Back in the day, I worked as a technical writer where I benefitted from editors who were not only first-rate grammarians but also provided substantive editing that improved the clarity of complex procedures and concepts. During that time, I also had the opportunity to enter technical writing competitions. In addition to the prospect of winning an award, the judges were required to provide feedback on why you received (or didn’t receive) an award. The combined feedback or editors, subject matter experts, customers, and judges provided numerous opportunities for improvement and recognition.
I am pleased to announce that WiVLA and Houston Writers Guild have agreed to co-sponsor a literary competition next year. I won’t lay out all of the details of the competition, but all entrants will benefit from juror and editorial feedback, as well as an opportunity to have their work published.
I hope you’re as excited as I am about this new opportunity for our literary members. As a visual artist, I’ve appreciated the opportunity to have my work in juried exhibitions and had wondered if our literary members felt slighted.
I am grateful to the following people for making this literary opportunity possible for our members:
Celeste Budwit-Hunter, who encouraged me to pursue the idea
Ellen Seaton and Fern Brady, who took my half-baked notion and fleshed out a proposal that exceeded my expectations
Your current board, who enthusiastically approved Ellen and Fern’s proposal
The HWG board, who approved the joint venture
Stay tuned for details from your 2023 board!
- Melody -
The Collaboration Deadline is Around the Corner!
Collaboration literary and visual works must be uploaded by September 23rd. When submitting your work, refer to the following sections of the prospectus:
Biographies: Submit a 100-word bio.
Visual Art Guidelines
Visual art submission guidelines, which includes information about the title and dimensions and sales price of the piece.
Digital image requirements for the catalog.
Digital file name
Literary Guidelines
In addition to complying with the guidelines, carefully review your document for typos and grammatical errors. Remember that periods are followed by one space (not two).
Each member uploads her portion of the Collaboration by clicking Upload Your Entry Here on the Collaboration web page.
The Magic of Contour Drawing Workshop
with Shirl Riccetti
September 17, 2022 10:00 AM - 1:00PM
Whether a novice doodler or seasoned visual artist, there is something for everyone in Shirl Riccetti’s workshop – The Magic of Contour Drawing. Learn how to reveal objects in your drawings by using a few strategic contour lines. Log in to the WiVLA website and check the Calendar for updates and to register.
Great news! We have rescheduled the studio visit with Gail Siptak to Saturday, September 24th. This event is limited to 10 art lovers, so please register through the WiVLA Calendar. Margo will be posted at the front door with mosquito spray. Drop by for a spritz if you are a person who has delicious blood. Let's have lunch, afterwards.
Tour of the Archive Collection at the Menil
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 11:15 AM
Join your WiVLA friends at the Menil Collection Museum for a tour of the Archives on Wednesday, October 19. The Museum opens at 11:00.
We will meet in the foyer at 11:15. Maybe we will enjoy lunch at the Bistro Menil afterwards https://bistromenil.com/. Register early. Attendance is limited to 15.
WiVLA Field Trip to the Quilt Festival
November 4, 2022 and November 6, 2022
Join WiVLA for a field trip to the Quilt Festival at the George R Brown Convention Center. We will meet at the Silver Street Art Studios and carpool to the festival. The two dates available for this event are Friday morning, November 4th and Sunday afternoon, November 6th. For more information including tickets, click here: https://www.quilts.com/quilt-festival/quilt-festival-houston/
Haunted Holidays at the Brazos Bookstore
November 5th, 2022 6:00 PM
Haunted Holidays are right around the corner. Start writing your favorite and scariest story or poem to share on Saturday, November 5th, at the Brazos Bookstore. WiVLA is joining up with the Houston Writers Guild and the Brazos Bookstore to present this event so that our wonderful writers can share with us their favorite goblins, golems and gremlins. The timing for this event is November 5th which means you can write about Halloween, El Dia De Los Muertos, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years Eve, Election Day, and any other holiday event that entertains you. All stories/poetry/essays are limited to 5 minutes in length. The readings will begin at 6:00 p. m. at Brazos Bookstore.
More information will come out soon so you can sign up for this fun, frivolous and frightening event.
Bhwahahaha!
Virtual Gallery
Calling all WiVLA members! If you are interested in participating in a virtual exhibition during the 2022 season, you may apply on the WiVLA website. This is an excellent opportunity to add to your CV and is a great marketing tool for your artistic endeavors. This is a free benefit to all WiVLA members. If you are interested in learning more, contact our Visual Co-Chair, Aliza Bejarano at visual@wivla.org. If you would like to reserve a spot for the 2022 season you may do so by clicking the button below.
