The Richmond Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club, Inc. was officially chartered in August, 1997. At the present time there are no requirements for Chapter membership other than to show an active interest in the mission of the Club and to attend as many meetings as possible to give everyone the full benefit of having fellow writers and professionals to network with. A "Richmond Writers" mailing list is maintained with the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mails of individuals who attend meetings and want to receive important communications from the Chapter. At each meeting, an attendance sheet is passed around so the mailing list will grow and become updated. Each month, an e-mail is sent to members on the Richmond Writers list to announce the next meeting. Individuals without an e-mail address may elect to be called or mailed.

NOTE NEW MEETING SCHEDULE: Meetings are held the THIRD SATURDAY of each month from 10:00 - 12:00 at a Henrico Public Library (unless otherwise noted).

Meetings range between having guest authors who will talk about their new book and go into a fair amount of detail about their writing and publishing experiences to having workshops with knowledgeable presenters or providing peer feedback on member writing projects.. To help with speaker stipends or other meeting expenses, we use the "pass the hat" approach. Individual critique groups are encouraged to form and meet more frequently in smaller groups so members will have the added benefit of having help to refine and polish their work prior to submitting it for contests or publication. Here are Sample Critique Group Guidelines to consider if you are planning to form a group.

In the event a Chapter member finds their experience to be especially rewarding, they are encouraged to join the statewide VWC and enjoy additional benefits.

Our Supporting Members!
What follows is a list of our supportive members. Check back often as we add more information.

PATSY ANNE BICKERSTAFF, B.A., J.D., president, Virginia Writers Club, 2001-2002; president, Poetry Society of Virginia, 2006-2010, retired Administrative Law Judge. Poetry has won awards and recognition nationwide, including first place in Robert Penn Warren awards and International Shakespearean Sonnet Awards (twice). Poetry has appeared in over 100 journals, reviews and anthologies. Two poetry books, City Rain (Librado Press, 1989) and Mrs. Noah's Journal (San Francisco Bay Press, 2007). Some nonfiction, including mocktail recipe book, Alcohol-Free Entertaining, in conjunction with late husband Wilson Lee Seay. Has presented in conferences, schools, museums, libraries and churches throughout Virginia, and facilitated workshops in Richmond and Charlottesville. Has taught mini-courses in reading and writing poetry through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Richmond. Studied poetry writing at University of Richmond, UVA, VCU, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.


WILL DANIEL   Photographer & Author

James River Reflections   (Schiffer Books, Atglen, PA - 2011)
144-page hard-cover book about Virginia's James River.
Contains 249 color images and 11 black and white
historical photos collected from the Library of Congress.

Rivers and photography have been in Will Daniel's blood all his life. The author-photographer was born within sight of the Ohio River and developed a lifelong love affair with that flowing water before moving to the Richmond, Virginia, area in 2004. He spent two years traveling the length of the James River to capture its beauty in digital images for his book. He retired in 2009 from a U.S. government job in which he was senior writer-editor for an employee information Web site. He now teaches part time in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, and continues to photograph rivers and other landscapes in and around Virginia. He's working on his second book of Virginia rivers. Read more at: www.willdaniel.com

CHARLIE FINLEY was one of the founding members of the Richmond Chapter VWC and served as President the first two years. He was also Executive Director and Newsletter Editor for the Virginia Writers Club, Inc. for eight years. Since 1995, Charlie has worked with literally hundreds of authors as an editor and publishing consultant through his business, Verbatim Editing. Many of his clients are self-published authors. Other clients are non-profit groups that utilize his lobbying skills in the Virginia General Assembly and his administrative skills for organizational management and publication design and editing. In 2005, Charlie started his own newsletter, Appalachian Woodlands and Sportsmen's Review which is sent to some 1200 landowners, hunt clubs, land use planners and sportsmen in Virginia. He is very active in many civic associations and causes including the Richmond Master Plan for Downtown & Henrico 2026 (land use plan) and the Richmond First Club, where he served as President for two years. He is also a Board member of the Friends of the Richmond Library. For fun, he's a practical joker who wishes he could write like Dave Barry. He also rides a motorcycle with a bunch of other Baptists from First Baptist Church in Richmond where he sings in the choir on Sundays in order to be seen on Channel 8 every week!

ROBERT GODFREY has always had an interest in art and writing. He studied painting in watercolours for some years before beginning to write seriously in 1995, when he focused mainly on short stories.
        The first short story he entered into a contest was titled, "Closings." It won first place and was published in a small magazine named The Quiet Time Report. After that, several of his stories, again entered into contests, won prizes and were published in magazines Raconteur and Richmond. He sold a short story titled, "Pieces of a Man's Life," to a magazine called Cappers. One of his latest short stories finished in the top 100 of the Writer's Digest Short Story contest for 2008.
        Taking a break from writing, he went to France for the first time in 2000, interested in photographing scenery for his painting. With each visit, he spent a great deal of time wandering through the many museums housing paintings of the Impressionists. This resulted in him reading books on Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh, Berthe Morisot, Camille Claudel, and Modigliani among others. It was a single sentence in a novel on Rodin that planted the seed for his first novel, The Girl Who Lived in Colours.
        In 2004 he began researching the background for the book, reading whatever he could find on Paris in the 1930s and 1940s, especially the time immediately before, and during the occupation by Germany. With the onset of writing his book, his painting fell by the wayside. At the current time, he is researching publishers with the intention of submitting queries in 2010.
        Now that he is retired, he devotes the majority of his time to writing and attending local writer's groups--James River Writers and the Virginia Writers Club. He is currently researching material for the sequel to his first book, while planting the seeds for books to follow. He is also continuing to write short stories for contests and publication, and has resumed his painting. BLOG www.robertgodfrey@blogspot.com.

