It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real stretch for me to write the blog entry this morning because Christmas and family activities have become all-consuming. I am baking and cooking, running around delivering gifts, entertaining and cleaning up between events like crazy. Our family celebrations started Friday night with my youngest daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday party and will conclude Christmas day. By then, we will have hosted or attended 7 family celebrations and most of them involve at least a dozen and sometimes 21 people. All of these events involve food\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsome of which I am preparing. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m spending more time in the kitchen than at the computer. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting up at 3 or 4 a.m. to take care of client work, to respond to author questions and to write a fresh blog entry for you. Last night, I went to bed at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
With blessed togetherness at the forefront of my life this week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve decided to use this as the theme for my blog commentary today. This is a season for family togetherness. And I believe that freelance writers and authors should gather together in every season for the purpose of learning from and sharing with one another. <\/p>\n
SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) was formed with this in mind. SPAWN is a networking organization for anyone interested in or involved in publishing. The original premise was to bring authors, freelance writers, graphic artists, printers, publishers and illustrators, etc., together for the purpose of collaboration, the sharing of resources and knowledge and general networking. In 1996, SPAWN was a face-to-face networking organization. We had 3 chapters and monthly meetings in each of 3 counties.<\/p>\n Then along came the Internet, which changed the concept of face-to-face networking. Practically overnight, SPAWN went digital and International. We now have around 200 members from many places around the world and 2,000 newsletter subscribers. <\/p>\n The SPAWN website is a huge resource center for anyone interested in or involved in publishing. There are experts available to respond to questions in the area of publishing, writing, book promotion and web design and management. On those rare occasions when we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t answer a question, we know where to send you for answers. We provide free access to the SPAWN website and a free monthly newsletter. <\/p>\n Members receive a free book, the newsletter, access to the website AND access to a discussion group and a forum where they can discuss questions and concerns and share resources and success stories with other members. Members have access to the member area of the SPAWN website where they can study the current and 6 years of archived SPAWN Market Update<\/em>, which is loaded with industry news and opportunities for authors, freelance writers, poets, graphic artists, publishers, screenwriters and so forth. The publications and the magnitude of other information and resources provided by and posted at the SPAWN site are intended to teach, inform and educate visitors, subscribers and members. Check us out at <\/a> http:\/\/www.spawn.org<\/a><\/p>\n Join SPAWN. This could be your best Christmas gift of all this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real stretch for me to write the blog entry this morning because Christmas and family activities have become all-consuming. I am baking and cooking, running around delivering gifts, entertaining and cleaning up between events like crazy. Our family celebrations started Friday night with my youngest daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday party and will conclude Christmas day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t