04/05/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes 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 Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Members Attending: 30

 

Total Members: 135

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:03

 

John welcomes everyone and says we have good things to talk about.

 

Two Sundays ago was our annual meeting. The officers, advisory council, and past presidents met.

 

John brought slides to discuss everything we talked about.

 

We talked about the year in review. We had an amazing year. There were two Writer’s Bloc events, thank you to Charlie. We started to meet in person again. We gave seed money to AWOW. Our community grew. We had three potlucks, which John thought was insane, but Charlie was right, and it was awesome. We had people get agents. If you got an agent last year raise your hand (two people do!) We had book releases. People raise hands for that. We had book deals! Leslie had one, and also Lauren and Sarah. And then, we had the conference, which is always awesome. John shares a tweet from a conference attendee saying positive things. Last year had some bumps, but there were a lot of successes. John is happy to have served everyone.

 

This year will have the library makeover. We’ll go from a storage closet to a room that nicely displays our books. We’ll address the bylaws, and we’ll have the conference and Writer’s Bloc.

 

The Library: About a month ago, Becca and Susan volunteered to organize the library makeover. We all know what the library looked like last week, and for people who joined after 2020, it used to be a nice area where we could proudly share members’ books. There was also a library of books about the craft. But we lost the office, and so the library became a storage unit. We’d like to fix that. Soon there will be a prominent display of author books, a wall that shares our history with plaques and other framed items. We may continue adding names to the plaques. The officers approved 5K tonight to enhance the library, which is an investment. And if you came to clean up on Sunday, thank you! Please go look at the library and see what’s been done.

 

We’re still planning to replace the big wooden bookshelves. They are nice, but they aren’t functional. There is a lot of wasted space. We’ll replace them with some nice glass-fronted bookshelves from IKEA. Right now all the books have been removed, and when we have the new shelves, they will be put back and displayed honorably. Also, the craft library that is along the wall on the right are for members to take out and read. Some of those books are very old, so on Sunday, Carolyn curated them. The ones that we’re getting rid of, you (members) can take them and if you’d like to donate some money, that would be great. There is a Folgers can there for donations. What’s left, we’ll take to Half Price Books. The large bookcases are also for sale.

 

Becca explains that she’ll post the bookcases on Facebook Marketplace. Consignment stores will take 50% of the profit. Right now, Becca will post them for 600$ each, with a small discount if people buy two.

 

The wooden shelves on the other (right) wall belong to Euless. We’ll ask if two of them can be moved. We’ll maintain a smaller craft library of books that are still relevant. The other idea is that the workshop will buy workshop members’ books (more than six months old so we don’t affect preorder numbers) and then members can check them out, read them, and write reviews.

 

Also in the cubby by the bathroom (do not use!) we’ve shelved all the con stuff. Susan found shelves that are covered carts on wheels, and we’ll store the con stuff there. Because it’s covered, it will look nice.

 

John shares a picture of the library before clean-up and the shelves that we’ll be buying. They are modular, so we could get all glass fronts if we like. Once we get rid of the current shelves, we’ll purchase these and put the books back. It will hold roughly 107 additional books if arranged like they are now, John estimates maybe even more. Becca also explains that we’ll purchase a custom embosser for our author books. When someone donates their book, the current president will formally emboss the book.

 

John also shares the eligibility rules for inclusion. Notable members can put their books in the case. Members who’ve been here at least a year and sold a book traditionally can put that book in there. For self-published books, you need to be a member for five years in good standing.

 

Any questions?

 

Becca asks about books that they found from people who weren’t members at the time of publication. John thinks that we need to address our history, so people like John McCord would be someone we want to keep all their books. Alex says it will be a popularity contest (joking.)

 

Thank you to Becca and Susan for all their hard work.

 

John will now discuss the bylaws. It’s one reason he ran for president again.

 

A lawyer looked at our bylaws last year. Samantha Jordan was recommended to us by a member, she worked with us pro bono for a while. When she ended the relationship, she recommended John Reyna. He’s with Texas Hospitality and Law Center. He has worked with lots of nonprofits. He’s being paid. He reviewed the current bylaws and made five suggestions. The first is our Articles of Incorporation, now called the Certificate of Formation. It’s sent to the state, and it’s how we define ourselves as a nonprofit. That needs to be fixed, and John R. will charge $300 for that. The second issue is that we have a constitution and bylaws. He feels we don’t need both. We just need to make sure all the info is included. Some of that info can go into the certificate and some can go in the bylaws. It will have to go through the proper process. Also, bylaws were written in 1991 and need to be updated. Things like conference director is erroneously listed as the director of the whole workshop. Those are all easy fixes. The fourth issue has to do with Robert’s Rules. There are 750 pages in the Robert’s Rules book. The index is very, very long. Last year we had three people who understood the rules. Leslie took a lot of time trying to figure them out. It shouldn’t be that hard to run a meeting. There is an alternative, though, that John found—the Democratic Rules of Order. The book for them is much shorter. The section outlining how to run meetings is only 23 pages. It maintains a lot of Robert’s Rules, is very democratic, and is simpler. John wants to ditch Robert’s Rules and instead use the Democratic Rules of Order. If someone else has a suggestion, we can also consider that. Robert’s Rules stifles debate and makes the rules very mysterious. Changing these rules must be put into the bylaws and be changed officially. John would like to buy copies of the Democratic Rules of Order and have them in the library. Issue five is about oversight. By Texas law, nonprofit must have oversight either by a board of directors or by members. In our bylaws, it says both. We need to decide whether it’s members or our board of directors. What happened last year is that we voted to send the bylaws back to a committee. That’s where we are now. We’re going to rebuild the committee, but the committee does not propose changes. They only review them.

 

At the annual meeting, we agreed that we’ll have a group that comes up with a proposal for changes. It will include the leadership of the workshop and others who might want to be involved. If we can’t address it, we’ll have a common document that addresses the first three issues, and then we’ll have votes to sort the rest out.

 

John thinks we can do this without imploding. We must be inclusive. No confining the debate or demonizing opposing views. John’s opinion is that we should have a board of directors. He feels he’s allowed to have that opinion, but he should not skew the debate one way or another. That was frustrating last year. He thinks the biggest help will be having THC involved. John R. can help us with the certificate. He can also come and speak to the working group and explain the process. John R. wants to make sure we’re following the law, and he’s a neutral party. He can define what oversight means and help us understand the process. Having him there to explain everything will be a huge help. He’ll also help us edit the bylaws to make sure what we’re saying makes sense legally. We had 1K in the budget for this, and John estimates it will cost about $2200. Officers voted to approve money to cover this. It’s an investment in our future.

 

John is happy everyone is still awake. Any questions?

 

Harry asks do we have a date for John R’s visit? No, not yet. John needed officer approval. John R. won’t be at the regular workshop meeting either. He will come to a meeting of the working group. It will be at the Simmons Center, most likely.

 

John thanks everyone for listening.

 

Treasurer’s report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Treasurer Report - Apr 5, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $35,855.42

 

Con account ending in 7540: $38,849.00

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,003.01

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,495.58

 

CD: $0

 

Total: $137,203.01

February’s report had this number at $116,827.85

 

Total membership in March: $1,950.00

Conference Income: $22,546.00

 

Expense - Security: $1,170.00

Expense - Rent: $200

Expense - bank fee: $313.05

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%.

 

Leslie shares that we moved money into savings accounts to create reserves for the workshop. Because interest rates are good, that will benefit us. We now have four accounts. Before we had a CD that did not have great interest rates, and we did not make much interest. Now we’ll make 3K annually in income from the interest. Leslie is excited about that.

 

We sold a lot of conference tickets with the early bird special. We did have some extra rent expenses because we needed to be here at the Simmons Center for two extra Saturdays. There have been some bank fees for the conference ticket processing, but we used to have higher fees from PayPal and Eventbrite so this is an improvement.

 

Membership report from Helen Dent:

 

Helen shares that we now have 135 members. A few new members have joined recently.

 

Events report from Sally Hamilton:

 

Sally shares that the upcoming Writer’s Bloc will be on June 3^rd at the Irving Library with author Amber Royer.

 

Conference Report from Brooke Fossey: Our conference will be Oct 7^th & 8^th. If you would like to buy a ticket, you can get a member discount. There are some volunteer opportunities that Brooke has posted on the bulletin board. Brooke would like to encourage us all to attend the conference. Members have a special meet and greet with the agents where we can pitch each other’s books, etc. It’s a perk of being a member. If you could please peruse the volunteer opportunities. People with trucks would be helpful. And if you are willing to skip a class, we could use your help as well.

 

There is also now a bulletin board!

 

Business Meeting adjourned: 7:41

 

Guests: 1

 

• He is a writer who hasn’t written in 3-4 years. Used to be a journalist, wrote short stories, and started a few novels… then had to pay bills. He is trying to get back into things.

 

New Members: 1

 

• Candy-- who just joined 10 min ago! Writes sci-fi, horror, and flash fiction.

 

Book Reviews: 1

 

• Steve Manning reviewed Michelle’s book.

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions: 1

 

• Kristian Capers submitted to an emerging writer’s contest.

 

Acceptances: 2

 

• Carolyn Rae sent a query to the Romance Writers of America. Carolyn sent three queries and they want her to write an article for the May issue.

 

• Katie Bernet submitted a story to an anthology called Spark two and a half years ago. They just said yesterday that they liked it, and it’s now in the final round.

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell:

 

On April 11^th there is an open mic night at the National Poetry Celebration with Michael Guinn from 7:30 to 10 pm. He’s really great. At The Dock Bookshop in east Fort Worth. He’s offering reserved seating, so let John know if you are interested in going.

 

In Austin, starting on April 14^th, there is going to be an art show at the Medici Roasting Coffee House on Guadalupe. There is art on the wall and worth checking out if you’re down there.

 

Brooke Fossey: Paramount Writing Mentor application is now open until the end of the month. It’s yearlong, you get writing prompts, you work in a faux writing room on scripts, and you only need a few things to apply. If that interests you, it’s called the Paramount Mentorship Program.

 

Carolyn Rae: There is a book on screenwriting in the library that’s good.

 

Steve Manning: Younger daughter is in ROTC. He’s selling candy bars to support the program. They are good, esp. the wafer ones.

 

John Bartell: We put sodas and water in the fridge in the library. If you want one, put a dollar in the Folger’s can. The little waters: feel free to take one. The bigger waters: please pay for them.

 

Brian Tracey: Young DFW Poetry Slam finals are on April 14^th. If you want to know more, talk to Brian.

 

Helen: Name badges are here. She gives one to Eric. If you need one or lost yours, please contact Helen. There is a replacement fee.

 

Sadly, Susan Stewart lost her brother on Sunday. There is a card. She got the call while she was here helping us clean up the library.

 

Harry Hall: On May 4^th, he’ll be speaking at the Allen Public Library. On Saturday, he took some display boards and went to check out the room, and it’s an auditorium. He asked if it would be full, and yes, probably!

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:52.

 

 

 

04/05/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Officer’s 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

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Former Presidents:

 

LeAnn Robinson

 

Guests:

 

Carolyn Rae

Alex Martinez

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Meeting Begins: 6:10

 

John: Wants to talk about the library, and three other things. One, he wants to vote on the library renovations and adding extra money to the budget, two, discuss John Renya’s proposal for bylaw changes, and three, go over the treasurer’s report.

 

First, about the library, to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Last officer’s meeting, we talked about how the library had become a storage room and doesn’t respect the author’s books. So we decided to form a committee to clean it up. Becca and Susan immediately volunteered to help and create a proposal. John wants to address Carolyn’s main concern—the removal of the bookshelves. The current shelves have about 3-4 feet of wasted space. We plan to replace them with shelves that have glass fronts that allow us to better display author’s books.

 

Alex adds that we’ve outgrown the old shelves. They’ve been with us for a long time, but we’ve added so many new books by members, we need more space. Alex jokes about needing his own shelf. We now just have lots of books stacked up. It’s a sign of our group’s success that we need new shelves.

 

Carolyn is unsure about the number of books that can be stored on the new shelves. John apologizes that it wasn’t clearer in the email he sent.

 

The new shelves will allow us to have more than one hundred additional books on display. That should give us plenty of room for what we have now and for future growth. Carolyn says we could store books elsewhere in the room instead. John says we have plans for the rest of the room, such as an author achievement wall.

 

Sally points out that the new cabinets will be convertible with glass doors, so we can expand the display space if we need to. It will create a wall that can grow with us, and it will be a nice selling feature to new members. It will fit the space better. We can take pictures of it too, and it will look good online.

 

Carolyn agrees that we need to impress editors and agents who might visit.

 

Brian says that the current shelves got out of control. They stopped being a display and just became a place to store books.

 

John says we owe all our authors (and Alex) more.

 

Carolyn points out that Jack Ballas’s books are all stacked together too and could be displayed better.

