President's Corner

MARCH 2008

NTRWA President, Jen FitzGerald

Dear Chapter Mates,

Our twenty-fifth anniversary celebration is right around the corner. The board hopes to see as many of you as possible as we celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. Former member Linda Castillo will be joining us, as well, as our special speaker. There’ll be some cool commemorative goodies and, of course, cake. Please take a few minutes to RSVP so we can get an accurate head-count for the restaurant. You could also pay your lunch in advance through Paypal, if you’re so inclined. The $1 door fee has been waived for this month, as well. And the cost of lunch will include drinks and gratuity. (But it might be a nice thing to bring a dollar to give the servers a little something extra for putting up with us.) Also, the board voted to eliminate the business meeting for March, so it will just be a fun time of visiting, eating, and listening to our guest speaker.

A new writing incentive program is coming your way. Currently called “Bead Your Book Into Submission”, each participant will be tangibly rewarded for getting those words written and books finished and ready for submission.

But along with the writing, we should be reading. Our very own Sandra Ferguson has issued a reading challenge – read one book for pleasure per week. I’ve taken her up on it, and so has Laura Martello. Are you in? Let us know so we can recommend good reads to one another.

Speaking of reading, our book club is reading “Natural Born Charmer” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips for March’s get together on the 6^th at 7:00 or 7:30 at the NRH B&N. This is a book I’ve actually read prior to knowing it was a book club read — well, I can’t say *read* because I listened to it as an audio book. But I enjoyed it, and would recommend it in either format.

The Bylaws have been updated, although not yet approved officially by the membership. The changes were posted to NT’s Yahoo loop for discussion, which there was none of. An electronic copy of those Bylaws with the changes and reasoning behind them clearly marked is available in the files section of the loop. If you have any questions, please feel free to post to the loop or contact a board member directly. Notice was given at the February meeting (2/16) that voting will take place in March. Since thirty (30) days notice is required, voting will not begin before March 17^th.

Our group is growing. We have quite a few new faces, along with a couple of returning friends, joining our group. Welcome one and all. We have, however, been missing some familiar faces, and I hope to see you all again soon.

Well, I know Alley is waiting for this, in order to put this month’s edition to bed, so I’m done.

I hope to see you in March.

Jen FitzGerald