09/20/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: BJ Sloan

Vice President of Community Outreach: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Rebecca Seifert

 

Members Attending: 34

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:00 pm

 

Guests:

 

Hunter – he likes to write fiction and found us online.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections:

 

Meredith – received an “abstract rejection” for a non-fiction project.

Michael Shad – entered an emerging writer’s contest and did not win.

Paola Lastick – submitted a short story to several journals and got a no from one of them.

John Bartell – had a couple of poems rejected from… forgets the name.

 

Submissions:

 

Micheal Shad – submitted a short story to four different magazines.

Paola Lastick – submitted five stories to different magazines.

John Bartell – submitted a poem to a different journal than the one that rejected him.

 

Acceptances:

 

Brian Tracey – is in the submission process and had an interesting idea about blurbs, so he asked three authors for blurbs but got three yeses. One from a NYT bestseller and one from an author who has a movie deal.

 

Announcements:

 

Sally Hamilton: We have some stuff coming up! On Sept 30^th, at 11 am, we have Writer’s Bloc: “How to Pitch like a Professional” with Candace Havens. It’s one week before the con, so come brush up your pitch at the South Branch of the Irving Library. This event is free for friends and family too! It’s also one of our major outreach events for the year. Afterward, we’ll be at Joe’s Coffee Shop for pie.

 

Next Weds, we’ll do a bag stuffing event for the con at 6 pm. There is a poster on the bulletin board! There will be free pizza too.

 

At the end of October, we’ll be doing our Halloween potluck, on the 25^th. Bring snacks. We’ll also do our spooky reads room! It’s not required, there will be other regular read rooms, but if you are interested, join in.

 

Sarah Mensinga: We now have bookmarks for the workshop to hand out at the convention and other outreach events! Feel free to take a few and give them to any of your writer friends.

 

The workshop also had a table at the Trinity River Bookfest this past weekend in Fort Worth. Leslie, Karen, and I were there, chatting to people about the workshop. We talked to lots of people and several people were interested in visiting the workshop and/or attending the convention.

 

Brooke Fossey: Con announcement! The member experience is super great! As members, you get a VIP cocktail event with just you and the agents. We’ll be doing a member dinner that night. Outside of that, we have 65 or so classes, and you get a $150 discount. The price for you holds unless you want a one-day ticket. The members will get a special email with directions and also, you will get a link for volunteering on that weekend. We (our workshop) are the hosts, so if you are coming, please volunteer. Lots of door prizes, a food truck rally, and we have amazing speakers, the famous Dave Eggers and Evangeline Lily! Our theme is Write the Good Write!

 

Rosemary Clement: Rosemary has QR codes that will take you directly to the page where you can review the bylaw amendments. If you get there and can’t get in, you just aren’t signed in with your member email (the email you used to sign up with). Rosemary has also put together a Goodreads list of all the current members’ books. To Rosemary’s knowledge (according to her memory) she has included everyone’s books that were workshopped here by current members. If you wrote a book before you were a member, Rosemary has not included it. The QR codes are on the bulletin board.

 

Brooke Fossey: We also have a pre-conference workshop with Jane Allen. It’s a 4-hour workshop about plotting and writing in a career-sustainable way. She’s a Harvard grad, and it’s an extra cost. It’s $100 if you are attending the con, and $150 if you are not.

 

Mathew Rollins: Is about to publish his book, and he has review copies if anyone would like to read it!

 

Rosemary Clement: Is not teaching a class before the con like she has in previous years, but she is hosting special DFW members one-on-one workshops to workshop what you’re pitching at the con. There are only 17 days until the con. It costs $100 for two one-on-one sessions. Rosemary has edited over fifty bestselling novels as well as writing her own, and she has taught this pitch class for fifteen years, and she has this info down! Her agent even uses Rosemary’s pitch when she teaches. Email Rosemary if you are interested or talk to her at the workshop. John agrees that Rosemary is very helpful and skilled! Rosemary will ask you the questions she usually uses in a mad lib format. She will help you to come up with the most evocative way to present your story.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:18 pm

 

07/12/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Business and General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent: 0

 

Members Attending: 39

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:06 pm

 

Business Meeting:

 

Helen will run most of this meeting because John missed the other meeting.

 

We have exciting news about the library! We’ve approved the new cabinets. They will be coming in soon, and we’ll have a workday to assemble them. Becca tells us it’s scheduled for Friday the 21^st, at 6:00. We also may have beer and may also clean other things!

 

We will also have a party to celebrate the library with a potluck, sometime in August.

 

We think we have fixed the temperature issue in the library and the kitchen.

 

We will also have our elections tonight.

 

Treasurers Report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Treasurer Report - July 12, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $36,005.18

 

 

 

Con account ending in 7540: $45,452.33

 

 

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,191.15

 

 

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,528.31

 

 

 

 

Total: $144,176.97

 

 

Our new money market account for the account “Workshop reserves” earns 1.4% interest, compounding quarterly. The money market account named “Conference Savings” earns 1.19%.

 

 

DFW Writers Workshop

Profit and Loss

June 2023

Cash Basis Wednesday, July 12, 2023 04:30 PM GMT-05:00 1/1

TOTAL

Income

Workshop

Conference

Ticket sales 7,186.00

Total Conference 7,186.00

Membership

Yearly Membership 2,450.00

Total Membership 2,450.00

Total Workshop 9,636.00

Total Income $9,636.00

GROSS PROFIT $9,636.00

Expenses

Admin

Bank Charges & Fees 244.78

Equipment 305.24

Total Admin 550.02

Conference

Conference - Travel

Airfare 4,836.25

Total Conference - Travel 4,836.25

Conference - Advertising & Marketing 72.73

Total Conference 4,908.98

Facilities

Security 585.00

Total Facilities 585.00

Writer's Block 244.48

Total Expenses $6,288.48

NET OPERATING INCOME $3,347.52

NET INCOME $3,347.52

 

We have four accounts, for those of you who are newer. We have that because the money is used for different things, such as rent, writer’s bloc, etc.

 

For the con account, we have a good number because we’ve had a lot of people signing up. We have to still pay the other half of what we owe for the conference center. We also have the workshop reserves. It was recommended by the board that we have three years of operating expenses. We don’t have that yet, but we have a good amount.

 

We also have our money market accounts which is an investment in the workshop’s future.

 

Our biggest expense this past month was airfare for the agents who are coming and the keynote speakers.

 

Conference Report from Brooke Fossey: For the con, we’ve sold 125 tickets approx. We are on schedule. We have a venue, food, agents, speakers, and keynotes. Our keynotes are David Eggars and Evangeline Lily. We’re obviously encouraging members to buy tickets. You have a discount. And the members-only cocktail will be on Friday night with the agents. It’s really nice. It has better contact points than for the general attendees. Friday night, there will be a members-only dinner as well. Sat is obviously conference stuff. Brooke encourages us to buy tickets if we haven’t already! Tickets are online. Helen adds that the members-only event is with the agents and is so great for pitching. You do get to talk to a lot of agents.

 

Melvina asks if we’ll have help with pitching. Brooke says that yes, Rosemary often helps prepare our members for pitching. John says that the Friday event is also helpful. Leslie encourages people to ask questions during the break about the conference too.

 

Events Report from Sally Hamilton: The fall writer’s bloc is coming up. She hasn’t set a date yet. We should have Candace Havens teaching it, an editor at Entangled, a longtime member here, and a fountain of info. Sally isn’t sure what she’ll talk about yet. It will be in Irving at the library again with a pie party afterward. This will happen before the con!

 

Membership Report from Helen Dent: We have 144 members, a bump from previous months.

 

Outreach Report from Allen Crowley: Allen talks about how he will no longer be in this position. He will be replaced if the voting goes well. :) He had hectic things happening when he was in the position.

 

Media Report from Brain Tracey: As we heard last week, Sean Warner became a Tick Tock star! Brian says that Sean did announce it, but we all didn’t realize how HUGE it was. He was in the local news, People magazine, and he had a huge surge in book sales! Sean went from two reviews to over 1600! His book exploded! John says Sean’s elevator pitch really sold the book. Luck is involved, but Sean was prepared, and that made a huge difference.

 

There is also a new platform out there called Threads, and Brian has put DFWWW on there as well.

 

Let Brain know about events or announcements. If he sees what you post, he will promote you, but he doesn’t see everything. There is also a section on our website for scheduling events.

 

Infrastructure Report from Grant Gargagliano: Nothing new to report.

 

John mentions the change in rent, but he notes he also mentioned it last week.

 

Elections:

 

John says we’re doing it by acclimation.

 

The Treasurer position will now be BJ Sloan, Helen Dent will remain VP of Membership, Brian Tracey will still be VP of Media, Sarah Mensinga will take over Allen Crowley as VP of Outreach, and Becca Seifert will be our new Secretary.

 

John asks if all are in favor of accepting these electorates. People say yay/aye! John asks if there are any nays. No, there are not.

 

John thanks Allen Crowley, even though he had a rough year, he appreciates Allen stepping up. And John says he appreciates my work as secretary too.

 

John also says that Leslie’s work was really, really appreciated. The books were really messed up.

 

Helen then says that Leslie was nominated for lifetime membership and everyone voted to approve it. Helen says what a wonderful, skilled, and dedicated member Leslie is and everyone gives Leslie a standing ovation. Leslie is surprised, happy, and touched. She thanks everyone!!!

 

New officers can come up to the front. Becca gets a drumroll!

 

Business Meeting ends at 7:24om and General Meeting starts.

 

Guests:

 

Kenya – found us online. She lives in Fort Worth and writes sci-fi.

 

Aaron – found out about us from another member. He hasn’t written anything yet but is interested in becoming a writer. He enjoys horror and fantasy.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews:

 

Colin Holmes: Reviewed It’s Not a Cult by Lauren Danhof. Brian takes the review copy!

 

Leslie Lutz: reviewed many books including Searching For Justice by Carolyn Ray and Sean Warner’s book.

 

Lauren Lanza-Osias: reviewed It’s Not a Cult.

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions:

 

Trisha Allen – submitted to an agent who she met at the writer’s digest boot camp. The agent said nice things at the time about Trisha’s writing, so in her query, Trisha quoted her and the agent asked for her whole manuscript.

 

Kent Ross – submitted some microfiction.

 

Lauren Lanza-Osias – submitted her fantasy novel to three agents, although she can’t remember which ones.

 

John Bartell – submitted some poems to the Texas Observer.

 

Acceptances:

 

John Bartell – His poem was accepted by the Horror Writers of America Anthology.

 

Announcements:

Diana Callum: also has a copy of It’s Not a Cult. It was fantastic! Kept her guessing until the end. Very good read.

 

Lauren Lanza-Osais: wants to talk about Tick Tock & social media. She will be teaching an Instagram for Beginners class at the conference. If you have any questions, she would love to know them, so she can make sure she addresses the right things in her talk.