 

Brian says that when he first arrived, the library looked nice. Sally says that it’s become overwhelming.

 

John asks if Carolyn is okay with the plans. Carolyn wonders if we should organize the books to showcase current members. John would like to honor everyone, past and present. Our previous member were trailblazers.

 

Alex asks Carolyn why she likes these old shelves. Carolyn says that she just doesn’t like the idea of only half glassed-in shelving. Alex says that the new shelves will look just as nice and be more functional. We should not get too sentimental about the old shelves. Sally points out that they don’t open easily either.

 

Grant agrees with Carolyn. He thinks that the room looks nice now. He has a hard time thinking it will look as nice with the new shelves. Sally again points out that the shelves are convertible.

 

I say it was that when I first saw the shelves, it was the books on them that mattered and impressed me, not the shelves. Alex agrees that the books are what’s important.

 

Grant likes the current mirrors in the back of the shelves. Sally says we can add mirrors. That’s not a big deal. The current shelves have so much space you need the mirrors. The new shelves will not have wasted space. They will also be bright white, which will also look good.

 

Grant wonders if we could add more shelves.

 

Alex says that sometimes you outgrow your house. Sally says sometimes you get new furniture to update.

 

Brian asks about the cost. John says we will go over that. Becca can’t make it today. Susan, sadly, lost her brother on Sunday. She is not here today for that reason. Helen has a card we can sign. The library redo is their idea. John is all aboard. Do we own the old bookshelves? Yes, says Carolyn and Brooke.

 

What about the other shelves? Carolyn wants to know if we’re getting rid of them. John says yes, two of them. That way we can have our lending library for member author books that people can borrow, read, and review. Then we can also free up wall space so we can hang up pictures and rotate in special framed items we’re proud of.

 

Carolyn asks can we move the small, extra shelves somewhere else. John says no, there is no place for them to go. Leslie says Euless uses the other rooms for other things. We only have the library to use and store items in. Brooke wonders if in the meantime we can use the shelves for other things. John doesn’t want to do that. He’s requesting 5K to purchase the new shelves (and other items like the embosser.)

 

Leslie says to keep in mind what changed in the last few years: we had a lot of stuff in the office, but we couldn’t afford to keep renting it. When that happened, we had to move everything into in a smaller space. We’re now in a different situation. At one point the conference team had stuff at their houses.

 

Carolyn wonders if it will look as nice. Alex says it will look better. Sally says it will look more modern. These big shelves are traditional and a bit dated. The new shelves are white and will make the room look larger. Sally will also put lights on the shelves. It’s really going to pop and showcase our writers. Brooke says this room currently looks like a storage unit. Sally says it will be a lot of work and will take money, but it will be a solid investment.

 

Brian says that it’s rare to have people to step up with passion for a project. We have two people who’ve really invested their time. It would be good to support them and their ideas.

 

John says we’re also buying a cart with wheels and cover to put the conference stuff in. It will keep all that out of the way.

 

Grant wonders if we need the covers. He wants to know what’s happening with the bulletin board—could that hide the conference stuff? Brian explains that we used to bring the bulletin board out at every meeting, and we stopped during covid. We’re planning to start using it again, though. Grant wonders if the covers are a big expense. Helen says the covers are her favorite part.

 

John shows pictures of the old library and then shows a picture of the new shelves. He also shows a picture of the new embosser that will emboss the first page or so of all member books with a personalized mark of the workshop.

 

John also wants to discuss eligibility for inclusion. Traditionally published book by workshop member or self-published book by members who have been here for three years (there is not clarity on this) will be added. Brooke says that this has already been discussed and it is three years, and it’s in the bylaws.

 

John says we need to vote and approve 5K in the budget for the library. Brooke says it’s a capital expense and does not go against our approved budget.

 

We vote, and everyone is in favor of the library expenses.

 

Brian asks if there is any risk that we will be booted from the Simmons Center in the next 12 months.

 

Leslie says that she thinks it will be fine. When she communicates with Euless, she tries to be very polite and thank them a lot. They can kick us out whenever they want, though, and they only rent to us because we’ve been here so long. We do have to be nice to them or they might not let us stay. But Leslie doesn’t think it will happen.

 

Brooke would like to have us reach out to the city to let them know that we’re spending money to improve the space, and we just want to check with them. John says even if we lose this spot, hopefully we can move the new shelves somewhere else anyway. Sally says that modular pieces would be easier to move too. John says it’s a good idea to talk to the city anyway just so we know where we stand as renters. Brooke said that when purchasing the roll-up walls, they did meet with Euless just to make sure they knew what we’re up to and that we’re improving the space for the benefit for all of us.

 

Brian says we also want clarity on what we own, and what they own. John said he was going to email the city just so they know that we are removing the old bookshelves. John offered them the metal shelves and they turned them down.

 

Second thing John would like to talk about:

 

John would like a vote on approving money for John Reyna’s services. John shares a letter from John R. John R. will help us do several things, one is to write a new Certificate of Formation, which costs $300. We have that money, and if everyone is okay with it, John will do this. We have 1K in the budget for legal fees. For $400, John R. will also come to a meeting to discuss the bylaws and explain what everything means. At the annual meeting, we agreed that we’re going to have a working group that includes all DFWWW leadership and anyone else strongly interested. At the first meeting, we’d have John R. come and talk to us about oversight. Then, the third thing, he would edit and review the bylaws and help us along with that process. For that, he’d charge $265 an hour, with a $2500 cap.

 

John estimates it would cost $2200 all together. Everyone agrees this needs to be done.

 

We vote. All are in favor.

 

Helen asks if this will come from the budget, and yes, it will.

 

John will go through the bylaw proposal that he went through in the annual meeting. He’s just going to do a quick run through of the slides. He decides to show us the slides he’s prepared now. He’ll explain who John R. is, the five issues he identified, and then talk about oversight. This is where it might get contentious. That word freaks people out. John will be very transparent, and then we’ll do the treasury report. Any questions? There are none.

 

Treasurers Report from Leslie Lutz:

 

Treasurer Report - Apr 5, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Monthly Statement

Workshop account ending in 7532: $35,855.42

 

Con account ending in 7540: $38,849.00

 

Workshop Reserves Money Market Account ending 9162: $52,003.01

 

Conference Saving Money Market Account ending 9154: $10,495.58

 

CD: $0

 

Total: $137,203.01

February’s report had this number at $116,827.85

 

Total membership in March: $1,950.00

Conference Income: $22,546.00

 

Expense - Security: $1,170.00

Expense - Rent: $200

Expense - bank fee: $313.05

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%.

 

Leslie closed the CD we already had. It wasn’t making money because it already matured. She put it into a new account. The smaller of the two money market accounts gets 1.19 % compounded quarterly. The larger account with 52000 gets 1.4% compounded quarterly. She also created a reserve account with 52K, and it already has made a small amount of interest. It will get about 3K annual interest on the new accounts and part of that is because interest rates have gone up. We’re creating these new accounts at a good time when we can benefit from the interest rates.

 

Lots of people signed up for the conference using the early bird special. We did have bank fees because of the large number of tickets, but we used to have have PayPal fees on tickets too. The bank deducts less fees overall.

 

John asks that Leslie remind everyone in the business meeting that the fees are less than Eventbrite and PayPal. Brooke says the savings are considerable. Leslie will send a copy of the report to John so he can share it at the business meeting tonight.

 

Membership Report from Helen Dent:

 

We currently have 135 members, and someone even joined yesterday. John says last week we only had 132 members. Helen has a bereavement card for Susan and another card for another member. John doesn’t know Susan’s brother’s name, but Becca might now.

 

Events and Programs Report from Sally Hamilton: Sally talked to a librarian in Irving. We’ll do Writer’s Bloc on June 3^rd with Amber Royer. It will be in person, not online. The only downside is that the library’s AV equiptment is outdated. Amber would like a screen. We can bring out our set up. We can rent the room for four hours, and because we’re a nonprofit, it will only be $25. Sally wants to know if we’ll have it in the afternoon or morning? Pro to the morning is that afterward we can get lunch. Opinions are split, so Sally will decide. Brooke says that she wanted to add two soft member events to Sally’s list: a bag stuffing event before the con, here at Simmons. Maybe we can get pizza. Brooke is also hoping that Sally could get a general reservation for all members who like to meet for dinner after the cocktail party (5-7 at Messina Winery in Grapevine). Brooke would like to have a community wide chance to eat dinner together if possible. Could Sally collect names and make a reservation? Could be anywhere in Grapevine or nearby. Sally wonders how many people might want to go. Brian guesses it might be about 40 total; members, committee members, and teachers. So worst case, 40-50, or might be 20. As we get closer to the conference, Brooke will have a better number. If it’s a lot of people, we might have to meet at two locations. Brooke says last year we didn’t have anything planned, and she ended up at Whataburger. This would be good chance to have people not plugged into the community to get together and eat.

 

Abuela’s might be a good option. Sally hopes we haven’t left a negative impression on them. Brooke wonders if we might be able to reserve their large room.

 

Brooke says we got a decline from the non-fiction keynote, David Grann. He was very nice, though, and must speak at his son’s college. He says he would be interested in the future, though. Brooke feels good about next conference. They’ve had a lot of positive responses: Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) also declined, but really nicely. Same with Eric Larson and Andy Weir. John asks if Brooke would like to announce those rejections at the Business Meeting. Brian and Brooke think no. They don’t want people thinking about what might have been.

 

Meeting adjourned: 6:57

 

 

 

 

03/26/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Annual Meeting Minutes

 

Attending:

 

President: John Bartell

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

 

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Advisory Board:

 

David Jones

Colin Holmes

Alex Martinez

Russell Conner

 

Past Presidents:

 

Steve Manning

 

Absent:

 

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Advisory Board: Katie Bernet

Past presidents: Rosemary Clement and LeAnn Robinson

 

Meeting Called to Order: 3:08 pm

 

John Bartell thanks everyone for coming. He will present slides.

 

What is the meeting about? According to the bylaws, the purpose is to select a new board member, but that’s been done. It’s also a chance to discuss other business. The president decides when and where it will be and who’s invited. John assumed that this would be a meeting run by the Advisory Board, but he’s not sure what the Advisory Council is supposed to be doing so he’s taken the lead. Hopefully, we can figure out between now and next year what the board’s responsibilities are. The way the bylaws are written Board Members sometimes mean Officers.

 

John has sent out the agenda. He asks that everyone be courteous and truthful, don’t dominate conversation or interrupt. He would like to start with the year in review and discuss the good and bad. When he thinks about 2022, he knows there were issues: the bylaws got ugly, the conference committee resigned, ending hybrid meetings was bumpy. He feels ending the hybrid meetings was ultimately positive, but there was drama. He’s bringing these negative things up so we can learn from them and discuss why they happened.

 

About the hybrid meetings, there was drama because some people, John included, didn’t realize how important these meeting were to some people. Ultimately, he feels they came up with a good way to handle things, but it wasn’t that way initially.

 

Brian says that he was also part of that decision, so John shouldn’t blame himself. Alex agrees and says that people had the opportunity to express themselves, didn’t speak up, and then were upset afterwards. Alex feels people maybe wanted a solution that maybe wasn’t possible. They also acted like the decision was a big surprise when it wasn’t. Brian feels that the people who were complaining the most also did not help arrange the hybrid meetings. Alex and Brian both feel that John shouldn’t feel too badly about how it turned out. Brian feels that it wasn’t probably clear enough that so many people wanted to keep having the online meetings. Brian thinks it’s good that we did fund the online group.

 

John thanks Alex and Brian for support, but he feels we need to take people’s opinions into account.

 

Overall, John feels that last year was awesome, we had some great wins, and he is pleased that we funded the online writing group. He feels that there is no acrimony now. Russell notes they have a new name. They’re now called AWOW, not AWOL.

 

John reminds us that we had three great potlucks in a row. Russell suggests that we do a sign-up before potlucks so that we don’t have too many desserts. John says that assumes that people put a lot of thought into what they bring.

 

We also had a lot of new books published. Brian put together a nice graphic of all the books. John would like to acknowledge these people, and he mentions specific books he’s excited about. They discuss an online member’s books as well. Several members got new agents and new book deals. It was a good year overall.

 

To John, the biggest achievement of 2022 was the conference. Colin stepped in and with the help of the conference committee pulled it all together. It was well attended. There was 20K profit, and it featured great VIP’s: Julie Murphy and Heather Graham. John was especially proud that it also felt like a workshop event. John mentions a specific encouraging tweet from Carrie Turner discussing how great it was. Alex says that he is impressed that it came together so well, and ever since it started, he finds he is pleasantly surprised. Brian says that he also heard great things from attendees and guests.

 

John discusses projects for this upcoming year such as the library makeover and bylaw updates.

