WORD AND PEN CHRISTIAN WRITERS CLUB
1985 - 2008
by Beth Ann Ziarnik
In October of 1984, while working at the Christian Book Nook in Oshkosh,
I was thanking God again for everything he had provided to help me grow
as a writer. However, the one thing I didn’t have was the support of a
Christian writers club. I had never brought this need to God before,
but now that the subject had come up, I admitted, “Lord, I don’t know
any local Christian writers. The phone rang. When I answered, a customer ordered
The Christian Writers Handbook by Margaret Anderson, and before we hung up,
we agreed to start a Christian writers club. Over the next four months, we
planned and advertised. In the meantime, names of local Christian
writers came to us as God opened doors in wonderful ways.
We started with a clear purpose: “To encourage and inspire Christian
writers to develop their God-given writing ability and to achieve
publication. We hoped for members who meant to work toward publication
according to God’s plan for their writing. And so we began our . . .
YMCA YEARS
On February 21, 1985, eleven writers gathered at the Oshkosh YMCA for
our organizational meeting. Due to some mix-up, suddenly only its
red-carpeted, dark-paneled Board Room was available. We felt so blessed
by God as we were invited into the YMCA’s most luxurious meeting room to
begin our new venture.
That first year we had 17 members. Our monthly meetings began with
prayer and a writer’s devotional, a tradition that has continued down
through the years. We also critiqued each other’s manuscripts, listened
to speakers or educational tapes, shared our successes, and declared the
writing goals that we hoped to achieve during the next month. After
collecting enough money to cover our $3.00/month room rental, we closed in prayer.
Seven months later at our September meeting, we officially adopted the
name Word & Pen Christian Writers Club. We based the name on two scriptures:
2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles
the WORD of truth.” and Psalm 45:1 My tongue is the PEN of a skillful writer.
At the same meeting we started our club library and the use of new
member packets. We also elected our first officers and set annual dues
at $12 to cover expenses.
The next month, we published our first issue of the Word & Pen Christian
Writers Club Newsletter. Copies were mailed to each member to encourage
them and keep them up to date on club news. It included a summary of the
last meeting, useful information about the next meeting, and articles of interest to writers.
A year later at the September 1986 meeting, Lois Wiederhoeft joined the
club. She has held continuous membership through the years and served in
several leadership positions.
MEMBER'S HOMES
In the fall of 1987, the YMCA raised our rent to $10/meeting and pushed
Word & Pen into a new phase of growth. Unable to afford the new rent,
our members decided to take turns hosting the meetings in their homes.
Over the next four years the unexpected benefit from this arrangement
was that we became close friends. The downside was that we slowly began
to get lax about writing for publication. By 1990 our membership had
dwindled to seven. Nevertheless, we decided to sponsor a one-day writers’
seminar. On October 20, twenty-six Wisconsin writers attended ‘The Writer In You’at New Life Community Church in Oshkosh. Local author Margaret Houk was
our speaker. Charging $25 per person, we were able to meet all expenses
including the luncheon we provided. We included a table where conferees
could purchase books provided by the Christian Book Nook and another
table where they could pick up free guidelines, sample copies of
magazines, and publishers catalogs.
Despite the success of the seminar, Word & Pen slipped into a severe
crisis. By the fall of 1991, we had only four members and seriously
considered disbanding the club. As the leader, I called a meeting to
discuss what we should do. For some reason, only Lois and I were able to
attend that meeting. After we prayed, asking God what he wanted us to
do, neither of us felt that we were to disband the club. We recalled
some material on forming a writers’ club that Gloria Splittgerber had
picked up at a writers conference in Missouri. After studying it, we
felt this was the new route God had in mind for Word & Pen. Again,
I called a meeting. On November 21, 1990, Word & Pen’s four members
voted to reorganize the club and hammer out an official constitution.
Immediately, we became of club of ‘all chiefs and no Indians'. Each member had to take an office!
I became president; Lois Wiederhoeft, vice president; Mildred Turner,
secretary-treasurer; and Carl Acker, publicity chairman. By faith we advertised
and planned our first meeting as a professional club. We moved to a central location; the church basement of Victory Bible Assembly of God on Bell Street in Neenah. Easily accessible from Highway 41, the building opened the club to writers from Fond du Lac to Green Bay. (Besides, as church secretary, Lois had the key!)
