• Deb Simpson, with Closing The Gate, a Heavens Gate Cult Biography
•  Susan Ashley Michael, with Crossing The Bridge of Sighs,a Venetian novel
• June Hall McCash with A Titanic Love Story, a memoir
• David Fann with Walking With God, inspirational poetry.

For a limited time only, we are offering you the opportunity to take advantage of our many membership benefits for a reduced price! These offers include full membership benefits and won’t last long! By the time Summer arrives with its bikinis and barbecues, this offer will be gone forever! Please act now!

Membership in the TWA offers numerous benefits:

• Networking with writers, editors, publishers, librarians, and other word lovers across the state.
• Publication opportunities with The Tennessee Writer and Maypop.
• Invitations to participate in the TWA-sponsored annual conference, annual literary competitions, and writing workshops.
• Discounts on TWA competition entry fees and workshop/conference registration fees.
• Free business-size ad in The Tennessee Writer.
• Listing of your website and brief bio on our Member Links page.
• Participation in TWA gatherings at the annual Southern Festival of Books in Nashville each October.

And coming this year…more opportunities for networking, publication, and marketing for authors!

Membership options include

The Golden Rose Lifetime membership-a $300 value for only $275!

· Membership must be purchased by 5/31/12

· Membership never expires and provides full regular member benefits *

The Maypop Morning 2 year value membership –a $60 value-for only $45

· Membership must be purchased by 5/31/12

· Membership expires 5/31/14

The Tulips in Twilight 1 year membership—a $30 value-for only $25

· Membership must be purchased by 5/31/12

· Membership expires 5/31/13

The Sweet Pea symphony–6 month Trial membership -for only $15

· Membership must be purchased by 5/31/12

· Membership expires 11/30/12

The Lucky Lavender -1 year membership for students –for only $10

· Membership must be purchased by 5/31/12

· Membership expires 5/31/13

To take advantage of this incredible offer:

1) complete the attached application form

2) Make check out to Tennessee Writers Alliance

Since this is a time sensitive offer, all transactions must be processed online. We accept PayPal.

Address for all other correspondance:

Tennessee Writers Alliance

P. O. Box 120396

• The Fiction500 contest is open for submissions May 1-14.
• Submit an original work of fiction no longer than 500 words, based on the prompt.
• Fiction500 accepts only 500 entries.
• Faculty from the country’s top MFA Creative Writing Programs judge the contest
• The winning author receives $500. Second-place author receives $200, and third-place author receives $100.
• Fiction500 publishes winners and honorable mentions on its website.

Details: http://www.Fiction500.com

The Tennessee Writers Alliance (TWA) Board has been doing some exciting things lately to improve the support we provide to our members and I wanted to tell you about what we have been doing!

First, there have been several changes to the TWA Board with the addition of new board members and reorganization.  Our roles and responsibilities are now defined by the core activities of the TWA, with board members providing leadership in a specific area:

1)      Membership –Deb Simpson, President

2)      Education –Myra McLarey, Vice President

3)      Media & Marketing –William Visher, Director Media & Marketing

4)      Finance & Fundraising –Diana Rose, Treasurer

5)      Publication  & Projects

6)      Colleges & Universities —Matthew Watts, Collegiate Ambassador

We recruited an Executive Director, David Fann, who began his new role on May 01, 2012, and will be handling many of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the TWA.  We also established direct email contacts for each area listed above, and for the Executive Director and myself, so that members can directly access the area or person they need to reach.

Please watch our website and social media for upcoming announcements and opportunities , including:

• Special membership pricing  options
• Workshops and Webinars
• Networking with other writers, through volunteering, TWA blogs and resource listings
• Promotional tools and resources (self serve website ads) for  TWA authors
• Contests & awards
• Speakers listings, writers group listings, and more
• Coming soon—TWA on You Tube-!

Please watch your email and postal mail for more info!

Please send your questions, concerns, or ideas t us @ TWAIdeas@gmail.com

Happy Writing!

Deb Simpson

President, Tennessee Writers Alliance

As our membership drive kicks into gear, we ask that you would consider joining or renewing your membership to the TWA.