 

Library makeover: John shares the plans and wants to discuss the cost. John says if you go into the library now, it’s embarrassing. He feels we all got used to how horrible it is. Brian mentions that there were a combination of things that caused the current disarray: Euless took back the office, COVID happened, and since we lost storage, we had to move things. John says that we’re getting rid of the big bookcases. Susan and Becca are leading the reorganization effort. They found IKEA shelves they like that will have glass displays and storage. They also have ideas on how to nicely display the books.

 

We’re going to reduce the current member library and keep only the most pertinent books about the craft. We’re also going to have workshop member books for people to borrow and review. John says we won’t add member books to the lending library until six months after publication. That way they won’t eat into possible preorder sales for authors. Alex is concerned (not really) about this. We’re going to put the plaques back on the walls as well.

 

We’ll vote on the library budget during the next officer’s meeting. It could cost up to 5k, but some of that might be offset by selling the shelves and books from the member library. Brian says that the higher profit from the conference can also pay for it. This can’t be a recurring expense though. David asks what people might be able to donate to get their name on the library. Brooke says the library is already named after Carolyn.

 

Brooke thinks we are due for different/new room dividers. Maybe this could be a project for next year. Brooke clarifies for those confused: we own the dividers. John thinks this is a good suggestion.

 

John also wants to mention that the books we’re going to get rid of, we’ll first offer for sale to members. That might raise money too.

 

Allen says it might be nice to have a little free library in the park. Brooke wonders if someone needs to maintain it. David thinks it will be fine. Leslie likes that idea.

 

Next week is the clean-up day.

 

Brooke suggests we add a facility improvement as a line item in every annual budget.

 

Bylaws:

 

John says we must fix the bylaws. It’s not a fun topic, but it’s important.

 

John Reyna, a lawyer, has reviewed the bylaws.

 

Previously Samantha Jordan was helping us pro bono, and when she could no longer help us, she referred us to John. Based on John B’s conversations with John R, he feels that this new lawyer is very helpful. He does charge us, but he is extremely knowledgeable. His mom is a writer, he visited once, and John feels he really wants to see our group succeed.

 

John R. reviewed the bylaws and gave us a document with his suggestions. He found five things that need fixing. Three are not controversial. The first is articles of incorporation. They were drafted in 1991. This doc is submitted to the state, and it defines us as a non-profit. “It’s the most important and powerful document we submit to the government”. – John R. THC can update it for 100$, and John says we will do it.

 

The second one is the constitution. Right now we have one in the bylaws, but we don’t need it. It muddies the water. John R suggests we get rid of it to simplify the bylaws. It’s redundant. Some content is not duplicated, but we can just put those items in the bylaws. John agrees this should be done.

 

The third thing is basically typing it up. These were written 30 years ago, and possibly no lawyers were involved. A few noncontroversial things need to be fixed, such as reimbursement rules. If you look at the current doc declaring that we’re a non-profit, it still has Steve listed as the director. John R. also suggests changing the name of conference director to conference chair. John feels these are easy fixes.

 

The fourth thing is Robert’s Rules. They are 716 pages long and confusing. Last year we only had a few members who fully understood them, and perhaps no one really did. It gives unfair advantage to the people who bother to read them. They can be used to stifle and make discussions biased too. John felt that happened last year, and even he doesn’t fully understand them. Brian says that he read a doc saying that rules create controversy and mayhem. If you want to solve problems, it’s not a good process. John suggests we replace them with the Democratic Rules of Order. It’s much shorter. The rules about decisions are only 23 pages long. It’s very democratic. It’s a lot like our Read Room rules. John suggests that we update the bylaws by replacing Robert’s Rules with the Democratic Rules of Order. Leslie says this can be done easily. John says fixing this is simple, he would like to buy copies to have in the library. Russell wonders if it simplifies the rules of voting. He is concerned about the number of members that need to be present for votes. John says yes, it will simplify voting.

 

John says updating the bylaws isn’t going to happen quickly because in the summer, we won’t be able to get a quorum. It will be a simple process to update it. Hopefully no one will be very concerned about changing Robert’s Rules. No one present opposes this idea.

 

Issue number five is that since we have not clarified the role of the advisory council, we are not operating correctly as a nonprofit as defined by the state. We need to decide that either the board has oversight or the officers do.

 

John says we need to decide how to handle this and codify it. Currently we have no bylaw committee. That committee is not supposed to write the rules. Instead, they make sure it makes sense.

 

How to implement this? Last year John felt that writing the bylaws wasn’t an inclusive process and Robert’s Rules confined the debate. It made people angry who couldn’t express their opinions. We should not demonize opposing views. We need accept that there will be conflicts. John feels that THC will help by acting as a referee.

 

Back to money, we have 1k in the budget for legal assistance. We’re paying $300 for the certificate, and 265$ an hour for reviewing and editing the bylaws, capping at 3k. It may also help if John R. meets with us for one meeting to explain everything. He would charge us 400$ for that. John feels that if there are a lot of arguments, the lawyer’s presence might help. He’s neutral and can clearly explain the law. Brian asks if the lawyer can give us some ideas about how the bylaws should be worded. John says yes.

 

John proposes we fix our Articles of Incorporation. We can get rid of Robert’s rules and create a working group to address the easy fixes, discuss 2022 proposals—many make sense, and address the oversight issue. John is hopeful we can come together and create one proposal regarding oversight. He feels the board of directors should have oversight, but if the majority of members want it to be the membership, than we can go that way too. John says just because we have a board, it does not mean members don’t have power too.

 

John would like us to vote on the entire document and not vote line by line. John felt we did a good job of educating people last year, but he suspects people didn’t take the time to look at the doc. Leslie wonders if we’ll have two versions for people to vote on. She feels this might be a better solution. John says he does not want a repeat of last year. Brian feels that we need to decide how to change the bylaws, and then get the members to vote.

John isn’t sure how to organize the working group. He notes that we have the leadership of the workshop in this room, and perhaps the people here could be on the committee. Leslie says when she was running the committee, she called a lot of people, and most people did not want to be involved. Leslie thinks that it’s important to let people know how we’re planning to change the process so that people who were upset last year might want to be involved. Brian says we have a blueprint for this: 2018 went really well. The teams worked together well. Everyone was involved. Everyone had a say. Brian says it was a lot like this group. Brian says it did not create drama for the membership.

 

John feels that if we had three working meetings with this group, we could get very close to getting the bylaws organized. John says he will do the heavy lifting, and then we can discuss other people’s views. John will also get John R’s perspective. Brain says it will be better to have disagreements on a small scale and work them out before presenting them to rest of the workshop members. Brooke suggests we open the working group to the membership so those who are really invested can show up and express their thoughts.

 

John asks if anyone dissents. No one does. Allen feels it’s a good idea. Leslie asks for clarification: This group would be the working group for the bylaws, not the committee. She would like to know who will be on the review committee and how many people should be on it. John feels there should be about three people. Last year this seemed like a good size. Brian asks for clarification on the job of the committee. Leslie explains that it’s not about agreeing with the bylaws, it’s about making sure they promote the interests and mission of the workshop. The committee also makes sure the bylaws are consistent and that changes have no conflict in any other section of the bylaws. Leslie says there can be other bylaw committees that have other purposes if need be. Brooke says the committee last year was forced to act as participants in creating of the bylaws, which was unfortunate. John feels that the emails sent to the chair of that committee and to John personally were terrible. He doesn’t want that to happen again. Brian says that this gets back to the beginning of the meeting; John put up with a lot of inappropriate behavior last year from members. He feels that John ultimately made the right calls and that some members should have faced ethics charges. John says the silver lining is that the bylaws did need updating regardless of what happened last year, and it’s good that we got a lawyer to look them over.

 

John proposes that we work through the five issues he outlined. He feels the first two will be easy, the third might need to wait until after summer, and the other two don’t need any made up timelines. Brian says that the conference is a timeline. John agrees. He says he’ll create dates for the working meeting so we can start soon. Grant asks if we know anyone who will be opposed to the changes. Leslie says yes there will be people who disagree.

 

Leslie says she also met with John R, and he said that this happens often with other organizations. Tempers get high and feelings get hurt. We aren’t alone. She thinks that we’ve learned a lot, and we can move on and have a better year. John thinks that there was a lot of tension because people really care about the organization; it means a lot to them. Brian says that he spoke to another group, and they dealt with a similar situation. They made a lot of the same mistakes. Brian really loves the 2018 process and thinks it won’t make people feel as threatened.

 

Workshop Conference Sustainability:

 

John is concerned about this. In 2022, with the committee walking away, people were left in a knowledge vacuum. There wasn’t a document that showed everyone what to do. John feels that the google drives did not have enough info. We need a policy that every document, email about the conference, etc. belongs to the workshop. No data should be kept privately on someone’s computer; it needs to be on the google drives. All committee members should use official convention email accounts. John asks if anyone uses one. Brooke says they have discussed this, and they have 20 conference emails. Colin says that we can have even more if we need them. Leslie says that if you forward them to your personal email, it’s easy to use them. Brooke says she copies the account. Brian says that he is the problem and needs to be better about this—it is a pain to deal with though. Brian does forward everything to make sure it doesn’t get lost.

 

Colin wonders if we should have a technical meeting to show people how to hook up their conference account to their regular email account. It may not work with outlook, though. Brian’s issue with the workshop account is that it’s constantly asking for his password. John says he weirdly gets the VP of program’s emails—yet only sometimes. Brooke wonders who in the workshop oversees IT. Brian thought it was infrastructure. Brooke would also like the web hosting info to be organized better. John says he would like to discuss that when we discuss officer roles.

 

The other thing we need discuss, John says, is that if, say, the conference director got hit by a bus, we’d have a tremendous loss of knowledge. He wants a document that includes a summery about what the goal of the conference is (is it about raising money or giving writers a good experience?) and then why that’s our goal. He’d also like the document to include our concerns such as not enough attendees, no keynote speaker, etc. The document would also include a directory with process details, what needs to be done, who the contact person is, and when these tasks should be completed. Brooke offers to keep it up to date. John says that all the conference members should be involved too. Brooke says it can be easily updated every monthly meeting. Brian wishes we had records from past conferences. Steve says he may have some of this, and he’ll dig through old emails. John asks if Brian has checked the past meeting minutes. Everyone agrees it would be helpful for future conferences committees to have records of past conferences. Colin says he does have a lot of documentation, and he will update the google drive. He does have a mission statement that Steve gave him. John says the conference info doc doesn’t necessarily have to be the way he is proposing it be written, but it should be similar and easy to find on the google drive.

 

John also mentions that it’s important to avoid member burnout. He knows that a few people last year had too much on their plate, and it negatively affected them. Also, according to the bylaws, anyone on a committee needs to be a member. If you want a volunteer who is not a member, that’s okay as long as they are vetted with the officers.

 

Brian says he still has pictures popping up from the workshop’s 40^th anniversary. He feels that it’s time for a party again.

 

Brooke says we doubled our early bird signups for the conference!

 

Snack break!!!!!!!

 

Meeting resumes: 4:38

 

Officer Roles and Responsibilities:

 

John sent out a google doc outlining his ideas.

 

He would like to create an environmental committee to open and close the Simmons Center. John would like to find someone who lives nearby and is trustworthy. Alex volunteers as tribute.

 

Does Helen want to add anything to her outlined role as VP of Membership? She says no.

 

Brooke says that we already have a general list of yearly duties. They are in the google drive. It’s not bylaw stuff, but outlines what needs to be done during the year. John says he was looking for this.

 

While John searches for it, Allen says that we might want expectations for all officers listed. These would be things like read the Democratic Rules of Order, attend meetings, etc.

 

Brooke says she keeps sending this doc for us all to look at. She is going to forward it now to John.

 

Helen has thought of an item for membership. She thinks it would be helpful to have a short training video teaching people how to do things on Nation Builder—roughly three minutes each.

 

Brooke would like someone to make sure lifetime members, notable members etc. are correctly listed on the website. She also says that the definition of a notable member is in the bylaws.

 

John has found the document defining officer roles. He would like the officers to review it.

 

Alex says Sally approves his tribute!

 

Back to the officer’s roles: VP of Media and VP of Infrastructure have some overlap and redundancy. Leslie says she considers the VP of Media our marketing face to the public, and VP of Infrastructure is there to facilitate our online meetings. Brooke says originally the VP of Media maintained the website and transitioned officers to their google emails. Brooke thinks we really need VP of Infrastructure to be VP of IT. Brian thinks the idea of one being outward facing and one being inward facing is a good way of putting it. John wonders if the VP of Infrastructure should instead be a committee. Colin wonders if we should sunset that officer position. Grant feels he doesn’t have much to do other than run the Discord. And even discord, John thinks, should fall under media. Brooke says that the bylaws allow any officer to create a committee to do what needs to be done. Helen mentions that we are going to consider having the online group come back under the umbrella of our group, and if that happens, we will need a VP of Infrastructure again.

