November 2024 News
Finishing the year strong, November challenge, and more.
The SWW Prez Says…
Greetings and felicitations,
What a month October was! We had a fun and fabulous annual meeting and elected a new board. In just two months, our next President — Judy Castleberry — will write the Prez Corner message. SWW is in great hands. Judy has a long history of managing non-profit organizations and, as you all observed, she did a great job with the annual writing contest.
As we slide into the holidays, we have a great deal to be grateful for. This organization has seen a lot of activity amongst its members. Books, stories, and poetry bearing their names have been published both locally and nationally. We are fortunate to have members who are passionate about sharing their knowledge with each other. Keep an eye on the website to see some great topics related to the craft of writing coming up soon.
Equally, I am gratified that those who’ve studied the ramifications of artificial intelligence upon literary crafts are willing to share what they’ve learned with us. Leonie Rosenstiel’s presentation about it during the November 20th zoom meeting should be quite eye opening.
I have 15 nieces/nephews and 16 grands... a wide circle of relatives and friends I’ve met over the past 60+ years. I begin in late summer collecting age-appropriate books to send them each year. The final purchases I’ll make this year are the SWW anthologies: Mosaic Voices and a special collection of fictional prose compiled by Allen Herring and his team: Kaleidoscope: The Best Prose from the SWW Sage Challenges from 2018 to 2023.
(Spoiler alert...Kaleidoscope will be available in time for our last meeting of the year - December 14!). Purchasing copies of the books produced by SWW accomplishes three things:
The income supports SWW in its mission to enhance the quality of literary skill.
These books enhance the participants’ literary reputations.
Having a story or poem included in our anthologies gives authors the ability to enter them into other literary competitions both local and national. (Such as the NMPW which just opened!)
Finally, If you’ve been an active SWW member for several years and you value the many benefits of membership, please consider becoming a lifetime member as we head into the next year. Use our resources...get your own author page, show your book covers on the site, watch our YouTube videos on the topics of your choice, and participate in the monthly challenges. We exist to augment and enrich the knowledge, skills, and abilities of all who seek to write well and build their readerships.
I hope to see you at the next meeting.
Rose Marie Kern, President
SWW 40th Anniversary Party Rocks!
SouthWest Writers was officially deigned a 401c3 educational non-profit in 1984. We celebrated our 40th anniversary during our annual membership meeting on October 12, 2024. Over 80 people showed up in person and another 32 zoomed into the event which was held at the University of New Mexico’s Continuing Education Building. Click here to view photos from the party, and check out the links on the page for a list of our annual writing contest winners!
Upcoming SWW Events
You can find information about upcoming events on the SWW website here. Here’s what’s on tap this month and next.
Wednesday, November 20: Meeting presentation (zoom only) from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. AI - Your Best Hope or Worst Nightmare? will be presented by Léonie Rosenstiel. More information here.
Saturday, December 14: Meeting presentation (in-person or zoom) from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Keep it Tense - The Building Blocks of Prose will be presented by Dan Wetmore. More information here.
Saturday, December 14: Workshop (in-person or zoom) from 12:30-2:30pm. Formatting an eBook will be presented by Rose Marie Kern. More information here and register here.
October’s Writing Challenge - The Results
Last month we challenged you to send us a toast under 1,000 words. See contributions from Dita Dow and Helen Jack on the SWW Website here.
November’s Writing Challenge for SWW Members
The monthly challenge is a terrific opportunity to write and submit short pieces based on a prompt. Entries we select for publication will appear on the SouthWest Writers Sage Challenge webpage and will be eligible for inclusion in upcoming anthologies. For more information and our submission guidelines, click here. Email your entry in MS Word or TXT format to info@swwriters.com by November 20, 2024.
November’s writing challenge: Holiday magic!
Write A poem, essay, or short story around the theme of Holiday Magic. No more than 1,000 words.
Regional and Online Literary Happenings
Tis the season to buy more books! Right? Periodically we tell you about a regional independent bookstore you might want to check out. In this post, SWW member Rosa Armijo-Pemble shares her experience at the Casa Camino Real in Las Cruces. Read Rosa’s review here.
Email sage@swwriters.com with links to anything you think we should share with Sage subscribers.
Welcome to SouthWest Writers!
The following writers joined/re-joined our community in October. We hope to see you at one of our events in person or online. Write on!
Richard Allan, Michael Gerrard, George Kent Kedl, Patricia Lopez, and Amber Train.
If you’re not yet a member, learn more about the benefits here.
We have resources for writers across our platforms and additional content in our members-only section of the website. Visit our website, ask to join our Facebook Group, check out our blog, see what we’re saying on X (Twitter), check out the session recordings on our YouTube channel, or find our page on Goodreads.