Anamarie Davis-Wilkins is one of eight selected featured authors for the Barnes and Nobles Book Fair.
October 5, 1pm -4pm (Topeka location)
October 5, 1pm -4pm (Topeka location)
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Come support several Kansas Authors Club members and indie authors as well as one of Kansas's newest independent bookstores for Red Fern Booksellers' first author fair! It will be held October 1 from 5-7 PM at Red Fern Booksellers,106 S Santa Fe, Salina KS 67401. Per Red Fern Booksellers: Join us for our inaugural local authors' fair! On October 1st, from 5-7pm, we'll be celebrating the talents of local authors. Eight distinguished authors will be present to engage with visitors and autograph their books. The event will showcase a variety of genres, including Romance, Poetry, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, General Fiction, and Short Stories. Meet our featured authors: Chloe Chun Seim, Angel Edenburn, Sandra Patterson-Slaydon, Jillian Forsberg, Kimberly Grymes, Janice Northerns, Cat Webling, and Don Meyer. Don't miss the chance to converse with these creative minds.  Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus Huascar Medina will be the featured poet at this month's Words in the Wind open mic at Round Table Bookstore, 826 N. Kansas Ave. in north Topeka. Words in the Wind, sponsored by Kansas Authors Club, District 1; and Round Table Bookstore, rotates poetry and prose/story-telling; this month Huascar will share his poetry with us. Afterward, others will also have a chance to present examples of their own poetry.  To all members of District 7 of Kansas Authors Club
To contest entrants and winners To all authors and persons interested in writing YOU ARE INVITED! PLEASE RSVP (see below) To meet together for our Fall Conference in Garden City, Kansas, on Saturday, September 28, starting at 11:30. We will be meeting at noon at the Clarion Inn and Conference Center in the Frances room, 1911 E Kansas Ave, Garden City, KS 67846 at 11:30 for gathering and meal. We will have a program by Janice McClure, Sublette, KS, sharing her work on the history book of Haskell County. There will be a time for sharing our own writing and suggestions following her presention. Participants will be on their own for their meal but winners in the contest will have their meal paid for by the District. We hope to see many of you at this meeting where we will honor the contest winners and distribute awards and monies earned. We hope to see you there! Contest winners will be announced later on the KAC website. Please RSVP to Sheryl Brenn by Saturday, September 21st to ensure we have room for everyone. Sheryl Brenn KAC District 7 Secretary/Treasurer Explore Your Options: Attend Virtually or Face-to-Face This is the last call! Get your registration for the 2024 "Words Take Flight" Kansas Writing Convention in by September 30. The convention committee has been busy planning this fantastic confernce with YOU in mind. We will be recording all workshops, so each ticket, whether virtual or in person, will come with links, after the convention, to all of the sessions. You won't have to miss a single one! Recordings will be available for viewing through the end of the year. And we have scholarships! Scholarships are easy to apply for. Simply check the box for the amount you can pay when you get to the scholarship portion of the registration form. After registering, you will receive an invoice detailing your charges. If we are NOT able to accomodate your scholarship request, you can review our offer and decide if you are able to continue with registration or not. No worries! At this moment, we have scholarship money available. We look forward to seeing you there! Sandee Taylor & Tyler Henning, Convention Chairs Anne Spry, Ann Vigola Anderson, Linzi Garcia, Tracy Million Simmons Meet our Keynote Speaker
Explore: Dynamic Dialogue & The Short Play Format
Learn About: Writing Historically Accurate Fiction
Choose Your Own Adventure with Persona Poetry
And so much more! 15 workshops, a weekend of inspiration and relaxation at the beautiful Rock Springs Ranch. You don't want to miss this. Workshop descriptions can be found on our website.  No matter what genre you write, you've probably heard that the best way to sell your current book is to write more books. The problem? Series writing is hard. Trying to plan and outline three or more books can be overwhelming, especially with the amount of information you have to manage. In this presentation, we're going to talk about how you can know if your concept is sturdy enough for a series, and then we'll go deeper into your characters and your worldbuilding. We’ll discuss strategies to organize your plots, your characters, and your world’s details without melting your brain (too much). We’ll also talk about tips for the messy middle of Act 2, methods to incorporate foreshadowing, and how to know the way your story ends before you write chapter one. A.C. Williams (also known as Amy C. Williams) is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. Author of more than 20 books, she keeps her fiction readers laughing with wildly imaginative adventures about samurai superheroes, clumsy church secretaries, and goofy malfunctioning androids; her non-fiction readers just laugh at her and the hysterical life experiences she’s survived. If that’s your cup of tea (or coffee), join the fun at www.amycwilliams.com. We are excited to bring monthly programs to our members across the state (and beyond) via Zoom. Some of our members combine this programming with monthly in-person meetings. Some attend from the comfort of their own homes.