 

John feels that one of the frustrating things about being president is that we don’t have an IT department. Brian and Brooke know Nation Builder well, but does anyone else? No one does. John feels that there is a danger of overworking people because Brian and Brooke are also in charge of the conference. John thinks that Grant’s job should either be to learn Nation Builder or to form a committee so we have that support. Leslie is wondering about writer’s bloc online. Brian says this would also be the responsibility of the VP of Infrastructure. VP of Infrastructure could also catalog all laptops and check for updates etc. Brooke says basically the VP of Infrastructure should be IT. She doesn’t know who owns the website, etc; there is convoluted ownership. Colin says ownership is tricky because individuals must secure these accounts with the two-factor authorization, and that’s harder to transfer. John would like things to all be on the workshop credit card with all passwords on the google drive.

 

About our credit card security, Leslie says she met with Frost Bank. They assured her they have a very robust security department. She was concerned about what happens if someone steals the number, but Leslie now feels good about how they’ve handled our account. Unfortunately, the credit card does have to be in Leslie’s name, and therefore, the next Treasurer will have to take that on. Regarding the domain, there is a card that David Jones took out, and Leslie isn’t sure if it’s expired. Steve says it’s not. John would like it’s charges to be transferred to the current card when possible. Allen feels like this also should fall under Infrastructure. John feels that we can talk about this more with the officers, and we can take a closer look at what Brooke sent (the doc.)

 

Brooke feels like updating the website (new banner) would be media, but if we want a new page or we need to deal with hosting and transferring emails, that should be Infrastructure. Brian feels like google emails have gotten complicated too. John would like to have some sort of set of standard Operating procedures for officers to follow.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

 

Leslie hands out a report she’s printed, profits & loss, and a balance sheet for 2022.

 

Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2022:

 

ASSETS

Current Assets

Bank Accounts

CD 10,040.00

Conference #7540 12,927.12

PayPal Bank 0.00

Workshop #7532 93,241.13

Total Bank Accounts $116,208.25

Other Current Assets

Uncategorized Asset 0.00

Total Other Current Assets $0.00

Total Current Assets $116,208.25

TOTAL ASSETS $116,208.25

LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

Liabilities

Current Liabilities

Credit Cards

Chase Ink CC 15.99

Total Credit Cards $15.99

Total Current Liabilities $15.99

Total Liabilities $15.99

Equity

Opening Balance Equity 91,222.04

Retained Earnings 39,045.03

Net Income -14,074.81

Total Equity $116,192.26

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $116,208.25

 

Profit and Loss as of December 31, 2022:

 

Income

Services 2,147.00

Unapplied Cash Payment Income 0.00

Uncategorized Income 0.00

Workshop

Conference

Ticket sales 76,065.55

Total Conference 76,065.55

Membership 95.91

Yearly Membership 20,510.12

Total Membership 20,606.03

Total Workshop 96,671.58

Total Income $98,818.58

GROSS PROFIT $98,818.58

Expenses

Admin

Accountant Fees 2,189.14

Bank Charges & Fees 2,654.36

Equipment 9.96

Hybrid Equipment/Zoom 537.39

Total Equipment 547.35

Total Admin 5,390.85

Charitable Contributions 698.81

Conference 2,134.46

Conference - Gifts 978.40

Conference - Travel 9,492.07

Conference - Advertising & Marketing 1,190.13

Conference - Meals & Entertainment 1,174.61

Conference - Merchandise 411.43

Conference - Refunds 14,624.00

Conference - Speaker 2,000.00

Conference - Supplies 911.25

Conference Food and Beverage 1,091.02

Conference Merchandise 5,133.84

Conference Venue 49,072.26

Total Conference 88,213.47

Facilities

Liability Insurance 2,078.00

Rent & Lease 7,391.95

Security 5,400.00

Total Facilities 14,869.95

Job Supplies 196.45

Legal & Professional Services 2,694.60

Operations

Nationbuilder Website 930.00

Total Operations 930.00

Other Business Expenses 0.00

PayPal Fees 341.13

Taxes & Licenses 5.00

Uncategorized Expense 0.00

Website 187.53

Writer's Block 687.50

Total Expenses $114,215.29

NET OPERATING INCOME $ -15,396.71

Other Expenses

Other Miscellaneous Expense 0.00

Reconciliation Discrepancies -1,321.90

Total Other Expenses $ -1,321.90

NET OTHER INCOME $1,321.90

NET INCOME $ -14,074.81

 

Leslie gives a disclaimer is that accounting isn’t her thing, but she’s tried her best, and she’s been trying to make sure QuickBooks is being updated. She got some help from the accountants to make sure everything was balanced, and she also got us out of PayPal. QuickBooks is working well, but there is a discrepancy on the form because of a PayPal transfer that didn’t sync up.

 

Her takeaway is that we were over budget last year. We ended up with more money than we expected from membership, but if you look at budget, the red on Leslie’s screen shows where we went over budget. Some budgeted costs were higher than expected, such as tax prep, mailbox, Zoom, and QuickBooks.

 

A couple of items came in under budget, such as nametags.

 

Transaction fees from conference and workshop are combined in Leslie’s doc.

 

Leslie does not have a complete budget vs actual. But she did want to mention that we did go way over budget for various items because of inflation. Our membership fees are looking robust though.

 

John wonders how the spreadsheet accounts for membership income.

 

Leslie shows this is at the top of doc. We expected 15k and pulled 2511.99 from reserves. Actual income was $20606 and change.

 

John wants to know if the membership income includes transaction fees. Leslie says that every time we get income, it shows the gross income and does not take those fees into account. Those fees are listed as an expense instead. The services listing in the doc is vender booths from the conference.

 

Leslie feels like she’s throwing a lot of numbers at us, but she would like to know if we have questions. She also has a balance sheet of our funds as of today, which she shows on her screen. It is not the papers she handed out. It’s looking good right now because we have a lot of conference income, but we haven’t made all our venue payments yet. We’ve only paid for a quarter of it.

 

Brooke knows that when the advisory board met, they recommended that three years’ worth of expenses should be set aside before we spend any extra money. She wonders if that was approved and is it shown in the document that Leslie has? How can we know that three years are in reserve? Leslie says we don’t have that, but maybe we should move 60K into a separate account that we don’t touch. Brooke isn’t sure that isn’t necessary, but would like it to be earmarked as an endowment that should not be touched. Brian suggests it be categorized separately. Leslie isn’t sure how to do that in QuickBooks, but she feels like it would be easy to create a savings account. Allen says there is a CD account already, and that would be easy to do too. Leslie says that CD needs to be reinvested anyway. Leslie doesn’t want to make investment decisions without guidance. Brooke thinks it’s less an investment and more just money tucked away. Brian thinks that if we want to put it in a different fund that cannot be touched, we should either invest it, or have it as a saving account that we can still access. Everyone agrees that the saving account for 60K is a good idea. Colin feels it’s better to put it in a CD so it gets higher interest. A penalty to take it out will discourage us from spending it.

 

John wonders how much the workshop spends, aside from the conference. Leslie says it’s on the second side of the P and L sheet, and it shows that we are in the hole 14k. John wonders if our reserve should be higher than 60K then. Brian says we spent 26K last year to operate the workshop, so 78k should be our goal for a backup reserve. Allen likes Colin’s point; we could create several CDs that start every few months. Colin likes the idea of 78K earning money for us. Brooke says that a CD is the safest option. Allen likes the idea of dividing it into several accounts that we can access them at separate times, having one year of liquidity.

 

Brian says that the risk is that we might get hammered on a conference. Brooke says this is why they want to protect the workshop by putting money aside. John says what he would like to know is how much money we need to have liquid. Helen says this depends on the penalty of accessing the reserve too. Grant says he’s confused: if we save three years of funds to keep the workshop afloat, that assumes we won’t make money for three years. John says that the reserve is just protection. If we’re in a situation where we need to spend a lot of money, we’re protected. Grant wonders why we want to save three years of anticipated expenses exactly. Brooke says that we can’t assume that everything will stay the same (we could lose this building for instance). She says that we can’t know for sure how much to save but saving three years of expenses is conservative. It will protect our organization. Alex says that his mom does bookkeeping and saving for three years expenses is standard. He says you have to be designed to fail because you will fail at some point. We can’t predict how badly we’ll fail, so it’s good to save a lot. Brian thinks the biggest concern is losing the building and having to find a new meeting place. Brooke says once we have three years set aside, we can better tackle our five and ten year plans. We can also behave more like a nonprofit because we’ll have met our fiduciary responsibilities.

 

Leslie wants to know how much money to put in the saving account. Everyone says 78K. Leslie will put that in there, and we can discuss plans for investing later. Brooke thinks this will help us as we discuss funding moving forward. Brian says that if we do this, we’ll know what excess money we have to work with.

 

John wants to know what the seed money is for a conference. Brooke feels that the bylaws say something that is too low. John wonders if we need to make sure we have 55K on hand (or at least a quarter of that because that’s what due first.) Colin says that we want to have enough to operate the conference as income comes in. Right now, Brooke says, we’ve sold 77 tickets, so we have that cash to fund the rest of the conference. John asks Steve what he thinks. Steve thinks the seed money should be at least 30k. Brooke thinks it should be 40K. You are spending a lot of money hoping people will show up. We must be prepared to throw a party and have no one attend (or everyone cancel because of covid.)

 

Helen wants to know what final numbers we are thinking.

 

Brian says he likes to look at the end of the year balances. John wonders how to look at our current funds. Brian says we should take out the money out for the con and for the savings, and what remains is all our money from last year. Brooke says our money should be clearly allocated.

 

John wants to know if we can actually put the three years’ worth of estimated expenses (78k) in a saving account or will that hurt the money we have for the conference. John wants to make sure we don’t overdraw.

 

Leslie explains that we have a conference account and workshop account. Allen suggests we table this discussion for now. Brian thinks we should at least create a three-year savings account, but we shouldn’t assume we’re at that goal yet; maybe we start by saving two years’ worth of estimated expenses.

 

Leslie suggests we have two savings accounts. One for the conference. One for the workshop. John would like to decide now how much money goes into those two accounts. John says need 128K for the conference. Before we started getting money for the conference, where were we? 116K.

 

Leslie explains that when we paid a large amount for the venue the account numbers dipped.

 

Brian thinks that the conference account, (taking into account Leslie’s explanation) should have 22K. We should move 52K to the saving account, and 27k to the conference account. John says no. Brian thinks it’s possible. John says that leaves us with only 16K in the workshop account to operate. John would like to have more of that available. Leslie will pay $5100 soon for rent. Library Reno is another 5K. Brooke suggests that we just put two years’ worth of estimated expenses in savings, and that we leave the CD alone.

 

According to the bylaws we need to have at least 10-20K before we start planning a conference. Brooke can’t recall the exact number but is pretty sure its 20k. She feels that the savings should just be a goal.

 

Brooke suggests we don’t move anything until after the conference.

 

Helen says that the bylaws say we must have 10K before planning a conference.

 

Leslie is going to make two accounts, one with 52K for the workshop, and 10k for the conference. Brooke would like to raise the threshold for the conference in the future.

 

Everyone present agrees with this plan.

 

Brooke would like a document defining which levers need to be pulled to access the money in savings. John and others agree. John feels this is something the advisory board should come up with.

 

Allen has a thought about the computers in the closet. People are upgrading their phones frequently so maybe we sell those computers now while they have some value. We should just keep one or two. John thinks that’s a great idea. Can Allen put together a proposal for selling them? Allen says yes. Allen will start a committee.

 

Colin asks about the bookshelves. John isn’t sure how that will be handled yet. One idea is to have a consignment shop sell them, another idea is to put them on FB marketplace. Brooke likes consignment. Leslie wonders if someone in the workshop would buy them? Or would that seem like a conflict?

 

Sarah will investigate selling them by consignment. (Update: Becca is on it!)

 

Leslie clarifies her task to make the two accounts and what will be in them. (52k and 10k.) Leslie feels the saving account will be more productive. Leslie’s going to put the CD we currently have in an account and add the additional money to create the two accounts. The advisory board will make more suggestions. Brian says that we can then make a plan to contribute yearly to these funds.

 

Leslie wants to know what our plans are for what happens if we generate extra money. John and Brian say that will be in the five-year plan discussion.

 

Five Year Plan:

 

David says we will be bigger and better. Alex says we will keep doing what we are doing now but with jet packs. Russel says he is new, and this is his first meeting. Brooke was the chairperson of the board. David says the longest member is the chairperson. Brooke doesn’t know how they rotate off because of how they were elected. David would like clarification for their roles. Brian says when creating an advisory board was voted on, their roles were defined. John thinks the board can figure out how they will rotate on and off.

