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Current Officers:♥President: Rayne Golay President@swfrw.org ♥Vice-President: Nicole Tedesco vp@swfrw.org ♥Treasurer: Patricia Campbell Treasurer@swfrw.org ♥Secretary: Margaret Colyar Secretary@swfrw.org ♥Marketing: Linnea Sinclair Marketing@swfrw.org ♥Membership: Diane R. O'Key Membership@swfrw.org ♥'Hold Me, Thrill Me' Contest Chair: Lynn Gutierrez & Michael L. Joy Contest@swfrw.org ♥Critque Coordinator: Joyce Henderson |
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The
Southwest Florida Romance Writers (SWFRW) is an affiliate chapter of Romance Writers of America ®. SWFRW's membership includes writers of all levels, from those working on their first manuscript to award-winning authors. The chapter is committed to promoting excellence in fiction through monthly meetings, workshops and networking. Non-members are welcome to attend our meetings twice free of charge.
Southwest Florida Romance Writers, Inc., RWA #102, was incorporated in 1990, after a phone call between Kristine Hughes of Naples, FL and Joyce Henderson of North Fort Myers. The closest chapter to either was across the state, so they started meeting with seven other like-minded Romance writers and the process began to become an official chapter of the RWA. Though still a small, nurturing chapter, today the SWFRWs boasts forty-nine members. Sixteen industry published members. Others are published in non-fiction, outside the genre, and self-published. Though the chapter met for quite a few years bi-monthly in Kristine's and Joyce's living rooms, today the SWFRW meets once a month in Bonita Springs on the 4th Saturday of each month, except for November and December when we shift meeting days to early in those months to accommodate the holidays and we have no meeting in July due to the Annual RWA National Conference. Our members live as far north as Venice, FL, and as far south as Goodland. Some of our members participate seasonally, maintaining homes somewhere else in the summer and in Southwest Florida in the winter. The chapter is exceptionally proud of our RITA winner, Linnea Sinclair, and two Golden Heart winners, Blair Bancroft, aka Grace Kone, and Tina Wainscott; the three are now multi-published authors. Some of our members consistently final in contests sponsored by RWA and those sponsored by other RWA chapters. We are eclectic in our choice of subjects from all walks of life and work: criminal lawyers, forensic scientists, agents, editors, basic how-to workshops, such as characterization, plotting, what to do after The Call. Our newsletter, Tropical Heart Waves, is published online for chapter members. Included are many articles by the members and links to pertinent resources. While we do have members who have developed individual critique partners/groups, each month members may bring three copies of up to 10 pages of a WIP (work in progress) for member volunteers to take home to critique. Fresh eyes are invaluable to the writer no matter how far along on the road to publication. Questions or source writing materials are also posted on the chapter's online loop. Anyone may ask a question (there are no dumb questions), and those who wish may jump in on the discussion. From the first year, SWFRWs members developed a writing contest, originally titled: "Where do we go from here?" Some years later, the name was changed to: "Hold Me! Thrill Me!". Now in its 18th year, several winning entrants to our contest have gone on to publication. All first-round entries are judged by at least one published author in each three-judge panel. All writers are welcome at our chapter meetings at least once. It's a way to decide if our warm, welcoming members and venue are what a person wants to be a part of, and to learn about the publishing industry from well informed membership. Joining SWFRW one step toward achieving what most members of RWA yearn for…publication. |
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Past presidents include:
Julie Palella - 07 & 08 Jean Harrington - 05 & 06 Barbara Meyers - 03 & 04 Tina Wainscott - 02 Diane O'Key - 98, 99, 00, 01 Joyce Henderson - 95, 96, 97 Kristine Hughes - 94 |
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Chapter 102 of the Romance Writers' of America
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Maintained by the
SWFRW Webmaster |
