October 2025 News
Vote Online by 10/9 or at the Annual Meeting and Congratulate the 2025 Writing Contest and Parris Award Winners!
Message from the Prez
SouthWest Writers’ Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday, October 11, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM.
Last year, the Annual Meeting celebrated our 40th Anniversary. It was great hearing the history of the organization from the small group of folks who started it many years ago. While there have been changes over forty years, one thing has remained constant. SouthWest Writers is still an organization of writers to support writers. As our new Values Statement says:
As a Writer, it matters who you hang around with! As a SWW member, you will be part of an active, supportive, and vibrant community of writers who learn from and contribute to each other.
This year, we will celebrate the winners of the 2025 Writing Contest: Beyond Boundaries. This will include releasing the winners’ anthology. I have helped to edit it and am impressed by the quality of the writing. I’m looking forward to congratulating all the winners!
At that same meeting, we will salute the winner of the annual Parris Award, our group’s highest honor. It recognizes a member for a significant body of published work, sustained efforts on behalf of SouthWest Writers, and a history of helping other authors.
We’ll also be evaluating where we have been and where we would like to go. Planning is an important part of what your board does. I am very excited to share some of our plans for 2026 as part of the Annual Meeting.
The Annual Meeting is also when the election of officers will be finalized. You can vote in person at the meeting or online before the meeting at this link.
We have some excellent folks nominated for next year so please vote!
The formal part of the meeting will be over by noon and we will follow with a potluck lunch. Bring food or (non-alcoholic) drink to share with your fellow writers, and please come with a desire to know each other better.
Looking forward to seeing you on October 11!
Judy
2026 Executive Board Election!
The ballot is now open for the election of the 2026 officers. The nominating committee has offered the following slate of candidates:
President: Kimberly Rose
Vice President: Allen Herring
Secretary: Helen Jack
Treasurer: Cornelia Gamlem
For further information, please click on the link about the election, then login.
To vote, please use this link.
The online ballot will be open until October 9. You may also vote in person at the Annual Meeting. You must be a current member of SouthWest Writers to be eligible to vote.
Upcoming SWW Events
You can find information about upcoming events on the SWW website here. Here’s what’s on tap this month.
October 11 — Saturday, 10AM-2PM Mountain Time (no workshop that day)
SWW Annual Meeting — Organizational Celebration led by Judy Castleberry and Kim Rose, including 2025 Writing Contest and Parris Award Presentations, and the election of 2026 Officers, followed by a pot luck lunch. In person and online via Zoom. Contact info@SWWriters.com or call the office at (505) 830-6034 for a Zoom link.
October 20 — Monday, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Special Workshop: Sandra Murphy — Audiobooks for Self-Published Authors ($20 members; $30 non-members). Zoom only. https://www.voicemama.com/ Register here.
October 22 — Wednesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM Mountain Time
Wednesday Meeting: Léonie Rosenstiel — AI Revisited: Should We Be Very Afraid? https://dayspringresources.com and on AI. For more information, click here. Via Zoom only. Contact info@SWWriters.com or call the office at (505) 830-6034 for a Zoom link.
Last Month’s Writing Challenge - The Results
Last month, we asked: What does “If Wishes were Novels…” bring to mind? Send up to 800 words. See Reza Ghadimi’s and and Brandon Caudle’s submissions, click here.
This Month’s Writing Challenge for SWW Members
THE OCTOBER SAGE WRITING CHALLENGE:
Halloween Tales
October Sage Challenge: Halloween Tales - Mixed genres
Speculative Fiction meets Robin Williams and the Addams Family. Send up to 800 words of prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction to info@swwriters.com by October 20 and put SAGE CHALLENGE in the subject line.
Let’s Learn From Each Other
We’re excited to share your sage perspectives about how to hone our craft, cultivate a fruitful writing life, or work with publishers and vendors.
Spam, Scams and Solicitations. Oh My!
They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are worth investigating. Others don’t deserve a response.
Solicitations to purchase mailing lists of indie bookstores, or public and academic libraries. These are worth investigating to see if they might be a good fit for your books and budget.
Offers to publish an article or be interviewed for one. Investigate those. The offer often comes in with a hook—you have to pay for your article to appear. Run, don’t walk from these offers no matter how enticing they sound.
The same for podcasts. There are many legitimate ones, and they are a great avenue for marketing—if they are a good match for you, your book, and your genre. Just make sure you don’t have to pay to play.
Same goes for solicitations offering to market your book with promises to display it at book fairs or pitch it to TV and movie producers. Ask first about costs which are generally exorbitant.
Watch for red flags. “I heard your podcast/interview with Mr. X, and I can get you media coverage—national and global press coverage.” Except that podcast/interview was 10 years old.
If you’re not already published, beware of the offers to publish your book for a price—usually a very large price.
In addition to asking a trusted friend, fellow author or industry expert, do your due diligence.
If it’s a written offer, does it sound like AI wrote it? Red Flag.
Does the solicitor have a website? If not, don’t pursue it further. If so, is it legitimate? Are the principals of the organization listed? Do they have social media presences, especially a LinkedIn, business presence? If it’s a phone solicitation, let them know you’ll be doing your research and get back to them.
If you’re interested in the offer after doing initial research, ask them specific questions. How will they market your book—ads, social media? Which social platforms? Which media? Which book fares? Ask for references from other authors, get those authors’ contact information, research the authors online, and contact them to ask about their experience with the vendor.
Only you can decide if what is being offered is worth it for you, your books and your budget. Don’t commit to anything or pay any money unless you’re satisfied it could produce results.
Cornelia Gamlem, SWW Treasurer
If you’ve recently written and posted a piece on your blog, website, Facebook Page, or other social media platform that fits this section, email Lisa a link to the piece along with a two-sentence introduction to sage@swwriters.com.
Regional and Online Literary Happenings
Research in Progress
Award-winning historian David L. Coffey is researching New Mexico women investigative journalists and investigative authors. He only has a few names more recent than the Territorial period. If you are, or know, a woman who fits this category, you can reach him c/o UNM Press at mbisbee.beek@gmail.com. Put “D L Coffey—NM women investigative reporters” in the subject line.
New Mexico Book Awards
As many of you know, the administration of the New Mexico Book Awards changed hands this year. It is now being run by New Mexico Writers out of Santa Fe.
A number of SWW members entered their inaugural contest and did us proud! Click here for a list of all the members who won.
Come to one of our Unbreaking the Circle Readings!
We continue to celebrate the publication of our latest military anthology with readings throughout New Mexico. Please click here for a list of upcoming events. Email sage@swwriters.com with links to anything you think we should share with Sage subscribers.
Welcome to SouthWest Writers!
The following writers joined our community last month. We hope to see you at one of our events in person or online. Write on!
These names were not available at press time. Stay tuned for a double list of people to welcome, next month!
If you’re not yet a member, learn more about the benefits here.
We have resources for writers across our platforms and additional content on 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.
I feel your warnings don’t go far enough with the proliferation of AI written scam emails offering promotion. Many of us are getting several a week now, and they’re well enough written that it can be easy to miss the fact that all the info they include can be pulled from your book description and reviews. Writer Beware is always a good place to uncover the latest scams:
https://writerbeware.blog/2025/09/19/return-of-the-nigerian-prince-redux-beware-book-club-and-book-review-scams/