 

Brooke says they have not put together a five-year plan. Last meeting they discussed the possibility of grants and perhaps buying their own building. It is in a google doc. Brooke is wondering if someone can display the doc because John is having technical issues.

 

Leslie says that she’s been thinking about possibilities for the future. She doesn’t have a grand vision. She thinks scale sometimes ruins things. At the same time, she thinks that we could be better about reaching out into the community so that our workshop looks more like what DFW looks like. It would be great to have more diversity in our membership. Leslie proposes an outreach program where volunteers visit libraries in various areas of Fort Worth, lead programs and make authentic connections that will bring new people to the workshop.

 

Alex wonders if there’s something more retro we can do, such as post on community billboards. Years ago, there was a flier that Alex saw. If we want to reach new people, we might need to extend our reach beyond the internet. We’re easy to find online. But at the same time, library bulletin boards might also work. It’s also not time intensive and low effort.

 

Brooke says that in the past, they cleaned up officer’s roles, financials, had visions for the future. If an idea is not sustainable or there’s not someone championing it, it’s maybe not worth doing. Brooke says that we can think of a lot of awesome ideas, but are they sustainable, can they be built into the workshop? Alex says that when they were doing group events, that was good, but he’s not sure how much it paid off. Alex has been to conventions where there is a good special guest and people still don’t attend. He’s just worried that we will expend too much effort. We can’t predict what will pay off. We can do things so long as we have someone to champion activities. Alex feels like our diversity has gotten better. It’s improved since when he joined.

 

Brooke shares the vision plan from 2016. It includes things like Populate Speakers Bureau, create a newsletter, notable members, Fiscal Sponsorship Discovery, Writer’s Bloc (that stuck around), Residency (never came to anything.) Audit.

 

In 2017, we were supposed to have a conference scholarship. Super sessions —meetings like this. Teen Workshop management.

 

Brooke says adding things does add more volunteers and expenses.

 

Strategic fund was also discussed in 2017, which was about buying a building, and that still hasn’t happened. Brooke had a presentation about this.

 

Satellite locations were tried,

 

2018 had nothing new.

 

2019 – DFW membership book (anthology idea). A DFW retreat was discussed.

 

2022 – strategic fund was discussed.

 

2023 – We still haven’t made a lot of listed goals (teen workshop, grants etc.)

 

Brooke says all that to say, lesson learned. John says the difference now is that we have the mechanism to carry these ideas through. Brian says it will help to have the advisory board because that way it’s not the officers who are responsible for the big picture stuff and implementing it. Brian says others are impressed with how well our nonprofit is run. Despite everything, we survived covid well. We took a big hit, and we’ve proven that we can be resilient. Brian thinks we have good building blocks. The conference framework has been very successful. He wonders if 500 members is a good goal, though. Maybe we need to redefine what it means to be great.

 

Brooke says that Alex once said our basic goal is to unlock the door. Colin says the main reason people attend this group is to participate in the read and critique. So if we also add in the conference and writer’s bloc, those three things support everything we do. We need to decide, do we exist to do those three things really well, or do we exist to do extra things? Brooke says some things are self-selecting. If they didn’t have a champion, they didn’t last. Discord for example, we’ll see how that does in two or three years. Brooke thinks that maybe our goal should be to do our three things well, and add in a more reliable place of operation—a building, etc.

 

Brian feels that the lesson learned is to cut bait. Writer’s Bloc was something we tried, and it stuck around. We do need to try new things. Some will stick, some won’t.

 

John wonders if things will happen organically. Brian says the proof of a good idea is if it survives without its original champion. The conference has, Writer’s Bloc has. Alex says that things that succeed have a strong intent. Helen says if something is an officer’s responsibility, that helps too. Alex agrees that we need to experiment. Allen says that the Teen Writer’s Workshop was good at first because it had a strong champion. On a strategic level, Teen Writer’s Workshop members can graduate to adult members.

 

Brooke says something else that came up in the meetings is, how do we serve our member authors? Selling their books? That’s one thing we haven’t solved.

 

Sarah suggests sponsoring tables at events like Fan Expo—she has done well doing things like that with author friends. Brooke says that might be something to try. Alex says he does not like selling books.

 

John says that when some authors get big, they quit coming, and that hurts our community. How can we make it worth their while to stay? Alex says that as an author, does any support help? When he was first published, he used to do book signings. Now that many people are self-publishing, people seem to care less about his signings. He’s not sure what helps.

 

Brooke thinks our end goal is to keep improving our critiques so it’s worthwhile for published authors to keep attending.

 

Alex says there is a natural churn, and there are always going to be people who don’t think they need critique anymore. He thinks that he and Russ, etc. show that published authors are still participating. Alex feels like he’s a good writer, but everything he writes is improved by the workshop.

 

Allen mentions someone discussing a CrossFit gym: you don’t spend your time figuring out the right color paper for your flier, you spend your time doing practical things like fixing leaky pipes, etc. That will lead to success. We are great at what we do. We help aspiring writers write better.

 

Brian mentions an ITW study on what impacted book purchases. Recommendations from a friend and from a librarian were significant. So were book clubs. Topic is also important for a new author.

 

Leslie considers why she keeps coming; she likes the emotional support, and she likes being held accountable. Selling the book is part of it—

 

Alex says the feeling that you should read something if you haven’t read in a while, also helps.

 

Brooke wants to circle back to our five and ten year goals. One is to define our rainy-day accounts. Another is to create a strategic fund account. We should also continue to do our three things really well and try a fourth until we find something that sticks.

 

John likes what Leslie was talking about, expanding who we are, helping us diversify.

 

Alex says we survived 30 years because we have an open door and people of many ages show up. When he went to a convention in Florida, the members were older, and they were worried about that. It made him happy that our group has new, younger members. Small groups can fall apart easily. The Waco group is done now for example.

 

Brooke says our mission is to serve the writing community; we give MFA education at 150$ a year. To continue doing that well, things like the library cleanup is important.

 

Alex says we still need to consider our pie-in-the-sky goal to have a building.

 

Colin says we also need a contingency plan in case we lose our current building.

 

Leslie explains that we’ve been grandfathered in as renters. They don’t rent the Simmons Center to anyone else. What happens if the rec director leaves, and a new director wants us to leave?

 

John says we survive because the people who come to our group are dedicated. That’s why we got rid of hybrid meetings. It’s harder to physically show up than turn on the computer. Quality of membership is more important than quantity.

 

Brian says when we considered our goals five or six years ago, we weren’t as financially healthy then than we are now.

 

Brooke agrees. She says the advisory board was created and now we have a pretty healthy organization, with a rainy-day fund, etc.

 

Leslie says when we endowed AWOW with money, we discussed incorporating them into our organization. Leslie would like to discuss this. She is a member of several organizations. They all have strong online components. What does everyone in the room think?

 

Allen thinks it will augment our group nicely: if you pay your dues, you will be a member in both places.

 

John thinks it’s a possibility, but he does not want to go back to hybrid meetings.

 

Brian says we gave the workshop twelve months to decide.

 

John thinks we should consider it. What would have to be done to do incorporate them? What are the advantages of it?

 

Alex thinks there are limitations to being online: it’s harder to have conversations, it’s harder to escape someone dominating a conversation, and it’s harder to socialize. He thinks part of it is the technology hasn’t captured the way we’d like to have private conversations within the larger group.

 

Brooke feels strongly that one of the most important things about this organization is its culture. We need to ensure that culturally it remains the same.

 

Sarah feels that with the online group, there’s a chance to get interesting members who live far away. For her father’s Toronto stamp club, keeping the online component they created during covid has been really positive.

 

Brooke feels that having an online option wasn’t something we planned, and a lot of the bylaw drama came from it. She wonders if that colors her opinion. Sarah acknowledges that she wasn’t a part of that drama and maybe doesn’t fully understand the situation.

 

Helen feels like having the online group as a separate chapter would be a good idea.

 

Brian doesn’t want to add more work to this team’s plate.

 

Alex wonders if you have a group that’s connected to you, will they compete with you? The Waco group maybe didn’t have strong enough members to keep it together. Alex says one of our strengths is the quality of critiques. He is worried that might change online.

 

Brooke says that we need to consider, what do we want to be?

 

Brian says that at one of the officer’s meetings, he noted that the quality of membership matters. The way that someone contributes to this organization is important. A big membership number might not always help us.

 

Alex says we’re lightening in a bottle; we have a large, diverse membership, we have good critiques, and we’re self-funded.

 

Grant says that his first meeting was an online one, and the meeting that got him to stay was someone referencing a published book.

 

David says we should get as many members as possible but make sure only 40 show up. (Joking.)

 

Brain says the quality of the membership doesn’t necessarily mean great writers, but also people who contribute.

 

Allen says 150 is a reasonable number of people you can keep track of. His daughter went to a ballet school, and the school had people at every level. It was easy for her to see her next step. That goes back to doing what we do well and focusing on our membership. That includes our published members.

 

John wants us to get back to discussing AWOW. His plan is not to reach out to them, but do we feel like we should ask them what they want to do? Colin says we need a plan first. Brian says the question is, are we going to take them back? It’s a workshop decision.

 

The officers will have to decide. John feels that’s in the bylaws.

 

Brooke asks when the year is over? Brian says December. Allen says we promised to talk to the AWOW group after ninety days. Alex isn’t sure why they want to be attached to us. Brian says it was an emotional connection. Leslie says they didn’t want to be orphaned. Helen says it was such a big group. John says the officers will take this up.

 

John asks if anyone is appalled that were going to spend extra money on this? (Secretary note: Not sure what “this” means here. Possibly library expenses?) Brooke says that there is money to spend this year. John asks if anyone has strong opinions, although it will be an officer decision. Brooke says the money should be considered a capital expenditure. Brian says this makes more work for the Treasurer. Brooke says it’s important for the report at the end of the year.

 

John says he will initiate the plan on the bylaws. This will be the working group for bylaw updates, and it will be open to the members. Those here includes officers, advisors, ex-presidents (even those not present at this annual meeting.)

 

Conference committee will start using their emails. Brooke wonders who will give people their emails. Colin knows some of it, and he offers to teach Grant. In the future, it will fall under Infrastructure.

 

Meeting Adjourned: 6:46

 

 

03/29/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

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:

 

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Members Attending: 28

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Guests: 0

 

New Members: 1

 

• Taylor (returning member)

 

Book Reviews: 2

 

• Allen Crowley reviewed Larry Enmon’s The Burial Place. He says it was very good.
• Brooke Fossey submitted a review/blurb for Lauren Danhof’s It’s Not a Cult. She says it was excellent.

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions: 3

 

• Charlie Hilliard submitted a poem.
• John Bartell submitted a poem to Horror Story Magazine.
• Brian Tracey’s agent submitted two cozy mysteries to three publishers, and Transient to five publishers.

 

Acceptances: 1

 

• Carolyn Rae – Searching for Justice came out on Monday. She will send a free copy to anyone interested in reviewing it. Please sign up on the sheet near the kitchen. She also brought brownies to celebrate!

 

Announcements:

 

Rebecca Seifert: Library clean up day is next Sunday the 2^nd at 1 pm. Please let Becca or John know if you can help.

 

Charlie Hilliard: AWOW is hosting a class on Modern Publishing Options with member Jodie Thompson, on April 29^th at 5 pm. Tickets cost 5$, and the class will be recorded so you can watch it later. For more info, go to https://www.allwritersonlineworkshop.com/events

 

Helen Dent: Helen has nametags for Christopher Nelson, Matthew Rollins, Melyssah Colerangle, and Dan Hawkins. If you are a new member who needs a nametag, please talk to Helen. If you are a member who has lost their nametag, you can get one free too.

 

John Bartell: John wants to remind people that Horror Story Magazine is accepting submissions. More info can be found in this week’s newsletter.

 

Also, next week is the business meeting, and there will be a recap of the annual meeting.

 

Leslie Lutz: Leslie is attending Thrillerfest in NY. If any other woman plans to go and would like to room with Leslie, let her know. It’s a great event with lots of awesome authors like Charlaine Harris. The dates for it are May 30^th-June 4^th.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:10

 

 

 

03/22/2023 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

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Number of Members Attending: 25

 

Meeting Called to Order: 7:00 pm

 

Guests:

 

Lydia (Chris’ wife) – here for support but likes to journal.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections:

 

Melyssah

Not accepted into MFA and PHD program for performance/visual arts

 

John Bartell

2 poems to Orchards poetry journal

 

Submissions:

 

John Bartell

Submitted 3 poems to Orchards poetry journal

Submitted The Accidental to an agent

 

Melyssah

Submitted to Agent Kevin O’Connor that she met at the DFWCon

 

Acceptances:

 

Lauren

Request for full manuscript for Fantasy Novel

 

Lauren Danhof

Book coming out in August. Received an offer for audio rights and may get a second

 

John Bartell

1 acceptance to orchards poetry journal

 

Announcements:

 

Carolyn Rae

Book from the wild rose press will release on Monday, 3/27. Carolyn will be bringing snacks to the next workshop and is asking for reviews (e-version available)

 

Collin Holmes

Paperback of thunder road 5/16 pre-orders are open now

 

Rebecca Seifert

Reminder that April 2^nd at 1:00 pm we will be cleaning the library. If interested, please contact Susan, Becca, or John.

