January Meeting Minutes 2025
Hello Everyone:
PRESENT: Sharon, Mike, Ryan. Extremely cold out today so few people came. We still had a good meeting with only 3 of us.
TALKING STICK:
In late December, we sent out the Call for submissions for Talking Stick 34. There was some trouble at first with the electronic submission but it seems to be working fine now. Get your submissions in!
We have all the judges decided for TS34 as well as the instructor and the date is set for Sept. 20, 2025, at Jack Pine Resort near Osage MN.
We will be doing the Creative Twist genre again as well as our regular poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction. That new genre has proven to be very popular. Niomi, who is in Hawaii for the winter, has already sent in a story using the words.
WRITING EVENTS:
Kent Nerburn (author of Neither Wolf nor Dog) will be in Bemidji on February 8 from 1:00 to 3:30 at the Watermark Art Center. $30 fee. Be sure to register. There is also a free evening presentation at 6 PM. Watermarkartcenter.org/events.
Rosemount Writers Festival and Book Fair 2025 on Saturday March 15, 2025 at the steeple Center in Rosemount MN. 10 AM to 4 PM. Deadline for applications is Feb 15. Contact Sue Stein at stei0010@protonmail.com.
2025 in-person Minnesota Writing Workshop conference date is Saturday April 5, 2025 in St. Paul. Contact Chuck Sambuchino at events@writingdayworkshops.com.
Deep Valley Book Festival registration opens Feb 3, 2025. www.deepvalleybookfestival.com.
PRLAAC MEETING:
Mike attended the January meeting. There was a discussion about the Headwaters Center for Lifelong Learning. They will have upcoming programs on Indian Treaties, Trolls in Detroit Lakes, origin of bagpipes and speakers. Also a discussion about the proposed Lodging Tax for the area.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Mike is working on his second hunting book. The first one, Hunting Around, has been selling well. He is now looking through files of the hunting stories in his previous cabin story books. He may rewrite some of those and put them, along with new work, in a second hunting book.
We had a discussion about Mike perhaps putting ads in Lake Country Journal or Walker Pilot to advertise his books. He had some of his books reviewed by newspapers in the past.
Donald Maass has several books on writing. The Emotional Craft of Fiction, The Breakout Novelist, and Writing 21st Century Fiction.
We had a discussion of various book awards. Mike recently sent in his latest cabin story book The Last Cabin to MIPA Midwest Independent Publishers Association. Mike has done very well with his books at MIPA. We mentioned some others awards: Christopher Awards, Next Gen Indie Awards, MN Book Awards, Midwest Book Awards, Independent Publishers Book Awards.
Sharon read two poems and the others gave helpful suggestions. One poem was using the January words. The other was using the Creative Twist words for TS34. Strangely, the two poems were a bit similar. Then Ryan read a chapter for his second book. The rest of us asked questions and gave suggestions. All in all, we had a good meeting today and great discussions. Hope to see you all next time!