Keeping Track of Time
By Marianne Wolf-Astrauskas, President
	There are many ways we keep track of time. Some of us write for a living with weekly deadlines, some write privately in a daily diary, some maintain an online blog, some are hard at work on their lengthy novel.

As lovers of the written word we tend to keep memories alive through the stories we write. How many of you have a collection of short stories or articles marking the important moments in your life? The moment gone, but the words describe the experiences keeping them vivid and ever-present.

Some of us keep scrapbooks and albums, filled with published articles, ticket stubs, photographs, postcards, and wine labels, collecting them in special notebooks jotting details in the margin listing companions, a meal, a memory, a paycheck. This takes effort, and someone who does not write might ask why do we go through the trouble of tracking fleeting moments? When you read your stories later, the words take you back to the experience, you remember the occasion, the smells, the sounds, the joy or disappointment. Your words mingle with your memory and somehow, the sensations grow more meaningful and complex. The more you write, the clearer your voice speaks to you. By building a body of work, you learn to fi nd your voice, put it to paper, and come to understand the unique character on the page.

For 124 years the Illinois Woman’s Press Association has welcomed communicators of all genres to share their voices. Issues of PenPoints served as IWPA’s diary, a personal history filled with scores of articles, opinions, and pictures defining our membership who freely shared their expertise, built networks and ties – right from the get-go.
In this issue we share with you memories of the national conference held in San Antonio, Texas, this summer and ask you to join in our anticipation of August 2010 when we’ll roll out the Chicago welcome mat to our national fellowship. We want to hear your voice, your ideas, and your creativity as we work to showcase our affiliate’s 125th anniversary throughout the coming year.

In 2009, IWPA opens up the pages of PenPoints to any member who would like to share their unique voice in a short story, article, opinion or photograph. We hope you’ll consider submitting something you feel passionate about. If selected for a future issue, as an added bonus, you’ll have a publishing credit for your writing portfolio and you’ll have added another remembrance to IWPA’s rich history of savvy mentors, allies, and champions.