Category: Invitation To Attend

Invitation to January 22 Meeting Featuring Julie Sellers

1/17/2022

Hello D6 Members & Guests,

I hope your new year is progressing well.
We're already getting excited about our first D6 meeting of the year (as always, set on the 4th Saturday of the month beginning at 1:30 PM).

Julie Sellers, D1, published author, who writes poetry & prose, will be our guest speaker. I can't wait to learn from Julie how she created the title of her presentation: "The Two I's of Writing: Inspiration and Intentionality."

She will share with us her tips on looking for ideas, techniques she uses to be intentional about writing, and challenge us to participate in a short writing activity.
See two attachments: Julie's photo and her bio with contact information.

If you're a current KACD6 member, you'll automatically receive a link to this presentation. If you'd like to attend the zoom meeting as a guest, just contact me. The meeting is free and open to the public.
Happy writing,

Jim Potter

The Two I’s of Writing

Join Julie A. Sellers (D1) as she discusses the two i’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality, and reads from her recent publication, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

A native of Kansas, Julie A. Sellers earned Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French, a Master’s in Spanish Literature from Kansas State University, a Master’s in International Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Wyoming. Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the Kansas Author’s Club’s 2020 Prose Writer of the Year. Her book Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.

https://julieasellers.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julieasellersauthor
Instagram: @julieasellers
Twitter: @julieasellers
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7785927.Julie_A_Sellers

District 2 Invites All Members to Attend January 15, 10am (Zoom) Meeting with Nelson Poetry Book Award Winner, Janice Northerns

1/10/2022

Saturday, January 15, 2022, starting at 10:00am

District 2 Monthly Meeting - Members of any district are welcome to attend.

Members of other districts who would like to attend should email Curtis Becker for a Zoom invite.

Janice Northerns will read and discuss work from her award-winning poetry collection, Some Electric Hum, followed by a Q&A session. Dr. Sandra Cox, judge for the Nelson Poetry Book Award, had this to say about Janice’s book: “Some Electric Hum reads … like a treatise on the ways communities are crafted by wanting, having, and then letting go. … This book exemplifies her skill in giving language to those fragile and ephemeral experiences of connection, as well as her determination to understand how connection might be felt in the barely perceptible hum of a completed circuit, closed but still alive with alternating electric currents.“

Janice Northerns, of Liberal, is the author of Some Electric Hum, winner of the 2021 KAC Nelson Poetry Book Award and the KU Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award, and a WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Poetry.

The author grew up on a farm in rural West Texas and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas Tech University, where she received the Robert S. Newton Award for Creative Writing. Her work has been widely published in literary journals. Honors include a Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts residency, a Sewanee Writers’ Conference scholarship, and numerous awards for individual poems.

Janice and her husband moved to Liberal in 1998, where she taught English at Seward County Community College before retiring in 2019 to write full-time. The landscapes and people of West Texas and southwest Kansas are a steady source of inspiration for her poetry.

Janice is a District 7 member of the Kansas Authors Club.

January 11 Open Mic (Zoom) with Featured Reader Mike Matson

1/4/2022

Districts 3 and 4 invite any and all district members to the January 11 Open Mic with featured reader, Mike Matson. The event starts at 7:00pm via Zoom. Complete the form below for link to attend.

How does Open Mic work?

7:00-7:10pm – we check in, sign up to read, greet each other and celebrate victories
7:10-7:30pm – our Featured Reader presents
7:30-7:55 – Readers share in order of sign-up. Plan on 3 minutes. If there is plenty of time, attendees will get a 2nd opportunity to read.

About our Featured Reader:
Mike Matson is a lifelong Kansan who succeeded in a professional career touching various aspects of communications: Radio deejay, radio news, TV news, press secretary to a governor, systems advocacy, leadership development and newspaper columnist.

This career success paralleled an addiction-related downward trajectory highlighted by much of the drama one would associate with such behavior. This dichotomy is the premise of Courtesy Boy: A True Story of Addiction. Courtesy Boy comes on the heels of Matson’s first book, Spifflicated, a family memoir chronicling his father’s troubled, yet colorful childhood with alcoholic parents.

His motivation in writing the book is to help those suffering and their loved ones connect the dots between the destructive traits and behaviors – and the potential for addiction. In so doing, infuse some fresh air into the oppressive stigma that clings to addiction and mental health.

