Notice. All Village Writers' Club events and activities are suspended until further notice, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. To learn more about future plans, send an email message to: vwc.newsletter@gmail.com.
The tentative schedule for the Village Writers' Club 2019-2020 Club year is as follows (nonmembers, please return here to verify before attending meetings):
Date & Time | 2019-2020 Village Writers' Club Meeting & Event Calendar |
November 18, 2029
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Late afternoon wine & hors d'ouvres reception and read-around (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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December 2, 2019, 1:00 p.m., DeSoto Club (back room)
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Point of View (POV) Workshop: What is POV and How Do You Keep It Consistent? [John Swinburn]
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January 6, 2020, 1:00 p.m., DeSoto Club (back room)
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Writing Techniques Workshop (Part I) [Suzanne Bratcher]
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January 20, 2020
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To be announced
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February 3, 2020, 1:00 p.m., DeSoto Club (back room)
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Writing Techniques Workshop (Part II) [Suzanne Bratcher]
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February 17, 2020
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Marriage of the Muses: Art-Inspired Writing Workshop (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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March 2, 2020 1:00 p.m., DeSoto Club (back room)
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Realism in Writing Workshop [Jerry Schutz]
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March 16, 2020
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Pot Luck Luncheon and Read-Around (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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April 6, 2020
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Arts in the Park Events in Downtown Hot Springs (details to be announced when available)
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April 20, 2020
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Pot Luck Luncheon and Read-Around (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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May 4, 2020
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Marriage of the Muses: Art-Inspired Writing Workshop (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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May 19, 2020
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Pot Luck Luncheon and Read-Around (to be hosted by a Member; Members will be notified of specific time and address)
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June-August
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Unless otherwise announced, the Village Writers' Club will be on a 3-month summer hiatus
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A collection of short stories, excerpts from novels, vignettes of memoirs, poems, and other writing of members of the Village Writers' Club has been published. The compilation, entitled Tree Stumps and Toadstools: An Anthology, includes works inspired by Village artist Bill Ohlsen, who painted the art that graces the cover of the anthology. Ohlsen's art also is included alongside several pieces of writing inspired by his work. Most of the writers whose work is included in the anthology offered several submissions:
Suzanne Bratcher
M.C. Gore
Lee Iafrate
Marlene Kloack
Carole Ohlsen
John Swinburn
Brenda Tirrell
Joel Unowsky
After a summer hiatus, the Village Writers' Club will kick off the new club year soon. Please join us! Whether you are an experienced writer or simply want to get encouragement as you begin to write, the Village Writers' Club welcomes you. Let us know of your interest by sending an email to vwc.newsletter@gmail.com. We'll let you know the address where we'll meet shortly before the meeting date. We'll collect the $30 annual dues if you wish to join/renew your membership, as well, for the 2019-2020 club year (cash or check only).
These are just three of the Hot Springs Village Writers who will read their work on Monday, May 14 at 1:00 p.m. for the annual L'Audible Art program. Join an audience of readers and a group of writers who will share just a bit of their writing with an appreciative audience. We' offer free wine, free munchies, and a chance to listen to some spell-binding short stories and poetry. Plus, after the readings, published authors, members of the Village Writers' Club, will offer copies of their latest works and will be available to autograph their books. In addition, other writers will be available to talk about what , how, and why they write. If you're a fan of reading or a writer with an interest in what's going on with local writers or both, join us! Here are details of what, when, where, and why:
What: L'Audible Art, the annual program of writers reading their work
When: Monday, May 14, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Where: Coronado Community Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Hot Springs Village, AR
Why: Because it's literature! It's art! It's fun to hear people read and to talk to and hear from writers!
Join us!
Practice for L'Audible Art is just around the corner! We'll read our work for practice and timing during the April 23 Village Writers' Club meeting at Coronado Center. Then, on May 14, the Village will be there to be entertained by our talented members! Make your plans to attend May 14! It's going to be a blast!
