new fiction

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Jessica McCann, award winning historical fiction writer

September 15, 2014 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Do you know how to walk the fine line between fact and fiction?

Welcome Jessica McCann, historical fiction author

Our 9^th Anniversary Meeting!

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

Camaraderie for writers and speaker/member book signings

WHERE: Chaparral Suites Resort, 5001 N, Scottsdale Rd. NE corner

Enter off Chaparral Rd – 4^th Floor Grill entrance

WHEN: WED September 24^th, 2014 at 5:30-7:30 pm

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

Cell 480-250-5556 or patricia@plbrooks.com

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: Jessica McCann

Jessica McCann is a professional freelance writer and has worked as a journalist and editor for more than two decades. Her award-winning nonfiction has been published in dozens of magazines (including Business Week, The Writer, Phoenix and ASU Research). McCann’s debut historical novel, All Different Kinds of Free, was awarded the Freedom in Fiction Prize and published by Bell Bridge Books in 2011.

Learn more online at www.JessicaMcCann.com

Presentation: Ensuring Our Stories are True

How do we ensure that our stories are “true” — true to ourselves, true to our readers, true to history? All writers walk a fine line between fact and fiction, regardless of our genre. Historical fiction, creative nonfiction and memoir are three particularly tricky genres. Award-winning novelist and journalist Jessica McCann will explore and discuss the ethical and creative challenges of writing honest prose that reveals life’s biggest truths.

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

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

COST: Members $25 and Guests $30 (new July 1^st 2014) – Please RSVP early

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

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 for the 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: Located in Scottsdale at Chaparral Rd just north of Old Town. Chaparral Rd has a light. Parking is to the rear – two large lots. Note: best to enter from the side elevator for the 4^th Floor Grille – NOT the main lobby.

From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Rd and go west. Just prior to Scottsdale Rd enter the side drive at 4^th Floor Grille – take that elevator. Note awning marked 4^th Floor Grille on the Chaparral side. This is the easiest way – 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

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers – welcomes Tara Taylor Quinn – prolific writer of Suspense/Romance to speak Mar 27th

March 18, 2013 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

SSWW Welcomes Prolific Romance and Suspense Novelist

Tara Taylor Quinn

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 – 4^th Floor Grill entrance, then left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: MAR 27^th, 2013 – Wed. 5:30-7:30

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

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: Tara Taylor Quinn www.tarataylorquinn.com

A Writing Career the Way I See It –

Tara Taylor Quinn speaks about her successful journey on the bumpy road of publishing.

With tips on keeping the work fresh, and the words flowing she’ll talk about how she makes it all work without knowing the secret.

The author has more than 60 original novels, in 20 languages. Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with over 6 million copies sold. She has appeared on national and local TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning.

Tara is known for delivering deeply emotional and psychologically astute novels of suspense and romance.

Tara won the 2008 Reader’s Choice Award and is a four time finalist for the Romance Writers of America’s Rita Award.

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

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

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 4^th Floor Grille – not from the main entrance.

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

December 23, 2012 by Patricia Brooks

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.

Did you know Arizona is a Leader in Women Holding Public Office?

November 12, 2012 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

SSWW Welcomes Heidi Osselaer, author, researcher and authority on women in politics in early Arizona history!

Come celebrate our centennial one more time on November 28^th!

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 – 4^th
Floor Grill entrance, then left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: November 28^th, 2012 -Wed. 5:30-7:30

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

Bio – Heidi J. Osselaer received her undergraduate
degree in history at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned both
her master’s degree and doctorate in U.S. history at Arizona State University.
In April of 2009, the University of Arizona Press published her first book, Winning
Their Place: Arizona Women in Politics, 1883-1950, which won two Glyph
Awards from the Arizona Book Publishing Association in 2010–best
History/Political and the Embodying Arizona Award—and was a finalist for the
Best Book award. (see book cover and author photo below) hjoss@asu.edu

