JUNE 2017 - District 5 Meeting Minutes
Dear KAC District 5 Members,
Here's a summary of June's District 5 meeting.
Minutes June 10, 2017
The meeting was called to order at 1:30 PM by Diane Wahto, President. Brief introductions around were conducted.
Announcements:
During the introductions, Loren Harder stated that his novel, I Rode With the Wigglin’ W is on Kindle Scout. He advised that we can go in Kindle Scout to read a sample of the book, write a review, or nominate it to be published. Kindle has an exclusive right of review and his book is listed for twenty more days. He advised to check out indie publishing through Kindle Scout.
In a brief business meeting:
Our speaker, Grant Overstake, has been an award winning journalist for the Miami Herald, and a Kansas newspaper editor. He and his wife, Claire, own Go Team Enterprises, an Indie Publishing company here in Wichita. Grant’s book, Maggie Vaults Over The Moon, is a novel about a teen-age girl who is able to overcome tragedy in her life through sports. After many years as a novelist, “Maggie” was his first fiction, and has achieved wide acclaim.
Mr. Overstake mentioned two of his favorite go-to resources for writing, Stephen King’s book, On Writing, and Writer Granny's World, a blog by Nancy Julien Kopp.
How can we find reviewers? Overstake recommends narrowing your niche (you can read about how to do this), take part in writing workshops wherever you can find them, search for beta readers among other authors/creative writing people or just those who have a great interest in your topic. You can also send copies of your manuscript to potential publishers, “though you may get a hundred rejections for each one that at least shows an interest”. Get to know people in the local community who support local writers. One of these people is Sarah Bagby, owner of Watermark Books.
“Who you know matters”, says Overstake. “Crafting matters.” “It helps to be able to find a publicist.”
Much more could be said about the meeting, but space is limited. Don’t miss the next meeting July 8, 2017, in the meeting room next to the Larksfield Place dining room. Look on the blog’s Save-A-Date for upcoming program topics and for the treat list. If there is a vacancy on the treat list (we would like to have two people per meeting), please sign up. Hope to see you all there next month. Keep writing!!
Connie White, Secretary
Here's a summary of June's District 5 meeting.
Minutes June 10, 2017
The meeting was called to order at 1:30 PM by Diane Wahto, President. Brief introductions around were conducted.
Announcements:
- There will be a Poetry Reading at City Arts on Saturday, June 17 at 1:00 PM. For further information, see the District 5 Blog, or City Arts site.
- Writings for State Contest MUST be entered through submittables.com no later than midnight June 15th. Anything submitted by snail mail must arrive in the judge's hands no later than that, so delivery by mail is difficult to assure at this point.
- State Convention will be held in Coffeyville, Kansas in October, and hotel reservations can be made anytime now.
- State Board Meeting is scheduled for August 5, in Cherryvale, Kansas, at “Just Us”, 515 Woody St., Cherryvale, 12:30 – 3:30 PM. All wanting to attend are welcome to come and observe.
During the introductions, Loren Harder stated that his novel, I Rode With the Wigglin’ W is on Kindle Scout. He advised that we can go in Kindle Scout to read a sample of the book, write a review, or nominate it to be published. Kindle has an exclusive right of review and his book is listed for twenty more days. He advised to check out indie publishing through Kindle Scout.
In a brief business meeting:
- Minutes of the meetings are on the blog and archived there for at least several months, so you can see what happened if you miss a meeting.
- Treasurer reports a current balance of $7,074.23.
- The treats list is also on the blog, so please look at this and sign up where there is a vacancy.
- Deadline for State Contest entries is June 15, so HURRY and enter through submittables.com. There is a way on Submittable to do multiple entries and one payment by submitting personal information one time. Check out the site for this.
- July 1 is the deadline to nominate someone in the club for an Award of Merit. Instructions are found on page 15 (an upside-down page) in the 2017 yearbook. The award is for someone who has given special service to District 5.
- Everyone was encouraged to invite people to attend the meetings through any/all of their social media.
Our speaker, Grant Overstake, has been an award winning journalist for the Miami Herald, and a Kansas newspaper editor. He and his wife, Claire, own Go Team Enterprises, an Indie Publishing company here in Wichita. Grant’s book, Maggie Vaults Over The Moon, is a novel about a teen-age girl who is able to overcome tragedy in her life through sports. After many years as a novelist, “Maggie” was his first fiction, and has achieved wide acclaim.
Mr. Overstake mentioned two of his favorite go-to resources for writing, Stephen King’s book, On Writing, and Writer Granny's World, a blog by Nancy Julien Kopp.
How can we find reviewers? Overstake recommends narrowing your niche (you can read about how to do this), take part in writing workshops wherever you can find them, search for beta readers among other authors/creative writing people or just those who have a great interest in your topic. You can also send copies of your manuscript to potential publishers, “though you may get a hundred rejections for each one that at least shows an interest”. Get to know people in the local community who support local writers. One of these people is Sarah Bagby, owner of Watermark Books.
“Who you know matters”, says Overstake. “Crafting matters.” “It helps to be able to find a publicist.”
Much more could be said about the meeting, but space is limited. Don’t miss the next meeting July 8, 2017, in the meeting room next to the Larksfield Place dining room. Look on the blog’s Save-A-Date for upcoming program topics and for the treat list. If there is a vacancy on the treat list (we would like to have two people per meeting), please sign up. Hope to see you all there next month. Keep writing!!
Connie White, Secretary