President Barbara Rollins called the meeting to order.

Visitors and new members introduced themselves or were introduced by friends. Treasurer Gail McMillan gave the treasurer's report. At this time we have 59 paid members and a balance of $1884.63.

Members shared brags and sags.

Changes in the AWG Board of Directors were announced. Jan Carrington will assume the duties of secretary. Elaine Coleman will move from alternate to member. Ginny Greene will take over the Newsletter duties and become the alternate member.

Jan Carrington discussed the annual contest. So far there are 100 entries from 44 different contestants. Participants were urged to get entries in and make this the biggest contest yet. There have been entries from across the United States.

The Garrett brothers have agreed to be the meeting "greeters," handling sign-in sheets and name tags for the monthly meetings. They will begin these duties when they return from vacation.

The Neubauers of WordWright have announced that they are in need of assistance to help type a large manuscript. They will pay $20.00/page for the typing. If interested, contact them at their website: www.WordWright.biz

Don't forget the Abilene Book and Author Festival 9/23 to 9/25, sponsored by Friends of the Library. Abilene writers will be honored there, and many events will be presented, including workshops and opportunities to meet writers and get books autographed.

AWG needs someone to manage the Scrapbooks. This is not a fancy job that requires creative cutting or colorful arrangement of photos. Our scrapbooks are simple and straight forward books, cataloguing the Guild's growth through the years. We need someone to put items - photos taken at events, newspaper clippings and stories, and other items of interest - into the albums. Let Barbara Rollins know if you are interested in being the Scrapbook Chairperson.

To sign up for refreshments, talk to Karen Wittemeier.

Mary Craig spoke about how much being a member of the ASG has meant to her.

Program was presented by Darla Swanner, therapist and counselor in Abilene. She discussed how to make characters become real in our writing. She used the old medical theory of "body fluids" to describe some "quirky character" traits: sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholy, and choleric. She was funny and very informative.

Respectfully submitted,


Jan Carrington, Secretary
August 19, 2004