01/02/2025 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

Officer’s meeting start:

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Rebecca Seifert

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Attendance: 39

Officer’s absent: 

Secretary: Karoline Chapman

Treasurer: BJ Sloan

2024 Conference Chair: Brian Tracey

Meeting start: 7:03 PM

Visitors: 

Anne - Suspense. Found out online.

Carl - Career Art Director. Work with Logan. Children’s picture books.

New members: 

Chad - Joined right before Thanksgiving. Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Also writes business.

Book Reviews:

N/A

Rejections: 

John Bartell - rejected for submissions.

Submissions: 

Ron Soule - submitted Magic Go Kart book to agents.

Acceptances:

N/A

Announcements:

Rebecca Seifert - Local Author Fest at Grapevine Public Library Saturday, 2/1 in the afternoon.

Allen - Zoom meet up for writing accountability online.

Eric Dixon - Monitor timer online should be fixed to include sounds. 

Michelle O’Neal - January 25th at 2 interviewed at the eastside library. 

John Bartell - link on the website where you can submit info for the monthly newsletter for writer events. 

Madelyn - Podcast launching on Monday called the book room about writing 

Sally - Next week will be the business meeting and reviewed the rules surrounding read room etiquette/monitoring

Meeting adjourned: 7:22 PM

01/08/2025 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officer Meeting Minutes

Officer’s meeting start: 6:11 pm

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Rebecca Seifert

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: Karoline Chapman

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Discussion Points:

Sally Hamilton (President):

• NationBuilder Admin Changes: Brooke is receiving emails and phone calls for every sign-up. Admin updates needed.
• Presentation on January 29th: Sally will give a presentation on how "Read and Critique" is conducted. Shared contents with officers for review.
• Room Rentals:
  • Suggests switching to quarterly contract with Grapevine Convention Center.
  • Cost for an additional room in Q1: $6,500 for two extra rooms, varying by availability.
  • Negotiation attempts for cost reductions in the case of unused rooms were declined.
  • Investment account can cover the added expense.
  • Trial of extra rooms planned for Q1; evaluation based on membership needs.
  • March 26 meeting will be held in the library.

Rebecca Seifert (VP of Events and Programs):

• Local Author Book Event:
  • Discussed budget and itinerary.
  • Proposed ordering branded cookies ($50/dozen) and bakery cookies from Costco to supplement.
  • Stamps for $60.
  • Plans to coordinate with Library Director for book displays.
  • Costco cookies to be scouted by Karoline.
  • Reviewing press release drafts, Harry Hall shared contacts for distribution.
  • Author headshots and bios will be displayed during the event.

Lauren Danhof (VP of Membership):

• Membership Update: 187 members, up by 5 from last month.
• Room Setup: Smaller groups in additional rooms tonight.
• Volunteer Monitors: Encouraged earlier sign-ups.
• Late Sign-Up Policy: No sign-ups after 7:05 PM.

Lauren Lanza Osias (VP of Digital Media):

• Social Media: Increased views and followers.
• Upcoming Events: Will create events for new dates on the website.
• Website Revamp: Discussion on improvements.

BJ Sloan (Treasurer):

• Financial Report:
  • Workshop Account: Over $33,000
  • Conference Account: Over $45,000
  • CD Account: Over $66,000

Officer Meeting Adjourned: 6:58 PM

Business Meeting Start: 7:18 PM

Treasurer’s Report:

• Total funds: Over $144,000

Announcements:

• Rebecca Seifert: Next Writer’s Block on February 1 at the library. Event will include readings and treats.
• Lauren Lanza Osias: Social media performance is strong. Members can share events via their account sidebar.
• Sally Hamilton: Presentation on rules planned for January 29. Temporary trial of extra room rentals this quarter. Encouraged more monitors and critique participants.

Elections:

• President and Treasurer ran uncontested.
• BJ Sloan was reinstated as Treasurer.
• Matthew Rollins for VP of Events, John Brown for Secretary, and Sally Hamilton for President were elected unanimously.

Membership Report (Lauren Danhof):

• Membership count: 187
• Late sign-up cut-off: 7:05 PM (except business meeting nights).

Community Outreach (Jenny Martin):

• Nothing new to report.

Regular Meeting Start: 7:27 PM

Visitors:

• Jim Koch: Writes fiction; met Sally at a writer’s event.

New Members:

• Brent: Writes fiction; attended last week.

Rejections:

• Ron Soule: Rejected by agent Michaela Whatnall.
• Mark Dye: Rejected by two agents.
• Claire: Rejected by Michaela Whatnall.

Submissions:

• John Bartell: Submitted two poems to journals; submitted "The Elevator Book" to an agent.
• Travis Hightower: Resubmitted his book.
• Ron Soule: Submitted a middle-grade manuscript to another agent.

Acceptances:

• John Bartell: Poem accepted for publication in March issue of a journal.
• David Jones: Won 1st place in the science fiction category of a Writer’s Digest contest (May/June issue).

Book Reviews:

• David Jones: Reviewed The Burning Tree by Helen Dent.
• Christopher Schleiker: Reviewed The Burning Tree and The Forgotten Son.

Additional Announcements:

• Jenny Martin: Hosting voice-writing workshops at Fort Worth Library.
• BJ Sloan: Taking payments for nametags.
• Harry Hall: Guesting on Road Dog Trucking Show this week.

Sally Hamilton:

• Meetings will be held weekly this month, except January 29 (library).
• Reminder to ensure accurate page counts.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:39 PM

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Regular Meeting Start: 7:04 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~55

Visitors:

• ???. Writing a screenplay about being the military, found us through Alan.
• Nikil, exploring writing as a passion, owns a substack newsletter, found us through Google.
• Lauren, English major at Cornell, found us through Google.
• Matt Turiello, work in business, wrote a first draft of a novel, is already a member, found us through Lauren Lanza Osias.
• Madison, heard of us from a friend, is writing every chance she gets.

New Members:

• Jim Barrow, old member, does fiction and poetry.

Rejections:

• Ron Sole, got rejected on his MG manuscript.
• John Bartell, poems rejected.

Submissions:

• John Bartell submitted (was rejected).
• Ron Sole submitted to more agents.
• John Brown submitted to Cameron McClure and Matt Bialer.
• Travis submitted to Kurst Dragonship publishing.

Acceptances:

• No one spoke up.

Book Reviews:

• Steve Manning reviewed Tick Hill 1348 by Pam Taylor.
• John Bartell reviewed Leave No Trace by ???.
• Candace Watson reviewed The Favorites by ???.

Additional Announcements:

• Rebecca Cipher announced that on February 1st, the local author event at the Grapevine Public Library will be held at 1 PM.
• Kait Zimmerman announced that Joe Zimmerman finished his first novel at 81k words.
• Helen Dent brought up The Burning Tree to be stamped. Congrats Helen!
• Steve announced that his collection of BNSF calendars was now available. 
• Matt Rollins announced that on February 12th,there will be the Sweetheart reads event. There will also be a potluck.
• Brian Tracey announced that on Tuesday January 28th, from 6 PM - 7 PM, he will be playing a musical gig at Chicago Avenue Hot Dogs. His performance will be on the front end of open mic night. 
• Krista Carroll has a book signing event in Pantego Books, and it will be at noon.

