ONLINE WORKSHOPS:
SPONSOR: Outreach International
TITLE: Plodding or Plotting
DATES: January 4 – 22, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Gail Gaymer Martin
DESCRIPTION: This class covers techniques that result in a story that flows rather than plods. It explores how the author makes the story connect with the reader using the 3 Act structure.
DEADLINE: January 3, 2011
FMI: http://www.oirw.net/campus/currentcourselist.htm
SPONSOR: Hearts Through History Romance Writers
TITLE: Norse Scotland
DATES: January 3 – 31, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Cindy Valler
DESCRIPTION: This course examines the history and archaeology, ships, raiders, famous Norsemen, women, marriage, the Norse in the Northern Isles and Hebrides, and life in general so that participants have an understanding of Norse Scotland. At the workshop’s end, Cindy provides a free edit of a chapter from participants’ manuscripts set in Scotland.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/classreg.htm or Campus Coordinator: classes
SPONSOR: Hearts Through History Romance Writers
TITLE: The Book Factory: Producing Multiple Novels in One Year
DATES: January 3 – 31, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Kerri Nelson
DESCRIPTION: If you want to learn how to get started, stay on track, and get books ready to submit…this workshop puts a method to the madness of novel writing by using Nelson’s Book Factory Method.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/classreg.htm or Campus Coordinator: classes
SPONSOR: The Black Diamond Chapter of RWA
TITLE: Fat Free Writing with the Grammar Divas
DATES: January 3 – 16, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Annie Oortman & Darlene Buchholz
DESCRIPTION: This class identifies ways to cut the fat in writing to enhance your chances at grabbing an editor’s or agent’s interest. This class helps you devise strategies that work for you in editing your work to make your words mean exactly what you want.
DEADLINE:
FMI: http://www.bdrwa.com & click online classes. Or contact: mrsgodiva
SPONSOR: Yellow Rose RWA
TITLE: Getting Rid of the Crud: Goals for the New Year
DATES: January 3 -30, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Cheryl St. John
DESCRIPTION: This class examines potential negative behaviors and thinking patterns which limit a person’s ability to meet goals, handle time, and stay motivated.
FMI: http://yellowroserwa.com/workshops/ or coordinator at sophie
SPONSOR: Celtic Hearts
TITLE: The Lessons of Firefly: Learning From The Works of Joss Whedon
DATES: January 3 – 31, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Jacqui Jacoby
DESCRIPTION: This workshop reveals the lessons to be learned from the TV series, Firefly. Joss Whedon had approved its materials for use in this RWA class to explore character development, dialogue, and plotting techniques.
FMI: http://www.celtichearts.org/workshops.html or Kerri Nelson, celtickerri
SPONSOR: Carolina Romance Writers
TITLE: Screen Writing Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters)
DATES: January 1 – 17, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Alexandra Sokoloff
DESCRIPTION: This workshop teaches film writing techniques adaptable to novel writing such as: high concept premise; 3 Act, 8 sequence structure; storyboard grid; and index card plotting method. All these aid pacing, suspense, & emotional impact in your story.
FMI: http://www.heartofcarolina.org/online_classes/class_reg.html
SPONSOR: Lowcountry RWA
TITLE: The 3nd Annual New Year’s Resolutions and Revisions
DATES: January 5 – 39, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Rochelle Bailey & Regan Black
DESCRIPTION: This class gives students an opportunity to evaluate what they want from writing, methods to refine writing for submission, tips on working with an editor’s revision requests, & methods to strengthen and highlight writing by taking an example from some popular movies.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#JAN
SPONSOR: Lowcountry RWA
TITLE: Grammar Workshop
DATES: January 5 – 29, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Susan Greene
DESCRIPTION: This workshop reviews editors’ pet peeves: commonly misused words, proper sentence structure, punctuation, common spelling errors, participles and how to use them properly, subject/verb agreement, avoiding clichés, & tips for self-editing.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#JAN
SPONSOR: Lowcountry RWA
TITLE: The Naked Hero Tackles Archetypes
DATES: January 5 – 29, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Misa Ramirez and Tonya Kappes
DESCRIPTION: This course has students take the core archetypal traits and craft a flesh and blood character. Then pit these characters against each other and see who reigns supreme.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#JAN
SPONSOR: Lowcountry RWA
TITLE: Work. Pray. War. Capturing the Essence of the Middle Ages
DATES: January 5 – 29, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Keena Kincaid
DESCRIPTION: This workshop discusses historical facts which can’t be fudged top provide adequate settings and capture the true spirit of the Middle Ages. Topics include ideals of chivalry vs. realities of war; limits to the power of kings, popes and nobles; love, marriage and other myths of the Middle Ages; how sisters and wives differed from other women.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#JAN
SPONSOR: Lowcountry RWA
TITLE: The Dreaded Synopsis
DATES: January 5 – 29, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Elizabeth Sinclair
DESCRIPTION: The synopsis is a crucial part of a submission. This course discusses elements to make them sparkle.
