Our speaker will be
Steven Anderson Law

Scroll down and you will see a list of
present and recent past speakers along
with their topics.

January 28, 2012

Steven Anderson Law is co-founder of Goldminds Publishing, LLC, and has written and published three novels. His latest, Yuma Gold, was released by Penguin Group in New York on November 12, 2011. For 12 years he has worked as a literary publicist for as many as 30 authors, including New York Times bestseller Stephen Harrigan, Pulitzer Prize finalist S.C. Gwynn, and the late Elmer Kelton.

As a publicist, he has worked with numerous publishing houses including Alfred Knopf, Tor/Forge Books, St. Martin’s Press, and Little Brown. He is founder of the ReadWest Foundation, Inc., a nonnprofit organization dedicated to increasing the awareness and diversity of Western literature..

November 26, 2011

Lee Ann Russell and Larry Cunningham gave a presentation on various poetry forms and touched on prose. Each one read a sample to illustrate the proper use of particular forms.

October 22, 2011

Larrry Cunningham spoke at the October meeting; he talked about the value of a copyright, and then launched into editing. A $50 prize was awarded for the for the best editor of a handout.

Larry is a retired Marine Corps Lt. Colonel, fighter squadron commander, cattle rancher and high school science teacher. He is a runner, a writer and voracious reader. He has given many poetry readings and writing presentations to writers' conferences and writing groups. Larry writes fiction, essays, articles and poetry, has completed four novels in manuscript form and edited three published books for other authors. His honors include first-place awards from the Ozark Creative Writers, Inc., first place for form poetry from the Missouri Writers' Guild, multiple Grand Prizes for Fiction and poetry from the Springfield Writers' Guild. His book, Velvet Scars, won the Pegasus Award for best book of poetry at the Oklahoma Writers' Federation conference. Larry is a former president of the Ozarks Writers' League and longtime member and current president of the Springfield Writers' Guild.

September 24, 2011

Lizabeth Hardman spoke on non-fiction writing. She earned
her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Florida
and her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from MSU,
both of which have contributed to her writing endeavors. She
started writing seriously in 2003 after completing the course
offered by the Institute for Children's Literature. She has
published stories and articles for both children and adults, and
has been writing for Lucent Books since 2006. She lives here in
Springfield and works full time as a surgical nurse.

August 27, 2011

Kelly Henkins, aka Angela Drake, will speak on Ten Points to the
Perfect Pitch.

Kelly began actively pursuing a writing career twenty years ago.
Since then she has won many awards for short pieces, partials and
poetry and is published in art magazines.

Kelly is member of Ozarks Romance Authors, Sleuths Ink and Mid-South
Writers Group. For eight years, she hosted a weekly workshop on AOL.
She continues to moderate a yahoo group extension of that workshop,
The Writers Zone, and is owner of the World Romance Writers and
World Romance Readers loops.

When not writing, she speaks at conferences and enjoys time with her
granddaughter, gardening, journaling, and a myriad of artistic
pursuits. Her husband and best friend of twenty-seven years, Bob,
supports her many avenues of creativity.

July 23, 2011

Christian fiction author, Lori Copeland, spoke on her publishing
experience and then opened the floor for questions regarding
the present publishing environment. Ms.Copeland is a well-published
author in both the secular and Christian market, with nearly
100 publications. She presently writes historical novels for
Harvest House Publishers and contemporary titles with Zondervan.
Her newest Harvest House title, The One Who Waits for Me, is
shipping now.

June 25, 2011

The Springfield Writers' Guild hosted two speakers on June 25,
2011. First up was CC Brown, the pseudonym adopted by the three
paranormal romance authors: Schyrlet Cameron, Carolyn Craig, and
Kathy Brown, founders of Home Grown Books. CC Brown came up with
the idea of a bookstore dedicated to promoting local talent after
they experienced difficulty getting national bookstore chains
interested in stocking their self-published book, Dark Side. The
three authors decided it was time to take matters in their own
hands and Home Grown Books was born. Their biographies follow:

Schyrlet Cameron spoke to the Guild on behalf of CC
Brown. Ms. Cameron has thirty-four years of experience as an
elementary and middle school teacher, and has authored or
co-authored seventeen teacher resource books. Currently working
as a free lance writer and educational consultant, she presents
workshops at the national, state, and local levels on a variety
of topics.

Carolyn Craig has twenty-six years of experience as an elementary
and middle school teacher, co-authoring nine teacher resource
books. Carolyn is currently working as a free lance writer and
educational consultant. Carolyn presents workshops on a variety
of topics.

Kathy Brown is a licensed preschool educator with thirty years of
experience. She is a published fiction author. Kathy participates
in workshops on a variety of topics, including How to Get
Published and Language of Science.

May 28, 2011

Western author Shirley Stewart was our May speaker. She spoke
on writing, editing and about her career as a Western author.

Shirley Stewart began her writing career back in the late
seventies, but didn't start writing novels until much later.
She began writing Westerns when she entered a contest for the
first two chapters of a Western novel and won first place.
She then completed the manuscript and submitted it to a
publisher. Vengeance Canyon was accepted and released in
February 1997. Eight more novels have since been added to her
list of credits. She loves mysteries and includes an element
of mystery in some of her Westerns. She also writes short
mysteries for Woman's World. For the past eleven years she has
edited The Christian County Historian, a sixteen-page quarterly.
Stewart lives in Ozark with her husband Lanny who is enjoying
his retirement.