Sally Hamilton:

• Sally explained how the Private Collection for DFWWW works. 
• Eric would like us all to know that under the writer resources tab on the DFWWW website, there is a read timer app for Android only currently.
• There are 36 readers tonight. There are enough rooms. 
• We can currently accommodate up to 42 readers due to new rooms being rented, but the extra rooms cost more, so it’s not entirely certain we will keep the new rooms.
• For the board, every year one person steps on, one steps off. They decide things like finances for new rooms. Collin Holmes is stepping down. Rosemary Clemens has been nominated to step onto the board.
• Lauren Prime announced the room rosters.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:26

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Regular Meeting Start: 7:02 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~50

Visitors:

• Gae Kaiser who writes cozy mysteries
• Bobbie who writes fiction and agricultural innovation and business
• ??? old advertising writer and is writing a crime novel
• Danielle, is looking to write romance

New Members:

• Ann Wilson, is working on a suspense novel

Rejections:

• John Brown had Hunting Sirocco rejected by Ron Eckel

Submissions:

• John bartell, submitted elevator book to an agent, and a poem to a journal
• Ron Sole submitted his middle grade book to an agent

Acceptances:

• Lauren Danhoff, her agent gave her a thumbs up on her cryptid book

Book Reviews:

• Lauren Lanza Osias, read and reviewed A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez
• Michelle O’ Neal, read and reviewed Beyond the Abyss by Brendan O’ Quinn
• Catherine Olsen, reviewed A Royal Decoy
• Brian Tracey reviewed The Professor

Additional Announcements:

• Rebecca is two weeks from the local author fest where the DFWWW written books are going to be submitted to the Grapevine Public Library on February 1st and 1 PM. There will be snacks and stuff.
• Michelle O’ Neal will be interviewed at the east side Fort Worth Public Library at 1 PM.
• Brian Tracey, next tuesday from 6 - 7 PM he will be playing a gig for an hour at Chicago Avenue Hot Dogs. 
• Lauren Danhoff found her badge. Also less important announcement is that if anyone wants one, they’re 12 dollars from BJ Sloan.
• Matt Rollins says that February 12th will be our Sweetheart reads and potluck and will have a special room for romance related stories.
• Also, he says that if anyone has any ideas for other events, to come talk to him and set things up.
• We need 5 monitors

Sally Hamilton:

• Announced that Ballas and Williamson rooms were named that because of our founding members names

Meeting Adjourned: 7:21

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Regular Meeting Start: 7:01

Number of members in attendance: ~45

Visitors:

• Kevin Underhill, writes horror/supernatural/sci-fi, and was recommended this place by Collin College
• Nishan Landry, very new to the writing game and is getting ready to publish. Heard of us through a friend of hers whose husband (Christopher) is one of our members.
• AJ, writes sci-fi and literary fiction.

New Members:

• Gay Kaiser, is putting her 11th book on Amazon on Valentine’s day. She showed her book cover. Is self-publishing it.
• Jim Koh, writes fiction and short stories with elements of horror and weirdness to it.

Rejections:

• Ron Sole, three rejections for his Middle Grade novel.
• Drew got a rejection, but the agent said if he has any other manuscripts to send it to them
• Jim Koh got rejected by a journal
• Melvina’s script she submitted to the Dallas Film Festival got rejected.
• Stanislav’s short story got rejected by the Colorado Review.

Submissions:

• A. Lee Martinez’s agent Ron liked his story and submitted it to his editor
• Ron Sole submitted his Middle Grade to two more agents.

Acceptances:

• A. Lee Martinez, wrote a short story that got accepted by his agent.

Book Reviews:

• ??? did a book for BJ’s Forgotten Sun
• Caroline Olson did a book review on Helen Dent’s book The Burning Tree

Additional Announcements:

• Rebecca announces that this weekend will be the local bookfest where some of our books will be submitted to the library. There will be snacks, readings, and a speech maybe.
• BJ announces has info for the Yall Write contest. She has flyers up at the front for anyone who’s interested in entering.
• Blair has 29 packages of pop rocks for some reason. Can I have one?
• BJ announces that if you want a name badge, they’re great for writer’s conferences and they're available for 12 dollars.

Sally Hamilton:

• Has a presentation on Read & Critique Etiquette. It’s just a quick review on the ins and outs since she’s noticed the etiquette slipping a little.
• Please sign up for an accurate amount of time and with an accurate page count, otherwise it throws the timing off for break time.
• You will still get a full 15 minutes even if you didn’t sign up for a full-length 15-minute read.
• The computer will put the longest reads first. If you sign up for 10 pages and 15 full minutes, you will more likely than not be reading first and thus end up hearing the same readers. So try to mix it up every now and then to avoid that if possible.
• 250 words is approximately one page for reference.
• Make sure to stop at a satisfying place to get best results. The 15-minute timer is not a challenge. 
• Don’t try to read faster to compensate for a long reading. Remember, we are not just here to hear you read. You need to leave time for critique as well.
• Also make sure to speak loudly and with a clear voice so that the critique circle can actually hear your reading.
• For critique, please wait to be called on by the monitor.
• You are not required to critique if you have nothing to add. At the same time, you’re not required to take the full minute to give your critique. Get in, get out, be succinct, and leave others time to give their own critique. 
• Readers are not allowed to speak during their critiques EXCEPT for when others in the room ask clarifying questions.
• Read time starts the moment the reader starts talking. This includes preamble/context giving for the chapter before the actual chapter is read.
• Monitors are responsible for making sure read rooms get to break time and get out on time.
• The brochure for this presentation is on the DFWWW official website under “member resources.”
• We need 5 monitors.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:25

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell

Business Meeting Called to Order: 6:15 PM

Officers Absent: Matthew Rollins, Lauren Lanza-Osias

BJ Sloan gave the treasurer's report:

• Workshop Account: $25,582.32
• DFWCon Account: $45,003.12
• Money Market Interest: $576.31
• Money Marketing Account: $64,610.51
• Total: $135,195.95 as of January 2025

Jenny Martin: We’ve had two inquires. 

• Inquiry One: Mark wanted to offer free editing services. Offer ignored. 
• Inquiry Two: Austin Film Festival. They have a script competition for unknowns and wanted to offer us a special discount for submissions from DFWWW members.

Lauren Danhof: We have 187 members. Same number as last month.

John Bartell: Because we have so many new members, there’s a bit of concern over reads being recorded. 

