A Community of Tennessee Writers
Dear fellow writers:
Details: http://www.Fiction500.com
Greetings
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:
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
Your Tennessee Writers Alliance wants YOU!
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:
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.
The TWA is proud to announce the addition of two new board members. William Visher is coming on as the Director of Media and Marketing. William is a published author and is the owner and operator of Visher Ink Publishing. Matthew Watts is the leader of the Murfreesboro Writer’s Group and is an MTSU student. Matt will be our liaison to MTSU and will do some blogging for us in the not to distant future.
The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville, N.C. is sponsoring the following contests. Any writer may enter, regardless of residence or experience. For more info, visit our website at: www.twwoa.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!