As the new editor for the newsletter of the Society of Southwest Authors, I've released my first edition of The Write Word for November-December 2018. We are excited that our schedule of workshops (which we call "Wordshops") for our membership and for the writing community at large provides a broad range of learning opportunities.

The upcoming December Wordshop will feature Geoff Notkin, an award-winning author, publisher, and art director, who has written hundreds of articles on science, adventure, travel, history, and the arts. He is the author of three books, including the IPPY winner, Meteorite Hunting: How to Find Treasure From Space. His presentation is “The Semantics of Book Cover Design,” in which he will astound you with visual demonstrations of how images, typefaces, and layout convey to readers what your book is about before they even pick it up.

Attendees are invited to share your covers, cover ideas, and book concepts; he will use his expertise as a graphic designer, typographer, and publisher to offer a friendly and constructive critique of your work and brainstorm with you to develop the best possible look for your book covers (front and back). Bring your covers, real or imagined. Better yet, email your cover designs and ideas to Geoff ahead of time, and he will incorporate them into his presentation offering a much more effective critique. Please email as JPG, PDF, or PNG digital files to: [email protected] not later than Wednesday, December 12.

All Wordshops are held at the Girl Scout Complex, 4300 E. Broadway (at Columbus on the southeast corner behind the main building) in Tucson, 1-3 pm.

Read the entire newsletter below. I recommend that you set it at full-screen for a better reading experience. I'm looking forward to sharing future newsletters through my blog.