The Alliance exists for the purpose of promoting and supporting the work of all Tennessee writers and writers’ organizations operating within Tennessee, and to encourage the professional and artistic development of contemporary writers working in Tennessee.

We also want to stimulate public awareness of the work of Tennessee writers through our educational, charitable, and benevolent work.

In order for this to take place, we need the support of writers of all kinds and their supporters.

Won’t you please consider partnering with us or supporting us with a gift or donation? The benefits will be enormous for us, our community, and our state. Some of those benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Publication opportunities
• Networking with like-minded people
• TWA sponsored events and workshops
• Participation in TWA readings at annual Southern Festival of Books
• Annual awards for Writer of the Year and Literary Legend
• …and much. much, more!

Join us today and you’ll be glad you did!

The Tennessee Mountain Writers hosted their annual conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Ridge.  This year’s theme  was “Write Now” and included workshops on “Poetry,” “Writing and Publishing Children’s Books,” “Writing Memoirs,” “The Craft And Skill of Song Writing,” “How-To’s of E-Books Publishing,” “Social Media for Writers,” “Making Manuscripts Marketable,” “The Right Word vs. the Almost Right Word,” “Introduction to Creative Nonfiction,” “The Case for Self-Publishing,” “Writing Nakedly,” “The Architecture of Story” and “Reimagining the Real.”

I attended this year’s conference along with over 400 members and prospective members. The conference opened with a Thursday night reception and wrapped up with a banquet on Saturday night with keynote speaker, Lorraine Lopez, a teacher in the master of fine arts program at Vanderbilt University and associate editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review and a book author.

Conference attendees were given the opportunity to have manuscript evaluations, meet with vendors and speakers, and purchase member and speaker books.  This conference provided educational opportunities for beginning and seasoned writers and is a “must” for any writer. I’m looking forward to their 2013 conference. Details are already available on tmwi.org.

23rd ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST     Deadline: Postmarked by March 30, 2012

Guidelines:
All work must be unpublished. Each poem should not exceed two pages. Multiple entries are accepted.
Your name, address, phone, e-mail and title of work should also appear on a separate cover sheet. The
entry fee is $25 for every 3 poems. All entries receive comments from the judges. Enclosed self-sealing
SASE for comments and winners’ list, and mail to: Poetry Contest, 387 Beaucatcher Road, Asheville,
N.C. 28805. Emailed submissions may be sent to writersw@gmail.com ”Poetry Contest” in the subject.
Entry fee is payable online at www.twwoa.org.

HARD TIMES WRITING CONTEST    Deadline: Postmarked by June 30, 2012

Guidelines:
Write about a difficult experience in your life, how you overcame this obstacle, and how you were changed by it. Winning stories will be chosen for originality and creative writing style. Stories should be previously unpublished, and should not exceed 5,000 words (double-spaced, 12 point font.) Multiple entries are accepted. Your name, address, email, phone and title of work should also appear on a cover sheet. Enclose a self-addressed, self-sealing stamped envelope for critique and list of winners, and the reading fee of $25 (or $20 for Workshop members) per entry. Please make check or money order payable to Writers’ Workshop, and send to: Hard Times Contest, 387 Beaucatcher Road. Asheville, N.C. 28805. Emailed submissions may be sent to writersw@gmail.com, with “Hard Times Contest” in the subject. Entry fee is payable online at www.twwoa.org.

The awards for all contests are:
1st PLACE: Your choice of a 3 night stay at the Mountain Muse B&B in Asheville; or 3 free workshops
(online or in person); or 100 pages line-edited and revised by our editorial staff.
2nd PLACE: 2 night stay at the B&B; or 2 free workshops; or 50 pages line-edited and revised by our editorial staff.
3rd PLACE: One free workshop, or 25 pages line-edited and revised by our editorial staff.
In addition, ten Honorable Mentions will also be given.

Young Writers’ Contests are posted at our website, www.twwoa.org.

Former TWA President Debbie Whitaker

The TWA Board would like to say thank you to Debbie Whitaker for the many years of dedication she’s given to TWA. We’re looking forward to seeing her at various TWA functions, including the Southern Festival of Books, but wish her well in her “retirement” from the TWA Board. Thank you, Debbie!