Our first virtual meeting is a video program, “Getting All Your Ducks in a Row” by Kim Black.
Anthology News from Janet Taylor, THPW Treasurer
Tired of being locked up in your house? Want to get out for a while? Maybe take a drive? Check out a different neighborhood? Read a good book while enjoying the warmer weather? Buy Texas High Plains Writers’ centennial anthology With Words We Weave, A Celebration of the Past without paying Amazon shipping prices. It’s a great, entertaining, and easy way to support your local writers’ group.
Since we don’t know when THPW will have the next in-person bi-monthly meeting and program, below is information on how you can get your copy(ies) now.
Go to https://texashighplainswriters.com/index.php/donations-and-dues/, click on the yellow “Donate” button. The cost is only $10 per copy. Make sure you note that it is for the anthology.
Once you’ve paid, call or text me, Janet Taylor, THPW Treasurer, at 806.282.1227 to make arrangements to pick up your copy(ies) from my front porch. (I live near downtown Amarillo.) In these days of trying to avoid the coronavirus and to keep you safe, I will wash and sanitize my hands before I place your book(s) in a paper sack. I hope to hear from you soon!
IMPORTANT: Don’t forget that the theme for the 2021 anthology is “Challenges” and the deadline for submissions is July 31, 2020.
· 500-2,500 word short narrative works, fiction or non-fiction. Any genre. (see exceptions* below)
· THPW Member Fee – $10.00
· Non-member Fee – $50.00 ($10 submission fee, $40 membership dues)
· Industry standard manuscript formatting: Times New Roman 12pt font, 1″ margins, double spaced; author name and page # in upper right-hand corner.
· Author bio included in submission – the organizers and editors will not hunt down bios nor hold production for authors who fail to include bios with their story submissions.
· Multiple submissions accepted, only one per author will be selected. $10 additional fee for each additional submission
· Email manuscript to info@texashighplainswriters.com, subject “2021 Anthology Submission” no later than July 31, 2020
· Regular Mail must be postmarked on or before July 31, 2019 – Mail submission and fees to
THPW Anthology Contest
PO Box 19303
Amarillo, Texas 79114
*No erotica, incest, or extreme violence. Stories with these elements will be disqualified from consideration. Submission fees will NOT be refunded for disqualified submissions.
May 16 Meeting – Kim Black
Kim Black will present “Getting All Your Ducks in a Row,” a quick session about all the non-writing elements that go into self-publishing and marketing.
This program will be conducted online, with more details coming soon.
Kim is an award-winning indie author of six novels, two children’s books, several short stories, a blog, and other workbooks and journals. Visit her website http://kimblackink.com/ for more.
March Meeting Cancelled
THPW March 21 Meeting is Cancelled.
Jodi Thompson has graciously offered to reschedule, with more details to follow.
Be careful. Be safe. Be smart. Be kind.
Change in Locations for March Meeting!
Because of construction, the Edward Davis Room is not available for our March 21st meeting. Instead, we will have our regular meeting at the Amarillo Downtown Library, 413 SE 4th St, between Pierce and Buchannan. We will meet in Rooms A and B. The rooms will be open for us at 9:00 and our program will begin at 10:00 am.
Our March speaker will Jodi Thompson, of Fawke’s Press. More information will follow in the coming weeks.
Make plans to attend and invite friends.
For a map and directions to the Downtown Libray, CLICK HERE!
January 18th Meeting – Workshops
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Kick-off the new year with a day of workshops!
Guest presenters include local authors
Jennifer Archer, Ryan McSwain, and KR Brorman.
The Edward Davis Room
9th Floor
First Bank Southwest Tower (formerly Chase Tower)
600 S Tyler St., Amarillo, TX 79101
8:30- 9:30- BOD meeting
9:30- 10:00- Registration
10:00-10:15- Business Meeting/ Game
10:15- 11:00- Kristine Brorman- “Co-Writing Fiction – Are you sure you want to do this?”