 

Leslie Lutz

Reminder to sign up for DFW Con (Members get a discount). This is our 15^th year.

 

Meeting adjourned:   7:15 pm

03/15/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes

 

Officers Present:

 

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

 

Officers Absent:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

 

Members Attending: 24

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Guests: 0

 

New Members: 1

 

• Kelly Olivarez: Writing a memoir. Found us because she was looking for a group that meets in person.

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections: 2

 

• Tricia Allen pitched to an agent at the con who asked her to send 50 pages, yet then rejected it the very next day.
• Lauren received two rejections for a fantasy manuscript today.

 

Submissions: 2

 

• Candice Watson submitted her manuscript to two different agents.

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

Chris Lee Moore is selling his book at All Con Dallas this Thurs through Sunday.

Allen Crowley is giving away books in the kitchen.

Becca: We are planning to clean the library on Sunday, April 2^nd at 1 pm. If you are interested in helping, please let Susan or Becca know.

 

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:08

 

 

 

03/08/2023 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

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Members Attending: 36

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

Poem Reading by Helen Dent for International Woman’s Day: Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

 

Guests: 1

 

• Kelly - memoir writer

 

 

New Members: 1

 

• Kevin Pajak - has attended DFWCon. Writes literary fiction, Fantasy, Sci-fi.

 

Book Reviews: 2

 

• Susan Stewart reviewed A. Lee Martinez’s A Nameless Witch. She highly recommends it.
• Allen Crowley reviewed Larry Enmon’s the Burial Place and gave it five stars.

 

Rejections: 3

 

• Lauren: novel wasn’t a good fit for lists.
• Leslie Lutz sent a MG project to her agent to see if it was worth pursuing, and agent wants to reframe the idea and put on the back burner.
• Carolyn Rae: two novels out of three submitted haven’t been accepted.

 

Submissions: 2

 

• Leslie Lutz submitted the MG project and submitted her revisions on her YA horror novel.
• John Bartell submitted The Accidental to an agent and some poems to a journal, the Three Penny Review.

 

 

Acceptances:

 

• Carolyn Rae submitted To Lasso a Cowboy and was then asked to send the whole manuscript.
• Sarah Mensinga submitted graphic novel cover sketches to editor, which went over well.

 

Announcements:

 

John: Officers talked about the library. We plan to renovate it, which should look beautiful. The officers still must approve the budget, and then we’ll have a workday April 1^st. If you want to help, that would be great. More details to come, but part of the plan is to put in new bookshelves and make the room not look like John’s kid’s closet. If you are new, the books against the far wall in the library are all by workshop members.

 

Russell: An Italian publisher was interested in The Jackal Man. Russel finally heard that the book is being released this April. He has yet to see a cover, but this is exciting. He doesn’t know what the Italian title will be yet.

 

John: Reminds people where the first aid kit is in the kitchen.

 

Grant: Reminds everyone about the Discord server that he has set up for DFW Writers workshop members.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:11

 

 

 

03/01/2023 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

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

Vice President of Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Guest: Alex Martinez

 

Officers Absent:

 

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

Meeting Called to Order: 6:09 pm

 

Presidents Report:

 

Library: Susan and Becca have offered to work on the library and will present their plans for cleaning/organizing next Weds at 6:30. They are considering getting rid of the wood and glass display cases and buying new furniture from IKEA. That will give us more room to display and store books. Our collection of how-to-write books may need to go to Half-Price; at least some of them. Brooke suggests a two-week grab-and-go for these books for members. John thinks we should have a library that has craft-related books that are more up-to-date and relevant. John thinks we should also have a lending library for members’ books that are published traditionally and are at least 6 months old; that way it will encourage people to write reviews. I (Sarah) ask if we will include self-published books. Alex says there is already a policy of self-published books being included as long as you’ve been a member for a certain length of time, that way the books represent the workshop. Grant asks if all the books in the display case are written by members. Sally says yes, they just aren’t available for checkout.

 

Sally suggests we purchase Billy bookshelves from IKEA because you can buy them with and without glass doors. That way, we can keep our special books and our books for lending in the same storage system. Sally also suggests getting a customized embossing stamp to mark the books. John has requested a library reorganization proposal from Susan and Becca. Brooke asks if purchasing new furniture is in the budget. She also suggests we have a fundraiser where we sell some of the books we plan to get rid of. Sally suggests we sell the current display cases too. John agrees; selling the cases will raise money. Helen likes the idea of selling the books for one dollar each. People might buy more, especially if they know it’s really a donation. Brooke thinks we should simply ask for donation in exchange for the books, rather than dollar amount.

 

Grant offers to put out a call for volunteers on the discord server when we are ready to clean the library. John says we should definitely schedule some workdays.

Sally says that people could also donate other books for the fundraiser too. About funds, John thinks that the workshop should buy the author books for lending. It could be added to the budget. Brooke thinks that’s fair. Sally says some authors would happily donate copies of their books. John clarifies that for the case, authors need to donate copies, and for the lending library, the workshop will purchase a copy. John thinks we can talk more about this next week.

 

Annual Meeting: The annual meeting will be Sunday, March 26^th at 3:00. John will contact Euless to see if we can meet at the Simmons Center, that way we will have good wifi.

 

Missing Documents: Allen needs documents that state we are recognized as a charity. All we can find are tax returns. Brooke says we should have the original paperwork somewhere. Leslie has emailed the Secretary of State to get a certificate. I say that if we are looking for our non-profit ID number, this is probably on the periodic non-profit report that Leslie filed last year. Brooke is nervous because something (she can’t recall what, but it has to do with the website) expires in Feb.

 

Weekly Clean-up: The past couple of Wednesdays, there have not been enough people staying to clean up. John will make an announcement about this tonight. Alex suggests that people might need to be reminded that it’s not a long-term commitment, even helping every now and then is good. Brooke says that falls to VP of Infrastructure to make sure we have people who are willing and able to clean up every week. She suggests maybe Grant can think of some ideas to rally volunteers. Grant offers to make an announcement tonight. John thinks that when it comes to the read list, we should put the people with the longest reads in the library, that way everyone else can start cleaning without worrying about making too much noise.

 

Conference Report – Brooke Fossey:

 

Everything is going well for the conference. We have 6-7 agents attending already. We are still in the process of booking a keynote speaker. The conference committee had a positive meeting this past Sunday, the website is up and running, and we’ve already sold 20 tickets. Blair has made an incredible website.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

 

Because Leslie is not present, John reviews the report.

 

Treasurer Report - March 1, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Workshop account ending in 32: $87,142.79 

Con account ending in 40: $15,988.40

CD: $10,457.59  

Total: $113,588.78

 

 

 

Membership Report – Helen Dent:

 

We currently have 135 Members.

 

Some new people joined, but membership has been going down. A lot of people who haven’t been attending haven’t renewed their membership. Sally wonders if they are people who joined when the meetings were on Zoom and now can’t attend. There could also be people who have accidentally let their membership expire. John suggests we make an announcement asking members to make sure they are listed as a member. Sally wonders if some people are a bit miffed about the zoom/in person transition. Brooke and John assume there is a natural ebb and flow to membership. Helen asks about the annual meeting: if we will discuss incorporating online members again. John says we can talk about that, yes.

 

VP of Programs – Sally Hamilton:

 

Sally has talked to Candace Havens, and Candace is happy to teach a pitch class. Sally would like to arrange this for the fall, right before the conference. She does not have a date yet, though. If we do it at the Simmons Center, we’ll be able to set everything up the way we’d like. Sally isn’t sure if we can book it the center that far out, though.

 

For the Spring Writer’s Bloc, Sally has spoken to Amber Royer, who has a lot of writing experience and sometimes lectures at UTA. She is also happy to teach a class. She is available first two Saturdays in May. Irving library (where Sally thinks we could also host the class) will only book events 60 days in advance, but that is coming up soon. Amber would like to know what type of class we want. She has a book out about writing that she often uses as a base for her classes. Amber asked if we’d like a class about the craft or marketing; Sally suggested craft. Amber says she has a good class about heroes and villains and how they mirror each other. She also has a class about cliches vs archetypes and another about competing character agency. Her book is called Story like a Journalist, and it’s about getting everything organized before you begin writing. Sally can’t remember how much the room at Irving Library costs; she will ask. I suggest the North Richland Hills Library could be an option too; they are very supportive of local writers. Brooke wonders if because our class is free, could the space be free? Sally says that to book the room, our class must be free for the community, so unfortunately that doesn’t make a difference. John is concerned that if we host Candace Havens at the Simmons Center, we could have parking issues. Sally says maybe the Irving Library could be a good location for both classes.

 

VP of Infrastructure – Grant Gargagliano:

 

Grant gives an update on the Discord server. Every week, one to three people say they will join, but often don’t. The numbers are slowly growing, though. Once we have more people on the server, he’ll bring us all on. Sally suggests creating cards/sheets of paper with the discord link on it that people can take home. John suggests using a QR code. Brooke suggests putting a paper where people are signing up for reads that they can take a picture of. Sally isn’t sure a QR code will work, but there is surely something. Grant is wondering if non-tech-savvy people will know what to do. Helen says we can help them. Grant thinks he has discovered a way to invite people to the Discord that he can write on a post-it note for tonight. He now needs to find one.

 

Annual Meeting Agenda:

 

John wonders what we would like to discuss? Maybe we should talk about folding in the zoom group. Brooke suggests we update the officer’s roles sheets. John wants our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) updated too. Helen suggests we discuss if we need to incorporate. Sally asks about the Waco chapter and is told that it has disbanded. (They came virtually during covid for a while but then stopped.) Alex says the only way we survived Covid was because we have a large group. Brooke suggests that within our operating procedures, we prioritize things like taxes, URL maintenance, and other do-or-die, crucial issues. Helen asks if we have information for all officers on the google drive. She would like that to be on the agenda too, so it’s there for continuity. I ask if we all have access to the google drive through our official emails. John thinks so but asks me to check. (I’ve since checked, and I do not.) Brooke suggests five-year goal setting. She thinks the Board and Officers should collaborate on this. Everyone semi-seriously discusses a fundraiser event too (Talent Show?)

 

First Aid: John and Helen discuss the first aid kit, and how we now know where it is in the kitchen.

 

Secretary’s Report – Sarah Mensinga: I’ve looked up how often we need to file a Periodic Non-Profit report and learned that we are only supposed to file every four years. I am worried that it will be easy for a future secretary to forget, though. I offer to set up an alarm/notification for the future secretary to remember to file a periodic nonprofit report three years from now in the official gmail account’s calendar. I will first check with Leslie so I know exactly when the last report was filed.

 

Archives: Fort Worth Poet’s society is the longest running literary society in North TX, and John realized that their history is archived in the Fort Worth Public Library. John thinks if we organize our historical documents, maybe a large library will be willing to archive/store those documents for us. It will need to be organized and sorted first, and we’ll also need to figure out how to pitch this to a library.

 

Award Plaques: Sally wonders what we should do with the many wonderful plaques we have that haven’t been updated. Should we retroactively update them or start again? Or should we just dispose of them? We could also let members submit their info for retroactive updates. I suggest maybe this information could be digitized and have a special page on the website. Helen wonders if these awards are still meaningful to the workshop. John says they were meaningful when he joined. Grant says we could make them a big deal again. John says he was talking recently about having a special place to hang them; maybe we digitize only some of them. Sally would love to have the plaques revitalized. This might be something that could be addressed by a workshop Historian. Brooke suggests maybe this can be assigned to an officer, and then that officer can delegate. Brooke thinks that the value of the awards goes beyond the group; it could be helpful on a query letter. If its digitized, then people have to make an effort to see it. I suggest that if it’s digital, then it can be linked to by the recipients. It’s generally agreed that it would be good to the awards in both places, digital and on a plaque. Alex thinks the awards will be more meaningful once the library is clean and well-organized. Sally says most people don’t remember what the library looked like in the old location. Brooke says we used to bring out the big cork board for people to hang news etc. up on. John thinks the other side of the cork board could be used to display the plaques. Helen thinks that when it comes to the plaques, we should generally start again, but we can tell people they can apply for a retroactive listing. Sally thinks people should be able to make an application to be added to a plaque, but there should be a deadline for retroactive plaque additions. John thinks we should discuss this more before we announce it to everyone.

