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The LegendWest Florida Literary Federation, Inc.January 2013www.wflf.orgOPEN MICTuesday January 15Preserving the Literary History of NorthwestFloridaLibrary Dedications & ReadingsShare Your Book and an Excerpt withWFLF at Open MicIf you have ever published, please accept ourinvitation to read from your book this month.6:30 Social7:00 sharing of original creative writing – prosewelcomePensacola Cultural CenterSecond Floor Board RoomWe will begin taking submissions for EmeraldCoast Review in February. Since we arecelebrating Viva Florida 500 years in 2013,submissions celebrating our state areencouraged; however, ECR will not beexclusively themed. Look for submissionguidelines in the next issue of The Legend.Submissions will be accepted exclusivelythrough email, and we should have an onlinepayment method available as well. So, get towriting!Regina SakalariousEditor, ECRsPUBLISHED A BOOK IN 2012?Let WFLF preserve it for youSUBMISSIONSfor The Hurricane ReviewMail submissions toDeanna Brooks, Editor, The Hurricane ReviewEnglish Communications DepartmentPensacola State College1000 College BlvdPensacola, FL 32504Deadline is June, but they like to get thingsearly.Part of WFLF’s tradition is to preserve theliterary history of West Florida. To achieve this,we shelve and preserve works by area writersand the Federation’s publications in our library.If you’ve published a book this year, pleasebring a copy of it to January’s Open Mic forofficial presentation to the Dr. Francis P.Cassidy Literary Resource Center. And, if youpublished in 2010 or 2011 and forgot to donatea copy, it’s not too late to make sure WFLF hasa copy of your book. Join us at Open Mic.The Legend January 2013 Page 1

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS ARE DUE!Have a friend that likes to write? Treat them to aWFLF membership. Use the special "couple"discount and buy two memberships (yours andtheirs) for 50 -- a 10 savings. It's a great wayto bring a new member into WFLF. And, bringthem to Tuesday's Open Mic and introducethem.Writers Weekly WorkshopsRoom 210 at the Cultural CenterPoetry WorkshopThursdays from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.Come write, play, and explore the world ofpoetry in this writing workshop.Tuesday Writer's Guild, 4 - 6 pm, Room 210,Pensacola Cultural Center hosted by AndreaWalker, sponsored by West Florida LiteraryFederation. Each writer brings work, primarilyprose, to read aloud, take others' work home tocritique, then discuss the critiques the followingweek. Bring something you've written to sharewith this informal group. Free. Open to allwriters. Attend a workshop and see if it is whatyou are looking for. If so, become a memberand attend on a regular basis.For more information rea Walker at andrea48@aol.com or DianeSkelton, 932-6812.PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEJust as I was gaining the courage to selfpublish a novel, my target audience zapped me.It began with my friend Meredith, a vivaciousforty-something school counselor. She’s avoracious reader and never misses anopportunity to read. So, along with her paperbooks, she now reads novels on her iPhone. Apinch, a swipe and voila – Chapter One appearson a miniature screen in her palm while shewaits for her car to be repaired.And then I learned that five of the sevenwomen, all sixty-somethings, in my mysterybook club read their books on e-readers. Theydownload their thrillers from the Cloud.My book club friends and Meredith are thetarget audience for my mystery. In my plot (Iuse the term loosely), two over-forty women hitthe road Lucy-and-Ethel style, using their smartphones to track down treasure and avoid astalker along the World’s Longest Yard Sale.When I started the novel two years ago, much ofthe technology concerning smart phones waspure fiction. Not anymore.So, fellow writers and readers, I face2013 with a writer’s conundrum. Should I revisethe book again, creating more technologyfiction? Should I abandon print and go purelyelectronic to meet my target audience’s need?Bibliocrunch Self-Publishing Blog recommendsI invest in an app for tablets and phones.Despite the dozens of publishing adviceblogs online, it only seems appropriate that Ilook to the membership of WFLF to answer myquestions. After all, you’ve shared my adventurethrough critique sessions and rewrites. Some ofyou even call my characters by name.Since we are a federation of writers, weare filled with answers, experience and greatideas. I know I can count on you, fellow writers,for two things – answers to my writing problemsand great ideas to make our organizationstronger. Bring your ideas and suggestions toany Board member and watch for a “WFLFSurvey Monkey” in your email. We need yourideas because there’s no “app” for great ideas –yet.Diane SkeltonThe Legend January 2013 Page 2