 

Lauren Danhof: She wrote It’s Not a Cult which will be coming out in August. One event will be at Talking Animal Books on August 22^nd at 7:00, and another event on Friday. She has bookmarks that have the info for both events. Please take them and share them with friends!!!

 

George: Is still looking for volunteers to help put the con on. Please sign up on the bulletin board. We would appreciate it.

 

Karen: Sideways Wishes is coming out soon. She has proof copies, and if someone would like to have an advance copy. She hands them out. It comes out in two weeks! It’s a middle-grade book.

 

Colin Holmes: JP Sanders and himself are both in the Killer Nashville Reader’s Choice awards. JP says it’s not him… Colin says you can vote in the reader’s choice awards. John asks Colin to put it on the events page. It’s a competition for murder mystery stories.

 

Helen Dent: Name badges have arrived for Diana, Kent, and Blair! If you are new and need a badge, please tell Helen. If you’ve lost yours, we can replace it for a small fee.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:36 pm

 

07/12/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officer’s Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

Incoming Secretary and Library Committee Representative: Rebecca Seifert

 

Officers Absent:

 

President: John Bartell

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 6:11 pm

 

Helen starts the meeting because John is delayed with a flat tire.

 

Helen mentions that we signed the contract for next year for the Simmons Center, although the price has gone up from $100 to $150 a month. The officers agree to look into other options for the future.

 

John also wanted us to look at the pictures of the proposed bookshelves. Becca emailed several renderings. She thinks the ones we want will be the taller white ones. Helen shows the renderings. Brooke asks if the other shelves are staying/going, and Becca confirms that we plan to keep at least one. Becca explains that for the bottom section of the new shelves, we can cover the glass with opaque film if we want to use it for storage. Becca asks what people think. Everyone is in favor of the white ones because it will make the space look larger. Everyone is in favor of the taller ones too. Becca will organize the next workday for shelf assembly. Becca thinks we could have a smaller group, maybe five people. Maybe just the officers?

 

Sally says the key part is getting the shelves built. That may take a day. Brooke suggests that if we have more volunteers maybe we can ask the city if we can clean parts of the Simmons Center as a sign of goodwill to the city. Helen thinks we should get as many volunteers as we can.

 

Leslie points out that we now have a new broom. She bought it on Amazon without board approval because it was under $200. It has “Property of DFWWW” written on it in fabric ink. We are also supposed to wet mop after food. Leslie will buy an inexpensive wet mop as well. She can also turn the new mop into a wet mop. Brooke says they used to have a cleaning closet. Becca asks who our contact would be with the city. Brooke says that the person responsible for that is the VP of Outreach, which will be me (Sarah.) Leslie texts me the number. Although Brooke clarifies that for this sort of thing, John usually contacts the city.

 

Becca will send an updated cost for the shelves for approval. Helen says we’ve already approved a number, so as long as the total is lower than that, it’s fine. Becca will make an announcement today about the next workday. We try to choose that day now. Sally can’t do Sundays, so maybe a Saturday?

 

Allen is here!

 

Allen says the temp in the kitchen is fine. We let him know we’re trying to choose a workday. Brooke suggests we tentatively plan it for the 29^th. Sally says we can talk to Eric Dixon who is good at installing lighting in shelves like these. Brooke says we could put it out to the membership, and there might be someone who is also skilled at installing lighting and might have some extra time.

 

How about Friday the 21st at 6? We’ll have to ask about the Simmons Center.

 

Sally’s opinion on the rent is that it’s been ten years without them raising it, and we probably won’t get a better deal elsewhere. If they wanted us out of here, they would raise it much higher. People agree. We also agree that we should do our due diligence and look, though.

 

Alex brings Sally snacks!

 

Helen asks if we will have a party for the grand opening. Becca suggests we do a potluck, and if we have the stamp by then, we can stamp recent author books. Becca thinks it would be fun to have authors read mean reviews about their books. Becca says we could even take videos of that. She would also love to get a group photo. If we send out a notice, we’ll probably get more people showing up. Brian says, keep in mind that we have a limit.

 

Brooke suggests that we have a professional photographer to do the group photo and author photos.

 

We may do the group photo on another night.

 

Allen thinks who we used in the past was Klug photos or something. Brooke says she has the contact. Allen says it could be done at the conference—that way other people can get author photos too. Brooke (and others) think that’s a great idea!

 

We all process that amazing idea. Allen has done his swan song. Mic drop! Sarah will make it happen!

 

We’ll do the voting tonight. Hopefully, John will be here.

 

Bylaws— thank you to everyone who was at the meeting on Sunday. It was all approved and Rosemary will make the changes on the slides. Collaboration, yay!

 

Allen says he hasn’t been getting his weekly email. He also didn’t get the bylaw meeting email. Helen will look into it. Other people haven’t been getting their weekly emails either.

 

One of the main changes at the bylaw meeting was changing the name of the Advisory Board to the Board of Directors. It was a smooth meeting with no kerfuffling.

 

Treasurers Report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Treasurer Report - July 12, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $36,005.18

 

 

 

Con account ending in 7540: $45,452.33

 

 

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,191.15

 

 

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,528.31

 

 

 

 

Total: $144,176.97

 

 

Our new money market account for the account “Workshop reserves” earns 1.4% interest, compounding quarterly. The money market account named “Conference Savings” earns 1.19%.

 

 

DFW Writers Workshop

Profit and Loss

June 2023

Cash Basis Wednesday, July 12, 2023 04:30 PM GMT-05:00 1/1

TOTAL

Income

Workshop

Conference

Ticket sales 7,186.00

Total Conference 7,186.00

Membership

Yearly Membership 2,450.00

Total Membership 2,450.00

Total Workshop 9,636.00

Total Income $9,636.00

GROSS PROFIT $9,636.00

Expenses

Admin

Bank Charges & Fees 244.78

Equipment 305.24

Total Admin 550.02

Conference

Conference - Travel

Airfare 4,836.25

Total Conference - Travel 4,836.25

Conference - Advertising & Marketing 72.73

Total Conference 4,908.98

Facilities

Security 585.00

Total Facilities 585.00

Writer's Block 244.48

Total Expenses $6,288.48

NET OPERATING INCOME $3,347.52

NET INCOME $3,347.52

 

 

 

Leslie says we have put some money into money market accounts, so the accounts are smaller. Our reserves are good, but not quite at three years worth of reserves, which is what the board recommends. The smaller account is the conference saving account.

 

Regarding the biggest expenses, she included the P&Ls for June. The biggest expense we had was travel. She bought a bunch of airline tickets for the con. She thinks she only has four tickets left to buy. We have the two first-class tickets, one is from Maui. And we still have some agents’ tickets to purchase. One agent is complicated. Leslie will need to get on the phone with her to sort it out.

 

Security was also big expense at $195 a week. Sally says she’s glad we raised the dues.

 

Nothing was out of the ordinary this month except for the tickets.

 

Conference Report from Brooke Fossey:

 

We are on schedule! We’ve sold about 125-ish tickets so far. We have a to-do schedule every month and the committee works through it. The schedule is almost completely done. We had so many great applicants for speaker roles, they didn’t have to seek people out. Obviously, you guys know about our keynotes. Anything else Brian can think of? Brian says no. Brooke adds that we have venue, agents, food, and people buying tickets. Leslie says that she has the info of the woman who won a free ticket last year… Brooke is already on it. They had a sub-meeting on how to make the pitch sales more efficient. This month the committee is working on vendors and sponsorships.

 

Brian wants to know, are we going to have a capacity issue with only the three food trucks? Brooke explains that we’re doing food trucks on Sat night so people can eat there if they don’t want to go to Abuela’s. Brooke will look into it. She’s just not sure how many people are going to commit. Sally says the worst thing that might happen is that people see the line and go elsewhere. We’re also going to have a con event for workshop members.

 

They will keep the bar open until midnight. That’s been a problem in the past, Brian says, with it closing early. Brooke says we’re leaning into people finding their writing tribe at the con.

 

Events Report from Sally Hamilton: Sally will touch base with Candace Havens about the fall Writer’s Bloc, and then she will contact the library and ask about getting a double room. We can then go to the pie place afterward for community building. Brian says to call it “After Party and the Pie Place.” Helen says pie counts as a vegetable. Sally will make sure it’s scheduled so we enough have time at the pie place.

 

Becca asks about the potluck/library opening. Do we want to do that? Sally says yes. Becca is thinking Mid-August. Sally would like to stress that it’s the Carolyn Williamson Library.

 

Brooke will talk to Sally about booking Abuela’s for the workshop group.

 

Helen asks about the book-selling table at Art’s Goggle (?) Colin says they would not take our application because we are a group.

 

Membership Report from Helen Dent: We have 144 members.

 

Outreach Report from Allen Crowley: His big duty has nothing to do with outreach, but all of the conference URLs have been acquired! Everyone cheers! Brian got a password to log in. John sent it to him. Allen, John, and Brian will sort out everything together.

 

Colin is here!

 

Media Report from Brian Tracey: A workshop member became a Tick Tock star last week! Sean Warner announced it last week, but we all didn’t realize what a big deal it was. Someone put him on Tick Tock, and it put him on #1 all over Amazon. He was featured in many news outlets, and is now at 1600 reviews on Amazon, after being at two.

 

DFWWW is on Threads now too. It’s the Twitter replacement. Brian thinks it’s a pain in the butt. Brooke thinks it’s important that we upkeep whatever we’re doing and do it well. Brian feels it’s mainly about grabbing the real estate. The community seems to love it. Unlike Twitter, it’s harder to add followers.

 

Grant asks if we could replicate what happened to Sean, but Sally thinks it would be hard because it was so genuine.

 

Becca thinks that if we share our writers reading bad reviews at the library opening, that could maybe go viral. Brooke worries about villainizing reviewers. We agree that it would be best to keep it amongst our group. We’ll still do it here, just with no filming.

 

John is here!

 

John asks what we’re talking about. Everyone updates him.

 

Infrastructure Report from Grant Gargagliano: Grant says things are normal. The Wi-Fi is still active.

 

Allen asks if we’re going to sell the computers. Grant would also like to stimulate activity on the discord. I suggest we remind people it’s a good way to find beta readers. Sally says that one thing they did on their WOW discord was stream Alex’s movie, and then after, Alex answered questions. Sally says we could also do a podcast event where some of our authors chat for others to listen.

 

Brooke reminds us that sustainability is important. It’s still a good idea to try new ideas, though.

 

Sally would need a mic. Leslie says she has a podcasting mic. Brooke has a lapel mic. John wonders if we should buy one for the workshop. Brooke says they’re very expensive.

