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AZ Authors Associ Writers Circle welcomes Patricia L. Brooks to speak on The Art of Writing Memoir

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WRITERS FAIRE 2012 011

 

The Art of Writing Memoir

AZ Authors Association – Writers Circle

 

  North Mountain Visitor’s Center

12950 North 7th St., Phoenix, AZ 85022

 

RSVP/register info@azauthors.com

Limited Seating

 

 Patricia L. Brooks, speaker, author, consultant patricia@plbrooks.com

 

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

for details 480- 250-5556

In this workshop you will immerse yourself in the art of powerful storytelling and take an unflinching look at your own stories.

You will learn to incorporate fictional techniques into your memoir writing to enhance your effort to share galvanizing events.

 

Objectives of this Workshop

ü Learn to help your reader see and feel what you saw and felt.

ü Understand the process and structure of memoir writing as a learned craft that will enhance your art.

ü Appreciate the power of storytelling by being loyal to your truth.

ü Further empower yourself to tell the truth.

ü Take an unflinching look at your stories and share your galvanizing events.

ü Bring your memoir writing to a new level with fictional techniques.

 

 

 

The Art of Writing Memoir – Desert Foothills Library welcomes Patricia L. Brooks

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WRITERS FAIRE 2012 014The Art of Writing Memoir

 

Desert Foothills Library – Writers Connection

 

Fri. May 3, 2013

1:00-3:00 p.m.

Cave Creek, AZ

 

 Patricia L. Brooks, speaker, author, consultant patricia@plbrooks.com

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

for details 480- 250-5556

In this workshop you will immerse yourself in the art of powerful storytelling and take an unflinching look at your own stories.

You will learn to incorporate fictional techniques into your memoir writing to enhance your effort to share galvanizing events.

Objectives of this Workshop ü Learn to help your reader see and feel what you saw and felt. ü Understand the process and structure of memoir writing as a learned craft that will enhance your art. ü Appreciate the power of storytelling by being loyal to your truth. ü Further empower yourself to tell the truth. ü Take an unflinching look at your stories and share your galvanizing events. ü Bring your memoir writing to a new level with fictional techniques.

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes author and writing workshop presenter Cherie Lee

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Cherie Thumbnail size printSCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

HAPPY Valentine’s Day – feel the love!

SSWW Welcomes Author and Writing Workshop Expert Cherie Lee

A special meeting is planned – join us!

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

WHERE: Chaparral Suites Resort, 5001 N, Scottsdale Rd. NE corner – Enter off Chaparral Rd – 4th Floor Grill entrance, then left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: FEB 27th, 2012 – Wed. 5:30-7:30

RSVP – Cell 480-250-5556 or patricia@plbrooks.com See Details Below

WHY: The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers
gives members access to events of interest, a format for exchanging ideas, an
opportunity to network with other women writers and authors, an alliance with
businesses relating to writing, publishing, camaraderie and support.

Speaker Bio:
Cherie Lee, author and writing workshop expert

After earning an AA degree from Glendale Community College, Cherie Lee started her
writing career with non-fiction works for the college newspaper, then for Sun
Life magazine. Curiosity guides her tall tales. Her fictional stories take her
to interesting places leaving little time for household chores or yard work.
Currently she is editing two completed children stories while waiting for
results from contests for her adult short stories.

Workshop Talk:

Every writing life starts with an idea or with a curious interest why something
happened in your personal life or in history. Mine come like weeds. When I know
that idea won’t work for me, I use it for a blog for readers to use as an
exercise or a story. Entering contests stretches writing abilities and ensures
deadlines are met. I love doing them. A short mini workshop for planning a
character or a story idea will be based on an umbrella. Contact info: cherie6124@aol.com

My book is a book of beginning scenes for teachers and writers to utilize for
writing exercises, story starters, overcoming writer’s block, or journal
writing or bell work at the start of a class. Each teaser is followed by a
series of questions to spark a writer’s imagination. The one hundred and thirty
examples are divided into six major categories for characters, settings and
descriptions, plot, dialogue, and exercises. However, each story teaser can be
used by itself at any time if it appeals to the writer. There is a writer’s
resource listing at the end of the book.