Membership in Kansas Authors Club is open to anyone with an interest in writing. All members will also receive the link for attendance in the monthly email newsletter. Because I was gone part of July, I've combined July & Aug together. In that time the Adirondack Center for Writing posted two poems and three memoirs of mine in response to their weekly prompts. The Origami Poetry Project accepted and posted: Trees and Me, a micro chapbook of my poems, using a photo I took of my tree for the cover. It, along with several others, is available to download and print for free from their website. A short story: Teaching Polywogs, was posted by Lothlorian Poetry Journal, the second of my stories there. Individual poems were posted by Dashboard Horus and Five Fleas. A few other poems and stories were accepted for publication in the next few months. Most surprisingly, one story: Missing Mother, was nominated for Best of the Net. I'd thought it was a good story and I'd sent it out several times. When I looked at my Submission Log, I discovered that I first sent it out in 2014 to forty-nine different places until Masticadores USA accepted and posted it this spring. WOW!!! And, my ninth book of poetry: Into the Wind was released, as well as a collection of short stories: Exaltation: Stories of Spiritual Adventure. Both are/will be available on Amazon.  f 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.
 Follow your heart to a place of friendship and inspiration on Oct. 4-6 at Rock Springs Ranch. I wanna be defined by the things that I love, not the things I hate. Not the things I’m afraid of. Or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night. I just think that you are what you love.–Taylor Swift Pardon me for quoting from a pop culture icon, but what Taylor says resonates even more than seeing her PDAs with Travis Kelce. We truly are what we love, and if you happen upon this blog on the Kansas Authors Club website, you must love writing. I sure do. And maybe even more than writing, I love my writing friends. I’m so looking forward to the October 4-6 convention at Rock Springs Ranch. I hope you’ve already registered, but if not, it’s not too late. I’m going early, on Thursday, to get in some personal writing time. At last year’s retreat, I was able to make some progress on a memoir I’ve spent the last ten years working on. Maybe I’ll be able to see an end in sight after this year’s event. I’ve only been a KAC member for five years, but in that short time I’ve collected fond memories of previous conventions, district meetings, and programs. I especially enjoyed the convention in Lawrence. I was able to connect with several young writers there who had only been virtual friends previously. They energized me so much. It also energizes and motivates me when I can connect in person with a few writer friends over lunch. That happened last week when I let Google Maps wind me over back roads (avoiding road construction, I assume) to Emporia. I met with Tracy and Lindsey for an executive session at Radius. Over some tasty pizza, we got a lot of business accomplished, along with some visioning for the future of KAC. During our discussion, we concluded that writers are a weird but lovable bunch of folks. Most of us are introverts but when we’re with other writers, we blossom and do extroverted things like tell S’mores- fueled ghost stories on the back patio of the Lodge at Rock Springs Ranch. You’ll have your own chance to do that if you join us for the convention…guaranteed! As state president, I’ll be pretty occupied during the convention, but I’m determined to pick up some motivation and writing tips from the pros we have on the schedule. Be sure to take a look at the fantastic lineup of workshops and professional caliber speakers we have slated for the weekend. I’d like to go to every single session but will have to rely on the replays, which will be available to everyone who buys a convention ticket. And even if you have a conflict with dates for the convention or don’t want to drive that far from the hinterlands of Kansas, don’t forget that we have a virtual option that will let you learn from the comfort of your recliner via a laptop or smartphone. All you have to do is register for a virtual ticket, then watch the livestream of some of the workshops in real time, and links to the recordings of all of the workshops will be delivered to you via email a week or two after the convention. You will be able to watch all of the workshops on your own time. Now here’s a quote from a non-pop icon who wrote this in 49 CE (Common Era, in case you, like me, weren’t familiar with this little abbreviation). His name was Seneca and this appeared in On the Shortness of Life. Nothing delights the mind so much as fond and loyal friendship. What a blessing it is to have a heart that is ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety, with whom you are less afraid to share knowledge of something than keep it to yourself, whose conversation soothes your distress, whose advice helps you make up your mind, whose cheerfulness dissolves your sorrow, whose very appearance cheers you up! I believe I’ll find the delight Seneca references at the Kansas Authors Club Convention. How about you? Anne Spry, President
Kansas Authors Club Member Gretchen Eick (Wichita) shares a current Kansas read by Paul Lamb (Overland Park).  Paul Lamb (Lamble) is a Kansas author from Overland Park with two wonderful novels that are part of a series. ONE-MATCH FIRE is about a young working class family raising a son amidst from the wife's better off parents. It is about a father's love that begins with setting aside his dreams to marry the girl he loves and raisetheir surprise baby despite constant struggle. A cabin in the Ozarks built by his father is his lodestone and the place he was taught to be a person of integrity and a good man. Their son is different from his father and critical of him as he charts his own path and becomes a doctor. David Clarke's and his wife navigate learning that their son and the cabin is their haven as they learn about each other as adults. A beautiful, moving story. Book 2 PARENT IMPERFECT is the story of son Curt and his partner Kelly and the child they eventually adopt. It continues the saga of family connection despite differences and readers are intrigued to see how Curt comes to appreciate both his child and his father. The story is moving and readers will care deeply about this family and whether it will survive. The child Curt and Kelly adopt is "on the spectrum" and unusual but very creative. Type A Curt has a lot of growing to do. Lamb's ending is gripping and powerful. Both novels are available at bluecedarpress.com or from your favorite book supplier. (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, WalMart online) both paperback and ebook format. Remember that authors benefit more when you buy from indie presses directly. $20 each --Gretchen Cassel Eick, author of Finding Duncan, The Set Up: 1984, They Met at Wounded Knee, Dissent in Wichita, Where is Ana Amara?, Maybe Crossings, & Dark Crossings What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.