 

John says we should try to have a book-selling table somewhere. Leslie says that there is a complicated issue about taxes, but we should try to figure it out. Brooke thinks that we used to have low-key release day book sales here. She hasn’t seen that in a long time. Leslie feels like it would be awkward for authors and people might feel pressured to buy books they don’t really want. John feels it’s a bit awkward. I do too. It might be better for people to just go to book launches. Leslie has an idea; we could have every author provide a little piece of swag with a code for people to buy the ebook. That way people can take that if they don’t want to buy the book. Brooke feels it was never awkward. If people didn’t want to buy the book, they didn’t. Allen says in 2024, he’d like to be building an online store. He would like to at least have everyone who has a book in the store, such as bookshop.org. Brooke asks if we have one. We used to have an Amazon affiliate link. We probably still do.

 

Meeting adjourned: 6:58 pm

 

06/28/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officer’s Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Former Presidents:

 

Carolyn Rae

 

Guests:

 

None

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

 

Members Present: 40

 

Meeting begins: 7:03 pm

 

John Bartell - Impromptu meeting to discuss nominating Leslie Lutz for the Lifetime Membership award.

 

Helen Dent – Leslie Lutz was nominated for the Lifetime membership for the following reasons:

She’s been a member in good standing for 8+ years

She’s an award-winning author

She’s led Panels at Thriller-con, DFW-con and Winsborro conferences

She’s volunteered as the Secretary, VP of Events and Treasurer. As Treasurer, she prepped our books for audits.

She helped with the DFW conference in 2022 and 2023

She’s been a mentor for the horror writer conference

 

John Bartell – Any comments? (None) Motion to award her the lifetime membership award.

 

Carolyn Rae – Second

 

Vote – unanimous yes

 

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:05 pm

 

 

 

 

07/05/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley (arrived after general meeting)

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

 

Members Attending: 29

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:03 pm

 

Guests:

 

Katherine Nelson - writes fantasy. Found out about us by googling and went to the conference last year and thought it was awesome. First time visiting.

 

New Members:

 

One person switched to the annual membership from monthly. Did not catch name. Perhaps Diana?

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections:

 

Christian Capers – submitted modern fairy tale to multiple agencies and was rejected by Hallway, Blue Ridge, Handspun, Odesa Media Management, Marcel Management, Jill Brineberg, Annie Cronberg, Jabberwocky, and several more.

 

Candace Watson – rejected by an agent but received a note about why.

 

JB Sanders – Short Sherlock-Holmes-type story was rejected.

 

Submissions:

 

Cassie Ellis – submitted a flash piece to NYC Midnight, and several other short pieces to various publications.

 

John Bartell – Submitted some poems to a journal.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell: The bookcases have been sold. Yay! Now we will buy the new IKEA bookcases, and we’ll have a nice library. There are still books back there if you’d like them, and there’s a red Folgers can to put money in for those books. There are also drinks in the mini-fridge, if you’d like anything other than the tiny waters, please put a dollar in the can as well.

 

Sean Warner: Writes YA fiction. He was selling books at a signing the other day, and a guy asked if he could put a tick-tock video on his channel. Since then, the outpouring of response has been enormous. He’s currently the #1 Bestseller on Amazon in several categories, including the overall book sales for the last two days! Sean thanks everyone for their feedback and support.

 

JB Sanders has the advance reader copy of Lauren Danhof’s It’s Not a Cult. Colin Holmes takes it to review. The book comes out in August! Very soon!

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:11 pm.

 

06/28/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

 

Number of Members Attending: 40

 

Meeting Called to Order: 7:05 pm

 

Guests: 2

 

JT McPherson – Emailed John Bartell to check it out. Hoping to network with some people on some things he is working on.

 

Jeff Cheryl – Member 30 years ago. Moved back from Portland and wants to attend again.

 

New Members: 1

 

Hannah – Found DFWWW on Google. Doesn’t know what she’s writing yet.

 

Book Reviews:

 

None

 

Rejections:

 

None

 

Submissions:

 

Helen Dent – Submitted a short story and poem

 

Acceptances:

 

Lauren Donhoff – Included in the July/August edition of Writers Digest and her Book, It’s Not a Cult, comes out in August.

 

Sally Hamilton – Was selected for multiple Panels for writing conference in Oklahoma.  

 

Carolyn Rae – Shared her article on Romance Writers Report which she was paid to write.

 

Larry Edmund - New Mystery ‘Murder so Foul’ is available for Kindle pre-release. Paper version comes out October 17^th.

 

Announcements:

 

Karen Goodwright – The Adventure of PP&J  - book seven is out. Brought in books that are free for anyone to take.

 

Rebecca Seifert  – Thank you to John Bartell who took time out of his weekend to meet the Marketplace buyer for the shelves. The shelves in the library are gone. We will be scheduling the next workday to install the new shelves.

 

Lauren Lanza Osias – Teaching a class at DFW Con on basics of Instagram. Asked for anyone with questions on social media to give her ideas.

 

Allen Crowley  – Book conference/book fair in Houston August 26^th 10-6. 55 authors signed up but want more. All genre family event. Spring street studios.

 

George Goldway – first year on the conference. Looking for volunteers.

 

Carloyn Rae – signing books

 

Helen Dent – Name badge for Trisha Dent

 

Meeting adjourned:  7:19 pm

 

 

 

06/21/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Members Attending: 34

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:04 pm

 

Guests:

 

Jenny – met Brooke at church, does creative nonfiction writing, mainly travel.

Amanda – coworker of Robin, was looking for a group and Robin suggested DFWWW. She writes mainly poetry.

 

New Members:

 

Robin – was a member a while ago. Her friend was looking for a writing group so she brought her here.

Pamela Shultz – was a member for many years, and she writes stuff that no one reads. :) She has two books out.

Cassie – writes mostly fantasy.

 

Book Reviews: N/A

 

Rejections:

 

Sean Warner – One rejection from the Triada group, one from Victoria Sloan, and Voyage YA turned down part of his novel intended for an anthology.

Lauren Lanza Osias – received a rejection from Margaret Danko for a fantasy.

 

Submissions:

 

Sean Warner – BJ read a beta version of his novel, and she convinced him to try publishing it again, so he has been flooding agents with it.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

Brooke: On October 7^th and 8^th, we’re having a conference with Dave Eggers and Evangeline Lilly as our keynote speakers. We also have 15 agents coming, and all members get a discount. It’s an awesome weekend with a VIP member-only event on Friday, so you can meet agents without all the other attendees around. If you are coming, please buy your tickets so we know, and you can also volunteer too. John sends out the link every week with the read-and-critique email. Please see John if you aren’t getting the email.

 

John: Just found glasses.

 

John: We have elections coming up, Treasurer, VP of Media, VP of Membership, and VP of Outreach. We already have people running for many of the positions. Leslie goes over what the VP of Outreach does. It is a fun position!

 

No read list yet… the computer is down.

 

Helen: For new members or anyone missing their badge, please let Helen know and she will order new badges in the next few weeks.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:10 pm

 

06/14/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

 

Members Attending: 34

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:02 pm

 

Guests:

 

Madison – graduated from UTA, does screenwriting and novel writing.

Cassie – also visited last week and probably will do a member intro next week.

 

New Members:

 

Book Reviews:

 

Blair – read The Oxygen Farmer by Colin Holmes. It’s a moon adventure story, he read it in a weekend and really liked it. Passes it along to another reader.

BJ Sloan – has Lauren Danhof’s ARC of her novel. Wrote a review. Passes it along.

 

Rejections:

 

Submissions:

 

Acceptances:

 

Melissa Lenhardt – A year and a half ago, had a novella come out, Hold Me Closer Toni Danzig, only in audio. She kept the print rights, pitched it, and sold to a publisher in England, part of Hachette. They want her to expand it into a full-length novel and want her to write a sequel! John says he loved listening to it. Her new book Run Baby Run also came out yesterday.

 

Announcements:

 

Carolyn Rae – This Saturday at 3pm, she will be presenting on Zoom to the Contemporary Romance Writers.

 

Diana – There is a mosquito flying around. Beware.

 

Allen Crowley – On June 30^th, there will be a book signing in Haltom City, and if you’d like to take your book and get it signed, contact Allen.

 

Melissa Lenhardt – will be having a book event at Interrobang Books on August 22 at 6. The Secret of You and Me comes out in paperback on that day, and Run Baby Run came out yesterday, so it will be a combo event. She also realized she didn’t give a copy of the French version of Heresy to the library, so she also brought that.

 

John Bartell – we’ll be selling the bookcases this week, and then we can replace them with new ones.

 

John Bartell (with Eric) – In October, we’re having the con! There’s a line for people to pitch, and people tend to be nervous, so Eric tells them bad jokes to help them calm down. One of our speakers is now Evangeline Lilly, and our other speaker is Dave Eggers! It is not complicated for members to buy tickets. There is a link in the weekly email.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:10 pm

 

 

 

06/07/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officer’s Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

 

Former Presidents:

 

N/A

 

Guests:

 

Rebecca Seifert

Alex Martinez

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

 

Members Present: 37

 

Meeting begins: 7:11

 

John: vote on the by-laws and present a certificate of parliamentarian.

 

Rosemary: volunteers. Proposed change to how meetings are run. Reads the old law and presents the new law. Motion to vote on by-law change.

 

Unanimous approval

 

John: Reviews the by-law changes. Certificate of formation. Lawyer generated a new one. 5 pages.

 

Highlight

• Document for the state that defines our organization as non-profit
• Board of Directors: have to act in the best interests of the organization (8 guidelines)
• Registered agent
• Members
• If we dissolve, details on how
• Limitations of the liability of the directors

Vote on this next month.

 

VP of membership: 139 members

 

Treasurers Report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Treasurer Report - June 7, 2023

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $35,076.63

 

Con account ending in 7540: $43,742.02

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,127.31

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,517.16

 

CD: $0

Total: $141,463.12

 

Our new money market account for the account “Workshop reserves” earns 1.4%

interest, compounding quarterly. The money market account named “Conference

Savings” earns 1.19%.

 

Brooke: Running on time and under budget for DFWCON. Announcement for keynote speaker. We have Dave Eggers. Second keynote speaker is Evangeline Lily who is an actress from Lost and writes children books. There will also be several special guests. Announcement will be made online tomorrow and want help promoting.

 

Volunteer list posted that will be collected next week.

 

Brian: We had one blog post last month. If anyone has something they’d like us to share, we will re-publish it. Great opportunity for the writer and workshop to share advice and observations. Go see Brian.

 

Sally: Thank everyone that came to the writer’s bloc. Wonderful speaker, Amber Royer, who will also teach a class at the conference. Candace Havens will be coming in early September. Really good turn out and pie.

 

No other business.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:27 pm

 

 

 

 

06/07/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

 

Number of Members Attending:

 

Meeting Called to Order: 7:27 pm

 

Guests: 2

 

Kacey Ellis - Writing for 2 years and writes Fantasy short stories.

Boku - Found the group online.

 

New Members: 1

 

Hilda Rooch –  Heard about the workshop from a friend. Writes short stories about surviving Scottish school system in the 50s.

 

Book Reviews:

 

Larry Edmund – Reviewed Box 88 by Charles Cumming. Stopped at page 297. Review is two thumbs down.

