Mel Bringle also will do a presentation on the new Presbyterian hymnal.

The conference is scheduled to begin with registration at 7:30 a.m. Monday, May 16 and end after the last workshops with a wrapup ending at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday the 17th.

This promises to be a special conference. Save the dates and plan to attend. As soon as registration is set up online, we will send another issue of The Writer with that information.

Dear Writers Guild Friends,

In 2010, only 54 percent of Writers Guild members paid their dues. If everyone paid his or her dues, we c

Bill Lancaster

ould not only fund our current activities, but support the Angell Award in the future and consider adding a new annual award for best book of the year by a Presbyterian author.

 It is very important for you to pay your $25 annual dues. These small amounts add up to a lot for this organization.

Through your dues the Guild puts on a biennial General Assembly Luncheon, sponsors an annual writer's conference, gives three prestigious awards -the David W. Steele Distinguished Writer Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Angell Award-- and publishes The Writer electronic newsletter.

The General Assembly Luncheon brings many of us together and gives us a setting for hearing world-class writers speak about their work.

The writers conferences bring novelists, editors, agents, publishers, hymn writers, poets, journalists, children's writers and others together to establish important relationships, find inspiration, and hone our craft.

The Distinguished Writer Award allows us to recognize authors with outstanding work, such as Eugene Peterson, the 2010 winner, author of The Message and other works. This award carries a monetary grant of $1,000, plus travel and expenses to General Assembly.

The Lifetime Achievement Award allows us to honor singular writers who have shown greatness over a lifetime of work.

The Angell Award allows us to lift up emerging authors and showcase their first book. Funding for the Angell Award, supplied about 20 years ago by Jim Angell, will run out in 2011. We need to fund this, too, from dues or other sources.

The Writer supplies guidance for effective writing and gives members a place to share news about their latest publications and accomplishments.

Do you see how important that little $25 dues payment is? Through it you belong to this group of distinguished Presbyterian writers. Through it you receive support for the art and craft of writing. Through it you contribute to the awards the Guild is able to give.

Your dues allow the Guild to support writers as they seek to express beauty, truth and faith through writing.

We want to make it easy for you. In a few days, you will receive an email with a way to pay your 2011 dues electronically through PayPal. This is one more innovation the Guild is using to strengthen our organization.

If you would prefer to pay by check, please send your $25 to Duane Sweep, Membership Secretary, 44 East 125th Street, Burnsville, MN 55337.  And in any case, share news of your writing with other members by emailing a note to Duane Sweep (dsweep@lakesandprairies.org ) or Martha Evans Sparks (msparks1@windstream.net). We publish those in The Writer.

Thank you for your continuing support of the Guild!

Yours,

Bill Lancaster, President