Matson lives where he was born, in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife and two Australian Shepherds.

www.mikematson.com/

A Special Treat January 8

12/31/2021

Author Aaron Fowler will bring his therapy dogs, the main characters in his books, to the D5 meeting January 8 at 1:30. Aaron can regularly be found in schools and libraries accompanied by Bella and Choco as he performs his music. His healing music and 4-footed companions help kids deal with trauma. Being YOU-Neek is the first book in his series. It addresses the importance of being unique. The Boat, the second book, covers belonging on this great planet. An alphabet book, highlighting Wichita businesses, will be released this spring.

A short business meeting to elect 2022 officers will be conducted immediately after the presentation.

D5 meetings are conducted both in-person and on Zoom. D5 in-person meetings are held in the Fireside room at Asbury Church, 2801 W. 15th St., Wichita. Enter on the St. Paul Street side (southern most door).

A Zoom link to the meeting will be emailed by President Connie White to all D5 members using the email address on record. All KAC members are welcome. If you have not received an email by December 7 or are not a D5 member, contact Connie through the link below.

Contact D5 president for Zoom link

Member Survey

12/15/2021

Member Survey: As we plan for 2022 and beyond, we’d like for all members (and departing members if you have decided not to stay) to take a moment to complete our membership survey. We estimate that this will take about 10 minutes to complete, more or less depending on how much you choose to write in the spaces for feedback! We are not collecting email addresses or membership details for this survey.

Member Survey

Saturday, December 18 D2 Meeting - Lawrence

12/14/2021

District 2: Holiday Party, Presentation and State Convention Planning Meeting
Saturday, December 18th
Lawrence Public Library: 10 to noon

The Two I’s of Writing

Join Julie A. Sellers (D1) as she discusses the two i’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality, and reads from her recent publication, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

A native of Kansas, Julie A. Sellers earned Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French, a Master’s in Spanish Literature from Kansas State University, a Master’s in International Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Wyoming. Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the Kansas Author’s Club’s 2020 Prose Writer of the Year. Her book Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.
https://julieasellers.com/
Facebook: @julieasellersauthor

A Weekday Meeting Option for Members: All are Invited to Attend

12/11/2021

Tuesday, December 14

7:00pm via Zoom (request link below)

Program by:
Nancy Julien Kopp
Writing the Personal Essay, with a side light for poets.

(Important: The presentation will be followed by a quick assessment of plans for Districts 3 & 4 in the coming year, including the selection of officers for the coming year. ALL D3 and D4 members are encouraged to attend.)

Nancy is the author of Writer Granny’s World, a blog of tips and encouragement for writers—writergrannysworld.blogspot.com. She is a 20+ year member of the Kansas Authors Club and 2013 Prose Writer of the Year. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and many anthologies, newspapers, magazines, and ezines. A former teacher, Nancy continues to teach through the written word.

This meeting is open to all Kansas Authors Club members. If you are looking for an alternative to weekend meetings, the 2nd Tuesday Zoom meeting hosted by Districts 3 & 4 might be the answer you are looking for.

Come write with us!

Deadline for Yearbook Entries Extended

11/22/2021

The deadline for submitting entries to the 2022 yearbook has been extended. Members now have until December 31 to enter.

Every Member having paid current dues is invited to submit ONE literary contribution for the yearbook. That submission can be either prose or poetry. Prose is limited to one printed page (no more than 500 words). Poetry is limited to one printed page (no more than 40 lines including spaces between verses).

All literary contributions remain the property of the individual authors. Authors may continue to use or distribute their work without requesting permission from the Kansas Authors Club. No work printed in the KAC yearbook may be copied or distributed in any form without explicit permission from the author.

Yearbook Submissions are preferred via the online site, Submittable. There is NO CHARGE to submit a yearbook entry.

Invitation to attend D6 Monthly Meeting: Speaker Jared Vaughn, Time Honored Productions

11/22/2021

Saturday, November 27
1:30pm - Zoom Event

District 6 Meetings are held on the 4th Saturday of each month (except December), online via Zoom at 1:30 p.m. Questions? Contact Jim Potter for a meeting link.