Member Deborah Linn (El Dorado) shares her thoughts on The Last Rancher, a contemporary western novel by member Robert Rebin (Indianapolis, IN).  You know that feeling when you join a friend's big family Christmas or Thanksgiving? You are an outsider but are suddenly privy to all the inside jokes and one-liner snarks and back porch smoking sessions and cemented traditions, and it all seems a little too much and not ever enough all at the same time? You feel that maybe you shouldn't be plopped down in the middle of it, but you also experience this unique sense of warmth, so you don't want to leave? Maybe ever? That's the experience of reading Robert Rebein's The Last Rancher. The Last Rancher is one of the those character-driven stories that stays with you past the pages. It's the story of three adult children who, due to a medical emergency, are forced to face the reality of aging parents and end up examining the passage of time in their own lives--the passing of dreams and expectations and promises made to self and others. Adult children Michael and Annie are summoned home to the ranching community of Dodge City, Kansas where their stubborn father, Leroy; their steadfast mother, Caroline; and their baby brother, Jimmy (Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy...smh...) live. Leroy is in the hospital, possibly dying. Michael must take the financial reins while Annie takes the actual reins in order to keep the ranch alive. Jimmy, even though he still lives in Dodge, has too much baggage to come anywhere near anything that looks like reins. Returning home subjects Michael and Annie to a more realistic view of their lives. Sort of like returning to your old elementary school where everything seems smaller, dirtier, and maybe even a little distorted, Annie and Michael wade through what what perceptions to keep, what to correct, and what to leave behind. The reader can't help but to look inward and wonder the same things about his own life. As much as this is a character-driven family drama, The Last Rancher is more than that. The author works magic with time and place. The reader is drawn in both by the realistically flawed characters and the portrayal of Dodge City, a modern town holding desperately onto the glory of a past that, in reality, wasn't always so glorious. Dodge City was and is a place where it's sometimes hard to tell the heroes from the bad guys. Michael, Annie, and Jimmy struggle with this same problem in their own family, even with their own souls. It turns out that Dodge City, Kansas is the perfect setting for a story full of characters searching for a hero and a direction and a home, and maybe even a truth. There's a little bit of something for every reader in The Last Rancher--sports, cars, horses, violence, romance, drugs, religion, action, introspection, legal drama, family drama, car chases, affairs, loyalty, and love. If you like the Yellowstone series on Netflix, you'll love The Last Rancher. If you like stories with strong female protagonists, you love The Last Rancher. If you like falling in love with bad boys--or bad girls--you'll love The Last Rancher. What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.
Carmaine Ternes is a retired school librarian living in Wichita. She was a member of the Summer Institute for School Librarians planning committee for ten years. Ternes holds membership with several professional organizations and earned a master’s degree in library science from Emporia State University. She has served in a variety of educational and professional library endeavors, and completed several Kansas Leadership Center training programs. She participated in StoryCorps One Small Step Wichita, and completed the Climate Stories Ambassadors Project. She also co-authored Libraries Partnering with Self-Publishing: A Winning Combination from Bloomsbury Publishing. Her non-fiction writing has spanned academia, history, journalism, and some of you out there have already benefited from her editing skills! Welcome to the Club, Carmaine!
Member Tracy Million Simmons, Emporia, writes about her latest Kansas read, Clocked Out by member Anna St. John, Haysville.  Clocked Out is the second book in the Josie Posey Mystery series by Anna St. John. I had every intention of reading Doomed by Blooms, the first book of the series (a 2024 Kansas Notable title!) but I was shopping at Watermark in Wichita and this one, a signed copy, was on the shelf, so I grabbed it! This is a cozy mystery, and the protagonist is very much the type of person I admire and can relate to. She's a journalist, retired from her big city job and now living in a small town in the great state of Kansas. As much as figuring out the mystery, watching Josie put her skills to work for the local police department when a talented young clock maker dies, I really enjoyed learning about the art of making clocks! Horology is a subject I had not spent a lot of time contemplating before this book. I love when a good read includes some educational bonus material. I appreciated Josie's friends, her relationship with the police chief, and the fact that's she's got a blossoming love interest. This is a very enjoyable book and I look forward to seeing what else is in store for Josie in future editions. --Tracy Million Simmons, Emporia, author of Tiger Hunting, a novel, and A Life In Progress and Other Short Stories. What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.
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