How Do You Measure Success as an Author?

Posted on by nancycgolden

I must admit I got a little teary-eyed just now. My wonderful husband and I have been hitting it so hard, trying to get my stories out into the world. I also work full-time in addition to my other responsibilities. It can be very hard to find the time, energy, and finances to continue pursuing my dream.

To compound the difficulty, think about how hard it is to get noticed as an unknown author. Millions of books are competing for the same space, and it seems everything is stacked against us. Not only must an author find time to write – they also must promote their books in an attempt to rise above the crowd.

I am blessed with the ability to create my own graphics for my advertising efforts (I have a terrific graphic artist who does my book covers, so I have a great foundation to work with) and I am also able to make my own website. I save a tremendous amount of money by doing it all myself, but it takes more time – time away from writing.

Let’s take a quick look at advertising. Both Amazon and Facebook are platforms that facilitate advertising campaigns – but they are convoluted and are constantly changing. Worst of all, they both follow a model I find disheartening – “pay per click.” Authors are competing against one another for views and that drives the price of each click upward, and it is the platform that profits the most. Just because someone clicks on your “Shop Now” button, taking them to your Amazon page, is no guarantee they will purchase your book. People often click to find out more about a product, not necessarily with the intent to buy. This paradigm makes it difficult to just break even, when the profit margin for books is so small. And while I don’t believe AI will threaten well-crafted stories – it will add to the marketplace clutter – which will in turn most likely increase advertising costs.

So why did I get teary-eyed? Is it because of what I just shared with you? While that is a source of frustration that caused my stomach to clench last night as I was reflecting on my author journey and feeling very discouraged – that isn’t the reason behind my tears. I was on LinkedIn today (which is the least likely platform for advertising a book) and I noticed someone I had recently met at the International Space Development Conference who “liked” my post advertising my book – in other words – who was publicly showing their support.

That simple gesture reminded me of what a fantastic journey I have been on and who I have met, all because I am working hard at promoting my books. It reminded me of the encouragement I have received from so many people and the friends that I have made along the way. Just last night I had a Facebook conversation with someone on one of our city’s community pages. I have never met this person, yet they went out of their way to publicly praise my writing and encourage me in my efforts.

Looking at that “like” on LinkedIn today reminded me that my success as a writer is not about my sales or Amazon rank. Yes, I am working hard toward getting my stories out into the world, but the true measure of my success is wrapped up in the intangibles of having a positive impact on my readers through my stories, and the people I am blessed to meet along the way. I am very grateful for their support and friendship, and I’m much richer for it.

Special Sale on a Very Fun Read – Limited Time Only!

Posted on by nancycgolden

Hello Everyone!

I have another blog post on the way, but I wanted to get this one out quickly so you don’t miss out on a special sale. We are in the midst of a Kindle Countdown and you have the opportunity to get a Kindle version of Alien Neighbors for only 99 cents!!

I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work that went behind writing Alien Neighbors, and all by grabbing precious time to write around our beautiful family and working full-time. Even if science fiction is not normally your genre, I think you will find Alien Neighbors a fun and uplifting read.

We are doing a big push this week to get Alien Neighbors out there – would you please consider taking advantage of this very special offer and/or sharing about this with your co-workers, friends and family? https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Neighbors-Nancy-Golden-ebook/dp/B09JYDGF7B

And if you have something you are passionate about – don’t give up on it. Dreams really can come true if you keep pursuing them. Maybe not in the time frame you hoped for initially – but keep at it, and it will happen ❤️

Sword of Fate – Cover Reveal and Creation Backstory

Posted on by nancycgolden

From the beloved poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” more commonly known as “Twas The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clark Moore: “The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads…”

That was me this morning…but rather than sugar-plums, it was my latest novel, Sword of Fate, that danced in my head. I am so excited about my latest literary effort for many reasons. Ultimately, I think it is a fun story with great themes. Who wouldn’t love a fantasy tale with dragons and flutebirds and a shapeshifting hero that must overcome his own fears, if he is to succeed in overthrowing the evil usurper? But what kept me up in the wee hours today was thinking about the backstory.