Talk In January of 1999, five women were sworn in as Arizona’s top executive
offices by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Dubbed the “Fab
Five” by the media, these women made history when Arizona became the first
state with all women in charge of government. But Arizona’s female
politicians had been making history since 1883, when they first demanded the
right to vote. Heidi Osselaer discusses some of the state’s most important
early female politicians, like state suffrage leader Frances Willard Munds,
state legislator Nellie Trent Bush, Congresswoman Isabella Greenway, and
Justice Lorna Lockwood. These women established a tradition of holding
office prior to 1950 that has allowed Arizona to become a leader in electing
women to public office.

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

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

COST: $22.00 for members – $25.00 for guests

CHECKS or cash: 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. The meeting starts promptly at 6:00. All those attending the meeting must pay for the dinner/room/speaker. Pick up your
name badge and ENJOY!

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 4^th Floor Grille.

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

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

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers – Welcome Virginia Nosky and 50 Shades of Hot!

October 13, 2012 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes Virginia Nosky, an award
winning author as speaker with her talk on 50 Shades of HOT!

October 24, 2012

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 – 4^th
Floor Grill entrance, then left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: October 24^th Wed. 5:30-7:30

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

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.

Bio – VIRGINIA NOSKY – Virginia Nosky has published seven novels. Blue
Turquoise, White Shell won the Independent Publishers Gold Medal in 2009
and the Arizona Authors Association Glyph Awards for Best Novel, Best
Multicultural Novel, and Best of Arizona.2012 novels are The Fall from
Paradise Valley and To a Certain Degree. Her poetry and short stories
have appeared in several anthologies. White River a sequel to Blue Turquoise, White Shell will be published in January of 2013.

She lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with husband Richard, golden retriever Barkis and Lab Peaches.

Visit her website: www.virginianosky.com

YouTube trailer for The Fall from Paradise Valley

Presentation – FIFTY SHADES OF HOT – As the title of Virginia Nosky’s workshop suggests, the intensity of love and sex scenes is all over the map. The writer’s audience expects a certain amount of heat, from mild to blazing hot and many degrees in between. She delves into the biology and games of the man/woman attraction and its escalation, and looks at directions the
writer can go to satisfy the reader’s expectations and, not to forget, those of the characters in the story. Nosky also stresses that writing sweetly-warm to volcanic-hot romantic scenes is as much fun for the writer as it is for the reader and the characters involved in those Fifty Shades of Heat.

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

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. The meeting starts promptly at 6:00. Leave your check made payable to SSWW. All those attending the meeting must pay for
the dinner/room/speaker. Pick up your name badge – thank you and ENJOY!

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 4^th Floor Grille.

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

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Betty Webb to speak April 25th!

April 6, 2012 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes Award winning Scottsdale Mystery Author

Betty Webb of the Lena Jones series to the April Meeting!

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

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

WHEN: APRIL 25^th Wed 5:30-7:30 – Celebrate – Tax Season is Over!

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

Betty Webb

April 25^th Speaker – Betty is the author of the prize-winning Lena Jones
mystery series and a reviewer & columnist for Mystery Scene Magazine. Her
books have been given rave reviews by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune,
Publishers Weekly, etc. Before beginning to write full time, she was a
journalist, interviewing everyone from U.S. presidents, astronauts who walked
on the moon, and Nobel Prize winners.

Talk: Betty will discuss d ep personal beliefs can enhance your writing, not only in non-fiction, but in fiction, too. To do so, she draws parallels between her journalism experience and the plots of her 11 novels — all published by “traditional” mainstream presses to great critical acclaim. She will also share how she got the idea for a book she’s writing for her first self-published digital book experience (and its funny!).

