I'm happy to announce a new online MWSA activity. There will be four Book Forum Discussions on our site this year. It will work this way...we will announce the book to be discussed. The author will do his/her best to provide it to MWSA members at a good price. Members who want to participate will buy a copy and read it before participating in the forum which I will moderate and the author will be available to answer questions. There will be two threads -- one about the art of writing and the other about the content/message of the book. We will provide participants with a list of talking points to get the conversations going.
So far, two members have agreed to appear and allow their books to be showcased this spring -- Marcia Sargent will discuss her award-winning memoir, Wing Wife:How to Be Married to a Marine Fighter Pilot, the weekend of March 23-25th. Walt Shiel will discuss his award-winning novel, Once a Knight: A Novel of Aerial Combat & Romance in World War I (Dawn of Aviation) on April 27-29th.
The forums are free to members. Non-members can read the forums but not participate. However, if a non-member wishes to participate fully, he/she can do so by buying a book from the author (see how to buy Wing Wife directly from Marcia Sargent below) and she will provide our membership secretary Terry Gould with a list of Non-members who will participate. He'll create a temporary log in account for each person and remove it after the forum.
I'll be posting the questions for Marcia's discussion with links to the forum threads next week. In the meantime, if you plan to participate, I encourage you to purchase Wing Wife and read it. You won't be sorry. It's beautifully written and the topic is heartbreaking, profound, and uplifting. I expect this to be useful to those who are planning to write a memoir or who are struggling to chronicle a troubling life event. I also think there will be a lively philosophical conversation about what Marcia has to say in this wonderful piece. Here's a pdf with more information about Wing Wife & the Forum. http://www.mwsadispatches.com/node/846
To buy the Wing Wife for a special MWSA discounted price of $11 (inclusive of tax and shipping), click here.
To purchase the Kindle eBook, click here.
For those of you eager to present your book in such a forum, three things. How often we do these forums depend on how much value they are to our members. So support these first two authors and if their forums are successful, we'll do more. Second, books that have already received awards will be considered first. If your book hasn't made it's way through the system, be patient. We are doing better in terms of reviewing, scoring, and posting. Finally, I'm trying to select books that are diverse, well-written, and that offer something new and interesting to our membership -- either in content or in the craft of writing or as in the case of Wing Wife, both. If you think your book fits those criteria, get in touch with me at MWSAPresident@gmail.com.
Also, while I'll moderate the first two, I am looking for those who would like to moderate future forums. Just let me know if you would like to volunteer.
Joyce Faulkner
MWSA President
