Library Founders Room from 6:00 – 6:45 p.m. prior to the regular monthly meetings.

THE THINGS WE CARRY: A MULTI-GENRE WRITING WORKSHOP

Our personal questions, disappointments, traumas, crossroads and joys feed our writing. To write effectively, we need to understand and integrate the experiences we have had in a way that is compelling to the reader, not whining and self-involved. What are your themes, your obsessions, your personal questions that continue to surface over your lifetime of writing?

Laraine Herring, director of the Creative Writing Program at Yavapai College will lead you in some writing exercises to help you hone in on the spine of your writing in a free one-hour writing workshop when the Professional Writers of Prescott meet on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St. Guests are welcome!

Herring holds an MFA in creative writing and an MA in counseling psychology. Her fiction has won the Barbara Deming Award for Women and her nonfiction work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In addition to directing the Creative Writing Program at Yavapai College, she teaches at the Omega Institute in New York and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts. Her most recent books are: “Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice” (Shambhala 2005); “The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free Your True Voice” (Shambhala 2010); and “Ghost Swamp Blues: A Novel” (White River 2010). Learn more about her at http://www.laraineherring.com.

To learn more about the workshop, call Leslie Hoy, 445-4218.

Why write a memoir? What kinds of memoir are there? How do you get started?

Four panelists will provide perspectives on these questions and many more when the Professional Writers of Prescott meet on Wednesday, Aug. 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Founders Suite of the Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St. The panel members are Judith March Davis, Ronny de Jong, Tara Fort, and Catherine Miller Hahn.

In 1996, Judith March Davis and her husband retired to Prescott, where she wrote and published her first book, “Pagoda Dreamer,” a biography of her American mother whose youth in China fostered an Asian perspective that shaped her liberal outlook on life, love and loss.

Ronny de Jong’s career included work as a fashion model and commercial actress. She has published two books based on her childhood in World War II Japanese concentration camps in Southeast Asia, “In the Shadow of the Sun” and “Rising from the Shadow of the Sun.”

Tara Fort owns two businesses: Versatility Writing and Business Services and Memoir Creations. She has a degree in Technical and Creative Writing and helps others preserve their life stories and personal histories through interviews, transcription and final publication.

An excerpt entitled “Voicemale” from Catherine Miller Hahn’s s memoir in progress appears in “The Hidden River Cache 2010.” Hahn has a degree in Theatrical Direction and has directed over 50 productions on academic and professional levels.

For more information, call Leslie Hoy, 445-4218.