John Swinburn, smiling broadly
We had a a good turnout on Monday, January 22 for our craft development conversation and exercise on the Secrets of Writing Powerful Dialogue. Thanks to all who attended the workshop. Wasn't the size just about perfect? We were able to squeeze around two tables (it was tight, but we like closeness, don't we?) and have face-to-face conversations about writing dialogue.
We look forward to seeing our members and to welcoming newcomers, as well. There is no charge for members; we charge nonmembers $5 for each meeting.
If you missed this excellent presentation, you missed an opportunity to learn ways to deepen your characters' personas in your writing. But don't worry, come to a future Village Writers' Club event and you'll reap rewards!
Several Village Writers' Club members and guests turned out for Madelyn (Maddie) Young's program on September 25 I've Got a Secret). Maddie and her husband, Robin, are moving to Tennessee after fourteen years in the Village. Maddie has played a pivotal role in moving the Village Writers' Club forward, taking on virtually all officer and committee chair slots during her years in the Club. She has been the guiding force behind the Village Writers' Club Critique Group for years. At the conclusion of the September 26 meeting, the Club toasted Maddie's service to the club with a big "farewell" cake. Below are photos from her final VWC meeting.
Here's Maddie with the "farewell" cake the Village Writers' Club arranged for her. The decoration reads:
"Maddie, We'll miss you. V.W.C."
No truer words have been said. Maddie has contributed so much to the Village Writers' Club over the years that her absence will leave a hole that's impossible to fill. But, relying on the optimism that she works so hard to instill in all the people she meets, there's no doubt that the Village Writers' Club will continue to flourish as a force to encourage and release creativity, helping release the writer in each of us.
Millie Lancaster and her program team have crafted an extraordinary set of programs for the Village Writers' Club 2017-2018 program year. Put these dates on your calendars so you won't miss out on a single event!
September 25, Monday, 12:30-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 6)- Welcome-Back Brown-Bag Social and Gathering- Bring your lunch and visit with old and new friends. Learn about this years’ new club format and upcoming events.
New Writers will work in a small group with Judy Lacy and Joanne Hines. Veteran members will participate in I’ve Got A Secret writing activity led by Maddie Young.
October 2, Monday, 1-3 - Poetry and Pie in the Afternoon- CANCELLED
October 16, 3rd Monday, 12:30-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 6) Brown-Bag Social and Gathering - Craft Development: Creating Strong Characters - After lunch, John Swinburn will lead an exercise to help us develop strong characters. Then we will break into Personal Interest Collectives (PICS) to discuss our interests: New Writers (Judy Lacy and Joanne Hines); Poetry (Myra Rustin); Fiction (TBD); Nonfiction and Memoir (TBD); Publishing (TBD).
November 13, Monday, 10-4- HSV Writers Retreat at the magnificent Williams House Inn (420 Quapaw) in Hot Springs. $25 includes lunch. A maximum of twelve writers can be accommodated. First come, first served by in-person delivery to Millie Lancaster of a $25 check payable to Williams House Inn. Registration will open October 1. Please hand-deliver to Millie Lancaster, who will be happy to come to your house to pick it up (contact her by email at Camille.lancaster.books@gmail.com or send a text to 501-209-2155) . We will need to carpool due to limited parking. See website for details.
November 20, 3rd Monday, 12:30-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 6) Brown-Bag Social and Gathering- Craft Development: Creating Strong Characters 2- After lunch, Millie Lancaster will lead us in a thirty-minute exercise designed to add depth and complexity to our characters. Then we will meet in our PICs.
November 27, Monday, 1-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 6)- Christmas Newsletter Mini-Workshop for the HSV Community- Suzanne Bratcher will present her popular workshop filled with innovative ways to make our Christmas newsletters more entertaining.
December 2, SATURDAY, 6:00 pm (Desoto Club Banquet Room)- Holiday Party- After dinner, winners of our community writing contest and our fall club contest will read their winning entries. Reservations required.