Our former Poet Laureate has written a newbook: Walking Seasonal RoadsBath, NY —A Bath resident has turned her travels onseasonal roads into a book about rural beautyand connections.Having traveled nearly every seasonal road inSteuben County, New York, Mary A. Hoodfinds they provide the ideal vantage tocontemplate the meaning of place, offeringintimate contact with plants, wildlife and thebeauty of a rural landscape.Every road has stories to tell. Some tell ofendangered and invasive plants species. Somereveal how our land is used, how it is protected,and how environmental factors have impactedit.Seasonal roads are defined as one-lane dirtroads not maintained during the winter. Theyfunction as connectors linking farmers to theirfields, neighbors to neighbors, or two morewell-traveled roads to each other.Some access hunting lands and recreationalareas. Some pass by cemeteries, allowing peopleto visit and honor their dead.They can be abandoned as people move andtowns fade. In every way, the seasonal roadtouches the land in a gentler way than do otherroads.From state forests to potato fields, fromdevelopment along Keuka Lake to vineyards,from old family cemeteries to logging sites,Walking Seasonal Roads is a celebration and anhonoring of the rural and the regionalism ofplace, illustrating the ways we connect to ourhome and to each other.Hood escorts the reader on encounters withbobolinks, ground hogs, monarch butterflies andother creatures of the region. Forests, fields,wild flowers, and stone fences are not onlybackground but an essential part of the story asshe makes us aware of the forces that threatenthe rural landscape.She pays honor and homage to those whopreserve the natural environment in the form ofthe Finger Lake Trail, the Finger Lake LandTrust, public lands such as state forests andparks, private lands such as farm lands,sanctuaries, refuges and other privatelandholdings. The book is a hymn of praise tothe place she calls home.Professor emerita at the University of WestFlorida, Hood is the author of The Strangler Figand Other Tales: Field Notes of aConservationist and Rivertime: Ecotravel on theWorld’s Rivers. She has published severalcollections of poetry, general articles onconservation and the environment, andnumerous scientific articles in the field ofmicrobial ecology.steubencourier.comHistory MarkerCelebrating 25 Years of WFLFWFLF offices in the Dr. Francis PatrickCassidy Literary Resource Center werededicated to the organization by Dr. Cassidy’swife Frances (Fran) Helene Davis Cassidy, afterhis death in April 1990. The library houses allof WFLF’s publications including EmeraldCoast Reviews and published works of PoetsLaureate of Northwest Florida. Located inRoom 210 of the Pensacola Cultural Center, thelibrary also houses a special collection of worksof local and regional authors and writingreference works and provides workshop space.Mrs. Cassidy, a WFLF foundingmember and board member, died in June 2011in West Columbia, SC. A graduate of PensacolaHigh School, she attended Tulane Universityand received her nursing degree from TouroInfirmary School of Nursing. She worked asHead Operating Room Nurse at Baptist Hospitalof Pensacola. In addition to being a loving wifeand mother, she was an active volunteer at theSacred Heart Children's Hospital and served asCamp Nurse at Camp Happy Sands during thesummer sessions. She was a life member andpast president of the Pensacola Federation ofGarden Clubs, Pensacola Women's Club and aThe Legend January 2013 Page 3

founding member, past president and treasurerof Pick and Poke Garden Club.Her generosity and foresight has enableda permanent home for our organization.One of the Cassidy grandsons, Daniel,and his wife Jenny live in Cantonment and willbe touring the library this winter. WFLF PARTNERS WITH VIVAPENSACOLA& VIVA FLORIDA 500 VIVA 500, a statewide celebration,commemorates 500 years since Ponce de Leon’sfounding of Florida. West Florida LiteraryFederation has joined with other area groups inViva Pensacola, a partnership which promotesand schedules area events celebrating 500 yearsof Florida. Representing WFLF in VivaPensacola are Julie DeMarko, Ora Wills andDiane Skelton. Look for monthly listings ofViva Pensacola events in each month’s Legend.Beginning in March, our open mics will includea brief “Viva 500: A Literary Reflection.” January 8: PAS Lecture: Onion Tacosand Other Cross-Cultural FoodEncounters in the ProtohistoricSoutheast, Dr. Ramie Gougeon. 7pmBowden building.January 11: Tour of the Basilica of SaintMichael the Archangel, 4-6pmJanuary 12: Tour of the Basilica of SaintMichael the Archangel, 10-5pmJanuary 12: Barber of Seville HistoricalGuided Tour of downtown Pensacola.Tour will leave from Fleming Fountainsouth of Seville Square at 10am.Following the tour, there will be aPresentation by Artistic Director, KyleMarrero and Artists in Residence onBarber of Seville, Pensacola OperaCenter from Noon until 2.January 25 & 27: The Barber of Sevilleby Gioachino Rossini on January 25 at7:30 pm and January 27 at 2:00 pm atthe historic Pensacola Saenger Theatre.February 2: Viva Florida Alpha DeltaKappa 60th Anniversary CelebrationLuncheon, 10-1 pm, UWF ConferenceCenter. Pensacola’s Alpha Chapter,chartered in 1953, was the first chapterof the International Organization ofWomen Educators chartered in Florida.Lunch: 20. Emailsch3028can@aol.com for details.February 12: PAS Lecture: CeramicAdventures at Eastfield Village, NewYork, Jan Lloyd. 7 pm Bowden building.Nominees for the 2013 Board of DirectorsAnn BentonJack FabianJudy FawleyLynn McLarginBevin MurphyJeff SantosuossoThe Perfect GiftGive the greatest of gifts – a membership inWest Florida Literary Federation. We have giftmembership cards available, a truly unique giftfor a writer friend. And, if you don’t want togive just a card, you might even considerincluding an Emerald Coast Review or 2012Student Poetry Book. By the way thememberships, as any donation to WFLF, are taxdeductible.The Legend January 2013 Page 4