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Category: WordSowers Events & Happenings

online writers meeting
Note from leadership:
 
Due to the current health crisis with COVID-19, Wordsowers’ March meeting is canceled. We will make a decision about the April meeting when it’s closer to time and we know what the situation is with the virus. In the meantime, spend more time with your family and stay healthy. 
 
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
 
If you have any specific prayer requests during this time in regards to this season of health crisis, please email us at wordsowers@wordsowers.com. We would be honored to lift you up in prayer. 
 
May the Lord bless you and keep you! 
snowy roads
snowy roads

Due to inclement weather we are cancelling Wordsowers January meeting tonight. The snow/rain is supposed to continue throughout the day off and on and with temperatures going below freezing, the roads could get bad and we have people who drive from a bit outside of Omaha. We want everyone to stay safe!

We will resume our meetings in February.
We miss you all. Stay safe and warm!

Author Angela D. Meyer

Please note: The monthly meeting will be held at
Village Inn on 7837 Dodge St., Omaha, NE
6:00-9:00 pm

Topic: Starting Strong

Whether it’s the new year, an article, a book or devotional, you want to start strong. Come prepared to learn how to hook your reader and keep them turning the page. We will answer questions like what makes a good opening and, if your writing a novel, what has to happen in the first portion of the book to set up a story people can’t walk away from.
Bring pen/pencil and paper or a laptop and be prepared to practice what you learn. There will also be time for some feedback on your in-class practice. Angela Meyer will share insights on starting strong from a variety of sources.

Please join us for the 2020 kick-off meeting on Jan. 23 at Village Inn, 7837 Dodge St., Omaha, NE from 6-9pm.
The back room is reserved for Wordsowers.

We meet the fourth Thursday of the month.

Nativity scene

During the busy holiday season we break from our normal monthly meetings so our members can focus on the Lord, and enjoy time with family and friends.

Of course, we’ll celebrate with the annual Wordsowers Christmas party. This year the party’s at Jake & Jeanie J.’s home on Friday Dec. 6, 2019 at 6:30pm.

Please bring one white elephant gift per person for the gift exchange.
Hint: Don’t worry about spending money. Find a crazy gift–the sillier the better!
Also bring one food dish to share.

Please email Jeanie@Wordsowers.com for the address.
Bring your family for an evening of food, fellowship, and fun!

Meeting resume January 2020.
We welcome you to explore our website and Facebook page, or find us on Twitter.

Photo courtesy digidreamgrafix2 @ freedigitalphotos.com

New Wordsowers Leadership

It is fall time and change is in the air.

A new leadership team is forming. Are you ready to meet them? Stay connected via newsletter, website, and FB page to hear the upcoming announcement about our new team and their plans moving into 2020 and beyond.

In the meantime, as you have opportunity, communicate to Kat Crawford, Jeanie Jacobson and Teresa Tierney your many thanks for all they have done over the years to lead Wordsowers locally and through the annual conference.

As the new leadership makes plans, the Annual Wordsowers Writers Conference has been put into hiatus for 2020. Be sure and come to our monthly meetings and critique groups to continue growing in your craft and to stay connected to other writers.

The path to self-publishing a book can be a rocky road with detours and pot holes along the way. There are challenges, for sure, but there are benefits, as well.
Nebraska author Nancy Wagner (writing under the pen name N. L. Sharp) has discovered both as she has traveled that path in the publication of her books and the books of her co-publishers.
In this presentation, Sharp will share tips and resources that she has found beneficial on her journey, and will provide participants with a step-by-step checklist to help them travel their own bumpy path to literary success.

Bonus: Nancy will also share about her Go Big Read initiative.

Nancy Sharp Wagner is a children’s author from Fremont. She has self-published several books under the pen name N. L. Sharp and co-published several books with other authors through her independent publishing house, Prairieland Press.

These books include the the former Nebraska Golden Sower nominee Effie’s Image (N. L. Sharp) and the former Nebraska Center for the Book Award winners The Flower Girl, The Ring Bear: A Flip-Over Book (N. L. Sharp), Keeping Captain (N. L. Sharp), The Ghost Juggler (Nona Morrison), and George and the Stolen Sunny Spot (Kristin Ganoung).

Please join us for an enlightening evening.

After the meeting we’ll gather for our relaxed Afterglow chat session at Village Inn, 7837 Dodge St.

We meet the fourth Thursday of the month
6:00-7:45pm at the W. Clarke Swanson Library.

The meeting room is on the basement level. Park on the east side of the building and walk into the lower door.

Lee Warren, author photo

If you’re interested in indie publishing (a form of self publishing) but believe you can’t afford it, this Wordsowers meeting is for you.

Author/editor Lee Warren will provide the information you need to take control of your publishing career without busting your budget.

Lee has twenty years experience in the Christian publishing industry, both traditional and indie publishing, and has taught at writers conferences throughout the US.
He has written eighteen books and hundreds of articles for various magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Decision, Discipleship Journal, Light & Life, War Cry, Christian Single, Bible Study Magazine, CBN.com, Today’s Christian, Breakaway, Clubhouse, Living Light News and many others.

Please join us for an enlightening evening on Thursday Sept. 26, 2019.

After the meeting we’ll gather for our relaxed Afterglow chat session at Village Inn, 7837 Dodge St.

We meet the fourth Thursday of the month
6:00-7:45pm at the W. Clarke Swanson Library.

The meeting room is on the basement level. Park on the east side of the building and walk into the lower door.

quill and ink w. manuscript paper and reading glasses

Writers, discover the importance of the relationship and communication between author and illustrator as Alyssa Busse shares her insights. Learn about visual aspects such as layouts, cover design, eye-catching colors, fonts, and more.

Bring your questions and join us for an enlightening evening.

World traveler Alyssa Busse is a local illustrator and graphic designer with a degree in Graphic Communications from Grace University and many years of art classes. She has laid out novels and recipe books, illustrated and laid out children’s books, photographed and designed covers. Alyssa is skilled in turning a book from a Word document into a printed hard copy gracing a shelf. She’s passionate about great fonts and white space, and always, an eye-catching cover.

After the meeting we’ll gather for our relaxed Afterglow chat session at Village Inn, 7837 Dodge St.

We meet the fourth Thursday of the month
6:00-7:45pm at the W. Clarke Swanson Library.

The meeting room is on the basement level. Park on the east side of the building and walk into the lower door.

Photo courtesy Simon Howden freedigitalphoto.net

July 25, 2019
Special Event at Village Inn

We may have less than a minute to grab an editor’s attention. At this event we’ll test the lure of our opening hooks. Would an editor bite?

Please bring a piece you’d like to check (short story, article, devotional, poem, novel, etc.) and share sixty seconds of your opening.
The group will offer suggestions to strengthen it if needed.

This is also a hands-on writing night to spur us forward, so bring your favorite portable writing device, whether laptop or spiral notebook.

Author/editor Lee Warren guides this hands-on evening at the 78th & Dodge Village Inn. 6-8 pm

Again, we will meet at Village Inn 7837 Dodge St. for this event, not the library.

We welcome you to explore our website and Facebook page, or find us on Twitter.

Author Angela D. Meyer

The internet is an image-rich culture. Memes fly around on social media. Every website header, blog post, newsletter, email signature, social media header and banner has an image.

As an author you need to jump into the waters of graphics for marketing. You can either pay someone to help you out, beg your 3 year old to help you or learn to do it yourself.

Never fear, graphics do not have to be expensive, look like crayon drawings by a 3 year old or be difficult to make. Join DIY author Angela D. Meyer as she shares tips and tricks she has learned over the last eight years while building her author platform.

Angela D. Meyer, author of women’s contemporary fiction, currently lives in NE her husband of almost 28 years. They have two children, both of whom they homeschooled. Lucy, a green eyed, orange tabby who loves popcorn, rounds out their family. In addition to teaching her own children, Angela taught children’s Bible classes for over 35 years and now co-leads a women’s Bible study at her church. She currently serves on the leadership team of Wordsowers, Omaha’s local Christian writers group.

“Oh no! Where’s my file?”
We’ve all heard the horror stories. Writers pour time, energy–and their hearts–into their words, Then a computer crash zaps it all.
Please join us as workshop leader Lee Warren shares various methods to back-up our work. Let’s save our writing–and our sanity!

Lee has twenty years experience in the Christian publishing industry, both traditional and indie publishing, and has taught at writers conferences throughout the US.
He has written eighteen books and hundreds of articles for various magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Decision, Discipleship Journal, Light & Life, War Cry, Christian Single, Bible Study Magazine, CBN.com, Today’s Christian, Breakaway, Clubhouse, Living Light News and many others.

After the meeting we’ll gather for our relaxed Afterglow chat session at Village Inn, 7837 Dodge St.