April 23, 2011

Jill Slack and Ruth Hunter are the current president and vice
president, respectively, of Ozarks Romance Authors, a non-profit
founded in 1987. Jill and Ruth shared their expertise on
building websites, and working online in the modern writing age.

Ruth has a Bachelor's degree in writing and is currently working
toward completing her Master of Arts in Teaching English at MSU
this spring.

She has several blogs and a web magazine. She also has worked as a
graphic designer and used her skills to produce ORA's new literary
magazine, design book covers and illustrate children's books. Her
business blog is located at: http://www.sagemediasite.com

Ruth has been published in "Ozarks' Senior Living Newspaper," the AG
"Live" magazine, "Great Mystery and Suspense Magazine," "The Ozarkian
Spirit" magazine and was a reporter for Willard's Cross Country
Times, covering city council meetings, school board meetings, and
was assigned to cover some feature articles.

Ruth is pursuing a teaching career and hopes to translate her passion
for writing, art and publishing into real world opportunities for her
future students.

Jill Slack earned a Bachelor's degree in journalism from Missouri
State University and has completed 3/4 of an MFA through Seton Hill
University's unique, low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program.

She is a former staff reporter for Springfield Business Journal, where
she covered breaking business news and interviewed many leaders in
education, business, the non-profit sector, and government, including
former presidential candidate Ross Perot. Her work has also appeared in
many other print and online publications including 417 Magazine (where
she helped launch 417 Bride), and several industry and trade publications.

As a full-time freelance writer/editor/proofreader, Jill works with
companies such as CareerBuilder.com and The Wall Street Journal's new
resume division called The Fins.

Jill's clientele is also made up of small business owners who rely on
her for public relations and writing/editing copy for web sites, ezines,
sales letters, blogs, and information products such as ebooks and ecourses.

She has spent several years flying across the country to learn about
topics she is passionate about -- online marketing and Ecommerce --
from industry leaders, and helps small business owners, writers, and
bloggers rank higher in search engines, which results in more web site
traffic, more sales, and less money spend on advertising.

March 26, 2011

Author Nancy Dailey spoke on the evolution of her new book,
CHASING CATERPILLARS, about Maria Sibylla Merian, a 17th
century natualist interested in silk worms, and about her writing
career. Color, the written word, and curiosity have been constant
companions to Nancy for many, many years.

She studied art in Oberkassel, Germany, before attending college.

Nancy graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the University of
Missouri at Columbia. She taught art in the public schools of
Missouri for over 30 years. During that time she wrote articles
for the newspaper, and had non-fiction published in both regional
and national magazines. Nancy has also written short mysteries,
and has been published online.

As a teacher she combined her interests with extensive research to
create fun, educational student projects. Whether researching and
procuring the ingredients to make paint from the Renaissance or
chaperoning a group of Young Astronauts to a conference in Japan,
she has enjoyed sharing the fascinating journeys through history
and world culture.

Always involved in searching for answers to her questions, she
can still be found in a local library, although now she tends to
be more on the internet. But sometimes even the internet and the
libraries cannot accomplish what actually being on location can do....

Nancy has been to most of the states of the U.S., several European
countries, and Japan. She has lived in the country, in small towns
and big cities. She has also lived in Germany. She loves the
beach and often wears a pendant she made from pieces of shells
picked up on Amelia Island.

February 26, 2011

The featured speaker was author Linda Apple, who spoke
on The Power of a Drop of Ink. Linda is the author of Inspire!
Writing from the Soul, and Connect! A Simple Guide to Public
Speaking for Writers. She is published in thirteen Chicken Soup
for the Soul Books and numerous devotional guides. She also writes
fiction and has several short stories published in local
anthoogies. Her current project is a historical novel for the
women's fiction market.

She is also a motivational speaker and instructor. In addition to
speaking at women's groups and writer's groups and conferences,
Linda serves as the Arkansas Regional Speaker Trainer for
Stonecroft Ministries, an international organization.

Linda and her husband of 33 years, Neal Apple, live in Northwest
Arkansas close to their five children, three daughters-in-law,
and seven grandchildren.

January 22, 2011

January's meeting featured two speakers.
Todd Parnell, President of Drury University, spoke about
his historical biographies and family memoirs. SWG member Wayne
Groner spoke on writing memoirs and biographies, and how
to acquire clients and make money doing it.

Todd Parnell is currently President and Adjunct Professor at
Drury University. He has written two well-recieved biographies
about his celebrated parents, and another biography titled
The Buffalo, Ben and Me, about adventures with his son on
the Buffalo River. A former bank president, he is a member of
thirteen local, regional, and state boards, mainly dealing with
conservation.

Wayne Groner is a published author of three books, two of which
are memoirs or personal histories. He writes articles and book
reviews on various topics. His list of credits includes Ozarks
Magazine, Springfield Business Journal, Rural Missouri,
Congregations, The Ozarks Mountaineer, and online publication at
www.onPhilanthropy and Charity Channel. Wayne is a retired
college vice president and has presented national workshops on
fundraising. He currently teaches monthly classes on writing
memoirs.