Meeting Minutes

Minutes for May 2, 2019 AGT meeting

The Authors Guild of Tennessee met on May 2, 2019 at Faith Lutheran Church, Farragut, Tennessee. The meeting was called to order by Vice-President Jody Dyer at 11:04.

The following members were present: Carol McClain, Jody Sims, Nadine Richmond, Randall Carpenter, Jody Dyer, Don Pardue, Danielle Asher, Sam Bledsoe, Laura Derr, Darlene Underwood, Jim Hartsell, Jared Jackson, Linda Shepherd, Russ Fine, Tilmer Wright, Jerry Morton, Ray Strobo, Sharon L. Higa, Donna Habib, and Walter Lambert.

Guests present were: Margie Hagen from the Farragut Shopper News, and Sherry Fine

April minutes. Stand as corrected. Sam accepted; Russ seconded.

Treasurer’s report (Jim Hartsell) We started with $800.70. At the end of April balance of $1524.98

Brief updates from the following Committee Chairs

Events. (Danielle Asher) Cleveland has two festivals, 6/22 & 8/3. Tennessee Valley Fair—expensive, 10 days 9/6-15

Library. (Laura Derr) none

Marketing, website, training  (Sam Bledsoe) working on event for National Authors day Nov. 1. Union Avenue Books wants to collaborate. Want an all-day event with reading and signing. We may apply to be a featured author. Prior to application, marketing committee would like to train authors to be a good presenter.

Month of May segments on Authors Page—Lucy Virginia French, Ann Patchett, Diane Barker, Kristin Tubb

Membership (Darlene Underwood) Announcement of new member. Linda Shepherd, and ;pending member, Nan Klee

Publicity Chair (Cyn Taylor) none

Ezine—Nadine—collecting info again for the ezine. 79 new website users.

Announcements. Sharon is looking for speakers for our group.

Program: Jody introduced our speaker, Sharon Higa, who spoke on the topic: “On Writing”, using Stephen King’s book by that title for examples of how we write, what we write about, and how our own experiences can make or break our novels

King’s book On Writing is the book she returns to in order to improve her own writing.

Some advice from Stephen King:

How you live your life and where you do your writing influences your style.