The book is available on: amazon.com/author/cherielee

Http://www.amazon.com/Cherie-Lee/e/Boo59MM60W

My Space: http://myspace.com/cherannlee

Facebook:http://facebook.com/cherie.lee2

See notes below for dinner fees, meeting format and locationdirections.  Thank you.

MENU:  A light dinner – salad or sandwich and soup, dessert, beverage and roll with tax and gratuity included – make your choice the nightof the meeting.

COST: $22.00 for members – $25.00 for guests –PLEASE RSVP.  Thank you.

CHECKS or cash:  Please make check payable to Scottsdale Society of Women Writers SSWW) prior to coming to the meeting to save time at the check-in table.

Thank you for the help.

CHECK-IN:  Please check-in between 5:00 and 5:45.  The meeting starts promptly at 6:00.  All those attending the meeting must pay forthe dinner/room/speaker – cost noted above.
Pick up your name badge at the front table and ENJOY a wonderful night!

AGENDA:  The agendas will be on the dinner table –always a lot of good INFO for you.

DIRECTIONS:
Chaparral Suites is in Scottsdale at Chaparral Rd just north of Old Town.  Chaparral Rd has a light.  Parking is in the rear – two large parking lots.

Note: best to enter from the middle elevator for the 4thFloor Grille – not from the main entrance.

From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Rd and go west.  Just prior to Scottsdale Rd enter the side
drive at 4th Floor Grille – take that elevator.  Note awning marked 4th FloorGrille on the Chaparral side.  This is the easiest way in – again, not through the main lobby.  Welcome!

Goals of the Group

Value all the professional women writers seeking to
share their expertise

  • Honor all genres and all forms of professional writing
  • Attend monthly meetings  to move the group and its members
    forward
  • Learn and share in the experiences of monthly
    professional speakers
  • Grow the group to a membership of active and
    contributing women
  • Encourage participation by members as presenters,
    mentors, judges and volunteers
  • Support and challenge each other to always be
    writing
  • Help members to stretch as writers and reach lofty
    personal goals
  • Have fun,
    meet trustworthy women writers, share dreams

Book Review – Words Falling Like Water – for author Sonya Vaughn by Patricia L. Brooks, author and book shepherd

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In her novel, Words Falling like Water, Sonya Vaughn catalogs the commonplace
transactions made between a husband and wife: marriage vows, raising a child, paying a mortgage, advancing careers and talking out problems.  Her protagonist
Lily addresses such marital problems as the effects of job stress and loss on a
relationship, divorce, bankruptcy, grief, loneliness and heartbreak.  These are the center of Sonya’s absorbing novel based on true events.

As Lily’s career in the auto industry moves along and her failing marriage slows, she is often the one giving life to others:  her husband who is unemployed, her young son who is very dependent on her and her teammates at work who fear being a part of a major layoff.  They constantly make demands of her for their needs.

This is a story of intersections:  from an inevitable place and time in the deteriorating auto industry in Michigan to her private hell with an unemployed husband who has given up on life and moved in to their basement.  She is in a fearful pressure cooker.  As a project manager for the largest auto industry corporation at the peak of the most recessionary years in this country’s
recent history she is catapulted into a life on the edge.  Her flawed devotion to her work and her
family demands create more havoc, yet she shows us strengths we can admire as
we root for in every unfolding chapter.

In its heyday, this automotive giant was king in the industry and led the world from its plants in Michigan with cars made in the United States.   Jobs have now moved overseas and the impact of this on Lily and her team is illustrated with their Indian counterpart’s communications – or lack of – as the tension mounts in the story.

Lily is surrounded by her supportive but combative sister and her loving but skeptical parents when it comes to conversations about her husband and her job situation,
Her private and public life moves for long stretches on two separate but
intertwined tracks.  Lily has a simpler way of describing how she sees herself – a proud, obsessive, idiosyncratic woman.  Someone she loathes and loves and is trying
to understand.

The cold facts of a pending layoff, a divorce that is inevitable and a bankruptcy or short sale on her home continue to pull her down relentlessly.  With all her anger and guilt over not being available for her son as much as she would like to be, and no support from her husband with the child care, Lily finds at times an unexpected surge of relief in a relationship with a male counterpart at work.