January 22, Monday, 12:30-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 6) Brown-Bag Social and Gathering- Craft Development: Secrets of Writing Powerful Dialogue. After lunch, John Swinburn will lead us in a thirty-minute exercise designed to improve our skills at writing dialogue. Then we will meet in our PICS.
February 5, Monday, 1-3 (Carole Ohlsen’s house) Marriage of the Muses- Carole Ohlsen hosts an afternoon at her home where a limited number of participants can view original artwork and write a piece inspired by one of the works. Reservations required by emailing Carole at cboh119@suddenlink.net or by calling 501-922-1587. (Address provided to participants.)
March 12, Monday, 1-3 (Marlene Kloack’s house)- Poetry and Pie in the Afternoon, Too- Marlene Kloack will host a second poetry reading/writing event in her home for the first eight members who email or call her (mkloackm@aol.com or 501-915-0494) to sign up. (Address provided to participants.)
March 24, SATURDAY, 9-3 (Coronado Center Auditorium,150 Ponderosa Way,) HSV Writers’ Club and Village Genealogy Society Present Writing Your Memoir Community Workshop with Marilyn Collins. This event is open to everyone. Event Chair: Linda Black. $30 preregistration or $35 at the door. See website for details.
April 9, Monday, 1-3 (Carole Ohlsen’s house) Marriage of the Muses, Too- Carole Ohlsen hosts an afternoon at her home where a limited number of participants can view original artwork and write a piece inspired by one of the works. Reservations required by emailing Carole at cboh119@suddenlink.net or by calling 501-922-1587. Address will be provided to guests.
April 23, Monday, 12:30-3 (Coronado Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Room 106) Participants in L’Audible Arts will rehearse. Hard copy of brief bio (maximum 50 words) and of five-minute L-Audible Art presentation must be submitted to Event Chair, Marlene Kloack, at 1:00 before rehearsal.
May 14, 2nd Monday, 1-2 (Coronado Ballroom, 150 Ponderosa Way,)- L’Audible Arts
June 25, Monday, 12:30-3 Brown Bag Social and Gathering– After socializing, club members will review activities of the year and discuss what they would like to see retained, omitted, or changed for next year.
Cy Holliday’s new book, George Bailey’s Got Nothing On Me, is a narrative history about the Holliday family and Cy’s growing up in the carnival life.
Home Plate Café is hosting a book signing for Holliday on Saturday, September 9 from 9 a.m.to noon.
George Bailey’s Got Nothing on Me covers seven generations of the Holliday family and the unique, far from perfect and certainly not “politically correct” surroundings of carnival life. The family memoir is interesting and poignant.
Sales for the book are moving along even better than anticipated, perhaps due in part to Holliday’s speaking engagement with the Next Chapter Book Club.
Holliday said, “I thought it went well. I talked about writing a memoir and the different ways to get a book published. I hope everyone will come out to Home Plate Café to see me and perhaps get a book signed.”
George Bailey’s Got Nothing On Me can be purchased from Holliday for $10 and is available on Kindle, Amazon, Nook and at Barnes and Noble.
The article above was adapted from an article written by Suzanne Sweeten that appeared in the September 5, 2017 issue of the Hot Springs Village Voice.
Special Genealogy Writing Workshop!
The Village Writers' Club and Village Genealogy Club have collaborated to organize a one-day workshop on researching and writing family histories. Mark your calendar for March 24, 2018! Plan to attend this riveting program, delivered by well-known author and genealogy researcher Marilyn Collins.
After a summer hiatus, we'll be back with our first Village Writers' Club meeting of the new Club Year. Make your plans to join us from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, September 25 at Coronado Community Center, 150 Ponderosa Way, Hot Springs Village, AR as we kick off the new year with some very exciting developments!
The 2017 WCCW Conference in Searcy, Arkansas will be held on Saturday, Sept. 2, and this is the first time that VWC member Madelyn Young will sponsor a contest of her own, the Southern Story Award. To support and encourage Arkansas writers, she will be offering a full critique to anyone who submits an entry to her contest and contacts her by email following the conference.