I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a writer. Other people also knew and towards that goal, I received an electric typewriter as a birthday gift. For the early 80’s, the technology was amazing! I used to joke it would do everything including write the book for you and take it to the post office. Back then, authors would mail their typewritten manuscripts to a publisher in hopes of it making its way out of the slush pile (upon completing your manuscript, you put it in a large manila envelope along with another one tucked inside addressed to yourself with adequate postage so you could get it back) and waited the requisite several weeks for a reply.

During that time I worked at a grocery store. I was in charge of the camera department (remember when we used to use analog film that had to be taken to the store to be developed?) and my department had small TVs, clock radios, Seiko and Timex watches (and the tool to replace watch batteries for customers), a machine to make copies of keys, books and magazine racks, VHS and Beta movie rentals, and cigarettes – all captured within a 400 square foot space. When I got off work, I would drive through a nearby McDonald’s, get a six pack chicken nuggets and a chocolate ice cream cone (I was much younger and could eat anything), then drove a few blocks further to a pet shop where I worked a couple of hours showing critters to customers or catching and bagging tropical fish, running the cash register, and using a pricing gun to mark items and stock them on the shelves. So what does all of that have to do with Sword of Fate you might ask?

After getting off work at the pet shop, I would jump back in my car and head a couple of miles over to a gas station/mechanic shop a few miles down the road. My husband at the time worked for Exxon, and since we lived about 20 miles away and shared one car – I had to wait for him to get off work before we could head home. He often worked into the late evening. The manager of the Exxon was kind enough to allow me to keep my typewriter in his office and it was while waiting for my husband to get off work that the first draft of Sword of Fate was written.

Naive as I was at the time (along with a woeful lack of resources for a fledgling writer in the early 1980s) I believed that finishing a first draft meant I had written a saleable book. I broke our household budget by purchasing a Writer’s Market and with a hopeful heart mailed Sword of Fate to one of the publishers I found within its pages. Several weeks passed and I eventually received Sword of Fate back from the publisher with a polite rejection letter. By that time, I had quit both of my jobs at the grocery store and pet shop, to go back to school at a local college, DeVry Institute of Technology. The program was intense (an Associate of Applied Science in Electronics in eighteen months) and so I left my writing days behind me. I graduated and eventually became a test engineer in the semiconductor industry. But I kept that manila envelope that held my first draft of Sword of Fate with me all of those years. It miraculously stayed among my possessions through many life changes and moves (I still wish I could find my letter jacket in soccer from my old high school!).

Fast forward to 2019. The desire to write had never left and I decided to start a writer’s group. You can read about the Carrollton League of Writers here. I had returned to writing briefly in the mid 1990s and had a science fiction project I began right before my son was born. Motherhood consumed the majority of my time and it stayed on the back burner until five years ago. That book some of you have read – Alien Neighbors, which I launched in November of 2021. While trying to decide on my next project, I looked for my old manuscript to see if it was worth resurrecting. What a great time I had going down memory lane – carefully pulling it out of that old manila envelope and thumbing through its typewritten pages! One of the funnest things for a writer is to go back and read something they’ve written many years prior and think, “Wow, that’s pretty good!” Although I knew I would need to bring it forward to my current level of writing, I was delighted with what I read.

The image above is from the original copy I hauled around all of those years. Note the yellowed appearance – the paper was white when I first drew that map. So what do I do with a thick manuscript of partially faded ink? How do I get that into a usable format in Word for revision and editing? The thought of having to type the entire manuscript into Word was daunting. Thank God for optical scanners! An optical scanner is different from a regular scanner which simply creates a “picture” of what is being scanned. An optical scanner converts what is being scanned into a document that can be edited, like any other Word document. I purchased the most inexpensive one I could find and every day I would scan a few pages at a time until the entire manuscript was in Word in a format that I could edit.

Now that I had a manuscript in Word, my next step was to go through it and determine how much work it needed. Did it follow the three-act structure? Did it have appropriate pinch points? Was the prose both creative and tight with appropriate imagery and world building? Is the plot as engaging now as it was back then? So many questions!

Time to get to work. Print out a copy to mark up (I like to do my initial rounds of revisions on paper with a red pen) and start the revision process. Incorporate my edits into the manuscript. Ask for feedback from friends. Rinse and Repeat through several iterations. And now…we are close! Time to hire a professional cover designer and professional editor. Keep moving forward – working with both to fulfill my vision for both cover and text. And that is where we are today 😊

I hope you enjoyed learning about the creation backstory and you are as excited as I am about Sword of Fate’s launch into the world (tentatively set for April 24th).

Something Special Happened at the Library Today

Posted on by nancycgolden

Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but my Mom gave me a wonderful gift that surpasses any of the toys we couldn’t afford – she gave me the gift of a love for reading. Every night she would sit on my bed with me and my brother, and read to us from Babar the Elephant. She took us on adventures and nurtured in us a love for books.

When I was in elementary school I couldn’t wait to get my report card because if I got all As and Bs, I could count on Mom taking me to Kmart to pick out a Nancy Drew mystery. Evenings were spent in the living room with my family. We each had our “spot” and mine was the green chair next to the lamp. I would sit cuddled up and reading while my Mom, Dad, and brother watched T.V.

When bedtime arrived – I would say my good nights, and I couldn’t wait to get to bed. Hiding under my blanket with my flashlight, I was transported to other worlds. My stack of library books were a free ticket to wondrous adventures. I would keep half an ear listening for Mom’s footsteps, so I could shut off my flashlight before she saw me. Looking back, I am quite sure she knew I was reading and smiled as she checked on me while I did my best imitation of being asleep.

I remember when my Mom took me to the library and got me a library card – I thought I was in heaven. She would drop me off at the library in our community and I would lose myself there for hours. When I came outside of its doors at our agreed upon time for Mom to bring me back home, I would be carrying a huge stack of books that I could barely see over, threatening to topple out of my arms as I made my way to the waiting car. Which is why TODAY IS SO SPECIAL!!!

There is something absolutely magical about seeing a book you have written made available in your local library 🥰

If you would like a copy in your local library – be sure and request it from your local librarian. Alien Neighbors is in the IngramSpark catalogue and they can order it from there for your library. Happy Reading!!

A Novel’s Journey: A Look at My Process from Inspiration to Launch

Posted on by nancycgolden

Ever wonder what a novel’s journey looks like? How does the author get inspiration and what is their process? Check out ALIEN NEIGHBORS’ journey to find out:

Articles mentioning Project Daedalus and Nuclear Fusion served to stir my imagination
More inspiration from Project Daedalus and antimatter fusion engines for spaceships
Magazine Articles on Extraterrestrials and Helium-3 as a clean energy source fueled my efforts

The Wow! Signal and strange audio transmissions heard by NASA astronauts further inspired the thought, “What if aliens do exist?”

I had a lot of fun envisioning Lanjo, the alien that befriends my main character, Tom Whitaker. A graphic artist did this rendition after I described to him what Lanjo looks like. The expression on his face (a grimace) is the alien equivalent of a smile. If you look closely, you’ll see the extra digit on each hand and the friendship bracelet he receives from Tom’s daughter as part of the story. 

Flowchart of events in novel (Spoilers are hidden)

Initial effort at revising completed first draft scene by scene – resulting in a much different second draft
Second and third drafts – two more drafts after those for a total of five drafts to a polished manuscript
Bookcover Mockup – Cover Reveal!
ALIEN NEIGHBORS Book Trailer
And finally – Proofs (Hardback on left and Paperback on right)

Book Launch Buzz – Generating Excitement for ALIEN NEIGHBORS entrance into the world.

Now that ALIEN NEIGHBORS has been launched into the world, one would think the journey is over. But that is not the case. Writing a book is HARD, but marketing it is even harder. It’s tough being an author but as arduous as it is to write a book – finding your audience so that you can realize your dream of writing a story that leaves a positive impact on the world is even harder. Please take a look and see if ALIEN NEIGHBORS might be for you or share it with someone who may be interested. Every time I hear someone tell me that it is a fun read that has given them a brief respite from their troubles and they found the story inspiring – it makes the years of hard work worthwhile!

ALIEN NEIGHBORS is available at these fine book sellers:

Amazon (Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover)
Barnes and Noble (Nook and Paperback)
KOBO eBook, Apple eBook, Google Play eBook

Global Distribution: IngramSparks: ISBN 978-1956891010

A Portion of Sales Goes to Charity: In most African countries, children must pay to go to school. Nancy’s friend Donatien Gilga Ndacyayisaba is a priest in Rwanda who has five orphans under his care. Donatien’s parish is very poor and it is extremely difficult for them to raise the school fees for the children. Fifty cents of the sale of each book will be donated to help these precious children continue their education.

