April 2022 Meeting

 In case you didn't read through the March 2022 Meeting post I have scheduled the April 2022 meeting for Saturday, April 16th, 2022 from 2PM to 4PM in the Committee Room on the lower level (use stairs just inside the front entrance in the foyer). Put this on your calendar now because I most likely will not remember to write another post as a reminder!!

March 2022 Meeting

 The COVID restrictions have been lifted at Westfield Athenaeum and we will once more be able to have our monthly meetings in person in the basement (lower level) Committee Room! Our first in person meeting for 2022 will be Saturday, March 19th, from 2PM to 4PM. Masks are optional, however, if you have not been vaccinated, have only been partially vaccinated, or have been vaccinated but have health issues please consider wearing a mask for your safety as well as the safety of all members. The room is large and we are able to distance from one another by maneuvering tables around.

Susan will update everyone on news in regards to Articulture 2022 which was last held in 2019 at the Church of the Atonement. We were supposed to have Articulture 2020 in the new, larger venue at Amelia Park Arena with 24 authors lined up when the event was cancelled due to a resurgence of COVID-19, and was cancelled again in 2021 due to the Omicron variation running rampant through the region. We're excited to be bringing the event back, bigger and beter than ever (the event began being held annually in 2016 at the Women's Club, then moved to the next block at the Church of Atonement on two levels, and now we'll be in the even more spacious and handicapped accessible, not to mention beautiful, Amelia Park Arena.

A number of WhipCity Wordsmiths have been publishing new books since we last met in October or November last year, while others have new works in progress. It'll be catch-up on the news day. Bring something you've written to share if you'd like to. 

Kelly and I are looking forward to seeing as many members as are able to attend!

The April meeting has already been scheduled for the same location and times on Saturday, April 16th, so please put that on your calendar now because you all know how bad I am at finding time to update the blog!! Again, I apologize for this- I just wear too many hats at work and in the community and find myself with never enough time to manage everything I need to do!

See you on Saturday!!

ARTICULTURE 2022

 Articulture is back for 2022 in Westfield MA. Artworks of Westfield is currently seeking authors for the event with 24 tables available. Twenty tables have already been reserved but there is a call list available in case an author is unable to make it to the event which is scheduled for Saturday, May 7, 2022 at Amelia Park Arena on South Broad Street in Westfield, MA. The authors will be located in the two large conference rooms overlooking the ice rink (which will not yet have ice in it and will be where approximately 60 artists will be set up in 10'x10' spaces circling he arena with a children's art show going on down the center of the rink, and live music happening at various locations wthin the building. Please email Susan Buffum (WhipCity Wordsmiths co-founder) at whipcitywordsmiths@gmail.com if you are nterested in having a table at the author portion of the show. the show runs 10AM to 5PM. Artworks is arranging to have several food trucks on site and there is a Big Y with food available just across the street from the arena. Authors wishing to participate must go to the Artworks of Westfield website and pre-pay for a $35 membership which covers the table fee and allows any author with a membership to participate in future events where authors are welcome to sell their books throughout 2022 (there will be pop-up shows and on Saturday, October 8th, 2022, Artwork's second largest event, Artoberfest where again 20-24 authors will be able to promote and sell their books) without having to pay any further fees for table space. If interested in reserving a space please contact Susan prior to April 1st and go to the Artworks website to pay the $35 membership fee. Make a note that you want to be an author at Articulture so the Treasurer will let me know and I can keep my list updated. Also, emailing me your contact information is helpful as I send periodic updates up to the week of the event.

November 2021 WhipCity Wordsmiths Meeting

 Our next meeting is this coming Saturday, November 20th, 2021, from 2PM to 4PM at the Westfield Athenaeum on the corner of Elm and Court Streets in downtown Westfield across from the Green. This meeting will take place in the Whitney Study on the second floor as there will be fiddlers in the Lang Auditorium in the basement near the Committee Meeting Room that our last two meetings have been in- the scheduler felt it would be too noisy for writers and we wouldn't be able to hear one another. So, go up the staircase in the main room on the first floor, turn left and continue into the study which is above the children's library with windows overlooking Court Street. There is a long conference table and about 15-20 seats around it. In the downstairs room we've been sitting around three tables pushed together into a large square. There is only one table in the study. See you there!

November 2021 NaNoWriMo is nearly Half Over

 I have to admit that I've been struggling this year writing my NaNo novel. I'm writing the third book in the Amberton Paranormal Investigation Society series (The Fairlawn Investigation and The Victoria Wayfarer Investigation being the first and second books in the series). The new novel is titled The Lakeside Manor Investigation. I'd previously started writing this novel twice and got nowhere with it. The second attempt was better than the first. This version is creeping along at a snail's pace, for me anyway. I suppose it's because I am still recovering and working my way through the loss of my husband six months ago. I haven't felt much like writing or drawing because dealing with the aftermath of losing someone unexpectedly is confusing, anxiety inducing, and exhausting. 

I will get it finished because I hate to leave things incomplete, but at the near mid-point of NaNoWriMo I don't have my usual confidence that I can pull off a compete novel. 50,000 words of it will be written as I'm close to that goal now but I can't say for sure I have the same level of confidence in myself that I had prior to my world falling to pieces this past May. We'll just have to wait and see how it all goes.

This Hasn't Been An Easy Year

 This hasn't been an easy year for me since the beginning of My when I had emergency abdominal surgery on the 2nd and exactly a week later lost my husband of 37 years suddenly. It totally blew my life out of the water and I've been scrambling and struggling to find the new normal for me amid all the things that need to be done when you lose someone, while you're trying to recover from surgery, while you're trying to continue working full time and carry on. Kelly has been incredibly helpful, keeping the group's facebook updated, posting meeting notices, etc.

I appreciate Heidi's assistance with booking the Athenaeum's Committee Room for our September and October meetings as we resume in-person meetings. 

A few of us have experienced personal losses this year. We've all struggled with to mask-or not to mask, to vaccinate or not to get vaccinated, to get the booster shot or not....choices! We've seen this virus mutate and now affect children who have returned to school. We continue to see people in our communities pass away due to COVID. Yet, many of us have turned out some amazing new books and carried on attending meetings in the Zoom format and now in person. Life goes on.

I, for one, am so appreciative f all my author/writer friends.

This past weekend 18 authors set up tents and tables on the green in downtown Westfield for the Artworks of Westfield sponsored Artoberfest. It started out as a rather blustery, gloomy day with overcast skies and practically no attendance, but once the sun came through about 11:30Am foot traffic picked up and we had a decent attendance. I did mention that the location of the authors left us feeling somewhat isolated from the Elm Street art/music and creative aspects of the event, kind of placing us on a green island surrounded by heavy traffic, making leaving the green to seek nearby facilities and food rather a challenge. All feedback will be reviewed at the next Artworks meeting so if this event happens again next October there will be improvements. This was the first year doing this event separate from Westfield on Weekends' Pumpkinfest. 

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can attend the October 30th meeting.

Welcome to new WhipCity Wordsmiths who have joined the group the past few months! 

If you need to reach me or Kelly please email us at whipcitywordsmiths@gmail.com

October Meeting 2021

 The WhipCity Wordsmiths will meet in the basement Committee Room at the Westfield Athenaeum on Saturday, October 30, 2021 from 2PM to 4PM. The Committee Room is accessed by going down the staircase just inside the front entrance (on the left as you enter the building, on the right if you have walked through the library from the back entrance). Go left when you reach the bottom of the staircase!