Lowcountry Romance Writers ©
2012 Online Workshops
LRWA is pleased to announce our new online workshop schedule.
Online Workshops
• Courses are on an email listserv and feature craft, writing and genre specific topics. Membership is not required.
• The workshops are conducted via EMAIL only, no real-time or live chats. Participants will be subscribed to the listserv for the period of the workshop, then unsubscribed when it is over.
• Workshops are open to everyone with email capability who wishes to participate, not just LRWA or RWA members.
• Deadlines are the 2nd of each month, unless noted in the course description. Some late registrations are accepted at the discretion of the Online Workshop Coordinator Chair.
Workshop Fee
$16 USD for All. Payment via PayPal only. All payments for a workshop must be received by the registration cutoff date.
Online Courses News Listserv
For updates and announcements, please join our Online Courses newsletter email.
LRWA Membership
Please join us and become a member of LRWA. As a member, we offer a warm and friendly community that helps and supports all of our authors, published or unpublished.
For more information to join, please click here.
**Please note: You must be an RWA member to join Lowcountry RWA.
Questions? Please contact our Online Workshop Coordinator
Upcoming 2012 Online Workshops
Click for month: FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
**Cancellation and Refunds Policy: No registration fees will be refunded. All payments for a workshop must be received by the registration cutoff date. Payments received after the cut-off date can be applied to a future workshop of the Applicant’s’ choosing.
In the event a workshop is canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, such as instructor inability to teach class, registration fees will be applied to a future workshop of the applicant’s choosing.
A Confirmation Letter of Payment will be sent promptly. Invitations to the workshop are sent 2 days prior to the start of class. If you pay for a workshop and do not receive a confirmation letter and an invite please contact the Online Workshop Coordinator immediately.
FEBRUARY
The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing
Presented by Mayra Calvani
Dates: February 6 – 24, 2012
Deadline: February 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Is your nose always stuck in a book? Do you enjoy sharing your ideas about books with readers? Become a book reviewer!
Learn the secrets of book reviewing from Mayra Calvani, co-author of the ForeWord Best Book of the Year award-winning title, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing.
Topics will include:
This workshop will teach you, in a nutshell, all you need to know to get started as a professional book reviewer.
Instructor Bio:
Award-winning author Mayra Calvani has been reviewing for over a decade. She’s a freelance writer and the author of several books for children and adults. She’s had over 300 reviews, articles, stories and interviews published online and in print. Currently, she reviews for The New York Journal of Books, Blogcritics Magazine, and SimplyCharly.com. In addition, she’s the Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com and co-editor of Voice in the Dark ezine. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Bridgeport.
The Dreaded Synopsis
Presented by Elizabeth Sinclair
Dates: February 6 – 24, 2012
Deadline: February 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The dreaded synopsis. We hate them. We avoid them until the very end and then the real fun begins. Not! They are painstaking and frustrating to write. However, the synopsis is the most important part of the submission package to an agent or editor. Without it or poorly written your manuscript will never get past the slush pile.
So what do we do? What are the do’s and don’t’s? How do we write about our novel in a few short sentences or paragraphs?
The following questions will be just some that we will discuss in this workshop:
At the end, you will have the necessary tools to write and sell your manuscript!
Instructor Bio:
Being a romantic at heart and having devoured romances like Hershey Kisses, it was inevitable that Elizabeth Sinclair would one day write them. Following her dream, which took more than a couple of wrong turns along the way, in 1993 she sold her first romance, JENNY’S CASTLE, to Silhouette Intimate Moments, which reached #2 on the Walden Bestseller List and won a Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award of Excellence. Since then, this multi-published author’s books have sold in ten foreign countries and been translated into seven foreign languages.
Elizabeth is a member of Romance Writers of America, The Author’s Guild and Thriller Writers. She’s taught creative writing and given seminars and workshops, locally and nationally, on the craft of writing. Her books have finaled in the Daphne de Maurier contest and won The National Reader’s Choice Award, The Anne Bonney Reader’s Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Heart of Excellence Readers Choice Award and earned a Gold Medal Top Pick from the Romantic Times Book Club.
Elizabeth co-founded and is a member of the Ancient City Romance Authors of St. Augustine, FL. She is also a member of RWA’s Kiss of Death Chapter, Sisters In Crime, and the Indiana Romance Writers. Elizabeth served as RWA’s Region 3 Director and chaired the 2001 RWA New Orleans Annual Conference.
In addition to having authored the widely acclaimed instructional books, THE DREADED SYNOPSIS and FIRST CHAPTERS, she has published a total of twenty romances with Silhouette Intimate Moments/Romantic Suspense, Harlequin American, Kensington Precious Gems, Medallion Press and recently signed a contract with Belle Bridge Books for the next three books in her Hawks Mountain series.
The first book in the series, Hawks Mountain, will be released in the Fall of 2011.
You can find more about Elizabeth at www.elizabethsinclair.com
“Whose Story is This?” The Nuts and Bolts of Point of View (POV), Two Weeks
Presented by Susan Palmquist
Dates: February 6 – 17, 2012
Deadline: February 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The goals of this workshop are for the writer to:
There will be mini exercises after each lesson and two main exercises.
The first one will be after lesson 3.Participants will use their own story to write several scenes, one from the heroine’s POV, one from the hero’s to see what difference it makes to the overall story.
The final exercise will be to take several scenes from their story and to write one in regular POV, one in deep POV and compare the differences.
Instructor Bio:
Susan Palmquist is a freelance writer and author of six novels, four of which are romances. She’s also a short story writer who’s been published in magazines in both the US and UK. Two of her stories have recently appeared in anthologies. Under her pen name, Vanessa Devereaux, she writes erotica and erotic romances and has published six novels/novellas with a new novel set to be released in June 2011.
