Despite the Heat, We’re Working to Spread the Word about Our Chapter!
Although we were disappointed (but very understanding) about the cancellation of the 10th Annual Kentuckiana Independent Authors Fair on August 14th, it did give us an opportunity to hold our August chapter meeting on our usual second Saturday of the month. Ten of us gathered on Zoom, and much of our lively discussion centered on our publicity efforts.
We’re thrilled with our new logo designed by Miki Reilly-Howe’s colleague, Doug Sovonick. And thanks to Susan Bell and Lynda Rees, we now have bookmarks and a banner featuring our new logo to take to book fairs, conferences, and book signings. Speaking of book fairs, we’re still brimming with excitement that the anthology co-edited by Susan Bell and Elaine Munsch, Mystery with a Splash of Bourbon, has been selected for the Kentucky Book Festival which will take place on November 6th at Joseph-Book Booksellers in Lexington.
Meantime, our new publicist, Lynda Rees, is about to start work on a brochure about the chapter, as well as a PR campaign. Miki Reilly-Howe volunteered to assist with strategizing. Lynda will also set up a Facebook page for the chapter and work on enlarging our presence on social media.
We’re delighted to report that our Speaker’s Bureau is up and running, and Elaine Munsch has her first booking! She will speak on the history of women crime writers at the Owensboro public library.
Starting up in September is our new online critique group which plans to meet twice monthly and includes: Susan Bell, Elaine Munsch, Lorena Peter, Jeanette Pope, and Miki Reilly-Howe. We’re excited that chapter members will have more opportunities for regular feedback on their works-in-progress.
Following our business meeting, we discussed the first chapter of Janet Burroway’s classic Writing Fiction, A Guide to Narrative Craft, 10th edition. My favorite part of our discussion was the sharing we did about childhood memories that might spark ideas for stories. Interestingly, several of us had stories about angry parents! We plan to tackle Chapter Two of Burroway’s book at our September 11th meeting. Jeanette Pope will lead our discussion.
Member News
Lynda Rees’s historical romance, Gold Lust Conspiracy, was published in audiobook by Audible and Amazon: https:adbl.co/3rLu450 The response has been so positive that she’s already working on the sequel!
In addition, Lynda recently launched a children’s picture book, NO FEAR, available on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2V6rf2m.
Beth Henderson has launched the Witchur-Wolfe Detection series, which she describes as a “paranormal comedic cozy mystery series with a touch of romance.” The first of the four-book series, When Harry Killed Sally, is now up for pre-sale on Kindle: http://getbook.at/HarrySally
When investigative reporter Emmalyst Whichur teams up with Conor Wolf to prove Harry’s innocence in the murder of Sally, they hope to spring Harry before the Full Moon arrives: “After all, in Killaman Falls, if a witch and a werewolf walk into the same bar, things really can’t be the same ever again.”
Jeanette Pope’s book signing for her newly released Desperate Angles will take place on September 18th at Mike Linnig’s Restaurant- 9308 Cane Run Rd. Louisville, KY 40258 between 11 and 2 p.m.
Lynda Rees and Lynn Slaughter will be participating authors at the Lexington Book Bash from 10-4 PM on August 28 at Double Tree Suites by Hilton Hotel, 2601 Richmond Road in Lexington. They both plan to have information about the chapter handy at their tables.
Lynn Slaughter contributed an article, “The Three Best Pieces of Writing Advice I Ever Received” to Teen Ink which is scheduled to come out this month. She will also be a guest on George Cramer’s blog on August 30th to talk about her recently released Leisha’s Song: https://gdcramer.com
We hope everyone is staying cool and safe, and we look forward to seeing folks at our next chapter meeting on September 11th!