The book often deals with sudden spikes of self-consciousness for Lily and you often wonder how she will stay strong, persevere and escape this excruciating place of torment at work dealing daily with an obstinate and insensitive boss.   One that requires her to help him do his dirty work of letting go of workers she admires and enjoys.

Her quiet faith based pursuit for agood life for her and her son is a bright light as she chases her quest for a spiritual life she has not known but yearns to have.  Over the course of the book, her growth enhances her but her idiosyncrasies stifle her in other ways.    She is so afraid things won’t turn out right, she literally sees herself in poverty as a bag lady if she loses her job
and her home, and if her husband does not get another job and come out of the
basement.

Linked destinies of Lily and her male co-worker friend from California who is enthralled with her and determined to help her get out of her situation allows her to maintain her dignity despite
her neediness.  While her devotion to her faithful sister and her loving young son help keep her spirits alive.

Vaughn gives us vivid characters and a thorough insight into the sadness of the auto industry prior to the bankruptcy and bailout of recent years where so many were devastated.  She fills in the blanks for the rest of the story.  There are poignant moments when
family and friends help pull the narrative along.  Despite the overall issues that almost devour
Lily, there are solutions and blessings.

In Words Falling like Water we find the author’s escape from Michigan to tell her real life story and family history in a fictional way even if she can never really escape the truth.  Thisis a work of huge magnitude for anyone who has a connection to loss in their personal or private life.  It is also critical to all of us who grew up in Michigan and have family or friends in there who have survived the auto industry of yesterday, only to see it coming back in a strong way today.  We want the story of our beloved Michigan to be told.  Vaughn has done that for us.

What I Learned at the Desert Dreams Writers Conference – Scottsdale, AZ 2012

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What I Learned at the Desert Dreams Writers Conference – April 2012

 

Patricia L. Brooks, author, speaker, book shepherd 480-250-5556   patricia@plbrooks.com president/founder Scottsdale Society
of Women Writers  www.plbrooks.com and blog www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

ONE                E-Books and E-book Publishing

ü  There are traditional and self-publishing e-book publishers – do your research

ü  Traditional houses will want your e-book rights too

ü  Get professional help, spend the money to do it correctly the first time

ü  Be selective, like any other publishing – publishers work in specific genres

ü  Find out how long the e-book publisher has been in business.

ü  Commit to doing lots of e-books, brand yourself out there in e-books

ü  Be aware – shorter stories sell well

ü  Pricing an e-book is the key – $2.99 to $5.99 is a good range

ü  Be contemporary – find a new way to tell your story

ü  Be ready when you pitch your work tooanyone – especially an agent or editor

ü  Use every emotion and think new and fresh

ü  There are many opportunities for success with e-books – do your research

ü  Consider offering a free 10,000 word e-story to help with your branding

ü  Accept you are the marketing person for your e-book – no matter which route chosen

ü  The best way to sell your e-books is to give them away – be open to new ideas

ü  You will need multiple books to make money – keep writing

ü  Your goal should be to have a minimum of 10 e-books – don’t stop there

ü  In branding yourself think promotional pieces such as CD’s, book trailers and interviews and readings online

ü  Ask yourself if you can do it
all?  Do you need a partner?  Can you run a business?

THANK YOU Vijaya Schartz  www.vijayaschartz.com

Kris Tualla www.kristualla.com

TWO              Laughter, Emotion, not Sentimentality or Cliches

ü  Three Basic Components

The Reader – engage them and bond with them

The Characters – make them sympathetic, vulnerable – have a worthy goal

The Author – make it personal, relate to the reader

ü  Ask yourself – why do we read?

Bond – Conflict – Complete something, closure

ü  Work in author emotion

Is it me?  Can I champion this subject?

What engages me?  Will I put my world in a book?

Am I excited?  Can I discover myself here?

