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Meeting Announcement: Our March meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, at the Fort Davis Public Library in Fort Davis, TX, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. If you wish to carpool from Alpine, meet us in the Big Bend Telephone parking lot before we depart at 6:30 pm.
Speaker: Barbara Blake – “The Character Arc: A Journey of Change”
Refreshments: (You know who you are, we hope!)
Writing Assignment: Something Irish (500 words or less)
From the desk of our president:
March winds and April showers? Don’t we wish? Wild fires? Brave pilots and big yellow helicopters that drop retardants on them? Skunks and their early morning perfume? A morning with one percent humidity? Vertigo and my sympathy to fellow sufferers?
Take your pick or think of a better one. Perhaps you can turn it into a poem or story.
Happy days, restful nights and productive writing to each of you.
Phyllis Musgrove
Barbara Blake’s Presentation at the March TMTW Meeting
Author Barbara Blake will present a short program entitled “The Character Arc: A Journey of Change” at the March 15 meeting of the Texas Mountain Trail Writers. Barbara is the author of the book A Guide to Children’s Books about Asian Americans (England: Ashgate Publishing Co.,
Continue reading March Newsletter :: “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our February meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, in the Fiesta Room of the Hallmark Apartments in Alpine.
Writing Assignment: Love Lost, Then Found Again, 250-500 word limit.
Speaker: Phyllis Musgrove will speak about “Who Says Writers Heads are Blocked?”
Refreshments: Petei Guth will provide refreshments for the February meeting.
From the Desk of our President
Our new year got off to a great start, and we welcomed several newcomers and visitors to our January meeting in Fort Davis. We enjoyed an outstanding program from Jackie Siglin.
Despite February’s roaring in like a lion, our spring retreat planning committee finalized plans for what I think will be an outstanding 20th anniversary conference. I hope many of you can attend.
Phyllis Musgrove
Continue reading February Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our January meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 18, 2011, at the Fort Davis Public Library in Fort Davis, TX, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. If you wish to carpool from Alpine, meet us in the Big Bend Telephone parking lot before we depart at 6:30 pm.
Speaker: Jackie Siglin – Can You Write It Better?
Jackie’s Presentation at the January TMTW Meeting
Jackie Siglin will present a program, Can You Write It Better?, at the TMTW meeting on January 18, 7 pm at the Fort Davis Public Library. The presentation will be on how to self-edit your writing, make it tighter and clearer. The information will be based on what she learned this summer in a Writers’ League of Texas session presented by author, Carol Dawson.
!!Save the Date!! Mark Your New Calendar Now
Texas Mountain Trail Writers Spring Retreat
April 8, 9, 10, 2011
The Texas Mountain Trail Writers invite you to celebrate their 20th annual retreat in the mountains at the Paisano Encampment (7 miles west of Alpine)
Professional Speakers, Fabulous Food, [...]
Meeting Announcement: Our December CHRISTMAS PARTY POTLUCK will be held on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at the home of Reba and David Seals in Alpine at 6:30 pm.
Celebrate Christmas with the Trail Writers
The Texas Mountain Trail Writers of Alpine, Fort Davis, and the Big Bend area invite members and guests to a Christmas party in the home of Reba and David Seals in Sunny Glen on Dec. 14, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. Guests are asked to bring a covered dish and to call Reba at 837-2919 naming their choice.
For the traditional Chinese Gift Exchange, each person is requested to bring a wrapped gift under $10.
Another tradition is a Christmas writing assignment of not more than 500 words which you may read aloud at the party.
Continue reading December Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our November meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, in the Fiesta Room of the Hallmark Apartments in Alpine.
Writing Assignment: TO BE WRITTEN AT THE MEETING: Using the dictionary, randomly open it and on the right-side page, the 4th word down (whatever the word is), you must use it in a story. 250 words or less.
Speaker: TBD
Refreshments: Jackie Siglin will provide refreshments for the November meeting.
Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent
This blog was recommended by Reba Cross Seals and thought we might enjoy reading it. http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/10/writing-rules-are-just-tools.html
Writers’ Festival at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Dear Writers:
I am the director the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Writers’ Festival. I’ve attached our poster and call for papers. Feel free to pass these on to any interested writers. We are in the midst of preparing a new website, complete with registration form, schedule, and video. It should go live soon! Follow us on Facebook until our website premiers.
Continue reading November Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our October meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 19, 2010, at the Fort Davis Public Library in Fort Davis, TX, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. If you wish to carpool from Alpine, meet us in the Big Bend Telephone parking lot before we depart at 6:30 pm.
Speaker: Darrell White – About his newly completed book!
Writing Assignment: A Ghost Story – Something spooky – anywhere from funny spooky to horror spooky. 500 words or less.
Refreshments: Eleanor Taylor, with coffee fixin’s by Phyllis Musgrove
To my friends who enjoy playing with words. ~ Reba
“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know.” – Groucho Marx
“Take my wife, please.” – Henny Youngman
“If all the girls at Vassar were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be surprised.” – Dorothy Parker
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”- Winston Churchill
“I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat” – Will Rogers
Continue reading October Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our September meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, in the Fiesta Room of the Hallmark Apartments in Alpine.
Homework Assignment: Something new that you’ve been working on, 500 words, perhaps for the Chaos.
Speaker: Elaine Davenport will report on the workshop she attended this summer.
From the Atelier of Phyllis, Our Prez:
September derives from the Latin word Septem which means seven. It was the Roman calendar’s seventh month. Summer is waving goodbye to us as days become shorter and nights longer. Autumn peeks over the horizon beckoning Trail Writers to a new beginning of meetings, writing assignments, submitting articles to the Chaos and planning spring retreat. Come to the Sept. 21 meeting if you can.
I grew up on a farm in West Virginia where The Old Farmer’s Almanac hung on a nail in the kitchen. Dog-eared old copies retired to a bookshelf in December, and a crisp new edition took up residence on the wall. Every family in the community consulted the almanac and compared notes about weather predictions, phases of the moon (must have bright moonlight for coon hunting), signs of the Zodiac, when to plant specific crops, and, for some folks, position of constellations, and which planet was the morning or evening star. My maternal grandmother, most of her children and many neighbors were avid starwatchers.
Continue reading September Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our September meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, in the Fiesta Room of the Hallmark Apartments in Alpine.
From the Atelier of Our NEW Prez:
Good day to you on a beautiful summer morning with cedar trees outside my back door swaying in a gentle breeze and birds tweeting to one another, sans e-mail. Every morning is Thanksgiving Day to me because I am alive, able to care for myself, and returned home to Alpine after several months recuperating from a car wreck on New Year’s Day, not a good way to begin a year. My little terrier is at my feet, she who jumped out of the wrecked car and was nine miles toward home when a good Samaritan picked her up and searched for her owner.
Continue reading Summer Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
Meeting Announcement: Our May End-of-Year Party & Potluck will be held on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, at Jackie Siglin’s house.
Party Details will be coming shortly!
From the Atelier of Our Prez:
If you’re like me, you like to “fall into” a book and stay there until the end. And look forward to staying with those same characters in another story. This week I accidentally discovered Canyon of Remembering by Lesley Poling-Kempes. It was published by Texas Tech. I fell into the story from page 1 and had it read in two days. And wanted more. Then I looked at the copyright date…1996! Then I looked the author up online to see what other books she’s published hoping to find a series but no! She’s got two non-fiction books out (one on the Harvey Girls and one on Abiqui) but no more fiction. Durn it! Maybe that one fiction book satiated her appetite; but it only served to whet mine!
Continue reading May Newsletter | “Log of the Trail” →
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2012 Annual Writers Spring Retreat April 27, 28, 29, 2012
Mountain Trail Lodge & Outdoor Learning Center, Fort Davis, Texas
NEW! Check out our Retreat Speakers!
Keep your eyes peeled here for more information and details!
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