A look at upcoming MWMWA meetings

January 29th, 2010

Sunday, February 21

  • Location:  Centuries & Sleuths, Forest Park, IL
  • Time:  1 p.m.
  • Panel Discussion:  How to Get the Most out of Writers’ Groups
  • Panelists:  Lee Williams and Helen Macie Osterman and more!

Sunday, March 21

  • Location:  Centuries & Sleuths, Forest Park, IL
  • Time:  1 p.m.
  • Topic: To be determined

Friday, April 16  Outreach meeting in St. Louis

  • Location:  Drury Plaza Hotel, 355 Chesterfield Center East, Chesterfield, MO
  • Time:  5:30 Dinner ($25), 6:15 Program
  • Program:  Panel Discussion:  Ten Things Mystery Writers Should Know about Publishing in the Marketplace Today
  • Panelists:  will be announced soon.

Coming in May:  Outreach meeting in Milwaukee

  • Details to be announced soon.

Categories: From our MWMWA president, Meetings | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

MWMWA Louisville Meeting

July 15th, 2009

Reported by Michael A. Black

The Mid-West MWA meeting was held in Louisville, Kentucky on July 11. Presiding were MWMWA President Julie Hyzy and MWMWA Vice President Tony Perona. Board member Michael A. Black was also in attendance.
The board wishes to extend a special thanks to Beverle Graves Myers for setting this meeting up.
Thanks also to the Ohio River Valley chapter of SinC for hosting us.
Julie opened the meeting with a hearty welcome and explained that everyone was here to talk about the Midwest Chapter of MWA, its plans going forward and how members can be part of it all.

She then did the customary query around room for news announcements. Bev Myers new book comes out in September. Judith Rock just signed a book deal with Berkley Prime Crime for her historical mystery. Alec Calla has a new collection of his short stories being released soon. Tamera Shaw also said she has a short story coming out in an anthology. Julie talked about her newest entry to her White House chef series coming out in January, and Mike mentioned that the second in his police procedural series is due out in September. Looks like it’s going to be a busy fall.

Julie went on to explain that the chapter has held meetings in various locations, with the hope that members will be encouraged to begin meeting on their own. This has apparently taken root in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and from the enthusiasm shown at this meeting, there was little doubt that this will also be the case in Louisville. The plan is to get back to each of these cities once every year-and-a-half or two years. That’s the goal the chapter has set, but it’s difficult. We’re working on it.

Tony talked about the Midwest Chapter’s plans for the Hot Ticket Event for Bouchercon and the plan, the details of which will be released shortly, left everyone breathless with anticipation. We don’t want any misinformation to get out there, and everything is not 100% set, so nothing else will be said here. (Take it from me, this is going to be a spectacular addition to Bouchercon and just might become a permanent part of the big conference) Kudos to Tony and Jim Huang for setting it all up.

Julie talked about the success of the Printers Row event, which was held last month in Chicago, the annual holiday party in December, the Yahoo board, CLUES, TTD, the MWA website, etc.

Mike talked about our critique/mentor program.

Also discussed were such subjects as:
Why the MWA is great.
The rationale for the MWA-approved publisher list and the reason for its importance.
How the MWA anthologies submission system works.
The value of networking through the MWA.
The rebound grants program and how it works.
The Edgars
and MWA discounts

The meeting was finished off with some questions from the audience, and everyone left feeling this had been one of the most informative and productive meetings yet. Numerous MWA applications were also handed out.

Categories: Meeting report | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments