APRIL NEWSLETTER |

The Write Stuff
The Official Newsletter of Mobile Writers Guild
April 2, 2014
Volume 4 Issue 10

From the President:

Are we finally into Spring? What a winter, huh? Hopefully everyone’s been working hard on their queries, if applicable, and their goals for this month! Be thinking of what you’d like to accomplish for the next month as well and be ready to mark it down at Thursday’s meeting!

-Angela Trigg w/a Angela Quarles
2013-2014 MWG President

Upcoming Events/Opportunities:

Our next monthly meeting is this THURSDAY, April 3rd, in the first floor meeting room of the West Regional Library from 6-7:30pm. Our guest speaker will be Watt Key. Watt Key is an award-winning southern fiction wrtier. His debut novel, ALABAMA MOON, was released to national acclaim in 2006, won the prestigious E.B. White Read-Aloud Award and has been published in eight languages. A feature film by the same name was produced in 2010 starring John Goodman and Jimmy Bennet for which Watt wrote the screenplay. His follow-up novel, DIRT ROAD HOME, was released in 2010 both domestically and internationally. His next novel, FOURMILE, released in September of 2012. Watt also wrote the original screenplay for the feature film LA DIRT starring Michael Roark and Tracy Lawrence. In addition to his novels and screenplays, Watt writes fiction and nonfiction articles for both local and nationally distributed publications.

Taking officer nominations! We only have two meetings left before the end of our term, so if you have anyone in mind to nominate as an officer, please do so by either posting it in our private group on facebook, or in person at Thursday’s meeting. The positions are: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Please note that the VP is in charge of programming for the year, so keep that in mind.

Are you a writer? A poet? Sense wants to hear from you! Sense, a local magazine, welcomes short fiction, essays, humor and poetry submissions. Submit your edgy, eclectic work to editor@thesenseofitall.com and it could be published in the next issue of Sense!

The Third Annual Tracy Hurley Memorial Writing Contest

We didn’t receive any entries last fall, so we’re trying again, and already have several entries, yay! Below are the details–please reach out to any eligible young writer and encourage them to enter!

SHORT STORY contest open to all students grades 6-12th in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Entries must be between 500-2500 words, and will be rated based on plot structure, grammar/spelling, and originality.
No foul language, adult content, or unnecessary violence permitted.
Include your name, grade, school/homeschool covering, and story in the body of an e-mail (paste your story in the e-mail below your information), mark “WRITING CONTEST” in the subject line, and send to wonderwegian@gmail.com. Deadline for entries is midnight, on Sunday, April 13, 2014.
Failure to follow all directions will result in disqualification.
Finalist will be notified via e-mail, and winners will be awarded their prizes on Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 6pm in the meeting room of the West Regional Library.
Two categories for judging: Middle School (6-8th grades) and High School (9-12th grades), with first, second, and third place winners in both categories.
Prizes include cash ($25 first place, $15 second place, and $10 third place), a professional critique of the short story, and on-line publication for winners in both categories (with parental permission.)

The Alabama Book Festival (ABF) seeks volunteers for this year’s event. The Festival will take place on Saturday, April 19, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Old Alabama Town in downtown Montgomery. Volunteers are needed throughout the day. ABF 2014 will showcase approximately sixty authors and presenters, including nationally recognized writers, book artists, printers, publishers, book sellers, and performers. As always, the Book Fest will feature books about history, music, and other nonfiction sujects. It will also showcase fiction, poetry, children’s books, and other genres. The theme for 2014 is The Year of Alabama Parks. For more information, contact Robby Cole, Volunteer Coordinator, Alabama Book Festival at 667-777-2793 or alabamabookfestival@gmail.com. Website: http://www.alabamabookfestival.org/welcome.html