Matthew Rollins: Couldn’t make it to the meeting, but asked for ideas for events, especially around the Spring Writer’s Block. Ideas were thrown around for writers that could be invited to the event. Ideas include:

• April Fools Reads: Cold reading pages from other people’s works without prep time.
• Sprint Saturday: Find a regular time at the library once a month to organize long sprints for a few hours at a time. Basically the write-together event we have online now, but in-person.
• Local Author Crawl: Book signing event for authors for a venue that can handle 20-30 (traditionally published) authors. Flagship half-price books in Dallas was named as a candidate location.
• Local Author Read & Sign-a-thon: a local author read-a-thon/open mic night for flash-fiction and poetry (must be a short read for timing’s sake). Klyde Warren park is suggested as a location. Some sort of pub or coffee shop is also suggested.
• Festival of Vendor Tables: booking a table at a large fan event such as Comicon. Vendor tables would need to be purchased ahead of time, however. Hotel rental and round-the-clock table manning would also be required. A-Con and Texas Library Association were mentioned.

Sally Hamilton Candace suggested that for the month of February, the rooms are temporarily renamed to black authors. For March, women’s history month where we would do the same thing but with famous women authors.

Business meeting adjourned: 6:51 PM

Regular Meeting Start: 7:07 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~45

Visitors:

• Orange shirt (Mark Hendricks) has always been a writer since Jimmy Carter was in office. Doesn’t want to write articles anymore. Wants to hangout with some writers.
• David, just started writing last year because his neighbor Jayce brought him here. Writes a short story that turned into a novel project. 
• Anthony, is writing a project in Russian Lit. Is also a lawyer.
• Kaitlyn, Anthony’s partner, is a doctor not a writer and showed up as Anthony’s support person.

New Members:

• ??? Is doing speculative fiction.
• Tom, was here a couple weeks ago checking it out. Decided to join.

Rejections:

• Kathleen, was rejected for Awakened by Kiki at Donald Maass
• Jayce was also rejected by Kiki at Donald Maass
• Pam’s Secession novel was rejected by a historic novel organization 

Submissions:

• Mark Dye, submitted his children’s book to Jackie Kruzie
• John Bartell submitted his elevator book to an agent. Doesn’t remember which one
• Kate Cornell, wrote a pilot episode for a comedy and submitted it to a comedian
• Ron Sole submitted to an agent for his MG
• Collin Holmes, submitted Aftermath to Terri Wolf
• Kristopher submitted short stories to the Harvard Review because he “doesn’t want to get rejected by just anyone”
• Kurt Holmgren submitted chapters to several agent
• Kristi Carroll submitted her office romance book to an agent

Acceptances:

• Larry Enman’s publisher advised that his two books' audio rights could be sold later this year.

Book Reviews:

• ??? read Helen Dent’s The Burning Tree

Additional Announcements:

• BJ had a book signing at the Talking Animal books on March 8th, 2-4 PM for her book Forgotten Sun.
• Also, for any new members, she is still offering name badges for $12 each.
• Kristi Carroll is releasing her book Magic Bound at the end of the month. Also February 15th at Pantego Books in Arlington she will be having a signing event for Magic Bound
• Brian Tracey, thanks for those who showed up to the Chicago Avenue Hot Dogs gig. Also, anyone who is on preorder for his book Picking Up The Pieces, now is the time because of a Barnes & Noble event, it’s currently 25% off.
• Lauren Danhof is selling girl scout cookies.

Sally Hamilton:

• Recapped the notes from the business meeting to the general member gathering
• Also had Lauren Danhof hand out name tags for members who purchased them.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:26

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton (On Vacation)

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Regular Meeting Start: 7:03

Number of members in attendance: ~50

Visitors:

• Elaine Antony, found out about us from the web, is writing a women's fiction book
• Tom, doesn't really write and is just here to listen
• David, not a writer, heard about us from a friend.
• Jen, heard about us from Reddit, writes short stories

New Members:

• Renae, is a returning member

Rejections:

• George, got a rejection from Jackie Kurscie
• John Bartell got a rejection from Ron Eckel for his elevator book
• Ron Sole got 3 rejections
• Kristofer, got a rejection from a flash fiction magazine for a short story

Submissions:

• John Bartell submitted to another agent
• Ron Sole submitted to 2 more agents
• Jessie Hikeman, submitted a poem to a contest

Acceptances:

• Kristofer got a rejection from beyond words magazine, but they asked him if he had anything else, especially something centering around the theme of regret. Kristofer submitted a new piece, and it was accepted for the magazine’s regret themed anthology.

Book Reviews:

• Travis Hightower did a book review for The Forgotten Sun by BJ Sloan
• Earl McGuiness did a book review for The Forgotten Sun as well
• Catherine Olson did  a book review for The Princess Academy, as well as Midnight Hour, both of which are middle grade books.

Additional Announcements:

• Lauren announces that if you want a name badge, they’re great for writer’s conferences and they're available for 14 dollars now. Inflation hitting hard :( 
• Caroline says the Hulton City Library is having a romance authors (though all genres welcome) event on April 26th, from 11AM  - 4PM.
• She also wants to know who’s a good tax person for a writer
• Katie Burnett has an update on DFWCON. Registration is going live on Friday. Membership early bird pricing is available on the DFWWW official website.
• Kristi Carol has a book signing in Pantego Books for Magic Bound at 12 PM.
• BJ Sloan has a book signing March 8th at Talking Animal Books from 2 - 4 on a Saturday
• LeAnn Robinson has her birthday today. Happy birthday LeAnn!
• Matt Rollins has 2 copies of Steelwing for review
• Madness Games and Comics in Plano is open for any DFWWW writer events. A fantasy/sci-fi table could work for that.
• If anyone has suggestions for future events, talk to Matt
• Lauren Danhof says that we will be meeting at the Convention Center next week, but the library the week after that
• She also reminds people to clean up after themselves.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:25

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Regular Meeting Start: 7:02

Number of members in attendance: ~55

Visitors:

• Joanne, writes children's fiction, and found us on Google
• Collin Rankin, is writing a biography, found us through Google
• Greg, found us through Alan
• Angeline, found us through Google, writes YA
• Nat, found us through DuckDuckGo, writes poems and short stories

New Members:

• N/A

Rejections:

• Lauren Danhof, Alcove passed on her work, she will move to general submissions
• Stanislav had his work rejected by Georgia Review and Analog Magazine
• Mark Dye had five submissions unanswered
• Madeline, an agent rejected her YA fantasy but wants her to resubmit after moving agencies
• Ron Sole had two rejections on his YA novel.

Submissions:

• John Bartell submitted his elevator book to an agent today
• Stanislav submitted his short story to Analog Magazine (different story)
• ??? Submitted all the art for her comic on Monday (Kindred Dragons, which will be out Oct. 14)
• Mark Dye submitted his children’s book to nine agents
• Ron Sole submitted his YA to four more agents
• Travis submitted his adult sci-fi to Avias Literary.

Acceptances:

• Mark Dye got a phone call from New York (Jennifer Welch) and had some thoughts about his book. She said to revise and resubmit.

