PAST SPEAKER - May 11, 2010 - Mike Farris -- Mike Farris of the Farris Literary Agency, Inc. graduated cum laude from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1983, then practiced law for fifteen years with one of the largest law firms in Dallas before leaving to pursue personal interests. He later opened the literary agency with his wife, Susan, also an attorney. www.farrisliterary.com

June 8, 2010 -

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.

July, 2010 - Alexandra Powe Allred won the U.S. Nationals in September 1994,making sports history as she was named to the first women’s bobsledteam. When the United States Olympic Committee named her Athlete ofthe Year, it was the beginning of a lucrative sports career as a bobsledder,martial artist, and professional football player.When Powe Allred became pregnant with her second child, she tookpart in a study with the renowned Dr. James Clapp, III, who wasinterested in how extreme exercise affects the placenta. Dr. Clapp wasparticularly interested in Powe Allred because very little data had beencollected on sport training, plyometrics, and heavy weight lifting. At fivemonths pregnant, Powe Allred was squatting 375 lbs. and clocked at 20MPH while running. Today, Powe Allred's training data is still used as asafety guide for pregnant athletes, and Powe Allred serves as a fitnessexpert for www.pregnancy.org.Since then, Powe Allred has become an adventure writer for anumber of national publications as well as the international magazine,Volvo, where she tried her hand (and body) at a number of extremeactivities, including women’s professional football, dog attack training,obstacle course running, and the test drive of the Volvo gravity car – theonly proto type in the U.S.Powe Allred is the author of many books, including Atta Girl! ACelebration of Women in Sport. She earned her second black belt whilepregnant with her third child and continues to work as a personal trainerand fitness instructor in Midlothian, Texas, with her husband andchildren. She most recently blogged for NBC during the VancouverOlympics in “all things bobsledding.”

August 10, 2010 - Jan Winebrenner - A freelance writer for 27 years, Jan Winebrenner authored eight books and wrote countless articles for periodicals as diverse as VIETNAM TODAY,LEADERSHIP, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, TODAY'S CHRISTIAN WOMAN, and DECISION. She wrote feature articles for a parenting magazine for two years before changing her focus to writing books infused with a love of classical Christian literature. Jan founded the Dallas Christian Writers Guild and frequently speaks for writers' groups and college and university writing classes. Mentoring and encouraging other writers is one of her passions. Recent books include The Grace of Catastrophe and Intimate Faith, both published by Moody Press.

www.janwinebrenner.com

September 14, 2010: Jan Brand “Write by Numbers.” How to stay motivated and engaged by understanding the basics of plot and structure.  

Jan Brand is a freelance writer who lives in Arlington, TX. As the Assistant Director of North Texas Christian Writers, an organization of over two hundred writers, she facilitates ten writers’ groups. Her goal is to see God honored in America again. Much of her fiction and nonfiction focuses on America’s Christian heritage. Her work is aimed at causing us to remember the past, so that we can build a better future. When asked why she writes, her reply is, “To change the world, one heart at a time.” She’s published in The Christian Communicator, Eagle Mountain Lake Living Magazine, Victoria Magazine, and Chicken Soup for the Soul, and others.

Here are the DAWG critique guidelines -- please read them before signing up for a critique.

November 9, 2010 - Parris Afton Bonds was conceived in Paris, Kentucky and was born in Tampa, Florida on July 21, 1944. The mother of five sons and the author of thirty-five published novels, she is the co-founder of Southwest Writers Workshop and co-founder and first vice president of Romance Writers of America.

She wrote her first novel at the early age of five (The Blackhawk Women Ride Again), but didn’t publish professionally until free-lancing while living outside the United States. Back in the States, with more than a dozen articles and short stories to her credit, she tackled novel writing again. With the explosion of the romance novel at that time, she wrote and sold her first submission, the historical romance Sweet Golden Sun, to Popular Library.

Ms. Bonds attributes her fascination with historical romances and, in particular, Native Americans, to authors she read as a child and young woman, such as: Frank Yerby, Rafael Sabatini, James Fennimore Cooper, Dale Van Every, and Edna Ferber. The plight of the Native American as described in the novel Romana by Helen Hunt Jackson, most influenced Parris Afton Bonds.

ABC’s Nightline calls her one of the three best-selling authors of romantic fiction. Award-winning Parris Afton Bonds has been interviewed by such luminaries as Charlie Rose and featured in major newspapers, as well as published in more than a dozen languages. She donates time teaching creative writing to both grade-school children and female inmates. The Parris Award was established in her name by the Southwest Writers Workshop to honor a published writer who has given outstandingly of time and talent to other writers. Prestigious recipients of the Parris Award include Tony Hillerman and the Pulitzer nominee Norman Zollinger.