She also writes a weekly money saving blog at called The Budget Smart Girl’s Guide to the Universe. And is a writing tutor for Writer’s Bureau and Writing Magazine UK. Head hopping and poor use of POV are the most common mistakes she sees in student’s work.
You can find more about Susan at www.susanpalmquist.com or write her at skpalmquist@gmail.com
Completing Your Mystery
Presented by Jaqueline Corcoran
Dates: February 6 – 24, 2012
Deadline: February 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Do you have an idea for a mystery or one that you have started and then gotten stuck?
Then this workshop is for you.
The writer will be taken step-by-step through the process of opening the mystery, creating characters, plotting, and writing scenes, dialogue, and description by using the advice, ideas, and exercises provided by the instructor. The class will motivate you, provide you with as much feedback as you want, and give you the logic and depth necessary to create a mystery that satisfies.
Instructor Bio:
Jacqueline Corcoran is an adult educator. She has been on the faculty of two different universities over the last 15 years, and is currently at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is proficient in constructing exercises that build students’ skills in a sequential manner, and, out of the 11 textbooks she’s written, five are in workbook format.
She has published a self-help book, The Depression Solutions Workbook http://www.newharbinger.com/bookstore/productdetails.cfm?PC=751, and is currently working with an agent to represent her latest mystery, Maiming of the Shrew, as well as a YA novel. Time Witch, a middle grade fantasy and retelling of the fairytale “The Snow Queen” will be out soon with Solstice Publishing.
You can find more about Jacqueline at www.jacquelinecorcoran.com
Fiction to Freelance in Six Easy Steps
Presented by
Dates: February 6 – 24, 2012
Deadline: February 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Who, Me? Freelance? But, I’m a Fiction Writer.
Yes, you!
In this first lesson, we’ll start with an overview of the course. Next, we’ll discover the main reasons to consider freelancing and the benefits of becoming a freelance writer for both the published and unpublished author. You’ll also determine which elements of freelancing will most help your writing career.
Ever wonder what editors really want? Figuring out how to get your foot in the door (or your query on their desk) isn’t as tough as you might think. In Lesson 3, you’ll learn the six universal elements that define every publication from Astronomy Illustrated to Zoology Today by learning to read magazines like a writer.
This course will also cover queries and submissions.
Instructor Bio:
Beth Morrow is an author whose work has appeared in publications including Diabetes Health, Prevention.com, Camp Business and Romance Writers Report. A veteran middle school English teacher, she also freelances for textbook companies and loves teaching about writing.
You can find more about Beth at www.bethmorrow.com or visit her writing blog, www.writer-in-progress.com.
MARCH
Writing About Magic and Magicians
Presented by Rayne Hall
Dates: March 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: March 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Create believable magicians (good and evil), fictional spells which work, and plot complications when the magic goes wrong. Learn about high and low magic, witches and wizards, circle-casting and power-raising, initiation and training, tools and costumes, science and religion, conflicts and secrecy, and apply them to your novel. This is a 4-week course with 12 lessons and practical assignments.
Instructor Bio:
Rayne Hall has published 22 books (under several pen-names), seventy short stories (mostly fantasy, paranormal and horror) and thousands of articles. She has a college degree in Publishing and a masters degree in Creative Writing&Personal Development. A member of the Society of Authors (the British organisation for professional writers), she worked many years as magazine editor and creative writing teacher. Many of her horror stories have won contest prizes, and two were selected for honourable mentions in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Rayne is an experienced teacher who enjoys helping students to create sparkling scenes.
Contests: The Basics
Presented by Alexa Bourne
Dates: March 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: March 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Students will explore reasons to enter contests, how to find the right contest for their work, how to follow the “rules,” how to deal with the results/feedback of contests, and finally choose contests.
Topics covered will include:
Instructor Bio:
Alexa Bourne has been working toward publication for several years. She entered her first contest in 2002 and has since finaled or won in 21 RWA contests with seven manuscripts. She has a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Education. She has been an English teacher for children and adults. She has also written various articles for RWA chapter newsletters and befriended the competition in a contest on more than one occasion.
Novel Boot Camp
Presented by Patricia Mason
Dates: March 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: March 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
What do you do when your novel’s dialogue is feeble?
Is there help when conflict is sagging not sizzling?
What’s the answer when description is shapeless?
Your action sequences are out of breath rather than leaving the reader breathless.
Answer: Your novel needs some exercise. Why not take it to boot camp.
This workshop will be highly interactive and take you through assignments designed to take your novel from flabby to fit. You’ll have the opportunity- and be encouraged-to share portions of your WIP with the online class group (or privately with the instructor) for feedback and constructive critique.
Instructor Bio:
Patricia Mason is the author of A GIRL, A GUY AND A GHOST, and SACRIFICE IN STONE from Ellora’s Cave. Patricia Mason was an attorney for many years in Michigan before she escaped from the snowy Midwest winters of her youth by moving to a beautiful, historic city of Savannah, Georgia in 2001 to pursue her dream of being a novelist. She is hard at work on her next novel IN DEEP SHITAKE.
You can find more about Patricia at www.patriciamason.net
Got Rights? How To Publish Your Book On Kindle, Two Weeks
Presented by Nina Bruhns
Dates: March 5 – 16, 2012
Deadline: March 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Kindles, Nooks, and iPads are all the rage these days. For authors who have gotten the rights reverted on their older books, uploading them to the various self-publishing programs can be a nice added income. Some authors are even skipping the middleman and going indie, publishing their original works straight to Kindle, Pub-It, and many other venues, rather than the traditional publishing route.
If you are interested in learning how to take advantage of this interesting new market, this is the class for you!
Those with an actual work ready to upload, you can have it formatted and up on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords for sale by the end of the class.
