Let’s Change It Up, Baby!

By Patricia Stoltey

Our RMFW Spotlight post for board members and volunteers is going on vacation in 2015. We have a neverending supply of incredible members who have served RMFW well over the years and continue to volunteer,  but when I see that enormous pool of potential interviewees, I realize there’s no fair way to pick and choose who deserves recognition now and who can be deferred until later.

Some of our members have been with the organization for dozens of years and helped build the RMFW we see today. They’ve passed on the volunteer work to newer members, and those newer folks are the ones who are visible, they’re the names we recognize.  In a future post, I hope to talk more about our pioneers and why we owe them a very special thank you.

Meanwhile, I’m going to steal this first Monday spot to write about other things, probably not cabbages and kings, but perhaps some observations about writing and the writing life, book promotion (or the lack thereof), new books on these topics, or just about anything else that might pop into my head.

We’re happy to take questions and blog topic suggestions, which you can ask through the Ask the Author link on the blog page. The link is in the right sidebar and it looks like this:

To begin, I have a little quiz for you. Did you know…..

1.  There’s a new release feature on the front page of the website that shows RMFW member books’ cover art and tiny synopsis? Yep, down there in the right sidebar.

2.  You can sign up to receive the blog posts by email? Check out the right sidebar on the blog page, not too far under the Ask an Author badge. Just fill in your email address and click subscribe so you never miss a post.

3.  Registration for the 2015 RMFW Retreat opened yesterday, November 30th? This year the retreat is scheduled for March 11-15 at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. There’s so much to know about this incredible writing opportunity, I’ll merely direct you to the retreat page on the website to learn more. I can tell you, however, that I recently attended a writers’ retreat with Northern Colorado Writers at the same location, and from Thursday afternoon to Sunday mid-morning, I churned out over 18,000 words, and I still had time for good meals, wildlife watching (like the mule deer wandering outside my window, the wild turkeys, and the elk), and a bit of fun.

And now I invite you to help us all out with our holiday shopping by leaving your book information in a comment below. Please include a buy link to your favorite bookseller and let us know if the book is available in print or ebook. Don’t forget to add the Crossing Colfax Anthology to your list for a lucky reader. If you’re up in the Fort Collins area, some of the authors will be at the Barnes & Noble on Sunday December 7th from 1-3.