DR. BERNARD GOLDSTEIN was born in Brooklyn, NY and attended the New York City public education system through to a B.A. degree from the City University of New York. He continued with post-graduate work at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University leading to a PhD degree in physics. This, in turn, led directly to RCA's Sarnoff Research Labs in Princeton, NJ, where he spent thirty-three years measuring and clarifying basic electronic and physical properties of simple and compound semiconductors, and their applications to such areas as solar energy conversion and night vision devices. It was during these years that he got his first taste of foreign travel through presenting papers at International conferences and invitations to be a "visiting scientist" at Universities in Paris and Marseilles. It was during the final research years of this period that he began writing... fiction at first (mystery novels), and then the occasional essay and short story. His first three novels were published in England with modest success, while neither of his two manuscripts written here was picked up. But rejection is no stranger to Bernard, and he continues to try.
        BOOKS PUBLISHED (under the pseudonym "Bernard Peterson"): The Peripheral Spy (ISBN 0002216779); The Marseilles Connection (ISBN 0709020805); The Caravaggio Books (ISBN 000232413X).

MICHAEL GUNTER loves mystery and the complexities of life. He enjoys a good wrestle with tough questions. And he believes his calling in life is to invite people to let go of easy answers, dive deep beneath the surface of everyday chatter, and engage the soul to discover truth; whether it comes straight up in non-fiction or wrapped in a fictional story.
         Michael’s aim is to write great books that entertain, encourage, and provoke meaningful contemplation and conversation. Michael also wants to encourage other writers to take the next step in reaching their literary goals.
          In his first book, A Life Not Wasted (Gazelle Press), Michael addresses the greatest of all tragedies; not a life cut short by an early death, but a life that reaches its end without becoming what God intended it to be.
          By exploring four of Life’s Big Questions, Michael finds clarity about life, God, and our ultimate purpose in this world.
         Michael’s second published book ventures into the realm of fiction. BLACKWELL is a human drama about an extraterrestrial encounter. Combining elements of drama, humor, and suspense, this realistic science fiction probes the depths of what it means to be truly human. Michael began writing in 2001. Besides his published works, he has written five nonfiction books, several short stories, and over a hundred essays. His story, One of a Million Things, won third runner up in the Colonnade Writing Contest at CJM Books and will be included in their 2012 anthology of short stories.
         While Michael continues to develop his writing skills and give life to the stories residing in his mind, he is finding ways to bring his fifteen years experience as a teacher into his writing career. Michael is available to speak to your group about the craft of writing, moving ideas from the mind to the page, and creating a platform to make your writing available to the world. www.klyvian.com

 

 

LINDA DINI JENKINS is a freelance business writer as well as author of Up at the Villa: Travels with my Husband (ISBN 9780979066122) and Journey of a Returning Christian: Writing Into God (ISBN 0827217080). Her book, Up at the Villa, was awarded a 2009 Best Book Award by USA Book News (finalist in the Travel:Essays category) and was also named as one of Journeywoman's "Top Ten Books I'd Give My Girlfriends" for 2009.
        She has been published in a wide range of books, newspapers and literary magazines, including Vermont Voices, South Florida Poetry Review, Phoebe: A Journal of Feminist Scholarship Theory & Aesthetics, Poeti italo-americani e italo-canadesi, Tampa Review, Peregrine, Writer to Writer, Color Wheel/Mink Hills Journal, Bay Windows and Christmas Blessings. She is the author of the one-act play, "Things I Never Told My Mother," and is co-author, with Barbara Worton, of the highly acclaimed play, "If I'm Talking, Why Aren't You Listening?"
        Linda lives in Midlothian, Virginia with her husband, Timothy and their dog, Maxine.  WEBSITE www.upatthevillatravels.com. BLOG  www.travelthewriteway.com.

PAMELA K. KINNEY is an author of published horror, science fiction, fantasy, poetry and, so far, two nonfiction paranormal books, Haunted Richmond, Virginia and Haunted Virginia: Legends, Myths and True Tales, both published by Schiffer Publishing. Using the pseudonym, Sapphire Phelan, she has published erotic and sweet paranormal/fantasy/science fiction romance and a couple of erotic horror stories. She also has performed as an actor on stage and in films, and since 1972 she's been a master costumer. She admits she can always be found at her desk and on her computer, writing. And yes, the house and husband sometimes suffer for it! Find out more about her at: http://FantasticDreams.50megs.com; www.myspace.com/PamelaKKinney and www.myspace.com/SapphirePhelan.

Richmond Writers in the Chapter region who want to publicly acknowledge their support of the mission of the Virginia Writers Club are invited to provide information and be recognized on this page.

Please e-mail or mail the following information:
1.  PHOTO - .JPG or .TIF (optional, but recommended)
2.  BIO (up to 200 words)
3.  TITLES OF BOOKS PUBLISHED and ISBNs - .JPG images of book covers welcome
4.  WEBSITE, BLOG and/or FACEBOOK address

Linda M. Layne, Richmond Chapter Facilitator
Virginia Writers Club, Inc.
P. O. Box 115
Bremo Bluff, VA 23022
VWCMail@aol.com