ATTENDEES:
FRANK, B., CHERYL B., KATHLEEN, G., DENNIS G., HOWARD P., RICK P., RICHARD S., BALA M.
Announcements, Opportunities:
- Canadian writers who wish to submit their book should refer to the Canada Book Awards site for more information.
Member announcements:
GINGER, K. finds her municipal endeavours, writing of her International column, and her own authorship endeavours are too demanding to allow her continued participation with WAG. She will be devoting herself more to American endeavours. She leaves with disappointment and wishes everyone well with all their writing work.
Presentations moderator: WAG continues its search for a Presentations Moderator. Interested persons should contact Richard.
Happy Time-sharing!
Rick P.
Rick’s book is very near completion as he writes his final two chapters. We wish him luck with his next step of promoting his new book.
Cheryl, B.
Cheryl expressed her frustration that writing involves seems to be an endless treadmill of work, writing and more work. She too has a number of books in the early stages and is eager to devote more time to them.
Bala M.
Bala continues working on two of his own books, a collection of short stories which he hopes to finish by September. However, he too finds the daily demands of his newspaper work are stretching him thin.
Dennis G.,
Dennis has switched his tool kit from his writing tools to his house renovation tools. The new kitchen sink doesn’t leak, so like his writing, Dennis has successes in other areas too.
Kathleen, G.,
Kathleen recently won the Canadian Books Award for her children’s book and now it busy with the next phase
Howard P.,
Howard is in the final stages of organizing a major-major event in Kitchener, a virtual book fair that Howard is confident will be bigger and better than the one held last year. We hope to hear more about it and wish you lots of success with it.
Richard S.,
Richard is devoting himself more and more to his goal of writing a number of short stories and he has now compiled two new ones. He has a faint dream that maybe a short story collection may become his inaugural book. He continues writing a lot on his website where he continues promoting writers, the WAG ones in particular.
The meeting was divided into two parts: business items and mission statement compilation.
- WAG SUPPORT
The question of whether WAG should remain small vs whether it should expand had pro and con views. The remaining small faction felt that small means more likelihood of better, fuller and broader discussions. The greater numbers group felt great numbers would afford WAG more skills, knowledge and ideas. The second group has a very strong point as is demonstrated by our quest for a Presentations Moderator. After two months of searching, we have been unsuccessful in finding a replacement. A larger number of members might have given us a great number of potential candidates. However, “small” carried the day and it should be noted that ‘small’ does not mean exclusive or elite. WAG members are still encouraged to invite other writers to join our group if they seek advice and assistance with their own writing endeavours.
- WAG MEMBERSHIP FEES
WAG has expenses, all agree, and these seem to be narrowed down to website service provider and ZOOM expenses primarily. The majority found the idea of membership fees unappealing as it smacked of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ for writers who already feel they are paying enough entrance fees and subscription fees elsewhere. The preference seems to be that an expense accounting is compiled and the members are then asked to make a reasonable contribution to help defray the expense. Richard will try to undertake this task in the new year and present his financial report to the members soon into the new year.
- WAG PASSWORDS
One view expressed about passwords was that they give the appearance of material being valuable so it should not just be tossed out freely. However, the more overwhelming consensus was that WAG’s raison d’etre would be contravened if the material were not freely shared. WAG was founded on the idea of generosity and willingness to help writers with no added burden attached to the advice or information. Passwords may have some value but not when measured against the philosophy of the association.
- WAG CHAIRPERSON & EXECUTIVE
As has been announced, the Chairperson position will be open to a new person as of January 1, 2022. Richard is very grateful for the opportunity of having served the WAG association and is hopeful that a new chair will bring new ideas, new energy and new initiatives to the association.
As to the proposal of creating a working executive, the group felt the K.I.S.S. principle would benefit us more than the complexities of an additional layer of bureaucracy an executive body entails. Hence, we continue with a Chair, a Presentation Moderator and a Critiquing Moderator for the foreseeable future.
- WAG MISSION STATEMENT
The compilation of a short, succinct mission statement from the pens of a group of creative, intelligent and energetic minds such as the WAG members who participated in the composition/creation discussion is a near-insurmountable task. The saying “A camel is a horse created by a committee,” comes to mind.
The distillation of the discussions has been posted on the website in the category WAG: Mission statement
Particular thanks to Cheryl Bristow, Rick Pyves and Sheila Tucker for their assistance with the mission statement compilation.
Finally, some notable upcoming dates to mark on your calendar:
Sept 15 – New York Times Bestselling author of two books, Alka Joshi will be our guest speaker. More to come about Ms. Joshi in Richard’s monthly newsletter.
Oct. 21 Children’s authors’ panel – three award-winning children’s book authors will be discussing that field of writing.
Nov 18 – Open discussion – ‘Free for all discussion’
Topics to come.
Stay healthy everyone and enjoy your summer barbecuing season!
