Imaginarium!

DRS members took part in the 2023 Imaginarium 3-day extravaganza this weekend (July 14-16). There was a large crowd of people, some who traveled from all over the country to be here.

Congratulations to DRS member Carol Preflatish for winning runner-up in the Best Screenplay Long Format category. And we also congratulate DRS member Lynn Slaughter, for being nominated in the Best Young Adult Novel for her novel Deadly Setup.

DRS authors who attended included Carol and Lynn, as noted, as well as President Elaine Munsch, Susan Bell, Lorena Peter, and Linda Rees. Pam Hirshler and Leanne Edelen also volunteered to help staff the two tables we purchased to sell our wares. Carol, Lynn, Linda, and Lorena all sat on various panels, which is a great way to share your knowledge and also a valuable way of getting your name out there and networking. See Elaine’s thoughts below.

Notes from Elaine on the weekend:

Congratulations to our own future Oscar winning screenwriter, Carol, who won the runner-up award for best long format screenplay.

Carol used Tony Acree’s talk on screenwriting as the starting point and SAVE THE CAT screenwriting book to turn her first Nathan Perry mystery, HOMECOMING TO MURDER, into a screenplay.

Thanks to Pam and Leanne for giving of their time to help man the table.

The general consensus of the authors attending was that this is really a networking event. Sales of our books were decent. The Bourbon anthology caught everyone’s eye as they passed the table so several of these jumped off the table.

The most note-worthy networking was with the Kentuckiana Romance Writers, who had a table directly across from us. Their current president, Dona Whitehead, crossed the aisle to talk with us about doing some collaborative meetings. The incoming president offered a suggestion about our groups sponsoring a one-day event spotlighting ‘Strong Women Writers and Strong Women in books’. Obviously, this will require quite a bit of exploration before it can be accomplished.

But that was one idea discussed. We invited their members to sit in or zoom in on our meetings and they did the same for us. They meet the day after we do, second Sunday of the month. Details to follow.

We met publishers and a ton of authors and hopeful authors. Invitations were extended to all to attend our meetings. I’m sure we’ll get a speaker or two out of this.