VICTORY BIBLE ASSEMBLY OF GOD
God honored our faith in him. We had an excellent turn-out at the January 1992 meeting. Not all decided to join the club, but that year our membership climbed to fourteen.
God also blessed us by giving us the opportunity to start a sister club. A few of us went to the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference in July where we met two writers from Milwaukee who wanted to organize a group. Drawing on our experience and encouragement, they launched
the Sword and Light/Greater Milwaukee Christian Writers Guild.
1992 was also the year Word & Pen formed its first manuscript critique group outside of the regular club meetings. Four of us exchanged manuscripts, critiqued them at home, then met monthly to share comments and return the manuscripts to their owners. We found this method allowed us the time needed to offer more in-depth critiques on the manuscripts.
However, by the end of that year, the club needed to relocate and began to pray about a new meeting place. We booked a room at the Neenah YMCA for our January 1993 meeting. Don Derozier joined the club that night and offered to see if we could meet at his church, St. Thomas Episcopal in Menasha. (This time Don had the key!)
ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Our regular Thursday night meeting in February 1993 convened at St.
Thomas in its beautiful hospitality room. We now had all we needed in
meeting facilities. We could gather in the same central location each
month. We had the atmosphere of a lovely living room to promote writing
friendships. In the same room we also had a place to store and display
our club library. Membership shot up to twenty-two.
That same year we enjoyed another kind of growth. Our Monday night
critique group grew large enough that it had to split into two—one for
short manuscripts and another for book-length manuscripts. By this time
two-thirds of our members were publishing writers.
1994 brought another change. I had served as club leader for eight
years. However, our two-year-old club constitution made it clear that it
was now time for me to step down. Members elected Beth Grosek as
our new leader. She served well for a year, guiding a membership of
seventeen. We elected Don Derozier as her successor. His first year in
office included two major events: our club’s 10th anniversary in February
and our second writers’ seminar that fall.
We celebrated our 10th anniversary in the St. Thomas gymnasium. After
sharing a pot luck meal, we and our guests (including past members)
enjoyed a delightful open microphone program where members read
original manuscripts. We closed the evening as we always do with prayer.
Other than writing, members spent most of the year preparing to sponsor
our second writers’ seminar. On September 22-23, seventy-five writers
from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois gathered at New Life Community
Church in Oshkosh to learn from national speaker Marlene Bagnull. We
offered our conferees the same amenities as the last time, along with a
continental breakfast and noon luncheon catered by La Sure’s. Each
writer’s cost for this seminar was $35-55, depending on how soon they
registered. Again the Lord blessed our efforts, meeting all costs and
sending everyone home well-satisfied and ready to conquer new writing
horizons.
In 1997, Linda DeVries began her two years as president. Under her
leadership, the club launched a new adventure ”teaching a series of
writing classes at Appleton's Thompson Center for senior citizens'.
One afternoon a week from May 4 to June 22 in 1998, six Word & Pen
members taught various classes on writing fundamentals, journaling, a
nd the writing and marketing of poetry, fiction, nonfiction & devotionals.
What fun!
In 1999, Pat Kohls became our president. We were pleased to welcome
back two past-members along with seven new members, including Becky
Brodersen, Shari Voigt, and Patti Clarke. On June 25 of that year Word &
Pen enjoyed another first in its history: American Christian Writers
chartered us as one of their affiliate groups. We also affiliated with
Wisconsin Regional Writers.
In 2001, the club decided to post a web site. Member Shari Voight
volunteered to put it together for us using FOCOL as the host. With the
launching of our Web site, Word & Pen hit the Internet trail, and we
were able to post articles and club information of interest to visitors.
Lois Wiederhoeft took over in November 2003. As our new webmaster,
she worked with a friend who helped her launch her personal Web site,
and the Word & Pen site moved to its current host, mychristiansite.com.
Lois continues to serve Word & Pen as webmaster.
Currently, by the grace of God, most of our Word & Pen members are
publishing writers. We continue to meet at St. Thomas under Chris
Stratton’s capable leadership and no longer hold elections of officers.
Instead we take turns providing refreshments, offering inspirational
devotions for writers, and planning educational segments. We find this
less formal arrangement comfortable and satisfying, and continue to
welcome visitors and new members.
Each February, as we reach a new club anniversary, we thank God for Word
& Pen Christian Writers Club.
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