Blog Archives

2021 Convention Workshop: The Importance of Voice in Trauma Transformation

7/29/2021

Ronda Miller will ask attendees to share experiences that they have overcome through their writings. She will ask for the sharing of poetry or a short narrative paragraph that exemplifies healing through writing and offer suggestions as to how they can transform their attitude by changing their writing. Miller will utilize well-known authors’ works as well as writings of her own.

Miller is a Life Coach who specializes in working with clients who have lost a loved one to homicide. Her personal experiences with trauma include the deaths of her mother and a niece to suicide, the death of her father in a homicide, personal gun memories, an early life involving numerous moves and living situations, a kidnapping, separation from siblings, placement in the foster care system, adoption, physical and drug abuse, mental illness, and a subsequent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Gun Memories of a Stone-Eyed Cold Girl, MoonStain, WaterSigns, Winds of Time, and I Love the Child are books the author has written that show a lifetime progression of healing from early and ongoing trauma by utilization of Voice through poetry, narrative, and children’s stories.

Important Update:

On Friday, August 28, members of the District 1 Kansas Authors Club, hosts for the 2021 State Writing Conference and Convention scheduled for October 9 and 10 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka announced a switch from an in-person event to a virtual one.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we shift to Plan B for the convention. We promise that it will still contain the same motivational and informative workshops and speakers. It will perhaps be even more intimate in the webinar setting, as no one will have to strain to see or hear speakers. You’ll be able to look into their eyes and feel like you’re sitting in the same room with them. And, actually, you will be… in the same zoom room!

We look forward to seeing you in October on Zoom!

View convention details on this page: 2021 Convention
Registration deadline: October 7, 2021

Inviting Students Who Like to Write to our Annual Convention

7/28/2021

The Kansas Authors Club
invites
students who like to write
to our state convention
October 8-10

Special Ticket Price for Students $20

Since 1904 the Kansas Authors Club, a non-profit statewide organization, has welcomed poets, playwrights, novelists, journalists, academic, and technical writers to listen, discuss, and analyze our craft in an atmosphere of mutual support.

Our convention this year includes:

a weekend of workshops on writing-related topics such as publishing children's books during challenging times, workshops on writing as play and for healing, and the importance of voice in trauma transformation
an opportunity to get to know authors, editors, publishers, illustrators from around the state
Keynote Speaker Dr. Timothy Keane, three-time Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest champion “Pardon My Pentameter. A Descent Into Cowboy Poetry.”
Opening Speaker Thomas Fox Averill, retired WU English teacher on “Trouble: the Backbone of Literature.”

For complete convention and program information and to register, click here.

2021 Convention Speaker: Lifting the Veil: Creativity and Healing the Wounds of Deep Loss

7/26/2021

After suffering profound loss, we often find our lives out of balance, our energies blocked, our futures uncertain. Even the most intuitive and healthy of us can experience this tectonic shift in our reality and find it difficult to restore a sense of wholeness. But through the channeling of our creativity--in whatever form that takes--we can affect a healing transformation, the restoration of balance, and a renewed sense of control. In this presentation, Silvestri will share insights gained from his 20-year journey as a poet, which provided the tools necessary to move through his own profound loss toward healing. Come explore the power of creative expression to tap into the deepest parts of our grief and pain and help us do the hard work of healing from traumatic loss.

Charles Anthony Silvestri is the author of three books and scores of published works written for choral composers. His words have been sung by thousands of choristers all over the world, by ensembles ranging from high schools to the Houston Grand Opera, from the King’s Singers to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, from Westminster Choir College to Westminster Abbey. He enjoys the creative challenges and rewards of the collaborative process and has had the privilege of working with many fine artists and composers. For inspiration he draws on his travels, his education as a medievalist, and his deep love of words and music. When he is not writing you may find him playing Irish traditional music at a pub or hunched over his desk painting medieval-style illuminations or sacred icons. A veteran educator with three decades of experience teaching kindergarten through college, he is currently a lecturer in ancient and medieval history at Washburn University and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. For more information or to contact him, visit him at www. charlesanthonysilvestri.com.

