Virginia Writers Club (VWC) held its annual meeting last Saturday, November 13, at the The Mount Vernon Inn. Hosted by the Northern Virginia chapter, more than ninety members gathered to approve a new board of directors, present the Golden Nib winners, and raise money for our scholarship fund.

The keynote speaker was John Gilstrap who gave a rousing speech on how he got his first novel into print, writing screenplays for Hollywood, and his latest release, Hostage Zero. The title of his talk was “The Secret to Overnight Success (After a 38-Year Day).” Funny, poignant, serious, Gilstrap’s singular word of advice was “Never, ever give up.” He recounted an anecdote about taking a writing course, wherein his teacher told him he had no talent. Gilstrap said he regrets the teacher died before his first book was published. “I told you so” doesn’t work if the recipient isn’t around to hear the taunt.

VWC’s new slate of officers will be meeting soon to begin planning the 2011 meeting schedule. I urge all writers in Virginia to join. We need you as much as you need us. Maybe we need you more. My goal is to get every published Virginia writer, and serious yet-to-be-published writers, to join. This is a fine organization and does good work in promoting the literary arts to writers of all age groups. If you are a part of a writer or critique group, go out to the web site, read what we do, and join. Please.