January Meeting: Jan.16, 2016

Welcome to  a New Year of Writing. January we will be renewing memberships and starting a new Writing Workshop. The board has come up with some ideas we'd like to share; and we are looking for feedback, suggestions and input. We are looking forward to seeing all of you at 10:00 at Miller Library.

November 21 Meeting

At the November meeting, we will hold elections for next year's board. We will also share works in progress, submission opportunities, good news, etc. with each other in an open session. We hope to see you at 10:00 a.m. in the RC Miller library on November 21st.

October 17 Facilitator: Dr. Carol Weishampel

Carol V. Weishampel, Ed.D. is a retired public school art and reading teacher, and Christian school administrator. Her education is as follows: BFA from the University of Southern Mississippi, MA from Stephen F. Austin State University, and Ed. D. from University of Houston. Weishampel is the single mother of twelve adult children (ten adopted). For six summers she has driven her motor home to Alaska to volunteer and write. She has published five non-fiction books, two novels, and has work in anthologies and periodicals. She speaks on the writing process, parenting, and volunteering. A member of Bayou Writers, Texas Gulf Coast Writers and IWA, when she is not traveling, Weishampel lives in Beaumont, Texas. Visit Carol's blog at www.carol-weishampel.blogspot.com.

Mark your calendars-- new meeting day and time

Starting October 17, the TGCW meetings will occur on the 3rd Saturday of every month at 10:00 in the morning. We will continue to gather at RC Miller Library. Hopefully this new schedule will make it easier for some of our out-of-town members to attend, and give us more of a chance to work or socialize after the meetings. Please spread the word.

September Speaker: Dr. Donna Sheperis

Donna Sheperis, PhD. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Populations at Lamar University. She earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Mississippi. Dr. Sheperis has extensive experience in clinical mental health counseling having provided services to children and adults for over 25 years. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Mississippi and Texas; a National Certified Counselor; a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor; and an Approved Clinical Supervisor.

Donna Sheperis is active in the counseling profession. She currently serves as secretary to the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling and the Ethics and Bylaws chair for the Association for Humanistic Counseling. Previously, Donna served as chair of the ACA Ethics Committee. She is active in scholarship,research, and writing with multiple articles in peer reviewed journals. In addition, she has 12 book chapters, an instructor’s manual, and two textbooks in print. She is the co-editor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Fundamentals of Applied Practice for Pearson Publishing co-author of Ethical Decision Making for the 21st Century Counselor for SAGE Publishing. Donna has a funded three year STEM grant to study Autism and EEG and two grants in process with SAMSA and NIMH.

August 8 Mini-Conference

When: August 8, 2015- 10:00-5:00 at the Howell Furniture Community Room (2nd floor), 6095 Folsom, Beaumont, TX 77706

We are ecstatic to have such a wonderful panel of speakers on the program (see below). Please make plans to attend.

Terry Jude Miller is a poet from Houston, Texas. The recipient of many Poetry Society of Texas poetry awards, a Juried Poet for the 2011 & 2012 Houston Poetry Festivals and winner of the Global Peace Poem competition of the 2012 Tyler Peace Festival, his work has been published in scores of publications including the Texas Poetry Calendar, Harbinger Asylum, Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine, Everyday Poets, the University of Houston's Bayou Review, Ancient Paths, Orbis, Stepping Stones Magazine, Furnace Review, Shine Journal, Blue Skies Poetry, Survivor's Review, Live Oak Review, Lamplighter Review, Bijou Poetry Review, Chaffey Review, Foundling Review, Houston Literary Review, Boston Literary Magazine, the Edison Literary Review, and the Birmingham Arts Journal. Miller's books of poetry, are titled: "The Day I Killed Superman", "What If I Find Only Moonlight?", and "The Butterfly Canonical" and can be purchased at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Society of Texas, the Gulf Coast Poets Society, and Poets Northwest (Houston). He is the creator of the Texas Poets Podcast. Terry is a retired professor of eMarketing and held an Innovation Fellowship at Kaplan University. More information is available at PoetTerryMiller.com.

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Jessica Ferguson is the author of The Last Daughter, a romantic suspense. She is a staff writer for Southern Writers Magazine and co-editor of Swamp Lily Review, A Journal of Louisiana Literature & Arts. Jess worked as assistant editor/writer/photographer for The Times of Southwest Louisiana, and her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers in Louisiana and Texas. Her very favorite thing to do in life is to help and encourage others. Catch her blog at http://jessyferguson.blogspot.com.