Harris County Precinct 1 will provide buses to WiVLA events for people 50+ years old. We need at least 2 volunteers to act as a Group Coordinator for events. These volunteers will:
Attend an orientation session each year
Fill out the request for transportation form
Maintain a roster of riders
Who wants a moving experience? Please contact Margo bboop7@flash.net if you would like additional information.
SeptemberMonthly Member Meeting
Lori Yuill: Peer Feedback through the Framework of Fieldwork
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Join choreographer Lori Yuill at the September WiVLA Member Meeting as she discusses and demonstrates Fieldwork; a tool for learning how to give and receive feedback. In the process of giving feedback, participants learn to reflect on what they see and experience (without using the words “I liked” or “I didn’t like”) and the artist receiving feedback has the opportunity to learn how their work is coming across to different viewers. In this presentation, we will learn about the Fieldwork process and also have the opportunity to practice. After viewing parts of a contemporary dance, we will practice giving Fieldworks-type feedback.
Fieldworks allowed me to experiment with other performers and writers. We critiqued each other and were all critiqued by the trained leaders of Fieldworks. It gave us a group and spaces to present for the most appreciative audiences who appreciated the risks we were taking and were supper clappers and rose to their feet and never booed or walked out. ~ Jere Pfister
Lori’s most recent work “Still Life,'' was commissioned by the Pilot Dance Project and performed at the Houston Fringe Festival (2020). Her site specific work include ~ “Green Zebras: Moringa Madness” performed at urban farm Finca Tres Robles (2018-2019), and “Refraction” performed at the Houston Kite Festival as a part of the installation “Color Bursting Hermann Park”, 2018. Yuill’s evening-length works for the stage include “The Remembering Happens” made during a residency at Rice University in 2016. Her work includes ongoing research into the in-between spaces: the space between narrative and abstraction, choreography and improvisation, and between performance and rehearsal.
Watch your Inbox for an email with the Zoom meeting code.
September - October
WiVLA Members Janet Reynolds and Fern Brady are featured in the September - October virtual exhibition. To view their exhibition, please click here. For best results, view on full screen on your computer or laptop. You will be prompted to download the app if you view it on your mobile device.
This is an opportunity available to all WiVLA members. For information or to register to exhibit your work please visit our website.
Janet Reynolds is an artist/teacher currently living in Houston, TX. She teachers art to 8th graders and is an adjunct professor at UHCL. Janet teaches workshops and presentations in the Houston area. The subjects of her books are often nature, architecture and the impact the environment has on them. She has shown her work in the US, Mexico, and Australia. She enjoys learning new ways to make accordion books, hand stitched books, and experimenting with other forms of sculptural bookmaking. She is a member of the Houston Book Arts Guild, The Guild of Bookworkers, and the Miniature Book Society.
Fern Brady is the founder and CEO of Inklings Publishing. She holds multiple Masters degrees and several certifications. She began her professional life as a foreign correspondent, and taught for 15 years in Alief ISD. She has published numerous short stories, two children's picture books, and a couple of poems. Her debut novel, United Vidden,which is book one in herThyrein’s Galactic Wall Series, was given a glowing review by Dr. Who Online, the official site of the fandom. Also available for purchase is volume one of her graphic novel/novella hybrid project, New Beginning. She has returned to the leadership of the Houston Writers Guild, with whom she served as CEO for four years previously. She co-hosts two podcasts – Author Talk and The Hot Mess Express which air on Mondays. Besides being a active in WIVLA, she is also a member of Blood Over Texas, Romance Writers of America, and American Booksellers Association. Fern lives in Houston TX with her parents and her talkative husky, Arya. Follow Fern's writing at: www.fernbrady.com
August Meeting Highlight
Kelly Ann Ellis & Tina Cardona: From Solstice Celebrations to a Website Dedicated to Writers and Artists
At the August Member Meeting, Kelly Ann Ellis and Tina Cardona shared their journey from hosting solstice poetry parties (hot poets) to creating a nonprofit for writers and visual artists (hotpoet,Inc). Throughout their presentation, they emphasized their passions: social and environmental issues, food and having fun.
Some of the projects of hotpoet include:
Instant anthologies at each solstice gathering
Fund Raisers for Public Poetry
Rock Star Gallery
Hot Poets and All That Jazz
100,000 Poets for Change at Visionary Heights
Hotpoets in Re:Hab
These hot poets have accomplished some beautiful publications in just a couple of years – the hardcopy book of poetry, Letters Sent Inland by Glenn Monroe Irby, and two online journals, A Change in the Weather and In My Backyard.