 

Rejections:

 

Christian Capers – Rejected by multiple agents including Gardener, Felicia F, Andrea Brown, Nelson, and Sandra Dickstrom.

 

Melissa Colerangle – Rejected from Sisters in Crime competition.

 

Submissions:

 

Candace Watson – Submitted YA to Rees’ Literary.

 

Acceptances:

 

N/A

 

Announcements:

 

Leslie Lutz – July we are holding elections for treasurer. If you’re interested, please contact Leslie.

 

Shawn Warner – this past weekend, book signing at half price books in Dallas and had a great experience. 17^th – book signing in Kroger in Mansfield. Sheet on the table for beta readers.

 

Brooke Fossey – personal events can be posted on the website

 

Brian Tracey – personal events can be sent to VP of Media. Boost on twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

 

Meeting adjourned:  7:39 pm

05/31/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Number of Members Attending: 33

 

Meeting Called to Order: 7:00 pm

 

Guests:

 

Samantha – Found DFWWW on the internet. Writes fiction and horror.

 

New Members:

 

Neil – Attended last week and joined. Writes satire.

 

Book Reviews:

 

Michelle O’Neil – Reviewed Killers of Flower Moon by David Grann and  Fairytale by Steven King

Katie – Reviewed It’s Not a Cult by Lauren Danhoff

 

Rejections:

 

Chris - Submitted to Horror Cities Cash

Kristian Capers – Submitted to The Rosen Group, Victoria Sanders and Associates, and Tander US

John Bartell - Submitted short story/noir

 

Submissions:

 

Michelle O’Neil – Submitted a sequel to Fox Press

Lauren – Submitted Fantasy novel to publishers

 

Acceptances:

 

None

 

Announcements:

 

Sally Hamilton – Writers Block on 6/3/23 at 11 am at the Irving public library south branch. Amber Roiter – local writer of sci-fi/fantasy will be teaching archetypes. Open to public and then pie/coffee across the street afterwards.

 

John Bartell - Conference – October 7-8. Members get $150 off and VIP mixer with agents. Remember to register. If you’re attending, there are volunteer opportunities on the board. Link to conference/ registration for members David Edgars key note.

 

Rebecca Seifert – The cabinets have sold on Facebook Marketplace. All 3 were sold for $800. The buyer will be picking up in June and then we’ll schedule a workday to purchase and install the new cabinets. Susan and John put together the storage racks.

 

Meeting adjourned:   7:15 pm

 

 

 

05/24/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

 

Members Attending: 35

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:04pm

 

 

Guests: 2

 

Mikey – found out about us through a friend who published a book on Amazon. He’s three years into writing a detective novel and looking for inspiration.

Neal – Former member of Trinity Writers. He’s written poetry and some historical papers. He thinks workshop meetings are very valuable.

 

New Members: 1

 

Seth – work as a chaplain and writes creative nonfiction.

 

Book Reviews:

 

BJ Sloan – read Colin Holmes's new book, THE OXYGEN FARMER, and says it’s really excellent. She passes it on to JB.

Rebecca Siefert – Read Lauren Danhof’s IT’S NOT A CULT. It’s described as a self-help humor book, which Rebecca thinks is very true. It’s super funny. She passes it on to someone else.

 

 

Rejections: 2

 

Kristian Capers – querying piece she’s working on, got two rejections from Metamorphosis Literary Agency and Great Dog Literary Agency.

 

Submissions: 2

 

Michael Shad – submitted a short story to publishers.

Brian Tracey – manuscript for Transient has been submitted to another publisher who is excited to read it.

 

Acceptances: 1

 

John Bartell- FW Poetry Society had a contest, and John won second place. The judge, Diane Glancy, who is amazing, was there.

 

Announcements:

 

Alex Martinez: Is Sally’s husband. She’s out of town – no emergency, but otherwise she would remind you all about the Writer’s Block this next Saturday! Amber Royer, an author will be talking about archetypes vs stereotypes. It’s at 11 at the Irving Public Library, and afterward, there is a pie place we’ll all go to. You must buy your own pie, but the event is free!!! Bring everyone! The kids love hearing about archetypes! For more info look at the bulletin. There is also info in the weekly email.

 

Russel Conner: He will be signing books all weekend at the Texas Frightmare Weekend at the Irving Convention Center. You can still get tickets.

 

John Bartell: We are still working on the library. There is interest in the big shelves. The books on the wooden shelves are free for the taking, but if you can, make a donation into the red Folgers can. The new rolling shelves are here, but not assembled yet. There are also sodas and water in the mini-fridge. Those are a buck each.

 

Helen: Owl Canyon Press is having their contest. They give you the middle paragraph of a short story with a set number of paragraphs and also the last paragraph. This year they are having team members submit. If you are interested in writing something with someone else, Helen can give you the info.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:15 pm

 

 

 

05/17/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Members Attending: 39

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Guests: 0

 

New Members: 1

 

Gabriel Barbosa – Is starting to write a horror novel.

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections: 1

 

Lauren Lanza Osias – writes fantasy, got a rejection from Naomi Davis.

 

Submissions: 1

 

Lauren Lanza Osias – queried three agents.

Colin Holmes – submitted final copy edits for Oxygen Farmer to his publisher.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

Russel Conner: Brought the Italian edition of The Jackal Man. It’s very nice and even has interior artwork! Our workshop is mentioned in Italian inside. John would like a copy for the library.

 

John: Library update! There are books still on the shelves. Take them please, and if you can, give a donation. We have the new cart on wheels. It’s still in the box. Next Wednesday, John will come early to put it together, and other are welcome to help. There has been interest in the big glass shelves! Once they’re gone, we’ll buy the new, IKEA ones.

 

Colin Holmes: Has an ARC of The Oxygen Farmer if someone would like to read it, and Thunder Road won the IPPY Bronze Medal for the mysteries category!

 

Brooke Fossey: Brooke and Jenny Martin went to the Winnsboro Book Festival. It’s a great event! They have tents, book sales, panels, activities, etc. The Fort Worth Poetry society was there with a bell you could ring for a poem.

 

Con update from Brooke as well. Hopefully you are paying attention to the growing agent list on the site. First keynote announcement: We will be welcoming Dave Edgars on Saturday, author of the Circle and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. He’s been shortlisted for the Pulitzer and National Book Award. He’s also the owner & publisher of McSweeny’s. He will be in conversation with a local Dallas Morning News former books editor. If you haven’t bought your ticket, check your weekly email. There is a link. And if you have, please look at the volunteer opportunities posted on the board.

 

Sally Hamilton: On June 3^rd we will have writer’s bloc with author Amber Royer. She’ll talk about cliches vs archetypes at the Irving library at 11. After we can get some pie. The class is free to anyone here and open to the public. All the info is also on the bulletin board.

 

John Bartell: We talked in the last meeting about changes in the bylaws regarding switching Robert’s Rules out for the Democratic Rules of Order. Details are pasted on the board.

 

Leslie Lutz: Still looking for someone who would like to the Treasurer. You pay the police officer and sign checks for the workshop’s other obligations. If you can’t make it to a meeting, one of the other officers can also pay the police officer. If you are interested, please talk to Leslie. It’s a very important position.

 

LeAnn Robinson: Is looking for some reviews on her books. She has a hard copy of one of her books. If you are interested, they are steamy romance novels. She also has a code that you can download the book for free as long as you write a review. If you are interested, please talk to LeAnn.

 

Allen Crowley: The International Space Development Conference is happening soon. If you are interested in sci-if, they have volunteer opportunities. If you are interested, let Allen know. It’s happening in either Plano or Frisco, he’s not sure. It’s in the area.

 

Michelle asks if the proposed bylaw changes have been posted on the website. No, but Brian and John will put them there.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:16

 

 

 

05/10/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Members Attending: 40

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Guests: 1

 

• Seth – His wife told him about us. She came last week. He writes creative non-fiction about his job.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 3

 

• Leslie Lutz reviewed a YA book called Dark. She says it was really good.
• Larry Enmon reviewed Darryl McGinnis’s book. He says it’s a mix between Catch-22 and Mash. He’s known Darryl for years but never knew his interesting history. The book is a very adventurous, great story with fascinating characters. Be sure to check it out.
• John Bartell reviewed Fuzz-When Nature Breaks the Law, a non-fiction book. If you have a chance to read it, he recommends it.

 

Rejections: 2

 

• Katie submitted an article, but it was not accepted.
• John Bartell submitted a chapter to a contest, but they said no thank you.

 

Submissions: 1

 

• Alex Martinez – two-three years ago one of his books was optioned, they extended it, and then extended it again, and then the writer’s strike happened. But they’d like to extend it again after the writer’s strike. It may not go anywhere, but it’s still in play.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

JB Sanders: As of yesterday, he and Rosemary welcomed their great-granddaughter. Everyone is healthy! See JB for pictures.

 

BJ Sloan: Thank you for the sweet card and kind messages. It meant a lot to her. Thank you all.

 

Lauren Lanza Osias: Has Lauren Danhof’s advance reading copy of It’s Not a Cult. Who would like to read it next? Someone takes it.

 

Sally Hamilton: The Writer’s Bloc is officially June 3^rd at 11. It will be a couple of hours with Amber Royer, who has published a few books. The class is Archetype, Trope, Character & Cliché. Info is on the bulletin board. Sally has copies of the info if you’d like to share it somewhere. After the meeting, we’ll go to Joe’s Coffee Shop for Pie. You must pay for your own pie. J The class is free, the pie is not.

 

Brooke Fossey: Wants to let you know that the email that you got this week has the member link with the discount for the conference. It will be a great event with lots of agents, classes, speakers. Check it out.

 

John Bartell: Speaking of the email, the submission this week is for a crime anthology. If you have a short crime story, check it out.

 

Harry Hall: He thanks everyone for coming out on Friday to hear his talk. Thank you for the support.

 

Leslie Lutz: We have elections in July. She’s not running for treasurer again, and she’d be happy to train someone for the position. It would be best to start the process ahead of the elections. Don’t let training scare you off, says John, Leslie’s done an amazing job. All the finances are in good shape. You write checks to the cop. You balance the checkbook once a month. If you have an issue, you talk to the accountant. It’s not hard at all. Leslie is not an accountant, and she’s managed well. If you are interested in serving the group, please come to talk to Leslie.

 

John Bartell: Positions up for election are VP of Media, Treasurer, Outreach, and Membership. You are welcome to run for any position. Sarah (me!) says maybe the secretary position is open as well. Let her know if you’re interested!

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:14 pm

 

 

 

05/03/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officers Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Guests:

LeAnn Robinson

Alex Martinez

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 6:39 pm

 

John wants to talk about who is running again. Leslie is not running again for Treasurer. She has not found someone yet to replace her, but she was thinking about making an announcement tonight. John says someone who is/was an officer would be good, maybe someone with an accounting background, or maybe someone who is currently taking notes. I say that while I’d be open to other roles, I don’t think I’d be a good candidate for Treasurer—math and numbers are not my strength.

