Spirit of the Hills

I went to an open house this past week put on by Spirit of the Hills, a group which operates under the umbrella of the Northumberland Hills Arts Association. Spirit of the Hills is "dedicated to promoting ALL creative art forms and traditions in Northumberland County..."

The purpose of the meeting was to let local writers know the benefits that are available to them by becoming members of the Spirit of the Hills Writers' Group. At the end of the evening I was happy to sign up. It's encouraging to discover people who want to champion the cause of local writers.

I have selected from the list of benefits to members those that interest me, personally. Spirit of the Hills will:

• find venues for book promotions in public places
• organize launches, signings, workshops
• create media alerts to announce launches, signings, promotions/events
• display their writers' work at various arts conferences
• work to increase the writer's public profile

This last benefit alone is worth the membership fee. We seem more and more now to have to do our own publicity. If people have never heard about our books how can we expect to sell any? Here is an organization that will help spread the word.

Write on!