Check out their website to read their journals and admire that lovely artwork https://www.hotpoet.org/
If you missed the meeting or would like to see it again, you can find the meeting recording on our YouTube channel.
Highlights of Dive into Haiku with Denise Bossarte
On August 6, WiVLA members (and a few non-members) learned about writing haiku from Denise Bossarte. She started the workshop with a call to be playful, be curious and have fun. Some haiku poetry basics addressed included:
5-7-5 syllables (not words)
Count the syllables on your fingers
No rhyming!
No titles
Topics
Nature experienced through 5 senses
Personal experiences – ordinary personal world flashes
Thoughts and memories
Denise combined her knowledge of haiku with her expertise in contemplative photography to create an expansive space to explore sensory experiences while crafting haiku poetry. One of the innovative approaches she uses to generate ideas for poems is keeping a poetry log of things she notices in her world. Denise recommended keeping a poetry log in a notebook or one’s phone for future poetry fodder.
The last part of the workshop was devoted to practicing the art of haiku with the new skills we learned.
Exploring senses
Revealing new perspectives
Denise led the way
Activities outside of WiVLA
Elevate your Social Media: Back to the Basics
Houston Writer's Guild
Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Social Media is constantly changing, and it can get overwhelming to keep up. We will be going back to the basics of social media. Showing you how you can elevate your social media content along with helping you create a content calendar that will take the overwhelm away and give you time back to keep on writing.
About The Presenter:
Aimee grew up in San Antonio, Texas where she attended UTSA and graduated with a Bachelor in Psychology. During that time, she began working with Houston known Sandy Lawrence, former CEO of Perceptive Public Relations. That’s where she learned the ins and outs of social media and develop a great understanding of managing different types of business social media accounts. She went on to take courses and attended numerous Social Media Examiner webinars, learning about social media marketing and consulting. She is the owner of Abundantly Social and works tirelessly to help authors maximize their social media presence and reach as well as make the most out of their book launch and other author events.
WiVLA member, Denise Bossarte, is a volunteer for Hope Pyx Global.
As part of their International Book awards and Conference on Abuse in The Woodlands in October they are hosting an auction to raise money for their nonprofit. Their long-term goal is to have a woman's shelter here in Houston.
Denise is reaching out to see if any of the members would have artwork they would like to donate for the auction. HPG can provide a donation receipt for the value of the artwork.
Denise will be donating a few of her photography pieces for the auction.
(And hoping to win a medal for the book awards with her book Thriving, which is currently a finalist in self-help!)
To properly display our artwork for the HOPE exhibition at Field Elementary School, WiVLA purchased three black grid walls, each measuring 6’x2’. They were the perfect backdrop for the artwork and enabled us to install the exhibition without damaging or disturbing the walls and murals at the school. The grid walls are available for use by any WiVLA member for $5/day/panel on a first-come, first-serve basis. We’ll also provide the S-curves that you can use to hang your work. So far, three of our members have used them for a day or two at a time.
If you would like to reserve some or all of the grid walls for an in-town event, contact Melody at LockeMelody@gmail.com.
We'd love to celebrate your good news. If you are interested in sharing, please send your items to newsletter@wivla.org. The deadline for inclusion in the next month's newsletter is the 20th. Thank you.
the day, I worked as a technical writer where I benefitted from editors who were not only first-rate grammarians but also provided substantive editing that improved the clarity of complex procedures and concepts. During that time, I also had the opportunity to enter technical writing competitions. In addition to the prospect of winning an award, the judges were required to provide feedback on why you received (or didn’t receive) an award. The combined feedback or editors, subject matter experts, customers, and judges provided numerous opportunities for improvement and recognition.
Fern Brady is the founder and CEO of Inklings Publishing. She holds multiple Masters degrees and several certifications. She began her professional life as a foreign correspondent, and taught for 15 years in Alief ISD. She has published numerous short stories, two children's picture books, and a couple of poems. Her debut novel, United Vidden, which is book one in her Thyrein’s Galactic Wall Series, was given a glowing review by Dr. Who Online, the official site of the fandom. Also available for purchase is volume one of her graphic novel/novella hybrid project, New Beginning. She has returned to the leadership of the Houston Writers Guild, with whom she served as CEO for four years previously. She co-hosts two podcasts – Author Talk and The Hot Mess Express which air on Mondays. Besides being a active in WIVLA, she is also a member of Blood Over Texas, Romance Writers of America, and American Booksellers Association. Fern lives in Houston TX with her parents and her talkative husky, Arya. Follow Fern's writing at: 