Please be sure to have your book/story/article clean, edited, and ready in MSWord. Then join in the fun!
Instructor Bio:
Bestselling romantic thriller author Nina Bruhns has published over twenty-five novels to date, of which nearly two million copies have been sold, and been translated into a half dozen languages. Best known for her vivid settings, unique characters, and page-turning plot twists, Nina writes romantic thrillers for Berkley Publishing (Penguin/Putnam), and romantic suspense as well as paranormal romance for Silhouette Books. She also pens erotic romance for Berkley Heat under the pseudonym Nikita Black.
Ms. Bruhns is the recipient of numerous awards for her books, including three prestigious Daphne du Maurier Awards of Excellence for Overall Best Mystery/Suspense Novel of the Year, Four RT BookReviews Reviewers Choice Awards, five Dorothy Parker Awards, and a National Readers Choice Award, along with two Rita nominations, just to name a few.
You can find more about Nina at www.ninabruhns.com
Book In a Month
Presented by Kit Frazier
Dates: March 3 – 29, 2012
Deadline: March 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Book in a Month
The New York Times reported that 85% of Americans think they’ll write a book this year, and that less than 1% will actually get it done—beat the odds with Book in a Month, a step-by-step guided process to getting that masterpiece on paper.
Book in a Month uses a 32-step scriptwriting technique to take you through every step of the writing process, from brainstorming characters and plot to sending out material out to be published. The class includes daily and weekly worksheets to guide and help keep you on track.
We’ll use examples from movies, including classics such as Star Wars and Casa Blanca, along with contemporary movies including While You Were Sleeping and The Mummy to illustrate character, plot and subplot.
Week 1
We start with a 32-step screenwriting flash session, delving into what makes character and plot dynamic and memorable.
We’ll take steps to prepare to write a book in a month, and how to enlist the help of family and friends.
Weeks 2-3
Goal, Motivation & Conflict with Plot Structure and intensive writing—learn how to turn off your inner editor and get out of your own way.
Weeks 4-5
Intensive writing and flash revision, along with how to write effective synopses and query letters, including examples from bestselling authors.
Instructor Bio:
Kit Frazier is an award-winning author and is managing editor of a regional magazine. She participates in Citizen’s Police Academy and is a member of the Central Texas Search and Rescue team, where she works with the FBI and local police.
She teaches writing classes throughout the United States and is currently working on a new mystery and a collection of her most popular humorous newspaper columns. Kit was also chosen Barnes & Noble Author of the Month and Mystery Guild Pick of the Month.
You can read more about Kit at her website: www.KitFrazier.com
APRIL
Writing Flashbacks That Please Your Editor and Don’t Confuse Your Reader
Presented by MM Pollard
Dates: April 5 – 29, 2012
Deadline: April 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Flashbacks present a problem with verb tenses. Since a flashback is past, but you’re writing in past tense, how do you show the flashback is more past than past? Confused? Trust me, you aren’t the only one. Editor Laurie Sanders says that the poorly written flashback is one of the reasons she rejects manuscripts.
Flashbacks are a device that a writer must use with care, or she might lose her reader in that distant past, never to see that reader again. We’ll consider kinds of flashbacks, uses for flashbacks, and reasons not to use flashbacks.
If you post all of your homework when due, the Queen will proofread your 1,000-word submission for grammar, usage, and punctuation errors. Critiquing story elements like point of view and character development she leaves to publishers.
Instructor Bio:
As an English teacher for fifteen years and as a line editor for Black Velvet Seductions for the past two years, MM Pollard, English teacher extraordinaire has had the mission to find ungrammatical grammar, misused usage, and problematic punctuation in others’ writing. Mistakes seem to jump off the page for her – yes, she’s that good.
This saying inspired MM to start her own workshop business: “Give a hungry man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he never goes hungry again.” Her goal is to teach writers what they need to know about English grammar, usage, and punctuation so that they won’t need an editing service to correct their mistakes in these areas.
The Queen has presented or will present workshops on Savvy Authors, Muse Online Writers Convention, Writers Online Classes, Novelists at Work, Orange County RWA, Maryland RWA, Passionate Ink RWA, Celtic Hearts RWA, Florida RWA, as well as on her own site.
MM loves teaching and she loves words. She’s a certifiable language arts geek. One of her hobbies is collecting grammar books. She has always been fascinated by words and by the way we arrange them to tell others about ourselves, about the world around us, and about worlds we create in our heads.
Legalese for Writers
Presented by Kris McConville
Dates: April 5 – 29, 2012
Deadline: April 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
In this workshop, we will dispel the myths of lawyers shown on TV and movies and by the end of the workshop, writers will be able to accurately portray a lawyer in a manuscript; whether it be a main character or a secondary character involved in a subplot.
Writers will learn a basic knowledge of the ins and outs of the legal system; different types of lawyers and their specialties; the difference between civil and criminal proceedings; and the basic knowledge of people involved with cases from court clerks to expert witness to juries.
The lessons will cover:
How to Become a Lawyer
Basic Definitions used in the Legal System
The Different types of Courts (e.g. criminal, family, surrogate etc.)
The Differences between Civil and Criminal cases as they work Through the System
Attorney Specialties (e.g. Family law, Intellectual property, Divorce, Criminal law etc.)
How to Develop Scenarios in a Manuscript Where an Attorney Character might be needed (e.g. custody battle, paternity tests, prenuptial agreements, etc.)
Dispelling Myths from TV, movies and other Novels about the legal system
Summary and provision of a resource guide for writers of reference websites that might be helpful
Instructor Bio:
Kris McConville authors the Writer’s Court at Savvy Authors, which is a ‘legal issues for writers’ blog. She taught a mini-workshop during Savvy Authors’ 1st Anniversary – Digicon on “Electronic Rights: Publisher’s Friend or Foe?” She has presented a workshop “Contracts – Essential Clauses and Terms for any Publishing Contract (Print and e-Publishing)” for her local chapter of RWA (the Capital Region Romance Writers of America or CR-RWA) and for the Catholic Writers’ Conference from March 22 – 25th, 2011.