Jared Vaughn started writing stories at the age of nine, including terrible sequels to Back to the Future. By 2014, he'd written stories, songs, skits, and just about anything but a book. So he set out to write The Longest Time, a story that had been in his mind for fifteen years. He released it in 2017, dressed as Marty McFly at his first booth at a comic con. The Longest Time received unanimously positive reviews from readers of all ages who appreciated the story's nostalgic appeal, heart, humor, and positive message as well as a genre-bending twist that takes everyone by surprise. Through his company, Time Honored Productions, he next published a collection of short stories called Free Time Tales. It featured nine other local writers including Shoshanna Aaliyah, a young lady who also wrote Tobias' Travels, which is releasing soon as a kid's book. Another Time, the sequel to The Longest Time, was released in 2020 to reviews that compared it as equal in quality to the original or even better. The Time Honored team can be seen at many events throughout the year sharing their creativity and the Power of Love. They continue to grow with artists, cosplayers, actors, and authors including the recent addition of acclaimed author Lynn Main.

In 2021, Jared joined the Kansas Authors Club and was introduced to a new circle of talent. He was invited to be the guest speaker for the November 27th Zoom meeting for District 6 and enthusiastically accepted. Jared will share tips about what he feels is the most important part of writing-- the art of storytelling. His fun and informative presentation has been utilized at writing workshops and author panels and proven effective for all ages and levels of experience.

Have an Amazing Poetry Experience

11/10/2021

Huascar Medina, the Poet Laureate of Kansas since 2019, and Annette Hope Billings are presenting during the D5 meeting this Saturday. You won't want to miss experiencing the creativity of these gifted people.

D5 will meet on Saturday, November 13. We meet in person at Asbury Church on 15th Street and St. Paul Street. Enter through the southwest door. The meeting will start promptly at 1:30. The presentation is the first thing on the agenda. There is no need to preregister if you are attending in person.

For those of you who will attend via Zoom, click on the registration link below.

Cheryl Unruh to Speak at D2 November Meeting

11/9/2021

Cheryl Unruh is presenting at the next District 2 Meeting, Saturday, November 20, 2021 from 10:00-12:00pm at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont, lower level.

For 11 years, Cheryl Unruh wrote a weekly newspaper column, Flyover People, for The Emporia Gazette. She has twice received the Kansas Notable Book Award for her collections of Kansas essays, Flyover People and Waiting on the Sky, both published by Quincy Press. Meadowlark Press published her collection of poetry, Walking on Water, as well as her brand new book, Gravedigger’s Daughter, a memoir. She is the editor of 105 Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction. Cheryl lives in Emporia, Kansas.

Cheryl's book launch for Gravedigger's Daughter is scheduled for November 13, at 1:00 p.m. at the Lyon County History Center, 711 Commercial, Emporia.

Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at 7:00 p.m., is D3/D4 “OPEN MIKE NIGHT” via Zoom.

11/7/2021

Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at 7:00 p.m., is “OPEN MIKE NIGHT” via Zoom. Kris Polansky will start off by reading the poems that made her “Poet of the Year” for Kansas Authors Club. There are six of them, but they are short. So we need many more readers. Come sign in at 7:00. Sharing is what writing is all about!

Do you have an award-winning entry to share from the 2021 KAC Literary Contest? Or one from an earlier contest? Or a “should-have-won” of which you are proud? Or something you are working on? We want to hear it!

This and other 2nd Tuesday Zoom Meetings jointly provided by KAC Districts 3 and 4 are open to all KAC members. The Zoom link has been sent to members via email through your district president or district email announcement list.

Prose Writer of the Year for 2020 to give District 1 Program Nov. 20

11/5/2021

Join Julie A. Sellers, and other members of District 1, at the group's regular monthly meeting on Saturday, November 20 at 1 p.m. This will be the first in-person meeting the district has held in more than a year. It will be held in the Menninger Room of the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library and is limited to only ten attendees due to social distancing requirements.

Sellers was named the 2020 Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year. She will be discussing The
Two I’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, and Kansas Time + Place. Her collection, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.

Anyone wishing to join the meeting via zoom should email Anne Spry for the link.