2021 Convention News: Advertising Opportunities

7/23/2021

Don't forget to place your ad in the convention program!

As writers, we want to see your work, so....

SHOW US

your Book
your Bookstore
your Publishing House
your Printing Business
your Editing Business
your Book Design Services

Visit the convention page for details on advertising in the 2021 convention program.

Members published in most recent issue of Thorny Locust

7/23/2021

D5 member Robert L. Dean, Jr., has a poem titled "Firekeeper" in the new issue of the print magazine "Thorny Locust," published out of Kansas City, MO, Silvia Kofler, editor.

Other members featured in this issue include:
Brian Daldorph (D2)
Beth Gulley (D2)
Kevin Rabas (D2)
Tyler Robert Sheldon (D2)
Maryfrances Wagner (D2)

2021 Convention Workshop: A Jail and a Flood: Writing Transformative Fiction

7/22/2021

Marcia’s novel, WATCHING MEN DANCE, includes some harrowing scenes based on real-life occurrences. For example, she writes about being harassed and jailed with a Native American dancer and trying to survive the worst flood in Crete’s history. Cebulska will discuss how she adapted the incidents to the necessities of her novel, its plot and characters; how the situations provided her lead character with opportunities for transformation, for personal change and decision-making. She will emphasize the possibilities of using life experience as a basis for fiction, but also, the need for employing literary craft in the process, transforming life into art. Q&A.

Marcia Cebulska is a Topeka resident who writes plays, books & films. She recently published her first novel. http://www.marciacebulska.com/

2021 Convention Workshop: Poetry as Play, Poetry as Healing

7/20/2021

No poetry writing experience necessary for this workshop as we explore how writing with poetic elements can be for enjoyment as well as for coping with grief, loss, or trauma. The facilitator will lead with his own examples and stories about writing in a friendly, nonjudgmental, and open environment. Sharing poems is optional, but participants will leave with poems and ideas for further writing.

Dennis Etzel Jr. is Senior Lecturer of English at Washburn University, Topeka, and is known for his poetry. He does his best to practice antiracist, antisexist, anti-ableist, pro- LGBTQA+, pro-human acts and practices. https://washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/ etzel/

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” —Audre Lorde

Tom Mach Book News

7/16/2021

Tom Mach is a District 2 member of Kansas Authors Club. He shares the following:

Hi, I’m Tom Mach, and a long-time member of the Kansas Authors Club and winner of awards, including the Coffin Award (2003), the Nelson Poetry Book Award (2008), the Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), and the 2021 Overall Winner Award for Barnes & Noble for my latest book, Three Years With Jesus. My bio is on Tom-Mach.com

Imagine what it would be like to read the story of Jesus' life, beginning with His baptism and ending with His glorious ascension into heaven without having to read each gospel separately. Three Years With Jesus is the result of a careful compilation of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, fitted together with portions taken from the testimony of an Italian Catholic mystic named Maria Valtorta who claims who had several visitations in the 1940s from the Lord Himself. Some minor fictional elements were added to make the story even more interesting to read. The actual words of Jesus as given in the Bible are scattered through the story.

The result is an informative, in-depth, nonfiction novel that may tell us more about what happened during the last three years of Jesus' life on earth than you realize. For instance, this book describes details about Jesus' Passion, with such realist occurrences as how bystanders threw stones at Him as He carried His cross, or how He had to beg for a filthy rag before being nailed to the cross, or how Jesus screamed as the nail penetrated His flesh--only to stop when He saw His mother’s torment by His scream. In other words, the entire story of Jesus's last three years on Earth will really come alive for you.

Click on Amazon or Barnes & Noble
for pricing and ordering information

I would like you to consider purchasing the paperback version because it is a work which you will want to put on your bookshelf to read again and again. Front cover the book is shown in the attachment.

