[Updated] December 2024 News
Sister organization invitation, December challenge, and more.
The SWW Prez Says…
Felicitations and Greetings to all SWW Members!
As one year ends, the page turns, and the story goes on. With the help of dozens of others, I’ve sought to guide SWW through a plethora of changes since I first became president several years ago. Now I step down — grateful for all the friends I’ve made and the support our amazing board members have given me — ready to pursue personal projects long set to the side.
I hope you will join me at the meeting on December 14th at UNM as we celebrate another great year and recognize the folks who have made it possible and introduce the ones who will work on your behalf this next year. (For those who are book authors, this might be a good time to bring a few of your books to set out...just saying.)
Thank you, everyone - a group like this doesn’t survive without the support, the ideas, and the actions of many people. I look forward to sitting in the crowd next year and watching how it will all unfold.
Rose Marie Kern (Soon to be the ex-president of SWW)
Holiday Giving
Award-winning books. Quality presentations and workshops. A talented
creative community. These are just some of what makes SWW great.
As we seek to grow our offerings in 2025, we recognize we need support
to do so, including financial support. Our pot of gold is the generosity
of our members who support us with their time and money. Like most non-profits this time of year, we are asking you to consider making a donation to SWW's 2024 Holiday Giving Campaign as part of your end-of-the-year charitable donations. Your donation to SWW (a nonprofit, tax exempt 501 (c)(3) organization) is a tax-deductible gift that allows us to continue to provide the information and encouragement authors are
looking for.
Visit the Holiday Giving Campaign on our website to learn more about
how donations can support or organization.
Ways to Donate:
Mail your check to the SWW office (3200 Carlisle Blvd NE, Suite 114,
Albuquerque, NM 87110).Call the office Mon-Thurs 9 a.m. to noon to donate over the phone,
(505) 830-6034.Or use this link to the Online Donation Form on the SWW website.
Your donation of any amount will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
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.
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, January 11: Meeting presentation (in-person or zoom) from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Publishing with McFarland will be presented by Layla Milholen. More information here.
Saturday, January 11: Workshop (in-person or zoom) from 12:30-2:30pm. Finding Your Niche Markets: A Pathway to Multiple Streams of Income for Writers will be presented by Rose Marie Kern. More information here and register here.
Wednesday, January 22: Meeting presentation (zoom only) from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. Freeing Your Free Verse from Flabbiness will be presented by John Roche. More information here.
November’s Writing Challenge - The Results
Last month we challenged you to send us a piece about holiday magic. See contributions from Alissa Dickey, Dita Dow, Charles Garcia, Thelma Giomi, Lynne Sebastian, and Suzanne Stauffer on the SWW Website here.
December’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 December 20, 2024.
December’s writing challenge: Traveling with pets!
Write a poem, essay, or short story around the theme of a vacation with a pet. No more than 1,000 words.
Regional and Online Literary Happenings
Here are a couple of announcements related to our regional literary scene.
Sister Organization Invites SWW!
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) New Mexico is presenting a Craft and Career 12-Webinar Series in 2025, with topics such as Creating Characters That Are Rooted in Passion, Purpose, and Place, TELL Your Story to SELL Your Story, The Basics of Author Taxes, and the Science of Writing Humor.
In the spirit of writers helping writers, SCBWI is offering SWW members the discounted SCBWI member rate on Season Passes. If you are already a member of both organizations, you do not need a discount code to register at the SCBWI member rate. If you are not a member of SCBWI, you will need to create a free preview profile on the SCBWI Website and then use the discount code NMCCSERIES25 when you register. Full information about the webinar series and registration links are located at: https://www.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-nm-craft-and-career-webinar-series.
Writing Community Leader Retires
For about twenty years, authors in New Mexico and Arizona have benefited from the New Mexico Book Co-op’s work. The director, Paul Rhetts, has notified us that the company is disbanding and one of the state's most active literary competitions, the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, will no longer take place. SWW members have participated in the awards program since the beginning and we wish to convey our thanks to Paul and his late wife, Barbe Awalt, for their dedication to enhancing the quality and visibility of books produced by New Mexican authors. For more information click here: https://www.southwestwriters.com/nm-az-book-awards
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!
Diane Lee and Neil Colella.
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.