It’s Amazing and Marvelous!

Posted on by nancycgolden

Having worked on my science fiction novel for about five years (more if you count when I first conceived it, but put it aside after three chapters to focus on motherhood) and to come to this moment of time when it will be officially launched for the world to enjoy, can only be described as amazing and marvelous – amazing I managed to get to this point and marvelous because I got to this point. All of the hard work has come to fruition and I am about to launch Alien Neighbors into the world!

Publishing a book is a long and arduous process. After you finish the writing, the next phase begins – preparing to market your book. Reviews are so important to selling books and NetGalley is a platform that many traditional and indie publishers use to garner reviews. The idea is that ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) are made available to registered members for free in exchange for honest reviews. As you can well imagine, this can be a scary process viewed with some trepidation by the author. I am so excited to share we got our first review. Somehow, getting this review from a complete stranger, has brought me a wonderful sense of affirmation and joy.

Tomorrow is the Official Launch Day – the culmination of my dream to publish a science fiction novel that began as just an idea after reading an article in 2000. I am going to share parts of that journey in future blog posts, but in the mean time, my Book Launch Buzz video will give you a general idea of the story behind Alien Neighbors and what it means to me.

If you are interested in purchasing Alien Neighbors, it can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play, along with other fine retailers.

And don’t forget to leave a review 😉

Carrollton League of Writers Three Year Anniversary Celebration

Posted on by nancycgolden

I have made it a tradition to write about each year as part of our anniversary celebration. In preparation, I went to last year’s anniversary blog post:

We are living in extraordinary times. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. But while that is certainly true, living through a pandemic is new for most of us. It has been a challenging time as we receive changing information daily and must navigate our relationships, how we conduct business, make tough decisions regarding our children’s education, and what we should or shouldn’t do based on something we can’t even see. I know for myself, I sometimes wake up and everything feels so surreal – I never imagined living through this type of situation.

Those words really startled me and caused me to reflect on where we were then, and where we are now. It doesn’t seem like there’s much difference and it can be really easy to allow ourselves to get caught up in that fact.

I wish I could do like I did for our One Year celebration and just share about all of the wonderful different things that we were able to participate in and the very cool things that we did for our community. But the fact is, the world just didn’t allow us to do that for the second year in a row and that’s hard. So what can we do? How can we proceed? Well, Carrollton League of Writers already answered that question and in a very powerful way. We have chosen to be a family and to love, support, and respect each member of our family.

It hasn’t always been easy. Since I took on a full-time job and had shoulder surgery, the leadership I have been able to provide in the past has declined. But the Carrollton League of Writers board met the challenge and kept things going. I think we can be very proud and grateful that in a time where many writers groups have been unable to keep meeting, the foundation that was laid by a group of people who have decided to be invested in one another three years ago has stood firm – and that is truly a wonderful thing to have come out of this pandemic.

I have had occasion to talk to various members of our group and what is really amazing is that we all come from different places, backgrounds, and beliefs, yet we are dedicated to respecting each other and even more, loving and encouraging one another in the most difficult of circumstances. So, what should we celebrate when we celebrate our 3rd anniversary? Sure, we managed to do some good things. We worked really hard at putting on a virtual writers retreat to take the place of our usual annual retreat at Lake Texoma. Obviously, it didn’t have the same vibe, but it accomplished something. It said that we will not go gentle into that good night. The board met several times and created an ever-evolving plan of how we should conduct our meetings to meet the needs of our group.

3 Year Anniversary Meeting

Carrollton League of Writers may have to respond to external circumstances that affect how we move forward, but none of that will ever change the fact that we are the family that we have chosen to be. And regardless of what is going on in the world – that will always be something to celebrate!

Friends are the Family You Choose!

Carrollton League of Writers Two Year Anniversary Celebration

Posted on by nancycgolden

We are living in extraordinary times. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. But while that is certainly true, living through a pandemic is new for most of us. It has been a challenging time as we receive changing information daily and must navigate our relationships, how we conduct business, make tough decisions regarding our children’s education, and what we should or shouldn’t do based on something we can’t even see. I know for myself, I sometimes wake up and everything feels so surreal – I never imagined living through this type of situation.

