Northern Virginia Writers Club

February 2025 Meeting Minutes

2/15/25       1:00 PM

1. Call to order – Club President Carolyn McBride
2. Roll call
3. Introductions and Triumphs/Failures
   1. In person:
      1. VP Casie White – fantasy, Treasurer AJ George – mystery, horror, speculative; Anna Gibson – interior design ; John Coleman – speculative fiction, screenplays, debut novel; Membership Chair Isabelle Missud – fantasy, novels and short stories; Patricia DiVechio – non-fiction; Erica Nelson – speculative fiction; Diana Iarussi – fantasy fiction; Elizabeth McCrea – memoir; Shannon Duckworth – children’s book, memoir novel; Ellen Herbert – published novel, creative non-fiction editor for memoirs; Secretary Kevin Connor – short fiction; Rob Deigh – business books, screenplays, novel; Erika Meyers literary fiction; Robin Sotge – non-fiction; Donna Vitalie – women’s fiction; John Wren – thrillers, historical fiction; Lois Wren – events coordinating, book signings; Alan Hansen – business writing, memoir; Dennis Seiler – children’s book, to be published on Amazon; Hank Rausch – literary fiction, was on podcasts last month; Katherine Schweit – non-fiction, new book out next month: Ashlee Lhamon – sci-fi, horror, speculative; Bob Scates – published 4 books, finishing book soon; Toby Dorr – poetry, memoir, workbooks; Kenya Carr – self-help published memoir, e-book on self-help, working on self-coaching guide, poetry book; Kimberly Clarke – working on several project narrative non-fiction historical fiction; Pete Reilly – non-fiction on accounting, fishing stories fiction, historical fiction; Caleb – lists, tech assistance
   2. On Zoom:
      1. Sue Picerno – personal essays, flash fiction; Bill Tirre. – Western historical fiction, children’s sci-fi; Char McCargo Bah – nonfiction historical, freelance, published with Alexandria Gazette and Times; Dreama Frisk – published books, readings, recently published book; Dave Wessel – historical fiction, first book fair this month; Tom Crepeau – co-authored 8 books; Amanda LaMonica; Chester Damian – all types of fiction, working to finish two works; Colleen Kilday – published journalist, creative writing major getting back into it; Drew Richardson – phd dissertation, working on outlines, horror novel and comedy screenplay; Julie Boland – working on thriller; Janice Sebring -historical fiction, adventure, novel out working on sequel; Board Member Jason Maddux – speculative fiction, short stories, short story accepted for Spooky Campfire Stories; Lori Eaton – working on literary/suspense novels, received beta reader feedback and working on updates; Board Member Michelle McBeth – sci-fi time travel series, final book in series to be published this month; RK Price – historical fiction, 3 published books, 4^th being edited, last book was turned into a YouTube Documentary; Scott Frost – sci-fi/action/horror, published last month, working on book 2 in series, published self-publishing guide available; Tom Henning – 10 books published, fiction, nonfiction, poetry; Ben East – fiction 2 published novels, manuscripts, recently accepted role of fiction editor; Tina Wortman – romance, has book out on 3/29; President Carolyn McBride
4. Approval of minutes from last meeting
5. AJ seconds, minutes approved
6. Officer’s Reports
7. President
   1. Upcoming meeting topics:
      1. March 15 – Golden Nib Winners – Need someone to manage in room otherwise virtual
      2. April 26: Darius Jones and Carolyn McBride on magazine and journal publishing (Note: moved from Easter weekend Apr. 19) (publishing)
      3. May 17: Rosslyn Chay on working toward authentic expression (coaching)
      4. June 21: Toby Dorr on expanding your reach as an author (marketing)
      5. July 19: club family picnic
      6. August 16: TBD
      7. September 20: TBD
      8. October 18: TBD
      9. November 15: NaNoWriMo write-in (craft)
      10. December 13: club holiday party (Note: moved from Dec. 20)
   2. New Coordinators added since elections:
      1. Website – Carolyn McBride (front end), Toby Dorr (back end)
         1. Investigating secure portal
         2. Reviewing WordPress collaboration plugins like Tapatalk (as alternative to Discord). If anyone has app suggestions send to Carolyn.
      2. Social Media – Allie Nelson
   3. Website walkthrough and Facebook status update
      1. 1. Submit member bios/headshots and new releases to President for posting
         2. Added Event Guidelines
         3. Added all meeting dates to home page
         4. Facebook group ownership reclaimed for public group. Plan is to move to the public group
         5. Follow each other to help expand social presence
8. Vice President– no updates
9.  Treasurer
   1. Dues are due on 2/28. After that, will be taken off the roster.
   2. YTD cash $7,249.02
10. Secretary – no updates
11. Membership Chair
    1. Has onboarded several new members. If you are not getting newsletter, check your spam folder.
12. Event Coordinators:
    1. Lois Wren – Gainesville, Manassas, Georgetown, Clarendon (Fall) possible opportunities; write to Lois if interested, must sign guidelines to participate
    2. Jennifer Milder (did not attend) – coordinator for Elaine’s restaurant
    3. David Wessel – Write to dkwessel@gmail.com. Sched 4/5-6 Fredericksburg, 5/25-26 Vienna; 6/7-8 Occoquan; 8/14-16 Arlington Co Fair; 10/4 applied to Art on Ave Del Ray; 10/11 Fairfax fall fest waiting to hear back; indicate preferences, $40 per author per day; must sign club guidelines to participate; AJ reminded that an officer, event coordinator or board member must be present for each day of the event
13. Old Business
    1. Upcoming writing resources/contests
       1. Reminder: VWC Journal Submissions due March 31^st
          1. https://virginiawritersclub.org/VWC-Journal-Guidelines
          2. Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Flash fiction (500)
       2. Upcoming fairs and festival with open registration
          1. Gaithersburg Book Festival – May 17
             https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/participate/exhibit/
          2. Lansdowne Woods Literary Festival – June 28
             Kathleen Hughes: khughes868@aol.com or 703-314-3590
          3. Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival – October 4
             https://2025FiBFauthorreg.eventbrite.com
          4. AJ mentioned that Lansdowne fills up quickly
          5. Isabelle recommended to post on more sources than Facebook. Carolyn stated that the events will be posted to the website when that functionality is available.
14. New Business
    1. Scott Price mentioned that horror action/horror writers have an open call opportunity at cohesionpress.com
15. Speaker – Tara Campbell
16. Adjournment
    1. Meeting adjourned at 3pm