Kris McConville has been an attorney licensed to practice in NYS for twelve years now, and practiced in both the law firm setting, as well as a solo practitioner. Frustrated with the way attorneys are portrayed in movies and TV shows, she has developed this workshop to teach writers how to accurately portray an attorney. She is a member of RWA, her local chapter CR-RWA, and From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) online chapter.
You can find more about Kris at www.krismcconville.com
Storytelling
Presented by Shannon Donnelly
Dates: April 3 – 30, 2012
Deadline: April 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
“Storytelling, the language art that predates written history, is also a widespread, dynamic, and varied art form in the modern world.” National Storytelling Network
A good story is not just good writing…
There are workshops to improve your writing craft, to show more, to create characters, and on just about every aspect related to fiction. But a good story takes more than good writing: in fact, you can have poor or just okay writing, but still have a great story that grabs readers and sells its way into published book and movie deals. By taking a look at the technique of “story tellers” this workshop looks at how writers can spin a good yarn on the page.
As noted by an interview with Raymond Marr, assistant professor of psychology at York University in Toronto in an interview for: “The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn (Jeremy Hsul, Scientific American):
“…the best stories—those retold through generations and translated into other languages—do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be inextricably tied to those of the story’s characters.”
This workshop covers storytelling techniques that writers can use from both the organic creative process and a more structured application of craft, with an emphasis on how working writers need both to be productive and consistent.
To captivate your audience, we’ll cover:
Characters And Hooks: Act 1
Basic Structure: Act 2
Craft And Voice: Act 3
Emotion and Innovation: Endings
Instructor Bio:
Shannon Donnelly’s writing has won numerous awards, including a RITA nomination for Best Regency, the Grand Prize in the “Minute Maid Sensational Romance Writer” contest, judged by Nora Roberts, RWA’s Golden Heart, the Laurel Wreath, the Winter Rose, the Bookseller’s Best, and multiple finalists in the Holt Medallion, the Colorado ACE, the Golden Quill, and others.
Her work has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews fromRomantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and other reviewers, who note: “simply superb”…”wonderfully uplifting”….and “beautifully written.”
In addition to her Regency romances, she has had novellas published in several anthologies, has had young adult horror stories published and is the author of several computer games. Currently, she is a member of several chapters of RWA, and she is a past-president of the Beau Monde, Regency Chapter of RWA. She has spoken at past writer conferences, including RWA’s national conference, and regularly gives workshops online. Her abiding passions include–besides writing–her dogs, reading, gardening, painting, belly dancing, and the ever present horses in her life.
She can be found online at www.sd-writer.com and www.twitter.com
Formatting Fundamentals:
Presented by Pat Hauldren
Dates: April 5 – 29, 2012
Deadline: April 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Shaping up your manuscript for publication …
At the end of this workshop, students will know how to format their manuscript for various types of publication (print/online/etc.).
An editor or agent should never have to inform the writer how to format a manuscript and some agents actually reject the first hint of non-professional formatting.
Here we’ll not only learn how to format properly, but to set up templates for different types of writing software and markets. The audience for this class is anyone wishing to publish professionally.
There is no pre-requisite.
Outline:
Instructor Bio:
Pat Hauldren is a book editor for Cyberwizard Productions and a freelance writer and editor whose articles have appeared in over 600 print newspapers nation-wide and millions online. Pat has published articles, short stories, poetry, and Japanese Noh Drama. She’s working on her 3rd novel (with 5 agents vying for first submission already before it’s finished) and teaching writers workshops locally, online, and overseas.
Pat is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA®), DFW Writers’ Workshop (DFWWW), North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop (NTSFW), Writers’ Guild of America, Frisco Writers’ Group, and more online writing groups than can be mentioned here.
You can find more about Pat at www.pathauldren.com or write her at Pat@PatHauldren.com
“Work. Pray. War. Capturing the Essence of the Middle Ages”
Presented by Keena Kincaid
Dates: April 5 – 29, 2012
Deadline: April 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Gain an understanding of how to write engaging, medieval-set historicals without an advanced historical degree by learning the building blocks of medieval society and deconstructing the modern myth of knights in shining armor.
In this month-long survey course, we’ll discuss the facts that can’t be fudged, how to find accurate historical information to serve as the foundation of your setting and the tricks to capture the spirit of the medieval era without your book reading like a dissertation.
Topics include:
Class materials also will include a list of essential reference books, the website you must bookmark and common mistakes authors make when writing about the Middle Ages.
Course syllabus:
Week One:
Constructing the Medieval World—an in-depth look at the structure of medieval society, how it formed, changed and eventually disintegrated with the focus on those who fought.
Week Two:
The Love of Learning and the Desire for God—the role of religion and monasticism in medieval society and its affect on daily life with the focus on those who prayed.
Week Three:
Help! Help! I’m being Repressed—how life for the majority of people in medieval society was short, nasty and brutal with the focus on those who worked.
Week Four:
Trapped in the Tower—the realities of life for medieval women and how to bend (but not break) facts to fit your story with the focus of those most likely to become your heroines.
Instructor Bio:
Keena Kincaid is the author of four historical books set in the 12th century. Her love of medieval history began with her first reading of Beowulf and has never waned. In addition to her studies in college and graduate school, she is a member of the Medieval Academy of America, which enables her to keep up with the latest historical research and theory.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter as well as on her website, www.keenakincaid.com
Writing Fight Scenes
Presented by Rayne Hall
Dates: April 5 – 29, 2012
Deadline: April 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Even if you’ve never wielded a weapon, you can create fictional fights which leave the reader breathless with excitement. You will understand different types of weapons and how to write about them, and apply the six-part structure of great fight scenes.
