FWA St. Pete Meeting June 9th with speaker Sara Im

For our June 9th Meeting, Author Sara Im will be speaking. As usual, we'll meet at the Main Branch St. Pete Library at 6 PM. Networking/mingling begins at 5:30 PM. This meeting is open to the public.

June 9th~ Hope, Love, and Determination

BIO

Author SARA IM endured four brutal years in a forced labor camp that became known as “The Killing Fields” in Cambodia, suffering multiple serious diseases simultaneously. With no access to medical care, nutrition, proper rest nor adequate sleep, she had gone near death several times. However, with God’s grace, her strong love for her family and her hope had compelled her to survive. Sara found her way back to good health through good nutrition and proper total self- care, body, mind and spirit. Sara escaped from Cambodia and arrived in US in 1981. She graduated from college in 1987. Today, Sara run a business “Smart Healthy Living” that enhances people’s life through the use of effective natural nutrition and safe personal care products. She is an author of her inspirational award-winning book “How I Survived the Killing Fields: A Story of Hope, Love and Determination.”

Sara's website: www.smarthealthylivingtoday.info/

February FWA Meeting

For our February 11th meeting, Arch Deal will be presenting. As usual, we'll meet at the Main Branch St. Pete Library at 6 PM. Networking/mingling begins at 5:30 PM. This meeting is open to the public.

Topic: Lessons From Skydiving

BIO:

ARCH DEAL was a long-time news anchor on WFLA-TV (Tampa, FL). Arch was also a professional pilot and a skydiver who survived a 3000-foot fall when both parachutes failed.  He returned professionally as one of 35 athletes for a national company, skydiving around the world.  Therefore, he became the CORPORATE FALL GUY (the title of his book) who added more than 5,000 more jumps, working with greats like Lite All-Star Celebrities like:  Bob Eucker, John Madden, Larry Csonka, Boog Powell, Corky Carroll, Rodney Dangerfield and others. He has made many motivational speeches, trying to inspire others to never give up.

www.corporatefallguy.com/

November FWA St. Pete Meeting

For our Nov. 12th meeting, award-winning author Ken Pelham will be presenting. As usual, we'll meet at the Main Branch St. Pete Library at 6 PM. Networking/mingling begins at 5:30 PM. This meeting is open to the public.

Topic: Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Writing in the Fictional Point of View

At the 2015 Royal Palm Literary Banquet, Ken won Published Book of the Year for his non-fiction book, Out of Sight, Out of Mind. He'll be sharing his insights and expertise on point of view.

BIO

KEN PELHAM lives and writes in Maitland, Florida. His debut thriller, Brigands Key, won first place in the Florida Writers Association's Royal Palm Literary Awards and was published in hardcover in 2012 by Cengage/Five Star Mystery. The ebook edition was released in 2013. His BK prequel, Place of Fear, also a first place winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award, hit the electronic shelves as an ebook in 2013, and the wood shelves in softcover in 2014. Short stories by Ken, available for e-readers on Amazon.com, include: "Tales of Old Brigands Key," three short stories about the sordid and unseemly past of little Brigands Key; "Treacherous Bastards: Stories of Suspense, Deceit, and Skullduggery," three stories in the Hitchcock tradition, including one about Brigands Key; "A Double Shot of Fright: Two Stories of Horror," two chilling short stories guaranteed to cause loss of sleep.

Ken has penned two nonfiction books on the craft of writing: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: A Writer’s Guide to Mastering Viewpoint, and Great Danger: A Writer’s Guide to Building Suspense.

Website: www.kenpelham.com

Wonderful meetings in June and July, a FREE webinar, and a peek at August

FWA St. Pete June flashback

In June, St. Pete Writers Group had the privilege of meeting Molli Nickell of Get Published Now. Her topic: Rules of the Query Road. Attendees were informed ahead of time that they could bring their query letters for Molli to workshop with the group. Five brave souls handed over their letters, and Molli gently (with plenty of humor) took the group through each letter: what worked and what didn't. She explained what agents and publishers were looking for now (an ever-changing model) in the query letter and emphasized the importance of the Subject line of the email containing our query--that line, too, must grab the agent's attention.

Molli's Free Webinar: "Write a Query that Lands an Agent!"
If you missed the June meeting, you won't want to miss this free webinar. If you attended that meeting, you're probably thinking the same thing as me: I could use more of what I learned from Molli.

FWA is planning for several future webinars, and this first one will be free so be sure to get in on the ground level and see what it's all about.

When

• Saturday, August 15, 2015
• Time: 11 AM - 12 PM Eastern

Location

• You will need a computer with internet access and speakers for audio
• Login information for the event will be sent to all registered participants two weeks before the webinar. For further information, contact us.

Fee

• FREE for FWA members because this is our pilot webinar. In return, we will ask for your feedback to help us improve future events.
• This event is capped at 100 attendees, so sign up TODAY! LINK TO SIGN-UP: https://floridawriters.net/conferences/webinars/write-a-query-that-lands-an-agent/

FWA St. Pete July flashback

In July, Author Lisa Ann O'Kane spoke at our monthly meeting. Her topic: Embracing Your Sometimes Fickle Muse. An excellent presenter, Lisa took us through her personal journey to publication which included securing an agent, but also a first book that never made it to a publisher and a second book that was published just before the company dissolved, leading to a much different writing journey than she'd imagined. She asked the group tough questions about writing goals and facing fear, encouraging everyone to find what works for them in the writing process and run with it.

FWA St. Pete August flash forward

For our August 13th meeting, John Rehg will be speaking about Self-Publishing on a Budget (or free). More details to come.