WOTS January Meeting

If you weren't in January's meeting, you missed a great time, good fellowship, and Betsy St Amant's wonderful speech.

Betsy St. Amant has a heart for three things – chocolate, new shoes and sharing the amazing news of God’s grace through her novels. She lives in Louisiana with her adorable story-telling young daughter, a collection of Austen novels, and an impressive stash of Pickle Pringles. A freelance journalist and fiction author, Betsy is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and is multi-published in Contemporary Romance via Love Inspired and Harper Collins (Zondervan). When she’s not reading, writing, or singing along to a Disney soundtrack with her daughter, Betsy enjoys inspirational speaking and teaching on the craft of writing. Betsy is proud to be represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency.

Betsy encouraged us to be more organized with our time this year. She provided each of us with a bookmark holding the acrostic PAMPER:

P--prioritize the things in your life to assure yourself of writing time
A--adjust to interferences
M--multitask: write as you wait
P--promise, i.e. commit to meet your goals
E--enjoy. This is supposed to be fun!
R--reject negativity and guilt

We could all relate to her stories. After all, who among us hasn't sat down to a writing session only to have it interrupted by phone calls or minor emergencies?  How many of us haven't scrambled to finish a project by its due date? And, who among us hasn't temporarily fallen out of love with our craft?

Betsy was charming and personable, fun to listen to and visit with. Be sure to "like" her Facebook page and check out her books on FictionFinder.

Just an aside: Among the books Betsy brought was her September release, All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes, the title of which had Janice bopping her forehead V-8 style. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Aside from meeting Betsy and listening to her words of wisdom, we also introduced the 2015 WOTS officers:

Janice Thompson, President 
Linda Yezak, Vice President 
Linda Kozar, Secretary 
Kathrese McKee, Treasurer

And speaking of  the treasury, our 2015 dues are due! This year we're paying the $40 fee as close to "up front" as possible, instead of per meeting, so be sure to bring your checkbook/cash to the next meeting (or you can bring a $20 payment).


Other News:

Aside from our usual meeting dates, Janice is considering a couple of "write-ins" and one "write-out" and is hoping to hold conference this year. She'll provide details in meetings to come.

Bethany Macmanus has a release due out on Valentine's Day. Nerve is available for preorder on Amazon. 

Help Wanted:

Bethany Macmanus and I (Linda Yezak) discussed the idea of participating in festivals to sell our books. We just tossed around a few ideas, but nothing definitive. Anyone know of any festivals coming up? Anyone care to participate?

Laurie Alice Eakes's church is trying to get a library up and running now that we have the space for one. They need more fiction and, if available, nonfiction books about, by, for missionaries. Other topics are great, too, esp. devotionals, and the first two are the greatest need. If you are willing to donate anything, do, please, contact her at lauriealice@skonicki.com and she’ll send you the address.
The church’s web site, in the event you want to know more about us, is www.gbchouston.org


Coming Next:

Author K.M. Weiland is providing next Saturday's blog post. Her topic: "What 'Story Knows Best' Really Means."

Kellie Gilbert and Lynne Gentry are our guests in February, speaking on this topic: Tools to Build a Great Novel.