ü  Combine emotion with action – write over-the-top emotions

ü  Understand trigger words

Hope – things will get better

Anger – can be powerful

Betrayal – feeds another form of power

Forbidden – drawn to secrets

Powerlessness – frustration to the extreme

Passion – who you really are

THANK YOU Linda Style www.lindastyle.com

THREE            Your Writing Space, Your Writing and You

ü  Craft your writing space – to find your muse

ü  Create an environment for writing that is you

ü  Learn Feng Shui – clear the clutter,purge

ü  Give yourself a no stress environment to feel inspired

ü  Add feel good things – pictures,plants, candles, memorabilia, visuals

ü  Remind myself I have been acknowledged

ü  www.healthywriter.blog – check it out

JOURNAL –What makes me feel abundant?  What am I putting out there?  What will be
provided?  Who supports me in my writing?

THANK YOU Tawny Weber  www.tawnyweber.com

FOUR     Meditate and Manage your Stress

ü  Try Mindful Meditation

Be Present with yourself

Take a pause

ü  Press and Pause – during deadlines

ü  Honor the different times of the day you are creative

ü  Go to a place free of distractions

ü  Put up a do not disturb sign

ü  Have a dedicated practice for yourself

Yoga, meditation, a focus box, morning pages, journal

ü  Stay with your negative – it may energize you

ü  Stick with your Fear – make it work for you

THANK YOU Jennifer Schober
jschober@spencerhillassociates.com

FIVE    The Double D’s – dialogue and description

ü  Description – paint a picture

ü  Dialogue – tell it well so we  listen

ü  What do I do well?  What do I need to learn?

ü  Describe how it feels – body too

ü  Mood – show don’t tell

ü  Dialogue – don’t give too much information

ü  Voice – characters should sound different – thoughts and feelings

ü  Ask yourself some very important questions:

What do I need to convey in this scene?

Do we know what they look like?

Do we know how they feel about the situation?

What matters to me?

What is my field of vision?

What about this situation matters?

THANK YOU Laurie Schnebly Campbell  www.booklaurie.com

SIX      Practice What You Pitch

ü  What and where and when

What type of story is it?   Where does it take place?

How long is it?  Is it finished?

ü  What is it about – the concept

ü  Talk to me not at me

Have a conversation

Leave time for questions

ü  Tips you Need to Remember

Calm down and smile!

Don’t take anything said to you personally

Be willing to learn – be open minded

Be positive and be humble

THANK YOU Erin Quinn  www.erinquinn.info

SEVEN            Those Hard-to-Write Characters

ü  May not be sympathetic or likeable – Be true be fearless

Don’t be afraid and don’t hold back

Give them a history

Show us how they became who they are now

ü  Give us some intrigue

Grab a reader’s attention

Make sure we want to know more

ü  Always ask why

Push them out of their comfort zone

Don’t be so negative

All people aren’t all bad or all good

ü  Where’s the love?

One person must have cared for them sometime

We all have our weaknesses

What will they do anything for or protect?

ü  Give a glimpse of the future

What will they become?

Don’t change, but just a little, grow them

Be true to the character

THANK YOU    Beth Andrews   www.bethandrews.net

BOOK REVIEW The Slumber Party from Hell – author, Sue Ellen Allen and reviewer Patricia L. Brooks

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The Slumber Party from Hell, the book Sue Ellen Allen published in 2011, seems like an intimate chat with an old chum.  It’s a book that is more like an overheard
conversation.  You feel you’re intruding but you can’t stop listening.

In this well written work, The Slumber Party from Hell puts the spotlight on the Arizona prison system that is penalizing, but not rehabilitating its inmates.

Allen says it took her seven years in prison to realize the Arizona prisons are part of the problem as they focus narrowly on penalizing and punishing our prison population.  She believes her life has changed completely from this experience of dealing with breast cancer as a prisoner, as well as the unnecessary death of her friend and roommate Gina to cancer while she too was in prison.

Allen knew it was the end of the world as she had known it once she stepped in to that life and she was determined to make the best of it.

Allen puts some of her self-made power to work by being a leader and role model while behind bars by volunteering her expertise and ideas learned on the outside as a professional woman and community leader.  She helps many of the younger women who are struggling develop themselves within the confines of an unfair and unjust prison system.

