November 4, 2023

National League of American Pen Women—Denver Branch

November 4, 2023 Minutes

  1. Linda called the meeting to order at 9:36 am.
  2. Members Present: Karen Gonzales, Atlanta Sheridan, Linda Volin, Diane Chambers, Rachel Seakamp, Eleanor Binnings, Kelly Ann Compton, Sue Luxa
  3. Inspirational Reading: Different writings for Thanksgiving on gratitude and thankfulness— “The Little Book of Gratitude,” Oliver Sacks on gratitude, “Bless Back” by Julie Saphron, “Living in Gratitude” by Angeles Arrien
  4. Minutes: A typo toward the end of the minutes where “sent” should be “send” was noticed. The minutes were approved with the correction.
  5. Treasurer’s Report: Current balance is $688.22. The treasurer’s report was approved.
  6. Committee Reports:
    1. Membership: Aleta Kazadi is working on her application to join NLAPW.
    2. Zoom: Karen Gonzales and Atlanta shared that Zoom is working well with the new host.
    3. Website:
      1. Virginia reported that there is a problem including Roman Numerals in the minutes. The problem had been fixed, but the app used for this was discontinued. She is looking for another app to solve the problem.
      2. Our web page views were up in October. 99% of our visitors were new.
      3. Virginia is also looking for ways to improve the page loading speed.
      4. Otherwise, the site is working properly.
    4. Critique Group: The group is going well. There is room for two more people.
    5. Tapestry for Peace: Karen Gonzales has emailed Saint John Paul the Great Catholic School about accepting a panel of the tapestry, but she hasn’t heard from them yet.
    6. Auditor (Budget): No report. The position appears to be open as Cindy hasn’t attended a meeting in a long time. We will wait until dues have been collected next April to fill this position.
    7. Historian: Aurora had to resign this position, so we will look at filling the position next April when dues are collected.
      1. We need to call the Denver Public Library (DPL) to ask about our Denver Pen Women archives which the library has.
      2. We could possibly hold a meeting at DPL to see what Denver Pen Women items they actually have.
      3. Rachel offered to hold onto the Historian ephemera and agreed to meeting with Aurora to get it. Diane will contact both Aurora and DPL.
    8. Programs:
      1. November: Due to an emergency, Fauzia Burke had to cancel today’s presentation. She will speak to us in the future.
      2. December: Carol Lopez Lee—Historical Fiction
      3. January: Denver Pen Women panel on getting published
      4. February: Tracy Garner—How to build an audience for our books
      5. March: TBD
      6. April: TBD—Trip to Denver Public Library?
  7. Old Business: No new information from Andrea on holding a contest at George Washington High School.
  8. New Business: No new business
  9. Announcements:
    1. For the fair at Windsor Gardens, participants may bring crafts as well as books to sell; items for sale may be left overnight; participants are encouraged to be at the fair as much as possible so they can be present to make sales.
    2. Diane suggested that we as a group need to actively pursue events and that we need a few authors present at such events.
    3. Sue Luxa is now living at Windcrest where she is finding opportunities for our branch to hold a book fest and other events.
  10. National Updates:
    1. Information for the contests for the 2004 Biennial can be found on page 4 of The Pen Woman magazine. (Karen Gonzales won 2nd place for a children’s story last time.)
    2. Linda will send everyone the information on the next NLAPW Zoom event.
  11. The meeting was adjourned at 10:18.

Respectfully submitted,

Kelly Ann Compton

Co-secretary

error: Content is protected !!