Members of the 7th District of Kansas Authors Club met on Sept. 9, 2017 in the Pioneer Library in Colby for their Fall Get-together.
Those present included: John Sanders, dist. president; Marjorie Brown, secretary; both of Colby; Sheryl Brenn, treasurer, of Levant; Millie Horlacher, Colby; Frank Powers, Gove; and Sheree Downs, Lakewood, CO. Visitors included KAC dist.2 president, Ronda Miller and Paula Ripple, Dodge City, a speaker from the Kansas Humanities Pulitzer Project.
President Sanders opened the meeting with a roll call answered with each person telling what they were writing recently.
After the routine business was completed, election of District 7 officers for 2018 was held. The 2018 officers will be: John Sanders, president; Frank Powers, vice president, Marjorie Brown, Secretary; Sheryl Brenn, Treasurer.
Winners of the District 7 Writing Contest for 2017, “Discovering the Mysteries of Western Kansas,” were announced. First Place, Roy Stucky of Pretty Prairie with “The Sea of Green,”; Second Place, Paula Entrick of Goodland with, “All Aboard,”; Third Place, Sheryl Brenn of Levant, with “Spirit Spring, and Honorable Mention went to Marjorie Brown, Colby, with, “Another Mystery of Western Kansas.”
Carol Barns, retired Colby College English teacher, judged the entries.
Ronda Miller gave a review of her new book, Water Signs, and told about several of her other books she had there to show. She told of the how her mother and some other members of her family committing suicide had effected her. Being a poet, she used poetry to tell others about her feelings and the hurt these experiences caused her. She is now a life coach and counsels others who might be having problems with considering suicide or trying to overcome the grief of suicide happening in their families.
She explained “Slam Poetry.” She said it is used in classrooms when students are allowed to stand up and just talk about their feelings in a poetic way, to get their pain and worries released.
A catered lunch was served at Noon.
At 2:00 p.m. everyone attended a Writer’s Workshop, “Freedom of Speech in Writing,” conducted by Paula Ripple of Dodge City. Additional guests at the workshop included: Ron Chase of Colby, Alyne Goodwin of Goodland, and Sonja Kough of Winona.
Ripple, brought to Colby by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council, is a member of their Scholar in the Pulitzer Project in Kansas: Community Writing Workshops. She taught English composition at Dodge City Community College and Dodge City High School and has served as a mentor to new writing teachers. Her dual Master’s Degree is in English and French from Kansas State University, she received a Teacher Certification in English from St. Mary of the Plains College and a Master of Arts in English from Fort Hays Kansas State University.
Ripple opened with several writing projects to help participants think about why they feel the need to write and express their feelings and also what they would tell others about why freedom of speech is important in writing. She impressed on them the importance of free speech and how there can be no complete freedom without free speech.
Much was said about William Allen White, famous past editor of the Emporia Gazette and she passed out handouts of his writings and his “Hints on Writing.”
Much discussion was held on the importance of having someone else read your work out loud to you before you submit it and using “control-find,” on your computer to see how many time you used the same word.
Participants in the workshop, pictured below, expressed their delight with the program and the material covered.
Those present included: John Sanders, dist. president; Marjorie Brown, secretary; both of Colby; Sheryl Brenn, treasurer, of Levant; Millie Horlacher, Colby; Frank Powers, Gove; and Sheree Downs, Lakewood, CO. Visitors included KAC dist.2 president, Ronda Miller and Paula Ripple, Dodge City, a speaker from the Kansas Humanities Pulitzer Project.
President Sanders opened the meeting with a roll call answered with each person telling what they were writing recently.
After the routine business was completed, election of District 7 officers for 2018 was held. The 2018 officers will be: John Sanders, president; Frank Powers, vice president, Marjorie Brown, Secretary; Sheryl Brenn, Treasurer.
Winners of the District 7 Writing Contest for 2017, “Discovering the Mysteries of Western Kansas,” were announced. First Place, Roy Stucky of Pretty Prairie with “The Sea of Green,”; Second Place, Paula Entrick of Goodland with, “All Aboard,”; Third Place, Sheryl Brenn of Levant, with “Spirit Spring, and Honorable Mention went to Marjorie Brown, Colby, with, “Another Mystery of Western Kansas.”
Carol Barns, retired Colby College English teacher, judged the entries.
Ronda Miller gave a review of her new book, Water Signs, and told about several of her other books she had there to show. She told of the how her mother and some other members of her family committing suicide had effected her. Being a poet, she used poetry to tell others about her feelings and the hurt these experiences caused her. She is now a life coach and counsels others who might be having problems with considering suicide or trying to overcome the grief of suicide happening in their families.
She explained “Slam Poetry.” She said it is used in classrooms when students are allowed to stand up and just talk about their feelings in a poetic way, to get their pain and worries released.
A catered lunch was served at Noon.
At 2:00 p.m. everyone attended a Writer’s Workshop, “Freedom of Speech in Writing,” conducted by Paula Ripple of Dodge City. Additional guests at the workshop included: Ron Chase of Colby, Alyne Goodwin of Goodland, and Sonja Kough of Winona.
Ripple, brought to Colby by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council, is a member of their Scholar in the Pulitzer Project in Kansas: Community Writing Workshops. She taught English composition at Dodge City Community College and Dodge City High School and has served as a mentor to new writing teachers. Her dual Master’s Degree is in English and French from Kansas State University, she received a Teacher Certification in English from St. Mary of the Plains College and a Master of Arts in English from Fort Hays Kansas State University.
Ripple opened with several writing projects to help participants think about why they feel the need to write and express their feelings and also what they would tell others about why freedom of speech is important in writing. She impressed on them the importance of free speech and how there can be no complete freedom without free speech.
Much was said about William Allen White, famous past editor of the Emporia Gazette and she passed out handouts of his writings and his “Hints on Writing.”
Much discussion was held on the importance of having someone else read your work out loud to you before you submit it and using “control-find,” on your computer to see how many time you used the same word.
Participants in the workshop, pictured below, expressed their delight with the program and the material covered.
​Pictured left from left: John Sanders, Dist. 7 president, Colby; Sonya Kough, Winona; Ronda Miller, Dist. 2 president, Lawrence; Paula Ripple, Dodge City, workshop presenter; Sharon Downs, Lakewood, CO; Millie Horlacher, Colby; Sheryl Brenn, Dist. 7 treasurer, Levant; Ron Chase, Colby; Alyne Goodwin, Goodland; Marjorie Brown, Dist. 7 secretary, Colby; Frank Powers, Dist. 7 vice president.