Book Reviews:

• Mark Dye a collection of short stories by ???
• BJ reviewed Matt Rollins’s Steelwing: Friend or Foe
• ??? read and reviewed Forgotten Sun by BJ Sloane
• Alan did a review of ??? by Helen Dent

Additional Announcements:

• BJ says she has a book signing March 8th at the Talking Animals book store. It’s on Saturday from 2-4 PM. And possibly margaritas after the event.
• John Bartell says on March 29th, the second annual Quicksilver poetry event will happen here in the Grapevine Public Library. Shakespeare in Dallas will also be there.
• Harry Hall says March 8-9 and 15-16 will be the grand opening of the Larry Murtry Literary Center. On 15-16, Glenn Stout will be leading a 3-day session of writing nonfiction book proposals.
• Shawn Warner says March 1st will be the North Texas Teen Bookfest at the Irving Convention Center.
• Our next meeting in the Grapevine Library will be August 10th.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:25

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Business Meeting Called to Order: 6:13 PM

Officers Absent: N/A

BJ Sloan gave the treasurer's report:

• Workshop Account: $26,558.44
• DFWCon Account: $49,810.40
• Money Market Interest: $576.31
• Money Marketing Account: $64,510.51
• Total: $140,979.35 as of February 2025

Jenny Martin: We’ve had four iniquires. 

• Inquiry One: We have flyers for the Austin Film Festival.
• Inquiry Two: American University of Paris Summer Creative Writing Institute reached out to us.
• Inquiry Three: Google form for the speaker’s bureau update, and it will be sent to folks who want to be added or need to update for the speaker’s bureau.
• Inquiry Four: We’ve not heard from anyone for the Writer’s Block event besides one person from a theater workshop. Business meeting went into a discussion as to who should be considered for it.

Matt Rollins: Would like to talk with the big Half Price Books in Dallas for organizing a writer/author signing crawl. Basically a big event for authors who are published/publishing to gather. The issue of giving enough time for traditionally published authors to get books for signing was brought up. Aiming for a 90-day warning time was suggested as a solution.

Also a silly reads room for April Fools (April 2nd) was brought up. However the previous April Fools idea of a reading trade would conflict with this, and the reading trade idea was selected instead. However the note of “don’t make a special silly read for the event, just bring a normal read and the reader will be swapped” was also discussed.

Sprint Saturdays also came up. As well as an outdoor sign-a-thon. Though the sign-a-thon would require at least 10 signups ahead of time to get the ball rolling on that.

John Bartell: Mentioned that Matt Rollins still needs access to NationBuilder for admin reasons.

Jenny Martin: Reminder that on March 30th, from 5:30 - 7:30 there will be a one-off Teen Writers Workshop in the Grapevine Public Library. It’s planned to be a writing exercise followed by a read-and-critique.

Lauren Lanza Osias: Might start to look for someone to replace her position due to her busy schedule. Also, we’re averaging net-traffic of 2,000 unique people seeing us per month across our website and various social media platforms.

Sally Hamilton: brought up a concern from a newer member as to where on the DFWWW website is there to ask questions outside of meetings. Currently, no such question form exists. The suggestions of either expanding the DFWWW Discord or putting a form directly on the DFWWW website. 

Also Ian had the idea of DFWWW having a patreon in exchange for releasing short stories written by our writers. This idea was turned down due to the fact that we don’t currently need another income stream.

Lauren Danhof: We have 189 members as of February 2025 (+2 from last month.)

Business meeting adjourned: 6:57 PM

Regular Meeting Start: 7:06 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~45

Visitors:

• N/A

New Members:

• David Jayce, signed up last week, writes YA currently. 
• Desree Luna, David’s wife, doesn’t write and is here to support her husband.
• Matt, who writes short stories and poems, was visiting last week.
• Mark, longtime journalist who pays for membership here month by month and he writes nonfiction.

Rejections:

• Mark Dye got his children's book by Jackie Kruze.
• John Brown got rejected by Cameron McClure
• Ron Sole got rejected on his middle grade novel

Submissions:

• Carolyn submitted her thriller novel Double Jeopardy
• Laura Lanza Osias had her book put on submission
• John Bartell submitted his elevator book to another agent
• Ron Sole submitted his MG novel to 5 more agents
• LeAnn Robinson resubmitted her romance novel to Wild Rose Press after heavily editing it.
• John Brown submitted to three more agents

Acceptances:

• Matt submitted one of his poems and it got accepted.

Book Reviews:

• Rebecca Hudson reviewed Steelwing 1 by Matthew Rollins
• Sandy McKinney read and reviewed BJ Sloan’s The Forgotten Sun
• Larry Enman reviewed The Burning Tree by Helen Dent

Additional Announcements:

• BJ Sloan has a signing for The Forgotten Sun at Monkey and Dog Books coming up on March 8th from 2 - 4 PM.
• Laura Lanza Osias got an email from an organization that is interested in reviewing books written in the DFW area. They don’t want anything childrens or anything too spicy
• Matt Rollins has a copy of Steelwing 2 available for read and review.
• John Bartell says there are two poetry events coming up. Leaves Bakery at 12 PM on March 21st (Friday. Also National Poetry Day.) 
• Also on March 29th, the Quicksilver annual poetry festival. There will be talks, open mic, a workshop or two. That will be all day at the Grapevine Public Library.
• Michelle O’ Neal was invited to speak at a book club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Was also invited to the Bridgeport Library on March 27th to speak there as well.
• Sean says on the 28th, an English author named Jonathon Stroud will be at Blue Willow books in Houston. He is best known for the Lockwood and Co. series. He will be doing book signings there.
• Drew says this Saturday he will be at Vista Ridge Mall where he will be doing a casting event for the anime he’s voice acting.
• Matthew Rollins also reminds that Madness Games & Comics in Plano has a standing invitation for DFWWW to host events there. But it has to be sci-fi/fantasy/speculative related.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:28

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Meeting Start: 7:04 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~35

Visitors:

• Rankin, writes food blogs
• Tula, found us through Google, likes to write modern fiction
• Cheyenne, found us through Google, likes to write fantasy
• Greg Tuly, is writing a script
• Joanne Kilty, is writing children's chapter book, found us through Google

New Members:

• Tula is also a member now

Rejections:

• Kate and Joe Zimmerman sent out five queries. Got two redo and resubmits, and one form rejections.
• John Bartell got rejected by a conference agent
• Ron Sole got 2 rejections on his MG.