She also attempts to shrink the negative impact of prison for herself and her fellow inmates by starting programs positive in nature.  This is no easy feat because most of the rules are unrealistic and frustrating at best.

Although often her writing leaves you wishing things were not as she describes them, you find joy and humor in the small things she celebrates during those seven years of incarceration.

You are able to decipher what is really going on in some of the chaos and craziness to make a little sense of the journey, but in most areas to no avail.  It is what it is and the few gems in the story are Sue Ellen herself, along with a couple of her friends – inside and out.

This is a story of a few founders of the truth in a world where innocence and beauty do not exist.  Some readers will be engaged by Allen’s fierce convictions and continuous mentions of hope and gratitude for the lessons she is learning and the person she is becoming.

Others will be turned off by the blatant honesty of life in the Arizona prison system and the horrors she witnessed.  But throughout it all, you will find humor and humanness to admire just as I did.  You will find respect for her in your own way and you will surely be grateful for your life just the way it is today.

This week she is celebrating three years since her release March 18, 2009.  She celebrated 10 years cancer free on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14, 2012.

Book Reviewer:

Patricia L. Brooks patricia@pplbrooks.com
480-250-5556

President/Founder – Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

President/Owner – Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC

www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

Author – Gifts of Sisterhood www.amzn.com/B006MLA91Q

PUBLISH WITH MARKETING IN MIND

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Publish with Marketing in Mind – Patricia L. Brooks, author, consultant

Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC  www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

Publishing is like Sailing!

Take the Helm – Brand

Chart your Course – Differentiation

Hoist your Best Sails – Creativity

Launch a Smooth Voyage – Diversify

Ask the Right Questions

Who are my Audiences?     What is my Purpose?

When Should I Launch?      Where will I Compete?

YES Editors/Proofreaders as Partners

Mature the Work

Cultivate a must Read

Shape it and Improve it

Position in your Genre

YES Cover Design/Title – – Hottest Sell Points

Show a Succinct Title

Dress it up – Clear and Curious

Make it Count – Get attention

Brand it – Pedigree

YES Back Cover Matters

Short Testimonials – No bragging

Photo/Message – Challenge/Invite

Pitch what you Know – Inspire

Endorsements – Benefits are Paramount

YES Interior Layout Legend is Critical to Success

Influence the Buying Decision with the following:

Show your Message

Establish Expectations

Delight the Reader

Printing Particulars

YES Compliance is Critical – get it right the first time

Research is Required – Shop ‘till you Drop

Budgeting is Best

YES Try the Traditional Route

You too will do Marketing!

Agents – Prestige – Advances – Rights

Contracts – Control issues – Timelines – Changes

YES Self-Publishing Perspective is an option

In Control – Earn more per book

Process much quicker – All Costs to You

Consultant/Book Shepherd can be the way to go

YES Marketing You and your Book! is the goal

Social Media – Network – Online – Websites – Blogs

Promotion – Bookmarks, Postcards, Posters

Media – Print/Broadcast – Publicity

YES Launch Lessons Learned are vital

30 Second Commercial

Market Locally then Globally

Distribution – Delivery

Business Plan – Marketing Plan

HERE THEY ARE Some Suggested Reading

Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg

Your Life as Story – Tristine Rainer

The Right to Write – Julia Cameron

1001 Ways to Market Your Book – John Kremer

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS AND GOOD LUCK

Patricia L. Brooks

patricia@plbrooks.com 480-250-5556

 

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Larry James – www.authorsandspeakers.com

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SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes inspirational speaker LARRY JAMES for 2012
New Year Meeting!

LARRY JAMES Author/Speaker for January 25th

WHO: Scottsdale society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting – celebrate writing and help us RING IN THE NEW YEAR

WHERE:
Chaparral Suites Resort, 5001 N, Scottsdale Rd. at Chaparral Rd light, NE corner – Enter off Chaparral Rd, – 4th Floor Grill entrance, take elevator, exit 4th floor, left to the Cactus Room

WHEN:          JAN 25th Wed 5:30-7:30 – Celebrate the New Year with us!

WHY: The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers gives members access to events of interest, a format for exchanging ideas, an opportunity to network with other women writers and authors, an alliance with businesses relating to writing and publishing, and camaraderie and support.

