The Varied Authors of LCRW

What is LCRW, you may be asking? It’s the acronym for Lilac City Rochester Writers.

Have you visited our author page and gotten acquainted with our members? Here’s a glimpse.

Do you like to read romance novels written by a New York Times best-selling author? Kathryn Shay is one of our members, and she also gives presentations to our group on the craft of writing. It’s a privilege to learn from her.

BarbaraHelene Smith spent her career as an FDA inspector. She has published twelve books about the different types of investigations the FDA handles. The Connie Murphy Mystery series is exciting, and it teaches at the same time.

Rick Taubold writes in varied genres and hosts an online magazine: Fabula Argentia. We think his best book is Punctuation for Fiction Writers. In it, he explains and gives examples of how to use correct punctuation for dialogue, which is different from that used for regular prose.

Rick Iekel also writes in varied genres. He wrote the book The Roc – Journey through the 20th century. It’s the history of Rochester, New York’s airport. He was the best person to write it as he worked at the airport for 30-plus years.

Donna Collins’ name will pop up in your magazines where her recipes and articles about country life appear.

John Caligiuri is our resident science fiction and alternative history author. He mentions local places (near Rochester) in his stories. It makes one feel more involved in the action when they recognize the locale.

Kim Gore teaches writing classes, hosts a writing group, and has multiple books out in different genres, both fiction and non-fiction. She is also a regular presenter in our group and publishes an annual Halloween anthology. She’s our “firecracker.”

This is only a synopsis of the authors you would have the privilege of spending time with if you attend LCRW. Click over to our authors tab to read more about each one, and others not mentioned here. We love visitors at our meetings and always welcome new members who we can help advance in their writing journey.

AI is Here to Stay – the Facts

Our February presentation will be a video by Tamara Merrill. She is an award-winning novelist and short story writer with a diverse body of work, including historical fiction and psychological thrillers. She is a passionate advocate for reading and writing, and a self-proclaimed computer NERD who witnessed the evolution of technology from
early UNIX programming to modern AI. She is experienced in developing software solutions
and voice recognition systems since the 1970s.

In her word; we’ll take a look at common beliefs and feelings about using AI as a creator, and how you can make the decision of when and if you may want to use AI in your
creative process. Points she will cover…
 To help you in making an informed decision, we’ll explore current laws and legal
findings.
 Then I’ll attempt to give you an understanding of how AI actually works.
 And If we have time, I’ll list a few real-world applications for…
o Writing, editing, and illustrating your work.
o From generating content ideas to managing time-consuming tasks,
o Practical ways to use AI tools to streamline your marketing efforts while
staying authentic to your unique voice.

2025 Is a Wrap

2025 was a busy year with an average of 16 attendees at our meetings. We covered seven very different subjects, listed below, in our presentations, all pertaining to writing or authorship. Thank you to those who willingly share their expertise. The three peer critiques remain one of our group’s strong points. Where else can one get such experienced readers who help each other improve their writing? The wonderful photo was taken at our annual Christmas party. See you in 2026.

Show, Don’t Tell – Leslie J. Hall (video)

 Character development – NY Times Best Seller Kathryn Shay

 Indie publishing – Kaycee John

10 types of story structure – Kim Gore

Writing sex scenes – NY Times best seller Kathryn Shay

Songwriting –  Phil Dollard

Selling Power of Book Design – Tamara Dever (video)