Submissions:

• Kate submitted 2 more agent
• John Bartell submitted another
• Ron Sole submitted his novel to 4 more agents

Acceptances:

• N/A

Book Reviews:

• Carolyn reviewed Steelwing 1 by Matt Rollins
• ??? reviewed Forgotten Sun by BJ Sloane
• Ian also reviewed Forgotten Sun by BJ Sloane

Additional Announcements:

• Lauren Lanza Osias announces that early bird pricing ends this Saturday. Members also get a discount. Also, members who sign up early get merch from previous years.
• John Bartell announced March 21st in Fort Worth, Leaves Bakery and Books at 12 PM, there will be a national poetry day event
• March 29th at the Grapevine Public Library will be the Quicksilver Poetry Festival. It will be free.
• BJ Sloane announced name badges.
• Eric announces that the web timer has been updated so that the screen will stay on while the timer is running. It’s been tested with Android, but not cleared yet with iPhone OS. There are instructions on how to download it on the DFWWW website.
• Brent’s birthday is this Sunday. Happy birthday Brent!
• Sally announces that we are trying to push for members to grow the official DFWWW Discord.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:22

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Meeting Start: 7:10 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~35

Visitors:

• Trevor, found out about us online
• Mia Murphy, is writing her first book (thriller), BJ told her about it

New Members:

• Cheyenne joined us after being a visitor last week

Rejections:

• Kristofer Schleicher was rejected by the Georgia Review.
• Ron got one rejection on his MG

Submissions:

• Kate Cornell submitted to some agents
• John Bartell submitted some agents as well
• Lauren Danhof submitted her short story to ???
• Ron submitted to three more agents
• Brian Tracey submitted to his original songs to the Wildflower Music Festival

Acceptances:

• Sean Warner asked Cathy Hendrik Armstrong for coaching. Sean was referred to someone else who offered him representation. Sean Warner is now officially represented.

Book Reviews:

• ??? reviewed Steelwing by Matthew Rollins
• Darrel reviewed Took Hill
• Allen reviewed The Burning Tree by Helen Dent
• John Bartell brought a copy of Sweetest Darkness by Leslie Lutz for review
• Brian Tracey reviewed ???

Additional Announcements:

• BJ Sloane announced that people who bought a DFWCON ticket during the month of march get merch. She announced several names who get complimentary T-shirts.
• Katie Burnett says there's still 1.5 weeks for March Madness promo for DFWCON. If you register before the end of March you will get a complimentary T-shirt as long as supplies last.
• John Bartell says this Friday at noon Leaves Bakery and Books will have an open mic poetry day.
• March 29th at Grapevine Library will be the Quicksilver poetry festival as well.
• Matthew Rollins says April 2nd will be the goofy reads room where writers will swap reads with other writers, so it’ll be randomized as to who reads what. Don’t bring anything too wacky or off-the-wall that would make others uncomfy to read though.
• Steelwing 2 comes out officially in 2 weeks.
• Sarah says her graphic novel is coming out in the fall and has a gold standard writing from the Junior Writer’s guild.
• Allen announced his journal/podcast is now available 
• BJ Sloane announced that name badges are still available for purchase.
• Lauren Danhof announced that tomorrow will be the teen readers workshop for grades 6-12.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:26

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Meeting Start: 7:04 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~45

Visitors:

• Brenda, found out about us while searching for DFWCON, writes thriller novels and short stories.
• Bill, wrote a book on pickleball, a poetry book, and a romance novel. Heard about us through “the Grapevine.” 

New Members:

• Danielle, found out about us through a friend of a friend.

Rejections:

• LeAnn’s romance novel got rejected by Wild Rose Press
• Sean Warner’s short film script got rejected by Dallas Independent Film Festival

Submissions:

• David Jones, submitted his award winning novel to a writer’s digest/contest.
• Kathleen, submitted a short nonfiction piece to two different magazines.
• Michelle O’Neal submitted her novel to the Texas Writers Loop
• Collin submitted his screenplay to the Austin Screenplay Competition

Acceptances:

• Caroline got her final galley for her novel from the Wild Rose Press.
• David Jones sold the audio rights to his novel to ??? company.

Book Reviews:

• Do The Work by David Pressfield was reviewed by Helen Dent
• Jenny reviewed Careless People
• Matthew Rollins reviewed Oxygen Farmer audiobook by Collin Holmes

Additional Announcements:

• Caroline says on April 26th from 11 AM - 4 PM, there will be aa local author event at the Haltom City Library library
• Russell Connor says he has a book deal coming up this Sunday
• John Bartell says this Saturday will be the Quicksilver poetry festival at the Grapevine Library all day.
• Jenny says that the Austin Film Festival has reached out to us and are offering us a 25% discount using the discount code.
• She will also be teaching her favorite voice class at the Fort Worth Public Library (bridge street) on April 24th from 6:30 - 7:30.
• Matthew Rollins says next week will be the goofy reads opportunity where a person can exchange their read with a person at random. (Reminder: don’t bring anything over the top. Unless you’re Ian. And then I dunno, maybe go for it.)
• Also, Steelwing 2 is coming out next Tuesday. There will be an event this Saturday from 2 - 4 PM at Talking Animals books. The event will include a book signing. 
• BJ announces that anyone who purchased DFWCON tickets during March got free T-shirts. Some have yet to be collected. 
• Katie says that if anyone wants to participate in the March free t-shirt run, there’s still a few days where that's available. 
• Sally says that we have an official Discord now. Also Karoline Chapman has been announced as the Discord rep for any DFWCON inquiries. 
• Michelle says that if anyone is around Bridgeport tomorrow, there will be an author’s exhibit tomorrow night that she’s going to speak at.
• BJ announced name badges.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:29

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, David Jayce

Business Meeting Called to Order: 6:06 PM

Officers Absent: None

BJ Sloan gave the treasurer's report:

• Workshop Account: $23,474.54
• DFWCon Account: $70,843.03
• Money Market Account: $64,610.51
• Money Marketing Account Interest: $576.31
• Total: $158,928.08 as of April 2025

Lauren Danhof:

• We have 198 members. Up from 189 in March.
• Discussed an idea for delegating recruitment of future keynote speakers via QR code.

Lauren Lanza-Osias:

• Folks are still increasing follower/sign-up counts for DFWWW social media

Jenny Martin:

• Has created a form that will standardize stuff for the speaker’s bureau. 
• We got contacted by a festival coming up in Bishop Arts District
• Candidates for Writer’s Block speakers were discussed.

Katie B:

• Both keynote speakers for DFWCON have been locked in.
• Also the Friday Special guest has also been locked in.

Matthew Rollins

• Writer’s Block is locked in for June 22nd. Most likely from 2 - 4 PM but that could possibly change.
• A lead candidate for the Writer’s Block speaker has also been determined.
• Half Price Books flagship Dallas store has agreed to do a local author evening with DFWWW. 
• It will be August 16th so that gives us some prep time. It will most likely be cost free for the presenting authors and DFWWW members.
• There may also be a scavenger hunt minigame involved. An email list for this event will be worked on regarding this event beforehand.

David Jayce:

• Has an idea for a new major event to complement a Fall-based DFWCON: he proposed a Spring-based writer’s retreat via a 6-day sailing cruise.
• A cost spreadsheet and itinerary for this event was presented as part of the proposal.
• Basically, there will be writing sessions on the days in tandem with editing sessions with professional editors who would have been notified before the cruise.
• Various details and caveats were brought up and discussed regarding this proposal.
• The Officer’s Board voted unanimously in favor of pursuing next steps regarding this proposal.