HOW:        PLEASE – RSVP now to Patricia L. Brooks, president/founder

Cell 480-250-5556
or patricia@plbrooks.com See Details Below

SPEAKER:
About Larry James. . .

Larry James is founder and President of CelebrateIntimateWeddings.com and CelebrateLove.com and two other Websites.   He has been a full-time professional speaker and author since 1987.  During his long career, he has authored five books.  He has earned his reputation as speaker and trainer by teaching success principles/techniques learned and developed from his xperiences in the field of broadcasting, selling and living life to its fullest.

His “Relationship Enrichment Love Shop,” adapted from his best-selling
books, “How to Really Love the One You’re With: Affirmative Guidelines for a Healthy Love Relationship,” “Love Notes for Lovers: Words That Make Music for Two Hearts Dancing!” and “Red Hot Love Notes for
Lovers” is presented nationally.  His new book is, “Ten Commitments of Networking: Creative Ways to Maximize Your Personal Connections.”  Larry’s books have been published in the U.S., Russia, India, Korea, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. He was on staff with Dr. John Gray, Ph.D. author of “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” for eight years.   He was Dr. Gray’s personal choice to host the popular “Mars/Venus Chat Room” on America Online and served as host for nearly three years.

Larry has appeared on ABC TV’s “The View” with Barbara Walters and more than 650 radio talk shows.  He’s been quoted in Cosmopolitan Magazine & Red Book and his articles have appeared in  Modern Bride, Arizona Weddings, Wedding Chronicle, Arizona’s Finest Wedding Sites & Services and many others.  Numerous relationship articles also appear on Larry’s Websites.

About AuthorsandSpeakersNetwork.c¤m. . .

AuthorsandSpeakersNetwork.com is an awesome website with more than 200 pages of informative information, tips, ceremonies, checklists, elationship articles and more for authors and speakers.  Larry James an ordained, inational wedding officiant and performs personally customized “romantic” wedding ceremonies with romantic elegance and impeccable detail; one that will be a cherished memory for a lifetime.

Larry James was voted “Best Officiant” in the Greater Phoenix area by the Wedding Chronicle’s 2007, 2008 & 2009 Readers Poll. Larry
James P.O. Box 12695, Scottsdale, Arizona  85267-2695

480 998-9411 ¤ Cell 480-205-3694 ¤ 800 725-9223 ¤ Fax 480 998-2173

E-mail:   CelebrateLove@cox.net ¤ www.CelebrateIntimateWeddings.com

See notes below for dinner fees, format and location directions.  Thank you.

MENU:  Salad, dessert, beverage and roll or a sandwich/soup, dessert, beverage and roll – both with tax and gratuity included – make your choice the night of the meeting.

COST: $22.00 for members – $25.00 for guests (able to visit twice before joining)

CHECKS:  Please make check payable to Scottsdale Society of Women Writers prior to coming to the meeting to save time at the check-in table.  Thank you.

CHECK-IN:  Please check-in between 5:15 and 5:45 at the
table at the door, the meeting starts promptly at 6:00 – thank you.

(1) Leave your check made payable to SSWW

(2) All those attending the meeting must pay for the dinner/room/speaker

(3)Have your name checked off the RSVP list and Pick-up your
name badge

AGENDA:  The agendas will be on the dinner table and the format remains the same.

DIRECTIONS:
Chaparral Suites is in Scottsdale at Chaparral Rd just north of Fashion Square Mall – Chaparral Rd has a light.  Parking is in the rear – two large parking lots Note: best to enter from the middle elevator for the 4th Floor Grille.

From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Rd and go west.  Just prior to Scottsdale Rd enter the side drive at 4th Floor Grille and come up that elevator.  There is an awning marked 4th Floor Grille.  This is the easiest way in – not through the lobby.  The parking lots are in the back of the complex.

