Hello all,

This is just a quick summary of everything that happened at the meeting last Thursday, for those who have asked and the others who are silent but curious. 

First of all, the meeting got started a little late.   Everyone was a little distracted by all those glorious shelves of books lining the entrance, and it took a while for Kent to track us all down and herd us to the tables set up in the back for our meeting.

Since it was an informal meeting, very little business was brought up.  There was a discussion of the website, led by the four staff members (Ashley, Matt, Josh, and myself, Krystal, the pizza fiend).  Mostly, we were concerned about what everyone was looking for in the website.  So far, we plan to include:

A Forum, or threaded message boards, which will be more suitable to personal questions and discussions, and have the added ability of being separated into topics for group discussion.

Fiction Submissions, although please note these submissions will be for critique only and be posted for a limited amount of time.  There will be other limitations on submitting revealed later, based on keeping the system as fair and honest as possible, and keeping the size of the webpage under our limits as well.

Frequently Asked Questions, which is as the title implies.  This will concern the Professional Writing Program, PWA, and the website itself, not how-to's on technique and the resolution of creative issues.

Book Recommendations, by anyone, but preferably with a short synopsis of the book and why it is recommended.

Upcoming Events, both in PWA and across the state of Oklahoma (such as book signings and conferences).

Links to other Oklahoma and national writing organizations, to publishing house webpages for their submission requirements, and the NY Times bestseller list.

Published Alums of the Professional Writing Program, including their book titles, synopses, dates of publication, and author bio's.

Professional Writing Program information, including, but not limited to, course requirements and descriptions, blurbs on the professors, and a short history of the program itself (since we are the only accredited professional writing program in the nation!)

As activities are researched and started, additional pages will be added.  Of course, any suggestions for additions to this list are welcome, and should be emailed to [log in to unmask], rather than flooding this list.

There was also discussion of the upcoming OIPA conference, which a delegation shall attend in an effort to recruit some of those promising young high school journalists into our camp.  There should be more information about that available Monday.

A final item I'm sure many of you are interested in, especially after suffering through this long message, is the discussion of meeting times.  In a group as large as we are ( I believe Kent mentioned there were over 90 people on the mailing list?) it's going to be next to impossible to find a day of the week that everyone is available.  It was mentioned that we could try alternating the meeting days, so that at the very least, those who can't come on Thursdays will have the chance to attend meetings.  A date has not been set yet, but the next meeting won't be for another two weeks or so.  In the mean time, we are tentatively leaning toward a Monday night for the next meeting.  Those who are unable to come to a Monday meeting, please follow the protocol for the list that was sent out Friday and do not flood the mailboxes.  This is merely tentative, and more about the next meeting date will be forthcoming.

Other than those three things,  there was a lot of pleasant conversation, plenty of reading recommendations, and a little drooling over books and chocolates.

Sincerely,

Krystal, Impromptu Secretary