Red Carpet Treatment at The Timbers of Shorewood

On September 29, The Timbers of Shorewood retirement community held a "Meet the Authors" night for some of the members of WriteOn Joliet - and did The Timbers roll out the red carpet for us!

Here's what happened.

In early 2021, I received a refund of an overpayment from a medical procedure - so I used the money to donate thirty of WriteOn Joliet's 2020 "Write Where We Are" anthology and thirty "Cheetah Stories" anthologies to the Timbers of Shorewood.

At the time, the COVID vaccines were just coming out and restrictions were still tight, especially in places were seniors gathered and lived.

So I had reached out to The Timbers and asked if it would like some anthologies with stories, essays, and poems by local writers to help entertain the residents.

Apparently The Timbers has a book club with avid readers, which were excited to receive the books. So I sent the anthologies and thought that was that.

But then The Timbers reached back out a few months later with an idea. The Timbers wanted to host a "Meet The Authors" night. 

Eleven of the WriteOners who contributed to those anthologies were able to attend the event, which attracted approximately twenty residents at The Timbers.

What a reception!

The event was held in the ballroom that was decorated with "book themes," such as the balloons...

...the miniature chocolates, tucked inside scaled-down versions of our anthology...

....various other decorations

....and the plates and napkins, which went well with the...

...appetizers and wine The Timbers brought out for residents and WriteOners alike.

The Timbers set us all at the front of the room "con-style" as WriterOner Duanne Walton described it.

We introduced ourselves and then read excerpts from the anthologies and other works.

Afterward the readings, we signed books and chatted with the residents. 

The mood was exuberant, with talk of more donations of anthologies and tentative plans for another event - perhaps on a weekend, The Timbers suggested.

The Timbers posted photos of "Meet the Authors" on its Facebook page .

And The Timbers also sent out a news release to various publications and posted it on The Timbers of Shorewood website.

Here is the link for more photos and interviews with the residents.

https://www.timbersofshorewood.com/timbers-of-shorewood-welcomes-joliet-authors-after-donation-during-pandemic/

We were honored, humbled, and are looking forward to connecting again soon.

Cheesy Promotional Post: Five Ways to Make Readers Happy This Christmas

 Do you have friends or family who like to read?

Then buy them a WriteOn Joliet anthology (you thought I was going to recommend the BryonySeries books, didn't you)?

WriteOn Joliet is a welcoming, diverse group of writers of varied skills, interests and experience. The group includes professional journalists, fiction novelists, bloggers, screenwriters, musicians and poets.

A local writer approached me in 2011 and asked me to start this group with her. After telling her "non," multiple times, she found a core group of half a dozen writers and reapproached me with all of them.

She has since moved on (married, children, single mom, and now a nurse, yes during COVID - she's awesome), but Tom Hernandez stepped up, and we've continued to grow, although WriteOn has met on Zoom for most of the year.

Because of Tom's suggestion, WriteOn Joliet has published an anthology every years. This is the first year we were not able to host a release party (complete with free chef-created food), so I'm pushing a little harder to let people know about us.

The anthology is a fundraiser for WriteOn Joliet, and all proceeds stay within the group. We've used the money for speakers, workshops, and marketing our writers.

Except for the "baby cheetah" special edition anthology, all of our anthologies are called "Write Where We Are." That means all the pieces are where we, as writers, currently find ourselves in our respective writing journeys.

Readers will find poems, essays, short stories, novellas, novel excerpts of varying styles. Any reader should be able to find at least one piece to enjoy. Those who purchase the book can have the satisfaction of knowing they've helped writers become more effective in communication, whether they seek to inform, inspire or entertain.

And, yes, you will find excerpts from some of my books, too. 

The only anthology not yet on our website is the newest one, released in the last couple weeks. You can find it here.

For the other WriteOn Joliet anthologies, go here.

And if you want to buy all of them, message us writeonjolietgroup@gmail.com, and I'll work out a discount with you.

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: WriteOn Joliet's First Meeting

This was part of a post from February 6, 2012.


Several weeks ago, a local writer, Kristina Gardner Skaggs (see her short story, Dead Serious, www.bryonyseries.com/Harold_Masters.html and her interview at http://bryonyseries.blogspot.com/2011/09/meet-kristina-skaggs-author-of-dead.html) approached me about assisting her with a new writer’s group. 


A few conversational emails later, we finalized time, date, and location: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., the first and third Thursdays of every month, at the Three Rivers Arts Council (TRAC), 413 Mondamin Road, Minooka. 

To our delight, five local writers turned out for that first meeting last week We shared our interests, heard some readings, set some goals, directed each other to helpful sites, and brainstormed our official title. 

Since that time, we've moved to the Joliet Public Library at 3395 Black Road in Joliet, published three anthologies (with another out later this year), expanded membership, held a few workshops, and branched into marketing.

This past month, we hosted our first display at the Joliet Public Library's downtown branch at 150 N. Ottawa St. in Joliet. The display comes down after our meet and greet from 6 to 8:30 p.m. tonight, so if you haven't seen it, this is the last opportunity.

Some of our members (including me) will be present with books we've written, along with our three WriteOn Joliet anthologies (along with our latest, "Cheetah Stories"), so please stop out and say, "Hi."

In short, we're here to support local writers, AND we're helping local writers produce the very best reading material possible for readers, voracious and otherwise.

For more information, visit writeonjoliet.com.