* The Life Sherpa Guy Really Knows His Stuff *

From what I've heard through the grapevine and read on some of today's blog posts, I'd say our Guest Speaker yesterday at Saturday Writers was a Huge Hit! I haven't written much about our meetings on my personal blog, because I write about it on its own blog.

Joe Holleman

(photo: courtesy Sheree Nielsen)

Whenever someone books a speaker for a presentation, the outcome isn't guaranteed. You choose people you either know well and/or admire greatly, make the request, and go from there. Yesterday's speaker was a well known reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. His name is Joe Holleman and he writes a humorous column, Life Sherpa, in the Life & Style section, which can be read online at the link provided. I hadn't met Joe or knew anything about him, other than reading his column. It occurred to me that he'd most likely give a great presentation on writing, and in particular, writing for a newspaper. I e-mailed with my request and voile'... he accepted. He did not disappoint us. He energized everyone with his presentation. He educated us, entertained us, and answered questions.


Being the president of any group takes quite a bit of time and work, but I am loving every minute of it. I titled my latest column in our newsletter: Work + Great People = Fun.That's the way I look at most things in life. If something requires a lot of work, then I want to be able to enjoy it and the people I work with.

These past three months have been great. Our board members are awesome, hardworking individuals. A few of them have been on the board in the past, which is so helpful to me. Whenever I have questions, I can turn to them. Our new board members are also very helpful. Because they are new, they particularly have enthusiastic ideas.

I'd like to publicly thank them, plus the previous years' board members. Saturday Writers is an awesome writers' group, because of hard work, innovative ideas, great speakers, educational workshops, and talented members. If is wasn 't for all of you, Saturday Writers wouldn't be what it is today.

Joe also shared some of his favorite writer quotes with us. The following is one of my top choices!

"My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave the stuff out that people don’t read." – Elmore Leonard