Betty Webb author of DESERT
WIND, starred review in Publishers Weekly

http://www.facebook.com/l/SAQGE5EonAQHb5f2O5MMxSWukDWuYdtuKl3WJMvBxf3NpUQ/www.bettywebb-mystery.com

Follow me on Twitter @bettywebb

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 door, the meeting starts promptly at 6:00. Leave your check made payable to SSWW. All those attending the meeting must pay for
the dinner/room/speaker. Pick up your name badge – thank you!

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

From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Rd and go west. Just prior to Scottsdale Rd enter the side
drive at 4^th Floor Grille and come up that elevator. There is an awning marked 4^th 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

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers invites Jan Holmes Frost to speak Feb 19th

February 20, 2012 by Patricia Brooks

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes editor/author/speaker to Feb “Leap” Meeting!

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers and Jan Holmes Frost

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

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

WHEN: Feb 29^th Wed 5:30-7:30 – Celebrate your “Leap” 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: Jan Holmes Frost janholmesfrost@gmail.com and

www.janholmesfrost.com

How Important Are Your First 100 Words?

They are your sales pitch, your resume, they welcome the reader into the story, or they are a dismal disappointment.

What elements are key to grabbing a reader, or agent or publisher’s attention?

How can you develop an enticing through-line in one or two sentences?

What does your first sentence reveal?

In this Workshop/Discussion you’ll learn the answers, and more.

Jan Holmes Frost received her education in Boston, MA. She is the author of EightThings You Need to Know to Write a Novel and has taught workshops in Texas, Arizona and Colorado, and at the Central California Writer’s Conference. She works as a managing editor for Fireship Press of Tucson, and also does freelance editing. Her novel, Without Sanctions, a
techno-thriller, is due to be released in early 2012.

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 4^th Floor Grille. From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Rd and go west. Just prior to Scottsdale Rd enter the side drive at 4^th Floor Grille and come up that levator. There is an awning marked 4^thFloor Grille. This is the easiest way
– 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

THANK YOU for
your interest in our group!

Author Panel – historical fiction and family history – Barnes and Noble – Scottsdale

October 17, 2011 by Patricia Brooks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Patricia L. Brooks, president/founder

patricia@plbrooks.com 480-250-5556
Scottsdale Society of Women Writers partners with Barnes and Noble Booksellers

WHEN: Nov 1st, 2011 6:30-8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Barnes and Noble Booksellers – 90^th St., Shea Blvd., west of the
101, Scottsdale

WHO: Three award winning authors

Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski, Sharyl Bales and Marcia Fine

WHAT: Share their writing stories and sign books

Value Meals on the Volga, Stalked and Paper Children

HOW: RSVP Patricia L. Brooks, patricia@plbrooks.com or 480-250-5556

ANNA BARTKOWSKI – Savor the food your grandmother used to make! Join author Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski as she shares the making of Value Meals on the Volga, the family history cookbook.

Whether you are a gourmet chef or a novice cook, you can make delectable delights in your kitchen. By sharing original recipes dating from the 1700’s, Bartkowski connects with her ancestors, the founding members of the erman-Russian villages of Mariental and Reinwald, Russia. The Value Meals on the Volga cookbook guides you with step-by-step instructions and full color photos so you, too, can create wonderful memories for future generations. Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski pursues projects which revolve around her passion, genealogy and family history. Her goal is to bring everyone’s ancestry and family stories to life.

She is the author of three books which celebrate family history: Value Meals on the Volga, Maggie Visits Grandpa, and Maggie Visits Argentina. Anna
also edited Thirty Years in the Desert, An Anniversary Celebration of the
Arizona Sun Chapter which was a compilation of member’s unique family
stories.

Anna conducts workshops and presentations to inspire the writer and genealogist within all of us. From travels to Argentina to re-unite families torn apart during World War II, to offering ideas to jump start your own research, Anna has been the catalyst for over ten years.

Anna served as editor of the quarterly magazine publication of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Journal.
She is the Past President of the AHSGR Arizona Sun Chapter and actively
participates in the Serious Scribes Writer’s group and the Scottsdale Society
of Women Writers. As a life member of both the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and the German Russian Heritage Society, Anna has conducted workshops and presentations at many of their conventions.