Testimonials:
“It is obvious that this novel has been a labor of love for the author who has made great effort to bring the gospels into context with what occurred.” ~ V. Jules

This is an excellent book all Christians should own. ~G. Mecka

“The writer certainly has done some extensive Bible study.” ~Carole B

“Very well written story of his life.” ~ Renee R.

If you have news of writing events that would be of interest to all Kansas Authors Club members, or if you are a member (dues current) who would like to announce an achievement, please submit your news via this form.

Robert L. Dean Featured Reader at Oceanside Public Library Poetry Series

7/16/2021

D5 member Robert L. Dean, Jr., will be a featured reader at the Oceanside Public Library Poetry Series via Zoom on Tuesday, July 20th, 2021, beginning at 6 PM Central time (7 PM Eastern), along with New Jersey poet Michael A. Griffith. Details in the attached flyer, and the Zoom link below. Dean has been attending this group over the summer and the poets are terrific and very welcoming:

Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/95426731760
Meeting ID: 954 2673 1760

Last minute D-1 program switch; Maus to present on query letters

7/15/2021

In response to a last-minute scheduling conflict with the speakers for the next two months, Thea Rademacher and Ruth Maus have switched places. Ruth Maus will be our presenter at Saturday's District 1 zoom meeting at 1:00 p.m. She will be helping members learn the format and elements to include (and not to include) in a query letter to get your manuscript noticed by literary agents.
Thea will present her program on copyright and legal issues for authors at our August 21 meeting.

Member Book Review: Kindred Verse, Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, by Julie A. Sellers

7/15/2021

D5 member Gretchen Cassel Eick, shares this review of a new book of poetry by D1 member Julie Sellers.

Julie A. Sellers’ Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, June 15, 2021) takes readers on a whimsical stroll through early 20th Century Canada, but also through the places and people they discovered within the covers of books and fell in love with when they were young. Her encounters with Anne of Green Gables shaped who Julie became, giving her courage and confidence to be her own unique and original self, courage to see with the eyes of imagination.

I am a newcomer to Anne of Green Gables. I am now reading the 8 books by L.M. Montgomery, the Canadian author who spun beautiful, vivid stories of the highly intelligent orphan girl who shares her way of seeing with those she meets. Anne is quirky and literate beyond her years. Her yearnings are to learn as much as possible, to lift herself from the drudgery of her orphan life with imagination, to see beauty and wonder, and to become someone who makes a difference.

Julie visited Prince Edward Island, Canada, on her honeymoon and returned with a folio of photos and a mind abuzz with words and phrases uniquely hers that she lavishes on her readers. Whether they are familiar with Anne or not, readers find this special place and special girl haunting and kindred.

Read this book and give it to those you love. Let Julie’s beautiful photos and poems so gracefully presented in this book thanks to designer Jay Wallace stir your emotions, your memories, and remind you of your dreams.

Purchase Kindred Verse at Blue Cedar Press. Also available wherever you buy books.

Thank you to Gretchen Eick for taking us up on our challenge to members! A good Kansas Authors Club citizen helps celebrate the writing and publishing news of fellow members!

Challenge to Members: Explore the newly updated “meet our members” pages. Get to know your fellow Kansas Authors Club members by checking out their websites and their books.

Challenge #1: Select a member, send a note of introduction, and offer to write up a “meet a member” bio that can be shared on our website and social media channels. Check out the Welcome Wagon introductions for inspiration. Submit it here!

Challenge #2: Read a book by a member and share a review. Submit (the link or the review) and we will share it too!

D1 Member, Duane L. Herrmann, Publication News

7/14/2021

The Origami Poems Project has selected Herrmann's collection of six poems, entitled: Lunar Locus, to be published as one of their micro-chap (books). These are formatted to be printed on one sheet of 8.5x11 paper, double sided and, if folded properly (and cut on one certain fold), become a micro-chap (book). This is Herrmann's second publication with them, the first was, In Praise of Prairies in 2017. The release date has not yet been determined, but sometime in 2021.