 

Helen will run again but would be happy to be opposed.

 

Brian has indicated that he will not run again.

 

John is not sure about Allen. Sally thinks he could be convinced to run again. Allen appears and says he is not interested in running again. Harry Hall didn’t bite as a replacement for Allen either. Allen did talk to the Fort Worth library, and they are interested in us meeting there.

 

John says the latest on GoDaddy is that we paid, but they have yet to fix the issue. Allen called GoDaddy and talked to them, and it’s still not working.

 

The bylaw meeting went very well. We agreed to change Robert’s Rules, and we’ll discuss that with members tonight. Both LeAnn and Rosemary have agreed to be the Chair of the committee. They can decide who will take that role, but Rosemary will present the Robert’s Rules change.

 

Membership Report from Helen Dent: we have 137 active members.

 

Outreach Report from Allen Crowley: Allen feels not much is happening there.

 

 

Events Report from Sally Hamilton: We’ll have Writers Bloc on June 3^rd at 11, with Amber Royer. Sally is waiting on paperwork from the library, but she’s moving forward as if it’s happening. Sally will create banners for our social media, maybe put up fliers at the Irving Library, and announce it here. She isn’t particularly ambitious because she doesn’t want too many people showing up. 80 is about the max. John thinks about 50 people will show up.

 

Treasurer’s Report from Leslie Lutz: Leslie sent it by email. She is almost here (is on the phone.) Leslie soon arrives and gives the report.

 

Treasurer Report - May 3, 2023

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $35,257.38

 

Con account ending in 7540: $40,922.42

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,062.42 (it was $52,003.01 in April)

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,505.85

Total: $138,748.07

 

 

 

Allen gets his nametag from Helen!

 

Meeting adjourned: 6:50 pm

 

05/03/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General and Business Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:07pm

 

Business Meeting:

 

Membership Report from Helen Dent: We have 137 active members.

 

Treasurer’s Report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Leslie explains that we split our account into a reserve account and a regular account for day-to-day expenses. The reserve account is already making us money.

 

The Con account is larger right now than the workshop account.

 

Treasurer Report - May 3, 2023

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $35,257.38

 

Con account ending in 7540: $40,922.42

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,062.42 (it was $52,003.01 in April)

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,505.85

Total: $138,748.07

 

Leslie notes that membership is not as robust as it was at the beginning of the year, but that’s to be expected.

 

Events Report from Sally Hamilton: We’re going to have Writer’s Bloc on June 3^rd at 11 am at the Irving Library, our speaker will be Amber Royer. She’ll be talking about archetypes vs. clichés, and afterward, we’ll get pie at the coffee shop nearby.

 

President’s Report from John Bartell:

 

Last Sunday, we met to talk about bylaws (the Bylaw working group consisted of officers, the Advisory Council and interested members in good standing). We had a good turnout, and John Reyna, a lawyer, is helping us. He talked to us for about an hour and explained how bylaws work and what we need to address in our bylaws.

 

There are four things to address: The first is the Certificate of Formation, which is a document that the state requires and defines our organization. That needs to be rewritten, and John R will help us. We’re also going to get rid of RR in favor of DR of O. We debated it for a while and came up with language that John R feels will work. It was then submitted to the Bylaw Chair, who looks at it and makes sure its properly written and is line with our organization. The second thing is to fix the issues in the bylaws that John R says need to be addressed. We’ll draft that up and get John R to make sure it looks good. Once that’s done, we’ll then address the issue of the Advisory Council. We just started talking about that, but we’ll probably be able to figure it out easily and once it’s done, you won’t have to hear about it again.

 

Rosemary, the Chair of the Bylaw Committee, will now talk about how we plan to replace Robert’s Rules (RR) with the Democratic Rules of Order (DR of O.)

 

Rosemary: It was a very productive meeting. This is the first issue to tackle. Once we deal with this, we can then tackle other things. We’ll be going from a 700-plus-page book to a 90-page book. It will be more democratic because more people can easily read and learn these rules. Our bylaws currently say that all business in the workshop shall be conducted in accordance with RR. Rosemary continues to read the details from our bylaws that outline our use of RR. Rosemary then reads the new rules, which is pretty much identical, just replacing RR with the DR of O.

 

John says that he feels RR stifles debate, and that the new rules are much easier to use and understand. A chair runs the meeting, like RR, and they are to be impartial. Members must be recognized to speak. The chair of the debate is called the parliamentarian. JB hasn’t read the DR of O yet, but he wonders about its interpretation of a quorum. John isn’t sure. Leslie says that what a quorum is is outlined in our bylaws. They supersede RR or DR of O. JB wonders if our bylaws will be changed in that way. John says we do not plan to change the definition of a quorum.

 

John explains that the DR of O has motions, they must be seconded, you can have motions on motions, postpone them, change voting procedures, and there’s point of order. Members can ask for a vote, chair can ask for a vote, point of order can also delay a vote, but you need a motion to do that. Everyone has a right to speak. The chair is supposed to wait to call for a vote until all the members have spoken but can determine the length of the debate if it’s going on too long. Once arguments from both sides have been presented, then the chair can move forward. You need minutes. John reminds us that all this is outlined in the book; he’s just giving a summary. If this change passes, we will buy some copies of the DR of O and have them in the library for people to review. John feels that this will make our meetings run more smoothly. He printed out a copy of the changes, and next week, he will post it on the bulletin board.

 

LeAnn Robinson asks John to go back to one of the previous slides. John does. LeAnn is confused about the parliamentarian wording. Rosemary explains that originally, we had it written as chair, but that led to a lot of confusion about who that would be, because sometimes there is also a chair running the meeting. This will clarify that the parliamentarian is a separate, designated person. If no one is willing to do it or designated, then the immediate past president will be the parliamentarian. This only comes up if you need to clarify the rules. The parliamentarian can then step in to specify what rules need to be followed.

 

John says the bottom line is that the bylaws would be confusing if we used the term chair.

 

LeAnn asks who the chair of this meeting is. It is determined that it would be LeAnn as the immediate past president.

 

Rosemary explains that it would be good for the chair to be aware of the DR of O so they can offer guidance. Items can also be tabled until the chair looks up the rules in the book—another benefit of having a shorter book like the DR of O.

 

Allen says if you go to democraticrulesoforder.com, you can download an edition. They also have downloadable flow charts that explain the system. The book is also on Kindle.

 

Business Meeting Adjourned and General Meeting Starts: 7:27

 

Members Attending: 48

 

Total Members: 137

 

Guests:

 

Danielle — here with Lauren D. She hasn’t written anything yet but writes for fun.

Laura – Writes fantasy. She heard about us on the internet.

 

New Members:

 

Jase – writes speculative fiction. He joined last week but wasn’t able to attend until this week.

 

Book Reviews:

 

Leslie Lutz – reviewed a YA book called Daughter.

 

Rejections:

 

John – two rejections from agents for The Accidental.

 

Submissions:

 

John – submitted The Accidental to an agent.

Sarah – submitted a short story to a friend’s Texas fantasy anthology.

 

Acceptances:

 

Sarah – short story will be in the anthology!

 

Announcements:

 

Allen: We’re cleaning out the library here, and there are books on the front table. He also brought a toaster oven.

 

Daryl McGinnis: Has his book here to sell for those who may be interested. Someone was asking about it last week.

 

John: reminds people about the books, they are on the table and in the library. If you’d like to donate, there is a box in the library. There are also sodas in the fridge. Please pay 1$ for them.

 

Colin: Tomorrow is the Library Journal’s Day of Dialog, and Colin will be hosting the detective panel, it is online.

 

Harry Hall: Harry will be at the Allen Public Library tomorrow night speaking about his book, Pedestriennes. Details are on the bulletin board.

 

Man (not sure of name): Needs a cricket for a workshop sticker. If someone has one, please see him at the break.

 

Sean Warner: Received an email about Voyage YA Magazine They are merging with another mag, Uncharted. They are changing their submission format. That also means Voyage YA is going away as a resource for YA writers.

 

Leslie: Is not going to be running for Treasurer again in July. The role does require some onboarding, which Leslie is willing to do. She has access to our accountant, who helps us. As long as the QuickBooks are kept neatly, it’s not a hard job. You pay rent, you reimburse people, and you do a monthly financial report. If there is someone who would like to be an officer or you’ve been an officer before, please come talk to Leslie. John says that he feels you don’t necessarily need an accounting mind to do this.

 

Helen: Helen has an advance reader copy of Lauren Danhof’s book. She will be writing a review soon. Who would like it next? Katie Bernet would! Helen passes it off.

 

Helen also reminds people that the books on the front table are free to take.

 

Helen gives Kirk his badge.

 

Leslie: If you have a teen in your life who likes audiobooks. Leslie’s book was chosen for Audiobook Sync through the Sora App, where kids will have access to free audiobooks all summer (two books a week). Leslie’s book will be a June read.

 

Lauren has It’s Not a Cult bookmarks if anyone would like them. J

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:37 pm

 

 

04/19/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Officers Absent:

 

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Members Attending: 33

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Guests: 1

 

• Jace – writes fantasy and sci-fi. Went to con last year for the first time.
• Todd – writes sentences!

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: NA

 

Rejections: 3

 

• Matthew Rollins – Danger to Society was rejected.
• Lauren Lanza Osias – fantasy was rejected by an agent.
• Sean Warner – YA project was rejected by Melissa Edwards.

 

Submissions: 2

 

• Colin Holmes – completed last round of edits on his book.
• John Bartell – submitted a query to an agent.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell: Books on the wooden shelves in the library are yours for the taking, and if you take one, consider donating. Donations can go in the wooden box. Also, we have soda and water in the little fridge. They cost a dollar each.

 

Allen Crowley: Someone left a Nalgene bottle here last week.

 

Sean Warner: Next Saturday will be doing a signing at the Half Price in Arlington on S Cooper St.

 

Colin Holmes: Big week for Thunder Road! Paperback drops on the 16^th of May. And on May 4^th, Colin is moderating a panel for Library Journal’s Day of Dialog on detective stories.

 

Harry Hall: Also on May 4^th, Harry will be at the Allen public library talking about his book, Pedestriennes. Pedestriennes is about the forgotten professional female endurance walkers of the 1880’s. If successful, they could make lots of money, and they had coaches, fans, drama! It’s won several writing awards. At the event, he’ll have guests and giveaways.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:10

                                                                             

 

 

04/30/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Bylaw Workgroup #1

 

Attending:

 

President: John Bartell

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

 

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Advisory Board:

 

David Jones

Colin Holmes

Alex Martinez

Katie Bernet

 

Past Presidents:

 

Steve Manning

Rosemary Clement

 

Guest:

 

John B. Reyna – Managing Attorney, Texas Hospitality and Non-profit Law Center

Michelle O’Neil

 

Absent:

 

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Advisory Board: Russell Conner

Past Presidents: LeAnn Robinson             

 

Meeting Called to Order: 1:04

 

John Bartell welcomes us and introduces John Reyna.