However, Madelyn requests that VWC members NOT enter her contest. Although an author's name cannot appear anywhere on his story, Madelyn might be familiar with a club member's style of writing, and she wants to judge all her entries fairly, without bias.
Madelyn will be happy to give her fellow club members feedback on their potential entries to other contests, though. You may contact her at rdymfy@suddenlnk.net.
To learn more about the conference and other contests available, please visit the WCCW website www.whitecountycreativewriters.org
For Questions or more Information contact Madelyn Young at rdymfy@suddenlink.net
Del Garrett with Raven's Inn Press is sponsoring fiction / poetry writing contest. There are three chances to win in each category. Prizes are 1st Place, $50; 2nd Place, $35; and 3rd Place, $15.
Contest Rules: You may enter up to three submissions in each separate contest. Each submission will be considered for all prizes. Entry fees are $5 for the first entry, $3 for each additional entry.
FOR QUESTIONS CONTACT DEL GARRETT AT: del.garrett.s0ke@gmail.com
Mary Lou Moran and Janis Kearney.
Mary Lou took first place in the WOW! Press Award contest at the Arkansas Writers’ Conference on June 3, 2017 for her entry titled The Transformation. Janis was chair of the contest. The subject was Life Changes, a Personal Reflection – My How Things Have Changed.
John Swinburn won 3rd place in the WOW! Press Award contest for Love Without Words and 1st Honorable Mention in the Moral Dilemma Award contest for his entry titled Bogata.
Madelyn Young won 3rd Honorable Mention in the Erdel Family Memorial Award contest for her entry titled A Sad and Crazy Place. She also 3rd Honorable Mention in the Moral Dilemma contest for her entry titled Heroes.
Mary Lou Moran won 1st place in the Carl J. Iannacone Memorial Award contest for her entry titled Family DNA. She won 1st place in the WOW! Press Award contest for her entry titled The Transformation and 2nd place in the Del Garrett’s Gimme the Creeps contest for her entry titled Highway to Nowhere. She also won a 1st honorable mention in the Lucille Longstreth Memorial Award contest for her entry titled The Eternal Mystery.
Village Writers’ Club of Hot Springs Village Award-Winners
Article by Madelyn Young
The Village Writers’ Club sponsored a contest at Arkansas Writers’ Conference, and it’s always fun to see who our winners are. We judge “blind” entries without the authors’ names attached, so we only learn their names when their awards are announced at the conference. This year our contest called for a short story, fiction, A Holiday Story, 1500 words max. We had eleven entries, and a group of our club members met to select our winners. Here are the winners’ names and the titles of their stories:
1st place, $50, to Carol Hodges from Little Rock, AR: Keep Your Stinkin’ Reindeer Games
2nd place, $30, to Anne Winchester from St. Francis, AR: Do You Believe?
3rd place, $20, to Sandra Boutwell-Falcone from Austin, AR: The Christmas Tree Mystery
1st HM, to Syble Dycus Ussery from Sherwood, AR: The Year Santa Claus Fell Down the Chimney
2nd HM, to Tom Howard from Little Rock, AR: Happy First Day
Tom Howard and Sandra Boutwell-Falcone two winning writers of the VWC writing contest.
We were sorry that none of our other winners attended the conference.
Suzanne Bratcher's mystery novel The Copper Box
The mystery novel The Copper Box by VWC's Suzanne Bratcher will be released June 6,
Book and eBook Kindle edition will be available at Amazon.com
Cy Holliday's book George Bailey's Got Nothing on Me -- A Narrative History of the Holliday Family Published
Paperback and Kindle eBook editions available at Amazon.com. Contact Cy for an autographed edition.
Elmer Beard's documentary The Challengers: Untold Stories of African Americans Who Changed the System in One Small Southern Municipality
Available at Amazon.com
Webmaster's Note: The "One Small Southern Municipality" that Mr. Beard's title refers to is Hot Springs, Arkansas!
Barrie Gauthier's light-hearted The Black Cat Guide to Grammar Through Light Verse
Available in hardbound or paperback at Amazon.com