DEADLINE: January 2, 2011
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#JAN
SPONSOR: Colorado Romance Writers, Inc
TITLE: From Mild to Wild: Creating Sex Scenes That Are More Than The Same Old Bump And Grind
DATES: January 3 – 28, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Angela Knight
DESCRIPTION: This course covers how to use love scenes to develop characterization, conflict, and growth of the romance. It will also cover how to create a range of sensuality, from sweet to erotic to help make your love scenes sparkle.
FMI: http://www.coloradoromancewriters.org or email Online Workshop Series Coordinator, Karen Docter, at coloromancewritersonlineclasses.
SPONSOR: Colorado Romance Writers, Inc
TITLE: Dr. Frankenstein’s System: Build a Subgenre Tale by Stitching Mismatched Story Elements Together
DATES: January 3 – 28, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Beth Daniels, aka Beth Henderson aka J.B. Dane
DESCRIPTION: This workshop is concerned with building something from various genre elements to build a story style that sets you apart from the crowd. The class investigates the blending worlds of urban fantasy, Steampunk, magical realism, and then launches into picking and choosing what would work best from the worlds of mystery and suspense, sci-fi and fantasy, the classics, history, science, psychology and anything else that strikes the fancy or is a hot topic.
FMI: http://www.coloradoromancewriters.org or email Online Workshop Series Coordinator, Karen Docter, at coloromancewritersonlineclasses.
SPONSOR: The Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter of RWA
TITLE: Creating Memorable Characters
DATES: January 31, 2011 through February 27, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Sue Viders and Becky Martinez
DESCRIPTION: This class teaches you how to make the characters in your books come alive. Discover how you can turn your hero and heroine from wooden figures into realistic people your readers will remember long after they put down the book.
FMI: http://www.romance-ffp.com/event.cfm?EventID=185
SPONSOR: The Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter of RWA
TITLE: The Journey Cycle
DATES: January 31, 2011 through February 27, 2011
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 a series of questions about each stage to help writers “troubleshoot” their way to the next “level”.
FMI: http://www.romance-ffp.com/event.cfm?EventID=101
SPONSOR: Elements of RWA
TITLE: Story Structure
DATES: January 10 –February 4, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Larry Brooks
DESCRIPTION: This course outlines five stages of story planning: 1: Story planning versus organic story growth; 2: “Ideation” — the growth of an idea into a story; 3. The fleshing out of the four basic story elements at the pre-manuscript stage; 4. Translating the plan into story structure; 5: growing your beat sheet into an outline and then into a manuscript. This workshop introduces the notion of “story engineering” as a development and writing process, covering each of the requisite bases required to write a publishable novel, without needing multiple drafts to do the same thing.
DEADLINE: January 5, 2011
FMI: http://www.elementsofrwa.com/workshops.html
SPONSOR: The Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter of RWA
TITLE: Secrets to a Winning Proposal
DATES: January 3 – 17, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: Stacey Kade
DESCRIPTION: This class offers tips and tricks for creating a stand-out novel proposal. Writers will leave with a sample query letter and synopsis, resources for further information, and a rough draft of their own query letter.
FMI: http://www.romance-ffp.com/event.cfm?EventID=100
SPONSOR: The Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter of RWA
TITLE: Break Free From The Slush Pile
DATES: January 3 – 17, 2011
INSTRUCTOR: CJ Lyons, MD
DESCRIPTION: This highly interactive workshop will help you polish your query letter, create a pitch, and prepare you for meeting an agent or editor.
FMI: http://www.romance-ffp.com/event.cfm?EventID=157
CONTESTS:
SPONSOR: Houston Bay Area Romance Writers
TITLE: Judge A Book By Its Cover
ELIGIBILITY: Published Authors for covers of book or novella published by a traditional house, ePublisher, POD or self-published during 2010.
FORMAT: Electronic files
SUBMIT: (JPG or GIF) only of book cover
DEADLINE: January 15, 2011
FMI: www.hbarwa.com or contact Leslie Marshman at: judgeabook @ hbarwa. com (deleting spaces)
SPONSOR: Colorado Romance Writers
TITLE: 2011 Award of Excellence (Published authors)
ELIGIBILITY: Books published in 2010 are eligible to enter.
SUBMIT: 3 bound copies of novel 40,000 plus words
DEADLINE: January 7, 2011
FMI: http://www.coloradoromancewriters.org/aoe.html