Cell phone: 480 229-0873

Website: www.infiniteadventure.weebly.com

Blog: www.valuemeals.blogspot.com

www.writetotheheartofthematter.blogspot.com

Email: amb0457@cox.net

SHARYL BALES – After retiring from an active career as an insurance executive specializing in medical malpractice insurance, Sharyl began to turn her extensive experience in writing technical articles to her first love: novels. She has written one historical novel and completed the first two novels in her Signe series. She is currently working on the third volume of this series.

sharylbales@msn.com

Stalked Smart, sexy, sassy: The Carlson women – mother Signe and daughters Lia, Brittany, Jenna – are the beginning of a dynasty. American royalty of the ‘hard won, pulled up by the bootstraps’ kind. The first novel in the series – Stalked – welcomes the reader to the world of the rich and the famous: Hollywood, 1970 where middle daughter Brittany, who has just been signed to star in what is being haled as the next Oscar winning film, is being stalked presumably by a madman. How do they find the stalker and will they be in time? Knowing he is the only one she trusts to help, Signe brings handsome Mick McKenna into the picture even though she is aware that she will have to tell her daughters about certain events in her early life that she has kept to herself for many years.

Self-published on www.lulu.com, the second book in the series takes place in 1972. Personally involved in a case at the request of an old friend, Mick McKenna goes missing in the mountains of Nicaragua. Although a team of operatives from McKenna International are working on this case as well, including Signe Carlson’s youngest daughter, Jenna, Signe is not one to sit on the sidelines. She goes into action and within three hours of receiving the news. She has a plan and she intends to find Mick.

MARCIA FINE – Spending her formative years in South Florida, the only child of New York expatriates with a penchant for the Bohemian lifestyle, Marcia’s best friend was a good book. Thus the award winning book Paper Children an immigrant’s legacy came to be.

At Florida State University she majored in English and then taught high school for five years while working toward a Masters Degree in English Education and a Certificate of Concentration in Women’s Studies. Marcia also taught freshman composition at Arizona State University.

In 2000 Marcia began to pursue her dream of writing. Having written two satires about the upscale Scottsdale crowd, she then took a different direction and completed two more books.

Marcia’s fifth novel, Stressed in Scottsdale, expands her satirical series about Jean Rubin into the arena of politics and the environment. With her unique eye she pokes fun at the denizens of an upscale community while tackling serious issues of corruption and air quality issues.

Marcia states her motivation quite simply…

“I love the written word. I have stories to tell.”

MARCIA FINE “Every Woman has A Story!”

Marcia is going to share how she has formatted a writing career in two different genres to become a prize-winning author. Eleven years ago she had the desire to write, stories to tell and nothing written down. The journey of lessons learned, her encouragement and suggestions will inspire you!

Marcia Fine: www.marciafine.com blog: http://jeanrubinblog.com

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Betty Webb – mystery writer of many novels

May 19, 2011 by Patricia Brooks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Patricia L. Brooks, president, founder

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

480-250-5556 or patricia@plbrooks.com

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Wishes you a Happy Summer of Writing

BETTY WEBB www.bettywebb-mystery.com

May Speaker for Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Guest Speaker/Dinner Meeting

WHERE: 2011 LOCATION – Chaparral Suites Resort, 5001 N, Scottsdale Rd at Chaparral Rd light, NE corner. Enter off Chaparral Rd at the 4^th Floor Grill entrance, take elevator, exit and turn left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: 5:30 to 7:30, Wed. MAY 25TH, 2011

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

SPEAKER: Betty Webb www.bettywebb-mystery.com

Betty Webb, a former journalist turned mystery novelist, shares how she has turns real life cases into fiction without getting sued. She also discusses how to keep a series going after seven books, and gives tips on how to create a lead character who can carry that burden. Her bestselling mysteries include two very different series: “Desert Wives,” part of the Lena Jones mysteries; and “The Koala of Death,” one of the light-hearted Gunn Zoo mysteries.

