Chapter Spotlight: Valley of the Sun Romance Writers

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A spotlight on Arizona's chapter

By Kathleen Watson

Arizona's first RWA chapter was founded in 1989, and at the height of membership, three chapters represented the Grand Canyon state. Over the course of the last few years, the changing landscape of the membership and industry have seen the merger of the Desert Rose and Tucson Saguaro chapters into the Valley of the Sun (VoS) Romance Writers to encompass the entire state. With the breadth of the territory, the chapter takes advantage of online tools like Zoom to present half its monthly meetings, while alternating its bi-monthly meetings at a central Phoenix location.

Members and guests are able to take advantage of a wide variety of national and local speakers at the monthly meetings. A litany of industry professionals are welcomed that include best-selling authors, craft and publishing experts, as well as technical experts in fields of interest. Additionally, VoS hosts an annual retreat in July which has grown in scope and attendance since its inception. All writers are welcome to the yearly retreat, regardless of genre.

The monthly meetings and yearly retreat are supplemented with daily online write-ins. Attendees can take part in writing sprints, network, brainstorm, exchange industry news and share promotional ideas. Members can compete for chapter prizes as participants in NaNoWriMo as well. These daily touch base events help keep the members connected in a world that has been decidedly disconnected the last two years.

Along with the help provided by the monthly meetings and daily write-ins, VoS has a mentorship program where the chapter's published authors volunteer to critique partial manuscripts and/or synopses from the unpublished members. If writers aren't looking for feedback, only support and applause, they can sign up for a four-minute spot at the Annual General Meeting's Member Readers and share their work with the chapter. 

A monthly newsletter keeps members and friends of the chapters up to date on member news, achievements, the chapter calendar, industry news, and opportunities. The chapter maintains a strong online and social media presence. For more information, visit their website at www.ValleyoftheSunWriters.com or through Facebook at www.facebook.com/VOSRWA.