The Passing of a Legend and Friend - July 16, 2011

I was notified this morning that our generous friend Diane Marcou passed away last night in her sleep, creating a void in the local writing community that will take some time to close.

At the first meeting of the FWA that I facilitated, back in September of 2008, I mentioned that I had received an ad for an upcoming workshop led by a Donald Maass, but couldn’t vouch for whether it might be worthwhile or not.

Diane was in attendance (she attended most of our meetings and presented at several), and said it was an excellent opportunity if one could afford it. It was the first of many of her recommendations of which I benefitted.

At Necronomicon later that same year, I had the good fortune to spend time with Diane talking about writing and life and getting to know her and become a friend of hers. I count that as a great blessing.

I won’t list all of her accomplishments, those are not important to me. Her greatest gift was her generosity of time and talent, and her genuine interest in helping those just learning the craft. She was a great person.

I was blessed to share dinner with her Thursday night after our monthly FWA meeting with some others of our group. I thought she never looked better. I guess she was getting ready to meet someone very important.

I will send out a notice of her memorial when it is received.

Thank you,

John Rehg

FWA St. Petersburg Writers Group leader

In addition, Billie Noakes, FWA member and longtime friend of Diane's has written a tribute and posted it on her blog here: http://billienoakes.com/2011/07/17/diane-curtis-marcou-a-tribute/

At our June meeting, Diane graciously stepped in when our scheduled speaker couldn't make it.

FWA Collection - Let's Talk

The FWA Collection - Let's Talk, its 3rd anthology of short stories written by members, will be going to press in time for the conference in October. Writers who have submitted have been notified, from what I hear, as to whether they made the cut or not.

At our July meeting we'll announce those selected from our group. I don't think we'll know who the top 10 are, as those stories are selected by the author of reknown, for this collection it's W. Bruce Cameron, author of "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

So, stop in to find out who will be included, and to listen to thriller writer Frank C. Strunk. Meeting is Jul 14 at 6pm at the St. Pete Main library.