But on the flip side, I never would have imagined being invited to attend a software boot camp at 57 years of age, staying up until 2:00 in the morning for three months straight, learning completely new technologies with young adults less than half my age. Yet, here I am, job offer in hand and I start on Monday. That also feels surreal. But it also shows that God has never stopped working in our lives for our good.

We do have much to celebrate even in the midst of pandemics and hurricanes. Some of our members have been battling health issues and we have seen rays of sunshine peeking through the clouds as they report improvements. Others are in the midst of various battles, but have their fellow Carrollton League of Writers praying for them and cheering them on. And it’s important to note that as a group, we have accomplished so much this year, despite having to forego meeting in person.

Our Accomplishments over the last year have been many. In no particular order:

Three day writing retreat at Lake Texoma

Started Tuesday Night Hangouts

Halloween potluck costume party

Valentine’s Day party/contest – Ed is our winner!

Our newest member, Ellie Crippen, made her grand entrance into the world on July 27 – Congratulations to Will and Jennifer for the birth of their beautiful baby muggle!

Monthly Newsletter

Monthly member spotlights

Monthly presentations by industry professionals, free to the public

Write-Ins at Café Brazil and Kimzey’s Coffee

Our Facebook Group increased to 193 members

New website (Thanks Jackie!)

Director took a three month sabbatical to attend a software boot camp – board members stepped in and CLW ran smoothly – which speaks to the leadership of the board and the solidarity of our group!

Many of our members attended WORDFest virtually – We are thankful for W.O.R.D. and the creativity that allowed them to offer a weekend of great writing-related programming online!

Dallas Story Teller’s Guild presented Ghost Tales, a two-day spook-tacular event. CLW’s very own Steve was one of the storytellers.

In October, CLW participated in Writers in the Field and had a great time! Scott presented on ham radios and Phil on renewable energy.

Our first short story contest happened in 2020 with the following winners:

Author: Sandra Payton
Title: Leaves Are People, Too

Author: Ed Wooten
Title: Defining Moments

Author: Steve McCluer
Title: The Vampire Interviews

An anthology committee was formed and is working hard on the logistics of our 2nd anthology.

Second Annual Arianne “TEX” Thompson Flash Fiction Contest (Judge Amber Royer) Winners – Artis, Scott, and Jennifer

Amazingly FUN Christmas party

Peggy launched “The Little Ladybug”

Andrea was published in an anthology “The Day We Came Back: Future Reports After the Pandemic” in April.

Andrea is also up for awards in the 22nd International Latino Book Awards in two categories: the Rudolfo Anaya Latino Fiction Book and Best novel – historical fiction, for her novel Las Mujeres de la Guerra (The Women of the War).

Scott’s brainchild, the Carrollton League of Writers blog, has been launched.

Monthly birthday celebrations

Phil and Nancy renewed their wedding vows on horseback and shared their joy with CLW.

Ross was published in the “The California Numismatist” and won two awards: the Virginia Hall Literary Award for medals (1st place) and the Charles Kappan Literary Award for articles on Exonumia (2nd place). The article was “The Perilous Pigeon Post” in the Fall 2019 issue.

Board of Directors elections were held.

Bylaws have been completed, voted upon, and are now official.

Numerous info-talks

Breakfast outing to Mom’s Café to celebrate Sandy’s birthday

CLW “Writers Health Month” with speakers on mental health, nutrition and ergonomics

Our second anthology (professionally edited) will launch in time for Christmas giving.

Supported Amber Royer’s book launch: Fake Chocolate

Nancy had two full manuscript requests for Alien Neighbors.

WORD Historian – Jennifer did a presentation for Granbury Writers’ Bloc on “Using Archives to Build a Better Story.”

Nancy did a presentation for TEKsystems software bootcamp on Copyright and Fair Use for SW Developers.

First Anniversary Bash with a western theme was a great success!

We always want to give back to our community, and during our second year we found several ways to do so:

Food pantry donations

Donations to the Rwandan orphans – educational fundraising went instead to basic survival needs because of the pandemic

Participated in our host church’s school supply drive

Member support: meals provided for Will and Jennifer

2ndAnniversaryMeeting

But out of all of our accomplishments, I am most proud of our unity. It saddens me to see so much divisiveness in our country right now. Our writers group is a microcosm of our country, and we have chosen to come together to love, support, and encourage one another, despite our differences. I can’t help but think that if our behavior was duplicated in the real world, what a wonderful world it would be!

