Hello, fellow members of the best writing group on Facebook. The more astute among you will have noticed the 1 in the post title and thought, ‘oh no, there will be more this year …’ and if all goes well there will be more updates but for good reason.

Before I go any further with this report, as a multi-genre author I feel I can relax here away from investigations, assassins, camouflage, kidnappings, distant planets and rumpled sheets among other things. I do have to be upfront and admit that the real world is such a peculiar, restrictive environment—no wonder we share a mutual pleasure in leaving it all behind.

Membership.

It’s now below 200 but that isn’t such a bad thing. Quality is more important than quantity for the purpose of our group as I’m sure you’d all agree. We have in recent months ‘lost’ a few members for a variety of reasons.

This will be totally out of character for me—not, but I’ll be blunt and save reading time for you. If a person is ‘pushed’ from our group, it was for a good reason—they will not be invited back in. If, on the other hand, a person ‘jumps’ (for any number of reasons), they will be welcomed back—no begging and scraping expected or required in either direction.

Notwithstanding that we’re international, we are a close-knit group. Within our various discussions, we don’t slide into politics, religion or any other contentious issue but a couple of the keys to our survival are tolerance and understanding. There are groups which disintegrate due to personal disagreements going into orbit. 

For over five years we’ve had countless occasions when two or more members have ‘agreed to disagree’. If any of the parties concerned hold a grudge we don’t know—because we don’t keep an argument or bad-feeling simmering. Please, let’s keep it that way.

Facebook Page.

I’ve updated the Description of our group on our Facebook page and if you haven’t read it, please do. You’ll find it in the right-hand column of our Facebook page.

Another area to check out if you haven’t looked recently is Files found in the left-hand column of our Facebook page.

IASD page/website/blog.

Having been involved in the production and updating of our group policies on the Facebook page and our website/blog I’m dismayed by the phrase ‘I’ve never read that …’ when referring to these things. Our policies are not in the same league as the Terms and Conditions for the average app. Our rules were compiled by members for the benefit of fellow members and it might surprise you to know, we amend words, sentences or whole passages if an issue is spotted by somebody. Now, with all of that in mind, I would ask that everybody does three things:

1. If you have yet to read the Description and Files sections on our Facebook page, please do so.

2. If you have yet to read our About page on the website/blog, please do so.

3. If at any time you see any anomaly or something which could be misconstrued, tell a member of Admin via PM or email.

The Admin team strive to do their best on behalf of our membership but we can only be as good as your input and feedback allow. Regularly active members of Admin are available across a wide range of time zones so there is a fair chance that one of us will be ‘available’. We can tackle a variety of issues as individuals but again we’re only as good as the information given.

IASD Author Brochure.

The assembly and organisation of this incredible magazine is the work of Melanie P Smith. Only she can access and amend the brochure which makes the accuracy of the information an area of importance.

New or recent members who take the time to browse the IASD website/blog will find a lot of useful information. For example, the various genres highlighted on the Author page are followed by a reminder of where to look to have author information updated or submitted.

Like everything else, it’s your group so if you have an idea—tell somebody.

Your next update will be coming along within a couple of weeks and there will be an opportunity for all members to give an opinion on a particular issue. Don’t miss it!

As always, on behalf of the Admin team, I thank you for taking the time to read this and some of you should now be considering a little wander around the Facebook page, and/or the website … am I right, or am I right? 😀

Tom