Decide how much violence your scene needs, how to describe the terrain, how to create reader emotion, how to combine fighting with dialogue, which senses to use when and how.
Learn about female fighters, improvised weapons, self-defence moves to get your heroine out of trouble, battle scenes, building suspense, adapting your writing style to the fast pace of the action, and much more. Write a fight scene so entertaining and so realistic that it stays in the reader’s mind.
If you wish, you may submit a scene for critique at the end of the class.
Instructor Bio:
Rayne Hall has published 22 books (under several pen-names), seventy short stories (mostly fantasy, paranormal and horror) and thousands of articles. She has a college degree in Publishing and a masters degree in Creative Writing&Personal Development. A member of the Society of Authors (the British organisation for professional writers), she worked many years as magazine editor and creative writing teacher. Many of her horror stories have won contest prizes, and two were selected for honourable mentions in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Rayne is an experienced teacher who enjoys helping students to create sparkling scenes.
MAY
Pesky Pairs: To Lay or to Lie
Presented by Meg Bellamy
Dates: May 7 – 27, 2012
Deadline: May 4, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Pesky Pairs: To lay or to lie — that is the question now.
(Okay, one of the questions now).
In this workshop we’ll sort out and for forever learn the correct usage of commonly confused or misused word pairs — its – it’s, who – whom, etc.
Instructor Bio:
Along with her husband, her family and her books, language is Meg’s passion — so much so that she earned a doctorate in Language Education at Rutgers University in 1994. Currently, by day she’s a mild-mannered language teacher teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to international students, but she started her teaching career as a teacher of French. She’s also studied Russian, Spanish and Italian. This love of language spills over into her writing craft and appreciation for books — and travel!
Meg gets to satisfy the travel bug with trips to England — as often as possible!– to visit her son, daughter-in-law and grandsons. It’s great when Lee, her DH, also goes because driving on the left side of the road doesn’t intimidate him — talk about your basic hero type! Meg also has to travel to see her daughter, who lives in New Jersey — a mere continent away from Meg’s home in Northern California.
Being a published member of the community of writers is the fulfillment of one of Meg’s most cherished dreams. As Mardi Ballou, she’s the author of numerous erotic romances. She’s decided to write women’s fiction and contemporary romances as Meg Bellamy to differentiate between the hot, spicy stories and the more mainstream ones. She’s looking forward to writing many more books of both types!
You can find more about Meg at www.MegBellamy.com
Romancing Resistance
Presented by Hillary Hutchinson
Dates: May 7 – 27, 2012
Deadline: May 4, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Are you having trouble getting your writing done?
Feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by competing responsibilities?
Not enjoying the writing life they way you thought you would?
If your answer to any of these questions is, “Yes!” then you should take this course.
You will learn how to:
You will leave this class with renewed motivation and ability to follow through on all those promises you make to yourself.
Instructor Bio:
Hillary Hutchinson, aka The Change Strategist, is a career coach that works with struggling academic writers and fiction writers to get their projects done. Resistance to writing, feeling stressed, issues of resilience, visioning and goal setting, low productivity, and no confidence are major problems that can be overcome with help.
Hillary writes a column once a month for her local newspaper on succeeding in your chosen calling, so she knows what it means to work on deadline. She also holds two master’s degrees, one in Anthropology and one in Higher Education Administration, both from the University of Texas at Austin.
She is the mother of two grown daughters that she raised on her own after being widowed and nearly losing her own life at 39, who are just embarking on their own independent lives. She loves anything with a story from novels to movies to theater as well as being outside walking, birding, or even practicing yoga on the beach.
You can find more about Hillary at www.transitioningyourlife.com or find her at CoachHillary on Twitter.
Self-Editing, Two Weeks
Presented by Monette Michaels
Dates: May 7 – 27, 2012
Deadline: May 4, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The approach to this workshop will be lecture and hands-on self-editing. The student should be prepared to edit several pages of a current work-in-progress.
The lectures will concentrate on specific problem areas with which many writers have issues including redundancy, repetitiveness (and, yes, these are two separate issues!), empty words, passive sentences, weak words, stating the obvious and other types of wordiness and how to avoid them.
We will also cover how to approach revising your own work and writing tight in general. The hands-on work will involve the author self-editing a page or two of his or her current WIP and then the instructor and the class going over the work and re-editing it. By the end of class, the student’s last self-edit should be a tightly polished piece of writing.
Instructor Bio:
The author writes as Monette Michaels and Rae Morgan. Her first-published book was Fatal Vision (as Monette Michaels) in the late 1990s with one of the early e-publishers; it was republished by LTDBooks out of Canada in 2000. She went on to write several other single titles for LTDBooks: Death Benefits (an EPPIE finalist), Green Fire (a Dream Realm finalist), and The Case of the Virtuous Vampire (an EPPIE finalist and a CAPA Finalist) and now republished as The Virtuous Vampire at Liquid Silver Books. She won an EPPIE in 2005 for Blind-Sided, published at Atlantic Bridge Publishing. She currently writes three series as Monette Michaels: the Gooden and Knight Paranormal Mystery series (The Virtuous Vampire, The Deadly Séance), The Security Specialists International series (Eye of the Storm, an EPPIE Finalist) and the Prime Chronicles Trilogy (Prime Obsession) .
As Rae Morgan, she writes the Coven of the Wolf Series ( Destiny’s Magick, Moon Magick (Dream Realm finalist), Treading the Labyrinth (EPPIE finalist), and a novella“No Secrets,” in Zodiac Elements: Water). Her single titles are Earth Awakened (a Terran Realm book), Enchantress, “Evanescence,” in Edge of Night, and “Once Upon a Princess,” in Ain’t Your Mama’s Bedtime Stories.