I want to leave you with this…while there are real concerns for each one of us that we are struggling to address during this difficult time, there is also hope and responsibility. We have the hope of a better day, and I believe that is in the not too distant future. We will come out the other side and we will have a strength of spirit that we are cultivating during this time of national crisis, that we will possess the rest of our lives. Our parents and grandparents experienced this during World War Two. I can hear my mother’s words in times of trouble, “We are survivors…” and “It’s not a forever thing.” We will get through this, and it won’t last forever.

And we as writers also have a responsibility. When I have my engineering hat on, I am seeking effective and efficient solutions to problems. But I have found that writing is an effective and efficient solution as well – to the problems brought about through our humanity. It may not fix the problems, but it helps them to be easier to endure while we work through them. I want to challenge each of you to a renewed spirit in your writing. Rather than allowing our external circumstances quench our spirit, let’s rise above it and use our writing gifts to bless others. Let’s look back at this year in our writing group’s history and remember it as the time we all continued to “fight the good fight and write the good write.”

Final Thoughts:

A special thanks to the folks at Carrollton Church of the Nazarene for allowing us to use their fellowship hall – they have blessed us beyond measure with their generosity.

It’s been a challenging year but I’m looking forward to another one as we travel this writing journey together – I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else than with the Carrollton League of Writers!

Friends are the Family You Choose!

 

Carrollton League of Writers One Year Anniversary Celebration

Posted on by nancycgolden

It all started with a post on Next Door and Carrollton Chatter – Anyone interested in joining a writers group? The response was huge! The next step: getting permission from the Carrollton Church of the Nazarene to use their fellowship hall. And then: Marshall’s Bar-B-Que allowing us to reserve their backroom the second Thursday of every month for guest speakers. We had our inaugural meeting on August 9, 2018. The video below chronicles our first year:

From our description:

Carrollton League of Writers exists to help writers in all genres and experience levels to improve their writing skills and to move towards publication if desired. We provide working writing sessions that include read and critique sessions and creative writing exercises. We also provide guest speakers to educate and inform from various facets of the writing industry, networking opportunities, and a chance to socialize and hang out with others who share the grand passion of writing.

***

The first few meetings we learned about each other and started with a structure that has since evolved to meet the needs of our members. Some of us took on leadership roles in order to facilitate the different interests among our group. Alice heads up our informal table – where anything can happen from creative writing prompts to lively discussions. Tom has taken leadership of our critique group, making sure everyone has a Slack account and keeps the group informed of who is in the queue, as well as moderating each week.

Before breaking into groups, we start with an Info-Talk – as a way to learn something new every meeting. Our members have done a great job taking turns presenting them every week. Our topics have ranged from Backing Up Your Data to Secondary Character Development, Show Not Tell to Guns of the Old West, and everything in-between.

When we first started meeting, everyone was a little bit shy and nervous. It was scary not only meeting new people – but also sharing our writing with each other. Weeks became months, allowing trust to be built and friendships formed. One year later we are now a family and Thursdays are a time to get together to encourage and inspire one another. For many of us, it’s the highlight of our week and we can’t imagine it otherwise.

Early on we decided that improving our craft was important to our culture and to that end we have been blessed with a guest speaker each month when we meet at Marshall’s Barbecue. We owe a special thanks to Blake Kimzey of Writers Workshop Dallas for facilitating contact with so many amazing industry professionals that have been willing to speak to our group. Guest speakers have included:

Tex Thompson, Amber Royer, Blake Atwood, David Eric Tomlinson, Blake Kimzey, Kathleen Baldwin, Amber Helt, Ashley Mag Gabbert, Kathryn McClatchy, William Ledbetter, Becka Oliver, Andra Leigh Watkins, Michelle Schusterman, Keith Goodnight, Jan Morrill Vanek, Ann Rose, and Suzanne Frank.

