Hello again.  Because of circumstances Kim is unable to take the office of president this year.  She’s getting married and moving to California...  Good Luck Kim.  So, unless we have some brave soul come forward you’re stuck with me as your president for yet another year.

This is a year of firsts.. The first month of the year — 2000.  This will be a new beginning for many of us.  Maybe we’ll strike off on a new adventure, write a new book, get published (I hope), start a new family, like Kim or any manner of firsts.  Let us hope that this year brings us all the finest in ‘firsts’.  Let me be the first to welcome you to our club for the year 2000 and to wish you all the best in the year ahead.  I look forward to seeing all of you at the January 17th meeting and hearing all your wonderful stories.

Any articles or information must be submitted on or by the 5th of the month.  Please call or write to the editor: Pat Millette, P.O. Box 116, Paden, OK 74860 or e-mail to: plmill@brightok.net or even call: (405) 932-4816.

 Our June program will be a critique session to help our members prepare their manuscripts for the up-coming OWFI contest
(deadline is in February).  Also for getting your manuscripts ready to submit to an editor.
 Time for each critique will be limited to allow those who bring work to be heard.

Does absent-minded sleuth Peaches Dann believe a hand can predict murder? No. She agrees with me. Handreading is knowledge that is accumulated through the ages like the use of healing herbs. So your hands can show a great deal about you, but Peaches and I believe your future is not frozen.

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 Bugaboo n.  1. An imaginary goblin used to frighten children into good conduct. 2. Anything causing needless or excessive fear or anxiety.

In the multitude of volumes making up US tax law, very few rules apply exclusively to writers.  As a result, writers ordinarily observe general rules for tax planning and preparing tax returns. When it comes to the home office deduction, many so-called tax advisors routinely discourage all their clients from claiming the deduction for fear of provoking an unwanted tax audit.  However, for many writers, it is time to recognize the alarm as a time-worn bugaboo.  Failure to claim a deduction for home office expenses can be a serious financial error.

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For as long as I've been a writer of romance, I've heard comments about the formulaic nature of romance novels. After I became published, I began to hear the murmurs of the "secret formula" which all published writers keep amongst themselves--not unlike the Masonic handshake--and bring out for discussion only in behind-closed-doors PAN meetings. Well, the truth is that they (or we) never discuss the "formula"--not anywhere, not anytime. In fact, no one will admit that it exists. But while it may get me drummed out of the core, I've finally discovered what the secret formula is, and I'm willing to share it.

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