A Slice of Orange

by Sandy Novy Chvostal

A newspaper reporter contacted me awhile back to get some information on OCC. “What makes your Chapter so successful?” she asked me. “Everyone I’ve talked to says OCC is one of the leading RWA chapters in the nation.”

The answer (like so many answers unfortunately) is complicated. Obviously, our success involves a variety of factors including our location in such a highly populated area, the bylaws that we operate under, the advantages provided by having a large membership and the variety and quality of the programs we support. But in my opinion, OCC’s greatest strength is our ability to evolve–to take advantage of the generosity and expertise of our volunteers to stay ahead.

In the upcoming months, OCC will be evolving once again as we focus on improving our website, and we want to thank all the members who are lending their expertise to this project. Goals and plans for a total redesign include a Members Only section that will include an email roster and allow members to update their own information; published members’ bookcovers featured on the home page in a revolving fashion that changes every time the page is pulled up; a booksellers’ page to feature covers and also facilitate communication between authors and booksellers; and a page for trailers. A MySpace page is also being created for OCC, which will be linked to occrwa.com; and our yahoo groups are being updated for better ease of use.

In conjunction with these changes—and because our fabulous editors are stepping down—our printed newsletter will be phased out. Published authors are requested to notify co-president Sue Phillips at suephillips503@yahoo.com about any book releases to be put on the Bookseller/bookshelf page and items for “Look at Our Members” should be sent to Sue as well.

Questions? Concerns? Suggestions? Copy me with those at Snovy617@aol.com.