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Heather Duff, owner of Oxblaze Media & Marketing, specializes in building WordPress websites and developing content marketing strategies. Past clients include best-selling novelist Robin Lee Hatcher, as well as other authors and speakers. She enjoys generating creative ideas to help others establish and engage their online readership and grow their marketing platform. She recently published the first installments of a short story series on Amazon Kindle in the fantasy fiction genre and is currently working on its completion. Heather also works as a fiction ghostwriter. She lives in Lake Charles, LA, where she also serves as the communications director for her church.

July Speaker: Ey Wade

 

Ey Wade

Born in Beaumont, Texas, Ey Wade has run for public office and been a successful activist and volunteer in her community. As a single parent she owned a childcare center, developed curriculum and home educated three daughters who entered college at ages 16 and 17. As an activist, she started a grass roots organization and fought the school system for the establishment of a bus route and crossing guards to be placed in the South Park area of town.

Ms. Wade’s writing career as a self-published author began in 2009 when she started her own publishing company, Wade-In Publishing, and released Beads on a String- America’s Racially Intertwined Biographical History and has continued with the publications of fiction novels The Fishing Trip, The Perfect Solution, When One Door Closes, and Yes, Sam Takes Care of Me . Ey has also published a series of children’s picture books. http://amzn.to/wadeinbooks. 

In 2012, Ey was picked up by Inknbean Press and published the NA novel D.N.A.- Nothing Would Ever Be The Same and romance novels, Tripping Prince Charming and When Clouds Touch.

Author Contact Information

Author Sites:

Web: http://wade-inpublishing.com

Email: imtheauthor@gmail.com

Facebook- http://facebook.com/eywade2  Twitter: http://twitter.com/jumpouttheboat

Publisher: Inknbeans Press http://inknbeanpress.com    Email: Inbox@inknbean.com

Writing Retreat

Pictured: Lanell, Sylvia, Dorothy, Kathy, & Merrilynn. Not pictured: Laurie

Thanks to all who showed up for our first writing retreat-- a wonderful time of bonding, sharing, and inspiring one another. You won't want to miss the next one, date forthcoming.

May Speaker: Birma Castle

Birma Castle was born and raised in Central Mississippi a very long time ago on Christmas Day. She has 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren which makes all the other things in her life have meaning.

Currently she is President of the Beaumont Poetry Society and has been for many years.

She is Chair for the Poetry Society of Texas Summer Conference which will be held in Beaumont this July 16-19th.

Birma has been the Director of the 4 day Lucidity Poetry Retreat in Eureka Springs, AR for the past 8 years.

She has won many First Place Awards in the State which publishes 1st places in a Book of the Year anthology.

She has been a featured speaker in Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, Henderson, and several PST Summer Conferences.

Birma’s most prized award was not for a poem, but from the honor of having The Poetry Society of Texas dedicate its 2010 Book of the Year to her. The Student Awards Book was also dedicated to her in 2014. She was very pleased to receive The Life Membership Honor for service in 2013.

Birma believes that positive thinking goes a long way in making your life what you want it to be, and hers is very full.

April Meeting

Group member Sylvia Ney will discuss Giving Agents, Editors and Publishers What They Want. Hope to see you there.

March Speaker: JENNIFER P. WILLIAMS

JENNIFER P. WILLIAMS is a wife and working mom of two. She spends her days working as an auditor, and her nights writing about life and parenting on her eponymous blog, Jennifer P. Williams. She is the Co-Director of the Southeast Texas Listen To Your Mother Show, and a two time BlogHer Voices of the Year Honoree. Her first short story was published in the literary anthology Precipice, Volume III. Her writing has been featured on Scary Mommy, Bonbon Break, and Mamapedia. The two favorite compliments she has received about her writing is that it is honest and real, but she delivers it all with a sass and grace indicative of her down-home Texas style.

February 9th Meeting

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
― Dr. Seuss

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Members, please bring your work-in-progress (WIP) for a session geared toward revision and submission preparation. This will be our last meeting at the clubhouse. Beginning in March, we will meet at Miller Library. Hope to see you Monday might at 6:30.

January Meeting and A Few Notes

 Writing is its own reward.
- Henry Miller

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Thank you for electing me to serve as your president for 2015. I hope we can all work together to encourage one another, improve our writing and increase membership participation.

I am thrilled to have Kathy Haskins as Vice-President, Merrilyn Williams as Secretary, Sylvia Ney as Treasurer and Carol Weishampel as Publicist. Thanks to those wonderful ladies for offering their valuable time.

I am also excited about what's ahead, including a few changes. Please plan on attending the meeting Monday night to learn about our ideas. Registrations will be updated and annual dues collected.

Also, think about what inspires you and be prepared to share.

Let's welcome 2015 together at our next meeting, January 12... same place, same time. See you there. ~Laurie