Special Editon!!! Story Sprouts Launch!

           If you're looking for my IWSG post you can scroll down below this post, but I hope you'll take a look at this post first.   It's mostly pictures with some explanations about what we're looking at.

"Story Sprouts" Book Launch
Saturday November 2, 2013





           I'd say that the Children's Book Writers of Los Angeles is just about the best writers group anywhere.  For one thing, check out that logo.  What a piece of work!  And so professional.   The CBW-LA is a fine bunch of writerly folks under the leadership of a highly efficient, creative, and all around top notch team of board members.  But my effusive praise is just starting.  By the end of this post you're going to be wishing you lived in the Los Angeles area so you could be a part of this amazing group.





































        So what prompts todays post?  This past Saturday was the launch party for Story Sprouts, a collaborative effort of members who participated in a writing anthology day where those present spent a single day of writing based on prompts presented to them.  The contributors to the anthology are both aspiring and published writers.  The content of the finished book consists of poetry and prose--fiction and non-fiction--as well as the workshop exercises and tips that provided guidance for the authors.  The party was to celebrate the release and honor the writers who were involved.





         The success of the CBW-LA group is largely due to the current board members pictured above.  Some are bloggers that you probably know through their blogs.  From left to right we have Angie Flores, Lucy Ravitch (Kids Math Teacher), CBW-LA founder and president Nutschell Anne Windsor (The Writing Nut), Alana Garrigues (Writercize), and Tiffani Barth who came in from Utah to be at the party.   They are one of the hardest working and  most together teams I've ever seen.  Great job keeping this group so successful!   You can see more about the party if you visit the links to their blogs.





         Here all of the contributing writers from Story Sprouts pose with book cover promotional poster.  They represent a fraction of the members of CBW-LA.   This is a very friendly and supportive group.  They're kind of like the Insecure Writers Support Group live in person.




        What a spread of food they had out for the guests in attendance!




       Seems like I'm fixated on the sweets    They also had a great selection of cheeses, meats, breads, veggies, and fruits.   They even had a bar set up where we could mix our own mocktails based on famous author recipes.  No alcohol since we all had to drive home.  These ladies really know how to throw a swanky shindig.



      What about this cake decorated to look like the book!   And it was darn tasty too!



 

         Plenty of books were on hand for purchase and given as prizes.  And there's a lot more where these came from.   See the links at the bottom of the page if you'd like to order your own copy.  I highly recommend it.




          Balloons especially printed for the occasion!  I just had to show you these.  What did I tell you about the party planning skills of CBW-LA.   This is big time folks!

  Honorary launch guests past CBW-LA speakers (l to r) Carmen Rodrigues, Samantha Combs, and Arlee Bird

         I thank CBW-LA for inviting me as one of the honorary guests.   We each got a Certificate of Appreciation as past speakers at meetings in 2013.  Pictured from left to right are published authors Carmen Rodriguez and Samantha Combs and yours truly, Arlee Bird.   During the course of the day I had very nice chats with both authors pictured here as well as others.   I won a copy of Samantha Combs's book Spellbound which she autographed for me.  They had drawings for a number of great prizes.  Nobody went home empty handed.




           Here are a few of the writers signing book copies.  All of the honored guests received a gift copy of the book signed by all of the authors.  We were also among those who received mention in the book acknowledgements for our roles in 2013 at  CBW-LA workshops.  What unexpected surprises!





        CBW-LA president Nutschell Windsor raises a glass as we toast the newly published authors.  An exciting day for all of them I'm sure.




           The book authors pose with the cake.   What a happy looking bunch they are and I can't say I blame them.   Hopefully this will be the first of many books to come from the CBW-LA.

All photos courtesy of Nutschell Anne Windsor




Story Sprouts (2013)
Support your fellow bloggers and writers by buying a copy.  It would make a great Christmas gift for your writer friends.
For more information visit the Story Sprouts Website

Related articles

• Meet Arlee Bird's A to Z Ambassadors (Part 2)