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April 18th 2003

Today, April 13, we held our April meeting at Beagle Books in Park Rapids from 1:30 to 4:00. Five writers were present: Russ, Beth, Sharon, Tarah, and a new writer, Asini. Welcome to the group, Asini. We hope to see you again!
The next meeting will be held on Sunday, May 18, from 1:30 to 4:00 at Beagle Books in Park Rapids, MN.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

We reminded everyone of the Writers’ Conference in Bemidji at the college from June 22 though 27 this summer. Looks like a good conference. If anyone wants more information, e-mail writersconference@bemidjistate.edu. Deadline is May 1, 2003. You do have to submit a manuscript for admission.
We also reminded everyone that Sharon has some poems on display at Tri-County Hospital in Wadena. Her poems are on display with some photographs by Theresa Reed of Eagle Bend. They will be on display for April, May and June. There will be a reception on Thursday May 22 from 5 to 7 PM. Jerry Mevissen, another of our writers, had his images and words on display there last fall and early winter. He then moved his display on to New York Mills and Sharon and Theresa may also do that. Please check it out if you are near Wadena.
Beth told us that her “Love at First Snow” is going to be in a Lake Country Journal calendar in the near future. It had previously been published in the Lake Country Journal. Their calendars are beautiful and their publication is not easy to get into.
Beth told us of a Coffee House Poetry Night that might be fun. It is on April 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Come For Coffee in Evansville, MN. If you want further information, contact Joel Levy at 320-834-4445.

TALKING STICK 12:

We now have the submission guidelines for TS12 all ready. They have been e-mailed to all the writers on our e-mail list and we have sent them to BSU and the local high schools. Cindie is putting them up in Walker. They have been put up in the library and the local bookstores. They will be mentioned in the community calendar sections of the local newspapers. Beth is taking them to the Detroit Lakes/Lake Park area.
The deadline for the submissions is June 15. Then we will need a few days to get them organized and copied. We will form the editorial board in late June or early July. We probably want 5 people on this board to go over the stories, poems, and photographs. Sharon and Tarah will be on the editorial board. Beth is also interested and possibly Russ.
We showed everyone our task list for the book and workshops, with approximate deadlines for completing each step of the book. In abbreviated form, here is the task list:

March 2003 – put out call for submissions. Start working on workshops for later in the summer.
April/May 2003 – decide on publisher – probably Morris Publishing and ask all our questions, etc. Choose editorial board.
June 15, 2003 – make master list of all submissions. Make copies of all submissions. Get to editorial board so they can review them ahead of time.
June/July 2003 – editorial board to meet for an afternoon and go through all submissions and choose.
July/August 2003 – send out contracts, start the layout. Proofread!! Put on workshops.
End of October 2003 – book should be back from printer. Mail copies to contributors?
October/November 2003 – marketing, planned readings. Books to bookstores, e-mails, plan book party, perhaps Christmas party with book party in late November.

We will probably use Morris Publishing since they do a short run of 200 or 250 books. We are keeping our options open at this point and we will check out several others.

WRITING WORKSHOPS:

We are still planning two workshops for later in the summer. Cindie is working on those and we will check with her progress. We hope to have one on poetry forms and another one on general writing and getting published.

MISC:

Here is a website to try: www.poetry.about.com
We had a short but good meeting with some great readings!!