WRITERS’ CORNER AUGUST 25, 2010
ONLINE CLASSES
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Celtic Hearts
TITLE: Scottish Highlands 1500 – 1760
DATES: 09/14 – 10/26/2010
INSTRUCTOR: Sharron Gunn W/A Sheila Currie
DESCRIPTION: This course will go into depth about life in the Highlands. You will learn who lived in a castle and in a village and who earned a living travelling about. Find out how different this area is from the Lowlands and other parts of Great Britain and how similar to Ireland. Topics covered: Scotland in Europe, Highlands and Lowlands, Houses & Castles, The Court of a Highland Chief, The ‘Clan System’, Clothing & Weapons.
FMI: www.celtichearts.org/workshops.html
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Southern Tier Authors of Romance’s (STAR)
TITLE: Writing Novellas – Making a Long Story Short
DATES: September 1 – 28, 2010
INSTRUCTOR: Nina Pierce
DESCRIPTION: This course shares techniques to complete romance story in 30 thousand words or less. Topics will include plot points, character development, POV, time tables and cutting unnecessary words/scenes.
DEADLINE: August 31, 2010
FMI: www.starrwa.org or carolhenry.
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Colorado Romance Writers, Inc.
TITLE: Mastering Point of View
DATES: September 6 – October 1, 2010
INSTRUCTOR: Diane O’Connell
DESCRIPTION: This workshop covers how understanding and mastering point of view can fix an ailing manuscript with such topics as POV mistakes; POV to enhance description, dialogue, and action; PROS & CONS of different POV choices; choosing POV characters; and POV to increase suspense and tension.
FMI: http://www.coloradoromancewriters.org or coloromancewritersonlineclasses.
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Colorado Romance Writers, Inc.
TITLE: September 6 – October 1, 2010
DATES: Show vs. Tell: An Interactive Workshop
INSTRUCTOR: Shannon Donnelly
DESCRIPTION: This workshop deals with “telling” by providing tips, tricks, and techniques to improve narrative, and determine when “telling” should be used to compress information, offer transitions, or establish settings and scenes. The “showing” includes exercises to strengthen understanding of what makes a scene come to life with description and/or action.
FMI: http://www.coloradoromancewriters.org or coloromancewritersonlineclasses
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Yosemite Romance Writers
TITLE: The Journey Cycle
DATES: 09/06/2010 – 10/01/2010
INSTRUCTOR: Robin Matheson
DESCRIPTION: This course uses the familiar, symbolic world of Fairy Tales to reinterpret the Hero’s Journey into easy to understand motifs. As a story building tool, the course examines key issues and poses questions about each stage to help writers “troubleshoot” their way to the next “level”. A 2-part assignment is included with each of the 12 lectures.
FMI: www.yosemiteromancewriters.com
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Yosemite Romance Writers
TITLE: Finding the Book Ho in You
DATES: 09/06/2010 – 10/01/2010
INSTRUCTOR: Candace Havens
DESCRIPTION: This class is for those who sold and those who have not. It teaches you how to talk about your writing and books; how to promote your books without the hard sell; and how to pretend to be confident even when you aren’t. These are out of the box techniques that take you and your work to the next level.
FMI: www.yosemiteromancewriters.com
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Yosemite Romance Writers
TITLE: Show Don’t Tell
DATES: 09/06/2010 – 10/01/2010
INSTRUCTOR: Martha Engber
DESCRIPTION: Show, don’t tell gets drummed into all writers. We think we’re showing when we’re telling. We see examples of telling in best-selling books. If we just want to be the best writers possible, should we succumb to telling readers exactly what our characters are thinking at all times? Take this class and see.
FMI: www.yosemiteromancewriters.com
CONFERENCES:
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Central Ohio Fiction Writers’
TITLE: Write from the Heart Conference
DATES: October 1-2, 2010
LOCATION: Holiday Inn Worthington, Columbus, OH
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Suzanne Brockmann
HIGHLIGHTS: Agents, editors, breakout workshops, book sale and raffles.
FMI: www.COFW.org
CONTESTS:
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Space CoasT Authors of Romance (Florida STARs)
CONTEST: Launching A Star Contest 2010
PARTICULARS: All electronic, 25 pages max., no synopsis; editors & agents final judges
DEADLINE: September 8, 2010–Midnight EDT
FMI: www.spacecoastauthorsofromance.com
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Southern Magic
CONTEST: 2011 Linda Howard Award of Excellence
PARTICULARS: No synopsis needed for first round judging. Discounts for entering early and/or for judging other categories. Finalists can revised their entry before going to final judge.
DEADLINE: Early bird deadline October 1, 2010
FINAL DEADLINE: Entry deadline October 11, 2010
FMI: http://www.southernmagic.org/lindahowardcontest.html
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Music City Romance Writers
CONTEST: 12th Annual Melody of Love
PARTICULARS: LOW ON ENTRIES! Agents final judges. All-electronic entries.
DEADLINE: Midnight (CST) September 1, 2010
FMI: www.mcrw.com.
CHAPTER SPONSOR: Missouri Romance Writers
CONTEST: Gateway to the Best
PARTICULARS: Grand Prize $100!
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
FMI: www.morwa.org
CHAPTER SPONSOR: SOUTHWEST FLORIDA ROMANCE WRITERS
CONTEST: “HOLD ME! THRILL ME”
PARTICULARS: All Electronic Entries. First 20 pages of an unpublished manuscript featuring romantic elements.
DEADLINE: September 1, 2010
FMI: http://swfrw.org/2010_contest.php
Thanks, Mary Jo!