 

John R lets us know about his work history; he is an attorney, also a prof at UTD, and loves working with nonprofits. It’s a highly regulated industry, and he tends to work with smaller organizations. He teaches legal rules to people who have other jobs. Unless you do this every day, there can be some confusion. John R is happy to be here to help us write the bylaws and answer questions.

 

John B asks us to introduce ourselves. We all do.

 

John B says that our group tends to have people stay because it’s a good group. He asks John R to speak about what he’d like to share, but also to address oversight (specifically, what that means).

 

John R refers to the letter he wrote about our organization. It was very high level. If we have questions as we work on the bylaws, we can contact him. He also wants us to consider where members will go to find information. If we have questions as he speaks, we can ask them. This meeting doesn’t need to be super formal, hopefully just educational.

 

He’ll talk about charitable trust vs nonprofit, membership, management of the corporation, elections, and who owns the nonprofit… these are topics that get raised all the time. The law allows a lot, other than some procedural things from chapter 22 of the TX business code. It’s good to be familiar with that chapter, especially officers. You have duties, and one of them is to know that chapter. It’s not long, and not everything in it is applicable, but there are many answers there.

 

When it comes to topic of charitable trust vs nonprofit—we are a nonprofit. Not every nonprofit is tax-exempt. Charitable trust exists in law and has existed since the sixteen hundreds. There are very strict rules about this governed by the TX property code. In multiple places, there is language about trust in our documents, but we are not a charitable trust. This creates confusion because it doesn’t apply to us. Looking at Chapter 22, this allows organizations do whatever they want, provided they adhere to some legal rules.

 

Next topic, members. In TX, you can have member orgs or orgs that have no members. You may have different classes of members (different voting rights, etc.) If you choose to have members, the code requires you to designate a class of member, manner of appointment, and qualifications and rights of members. As you draft the bylaws, you must do those three things. Might be anyone 18+ who likes writing (maybe beef this up) and they show up to one meeting, whatever we want to do. There should be some sort of appointment, and then we should outline the rights of each member. We now have five different classes of member. Really, we have one class, but there are also extra classes like honorary and lifetime. These should be subcategories, not a separate class. Unless we want to choose that. If we only have one class, we need to state that. It’s simple, but the code requires it.

 

About management: every nonprofit is managed by a board of members unless their Certificate of Formation (C of F) says that all the members manage the affairs of the corporation. If you were going to make a new entity today, you’d file a new C of F. DFWWW has a constitution and bylaws, but the state sees our C of F as the most important doc. If there is conflict between our C of F and the bylaws, the C of F wins. Steve asks if there is a middle road. John R clarifies that if members are in charge, they control the board. In the grand scheme, member-organized groups really are just congregational churches. Having a board doesn’t mean that the members can’t have certain rights and controls also. That would be defined in the bylaws. That can define what the board of directors does. The board of directors can technically be managing, but the code allows that certain things can be limited and controlled by the members. There is no baseline that the board must be allowed to do (see fundamental actions). Even the code has a safe haven built in to make sure that members still have a say. It all depends on the organization. The larger a group gets, they can change these rules and maybe hire an executive director. The board might just handle really high-level things. Not every org can do this. Many times, in small nonprofits, people will be wearing many hats. For example, officers also being board members. Something you see in member orgs is allowing the board to present budgets and then the members vote on it. Or the board might not be allowed to purchase or sell property. Things that are often controlled are things that could destroy the org. The code is very forgiving and allows you to create your own rules.

 

Many things in nonprofit and for profits orgs are different, but there is similarity with the board of directors and then having another group (in our case, officers) running the day-to-day. Small groups, though, often end up with people doing multiple things. The law allows for a member-run org, but you really don’t see them (except for churches) and even the code that allows for it, mentions churches.

 

Brian mentions that a problem with member-run orgs is that not everyone will be fully informed when voting.

 

John R doesn’t want us to make so many obstacles that we can’t run well. The flip side is that we don’t have enough guidelines and people go rogue. There is a tradeoff. If it’s super strict, things may not get done.

 

John B feels that members do have a say if they elect/appoint members of the board.

 

John R says that we should clarify who is electing the board. Say someone is not pulling their weight, members could have the power to vote them out. The directors could just elect themselves, but that could cause issues. If members elect the board, then the members still have power and a say.

 

John B wants to know what oversight the board of directors would have if they aren’t pleased with how an officer is acting, etc.

 

John R says there is often a circle of members electing the board, and then the board appointing officers. Or members can elect everyone. You just need to make sure that you are following the code regarding electing and removing board members and officers. DFWWW can choose.

 

John B wonders if oversight gives dictator powers. What does oversight mean? Can the directors veto a budget? How much power could they have if we just say they have oversight of officers? John R says that it could be very ambiguous if you don’t have solid guidelines. But they can’t run wild. There are certain things that legally they can’t do. It really comes down to what we want them to do. If you don’t want to give them power over budgets, don’t.

 

Other than the conference, during the day to day, are we conducting another business? No. Really, we just meet on Weds. Brian says that because of the con we have more money underfoot. Without having people able to offer institutional knowledge, there have been some issues. The board can offer this. We suffered during the pandemic because we didn’t have that institutional knowledge to guide us through. The board gives us advice. They are like bumpers.

 

John R is on boards where he’s basically there to just make sure there is nothing illegal happening. To be a bumper. Some orgs will bring on outside people to be that voice, professional experts like an accountant, CPA, or attorney. They provide oversight. That way, when officers present info, the board can be there to offer expertise to help everyone move forward. Many boards provide this. Rosemary says symphonies are run a lot like this. Brooke says that for us, without a board we were having problems. Such as, we have annual tasks like doing taxes etc. yet we have officers that turn over every year and members not involved in those tasks. Some things were not getting done. There was no higher level of accountability for the officers. We’d spend time cleaning up everything, and then we’d get into trouble again.

 

John R clarifies that officers usually serve for one year (up to four.) Maybe officers should initially commit to two years, rather than one. Nonprofits are tough because everyone is a volunteer. Today, we’re all spending our Sunday here listening to John talk about legal stuff. That’s what makes this tough.

Brian says that many members really just want to focus on the read and critique and want other people to handle everything else and not bother them with the details.

 

John R heard that the officers need to run the day-to-day, and you need a board to hold the officers accountable. Steve says the directors need to be accountable too. John R says that officers and directors do have fiduciary duties, and if you aren’t doing them, you’re breaking the law.

 

That gets us to fiduciary duties. It refers to when you have a responsibility to act for someone else’s benefit, subordinating your personal interests. There are separate duties, and the finer details depend on the context of the org. This is why the language used is important. We don’t want the directors to change into a board of trustees, that gives people more duties than you want them to have. One thing to clarify, directors and officers do not have the duty of trustees regarding the property of the org. It says it in our docs, but the code legally says we do not. The three fiduciary duties are care, loyalty, and obedience. Duty of care means you must stay informed and always act in the best interest of the org. Duty of loyalty means that the decision-maker must act for the benefit of the org, not their personal interests. You cannot steal business from org or enter into contracts on behalf of the org that will really benefit you. For ex, if John R was on a board and they needed an attorney, they could hire him, but if he’s on the board, he cannot vote for this. It should also be at a fair rate. He should not charge more. Those rules must be followed, or it would be illegal. Duty of obedience is the duty to remain faithful to the org and avoid unlawful acts. Directors must make sure nonprofit are pursuing their purpose. Charitable assets can’t be diverted from that. Ethically, we should do nothing that isn’t in pursuit of the purpose of the org. Some directors get in trouble because they aren’t following these three duties. It tends to happen when people aren’t familiar with the rules.

 

Leslie wonders if she’s program director and an author, and she gets someone from International Thriller Writers (a group she’s also involved with) to do a Writers Bloc event, it does benefit everyone, but it would also benefit Leslie. Where is that line?

 

John R says this is a great example. State and IRS have rules about this: you’d want to disclose to the board or who is in charge that you want to bring this person in for the value for the org, but also how you would benefit. And if there is a vote, you should not vote and abstain. Put it on the record, and now you are in the clear because you presented the facts and did not vote. It’s really about disclosure. This org is unique because we champion each other. He doesn’t think anyone would begrudge someone doing this, especially because a situation like this would help everyone. Make the situation clear, then let others vote.

 

These duties all exist regardless of our bylaws. They exist by law. John R recommends that at least once a year, the leadership goes over these fiduciary duties and explains them. That way new people are aware. Maybe an information packet could be prepared for new officers. Using doing the taxes as an example: it would be the duty of obedience to file them on time. Michelle wonders if it’s a wise idea to have a board of directors and officers to sign a doc promising to follow these duties. John R just thinks an annual meeting outlining them is important; record who attends, and those who don’t need to go over that info and make it clear they agree. It sets the tone for the year, and it will help the org run better.

 

John B wonders if we need these three duties in the bylaws.

 

John R brings it up because most nonprofits are not aware of these three rules. Michelle says it wouldn’t hurt to put them in the bylaws, but John R says it would not serve a purpose because we must follow them regardless.

 

Rosemary wonders if the officers aren’t doing what the members want, do they have to rely on the board to remove officers. If it’s in the bylaws, the members could vote them out. John R says yes.

 

John R says we’re all humans and mistakes can be made. As long as we follow the three duties as best as we can, so long as we don’t put things in the bylaws that go contrary to the law, we’ll be good. He doesn’t like the idea of putting the duties in the bylaws, because the more info you include, the less likely people will read it. You want to avoid superfluous info. It’s better to have a packet of info that is separate for every new officer or director.

 

Brooke asks if there’s a legal addendum to outline duties. We used to have binders of duties, but they disappeared. How do we practically have a doc that gets handed down? Brian says it could be an SOP doc. Rosemary thinks we should have an accompanying doc that’s easy to read that includes those details. Should be kept together in one spot. Going through the historical docs, she noticed that when they were on paper, they were passed along regularly. But when things became digital, people had a harder time organizing the info, finding it, accessing it, etc. Brooke wonders if we change our rules, how do we make sure the members have input?

 

Rosemary says that this is in the bylaws. Brian says the most important issues could be in the bylaws, other things could be in a processes doc.

 

Brian says we need to decide how tight or loose we make the bylaws.

 

John R recommends that we put the most important issues in the bylaws. He asks if we have a charter. We don’t. That would be how this works. You would name the bylaw committee in the bylaws. You don’t need to put all their duties in there, but then you could put those duties in a charter. The board would write it up. They would let the committee know what authority they have and don’t have. The charter would be a separate doc. You can do this for any type of procedure. It can also be called a resolution. To make sure you don’t lose them, the secretary (me) should get those docs in order and make sure they are passed on to the next person. Years ago it would be a giant booklet, but there should a file that has this, and ideally a backup. It would be the secretary’s responsibility to keep this.

 

If something’s really important, it should be at least mentioned in the bylaws, and then you can outline it further in the charter.

 

Brian says this is a good idea.

 

Brooke says we put all the info in the bylaws because it was the only thing that gave us continuity. Every other doc would get lost.

 

Brian thinks that not everything needs to be in the bylaws, we can have other docs.

 

Brook is concerned about accountability.

 

I ask, would we then reference the charters in the bylaws? John R says we’d mention committees in the bylaws, say the rules of those committees will be defined by the board, then the board would put together the charter. That would be the paper trail.

 

John R wants to also talk about fundamental actions; there are different rules for orgs with members and no members. If a nonprofit has members with voting rights, those members have the right to vote on fundamental actions like a merger or amending the Certificate of Formation. The law protects the right of members to control those big things. That way a board cannot just close up the org or merge it with another one. Even if they do it, they would get sued. It’s clear that only members have the right to do those large things. It’s a failsafe. The law protects us from having a board that does whatever they want.

 

Brian says that there is automatically legal control over the board by law. They also have fiduciary responsibilities and duties.

 

Who owns a nonprofit? The members? We all aren’t sure. John R says the answer is no one. There is a complex called founders syndrome when people think they own the assets of a nonprofit. But the assets are held for the benefit of the public, which is why nonprofits get a tax exemption. If you break your duties, the members can sue you, but so can the TX attorney general’s office. You don’t own anything; you are just using these assets to benefit the community. Orgs often think, well, we own this. In our articles, there is a section called dissolution. If our org ever wanted to dissolve, what happens to the assets? After we settle our debts, we then need to transfer our assets to a similar org. And if we don’t. we’ve broken the law because we’re using assets in a way that doesn’t serve our stated purpose. If we can’t find another similar org, we need to go to court and have a judge decide what happens to the assets. In our current doc, it says our directors would be trustees in a dissolution, and that should not be there. It has legal repercussions. All these things should give us clarity and calmness that there are legal checks and balances, we have a lot of freedom, we just have to make sure we don’t cross certain thresholds.

 

John B asks about board of directors vs membership. Does anyone here want membership to have oversight? No one says they do, but Steve wants parameters in place: members to be involved in choosing the directors and having the ability to remove directors if need be. John R says if we have congregational style oversight, then you have to vote on EVERYTHING and it’s tough to get anything done.

 

Steve asks if we have to call them board of directors, and no we don’t, but they need to be given power in the Certificate of Formation.

 

Steve asks how exactly we removed the board of directors from our docs? We didn’t intend to do that.

 

John B says we were calling them advisors. That takes away the sense of oversight. The one section that was changed stripped them of any oversight. Right now the bylaws are confusing because in some places we talk about the board, but previously we stripped them of oversight. Right now, their role is confused.

 

John R says reading our bylaws and constituents, it was unclear who was in charge. If we go to court, we could get in trouble. As an outsider, it was unclear. We mention them, but we don’t clarify.

 

John R says that we need to say that our advisory council acts as a board of directors in the bylaws. We can call them anything, but it has to be clear that their role is that they act with the authority to manage the org.

 

Brian, in terms of precedence, what should we fix first? John R says, Cert. of Formation. That has to be filed with the Secretary of State. It’s a fundamental action to change this, so membership has to vote on this. It’s a good place to start. It’s very standard. There’s little room for argument. There is a basic form and ours needs to hit the same notes. IRS and TX law needs to have certain things included.

 

Change that first, then come back and work on bylaws.

 

Colin asks about the constitution. John R says you really don’t see those anymore. Certificate of Formation and bylaws are what are mentioned. He suggests we ditch those, take relevant info and put them in bylaws.

 

I double check about the Periodic Informational Report, and yes, it only needs to be done every four years. Notification will be sent to who is registered. You do want to make sure you do those things. Franchise taxes are important too.

 

John R says it’s good to trust experts like CPA to make sure all is covered.

 

Helen wonders if there is something like Bylaws for Dummies. What kind of phrases are used? Is that what Chapter 22 covers?

 

John R says it won’t give us phrases, but it will give us general guidelines, and the default is chapter 22. This is why you want to look at Chapter 22 and talk about things like how directors are elected and removed.

 

Helen assumes we should look at other bylaws as a guide. Brooke says we did use someone else’s bylaws as a guide before.

 

John B suggests we run things past John R. John R agrees. One of his tasks is to speak to us today, but as we assemble our bylaws, he’ll make suggestions and edits and give us guidance as we figure out the specifics.

 

John B says we still have a few more hours today to discuss things without John R. He wants to talk about Roberts Rules and making the non-controversial changes. That’s his goal for today, then we’ll have John R review them. Then we’ll tackle the tougher issues. John doesn’t think it’s that tough. Steve doesn’t either.

 

Rosemary thinks it will help to do this in committee.

 

Everyone thanks John R for his help today.

 

John R is pleased we’re seeking guidance. Not all orgs do this. Then the problem is everyone thinks they are right, and bad habits start and get passed from org to org. Looking at other people’s bylaws isn’t a good idea, because you don’t know the inner turmoil that got them to that point, and you may add things that have no purpose.

 

John B says to keep confusion at a min, he will be the point of contact with John R.

 

Break begins: 2:23

 

Break ends: 2:38

 

John R has left. John B thanks us for being here. He asks if anyone wants to keep Roberts Rules (RR). No one does.  We’ll use the Democratic Rules of Order (DR of O) instead. John goes over why we use these rules for structure in a meeting. Right now the bylaws say we must use them. John shows a slide with details. He proposes we put DR of O in RR’s spot in the bylaws. And we also make a Chair instead of a Parliamentarian to further adjudicate the rules.

 

Leslie asks what the definition of a majority is. John thinks it’s in the bylaws. Brian wonders if we should define and specify what we do or specify that we follow an established process. Rosemary would like us to define what we do too. Others agree.

 

D R of O has motions, same as RR, and they need to be seconded. There are amendments on motions, you can also postpone them, change to voting procedures, and point of order. That’s similar to RR. It’s just easier to figure out. Calling for a vote, members or chair can ask for a vote. John wonders if members must vote to vote. Point of order can delay the vote, force a vote, and both require a motion and a vote on the motion. This is more democratic because it allows the membership to decide if there is a vote.

 

In DR of O, everyone has a right to speak. Chair needs to wait to vote until everyone speaks, there can be a time limit on debate, but the chair must feel like everyone’s thoughts are represented. You can remind a decision, reconsider a motion, and you need minutes. J

 

Brian asks how this would have helped us last year.

 

John thinks there were a few people who lorded their understanding of RR over others to get their way. DR of O is easier. Brian wonders if we’re just replacing it with the same.

 

John isn’t sure, but if there is a point of order. If say, Brian, isn’t sticking to the topic, point of order could be used. Someone could then make a motion to rescind that order, and if someone seconds it, then Brian is allowed to talk again. Leslie says that last year, it was harder to uphold those rules and only JB knew them. Now the chair could have a copy of the DR of O to check while the debate is happening. Sally says this democratizes the rules by making them more accessible.

 

Michelle wants to know if the parliamentarian is called the chair, is it the immediate past president?

 

Yes. Everyone agrees that that should be changed. It could be instead, “in absence, the presiding officer.”

 

Sally says that it used to be the first, second, third VP, but now officers have different titles. We should figure out that order of operations.

 

Brooke and Rosemary think it could say “whoever the president designates.”

 

John says this is just about running a normal meeting. The Chair is basically the person who tells you to be quiet during a meeting.

 

Brooke thinks we need something about in the absence of a chair or unwillingness to be chair, we should designate past presidents.

 

There is general confusion over who the chair is and what that means.

 

Leslie suggests that where “presiding officer is” put “whatever officer is defined by the bylaws.”

 

It is clarified that the Chair is the presiding officer, so in this meeting, that would be John. A hierarchy is listed in the bylaws.

 

Last time we did this, we had JB as the parliamentarian, so Leslie had to study RR, so she could be ready to step in also.

 

It’s decided that to avoid confusion, we will keep the Parliamentarian language. We’re also removing the parenthesis around who steps up in case the presiding officer isn’t available.

 

Again, there is confusion about this role. Rosemary explains that the parliamentarian is not the person presiding over the meeting. They are there to settle disputes. If there is no chair, then you just have the presiding officer in charge. So right now, the immediate past president serves in that role, unless designated otherwise.

 

Next, John will submit these changes to the chair of the bylaw committee. Did Rosemary just volunteer to be the chair of that committee? Yes, she says. Leslie confirms that the president can appoint this role, so Rosemary is now officially the Chair of the Bylaw Committee. LeAnn had been asked, but now she’ll be asked to join Rosemary.

 

John will skip the articles of incorporation and let John R deal with that. We may have to go over those later, but we can do that by email.

 

John asks if anyone really needs the constitution, but if we capture the important things in the bylaws, is that okay?

 

Yes, but Brooke confirms that some things need to be moved over to the bylaws.

 

In the constitution, John will ask John R about section A.

 

Regarding section B, John would like to add this, our purpose, to the bylaws. It is our mission statement.

 

Article 3 about the advisory council--this will go into the bylaws.

 

Officers: this section will go in the bylaws. John suggests we remove Sec. B about the Officers duties, because it’s covered by the three legal duties John R discussed.

 

Leslie suggests we add a line that clarifies the Board of Advisors acts like a Board of Directors.

 

Sec C is already in the bylaws.

 

Amendments to the bylaws can be removed.

 

Registered agent needs to be updated.

 

Article IX: do we keep the part about the workshop being perpetual? John will ask John R.

 

Michelle asks if the registered agent needs to change. Leslie says that we did decide how this works, and that it would be in a separate doc.

 

Capital stock, John R suggests we delete this, because we are a nonprofit. This is irrelevant.

Getting into the bylaws, John will fix the DR of O like we discussed.

 

Advisory Council: we’ll move the stuff in the constitution here. Should we just keep the title as Board of Directors? To be less confusing?

 

Sally is concerned that this will get confused with the officers. Rosemary feels they are different. John says that the only director left is the director of the con, and that will be changed to Conference Chair.

 

Rosemary says that in the historical docs, there was a lot of title switching, and these titles do need to be clear to people ten years down the road. It might be better to just call them Board of Directors. Officers are the officers.

 

Michelle asks why we have so many officers?

 

John says that we could downgrade some of them to committees.

 

Under Brooke’s leadership, we assigned tasks to certain people. Sally clarifies that the titles are just a way of dividing up responsibilities.

 

John says that maybe having the board will reduce the number of officers needed. Does infrastructure need to be an officer? Maybe not?

 

For clarity, Rosemary suggests we continue to call the officers the officers. They do day-to-day, and we use that language consistently through the doc.

 

Brooke says that officers may set up committees to complete things that need doing.

 

There are five advisors and eight (some say there are nine) officers.