For the first years of Liquid Silver Books, she was the Acquisitions Editor and also edited books. She is currently a Senior Editor over the Terran Realm line of books, a shared world concept, and still reads and edits for the main lines of LSB, as needed.
The Writer’s Compass: Plotting for the Directionally Challenged
Presented by Fran Colley and Terry Osburn
Dates: May 7 – 27, 2012
Deadline: May 4, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Basic plotting techniques for writers who think “plot” is a four-letter word. Whether you are just starting out in your story, or if like us, you find yourself marooned and cannot imagine there is any way to get back to port (i.e. the end of your book), have no fear. Finding your way to the “The End” of your novel is as easy as whipping out your compass and orientating yourself within your manuscript.
Find NORTH: characters and goals. Your characters and their goals are the most important aspects of the story. They are the story.
Find SOUTH: conflict and irony. Are your conflicts big enough to keep your characters and their goals in sharp focus? Have you injected a bit of irony in your conflict, making your characters do things they’d never do?
Find EAST: love and sexual tension. Love provides conflict for your Conflict since love is never convenient—and neither is sexual tension.
Find WEST: Happily Ever After. Finding a happy ending for your characters is the only cliché that never gets old.
So join us on a little elementary orienteering for your writing. It’s so much better than plotting!
Instructor Bios:
Terri Osburn has been writing for five years, and blogging with a group of aspiring/published authors on The Romance Writers Revenge for four years. Terri has an Associate Degree in the Music/Video Business, a Bachelor in Business Administration, and taken countless workshops and e-courses presented by Margie Lawson, Mary Buckham, Todd A. Stone, Deb Dixon and more. Her first work of short fiction was published in Woman’s World magazine in September of 2010. She is a PRO member of Romance Writers of America, and currently seeking representation for her Single Title Contemporary manuscripts.
Fran Colley has been writing for almost thirty years (if you count that story she wrote in the 2nd grade, which she does). She founded the blogging group, Romance Writers Revenge, coercing all her friends who were great writers into banding together and sharing what they knew about the writing process. Fran has BA in English, and has taken a number of e-courses and workshops through the various chapters RWA offers. She is a member of RWA and is currently seeking representation for her manuscripts.
Punked
Presented by Suzanne Lazear
Dates: May 7 – 27, 2012
Deadline: May 4, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Everyone has heard of Steampunk and Cyberpunk. But have you heard about Biopunk? What about Sandalpunk or Monsterpunk? What differentiates Sailpunk and Clockpunk from Steampunk? How is Elfpunk different from Urban Fantasy?
Find out what puts the punk in “punk” genres as well as the nuts and bolts of various types from the technopunks and fuelpunks to the historypunks and creaturepunks.
Whether you’re writing a “punk” or just curious bring your manuscripts, WIPs, and ideas as we get punked. All types of manuscripts welcome from “I have an idea” to polished and ready, and from MG/YA to steamy.
Instructor Bio:
Suzanne Lazear writes Steampunk tales for teens and is a member of the Los Angeles Romance Writers and several other RWA chapters. She’s taught various online classes and presented to writing organizations on both writing YA and Steampunk. Suzanne also contributes to Geekmom.com, Steamed, and several YA debut author blogs.
Her Steampunk Dark Fairytale for teens, “Innocent Darkness,” book one of The Aether Chronicles, will be released by Flux in August, 2012. She occupies a small corner of the West Coast where she lives with the hubby, the tot, a hermit crab, and two chickens.
You can find more about Suzanne at www.suzannelazear.com
JUNE
Stop Committing Four Deadly Writing Sins and Free Your Work From Mediocrity
Presented by MM Pollard
Dates: June 4 – 24, 2012
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Are you guilty of:
Telling, not Showing – Show, Don’t Tell – that’s the mantra of the writer, isn’t it? Telling is easier, but not effective in engaging your reader’s emotions and her commitment to your story. When you concentrate on using the five senses, showing isn’t as hard as you thought it would be.
Using the Infamous Give – I didn’t think GIVE was worth including until I searched for gave in my manuscript. Give is here; what does that tell you about my manuscript? This error is really easy to correct, though. Yay for an easy correction!
Misusing Participial Phrases – some writers have fallen in love with these phrases. These phrases cause all kinds of issues with logic and simultaneity even when they are not dangling or are misplaced. When they dangle, oh my, it’s not pretty!
Switching Point of View —Want to really confuse your reader? Here’s how: bounce from one character’s point of view to another in the same paragraph. Show a scene through the eyes of a minor character, or show the same scene from two different points of view.
If you have found yourself guilty of any of these deadly writing sins, this workshop is for you.
Instructor Bio: As an English teacher for fifteen years and as a line editor for Black Velvet Seductions for the past two years, MM Pollard, English teacher extraordinaire has had the mission to find ungrammatical grammar, misused usage, and problematic punctuation in others’ writing. Mistakes seem to jump off the page for her – yes, she’s that good. This saying inspired MM to start her own workshop business: “Give a hungry man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he never goes hungry again.” Her goal is to teach writers what they need to know about English grammar, usage, and punctuation so that they won’t need an editing service to correct their mistakes in these areas. The Queen has presented or will present workshops on Savvy Authors, Muse Online Writers Convention, Writers Online Classes, Novelists at Work, Orange County RWA, Maryland RWA, Passionate Ink RWA, Celtic Hearts RWA, Florida RWA, as well as on her own site. MM loves teaching and she loves words. She’s a certifiable language arts geek. One of her hobbies is collecting grammar books. She has always been fascinated by words and by the way we arrange them to tell others about ourselves, about the world around us, and about worlds we create in our heads.