A short story, based on the experience of a friend, has just been published by Literary Yard, out of India.
"My God ! What a surprise, how expertly, you can turn a simple incident (very much familiar to me), into such an interesting and spell binding story," the friend said after reading the story.

Remembering Marjorie L. Brown

7/14/2021

Marjorie L. Brown
June 4, 1934 - July 6, 2021

Marjorie was an active member of District 7 for many years after joining the club in 2008. She served the district president, as secretary, and treasurer at various points in her membership. She also coordinated the District 7 writing contest for several years.

Brown was the author of Secrets of Robert's Mountain, published 2015.

Book Description
A Kansas Authors Club Winner: Thirteen year old Tommy Carson doesn't want to go on a camping trip with his, egotistical, overbearing stepfather, Ray Kramer. Tommy's mother, Evelyn, insists that Tommy go with Ray so the two guys can get to know each other better. That camping trip on Roberts Mountain changes the lives of not only Tommy, Ray, and Evelyn, but also Jessie Roberts. Jessie is the old, half-breed Ute Indian who owns most of the north side of Roberts Mountain. Even though Tommy is an excellent Boy Scout, his lifesaving skills are greatly tested during this adventure. Many people living in the small mountain town of Temptation blame Jessie for the strange things that are reported to happen on Roberts Mountain. Brown says she writes for teenagers, but this story has something for everyone, a kidnapping, a murder, a love story, and supernatural experiences.

Link to Marjorie's Obituary.

Remembering Lorena Joyce Herrmann

7/14/2021

Lorena Joyce Herrmann
February 2, 1925 - June 26, 2021

Joyce Herrmann was a member of Kansas Authors Club, District 7, from 1994-2021. She served as the New Member Chair for the state from 1997-2005 and received a service award for her contributions in 2002. Joyce was an active D7 member, serving as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as playing an active role in the organization of several conventions.

Her grandson, Will Herrmann, compiled many of her writings into a book earlier this year entitled What Makes a Good Life?, which she was able to read herself. A PDF version has been gifted to members of Kansas Authors Club and can be found on at this link.

Link to Joyce's obituary.

Copyright Law for Authors, D1 Monthly Meeting

7/12/2021

Saturday, July 17, 1pm via Zoom

D-1 member Thea Rademacher will present a program at this Saturday's zoom meeting on copyright for authors. The attorney and author, owner of Flint Hills Publishing, will also be presenting at this fall's KAC Writing Workshop and Conference.

Anyone wishing to attend this Saturday's 1 p.m. meeting can email D-1 President Anne Spry for the zoom link.

2021 Convention Workshop: Protecting Your Rights as a Writer: Writing, Publishing, and the Law

7/8/2021

What do writers need to know to steer clear of legal problems? Being an author requires you to understand you’ve created a business, and consequently, there are some down and dirty things you need to know about: defamation and other tort law claims, tax issues, contract provisions. If these matters are not fully understood, an author could spend sleepless nights full of regret. Led by a former social justice lawyer turned publisher, this presentation introduces authors to a multitude of relevant legal issues with the idea that it is much better to avoid a problem than to have to fight to fix it. Recipients will receive an ebook and sample forms.

An honors graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Law, Thea Rademacher began her career as a social justice lawyer. After her life-changing experience co-authoring A Drop in the Night, the Life & Secret Mission of a WWII Airman, she founded Flint Hills Publishing in 2015, which now includes over 50 publications. It is her passion to help emerging authors protect their rights and avoid problems as they bring their work into the world.

Lois Ruby, a Multi-book Author, Talks About Writing for Young Adults

7/3/2021

Lois Ruby, author of 21 historical novels for young adults, will speak at the D5 Zoom meeting July 10 at 1:30. Her book Steal Away Home was named an IRA Young Adults' Choice and a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. It has been adopted as part of the curriculum by school systems in Tennessee and Georgia. Lois served as a young adult librarian for the Dallas Public Library. She lived in Wichita for thirty years and has set some of her books in the state.

Click here to register

Join us Saturday, July 10 at 1:30. Registration is required.

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