Winners!

Congratulations to three of our regular members for their awards at the recent Dearborn Street Book Festival's "Write-On-Englewood" Writing Contest! Don Westerfield won First place for his short story entry, and Ann Favreau took Second place in the same category. Christine Burton, who makes the long drive from Bradenton for our meetings, took not only First Place in poetry, but also Third place as well!  Congratulations to our writers!

By the way, I also have it on good word that Joanne has published her book and had a wonderful display at the fair and sold many copies. Again, congratulations to all our writers.  See you all Wednesday!

George

Ann Favreau wins National Essay Contest

Ann Favreau of Venice, one of our most loyal FWA members and President of the Suncoast Writers Guild, Inc., has won the national essay contest sponsored by the United Ostomy Associations of America to celebrate World Ostomy Day.  Her submission may be published in the Phoenix magazine, we'll post the availability and as soon as we have the details. Ann's current book, It's Okay to Have an Ostomy, is available at amazon.com. Congratulations, Ann!

NPR: Another Market For Local Writers?

A member of our local FWA group and director of the Suncoast Writers Guild in Englewood, Ann Favreau recently shared with us an email she received from Guild member Kathy Nixon. It may open the door for some of us to yet another possible market for our
work--National Public Radio--especially if you enjoy writing personal essays. Here's Kathy's account.

"Following the advice of our guest speaker on other ways to publish, I wrote a three minute essay about taking my grandchildren to an ancestral burial ground. I contacted the local public radio station. [In our area that would be WUSF-FM in Tampa-Ed.] The editor loved it and we arranged a time to record when Randy and I were visiting the grandchildren. The [NPR editor], Martha Woodroff, was so easy-going that she made the whole experience a real high point of the vacation. You can go to http://www.wmra.org/, click on Civic Soapbox (My Grandchildren's Half-told Family Story) and listen to the essay or click on Civic Soapbox blog to read it."

What makes this possibility even more interesting and potentially profitable is that our local NPR station (WUSF-FM) has recently purchased a radio station here in Sarasota and will be expanding their programming in our immediate area. That means they will also be needing a lot of material to fill their new daily schedules. And, yes, they DO pay you for your work. This is not a freebie.

If you have any short personal essays that could amuse, inform, enlighten or inspire NPR listeners, contact Sheila Rue, WUSF-FM's Program Director at srue@WUSF.org. Sheila should be able to direct you to the proper contact within the organization.

Give it a try. It won't cost you more than a stamp-less free email. And GOOD LUCK!

Posted by
Russ Heitz
http://www.russheitz.com/

Favreau Starts New Year With New Achievements

Ann Favreau, one of our most loyal FWA members, has started off the new year with a double bang!

First, the Englewood Sun newspaper is now running a story about Ann's life and about her new book WINDOW EYES. To read the article about Ann's life go to http://www.sunnewspapers.net/, scroll down to "Today's Printed News" and scroll further down to the article "Seeing the World Through Window Eyes."

And second, Ann also received word that her story TERROR IN A TAXI was selected for publication by Doorways Memoirs, an online ezine. TERROR IN A TAXI will appear for a year in this publication. Ann was also paid for this story, which makes her a true "professional" writer. To read TERROR IN A TAXI go to http://www.doorwaysmemoirs.com/.

A teacher for 27 years, Ann's life changed drastically in 1988 when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. But Ann was determined that her cancer was not going to ruin her life or stop her from traveling. As the article says, "Sentenced to a life with an artificial opening in her colon, Ann set out with her husband Raymond to travel the world. ... Along the way, Favreau became a voice for ostomates--people who live with an artificial opening in some part of their bodies from cancer or catastrophic illness.

"Her work with ostomates led her to speak in front of hundreds of people [and] write for ostomy publications." From there, Ann moved on to writing her own story and publishing a book about her experiences. Those experiences included an invitation to the White House to serve on a colorectal round table.

Ann's visit to the White House also included a sampling of an especially luscious White House dessert. Not one to let an opportunity slide by, Ann included the dessert in her "Desserts Around the World" story.

Ann is also the director of the Suncoast Writers Guild. She will be doing book signings for WINDOW EYES at the Jacaranda Public Library February 9th at 10:30 a.m. and the North Port Public Library February 20 at 3 p.m.

For further information about Ann's experiences with cancer or her world-wide travels, email her at favray@comcast.net.

Congratulations, Ann! May the rest of 2010 be as exciting for you as its beginning!

Posted by
Russ Heitz