Loglines: Just the Facts Ma’am
Presented by Cindy Caroll
Dates: June 4 – 24, 2012
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
A good logline can make people sit up and take notice. Whether you write books or scripts the logline is an essential part of your marketing material. It can also help you stay on track. Just the facts, Ma’am is a two week workshop that covers what makes a good logline and how to use it to stay focused on the story.
Topics covered:
Feedback provided for student loglines
Instructor Bio:
Cindy joined RWA in 1992 and started out writing novels but turned to scripts when an idea for one of her favourite television shows wouldn’t leave her alone. That first attempt, and her second teleplay for the same show, garnered her honourable mention in the Writer’s Digest 76th Annual Writing Competition in the screenplay category. She graduated from Hal Croasmun’s screenwriting ProSeries intensive in June of 2008.
Her interview with David Rambo, writer/producer for CSI appeared in the summer special edition of The Rewrit, the newsletter for Scriptscene, Romance Writers of America’s screenwriting chapter. All three parts of the interview can also be found on her blog. Currently working on her third feature, Cindy is also developing two new television pilots.
You can find more about Cindy at www.cindycarroll.com
Conference Secret Weapon
Presented by Kit Frazier
Dates: June 4 – 24, 2012
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Conference Secret Weapon: Make this your year
Writing is easy. Writing well is hard. And when you’ve learned to write well, you need an edge.
Thousands of writers will attend writers’ conferences this year—so how do you make yourself stand out?
Get your manuscript past the slush pile with simple prep work that will get your foot in the door with your dream agent or editor.
Whether you plan to publish through the traditional New York Big Six publishers or join the digital revolution and go e-pub, in order to be successful, you’re going to need pre-publicity, and part of that is have a positive, professional presence.
The question is: Where Do You Begin?
Week 1: The Secret Weapon. How to professionally contact your agent or editor before the conference.
Week 2: Professional Presence. What do you want agents, editors & readers to see when they Google you?
Week 3: How Do You Write a Bio & Create a Message
Week 4: Marketing Plan: Big, Scary Questions Agents & Editors Will Ask You
Week 5: Build a Fan Base Before You Get Published
Instructor Bio:
Kit Frazier is an award-winning author and is managing editor of a regional magazine. She participates in Citizen’s Police Academy and is a member of the Central Texas Search and Rescue team, where she works with the FBI and local police.
She teaches writing classes throughout the United States and is currently working on a new mystery and a collection of her most popular humorous newspaper columns.
You can find more about Kit at www.KitFrazier.com and Blog: kitfrazieroffleash.blogspot.com
Writing For Category, Two Weeks
Presented by Nina Bruhns
Dates: June 4 – 15, 2012
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
To successfully write category romance takes a special set of skills. Those who do it well make it look deceptively easy. But in fact, it is not. There are very specific guidelines, and a language all its own. Those who don’t understand the basics of the genre can find themselves frustrated by rejections, often for manuscripts with no discernible flaws. What gives? Is there a secret Harlequin handshake, or what?
Instructor Bio:
Bestselling romantic thriller author Nina Bruhns has published over twenty-five novels to date, of which nearly two million copies have been sold, and been translated into a half dozen languages. Best known for her vivid settings, unique characters, and page-turning plot twists, Nina writes romantic thrillers for Berkley Publishing (Penguin/Putnam), and romantic suspense as well as paranormal romance for Silhouette Books. She also pens erotic romance for Berkley Heat under the pseudonym Nikita Black.
Ms. Bruhns is the recipient of numerous awards for her books, including three prestigious Daphne du Maurier Awards of Excellence for Overall Best Mystery/Suspense Novel of the Year, Four RT BookReviews Reviewers Choice Awards, five Dorothy Parker Awards, and a National Readers Choice Award, along with two Rita nominations, just to name a few.
You can find more about Nina at www.ninabruhns.com
Finding Your Voice
Presented by Jeannie Eddy
Dates: June 4 – 24, 2012
Deadline: June 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Do you have a strong and unique writing voice?
If you aren’t sure, or you think you need help to find yours, this is the class for you. This interactive workshop will help you find your voice and refine it – from learning what your own individual style of talking/writing is to how to make it powerful and consistent.
Join us and bring your first chapter!
Instructor Bio:
Jeannie Eddy is a writer and freelance editor (book doctor) who has worked with many small presses and writers to help hone manuscripts into saleable books. She donates a read of a partial every year for the Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction (in May), and spends her spare time editing court transcripts and grading English papers. She also coordinates pitch sessions at many national and regional conferences.
JULY
Plotting the Romance Series, Two Weeks
Presented by Misty Evans
Dates: June 4 – 24, 2012
Deadline: June 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Romance readers and publishers alike love series, but plotting a romance series can be a daunting project, keeping you from taking the plunge. Not only do you have to manage the main plot, but also the romantic one.
In this workshop, you’ll learn to:
Instructor Bio:
Misty Evans was bitten by the writing bug when she won a contest in 4th grade with an essay about her dad. Today, she writes the award-winning, best-selling Super Agent and Witches Anonymous series.
Her debut novel, Operation Sheba, Super Agent Series Book 1, won the CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Award in 2008, a CAPA nomination in 2009, and the New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2010.
Operation Sheba was the number one Kindle Romantic Suspense book and a Top 10 Kindle bestseller for over a month.
I’d Rather Be In Paris, the second book in her Super Agent Series, was nominated for a 2009 CAPA for Best Romantic Suspense, and along with the third book in the series, Proof of Life, was a Top 100 Kindle Bestsellers in 2010.
Misty is currently at work on the next books in both her current series as well as a new series, Lost Worlds, with Carina Press. She likes her coffee black, her conspiracy stories juicy, and her wicked characters dressed in couture.
