This project (2023 Workshop and our 2022 annual contest) is supported in part by a grant from the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and HeARTS for the ARTS.  

             WORKSHOP SPEAKER:  Carol Cook  

She began writing as a young girl, continuing during years spent in schools, raising children, and working for a living wage, finally retiring to write of shenanigans going on around us, the ups and down of living, and the humorous bumbling behavior of those who crossed her path.  And there were lots of paths while living in nine states and traveling half-way around the world to seven countries as the wife of a career US Marine Corps Officer.

While spending twenty years packing and unpacking and moving about the country, Carol spent time writing at the kitchen table: articles for newspapers/magazines and even church bulletins.  In the second act of her life, Carol moved to Teas and married internationally accredited watercolor artis Robert W. Cook (www.finartamerica.com).  They write and paint in a house sitting beside a Texas lake with their spoiled dogs,

Sugar and Spice.  Carol is a member of the Authors Guild, The Texas Authors Association, and The Poetry Society of Texas.

She is the author of five books of humorous short stories, four books of poetry, and dozens and dozens of articles published over the course of years in between many journeys that took her through night schools, writing classes, English Literature classes, and dozens of workshops and conventions in hopes of fine tuning and sharpening her skills, yet through it all Carol states she never earned a degree in anything.

​Carols books speak to us with her signature tongue-in-cheek voice expounding on life, the absurdities and musing of being a woman, housewife, and working mother.  She questions the unexpected mysteries of life, ongoing quirky behavior of the masses, and asks why we're so wasteful, how do we lose so much, and why there are so many untrained and incompetent drivers on the roadways.  Her delightful, yet cranky, opinions give us insight to those charging through life as if under the influence of ongoing confusion.

Her candid, edgy voice protests, complains, laughs, and asks how intelligent appearing people get lost in familiar places, why is everyone lying, and why is the so much information on the ridiculous.  She takes an amusing look at promises made, aging, marriage, reading glasses, restaurant failures, and phobias, along with everyday annoyances, failures, family and the products we use.

Her observations on the obnoxious and absent minded enlightens us with comical summarization of life while dishing on the uninfornmed and unaware.  Those who forget and want to forget, the working and not working, and our ongoing medical maladies gives us a time out for a laugh-out-loud look at our hit or miss conduct, sharing facts on things we didn't know we should know until reading her charming books that never contain a foul word.

In an about face, Carol turns her hand to pen free verse and rhyming poetry, described as sensitive, lyrical, and haunting.  Born and raised in Ohio farm country, she still holds and practices her childhood values of God, family and country close to her heart.​

​Carol will discuss book marketing with all its ins and outs, as well as give guidelines about what you'll want to do BEFORE publishing.  You don't want to miss a fun morning.  And there will be door prizes, too!

                        Welcome

Objectives:   To study methods of writing and research,
      To develop our talents as writers,
          To promote interest in writing, and
                       To encourage our fellow writers at all times

Abilene Writers Guild's Annual Workshop!

Mark your calendar for March 25, 2023!

8:30 am til noon

First Baptist Church Parlor at the corner of N. 2nd and Hickory in Abilene

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