Writing and Performing Poetry for the Soul

11/3/2021

Huascar Medina, the Poet Laureate of Kansas since 2019, has been nominated to serve on the National Council on the Arts by President Joe Biden. Medina is a poet, writer, and performer who lives in Topeka. His message is one of poetry as truth and finding empathy. He desires to be seen as another person. Not as a person of color, not as a Hispanic male, not a Latino, but as a Kansan living in Kansas.

Annette Hope Billings is an African-American Kansas poet, playwright, actress and nurse. She has written two collections of poetry, one-act plays, and numerous short stories. Annette’s readers have dubbed her “Maya of the Midwest,” a moniker she allows with all due humility and gratitude. She is known for her performance delivery style.

D5 will meet on Saturday, November 13. We will meet in person at Asbury Church on 15th Street and St. Paul Street. Enter through the southwest door. The meeting will start promptly at 1:30. There is no need to preregister if you are attending in person. For those of you who will attend via Zoom, click on the registration link below.

District 2 NaNoWriMo Invitation

11/1/2021

NaNoWriMo Website

Image courtesy of NaNoWriMo.

This starts Monday, November 1st!

Please join us each Monday for the month of November for NaNoWriMo (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and the 29th) for encouragement and ideas.

We’ll meet in a private room at Perkins restaurant, 1711 W 23rd St., Lawrence, KS 66046, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Please rsvp by Sunday as I’ll need to let Perkins’ staff know how many of us to expect.

I plan to send reminders each week.

Do you have a friend who enjoys writing? Please invite them.

You need not write a novel. Feel free to write whatever you’ve been wanting to. Our group will hold each other accountable, over pie no less!

Not familiar with it?

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-national-novel-writing-month-success

Sincerely,
Ronda Miller, District 2 Member

Are you a KAC member who is hosting NaNoWriMo gatherings? Or simply an individual participating? Feel free to share news of your meetings and/or your progress here. Send us some photos. Share some word counts! What is the title of your work in progress?

Has last weekend’s convention encouraged you to encourage young writers?

10/11/2021

Tuesday, October 12, 2021, at 7:00 p.m., Kris Polansky will be leading a Zoom discussion on youth and writing, with an emphasis on ways we, as authors, can help teachers achieve classroom writing goals and how we can encourage the young writers in our own families. Kris will share several of her lesson plans, including one aimed at getting young students to “own” their poems (or other writings) when presenting them orally. That is a skill all of us can use!

This and other 2nd Tuesday Zoom Meetings jointly provided by KAC Districts 3 and 4 are open to all KAC members. As noted in the District section of the KAC website, contact KAC email for the meeting link.

Announcement for Members

10/5/2021

To All KAC members, dues paid:

The Annual Membership Meeting will take place via Zoom from 8:00-8:45am Saturday, October 9. All members are encouraged to attend. As well as the annual election of officers, this meeting includes an important proposal regarding the adoption of “transitional” bylaws and the addition of a part-time paid manager. Further explanation is available at this link, and all members are encouraged to read and comment prior to the annual meeting.

Your Zoom link should have arrived via email in the October summary of events from Kansas Authors Club Vice President, Tracy Million Simmons and/or it will arrive via communication from your District President.

If you have not received the link as of Friday, October 8, please use the "contact us" form below, identifying your district of membership, and we will reply with the link provided.

Writing About History: Nonfiction and Fiction

10/4/2021

Do you write (or want to write) historical novels or historical nonfiction (memoirs, biographies, studies of a community or a business at a particular historical time)?

Saturday, October 16, KAC's District 5 will feature a how-to program with the opportunity to use the steps presented to plan your approach to your manuscript whatever stage you are in. Gretchen Eick is a professional historian, her Ph.D. in American Studies from K.U. in 1998 and 20 years as a university professor. She wrote two prize-winning books published by university presses--Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-72 (University of Illinois Press, 2002/2007) and They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans' Story (University of Nevada Press, 2020). Eick also has four published historical novels and a fifth expected in early 2022, as well as a book of short stories, an edited anthology, and a local history she co-wrote with Wichita State professors.

She will present how to research and write historical background that is authentic and engaging, how to make your writing accurate in its details of the time period, and how to generate interest in your manuscript among those most likely to have an interest in promoting it. Part of the session will involve participants in planning a piece of writing for themselves following her guidelines.

