News flash...
...we are adding a new columnist and a new premium
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative group meets via Zoom once a month. It’s rather entertaining. On Friday, Art Cullen, whose legacy now includes being a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, cracked jokes and swatted flies. He killed five during our call, or so he said. There were times that orange flyswatter came dangerously close to his computer camera.
Chuck Offenburger told Richard Gilbert that if he ever needed his shoes repaired, he could drop them off with Art, who would take them to a local Storm Lake cobbler. Then, he can pick them up from Art on his way back through town. That’s what Chuck does with his trademark saddle shoes.
The purpose of the call is to share best practices, so I guess that counts.
We heard from our newest Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member Suzanna de Baca, about how her new column is going. And we met Jody Gifford, whose byline has been a fixture in the Des Moines metro area. We welcome her into our merry band of independent Iowa Substack columnists. She’s looking forward to covering the Arts and Entertainment beat (as she did for The Des Moines Register), as well as exploring more personal essays. A link to her introductory column is below.
Wouldn’t you like to join in such fascinating banter on a monthly Zoom call?
You can!
We will invite paid subscribers to our columnists to join our monthly call. Our writers will then invite you to join the monthly Zoom call. You, dear reader, will be a part of our monthly check-in, and if you have questions or comments, you can ask in the Zoom chat feature or on video.
What is the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? We are independent. Our columns are our own. Our deadlines, editing, and subject matter are up to us as individual writers. The common guiding thread to being a member of the Iowa Writers’ collaborative is one must be or have been a professional writer and produce content of interest to an Iowa audience.
Our subscriber base is our own. If you become a paid subscriber to this column, proceeds go to support advertising and promotion for our collective members. That’s great, but if you can only afford to pay for one subscription, pick one of our members.
If you just spent $400 on a bunch of stuff at Costco you don’t need, then consider becoming a paid subscriber to four or more of our members. It matters.
The ‘why’ for this is simple. We are connecting readers and writers directly. We are stepping into a content void that has taken place as legacy media companies are bought, sold, merged, and leveraged to the point where cuts in the newsroom budget have diminished news and storytelling in Iowa. It makes us poorer, literally and figuratively.
Our columns are not supported by advertising, nor do we answer to stockholders or executives with big salaries. When you, the reader, become a paid subscriber, those funds (minus a fee to Substack) go to the writer.
In many cases, paid subscribers are providing needed income to a columnist. One in our midst said they helped keep him afloat during a soft month.
You matter.
Here is our weekly roundup of columns. Pick someone to subscribe to, and they will invite you to the next online gathering on October 28, which we will call The Office Lounge (Chuck Offenburger will explain why it is so-called in a future column).
Julie Gammack, your Roundup gatherer
Here are the 14 current members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative in alphabetical order. If you like what we are doing, please share it with others.
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland
Debra Engle: A Whole New World
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt
Dana James: New Black Iowa
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi
Iowa Writers Collaborative: Iowa Writers Collaborative
ROUNDUP OF COLUMNS ENDING OCTOBER 2, 2022
LAURA BELIN
https://laurabelin.substack.com/p/ask-me-anything-about-iowa-politics-ea4/comments
Hi Julie - to make sure I understand correctly. If we’re already paid Collaborative members, do we have to be a paid subscriber to another writer to qualify for this opportunity?
Hey Julie- I really love perusing your golden prose but the plural of “fly” is “flies”. Thank you so much