Goals of the Group

Value all the professional women writers seeking to
share their expertise

  • Honor all genres and all forms of professional  writing
  • Attend monthly meetings  to move the group and its members
    forward
  • Learn and share in the experiences of monthly  professional speakers
  • Grow the group to a membership of active and  contributing women
  • Encourage participation by members as presenters, mentors, judges and volunteers
  • Support and challenge each other to always be  writing
  • Help members to stretch as writers and reach lofty personal goals
  • Have fun,  meet trustworthy women writers, share dreams

Celebrate My Sister’s Birthday – FREE EBOOK Gifts of Sisterhood-journey from grief to gratitude

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Title:    Gifts of Sisterhood-journey from grief to gratitude

Publication:    December, 2011

Contact:          Patricia L. Brooks, author

Address:          7970 E. Camelback Rd., 710, Scottsdale, AZ  85251

Cell                 (480-250-5556)

Email:             patricia@plbrooks.com

Publisher:       Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC

www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

Scottsdale Author/Publishing Consultant
Launches FREE EBOOK to Celebrate Sister’s Birthday Jan 14-16! Gifts of Sisterhood – the gifts that keep on giving!

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, January 11, 2012 – To find hope in her
grief and to celebrate her sister’s life is God’s plan for this author. This past
month, Scottsdale author Patricia L. Brooks www.amazon.com/author/patricialbrooks
as Brooks Goldmann Publishing Company, LLC of Scottsdale, AZ enhanced her book Gifts of Sisterhood with updates in an Ebook now available to you
FREE for three days – Jan. 14-16 in celebration of her sister’s birthday.  This new Ebook supports the importance of family relationships and the journey of grief when a loved one is lost. www.amazon.com/giftsofsisterhood.

In today’s firestorm of spiritual doubt, this book is a collection of heartwarming stories that should not be overlooked.   Brooks gathered the stories from true
accounts of her relationship with her sister and their growing up in the upper
peninsula of Michigan.  They experienced the unusual, the synchronistic, the amazing.

She tells them in her own words with her sister’s permission.  Each one is a small miracle, often a life-changing experience that will touch your heart.

In addition to reducing the mystery of life, death and grief in her book, Gifts of Sisterhood, Brooks asserts life’s challenges occur all the time and change our lives forever; many times for the better.

Brooks, who represents not only her writing but her spirituality here, serves the community in many ways.  She teaches and works within natural
approaches to the grief journey and offers her workshop outline in this revised
Ebook.  Readers who sample this beautiful Ebook will become open to the possibility of achieving greater well-being and peace with life’s many challenges.  Her Stop Smoking Sister campaign is introduced as well.

Patricia is the president/founder of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers; building the group to 60 members since 2007 with monthly speaker/dinner meetings, critique groups and other outside book event activities.

The Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC website www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com
provides information on their publishing services.    As a published author and Scottsdale business woman, Patricia L. Brooks performs the duties of publishing consultant/book shepherd for the independent writer/author seeking information in the self-publishing maze.  Patricia confirms her new Ebook is thought provoking and genuine and fits the other authors she has helped in the memoir, self-help and non-fiction arena.
Patricia can help you travel the writing and publishing maze.  Feel free to visit her many posts on writing and publishing on their blog http://brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

We give and receive gifts, but the gifts that keep on giving – Faith, Courage, Love, Friendship, Happiness and Acceptance – are the gifts her youngest sister gave so freely.  Too often it takes a life changing experience to recognize what we already have, affirm what we already know, welcome what is given to us and share it with others.

Patricia is a “sibling survivor” of the #2 killer of women today.  While rejoicing in her sister’s memory she preserves her story and important legacy.  Through emotional healing Patricia takes you on a journey of love and friendship, grief and acceptance as she gives her sister’s spirit back to their “roots” in County Tipperary, Ireland.

You will learn to awaken the compassion within you, forgive yourself when facing life’s challenges, find the hidden gift of hope in your life and have faith that nothing happens in God’s world by mistake.

Patricia reveals her upbeat and insightful personal story of the relationship she had with her youngest sister – her friend, her confidante, her soul mate.  Their lives constantly intertwined, both growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and living 2,500 miles apart as adults.

Now God takes you on the Journey from Grief to Gratitude to a place of inspiration and acceptance.  The faith Patricia has her sister’s life was not in vain calls her to share her gifts with you.  By embracing her sister’s wit,
charm and beauty she weaves together a meaningful story of love and courage you can reflect upon as you travel your own life’s path.