Business meeting adjourned: 6:57 PM

Regular Meeting Start: 7:09 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~50

Visitors:

• Trevor, he was here 2 weeks ago, and was looking to write his own TV show.
• Kelly, heard of us via Hailey, has a few ideas for what she wants to write.

New Members:

• N/A

Rejections:

• John Brown had Hunting Sirocco rejected by Kristin Nelson
• Travis Hightower had his work rejected by Scrita (?) management
• Chicago Press rejected Storm’s Coming by ???
• John Bartell got his work rejected by a poetry magazine
• Helen Dent had a bunch of no’s for Iris
• Kate Cornell had some form rejections as well
• Stanislav had his short story rejected by narrative magazine

Submissions:

• Kate/Joe Zimmerman submitted their work
• BJ Sloane submitted Forgotten Son to the Texas Writer’s Awards
• Matthew Rollins submitted Steelwing 2 to the Texas Book Festival
• Krista Carol submitted her book to the Texas Book Festival as well
• ??? submitted her work to Keeler, Nashville
• Kate Cornell submitted her book to some more agents
• Stanislav submitted Retrieval to Future Factor magazine
• Ryan Bruder submitted his short story to two short story contests

Acceptances:

• BJ Sloane will be presenting a writing class in Amarillo
• Carolyn got a cover for her book Double Jeopardy
• Sarah got her manuscript for Kinder Dragons officially approved
• Bryan Tracey has an advanced reader copy for his book now
• He will also be on a panel at ThrillerFest

Book Reviews:

• N/A

Additional Announcements:

• Jenny Martin says that on Thursday April 24th, she will be teaching a class on writing voice. It will be at 6:30 PM at the Fort Worth East Regional Library.
• On April 11th and 12th there will be a Fronterra Art Festival in the Bishop Arts District.
• BJ Sloane is reminding that anyone who purchase a DFWCON ticket early gets free merch to go with it.
• Matthew Rollins announced that Steelwing 2 released yesterday. On Sunday from 1-3 at the Half Price Books store he will have a signing for it.
• Lauren Lanza Osias says that one of her friends' sons is in remission from his leukemia diagnosis. However he will most likely need a stem cell transplant. It will be on May 3rd in Fort Worth for anyone who wants to help with stem cell donations.
• Carolyn Rae says that April 26th, the Holtham City Library will hold an event 
• George got a scam call from someone wanting to “talk to him about his book” in an interview where he would pay $2000. Obviously this is a scam. Be aware.
• Rosemary mentioned her services as a professional editor. 

Meeting Adjourned: 7:40

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, David Jayce

Meeting Start: 7:03 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~50

Visitors:

• Ron, found us through Google, is writing a comedy based on real events about drone delivery.
• Rob Jeffreson from Louisville, writes speculative fiction, found us through Google.
• Addie, writes a little of everything, found us through attending DFWCON.

New Members:

• Brenda Wilkins, found us through Googling DFWCON, writes thrillers.

Rejections:

• Mark Dye, submitted Alibi High to some agents and got rejected
• Kate Cornell, assumes that she got rejected (?) this week
• John Bartell got 3 rejections for one novel and two poems

Submissions:

• JB Sanders, submitted several short stories of various genres to various anthologies
• Kate Cornell submitted to two places and submitted her screenplay to the Austin Film Festival
• BJ Sloane submitted The Forgotten Sun to Killer Nashville
• Mark Dye submitted Alibi High to another agent

Acceptances:

• Mark Dye got a “revise and resubmit” request from one of the agents
• Brenda Wilkins submitted a poem to poetry.com for a competition and won 2nd place.
• John Bartell got a request from CAPs to do a poetry reading for them
• Pam Taylor signed a contract for a sequel to her Prodigal Son series
• Alex Martinez signed a contract for a renewal for his Audible rights for his books, and got a request for a short story anthology as well (he’s on the cover too!)

Book Reviews:

• Lauren Venne read BJ Sloane’s Forgotten Sun and reviewed it
• Laura Lanza Osias reviewed Picking Up The Pieces 
• BJ Sloane reviewed Steelwing 2: Friend or Foe
• JB Sanders reviewed BJ Sloane’s Forgotten Sun
• Karen Ferrel reviewed BJ Sloane’s Forgotten Sun, Larry Enman’s Biowatch, Leslie Lutz’s Sweetest Darkness, and CCS’ Jones’s Magic Bound.

Additional Announcements:

• BJ Sloane reminds people that if anyone needs a name badge, they are still available.
• Also, if anyone bought a DFWCON ticket in March, you get free merch.
• Katie Burnett announces that for DFWCON, Kelly Bishop of Gilmore Girls fame will be our 2nd Keynote speaker for the Con
• John Bartell says April 25th will be SlamCon 2025 for poets at Tarrant Community College Northwest Campus.
• Krista Carol says on April 29th at Inclusion Coffee will be an event including jewelry vendors, food vendors, and a tattoo artist
• Matt Rollins announces that the local Author Crawl with Half Price Books flagship store in Dallas will be on August 16th.
• He also has another signing for Steelwing 2 coming up at Madness games and comics this Saturday (April 12th)
• Michelle O’ Neal announces that she will be signing books at the Author Crawl as well
• Writers bloc will be June 22nd as a reminder
• Sally reminds us that we have an official Discord server now. It’s like a 24/7 live forum for questions and stuff outside meeting hours.
• Also next week April 16th and April 23rd, we will be meeting at the Grapevine library, not the convention center.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:21

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Lauren Danhof (acting)

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, David Jayce, Alex Martinez, Russell Connor

Business Meeting Called to Order: 6:08 PM

Officers Absent: Sally Hamilton

Lauren Danhof calls the meeting to order

• She suggests that we hold off any official voting until next weeks meeting

David Jayce

• Brought ducks
• Wants to do the cruise out of a cruise line in Galveston because of various efficiency and liability-based reasons.
• He also notes that writer’s retreats in Texas are currently very rare and niche. His idea would cost significantly less than existing alternatives.
• He also notes that profits that may result from this event can be used to fund DFWCON, the workshop, the cruise itself, or various other events.
• Also wants to bring professional editors on board to go over one chapter per writer. He notes that a professional editor can make a world of difference for writers.
• He addresses affordability in that for the absolute bare minimum cost, he can get it down to $152 per day per writer (if they’re willing to forgo any extra bells and whistles on the cruise)
• There will be no upfront costs for the workshop except for the retreat fee ($199). Those will be paid by each individual writer.
• For every 8 cabins (16 travelers), there will be one free cabin provided by the cruise line itself.

Katherine 

• Are we going to pay for the editors upfront and how many writers are they expected to handle? 
• David Jayce answers: 16 writers. And that number is the goal for sign ups.

