Over the past year, details about the 2013 KAC Convention have filled the space on the District 5 blog. Now that the Convention is over, we have extra space for submissions from our members. We are looking for original writing, artwork and photography as well as news of upcoming events and writing news of interest to our members. Please send all submissions to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.
During the November meeting for District 5, the Nominations Committee will make recommendations for the 2014 District 5 Board. The board positions for 2014 are: president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, publicist, membership list, member liaison, and blog/newsletter. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for one of these positions, please contact Nomination Committee Chair, Cindi Kerr, at the District 5 email: [email protected]. The Nominations Committee is now taking nominations for the board positions until December 11, 2013. These recommendations will be voted on at the meeting on December 14. Nominations will not be accepted at the December meeting, so get your nominations in now.
Think you have a winning short story? Now's the time to submit it to Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition. Keep it short - no longer than 1500 words - and submit it no later than November 15, 2013. First prize is $3,000 cash and a paid trip to the Writer's Digest Conference in New York City. You'll find the official rules and entry form here. Good Luck! The 2014 KAC State Board was confirmed at the convention earlier this month. Although many of the board members graciously agreed to retain their positions, some changes were made. Prem Bajaj, Ph.D. stepped down after serving three years as the state president. William Karnowski was chosen for the 2014 KAC State President, vacating the vice-president position. District 5 member, Roy Beckemeyer was selected for the state vice-president position. Roy said, "I am pleased to be serving the KAC as State Vice-President for the coming year and hope to give back to the organization some modicum of return for all the support I have received from my membership." Another change to the KAC State Board is that Kristine Polansky has vacated the Youth Contest Manager position. This is a wonderful position which allows the Kansas Authors Club to help promote writing to students in Kansas. Anyone who has questions about the position should contact Kris Polansky. If you would like to volunteer for the position, contact Bill Karnowski. The 2013 KAC Poet of the Year, Roy Beckemeyer from District 5, pursued his poetry in a series of stops and starts until just a few years ago. Roy started writing love poems to his wife, Pat, while they were in high school. After high school, the demands of college, the military, an engineering career and his family took precedence and Roy set his poetry aside. After he completed graduate school, Roy returned to writing poetry for a couple years and was published locally. Then he obtained a job at Boeing and a 15-year hiatus from poetry. After Boeing, Roy returned to his poetry for about six months before writing and editing scientific papers resulted in a 10-year dry spell. Finally, in 2009, Roy returned to poetry, this time for good. Roy credits his friend, Pat Latta, for telling him about Helen Throckmorton’s poetry classes with Life Ventures in Wichita. Roy started attending her classes in 2009 and has been writing poetry consistently ever since, trying to make up for those lost years. According to Roy, “…getting together with a small group of poet friends once a week …is a great incentive to keep producing poems and has sustained me now for over four years – the longest run of consistent poetry writing ever for me.” Soon after he started attending Life Ventures, Roy joined Kansas Authors Club and attended his first convention in 2010. He said the convention, “…is a wonderful opportunity to meet other like-minded writers, to learn from workshops, to read your work in public and listen to others read theirs.” Roy won several prizes for his poetry in 2010 and every year since. “I find the annual prose/poetry contest to be a first-class way to get feedback on your writing.”Roy states. “The judges' comments are very helpful and seeing that a poem can win an award offers additional affirmation for all the work.” Roy received the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award at this year's Awards Luncheon during the 2013 KAC Convention in Wichita. Roy was "...really surprised, honored, and humbled to have been recognized with the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award. I was not even aware that there was to be such an award. It was wonderful to be standing there at the luncheon with Nancy Julian Kopp, the KAC Prose Writer of the Year." According to Roy, being the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year has put him on the spot to produce a book of poems. “Every time I have thought about doing that in the past, I decided that I wasn't ready. Didn't have enough poems, didn't have enough worthy poems, etc. Don't think that bucket will hold water much longer.” The KAC Prose and Poetry Writing Awards are the highlight of every KAC Convention and this year was no exception. Presented by Ronda Miller and Alan D'Souza, the awards were an entertaining mix of formal dress, loud applause, and fast music to accompany the winners down the red carpet. District 5 was well-represented on the red carpet with twenty-one items that placed among the top five, including four first-place winners. Congratulations, District 5! The KAC District 5 November meeting will give the winners of the KAC writing contest a chance to read their work as well as to give any other member the chance to read from their works. It will be a good, old-fashioned Read-A-Round. There will be refreshments and opportunities for networking with other writers so bring your writing and join us from 2:00-4:00pm on November 9 at the Rockwell Library, 5939 E. 9th Street, Wichita. The 2013 KAC "Our Town" Convention was a hit. From the Youth Awards Friday night to the Awards Luncheon Sunday, there was something for everyone. Check out the "Our Town" slideshow to view photographs from the 2013 KAC Convention. These wonderful photographs were taken at the convention by District 5 member, Paulette Mattingly. If anyone else has photos you would be willing to share, please send them to the District 5 email at [email protected]. If you’ve had a book published in either 2011, 2012, or 2013 and want your book review to appear in the Senior Monthly please send a copy of your book to: “A Look At Books”, c/o Tom Mach, Review Editor, P.O. Box 486, Lawrence, KS 66044. No poetry collections please. For more about the Senior Monthly, click on: www.SeniorMonthly.net
The 2013 KAC Convention is over but there's still one more thing to do: fill out the 2013 After-Convention Survey and let us know what KAC can do to make the convention even better in years to come. Your suggestions will be passed on to each district president. So, before you find a place for your rocker or start reading one of the books you purchased in the Our Town Book Store, follow the link and let us know what you think. The deadline for completing the survey is October 31, 2013. Thank you. |
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