11-11:10- Break
11:10 – 11:55- Rick Treon – “Picking up the Pace- Tricks to keep your readers turning the page.”
11:55-12:30- Break/Game
12:30- 1:30- Ryan McSwain- “How to Finish Your First Draft or Die Trying.”
Kristine Brorman 
November 16 Meeting – Bethany Claire
Bethany Claire is a USA Today bestselling author of swoon-worthy, Scottish romance and time travel novels. Bethany loves to immerse her readers in worlds filled with lush landscapes, hunky Scots, lots of magic, and happy endings.
Bethany represents a true success story for independent and local authors. She’s also an excellent speaker, and we look forward to her valuable insights!
Visit her website to learn more about Bethany and her books.
September 21 Meeting
Your Book Marketing Recipe for Sizzling Sales
From social media to your website to an email list, we’ll cover everything you need to know so you can create an authentic platform and do the author thing forever!
An expert editor, seasoned writer, and author-centric marketer, Shayla Raquel works one-on-one with authors and business owners every day. A lifelong lover of books, she has edited over 400 books and has launched several Amazon bestsellers for her clients.
Her award-winning blog teaches new and established authors how to write, publish, and market their books.
She is the author of the Pre-Publishing Checklist, The Rotting (in Shivers in the Night), and The Suicide Tree. In her not-so-free time, she acts as organizer for the Yukon Writers’ Society, volunteers at the Oklahoma County Jail, and obsesses over squirrels. She lives in Oklahoma with her dogs, Chanel, Wednesday, and Baker.
July 20, 2019 Program
Authors Revolution: The Hidden Cost of Being a Published Author
B Alan Bourgeois has been a writer for 30 years and during this time, he has also been a book publisher for 5 years producing 60 books for authors around the world. Since 2011, Bourgeois has also worked with Authors to help develop marketing tools to help them to build a platform that allows them to succeed in their career as a writer.
During this time, Bourgeois continues to see how authors give away their income and rights as writers in a variety of ways. As a published writer himself, he knows the difficulties involved with selling books. From this experience, Bourgeois has begun to work on a concept and platform that will help empower authors to reclaim their income and their power as authors. He is calling it the Authors Revolution.
In this session of the Authors Revolution, an author will learn the hidden cost of being a published author, tips & tools to reduce the cost and to become more profitable.
At this special session, Bourgeois will also be doing 1 min live Facebook Interviews for any published author. In 2018, the average view count for these videos was over 500 per author. Interviews are left up so that thousands more over time can learn about the author and their books.
May 18, 2019 Program
SUBTEXT: The Often-Missing Ingredient That Can Make Your Fiction Richer
While carefully cooking up an intriguing plotline, true-to-life characters, and conflicts with obstacles at every turn, authors often don’t think about one very delicious storytelling ingredient that can take their writing to a higher, more complex (in a good way!) level. That ingredient is subtext, and it has the capability of drawing readers more deeply into the text, to a place at which they become involved with the writer in creating the story’s meaning.
In this program, Amarillo writer and editor Jennifer Archer will discuss:
- The two different types of subtext.
- The purpose(s) of subtext for plot, and the purpose(s) of subtext for characterization.
- How to create subtext in your stories.
- How subtext makes readers co-creators
- Why readers love subtext (even if they don’t know it).
An eclectic writer of women’s fiction, young adult fiction, and non-fiction, Jennifer was a finalist twice for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award and was a finalist for that same organization’s Rita Award. She is the author of eleven novels, three novellas, several non-fiction works, and has edited and helped to develop numerous written projects for other writers. Her debut novel for teens, Through Her Eyes, was selected by the Texas Library Association for their TAYSHA reading list and for the Spirit of Texas Reading Program – Middle Grade. She is co-owner of Archer Editing & Writing Services, where she writes and edits stories for clients. A native Texan, she received a business management degree from West Texas A&M University.