Kansas Authors Club D5 meeting is in person at Asbury Church 15th and St, Paul, Wichita, Saturday, October 16, 1:30-3:30 PM. If you cannot attend in person, meet with us via Zoom by clicking the registration button below in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. There is no need to preregister if you are attending in person.

You are Invited: D6 Meeting, Heidi Unruh & Gina Laiso Present

9/24/2021

Saturday, Sep. 25, @ 1:30 PM - via Zoom

If you want to understand the process of getting a book ready to print, then join the Kansas Authors Club this Saturday, September 25 at 1:30 PM on Zoom.

Heidi Unruh, developmental editor & writing coach, and Gina Laiso, book consultant & designer, will share their skill sets with writers interested in authoring a book.

Unruh will present, “From Idea to Manuscript.” Laiso will follow with “From Manuscript to a Book in Your Hand.” Questions will be welcomed by the speakers.

The meeting is free to the public. If you’re interested in attending this virtual meeting, contact Jim Potter via email at jim@copintheclassroom.com or by texting or calling 620-899-3144.

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects - District 2 Meeting Presenter, Beth Gulley

9/16/2021

Updated meeting location!!
District 2's September meeting will be in Ronda Miller's backyard at 214 Lawrence Ave. in Lawrence from 10:00 - 12:00 on Saturday September 18, 2021. Due to Covid, there will not be a bathroom available, but Ronda will have water.

Our featured presenter will be District 2 Member, Beth Gruver Gulley.

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects

She will use her book, The Sticky Note Alphabet, to illustrate the ways mundane objects can trigger memories that in turn can lead to meaningful poems. Sometimes setting parameters for our writing, for example writing daily or trying new forms, can push us to notice the beauty in everyday objects as well.

Beth Gulley lives in Spring Hill, Kansas and teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. She has an MA from UMKC and a PhD from the University of Kansas. When not writing about teaching, Beth primarily writes poetry.

Her latest book, The Sticky Note Alphabet (from Alien Buddha Press), reminds us that small things are not always unimportant things. In December, her book Dragon Eggs will be published by Spartan Press. Her older work includes the 2018 chapbook, $!*# Hole Countries: A Find and Replace Meditation.

Her poetry and stories also appear in the Bards Against Hunger Anthology, From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology, the Thorny Locust, and The Gasconade Review Presents: Storm A’Comin’, Kansas Letters to a Young Poet, and the 105 Meadowlark Reader. She has been a proud member of the Facebook group 365 Poems in 365 Days since 2015, and her poems appear in all three of the 365 Poems in 365 Days anthologies.

Beth serves on the Riverfront Reading Committee and is a Writer’s Place board member. She loves thrift store shopping, traveling, and drinking coffee.

<<Previous

Invitation to January 22 Meeting Featuring Julie Sellers

District 2 Invites All Members to Attend January 15, 10am (Zoom) Meeting with Nelson Poetry Book Award Winner, Janice Northerns

January 11 Open Mic (Zoom) with Featured Reader Mike Matson

Get a Link to Attend

A Special Treat January 8

Member Survey

Saturday, December 18 D2 Meeting - Lawrence

A Weekday Meeting Option for Members: All are Invited to Attend

Request Zoom Invitation

Deadline for Yearbook Entries Extended

Invitation to attend D6 Monthly Meeting: Speaker Jared Vaughn, Time Honored Productions

Saturday, November 27
1:30pm - Zoom Event

Have an Amazing Poetry Experience

Cheryl Unruh to Speak at D2 November Meeting

Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at 7:00 p.m., is D3/D4 “OPEN MIKE NIGHT” via Zoom.

Prose Writer of the Year for 2020 to give District 1 Program Nov. 20

Writing and Performing Poetry for the Soul

District 2 NaNoWriMo Invitation

Has last weekend’s convention encouraged you to encourage young writers?

Announcement for Members

Contact Us

Writing About History: Nonfiction and Fiction

You are Invited: D6 Meeting, Heidi Unruh & Gina Laiso Present

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects - District 2 Meeting Presenter, Beth Gulley

Contact Us

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Get a Link to Attend

Request Zoom Invitation

Saturday, November 271:30pm - Zoom Event

Contact Us

Contact Us

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Archives

Saturday, November 27
1:30pm - Zoom Event