First news today is that Word Jazz has been postponed until the Spring. Date to be determined closer to the first of the year. Hopefully then some of you lurkers, new members and non-practicing writers will be energized to get your work out there and join us. Delay in sponsorship, lack of entries in our writing contest and overall low SnoValley Writes! member participation required the schedule change. If someone would like to assist in the planning of the spring event, please let me know.

It’s about that time, too. End of Summer cleaning time. If you no longer want to receive these messages or be associated with SnoValley Writes! please respond with a reply email that simply says “remove.”

On to the next…

National Novel Writing Month is coming up. I will be your Municipal Liaison, with Takako Wright stepping up as Co-Captain to this insane month of writing focus. Special thanks to Takako for agreeing to join in on the M/L fun. Please spend some time these next couple of weeks to decide if you would like the awesome feeling of writing 50,000 words in 30 days with at least a near million other writers– more than 200 of them located right here in the valley. I have another manuscript in my South Fork series that must be written, as it appears…well, we won’t jinx it. Not yet. I have words to write. You have stories inside of you that must come out, too. Take the time, be supported and do it!

For those who thought MAYBE they might want to be treasurer for our board — here’s the duties as I was pressed for time last time to provide the details:

The Treasurer position is much like it sounds.  We need someone who is willing to keep track of income and expenses for the group and act as an officer on the board.  At this point the duties are fairly simple since we don’t have a large budget and do just a couple projects a year.  There is a monthly or bi-monthly board meeting.  We have been having it a Toads in the evening, but the time and place are flexible between the 5 board members.  The other board members are myself, Vicky Bastedo, Sheila Hunter and Sheri Kennedy.

A working knowledge of QuickBooks or another accounting program would be needed.  As we grow, we will be continuing to explore our tax reporting obligations and things of that nature, and would hope that our treasurer would be helpful in this research.  They wouldn’t need to know all the ‘higher’ accounting skills, but would need to be able to work with a CPA or tax professional if required.

So, if you’re still interested, please let me know and we’ll set up a time to meet with the board and have a discussion, answer questions, etc., so you may come to a decision.

Moving on…

Our story that was produced via Write Now! Needs to be edited. If those who participated would like to meet separately from our writers cafes and begin to collaborate on revision for publication, please send me the best day/time that you could meet, perhaps weekly until November to try to get this done. We would pause in November for NaNoWriMo and then pick up, if necessary, to get it done. I envision at least 2 hour work sessions.

As you can see most of this post is about getting involved with your the other writers in our community. That is your prompt this week. To get involved.

You, dear writer, have a strong and active board under the banner of SnoValley Writes!, but we cannot create a literary community alone. We need the individuals which make up that community. We have grown fast and strong in three years. We have many more things we can accomplish, but it will take a village of writers to get it done. Imagine when you sell that book finally — wouldn’t it be nice to have a community already behind you, supporting you, helping you promote? Wouldn’t you like to have a high quality organization to put together a writer’s conference of your dreams? One right here in the Valley? If none of these things are appealing to you, I ask that you truly consider why you initially contacted SnoValley Writes.  You want to be a writer. You need to write and you need to connect. Because without community, your work sits in a shoe box in the closet, or gathering up virtual dust in your computer files.

Step up. Step out. Bring your stories. You won’t be disappointed.

Join us. Truly join us. Don’t just be a name in a “to” line.