Rosemary

• $199 for a workshop fee to bring in an editing professional is probably too low and suggests they would need a stipend, as well as paying for food, individual rooms, etc.

Jenny Martin

• Brings up that its not fully decided whether the editors in question would be freelancer or professional level personnel.
• She also says if we call it a retreat, it needs to focus more on creativity rather than the technical work related side. If there’s a big focus on critique and working alongside editors, that’s more of a workshop. We should decide whether it should be called a “writing retreat” or a “writing workshop.”

Katherine

• How would our cruises be different from other writer’s cruises currently in circulation?
• David Jayce: other cruises are based in more faraway cities (LA to Alaska for example) and some are genre specific, while others are more expensive. This specific writer’s cruise for DFWWW would be optimized specifically for DFWWW members.

Lauren Danhof

• Brings up possible impacts on DFWCON this event might have by proxy

Lauren Lanza-Osias

• It likely won’t effect DFWCON, but it's also going to have a much smaller roster compared to DFWCON.

Rosemary

• Is this cruise within our mission as DFWWW?
• Also for bringing family members or other distractions along, that may possibly defeat the purpose of it being a retreat because a retreat should be distraction-free.
• She says the idea of a DFWWW-centric retreat is a great idea, but this specific idea might not be the best for us.

Jenny Martin

• Says we should have a multi-year strategic plan so that meetings can progress more efficiently and we can have a “set of rules” as reference for ideas and situations just like this one
• Rosemary agrees with this sentiment.

Lauren Lanza-Osias

• Brings up a whole 6-day cruise is maybe a bit too big of a leap for DFWWW right now, and instead of jumping straight into it, we should start with smaller events to ease into it and then maybe try a larger writer’s retreat when we’re more experienced with event-hosting.

Lauren Danhof

• Brings up the possibility of association with the event and its whatever members independently choose to organize without putting direct liability on the workshop itself.

David Jayce

• Even if this idea isn’t officially adopted, he might still go ahead with it independently and invite any interested workshop members.
• A small publishing company has also expressed interest in this idea.

Lauren Danhof

• Brings up that we should host a survey of the DFWWW members to gauge interest in the cruise idea
• David Jayce and Matthew Rollins already have a survey drafted up. It may also be worth putting an “additional comments” section at the bottom of the survey.

Jenny Martin

• Mentions its low risk as long as the entire event isn’t outright DFWWW-branded but is still open to DFWWW membership.
• Lauren Danhof also mentions that interest in the editors and their attendance on the cruise should also be on the survey that's sent out to DFWWW members.
• Jenny Martin also mentions that she believes that the presence of professional editors likely won’t be a huge draw anyways. People are more likely to be interested in the “cruise retreat” aspect rather than the “work with an editor” aspect.

Lauren Danhof

• For the next 2 weeks, the board can finalize what they want to do going forward. But having the survey filled out by then would be helpful to give information for the officer’s board meeting to work with for the May officer’s meeting.

Matthew Rollins

• Asks if this event is limited to DFWWW members, DFWWW members  + DFWCON attendees, or everyone.
• Due to pending decision on whether the workshop wants to support this in name and/or support financially, there currently is no answer to this question.

Lauren Danhof 

• Final decision is that she will announce the survey to gauge interest in the cruise at today’s meeting. From there, David Jayce and Matthew Rollins will work on getting the survey sent out to the DFWWW membership.
• Also worth putting a question saying “would this affect your attendance for DFWCON” on the survey.

Business meeting adjourned: 6:54 PM

Regular Meeting Start: 7:04 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~50

Visitors:

• Kay, writers lit fiction, and was invited by a friend

New Members:

• Addie, writes “anything she can think of”
• Tom Wolfburrow, decided to join up today after visiting enough meetings
• Dylan, is writing his first novel
• Rob, likes to write whatever and is here to learn

Rejections:

• Joe/Kate Zimmerman got a rejection on their novel
• Natalie got a rejection on her YA but it got referred to another agent
• Debrah Eliason got 2 short story rejections.
• Mark Dye got rejected for his novel.

Submissions:

• Joe/Kate Zimmerman submitted their novel to a British agent
• Mark Dye submitted Alibi High to an agent from DFWCON 2019. Also resubmitted a “revise and resubmit” for one his agents
• Chad Zerrain submitted to Y’all Write at their request.
• Alan submitted to a publication

Acceptances:

• N/A

Book Reviews:

• JB Sanders read and reviewed Killer in the Choir by Gay Kaiser
• Kate Zimmerman read Robert McKee’s Storybook (a guide for screenwriters)
• Brooke Fossie reviewed JB Abbott’s Picking Up The Pieces
• Steve Manning reviewed Steelwing: Friend or Foe
• John Bartell also reviewed Picking Up The Pieces

Additional Announcements:

• We do not have as many rooms tonight due to voting taking place in one of our normal rooms. Unfortunately we will have to bump some readers to next week due to this.
• Next week we will meet in the library again.
• On April 24th (next Thursday) there will be a voice workshop class at the East Fort Worth Regional Library
• Reminder towards workshop etiquette. Don’t speak while people are reading, etc.
• Lauren Danhof made public to the DFWWW membership the writer’s retreat cruise idea. She also announced the associated survey to gauge member’s interest.
• The city of Plano has a short story contest for $500 (1000 word minimum within the historical fiction genre). The deadline is May 5th.
• The Writer’s Block for Spring will be in the Grapevine Library from 2-4 PM on June 22nd.
• Local Author Crawl will be a collaboration event between DFWWW and Half Price Books Flagship store which will be August 16th from 3-7 PM.
• John Bartell announces that if anyone has any extra events they want to announce for the DFWWW newsletter, next tuesday is the deadline to submit that.
• Jenny Martin announces that a play organization called Second Thought Theater gave us a discount code for buy-one-get-one tickets. The code is “DFWWW”
• Also, Leslie Lutz gave us a signed copy of her book to our workshop. She also has an autograph which will be given away at next week’s meeting.
• Mark Dye announced that that he will be selling his artwork next week at MayFest in Trinity Park
• Reminder that if you want badges, go up to Lauren Danhof or BJ Sloane.
• Katie announces that to sign up for DFWCON as a member, you can go to the writer’s workshop page (it says “Register”) and then scroll to the bottom where it says “are you a DFWWW member” and click on that. Log in as you normally would, and that’s how you get the membership discount.
• DFWCON pricing goes up in September as a reminder.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:26

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, David Jayce, Alex Martinez, Russell Connor

Regular Meeting Start: 7:01 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~40

Visitors:

• Eric, is working on the script for a webtoon, was invited by a friend to the workshop

New Members:

• N/A

Rejections:

• Kate Cornell got rejected by “somebody’s assistant”
• JB Sanders got rejected by Rock and Tour Press due to overflow, but they asked him to send something else. He did.