Our Accomplishments over the last year have been many. In no particular order:

Three day writing retreat at Lake Texoma

Attended Roanoke writers conference

Halloween potluck costume party

NaNoWriMo Weekly Write-Ins at IHOP

Two Group Write-Ins: Phil and Nancy’s house and Scott’s house

Valentine’s Day party/poetry contest

Monthly Newsletter

Monthly member spotlights

Field trip to UTD to visit physics professor for science fiction writers

Facebook Group with 157 members

Twitter Account

Attended Writers in the Field

WORDfest table and panel participation

Ross got his MFA/ published articles

Critique blunders video

Hosted Summer Writers conference: speakers and literary agent pitches

First Annual Arianne “TEX” Thompson Flash Fiction Contest (Judge Amber Royer) Winners – Jennifer, Artis, Lauren and Tom

Christmas party

Logo Contest – Jackie O’Connor winner

Carrollton League of Writers T-shirts

Birthday celebrations

Board of Directors began in January

Bylaws are in process of being drafted

Attended Comic-con in Arlington

Numerous Info-talks

Featured in article in on Pastor Resources.com

Anthology (professionally edited) and will launch this Fall

Hosted our Anthology editor – Christi Martin

Attended Amber Royer’s book launch: Free Chocolate

Literary Agent Ann Rose requested chapters and manuscripts

WORDworks leadership workshop (2) – Attended by Nancy and Jennifer

WORD Historian – Jennifer Crippen

We also wanted to give back to our community, and during our first year we found several ways to do so:

Food pantry donations

Hosted Young Writers Workshop

Rwandan orphan educational fundraising – paid one trimester for five children to attend school

Participated in School Supply Drive

Phil – presented Asssault and Battery class at WORDfest

Solar panels/fans installation for Camp Tonkawa (Phil and Bud)

English Conversation Practice volunteers/Texas Party for class

Carrollton Complete Automotive Community Recognition Award

Wordfest Southwest – Phil, Nancy, Jennifer, Jackie, and John worked as volunteers

Most importantly, we have created a culture of compassion and caring for not only our group members, but for the people around us. Not just in regards to writing, we take a holistic approach, meeting any needs that we can. This fundamental value is integral to what it means to be a part of the Carrollton League of Writers.

We were very excited (and shocked) to receive the WORD Condike award at WORDfest 2019: For Their Extraordinary Contributions to the North Texas Literary Community

I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY – WE DID A LOT FOR OUR FIRST YEAR!!!

The criteria for being a founding member is to either have been with us from the beginning or nearly so, or someone having come in later during our inaugural year, but showing a dedication to our group through their participation and contributing to our success through their actions. I want to recognize our founding members by presenting them with a very special commemorative coin.

Team Spirit Recipients:

Scott Taylor

Ross Irvin

Trish Smallwood

Jessica Torres

Steve McCluer

Bessie Gregg

Peggy Wilson

Donna

Artis Hayes

Andrea Amosson

Above and Beyond Recipients:

John Lemond

Ed Wooten

Jackie O’Connor

Amy Garman

Phil Golden

Leadership Recipients:

Jennifer Crippen (Board Member/Associate Director)

Alice Wooten (Board Member/Secretary)

Tom Smallwood (Board Member/Treasurer)

Sandy Paty (Board Member/Social Event Coordinator)

Nancy Golden (Board Member/Director)

I also want to recognize some of our guest speakers. They have not only poured into Carrollton League of Writers, they are constantly giving of themselves to the writing community at large.

Tex Thompson

Kathleen Baldwin

Amber Royer

Bud Humble

And a special thanks to the folks at Carrollton Church of the Nazarene for allowing us to use their fellowship hall – they have blessed us beyond measure with their generosity.

It’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to another one as we travel this writing journey together – I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else than with the Carrolllton League of Writers!

Friends are the Family You Choose!

We Are Writers

Posted on by nancycgolden

In a sense, I felt like I lost one of my wheels today. As a bicyclist, I think this metaphor is particularly appropriate. I have been prepping for DFWCon for weeks (a writers conference billed as the largest one in Texas, with lots of wonderful industry professionals and fellow writers in attendance). I was looking forward to being a part of the conference, going to the classes, making new friends, and pitching my science fiction novel, Alien Neighbors. To my frustration, I developed a minor (although thank God, easily treatable) medical issue, but it was enough to stop me from attending. I think there is an important lesson here. There are NO career breaking moments. My writing career was not dependent on this conference. What it is dependent on, is that I stay the course. I must admit today was a bit rough, but I will pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue the journey. We are writers – that is what we do. disappointment-3151237_1920