 

Steve considers the changes we made to the officers: we gave them defined duties. If we give directors five-year terms without clear roles, that could be concerning. Steve likes the idea of them being strategic advisors. They are our best, and they can think about our long-term goals. That is why we chose that name; it does give a message. The advisors name clarifies their role.

 

Leslie wonders if the advisory board should have the power to remove a rogue officer? She thinks so. That could be defined in their role. We maybe need to clearly define the oversight.

 

John asks if we can wait to talk about the board until we go through the bylaws first. Then we can come back and dig into the details.

 

Everyone agrees.

 

Going through the officers, John lists all the roles. There are eight. We need to rename the director of the convention. John proposes Conference Chair.

 

Also, John R suggested we put something in that says the immediate past president does not count toward a quorum. Everyone agrees that makes sense.

 

John R suggests that we should maybe change the rule that says all five advisors must be present at a meeting for a quorum. We agree to change this to 4 out of 5.

 

Michelle suggests we change this to a fraction, such as two-thirds. That way if we change the number of advisors, that doesn’t need to be changed.

 

Rosemary points out that it’s easier to get five people together than more.

 

John says that sometimes things do happen (death in the family) that might make a member of the advisory council not present.

 

We decide to change it to four out of five (not majority, because that would only be three.)

 

John B will ask John R why “simple majority” isn’t good wording.

 

John R says we don’t need Article V section A because it’s self-evident. Everyone agrees this can be removed.

 

As for sec B, about officer elections, we should remove “at large”. Con Chair is defined as an officer “at large.” Technically, this means that that officer does not have responsibilities, which is not true.

 

In the section about membership, we need to define the membership class, and how you are eligible for it. John B feels it’s already clear.

 

Leslie feels that the classes of members could be in a standard operating procedures (SOP) document rather than the bylaws. There really is only one class.

 

We look at the different classes. A non-voting member is someone in the grace period to pay their dues.

 

John wonders if we should add something in saying voting members must be members for at least three months. People like this.

 

We discuss getting rid of the non-voting member title, and instead add it into the rules about who can vote. I like this idea. It’s really voting guidelines—not a membership issue.

 

Brooke says we haven’t been great about checking that the people voting can actually vote. She wonders how we can make sure that voters are eligible to vote.

 

Steve asks if we move this into procedures, will it be easier to mess with in the future? Rosemary wants to keep it where it is, just don’t call it a “non-voting member.”

 

Brian is unsure why we need to change this.

 

Rosemary clarifies that we don’t want an extra type of member, when it will be covered by voting rules. A sentence that defines who is allowed to vote, will cover who is not allowed to vote.

 

Leslie suggests adding “people who have not met these clarifications cannot vote.”

 

Rosemary suggests we keep the non-voting member, we shorten it to say they are just like a member, they can’t vote, and here’s why.

 

Brian wants to know why we have to delete it.

 

Everyone says to simplify it. Brian is still confused.

 

Rosemary says currently, we are just saying the same thing twice. It’s redundant.

 

Colin says yes, there is one membership class.

 

Rosemary wants voting criteria clearly stated. Others say that the voting criteria should be in the election section.

 

There used to be a requirement to make sure that voters came to three of the last business meetings, but it was removed because it was complicated.

 

John says, how about voting member and non-voting member instead be Active Member, and then the election requirements will go elsewhere.

 

What about honorary members, lifetime etc? I ask. Should these be listed as subclasses of member? Others say yes.

 

Rosemary defines that honorary members are people like booksellers, but they don’t vote. That is a different class of member.

 

John B and Brooke would like to clarify why we need to change member types at all.

 

Brian is concerned we’re winging this.

 

Michelle wonders if a few people could look at this.

 

John B says the goal today is to fix everything that’s wrong with the bylaws according to John R.

 

This section will get an asterisk for today.

 

Leslie thinks that the main issue is that all members’ roles need to be clear.

 

Next section, John says that John R suggests we give written notice for important meetings. John B feels that this makes it difficult for people to meet. Leslie thinks we should follow John R’s suggestion here. Helen agrees and thinks that it would prevent little cliques from happening. Leslie feels that it probably needs to happen using officer emails. John B wonders if there should be a time limit. Brooke feels this would be too restrictive. Brooke wonders if this should be in the bylaws or an SOP? Brian worries that if we have this, then meetings might be void if the written notice doesn’t happen. John says that the meeting will have happened, they will have simply happened incorrectly.

 

Brooke feels a written notice is fine, but there shouldn’t be a time limit.

 

John will clarify with John R and ask for suggested wording. Brooke thinks we should strike the written notice. No decision seems to be made here.

 

We have to add a 60-day limit on reporting expenses to the Treasurer—it’s the law.

 

John R suggests we remove section G. We shouldn’t give money to anyone in the workshop without a defined process. John B thinks we should cut it, but we can also throw it back to the board and ask if we want to offer scholarships, and if so, how we would do that.

 

John R says the statement of ethics should not officially be part of the bylaws. But Brooke wonders if it can at least live in the same PDF so it doesn’t get lost. Rosemary would like one PDF containing all our corporate docs.

 

David would like them to be separate PDFs and keep them all in one spot. Leslie thinks they could live in the same spot on the website as three links. One doc is simple.

 

David says it’s fine, but he doesn’t love it. The pagination should also reflect the version/date of the docs.

 

John says we are at the end of what he wanted to discuss today! Yay! We’ll hold off on the Certificate of Formation until we figure out the Board of Directors. Rosemary says that the advisory council will be seen legally as the Board of Directors.

 

Colin moves that we call the Board of Advisors the Board of Directors. Brooke seconds this. There is some discussion about this again.

 

Rosemary likes the Board of Advisors or Board of Directors, and Officers as language we use. (Best Friends Club? Alex suggests.)

 

John asks if anyone opposes calling the Board of Advisors the Board of Directors? No one does. So John will tell John R to use that language, but we will still define what their roles are.

 

We will also get rid of Robert’s Rules. Everyone is delighted about this. John will submit those changes to Rosemary and then figure out next steps. John will go through the bylaws with what we agreed on and discuss any issues with John R, then he will contact everyone.

 

Then we have to figure out the Board of Directors.

 

John feels we need another meeting like this—might not take three hours though? Many people laugh. Helen thinks this meeting should cover how we appoint the board and remove them, their duties, and the limits of their authority.

 

John says that in this upcoming meeting, we will also discuss membership oversight of the board, and remove trustee language (already gone). The issue we may have is defining the board’s responsibilities and generally figuring out what they are. Think about it, and maybe we can meet toward the end of May. Maybe in June? Everyone agrees that June is best.

Brian feels that in this past year, we’ve operated really well. Meeting in person has helped. We’ve had more readers now than before. IHOP is picking up. Rosemary is moving back and jokingly offers her place.

 

Meeting adjourned: 3:57

 

 

04/26/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Number of Members Attending: 31

 

Meeting Called to Order: 7:00 pm

 

Guests:

 

Ioni – Non-fiction/memoir. Joined in 2020. Matt Craig was her ambassador. Attended through Zoom. Decided to attend in person.

 

New Members:

 

Diana Cullum – Young Adult/Supernatural

Todd Warren - Fiction

 

Book Reviews:

 

John Bartell

 

Rejections:

 

None

 

Submissions:

 

Matthew Rollins – Submitted to Straight Theory

 

Lauren – Submitted book to Texas Book Festival

 

Shawn Warner – Submitted to Park and Fine Agents and Page Street Publishing. Voyage YA contest WIP

 

John Bartell – Submitted The Accidental to an agent

 

Acceptances:

 

None

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell

Sunday

Working group session on by-laws. Open to members in good standing. Open 1-3

 

Lauren Danhoff – Advanced reader copy of It’s Not a Cult. Comes out in August. See if anyone wants to complete book review. If you pre-order from Barnes and Nobles you get 25% off.

 

Helen Dent – Get well card for BJ Sloan to sign. She broke her arm and she’s having surgery tomorrow.

 

Brooke Fossey

Conference – October 7-8. Members get $150 off and VIP mixer with agents. Remember to register. If you’re attending, there are volunteer opportunities on the board.

 

Brian Tracy – Return of the DFW Writers Workshop blog. If you have a personal blog and want your work re-published, talk with Brian.

 

Susan Stewart – Thank you for the card/flowers. Thank you for the volunteers that helped clean the library.

 

Carolyn Rae – Don’t take the Chicago book from the give away books.

 

Harry Hall – Upcoming speech at Allen Public Library, May 4^th, for book ‘The Pedestriennes’

 

Sally Hamilton – Tentative Spring/Summer Writers Block for a speaker attend and teach on a craft class. Open to public as well. Part of the DFWWW outreach. Amber Roiter – local writer of sci-fi/fantasy. Teaching archetypes. Irving public library south branch 6/3/23 at 11 am and then pie (across the street).

 

Meeting adjourned:   7:28 pm

 

 

 

04/12/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Members Attending: 39

 

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:01

 

Guests: 3

 

• Diana: writes YA, heard about us from Helen.
• Denise: writes mysteries, found out about us at the conference. Lives in Houston but is in town for her daughter’s wedding, so she thought she’d stop by.
• Gabriel: writes crime fiction and horror. Found us on Facebook.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections: 1

 

• Candice Watson: submitted a chapter, and although it was ultimately not selected, she was given positive feedback.

 

Submissions: 2

 

• Lauren: submitted her fantasy to Deidre Knight.
• Carolyn Rae: submitted her article on how to write more and faster to the Romance Writer’s Association.

 

Acceptances: 2

 

• Brooke Fossey: signed her contract yesterday for the Finnish edition of her novel.
• Sarah Mensinga: sent her first round of art of her graphic novel to her editor, and it went over well.

 

 

Announcements:

 

Carolyn Rae: Has her copies of Searching for Justice, and will be selling them at the Haltom City Library from 11-4 on Sat.

 

Becca Seifert: Reminds everyone that we’re selling the current bookshelves in the library. If you are interested or know of someone who may be interested, please check out the link sent out by John.

 

Allen Crowley: On Thurs, May 4^th, Harry Hall will have his presentation about his book. Details will be on the bulletin board.

 

Darryl McGinnis: Wants to let everyone know how helpful Russell Conner was while self-publishing his book. He highly recommends Russell’s help. Darryl has his new book here, too, for those who would like to look at it.

 

Russell Conner: Has several copies of his novella collection, Some Say Fire, here if anyone is interested in purchasing them.

 

Brooke Fossey: If you’ve bought tickets to the con, awesome! Please check out the volunteer opportunities. If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, please check it out. There are lots of perks for members: you can meet agents and editors, and there’s a special cocktail hour. You also get fed lunch and snacks! Members pay $150 less than the full ticket price. Member cost is $299. Blaire says to go to the registration at the top, or even better, the workshop webpage where it says, “buy tickets”, then look for “Are you a member?”

 

Meeting adjourned. 7:09