Submissions:

• Kate/Joe Zimmerman submitted to another agent.
• Debra sent a short story out

Acceptances:

• N/A

Book Reviews:

• Collin Haynes reviewed Sweetest Darkness by Leslie Lutz
• ??? reviewed Forgotten Sun by BJ Sloane
• Rebbeca reviewed The Martian by Andy Weir

Additional Announcements:

• Chad said the Librarian said that the restrooms will be open until uh… we leave? Something to do with voting? I dunno, man.
• Sarah has arcs of her comic Kindred Dragons available for read and review. Two were given out.
• Matt Rollins says that he sent out a cruise questionnaire over the weekend.
• He also says to sign up for the author crawl.
• Sally Hamilton reminds people that we now have an official Discover server.
• BJ Sloane reminds people about name badges.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:??

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, Alex Martinez, Russell Connor

Regular Meeting Start: 7:02 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~40

Visitors:

• N/A

New Members:

• Jared Wilker, writing an adventure novel, heard about us through Google
• Linn, was a teacher, heard about us through Talking Animals bookstore

Rejections:

• Linda got a rejection from a magazine
• John Brown got one rejection from Hunting Sirocco
• Kristofer had 3 poems rejected by the Missouri Review

Submissions:

• John Bartell submitted the elevator book to an agent
• Joe/Kate Zimmerman submitted to one agent off of MSWL

Acceptances:

• John Brown got a full manuscript request

Book Reviews:

• Helen Dent reviewed Picking Up the Pieces by JB Abbot
• Joe/Kate Zimmerman reviewed ???
• Matthew Rollins reviewed Its Not A Cult by Lauren Danhof

Additional Announcements:

• Laura Lanza Osias announced that there is a continued swab drive for a family son’s friend who has been diagnosed with leukemia. On May 3rd from 10 - 4 at University Baptist Church in Fort Worth there will be a swab drive to help those who have cancer and leukemia. Must be 18 - 55 years old to be registered for the swab database.
• Matthew Rollins announces that tomorrow is the last chance for the writer’s retreat cruise questionnaire. If you have opinions on it, get that done soon.
• Also, the local author-con is collecting authors for the book signing for August 16th from 11 - 6 PM at the flagship Half Price Books store in Dallas.
• Advanced reader copies for ??? and Steelwing 2 are now available at the front
• The P-Con Science Fiction and Fantasy convention is coming to Fort Worth in September. Ahead of this, they’re looking to publish an anthology to help raise funds for the organization. They’ve put out an open call for short sci-fi/fantasy stories. Due Jun 20th. More details here: 
• https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BnSPQ6ZNm/?mibextid=WC7FNe 
• Name badges are announced by Lauren and BJ Sloane as usual.
• Matthew says Writer’s Block which will be from 1 - 4 on June 22nd at the Grapevine Library. 
• Brian Burderer put an Advanced Reader Copy of his self-published book available for read and review up at the front.
• We have also received an official library copy of Sweetest Darkness (signed copy) by Leslie Lutz
• Lauren Lanza Osias announced the social media video campaign interviews.

Meeting Adjourned: 7:22

Vice President of Membership: Lauren Danhof

President: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Events and Programs: Matthew Rollins

Vice President of Digital Media: Lauren Lanza Osias

Vice President of Community Outreach: Jenny Martin

Secretary: John A. Brown

Board members present: John Bartell, A. Lee Martinez

Business Meeting Called to Order: 6:11 PM

Officers Absent: Lauren Danhof, Lauren Lanza-Osias

BJ Sloan gave the treasurer's report:

• Workshop Account: $25,646.86
• DFWCon Account: $72,790.65
• Money Marketing Account: $64,610.51
• Money Market Interest: $576.31
• Total: $163,048.02 as of May 7th 2025

Sally/Jenny brought up that Jenny Martin will be starting a new job and that, as a result, we will need to appoint a new Director of Outreach for the staff board.

Jenny Martin - Put out a survey regarding outreach.

Matt Rollins - Writers Block and Author’s Crawl are coming up soon. Writer’s Block will be on the 22nd. Names for people who are candidates for showing up to Writer’s Block were discussed including Gina Best who wrote More Than Ivory. We also have space reserved for the Fall Writer’s Block. Either Rosemary or a new person will be the main speaker for that. The Fall Writer’s Block will be on September 27th.

Rosemary - Suggests extending the time for the Fall Writer’s Block from 60 minutes to 90 minutes to have enough to cover everything including audience Q&A, which was previously a time crunch for Writer’s Block events. Possibly even longer. Also hiring a catered lunch for the Fall Writer’s Block.

Various Officers - Held a discussion regarding the results of the “possible DFWWW Cruise” survey. Multiple viewpoints for and against were discussed. 

A final vote was called regarding whether or not DFWWW would host this event directly. The results of this vote will not be disclosed at this time.

Business meeting adjourned: 6:43 PM

Regular Meeting Start: 7:10 PM

Number of members in attendance: ~55

Visitors:

• Christian, writes speculative fiction, and found us through DFWCON 2024
• Peyton, doesn’t write, found us through Lauren Venne
• Elijah, found out about us through his dad, dabbled in Marvel fanfiction.

New Members:

• Anthony Greene
• Zach, writes short fiction
• Alex, writes video essays on Youtube

Rejections:

• John Brown got one rejection for Hunting Sirocco

Submissions:

• ??? sent out a short story anthology 

Acceptances:

• Christa Carol was invited to be part of DragonCon in Atlanta, GA
• ??? had her work shortlisted for a magazine grand prize
• Madeline posted a snippet of her book on social media and multiple agents reached out to her asking for a submission.

Book Reviews:

• BJ Sloane reviewed Brian Guderrer’s Secret Lives of Moths and Butterflies Book 2
• Christa Carol reviewed Matthew Rollins Steelwing
• ??? reviewed 4 books including The Challenger by Adam Wickenbacher
• ??? reviewed JB Abbot’s murder mystery book
• Brian Tracey reviewed BJ Sloane’s The Forgotten Sun
• Travis also reviewed BJ Sloane’s The Forgotten Sun
• Sally reviewed Kindred Dragons by Sarah Messinga

Additional Announcements:

• BJ has a short list of people who want/ordered name badges. IF you ordered yours, visit her.
• Sarah said she and her friend Alexis have a booth at the Mayfair Renaissance Market.
• Sarah also is going to Portland for a book drive event
• Derrick has newspapers from the end of World War 2. Like the actual newspapers in his hand. The Kansas Star. One from VE-Day and one from VJ-Day. They are museum-quality pieces.
• Karen has an arc copy of Killer in the Choir
• Allen mentioned that someone had the idea of meeting on Zoom just to write. He wants to open and advertise this event to DFWWW at large.
• Harry Hall mentioned the times this event would happen
• Rebecca said she got an email from the director of the library that the Mayor of Grapevine has written a memoir and is looking for help marketing his memoir.
• Sarah mentioned that the Mayfair Renaissance market is May 24th 
• Christa Carol says this Saturday is a wives/moms event

Meeting Adjourned: 7:33