Minutes of the Denver Branch of the National League of American Pen Women
August 7, 2021
Members Present: Atlanta Sheridan, Ray Cober, Karen Gonzales, Kay Taylor, Diane Chambers, Adrianne Voss, Ann Klaiman, Andrea Antico, Carol Ehrlich, Linda Volin, Sue Luxa
Diane opened the virtual meeting on Zoom at 9:39 am.
Inspirational Reading: Andrea read several quotes from Anne Lamott and others on the topics of publishing and writing.
Introduction of Guests: Kay introduced her guest, Karen Gladstone. Karen is interested in writing memoir and in seeking the support of others with that same interest.
Approval of Minutes: Carol moved to accept the minutes as written and Ann seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously by the members.
Committee Reports:
Website: Diane noted that Virginia reported as follows: Usual maintenance has been performed, including manual updates of essential components. Only two components could not be updated. This is often because the creators of the components have not made their items compatible. These are usually corrected within a few days. The site still runs well for now. The platform, (Word Press) has also been updated. According to Monster Insight, 93% of our visitors in July were new visitors. Four broken links were found, and have either been fixed or removed. All of the broken links were from archived posts.
Treasurer’s Report: A current Treasurer’s report was unavailable.
Budget Report: Kay did not have a budget report. She advised that members need to decide whether an in person spring guest critique will be held as this decision will impact the budget. Diane suggested that we make the assumption that the critique will be held in person and that we will pay the annual Zoom fee. She asked Kay to send a preliminary budget using these assumptions out to the group. Kay agreed.
Membership: Diane reported that Karen Gonzales and Adrianna Voss are now Active members of Pen Women and that she will send them their certificates of membership. Diane noted that two new persons had expressed interest in finding out more about Pen Women.
Outreach: Diane noted that the tapestry panels were delivered to Denver School of Arts and that members should look at the posted photos of the award ceremony. She encouraged members to submit ideas for additional community outreach. Karen Gladstone reported that in the past the Writer’s Lighthouse has displayed brochures from other groups on their tables. We might consider giving them some of our brochures for that purpose. The new temporary location of the Writer’s Lighthouse is 3833 Steele St., Suite 1438.
Programs:
Atlanta reported that the critique group has taken a break during the month of August. It will resume in September. New members are encouraged to join. The group is usually limited to 8 members so that during the eight week session members will have the opportunity for their writing to be critiqued a couple of times.
Karen Gonzales reported that Richard Reiman will present on the topic of audio books at the September meeting to be held on Saturday, the 4th. A speaker is still being sought for the October meeting. On November 6th Dani Alcorn will present on “Show Not Tell.” Ray offered to give a talk on designing book covers at a future meeting. December will be our traditional Holiday meeting. It was suggested that members do a show and tell of their publications during that meeting. Diane asked for additional input from members for ideas for the December meeting.
History: Aimee, our former historian, has moved to North Dakota. Diane asked for a member to volunteer for that position.
Old Business: Diane asked Linda if she would submit a writeup of the group’s Interview Project to Pen Women magazine for publication. There was some discussion of getting together a book of the interviews for the members.Diane will e-mail the membership and ask that each member send Linda their interview if they haven’t already done so. Diane will also ask for a volunteer to put the book together. Ray volunteered to do an artistic cover for the book.
New Business: No new business
Announcements: Diane announced that the 50th Biennial of Pen Women will be April 29 – May 2, 2022 in Washington D.C. She also reported that nominations are now open for national officers. Information on applying to run for a national office is in the Summer 2021 Issue of Pen Women magazine. Lastly, if a current member would like to receive a review of her published book, she can submit it to National for a review.
For non-Pen Women members, The Shirley Holden Helberg $1000 Grant for the Mature Woman is accepting applications.
Diane adjourned the meeting at 10:28 am. A workshop by Ray Cober on “The Publishing Scene” followed.
Respectfully submitted by,
Kay Taylor