The big moment has arrived!

Workshop lifetime member Ginnie Siena Bivona's novel, Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party, has been turned into a TV movie named Bound by a Secret. It airs on the Hallmark Channel 8 p.m. Central time, Saturday March 7.

Congratulations, Ginnie! We're so proud of you.

Click here for more details about the film.

Kenneth E. Ingle will have a book signing for “Saragosa Prime" from 10:30 am 1:30 pm at the UTA Bookstore.

Directions to the University of Texas at Arlington Bookstore:
- I30
- South on Cooper
- to UTA Blvd
- East to Pecan
- Parking available

Rosemary Clement-Moore  will have a book signing for new Maggie Quinn book “Highway to Hell” from 2-4 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Hurst near North East Mall.

861 NE Mall Blvd
Hurst, TX 76053
817-284-1244

And be sure to check out how you can win a copy of Highway to Hell before you can buy it!

A. Lee Martinez will have a book signing at the Waldenbooks in Valley View Mall this coming Saturday, Feb 14th, from 2-4 pm.

Valley View Mall is located at Preston Rd & 635 LBJ Freeway, and the bookstore is on the second floor, near the Sears.

Check out the new web site we've launched for the DFW Writers' Conference, May 2-3, 2009 at the Grapevine Convention Center! Online registration is open. Bestselling author Bob Mayer is our keynote speaker, and pitch sessions will be available with six visiting literary agents.

Thanks to member Heidi Berthiaume for the fantastic design work!

The first meeting of every year is when we elect a new board of directors. To be eligible to vote, members must have attended at least three of the last five business meetings. (Business meetings are the first Wednesday of every month.)

This year's slate of candidates is:

President: Russell Connor
1st Vice President: A. Lee Martinez
2nd Vice President: Carolyn Williamson
Secretary: Nik Holman
Treasurer: Fred Campos
Director: Kristen Lamb
Director: Chris Lee Moore

Thanks to these members for stepping up to lead the organization through another great year!

The Workshop has a long-standing tradition that it meets every Wednesday, regardless. We've met on Christmas Day and July 4th. We've met during very icy winter storms when we probably shouldn't have been out on the roads driving. But we're dedicated like that.

The tradition was put to the test again in December. Both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fell on Wednesdays.

We expected maybe four or five people to show up on these days (normal meeting attendance is between 40 and 50). But for Christmas Eve, we had 11 people, and for New Year's Eve, we had 20! And 10 of us went on to IHOP for after-meeting dinner and conversation. The Workshop is a fantastic group of people serious about their writing, and as you can see, we obviously like spending time with each other and consider the organization important to our lives. And if you've been thinking that associating with other writers might be a good experience for you, we encourage you to come visit us and give us a try!

At the December 3rd meeting during our annual holiday dinner, the Workshop recognized one of its very special members for years of service to the organization and for his accomplishments as a writer. Jack currently holds the Workshop record for most published novels, with 19 titles to his credit. A member since the 1980s, he has served on the Workshop board and was a voice of authority during the weekly read and critique sessions for many years. He doesn't get to attend as often as we'd like these days due to health reasons, but we wanted Jack to know how much he appreciate him. And we caught him totally by surprise! We made sure he was there for the meeting, but he had no idea we were going to present him with something. Thanks for all you've done for the Workshop, Jack!