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/

February Meeting in St. Pete and Upcoming March Meeting

We had a great meeting on Feb 12th at the library. Open mic night gave several writers a chance to practice reading aloud to an audience. With the audience feedback, the writer was able to take away some good advice. We had several humorous pieces and a couple of stories that were on the more serious side. All were entertaining and nicely drafted.

March St. Pete FWA Meeting

For our upcoming meeting on March 12th, Heloise Jones will be speaking. As usual, we meet at the Main Branch St. Pete Library at 6 PM. Networking begins at 5:30 PM. This meeting is always open to the public.

Topic: Traditional Publishing: Getting an Agent to Your Book on the Shelf

Author Heloise will offer tips as well as the basics of what you need to know about the landscape of traditional publishing, and the steps toward a published book.

BIO

Heloise Jones has walked many paths from corporate advertising account manager to clay artist to microbrewery owner, creating, connection, and a good deal of project management at the core of each. A Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize finalist and Pushcart Prize nominee, she's currently querying agents for representation of her first novel FLIGHT, and doing research while writing her second. For her, writing a novel is like living a good life: you settle into the world, get to know folks, ride with them through their ups and downs, share their angst and triumphs, and are touched in ways so something shifts inside you. For more about Heloise, check out www.heloisejones.com.

Upcoming FWA St. Pete Meeting Thurs, Feb 12th

The monthly FWA meeting will take place at the Main Branch St. Pete Library this Thurs, Feb. 12th at 6 PM. Networking begins at 5:30 PM.

This meeting is open to the public, so feel free to invite friends.

Unfortunately, the agenda for this meeting is still one of two possibilities as I've been unable to reach the speaker. If he shows up, he will be speaking on non-fiction.

If not, we will have open mic night. All are welcome to bring writing to read aloud. Active FWA members will have the opportunity to read first, but all attendees will be welcome to do readings. I anticipate an average of 10 minute readings per person with a few minutes for feedback from the audience.

In the future, there will be another open mic opportunity if the speaker shows up.