 

 

Meeting Adjourned: 6:58 pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03/01/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

Business Meeting and 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

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

Members Attending: 21

 

Total Members: 135

 

Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:04

 

President’s Report – John Bartell:

 

Susan and Becca are organizing the library cleaning efforts. Please talk to them if you would like to help.

 

We will have our annual advisory meeting in March, and we’ll update everyone on that in the future.

 

John reads the general totals from Leslie’s Treasurers’ report:

 

Workshop account ending in 32: $87,142.79 

Con account ending in 40: $15,988.40

CD: $10,457.59  

Total: $113,588.78

 

2023 Conference Chair Report – Brooke Fossey: Conference prep is going well. Workshop members are invited to visit the convention website where they can purchase a discounted ticket. Several agents are attending already.

 

VP of Infrastructure Report – Grant Gargagliano: Grant has been working on our DFW Writer’s Discord. If you would like to join, please download the app and contact Grant. The discord group will hopefully become a great place for our writer’s community to socialize and discuss writing outside of our Wednesday meetings. The invite link is also on a sticky note over by the read sign-up computer.

 

Also, we have had trouble getting enough people to stay after to clean up. If more people could help, that would be great.

 

VP of Events and Programs – Sally Hamilton:

 

Sally has talked to Candace Havens, longtime former member and editor for Entangled Pub. In the fall, Candace will teach a class about perfecting your pitch. Rosemary often teaches this, but she and others think it will be great to also get a different perspective too. Also, Amber Royer will teach a class in the Spring, perhaps a class about stereotypes vs archetypes. These classes are all free for members and also friends and anyone else. They will be fun, so come learn some cool stuff!

 

VP of Membership – Helen Dent:

 

We have 135 current members. If you realize that you regularly need to put your name into the computer, please come check with Helen who can help you remedy that. If people would like a name tag, please also come talk to Helen.

 

Business meeting adjourned: 7:10 pm and the regular meeting starts.

 

Guests: 0

 

New Members: 1

 

• Michael Schad. He just started writing in Dec. Loves to read, loves literature and art, would like to get more serious about his writing. A friend read his writing and encouraged him to join.

 

Book Reviews: (We forget to ask.)

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions: 1

 

• John Bartell submitted The Accidental to an agent.

 

Acceptances: 2

 

• Carolyn Rae just signed a contract to present a program for Contemporary Romance Writers in June on Zoom.
• JD Vance: Contract is signed and sent for Mexicano Hustle.

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell: Lets everyone know that there is a first aid kit in kitchen.

 

Chris Lee Moore: Recently rejoined. He has printed his book “Quest Seekers: The Wormstone,” and he will have a signing at J. Gilligan’s in Arlington this Friday from 6-8 pm. He will also be selling his book in Grand Prairie at Trader’s Village on Sat and Sun.

 

John tells Chris that he can add this info on the website under Events.

 

Helen Dent: Was recently contacted by a mom with a 14-year-old who is interested in writing. She is looking for youth writing programs. Helen looked online but would love to find even more options. Please talk to Helen if you know of any.

 

John Bartell: In the most recent workshop email is a cool contest for authors who have not been published yet from Ploughshares. The contest opens today. Check out email for more details.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:16 pm

 

 

 

02/22/2023 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

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

 

Members Attending: 32

 

Total Members:

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:01

 

Guests: 1

• Guest would just like to observe before introducing themselves.

 

New Members: 1 (Renewal!)

• Stacy Kuhnz

 

Book Reviews: 0

 

Rejections: 1

• John Bartell: a poem

 

Submissions: 4

• Candace Watson: submitted novel to two agents.
• Paola Lastick: submitted short story to nine different journals.
• Carolyn Rae: submitted three books to pitchfest.
• Allen Crowley: submitted ten puns to a contest – no pun inTENded.

 

Acceptances: 2

• Lauren Danhof: Agent forwarded Not a Cult to the managing editor at a national publication, who had lots of praise. They want to feature Lauren in a column for an upcoming issue, and there will also be a blurb.
• JD Sanders has his contract now for Mexicano Hustle. Thanks to Darryl and Brain for helping form the idea at the IHOP.

 

Announcements:

 

John Bartell: Last week a first aid kit was needed for a small cut. John could not find it then but now knows it is on the wall in the kitchen if anyone needs it.

 

Grant Gargaliano has been working on our DFW Writer’s Discord. If you would like to join, please download the app and contact Grant. The discord group will hopefully become a great place for our writer’s community to socialize and discuss writing outside of our Wednesday meetings.

 

Brooke Fossey: Letting everyone know that registration for DFWCon is now open and that early bird registration ends March 15^th. Members don’t get early bird special, but they do get their member discount. Please share and retweet information about the con, and please purchase your member ticket. Be sure to also check out the new website.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:08

 

 

 

 

02/15/2023 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: 0

 

Members Attending: 39

 

Total Members: 137

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:13

 

Guests: 1

 

• Jack Williamson: Carolyn Rae’s husband.

 

New Members: 2

 

• Dan Hawkins: writes general fiction and thrillers (joined during last week’s meeting.)
• Lauren: writes fantasy.

 

Book Reviews: 2

 

• Brooke Fossey received a one-star book review: “I didn’t get past the first few pages because of the language used.”
• Carolyn Rae: Carolyn’s review for Welcome to Hicksville High can now be read on Amazon.

 

Rejections: 1

 

• LeAnn Robinson submitted manuscript for Fog of War to Chris Kennedy.

 

Submissions: 1

• LeAnn Robinson queried a small publisher about Fog of War.

 

Acceptances: 1

 

• LeAnn Robinson: first three chapters were requested.

 

Announcements:

 

Sarah Terentiev is coteaching class for Texas High Plains Writers next month.

 

Carolyn Rae: Savvy Authors’ Pitchfest is still happening. Details can be found here: https://savvyauthors.com/community/classes/2023-sweetheart-pitchfest.1938/

 

John Bartell: Please check with John about room/table/chair arrangements when cleaning up this evening.

 

Officers also discussed AI during our monthly meeting last week. They decided that it is not appropriate for members to read work produced by AI at meetings. In the bylaws, article 13 states: Only members’ unpublished and unproduced work will be read for critique and must be read by the author unless approved in advance by the Presiding Officer.

 

Sally Hamilton thanks everyone for attending and participating in the Valentine’s Day potluck. This is DFW Writer’s first potluck of the year. We will do more, most likely for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. At the end of the night, please remember to take home your potluck items and please help yourself to all the little Valentine’s themed items on the table.

 

Grant Gargaliano has been working on our DFW Writer’s Discord. If you would like to join, please download the app and contact Grant. The discord group will hopefully become a great place for our writer’s community to socialize and discuss writing outside of our Wednesday meetings.

 

Brooke Fossey: The new website for the con launched today! The convention will be October 7^th and 8^th. Blair gives us an overview of new, completely redesigned DFWCon website. DFW Writer’s members get 150$ off the total price of the con, which makes the discounted price $299. Registration is now available for all three days, and the website is also accepting applications if you are interested in teaching a class. Brooke reminds us that they bury the lead for our member registration, so search for registration for members. Member Con registration can also be found on the DFW Writer’s website. Blair asks everyone to let him know if you see something off or unusual when looking at the website on the phone. Brooke asks us to share the site widely!

 

Helen Dent has name tags for Stephen Rogers and Grant Gargarliano. If you have recently joined and you would like a badge, please contact Helen.

 

Leslie Lutz is continuing to collect books for an all-girl’s school in Nigeria set up by Dr. Ejiofor, Chiwetel Eijofor’s mother. Books should be appropriate for readers ages 14-16, and they should also be new or newish (look new.)

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:29

 

 

 

02/08/2023 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 Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Guest: Alex Martinez

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Meeting Called to Order: 6:06

 

Presidents Report (John Bartell):

 

The workshop library needs attention.

 

We also need a sign for the library bathroom to make sure people are not using it.

 

John will ask for a volunteer to head up a library organizing/cleaning committee and set up a workday. This will have to be arranged with the City of Euless. The workday could possibly include a pizza party. John would like to make the room inspirational again. The group debates putting up a screen to hide what needs to be stored. John says we don’t need a final decision now, but he will ask for a volunteer tonight. The officers admit that maybe no one will volunteer.

 

We should also invite long term members to help identify what is in the library; there are documents, photos, and photo albums that need to be sorted. Maybe Carolyn Rae can help? The officers discuss that the workshop used to have historian position. There are a lot of documents that might be interesting. Possibly, those documents can be scanned. Everyone agrees that it would be good to have the library functional again. John offers to talk to Carolyn about what is in the library and what might be worth saving. Maybe they are just old bills? Hopefully stuff can either be scanned or thrown away. Maybe scans can be saved directly to the Google drive, since they will take up a lot of memory. The officers discuss reviving the historian position again. Perhaps Harry would be interested—John will ask him.

 

John wonders if there a date in March that would work for everyone for the Annual Meeting. Saturday, March 25^th is discussed, and so far, that day works for everyone present.

 

John also notes that he found the rental contract for the Simmons Center, and he put a copy in the google drive. The contract says we are supposed to sweep and mop. John wonders if we have a broom, or even better, a giant dust broom. It seems we do not. Maybe we can request this from the city of Euless?

 

Treasurer’s Report (Leslie Lutz):

 

Leslie talked to David Eversole at Mead & Shelton, our accountant. He is ready to file taxes and will send them to John via docusign. He has access to our reports, so he has prepped everything. Leslie also filed our quarterly sales tax report. It’s very easy.

 

Shelly from Monkey and Dog hasn’t settled up regarding the con merchandise yet. She will be our bookstore person again for the con, yet Leslie thinks we should not ask the bookstore to sell our merchandise as well. We could open a store/table by registration for 2 hours, and we’d have more control over it. The officers think this is a good idea.

 

Treasurer Report - February 8, 2023

 

Prepared by: Leslie Lutz

 

Statement

Workshop account ending in 32: $86,385.81

 

Con account ending in 40: $19,984.45

 

CD: $10,457.59

 

Total: $116,827.85

 

Membership income in January: $2086

 

See attached for December P and L 

 

January expenses 

Security: $780

Conference website expense (Siteground): $319.67 

Mailchimp fee (conference) $72.73

Zoom fee: $334.38

Bank Charges: $93.94

Membership refund: $100

Total January expenses: $1700.72

 

This total does not include a check sent to Hurst, because they have not cashed it yet. It’s for $11,000.

 

The membership income for January was really good. Part of that is the increased membership cost. Part of that is people joining because of their New Year’s resolutions.

 

We’re in the black for expenses this month, but that does not account for rent. We can break down the rent per month if we would like more accurate reports.

 

Zoom fee came due. Someone should review the account to see if everything is still necessary. John offers to do this.

 

In general, it’s all going fine.

 

Con Update (Brian Tracey):

 

The website for the conference is being refreshed. Blair is working on this. Registration pages are all set up. The dates and pricing are set.

 

We also have our first agent. Brian sent out four more invitations today, and he has also sent an invitation for a key note speaker. He has a list of about ten possible key note speakers if this one is unavailable. The conference team wants to make sure they have a diverse group of presenters. They hope to have maybe two special guests as well.

 

Outreach Report: (Alan isn’t present, so presented by Brian.)

 

Our CMS (content management) is Wordpress and Nationbuilder (who also hosts our workshop website). Site Ground is the host for the conference. The DFWCon website expires in April. Brian hopes to take things out of Steve Manning’s hands while we work to transfer domains. A short term solution is to give Steve a check to at least renew all the domain names so we don’t risk losing them. John will check with Allen for an update on the domain names. Payment for the websites is annual. Brooke would also like a document that has all the website information in it.

 

John mentions that he is sending out weekly workshop reminder emails, and he has added Help Others and Help Yourself sections, which include information about events such as contests. He would like for people to send him more content to share, news to post, other contests, events, etc. Brian thinks maybe this should be considered a weekly newsletter rather than a reminder. Leslie suggests it needs a name. Alex suggests Write not Wrong. Sally suggests the Write-up. The Officers like that one.

 

VP of Programs and Events Report (Sally Hamilton):

 

Next week, Sally will arrive early to set up the circle tables and decorate. Sally will also suggest that people can bring mains if they like. Sally suggests that we use the library for the Valentine’s read room. If we need a second read room, we can figure that out on the day. We’ll also have a paper sign up for the Valentine’s reads.

 

About Writer’s Block, Sally has selected 2 people to reach out to. One is Candace Havens. Candace says she has some classes that are about 1.5 hours, rather than an hour, and Sally thinks that will work. Typically for the spring event, we do a craft event, and the fall event is almost always about pitching. Candace has a fun pitch class that’s interactive. It encourages people to write pitches in class. She also has a class called 20 things for your novel to be a bestseller. John is interested in the pitch class. Sally would also like to nail down locations. Could we have it at the Simmons Center? John says we’d have to pay, but that’s true of anywhere. Parking could be an issue, though. If there is a big turn-out, we could risk losing our lease if there are complaints about how people park (such as in the grass, etc.). Euless has two other event spaces that have better parking. Leslie thinks it might be nice to have it somewhere where there’s foot traffic, such as the library. Sally agrees that a library could work well, maybe the Irving Library for the fall event. Sally will look into the fees. The Irving Library is nice space, and it also has a good pie shop nearby. The officers all like that. Sally will also contact another local writer.