BIO: A journalist for more than 20 years, Betty Webb interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts who walked on the moon, and Nobel-Prize winners, as well as the homeless, the dying, and polygamy runaways. Her mystery novels have received rave reviews from the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Publishers Weekly. Betty is a member of the National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, the American Association of Zoo Keepers and the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers.

See notes below for dinner fees, new format and new location, thank you.

There are changes to the menu, the cost of the meeting, and the way you pay for your meal at the meeting. Please note all our changes (as of 2011) – thank you.

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

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

CHECKS: Please make your 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 5:00 and 5:45 at the table at the door so we can start the meeting promptly at 6:00.

(1) Leave your check made payable to SSWW,

(2) Have your name checked off the RSVP list,

(3) Pick-up your name badge – your receipt for the food server.

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 – best to enter from the middle elevator for the 4^th Floor Grille.

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

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS – Marcia Fine – Speaker Feb 23rd

February 1, 2011 by Patricia Brooks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Patricia L. Brooks, president, founder

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

480-250-5556 or patricia@plbrooks.com

SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Wishes you a happy Valentine’s Day!!

MARCIA FINE www.marciafine.com

Every Woman has a Story

Speaker for

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Monthly Guest Speaker/Dinner Meeting

WHERE: NEW LOCATION The Chaparral Suites Resort, 5001 N, Scottsdale Rd at Chaparral Rd light, NE corner – enter off Chaparral at 4^th Floor Grill entrance, take elevator to the 4^th floor, exit and turn left to the Cactus Room

WHEN: 5:30 to 7:30, Wed. February 23^rd , 2011

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

NOTE: *See notes below for dinner fees, new format and new location, thank you.

SPEAKER: Marcia Fine: www.marciafine.com blog: http://jeanrubinblog.com

Spending her formative years in South Florida, the only child of New York expatriates with a penchant for the Bohemian lifestyle, Marcia’s best friend was a good book.

At Florida State University she majored in English and then taught high school for five years while working toward a Masters degree in English Education and a Certificate of Concentration in Women’s Studies. Marcia also taught freshman composition at Arizona State University.
In 2000 Marcia began to pursue her dream of writing. Having written two satires about the upscale Scottsdale crowd, she then took a different direction and completed two more books.

MARCIA FINE “Every Woman has A Story!”

“I love the written word. I have stories to tell.”

*There are changes to the menu and the cost of the meeting, and the way you pay for your meal at the meeting. Please note all our changes below.

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

COST: The $22.00 is the cost for members. Guests will pay $25.00 and will again be able to visit two times before being asked to join us.

CHECKS: Please make your check out 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 5:00 and 5:45 at the table at the door so we can start the meeting promptly at 6:00.

(1) Leave your check made payable to Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

(2) Have your name checked off the RSVP list

(3) Pick-up your name badge – your receipt for the food server to identify you as paid

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

ROOM: Cactus Room – fourth floor of Chaparral Suites just off the center elevator, immediately to the left of the 4^th Floor Grille. See directions below for this elevator and parking. Facing the 4^th Floor Grille exiting this elevator, do not enter the Grille, take an immediate left. We are in the Cactus Room, a banquet room just a few yards away.

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

From the 101 freeway exit Chaparral Road and go west. Just prior to Scottsdale Road enter the side drive where it says 4^th Floor Grille and come up that elevator – it is in the center of the hotel complex. There is an awning marked 4^th Floor Grille. This is the easiest way in – not through the lobby. The parking lots are in the back on the north end of the complex.

THANK YOU

Patricia L. Brooks

President and founder

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

patricia@plbrooks.com

480-250-5556 cell

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Betty Webb to speak April 25th!

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