Announcements
NCPA 2012 Awards
The 2012 NCPA Awards Banquet was held at the Lions Gate Hotel and Conference Center on the evening of April 29. In addition to a fine meal, music, an introductory talk by our new president, Ted Witt, and an excellent presentation by Mark Twain impersonator, McAvoy Layne, the results of the book judging were announced. Here are the awards for books published in 2011:
- Fiction, first place: Dying for a Dance, by Cindy Sample
- General Nonfiction, first place: Kapoho, Memoir of a Modern Pompeii, by Frances H. Kakugawa
- General Nonfiction, honorable mention: Dreaming in English, by Jeannie Johng-Nishikawa
- General Nonfiction, honorable mention: When Spirits Speak: Messages from Spirit Children, by Jeri K. Tory Conklin
- Children’s Literature, honorable mention: Where’s Wiley? The Mystery of the Canine Triangle, by John Westlund
- Open Category, Nonfiction/Gift, first place: Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life, by Margie Yee Webb
- Open Category, Nonfiction/General, first place: History of a Place Called Rescue, by William C. Teie and Francis M. Carpenter
- Open Category, Nonfiction/General, second place: Skiing at Lake Tahoe, by Mark McLaughlin
- Overall Design and Layout, first place to William C. Teie for History of a Place Called Rescue
- Overall Design and Layout, second place to Margie Yee Webb for Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life
Additionally, Kiyo Sato was presented with the first annual NCPA Mark Twain Award for her extraordinary contribution to the literary community in her book Dandelion Through the Crack, republished as Kiyo's Story.
May Meeting
May 12, 2012
10:30am-12:30pm
Print and then post a May Meeting Flyer to a bulletin board at your neighborhood Starbucks 
Cindy Munoz
Why I Joined the Indie Publishing Revolution and How You Can Too
Local author and new Independent Publisher, Cindy Munoz, writing as Loucinda McGary, will be our guest speaker for the 12 May meeting, with a perfectly-timed subject, following on the heels of our April discussion about the “…latest in the world of independent publishing. We’ll hear first-hand just what it’s like to actually weave your way through that world.
Barely seven months ago, Cindy Munoz entered into the world of independent publishing, and while the trials and tribulations are still fresh in her mind, she’s prepared to regale us with hints and how-to’s for the ins and outs, and do’s and don’ts of the trade, with the following titled presentation.
Cindy Munoz aka Loucinda McGary has two great passions -- travel and writing. At the end of 2003, she left her dreaded day job with the State of California to fully pursue both.
To date, she has visited 47 states and 32 foreign countries.
Her first romantic suspense novel, The Wild Sight, was published by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Oct. 2008. It received a coveted starred review from Publishers' Weekly magazine and won the Best First Book category in the More Than Magic Contest.
In March, 2010 the Kindle version of The Wild Sight hit #1 on Amazon's overall Top 100 Bestsellers (which included all categories of fiction and non-fiction) and sold over 10,000 downloads that month.
Cindy's second romantic suspense novel, The Treasures of Venice, was a finalist in the prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart contest for unpublished manuscripts in 2006 (under the title Jewels of the Madonna). It was published by Sourcebooks Casablanca Sept. 2009 and placed in the Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award and the Aspen Gold contest.
Her third romantic suspense novel, The Wild Irish Sea was published by Sourcebooks Casablanca July 2010.
On Oct. 7, 2011 Cindy entered the "indie publishing revolution" with the release of her novelette The Sidhe Princess on Amazon and SmashWords.
On Jan. 30, 2012 she released her fourth romantic suspense novel, High Seas Deception, the first book in her new Adventure Cruise Line series on Amazon, SmashWords, and Barnes & Noble. She plans to release her next novel, His Reluctant Bodyguard, also part of the Adventure Cruise Line series in July, 2012.
Learn more about Cindy at her website: www.loucindamcgary.com . For even more fun stuff, check out her Aunty Cindy blog auntycindy.blogspot.com/ .
Meetings are held at:
Merrill Gardens Retirement Community
7418 Stock Ranch Road (near Greenback & Sylvan)
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
NOTE: The meeting room at Merrill Gardens has changed
Starting with the April meeting, we will be using the "Sun Terrace" room on the third floor, NOT the first floor room we have been using for the past several years.
To get to the third floor room, take the elevator that is to the left of the front desk. The Sun Terrace room is across the hallway from the elevator. Look for signs or someone to greet you and point you in the right direction.
The room is smaller than the first floor one we've been using but it is private and the acoustics should work well.
Here are some photos (provided by our Communications Director, Ken Umbach) to help orient you (click to enlarge).
 Elevator to Sun Terrace |
 Sun Terrace - view 1 |
 Sun Terrace - view 2 |
Map and directions to Merrill Gardens
April Meeting Minutes Available
The minutes from the April 14 meeting are now available to read or download as a pdf on our Meeting Minutes webpage.
Sitemap Added
With the proliferation of mobile devices - smart phones, iPads and other tablets, etc. it was noted that the dropdown menu on this site doesn't always work with some touch screen devices. This is a technology issue that I'm in work on, but in the meantime, I have created a text sitemap to make it easier to naviagate to all pages. A link to the sitemap has been added along with the other text links at the bottom of every page.
NCPA Sponsors Young Writer
Once again NCPA has sponsored a young writer to attend the Capitol City Young Writers (CCYW) Conference. The board voted a $100 scholarship. The conference will be held this year in Marin County on July 28. For more information on CCYW and updates on their conference, visit their website: http://www.capitolcityyoungwriters.org/index.html
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