A portion of the proceeds of this book goes to the Vital Care Hospice of the Straits of Mackinac County Michigan in memory of my sister. Thank you.

 

WRITE NOW WRITING CONFERENCE – what I learned and share with you

by

What I learned at the Write Now writing conference
Aug 20th, 2011 – Scottsdale, AZ
Patricia L. Brooks patricia@plbrooks.com
PICK UP THE PACE
Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell, authors, speakers
Motivating you to finish your work
These women are delightful.  They are determined to inspire everyone in the audience to feel as passionately as they do about writing and publishing.  Thank you Sophie and Juliet for a tremendous effort shown to us; we appreciate it. The following questions were posed to us for reflection.
What are my True Writing Goals?
    • To tighten the structure of my current manuscript
    • To define my query letter and prepare for submission
    • To not give up no matter how many rejections I receive

    How important are these Goals?

    • Top priority –  will not be put aside for
      even one day
    • They will be a part of my morning schedule along with my exercise and daily
      meditations
    • They will be connected to everything I do as I live the writers life

    What am I willing to Give Up?

    • Social activities that I deem unnecessary to my goals listed above
    • TV time and Internet usage to have more writing time
    • Certain reading material that does not further my goals

    How will I Get in the Chair?

    • Maintain my home-office for writing and make it very workable for that purpose
    • Write and think and breathe this work each day while moving the project forward
    • Appreciate the time I have to write and take advantage of this writing opportunity

    How Will I Stop Sabotaging Myself?

    • By not allowing myself off the hook with my commitment to write each day for a minimum of two hours
    • By telling myself I can do this again in a bigger and better way
    • By not allowing my perfectionism to get in the way of my desire to finish this
      work

     

     

     

Now more honest with myself about my writing, I take these goals and commitments seriously.  I know my strengths and will capitalize on them and make them work for me such as being early and working alone.
These authors advise staying ENGAGED and working on something all of the time.  I will remember that being able to write full-time is a privilege and I should not take it lightly.
These women also preach “anything you write is practice, so keep writing” and never give up.  Keep writing and learn your voice is their mantra!
My stories are valid.  I respect my fellow writers and their work too. I seek their encouragement and support as part of my plan to write daily and I pledge to continue to give it in return.
Thank you Sophie www.sophielittlefield.com and Juliet www.julietblackwell.net for a wonderful session at the conference
FIVE TECHNIQUES FOR SHAPING YOUR SUBMISSIONS
Carol Test, writer and editor
Thank you Carol for the valuable feedback you gave me on the work I submitted at the conference.  Here is what you prompted us with followed by
my takeaways from your wonderful talk.
1)
Write Fast First Drafts (and skinny seconds)
Almost overwrite and imbue later
  1. Don’t edit as you go along
  2. Write calorie and go “all-in”
  3. Cut back with the second draft
    1. My takeaway is to write with fierce abandon
2)
Beg the Question (in the intro)
Ask a rhetorical question – no need to answer
  1. Leave this for the reader to define and answer
  2. Hook us in with the story’s question
  3. Start action with the hook
    1. My takeaway is do it now
3)
Shape your Scenes (timing them)
Scene moves you forward in the story
  1. Clock is critical – how long does it take?
  2. Progression is paramount to the story
  3. Take us back to the opening at the end
    1. My takeaway is the form and flow are crucial
4)
Answer the Post-it Question
Theme ( use rhetorical question instead of a statement)
  1. Define theme on a post-a-note
  2. Be succinct and clear
  3. Stir interest
    1. My takeaway is less is more
5)
Know the Elements of Craft – do double duty
Narrative – shape – movement – through character in to action
  1. Mirror characters to make point
  2. Concrete detail
  3. Sculpt in to a work of art
    1. My takeaway is paint beautiful pictures with my story
The use of structure to organize your work is one important thing I needed to hear.  Don’t tie it up too nicely is another.  Let the reader do some of the work, but shape it and make it attractive to the reader still another.  Let the reader answer the questions you set forth.  The best advice yet – thank you
Carol.

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