February 2 Meeting Update

The meeting will begin with group business and updates followed by member news.

Sylvia Ney will be talking about "The Power of Research and the Interview". 

Sylvia holds a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication from Lamar University of Beaumont. She has more than 15 years experience as a teacher and has published newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, poetry and photography. She is serving as President of Texas Gulf Coast Writers. You can learn more about her: http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/

Dr. Philip Williams will then be speaking on "Finding Your Peculiar Voice." For more information see the previous post.

February 2 Meeting

Dr. Philip Williams, President of McNeese State University,  will be speaking on "Finding Your Peculiar Voice."

Dr. Williams earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Carolina, graduating with honors in history. He earned his law degree at the Columbia University School of Law in New York City. During the course of his legal profession, he practiced corporate law and served as administrative vice president and counsel for Sea World, Inc. During the 1980’s he and his wife Sandra were active writers, publishing a series of children’s mysteries, adult mysteries, and non-fiction works.

In 1994, Dr. Williams returned to Chapel Hill to earn his M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees in Health Policy and Administration. He served for one year as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, then accepted a faculty position at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, where he taught health law and management courses in the College of Business and was appointed to serve as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs. He joined the staff of Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 2003 as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, and in 2006 he became President of the University of Montevallo in Alabama.

In the spring of 2010 he was selected to serve as the 6th President of McNeese State University. Since his arrival at McNeese, he has presided over the development of a new strategic plan, which features the promotion of innovative teaching and learning, regional partnerships, service-learning opportunities, applied research, cultural engagement, and athletic excellence. He has frequently stated his desire for McNeese to play an active role in the civic and economic renaissance likely to transform Southwest Louisiana over the next five years.

McNeese Leisure Learning for Writers

McNeese University is offering two leisure learning classes for writers. For more information or to register: here.

1) Where I'm From: A Workshop Approach to Writing from Life 
Instructor: Connie McDonald 
Location: Frasch 107
Date: Tuesdays - Feb 19, 26, Mar 5, 12
Time: 6-7:30 pm
Cost: $49/$59 after Feb 5

2) Writing about Place
Instructor: Rachel Rinehart
Location: Frasch 107
Date: Thursdays - Feb 21, 28, Mar 7, 14
Time: 6:30-8 pm
Cost: $49/$59 after Feb 7

January 5 Speaker

BWG member Mike McHugh will be speaking on "Humor Writing for the Non-Humorist". 

McHugh is author of The Dang Yankee, a humorous column about a life in Louisiana and the world at large, from the perspective of a slowly graying northerner who never quite grew up. Started in 2009, it is a popular feature in The Jambalaya News, a local publication covering Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas. Current and past articles are available on the paper’s website.

Mike is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, part of that Never Never Land between North and South, a man without a subculture. He eats gumbo and listens to Wille Nelson while he roots for the Ravens and hankers for crab cakes. He’d be totally schitzo if it weren’t for the few commonalities between Maryland and Louisiana, one being that both states have sent former governors to jail.

He is a member of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Group, The National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and the Bayou Writers’ Group.

Mike and his wife, Susan, have two adult children. They now share their house with four cats, some tropical fish, and, at any give time, an untold number of uninvited pests. But then, that’s life on the big bayou.

To read his BWG interview, please see here.