NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

July 18, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH LIBRARY'S AUGUST WRITERS' CLINIC TO FEATURE GARY ARNOLD, ALEXANDREA WEIS

JEFFERSON, LA - Local authors and educators Gary Arnold and Alexandrea Weis will be featured in the August Saturday Writers’ Clinic beginning at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 19, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., in Metairie.

This event is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration.

9:30 a.m. – Gary Arnold, “ChatGPT Is Coming Your Way”

Gary Arnold, owner of Windhorse Corporation, a publishing and media development company, will discuss a new technology known as ChatGPT, a natural language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence technology that allows people to have human-like conversations with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions and assist with tasks such as composing emails, essays and code.

Released in November 2022, it can have conversations on topics from history to philosophy, generate lyrics in the style of James Taylor or Aretha Franklin, and suggest edits to computer programming code.

A March Credit Suisse report estimated ChatGPT could provide Microsoft an additional $40 billion in revenue and $2 in earnings per share over the next five or more years, according to Business Insider. ChatGPT added 100 million users since its November 2022 launch.

Gary Arnold has owned Windhorse Corporation, a publishing and media development company, since 1988. Since 1983, he says he has circled the globe 22 times to deliver more than 1,200 presentations on branding, web marketing, strategic planning, personal and corporate development. He has written 15 books, and produced more than 100 audio books and 12 DVD movies.

11 a.m. – Alexandrea Weis, “Every Writer’s Dream – Getting an Agent” 

“Every writer's dream is to acquire an agent, but it wasn't mine,” she says. “I was comfortable in the self-published world, and gave up attempting to find an agent. That’s when I found mine. It didn't happen in the traditional/query letter way, but once I had signed on the dotted line, doors opened, and my career changed.”

She says this session will help attendees decide if getting an agent is the right thing to do. It will break down a process that goes beyond the query letter by using research, social media, and a little self-promotion.

“There are a lot of myths to debunk and realities to accept when starting your search, but the right person can get your work in front of mid and upper-level publishers,” Weis says. “Whether you are looking for a big five or want to start with a smaller house, there's an agent out there for you.”

Alexandrea Weis is an advanced practice registered nurse who was born and raised in New Orleans. She was brought up in the motion picture industry and began writing at the age of eight. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her award-winning novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable. A permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Weis rescues orphaned and injured wildlife. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on Facebook, Twitter Youtube, JPTV and Instagram (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO