Texas High Plains Writers

Stacy Clopton will speak about authors’ opportunities within the Amarillo Public Library system, including putting their books on library shelves, doing book signings, and more.

Stacy Clopton joined the Amarillo Public Library staff as the Coordinator of PR and Programming in February 2008. Before that, she worked for High Plains Public Radio for seven years and for NewsChannel 10, KGNC, and the Amarillo Globe News.

            Stacy received her undergraduate degree from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and her master’s from West Texas A&M. She is currently enrolled in the Certificate of Ministry program at Austin Theological Seminary.

            Stacy is an active member of St. Luke Presbyterian Church, where she serves on several committees.  She is the Coordinator for Open and Affirming Congregations of the Texas Panhandle and serves on the Religious Affairs Committee of the local NAACP chapter. 

                In her spare time, Stacy enjoys reading, painting, hiking, and camping.

To provide even more benefits for our membership, we are offering a Zoom Workshop program on the third Saturday of our “off” or non-meeting months.

Our inaugural program will be held Saturday, June 15th at 11:00 AM. This program is open to all, and will last about one hour.

We ask that when you join the Zoom meeting, please use the video option, but keep your mic on mute until the meeting begins. There will be brief instructions from the host, and then we will have an hour of Q&A about what works best in our writing processes, what are our concerns and challenges, and other ideas. This is just our first meeting of the kind, so please join us and let us know if you have ideas for future programs.

Texas High Plains Writers is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Texas High Plains Writers’s Craft Chat Zoom Meeting

Time: Jun 15, 2024, 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 841 3003 1098

Passcode: 547891

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Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

To Zig or To Zag? Creating from the Crooked Road.

Since I’ll be speaking to THPW members with such a broad scope of creativity, my topic is about creating art through one’s own experience. Using personal (and humorous) examples, I’ll discuss how a creative career takes courage, dedication, and is anything but linear. I’ll also say a bit about my current published novels, what agents and editors really want, a few tips, and take questions.

Timothy Lewis is the author of the bestselling novel, Forever Friday, which was translated into multiple languages and featured in Reader’s Digest Select Editions. He’s only the second Reader’s Digest author of an inspirational crossover title in over twenty-five years. Reviewers on BookBub, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon compared his poetic prose to Nicholas Sparks. In an article for USA Today, a literary editor likened Tim to Garrison Keillor.

As a published playwright, Tim’s penned more than twenty plays/musicals and over a hundred songs. His article, Freighting on the XIT Ranch of Texas, was published in the Panhandle-Plains Historical Review. Committed to help fellow writers, he co-founded the West Texas Writers’ Academy held at West Texas A&M University from 2009 to 2021.

Mr. Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree of Music Education (BMED) from Sam Houston State University, plus studied master’s level playwrighting at The University of Texas. Moreover, he’s a graduate of The Institute of Children’s Literature and a cowboy poet.

Tim and his wife, Dinah, live “happily ever after” atop the beautiful high plains of Texas.

As a marketing expert and CEO of her own fine art supply company, Victoria has learned that small businesses are best driven through community, whether it’s online or in person. Additionally, she’ll share tricks to branding and social media posting. She loves to answer questions and open dialogue.

Victoria began her career in marketing, design, and branding with Disney at 19 years of age with her more recent work as a special guest on morning shows, designing for NASA, writing for Forbes, and branding clients such as ESPN and pro athletes, but her greatest joy professionally is helping the little guy look like they’ve hired a costly marketing firm using her 30 years of industry experience.

Victoria uses a holistic approach to branding her clients to showcase who they are to their core along with proven strategies for social media exposure.

She lived in Amarillo for several years and has since moved back to Utah to be close to family but hasn’t lost her Texas love!

When Victoria isn’t writing content, shooting videos for social media and designing experiences for her clients, she’s creating northern lights art, loving on her two dogs Biscuit and Chowder, and spending time by the water.

Writing & Branding Portfolio:

Forbes

NASA

NBC

ABC

FOXTV

ESPN

Discovery Channel’s Orange County Choppers

Huffington Post

Join your board of directors at the Texas High Plains Writers November meeting to vote in our new slate of officers! Afterward, stick around for a light brunch from Jason’s Deli, coffee, and donuts while you play board games like Scrabble and Boggle with your fellow members. The winning team of the Jeopardy game will receive $5-off vouchers for the 2024 anthology submission fee. And the winner of the anthology theme drawing will win free submission!

Now would be a great time to pay your dues for 2024, as we have some great plans we’re cooking up for the year. You’ll also get the opportunity to leave comments in our box for improvements, requests, and suggestions.

Please RSVP at November Writers’ Social | Facebook to help us know how much food to bring! Guests will be charged the $10 fee for this event.

Dr. Frank Sobey currently serves as the associate vice president of academic affairs at Amarillo College. He has previously served as dean of arts and sciences and chair of the English department. Dr. Sobey joined Amarillo College in 2005 teaching full time in the English department. He holds an Ed.D. in higher education administration, as well as an M.A. in English, from Texas Tech University. His literary interests include modern and postmodern American and British poetry.

Dear Texas High Plains Writers,

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new Discord server, specifically designed to serve as a critique group for our esteemed writers’ community. This platform will provide an excellent space for sharing and receiving constructive feedback on your writing projects, fostering a supportive and collaborative environment.

To ensure a seamless onboarding process for everyone, we have outlined the steps below for joining our exclusive Discord server:

Step 1: Verify Your Membership

Membership in the Texas High Plains Writers group is a prerequisite for accessing our Discord server. As the server is exclusive to paid members, kindly ensure that you have become a paid member by following the appropriate process (details on our website). We will be verifying membership status before sending out invitations.

Step 2: Get Discord on Your Preferred Device

To join the server, you will need to have the Discord app installed on your preferred device. Discord is available on both smartphones and computers. If you wish to use Discord on your computer, please click on the following link to download the desktop version: https://discord.com.

 If you already have Discord on your device, please ensure you know your account information (username and password).

Please note that you can use the same Discord account across multiple devices, so you only need to create one account that works for both your phone and your computer.

Step 3: Request an Invitation

Once you have confirmed your Texas High Plains Writers membership and have Discord set up on your device, it’s time to request an invitation to our Discord server. Simply send an email to info@texashighplainswriters.com

With the subject line: Discord group, and include the following details:

Your Discord account name (username)

Your full name

Date of your most recent renewal of your Texas High Plains Writers membership (details for verification).

Kindly refrain from including your Discord account password, as we do not require it for the invitation process.

Once we receive your request, we will promptly send you an invite within the Discord app, granting you access to our vibrant community of writers and critique partners.

If you encounter any issues or have any questions during the process, please feel free to reach out to us on our Facebook group, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new Discord critique group and exploring the boundless creativity and talent that makes up the Texas High Plains Writers community!

Happy writing and critiquing!

Kim Black and Samuel Black

Texas High Plains Writers