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2006 Speakers
2007 Speakers
2008 Speakers
Writing
Opportunities
Includes information about learning how to write, contests, and other
writers groups in the area.
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Meetings are every 2nd Tuesday of the month at the
Cedar Hill Library
(Zula Bryant Wylie Library)
225 Cedar Street,
Cedar Hill, Texas
7:00pm to 8:30pm
(Click
Here for Directions)
See below for information on
upcoming meetings in 2009
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Jan 13, 2009 - Author/journalist
Carlton Stowers' books include bestsellers TO THE LAST BREATH
and CARELESS WHISPERS, both winners of the Mystery Writers of
America's Edgar Allen Poe Award as the Best Fact Crime Book of the Year,
INNOCENCE LOST, which was nominated for a Pulitzer, and his
autobiographical SINS OF THE SON. His books have been selections
of the Book of the Month Club, Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club,
Mystery Book Club, True Crime Book Club, Preferred Choice Book Club,
Playboy Book Club and Guideposts Book Club and five have been optioned
by motion picture/TV productions companies. In 2001 Stowers was inducted
into the Texas Institute of Letters and in 2007 was the recipient of the
A.C. Greene Literary Award for lifetime achievement. |
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February 10, 2009 -
Critique Night - DAWG members will have an opportunity to
read a
selection from their work and have it critiqued by a published writer.
Sign up is on a first-come basis -- begins at 7pm. DAWG members are
given priority. Expected panelist include Beverly Shay, Win Shields, Ginnie Bivona and James
Gaskin. Here are the
DAWG critique guidelines -- please read them before signing up for a
critique. |
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March 10, 2009
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Alex Powe Allred - Alexandra Allred won the U.S. Nationals in
September 1994, making sports history as a member the first women’s
bobsled team. The U. S. Olympic Committee named her Athlete of the
Year, beginning a long fight to include women’s bobsledding in the
Olympics. Allred acted as World cup team captain, media relations
officer and international correspondent for the U.S./international
female sliders. Allred remains the first women’s bobsled champion for
the United States. While pregnant with her second child, Allred
participated in a study with the renowned Dr. James Clapp III on how
extreme exercise affects the placenta. At five months pregnant, Allred
was squatting 375 lbs. and clocked 21 MPH on sprint drills. Her workout
regime is used by the United States /International Olympic Committee for
pregnant athletes. Allred earned her second black belt while pregnant
with her third child and taught boot camp style kickboxing throughout
that pregnancy.
As daughter of a U.S. Diplomat, Allred lived in Baghdad, Iraq; Tunis,
Tunisia and Moscow, Russia; her firsthand experiences of the effects of
discrimination and abuse against women and children launched her writing
career. She was nominated Mom of the Year by iParenting.com and
named Author of the Month by Qcircuit.com. In 2005, she was
awarded the Amelia Bloom Award for her book, Atta Girl.
She has been featured in Sports
Illustrated, Muscle&Fitness Hers, Self, Fit, Self Defense for Women,
Shape, Redbook magazines and in USA Today, Dallas Morning News,
New York Times and the Washington Post.
Allred test piloted, drove and wrote about the only
Gravity Car in existence, testing its speed, suspension system, steering
mechanism and overall ride. Allred serves as fitness/nutrition expert
for
www.pregnancy.org. She teaches kickboxing and talks to youth about
health, happiness and proper nutrition. |
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April 14, 2009 -
Dr.
David F. Ciambrone (www.davidciambrone.com) Dr.
David Ciambrone is a retired executive, scientist, oceanographer,
professor, magician, US Treasury Commissioner and author living in
Georgetown, Texas. He has published five mysteries in the Virginia
Davies Series: Laguna Treasure, Napa Nights, Pelican Cove, Castle
Finlaystoke and the newest one, Left at Georgetown. Dave’s newest book
will be in another series, but he is presently working on a new Virginia
Davies novel. Dr. Ciambrone has woven his background in police
procedures, magic, science and engineering into the stories.
He has been past vice president
of Sisters-in-Crime; a member of Mystery Writers of America, President
of the San Gabriel’s Writer’s League, Texas Writer’s league, Williamson
County Coroners and Austin Mystery Writers. Dave also writes a helpful
hint newspaper column under the name “Ask Uncle Dave” for the Williamson
County Sun. Dr. Ciambrone has also published three best selling
management books which have sold at home and internationally.
He has worked for police
departments and been a consultant on poisons to police agencies. He has
also worked with chemical and biological weapons. Dave has been a
speaker at writers groups, schools and colleges and mystery writers and
technical conferences internationally.
(He will also be teaching a class on
murder for the Writer’s League of Texas June 19th at the Westlake Barns
and Noble in Austin, Texas at 7:00 p.m.) |

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May 12, 2009
Elizabeth Scott, author of Raindrops on
Roman; Overcoming Autism: A Message of Hope.
Scott is a graduate of Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois. She has a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education
and is a former elementary school teacher. With her professional skills
and her deep devotion as a mother, she persevered in leading her son
through his early childhood years to recover from 45 symptoms of autism.
Her mission now is to serve as a coach, consultant, and speaker for
professionals and families helping children with autism. She currently
works as an athletic counselor and educational and Bible study teacher
at the Ron Burton Training Village, a non-profit, summer sports camp for
underprivileged inner-city youth. |

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June 9, 2009 - Critique Night - DAWG members will have an opportunity to read a
selection from their work and have it critiqued by a published writer.
Sign up is on a first-come basis -- begins at 7pm. DAWG members are
given priority. Expected panelists include Beverly Shay, Ginnie Bivona and James
Gaskin.
Here are the
DAWG critique guidelines -- please read them before signing up for a
critique.
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July 14, 2009 - Amanda Tackett has been writing for years...grocery lists, checks, and the occasional thank-you note. She began her professional writing career in the pages of D Magazine. Throughout 2008, D Home and Garden Magazine published a colmn column chronicling the trials and tribulations of renovating Amanda’s “Dream House.” Her current column, “Adventures in Suburbia” is featured in Living Magazine.
Amanda is the 2008 Katie Award recipient for “Magazine Writer of the Year” from the Dallas Press Club.
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August 11, 2009 - TBA |
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September 8, 2009:
David
Haynes has been recognized by Granta magazine as
one of America's best young novelists. The author of six critically
acclaimed novels and five children's books, he is director of creative
writing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The former
sixth grade teacher's short stories have been heard on "Selected Shorts"
on NPR, and his novels have been recognized by the American Library
Association. |
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