 

Infrastructure Report (Grant Gargagliano):

 

Grant has taken over the DFWWW Discord server to make an online chat for the workshop. There is both text based, voice based, and video communication options. There are only a small number of active members. Grant will try to bring on more people.

 

Leslie suggests that the Discord should have some clearly stated rules of conduct, such as our ethics statement from the bylaws. Sally suggests we include the entire bylaws. She says this should be easy to do. Sally is familiar with Discord as well.

 

Leslie has been trying to think about how to deal with it when people cross the line of our ethics bylaws. An example of this is people trying to continue critique conversations about intimate scenes outside of the formal critique structure in a way that could make people feel uncomfortable.

 

Brain wants to know what the discord is for. Grant and Sally say it’s for community building and sharing information, and a place to find beta readers & critique partners. We will have mods. Grant will recruit more people as we ramp up to make sure that everyone is being appropriate. Sally says there’s a way to make new members acknowledge the rules when they join. You can also set different roles for members and have private channels as well. There is a staff channel that no one can see except for people Grant approves. John wants to make sure that if someone’s on vacation, the chat will be taken care of/moderated. Grant says he can set-up several system admins. John wants to make sure the top admin is accessible by the workshop. Grant offers to make a workshop account for the server, and he will share that information with the officers because the owner of the server has total control. The Discord is also a low investment for the workshop because it’s free. Grant needs a copy of the bylaws. John lets him know that he can find it on the workshop site on the right-hand side.

 

John is wondering if people are having trouble setting up their workshop accounts on the website.

 

Social Media Report (Brian Tracey):

 

Brain reminds everyone to send him news to share. He also follows workshop members who follow the DFWWW social media accounts. Brooke has now taken over the conference account, so there is an uptick of activity there.

 

Membership Report (Helen Dent):

 

We have 136 active members. (Helen updates this to 137 in the Business Meeting later.)

 

On the website, a lot of people are listed under joined yearly rather than joined monthly, which has caused an issue with expiration dates. It gets also complicated when Helen tries to move people over from one category to the other. It’s not a huge problem, it just makes it hard to track people with expired memberships. Also, there are a few people who don’t expire until 2025, which surely isn’t correct.

 

New Business:

 

Sally: With the rise of chatbots and artificial AI, should we consider addressing it in our bylaws? Maybe we should not allow the primary source of workshop writing to be AI generated. All officers agree. Someone recently brought a read that was primarily created on AI. Leslie says our ethics statement is broad and may cover this already: no behavior that reflects poorly on the writing profession is allowed in our group. Brian also thinks it might fall under the category of previously published work not being allowed. The officers discuss how AI content is causing problems in the art/illustration world too. We also discuss if AI writing would be permissible AI only generated an outline/prompt, but an author edited it afterward. John says that our bylaws state that authors must read their own work, so that covers AI too. AI will surely not bring its own work for critique.

 

Secretary’s Report (Sarah Mensinga—Me):

 

I checked the PO box this past Monday. It was empty.

 

Meeting Minutes: John requested I read an article on how to write comprehensive meeting minutes. Generally, we’re doing well, but the article mentioned that it’s important for all officers to ensure the meeting minutes are accurate. This is especially important for Officer’s/Business/Annual meetings, which may need further clarification. I can send out an email when minutes are posted for special meetings or send out a copy before I post it. For weekly meetings, I usually post the minutes the following morning.

 

Can someone (Brian maybe?) teach me how to edit meeting minutes? Who do I direct questions to regarding the website? Yes, Brian will help.

 

Period Report: (John requested I search this up.) I researched how to file a Periodic Report, and I’ve located the forms. Someone needs to be the registered agent, so they will be the contact person for the state regarding the report. Cost is 5$. All officers and directors must provide addresses. Report must be filed every four years. When is the last time we filed a report? Leslie filed this report last year and thinks it should be done annually. I’ll double check when it needs to be filed again.

 

Rebecca Seifert has volunteered to take the minutes if I ever can’t make a meeting.

 

Meeting Adjorned: 7:02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

02/08/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes 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 Digital Media: Brian Tracey

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Members Attending: 26

 

Total Members: 137

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:05

 

Business Meeting:

 

Leslie reads the Treasurer’s Report:

 

Workshop account ending in 32: $86,385.81

Con account ending in 40: $19,984.45

CD: $10,457.59

Total: $116,827.85

Total January expenses: $1700.72

 

We have an outstanding check for the conference center. When that check clears it will take a chunk out of the conference account. Membership was higher than usual this month thanks to New Year’s resolutions.

 

Harry asks how much the check is. Leslie says the current payment is approximately $10,000.

 

John Bartell - President: The library is ideally a showcase for our authors, not a storage room. If anyone would like to head up a committee to make the library an inspiring place again, let John know and maybe we could arrange a workday with several people.

 

Also, please help clean up at the end of meetings. We should be sweeping, although we need to find a broom first. Tonight, the room directly behind officers needs to have six tables. Talk to John to see how they are placed.

 

Con Update from Brian Tracey: The convention will be October 7^th and 8^th in Hurst. We’ve started inviting agents and editors. We also started sending invitations for a keynote speaker and refreshing the website. It will be updated soon. Hotel info and registration info will also be available soon.

 

Sally Hamilton - Events: February 15^th will be the Valentine’s Day/Potluck reads. We’ll have a special room for Valentine’s reads—could be sexy, romantic, friendship-themed, Galentines etc. We will have regular reads too. Potluck will be dessert and snack themed to make it easy on everyone, but you are welcome to bring anything. We’ll have the space set up for a friendly hang out.

 

Grant Gargagliano - Infrastructure: Grant has started a discord server for the workshop. This will give everyone the opportunity to connect throughout the week, a chance talk to discuss reads further, hear announcements, or possibly find beta readers. This will help build our community. The app is free and will be more fun if more people join. Grant needs to invite you personally. It’s easy to use the app, which is also available for PC. Talk to Grant if you’d like an invite. Sally will help Grant set up a multi-use link to make things easier as well.

 

Helen Dent - Membership: We have 137 members.

 

John: We are also turning the weekly reminder emails into more of a newsletter. It will include more information about things like contests, events, and charities.

 

This week the newsletter/email included info about the Drabble Harvest Contest.

 

Leslie: Is continuing to collect books for a girl’s school in Nigeria set up by Dr. Ejiofor, Chiwetel Eijofor’s mother. Books should be appropriate for readers ages 14-16, and they should also be new or newish (look new.)

 

General Meeting: Starts 7:17

 

Guests: 1

 

• Dan Hawkins. Dan also visited in October. He has finished his first draft and is looking for critique.

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 1

 

• John Bartell: Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett.

 

Rejections: 1

 

• John Bartell: The Accidental was rejected by an agent.

 

Submissions: 1

 

• Sarah Mensinga – MG Sci-fi novel, Wren and the Robots is now out on submission.

 

Acceptances: 3

 

• John Bartell: A poem, My Summer Jacket, was accepted into a Poetry Society of Texas Humor Anthology. Also, Last Dive at Wheeler’s Branch will be published in Tales from the Deep anthology. And most exciting, his poem Ninety-seven plastic, upside-down Vs came in second place in the Poetry Society of Texas’s January monthly contest.

 

Announcements:

 

Carolyn Rae: Reminds everyone to make use of the books in the library that teach you how to write. Savvy Authors is also having a pitch contest. Details can be found at https://savvyauthors.com/community/classes/2023-sweetheart-pitchfest.1938/

 

Lauren Danhof: has Girl Scout Cookies!

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:23

 

Of interest:

Our guest made a snap decision and signed up for membership on his phone during read and critique.

 

 

02/01/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General Meeting Minutes – Winter Snow Home Edition

 

Officers Present:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Membership: Helen Dent

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

Secretary: Sarah Mensinga

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent: 1

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

Members Attending: 31 (all via Zoom)

 

Total Members: 145

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:07

 

Guests: 1

 

• Suzanne Carroll

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 1

 

• Leslie Lutz: The Depths, YA Horror

 

Rejections: 2

 

• Carolyn Rae: Six Days to Live
• John Bartell: Poem about a tree for a Spec Fic Anthology

 

Submissions: 3

 

• LeAnn Robinson
• Kendal Furlong: Starship (Did not catch second half of title).
• Melyssah Colerangle: 5000 words to Harlequin Romance for mentorship program

 

Acceptances: 1

 

• JB Sanders: Offered contract for Mexicano Hustle

 

Announcements:

 

Allen Crowley: Del Shores Foundation Writers Search 2022 now open, this foundation supports LGBTQ+ writers. Allen will post about last year’s festival in the chat. Fee is waved for DFWWW members, reach out to John Bartell if you’d like the code.

 

Grant Gargagliano: Grant made a DFWWW Discord for us. He’ll discuss it further with officers next week. Contact Grant if you’d like an invite link.

 

Leslie Lutz: Leslie is still collecting YA books (ages 14-16) on behalf of the International Thriller Writers Association for an all-girls school in Nigeria that will help girls who have been affected by terrorism. They are building a library. Please donate new or nearly new books to Leslie. She plans to send a package of books soon.

 

Sally Hamilton: On Wednesday Feb 15, we’ll have our Valentine’s Day Sweet Reads. Bring WIP featuring romance, sexy stuff, or even friendship. We’ll have a special room for these reads, as well as rooms for regular reads as well. We’ll also have a Sweet & Snacks Potluck (because a sweets only potluck gets too sugary.)

 

Rosemary Clement: (Bonus announcement while Helen prepares read list!) Rosemary has a new job describing food for a marketing department.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:19

 

 

 

01/25/2023 DFW Writer’s Workshop

General 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 Digital Media: Brian Tracey

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

Officers Absent:

 

President: John Bartell

Vice President of Community Outreach: Allen Crowley

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

 

Members Attending: 28

 

Total Members: 145

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:02

 

 

Guests: 2

 

• Katie
• Jordan

 

New Members: 1

 

• Steven Kinzler – Writes fiction, nonfiction, historical short stories

 

Book Reviews: 3

 

• Leslie Lutz: My Sister the Serial Killer, It’s Not a Cult (Review Copy)
• Carolyn Rae: Welcome to Kickville High

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions: 0

 

Acceptances: 5

 

• Alex Martinez: Automatic Detective – Series being developed, Monster – options renewed
• Carolyn Rae: Has a publishing day for Searching for Justice, it will be out in March
• Larry Enmon: New book will be Murder so Fowl
• Brooke Fossey: Book rights sold in Portugal and in Finland

 

Announcements:

 

Sally Hamilton: Sweet Reads are coming up (Valentine’s Day Reads). Can be romance, friendship, something warm, love-themed horror stories, etc. Participating is voluntary. Members can also bring regular reads. There will also be a desserts and snacks potluck. Sally thinks we’ll do this Feb 15^th, rather than the 8^th.

 

Leslie Lutz: Still collecting books on behalf of International Thriller Writers, for a Nigerian school for girls affected by terrorism. Please donate YA books appropriate for ages 14-16. Leslie will mail them to her contact who will then send them on to the school.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:11

 

 

 

01/18/2023 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

 

 

Officers Absent:

 

Vice President of Events and Programs: Sally Hamilton

 

Treasurer: Leslie Lutz

 

Vice President of Digital Media: Brian Tracey

 

Infrastructure: Grant Gargagliano

 

2023 Conference Chair: Brooke Fossey

 

 

Members Attending: 29

 

Total Members: 144

 

Time Business Meeting Called to Order: 7:01

 

 

Guests: 1

• Dave Reid

 

New Members: 0

 

Book Reviews: 5

 

• Sarah Mensinga – Ducks, a graphic novel by Kate Beaton
• Laurie Danhof – When Frankie Stands Up
• DJ - Sleep Experiment by Jeremy Bates
• Allen Crowley – Something about Technology
• Steve Manning – Unspoken Words by Charlie Hilliard

 

Rejections: 0

 

Submissions: 1

• John Bartell

 

Acceptances: 0

 

Announcements:

 

Charlie Hilliard: Next Friday 27^th at 6:00, “Dos and Don’t of Self-Publishing” webinar with Russell C. Connor and Sarah Bale will be hosted by the All Writers Online Workshop.

 

John Bartell: Donations of YA novels (for readers 14-16) are still being accepted by Leslie Lutz for a girl’s school Nigeria on behalf of the International Thriller Writers.

 

Meeting adjourned: 7:07