Greetings, fellow writers, readers, and friends!

2020 has been a year full of its (un)fair share of struggles and loss, but so often I seek and find comfort in words. I truly believe I’m not alone in that sentiment, knowing what I do about my fellow Waconia Writers’ Group members. This past year, and since several years ago, each of us have shared our love of all things literary with each other, through our own words. In the face of unspeakable hardships in this particular year, even though we can’t meet in person, we’ve pressed on in our writing journeys, in our own ways. We face a lot of unknowns, moving forward, within our families and greater communities. But we are also fortunate in many respects. One such inkling of fortune is how we can still fall back on our writing to connect with each other, to share our experiences (both good and not-so-good), and to give a voice to the collective challenge that embodies the tone of 2020. And there are a lot of voices worth hearing. Not the least of which belong to our very own group members.

To my fellow WWG members: we are so very lucky to belong to this assembled choir of incredibly talented voices. I reflect on this good fortune every single time I sit down to work on my novel. I think about how smart that decision was that I made a few years ago, when I braved the walk to Waconia Library that one freezing January Saturday morning. I think about how much I have learned from each one of you since then. And how often I dreamed about sharing the poignant, engaging, and important words you all brought to the table every meeting.

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Fellow writers, that dream has come true! I am proud and excited to announce the publication of our anthology, “View from the Shore: Selected Works of Waconia Writers.” It has been a long and indirect adventure to get to this point, and I can only humbly thank you for your patience and understanding as we’ve navigated independent publication, a learning experience for all (especially in the midst of a pandemic!).

As of today, December 1st, the book is available for Print-On-Demand orders through Amazon. We have placed our first order for author copies, to arrive in a couple of weeks. Authors, you’ll get the notification as soon as we have the books in hand. It’s real now!

Contributing writers, thank you for trusting the editors with the privilege of safeguarding your words. Thank you for bringing your talents to the project. And again, thank you ALL for providing this author *gestures to self* with infinite amounts of inspiration. I am in awe of you.

~Jen