Minutes
Denver Branch of the National League of American Pen Women
June 6, 2020
Via Zoom
Present: Diane Chambers, Kelly Ann Compton, Karen Gonzales, Atlanta Sheridan, Beverly Chico, Andrea Antico, Kay Taylor, Ray Cober, Ann Klaiman
Diane called the meeting to order at 10:02 am.
Diane gave information about the NLAPW including the new date for the Biennial – June 26-28, the photo contest, and the Mature Women Grant. She referred members to her notes at the bottom of the e-mailed agenda for more information.
No minutes were submitted for the previous meeting of the Denver branch.
Kelly Ann reported that the balance in our account is now $888.54. Some members have not yet submitted their dues. She paid Virginia, $200 for her work as the Web Mistress and $50 for her work on the Critique flyers. Ann moved to approve the treasurer’s report and Beverly seconded. All voted to approve. Kelly noted that Virginia had updated the first page of the website in accordance with updated Word Press.
Regarding membership, Diane mentioned that a new member, Linda, was planning to join but was holding off joining because of the virus.
There was one entry into the tapestry contest – Jayden Dagger from the Denver School of the Arts. Diane said that our whole branch should give input on how the presentation of the tapestry should be made. At the next meeting the members could also discuss how to donate the remaining 6 panels.
Regarding old business, the group agreed to postpone the Guest Critique until next April.
Ray reported on the automatic billing service, Patreon and suggested that members look at the website to familiarize themselves with the possibilities for our branch. He spoke of the different tiers of donations, as low as $1.00 per month to as much as $100.00. Ray suggested that maybe our branch could offer some type of bi-weekly rewards for certain donation tiers. There was some discussion of what type of content our branch could offer as rewards – seminars on various writing topics. Most members felt that at the current time we do not have the expertise to offer sufficient content to make the donation platform feasible. Diane suggested that Ray form a subgroup to discuss the subject of “content” further.
There was discussion of possibly merging with the Pikes Peak branch of Pen Women to offer zoom seminars on topics of interest to writers. Diane noted that National has been offering such webinars for more than 6 years.
Karen said she had attended some Mid-west Pen Women Zoom meetings. Diane will follow up with Karen to get additional information from her about the meetings.
Ray suggested that members might want a seminar on how to find an editor. Sandy Chapman, one, of our members is actually a paid professional editor. Diane said that National has a video entitled, “Why Be a Pen Woman?” which we might want to view at one of our meetings.
There were no branch announcements.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:03.
Submitted by Kay Taylor.