You can find more about Misty at www.readMistyEvans.com or follow her on www.twitter.com/readmistyevans
Principles of Good Web Design for Writers
Presented by Catherine Chant
Dates: July 9 – 20, 2012
Deadline: July 6, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
At the end of this workshop you will have a better understanding of what goes into making your author website more appealing and inviting to a visitor and thus more effective for promoting you and your work.
This two-week workshop will cover the golden ratio of layout design, web fonts and web-safe colors, using white space, user interface considerations and website organization, web graphics for the artistically challenged, and the importance of testing websites with multiple operating systems and browser applications.
This workshop is aimed at writers who have websites already and want to make them better, or writers who are planning to set up a website and want to know more about how the content should be arranged, either because they plan to do it themselves, or they want to be more informed when hiring a professional designer.
This workshop is the perfect follow-up to any class you’ve taken on HTML. When you know HTML, you know how to make a webpage. The “Principles of Good Website Design for Writers” workshop guides you through the NEXT STEP in the website development process by showing you how to take what you have learned and make a GOOD web page.
The workshop will include exercises designed to strengthen the concepts discussed. Students do not need to have an active website to participate, but may find the lessons more “hands-on” if they do. The instructor will offer feedback on any student’s website during the workshop if the URL is offered during the class.
PRE-REQUISITE:Students are expected to be familiar with the basics of setting up a website (domain name, software, etc.). This class focuses on design principles and how to make your website more user friendly, appealing and effective. It is NOT an HTML class on how to program your website or how to use website design software.
Instructor Bio:
Catherine Chant is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).She worked for fifteen years at Boston College as a computing & communications consultant and spent several of those years serving as BC’s web information services manager, maintaining and supporting the university web servers. She now provides freelance web editing and design services to other writers and clients such as BC’s Lynch School of Education. Her young adult time travel romance WISHING YOU WERE HERE was a finalist in the 2008 Golden Heart awards. She is currently working a new young adult novel.
You can find more about Catherine at www.catherinechant.com
Why Kink?
Presented by Sascha Illyvich
Dates: July 9 – 20, 2012
Deadline: July 6, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
What is kink and why is it a popular trend in erotic fiction? We’ll explore the very basics of what makes a story kinky, how that differs from a BDSM story and cover some basic definitions while learning how to utilize kink to add just a little spice to our writing and broaden our marketability as authors.
Instructor Bio:
Sascha started writing ten years ago, releasing poetry and an occasional short erotica story before focusing on kinky erotic romance in various subgenres. His books have been listed under the Road to Romance’s Recommended read list, as well nominated for the CAPA.
He is also the host of the Unnamed Romance Show on Radio Dentata and continue to write for Renaissance E-books, and Total E-bound. Readers can find his work, plus free reads at www.saschaillyvich.com
He is also part of the WriteSex Panel, a blog group that’s defining erotica for writers in any genre! Find us at www.writesex.net
The Science in Science Fiction
Presented by Pat Hauldren
Dates: July 9 – 20, 2012
Deadline: July 6, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
“History teaches everything including the future,” said Alphonse de Lamartine, a French writer, poet, and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.
And that’s no different for writing and the genres we write in.
With the British publication in Oct. 1955 of THE RETURN OF THE KING (1956 in the US), completing the LORD OF THE RINGERS trilogy, fantasy underwent a profound change. Although the impact and influence of Tolkien’s famed chronicle was initially a muted, underground one, its paperback appearance in 1965 from Ballantine in the US (compounded by an earlier semi-pirated edition released by Ace, which took advantage of a lapse in the copyright registration of the trilogy) was to make it in effect one of the twentieth century’s major “cult” books and transformed the fortunes of the genre for better and for worse.
But science fiction (and hence fantasy) began long before that, as far back as 634 when Johannes Kepler described weightlessness in his SOMNIUM.
This class is for anyone interested in the history of science fiction and fantasy and how it impacts what we write today. No prerequisite is required.
Instructor Bio:
Pat Hauldren is a book editor for Cyberwizard Productions and a freelance writer and editor whose articles have appeared in over 600 print newspapers nation-wide and millions online. Pat has published articles, short stories, poetry, and Japanese Noh Drama. She’s working on her 3rd novel (with 5 agents vying for first submission already before it’s finished) and teaching writers workshops locally, online, and overseas.
Pat is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA®), DFW Writers’ Workshop (DFWWW), North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop (NTSFW), Writers’ Guild of America, Frisco Writers’ Group, and more online writing groups than can be mentioned here.
You can find more about Pat at www.pathauldren.com or write her at Pat@PatHauldren.com
AUGUST
Wierd West – Steampunk West of the Mississippi
Presented by Beth Daniels aka Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane
Dates: August 6 – 26, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Odd, isn’t it, that with Steampunk currently a hot commodity when anyone talks about American settings for these genre blending flights of fancy a television series that shot into our homes before many of the Steampunkers were even born is mentioned.
I’m talking about the WILD, WILD WEST with its wild inventions, nefarious villains, dashing Secret Service agents, travel by steam powered locomotive, plus comedic adventure. You might be more familiar with the movie version with Will Smith and Kevin Kline taking over the roles of Jim West and Artemis Gordon. Whichever it is, the WILD, WILD WEST gives a fairly good idea of what American Steampunk literature is considered. Perhaps it’s time to change that perception.
In this 4-week adventure into Steampunk, we’ll look at the various inventions that did exist, dream up some that didn’t but could have been steam powered, consider whether the story would work best in one of the western territories, the land massive Western States (as compared to the skimpier land masses of the Eastern States), and the building and thriving cities and the opportunities each offers as a colorful setting.
Along the way we’ll look at outlaws, the Indian Wars, the mining booms, the railroads, the cattle and sheep baron wars, dime novels, scandalous mistresses and famous actors and actresses, natural disasters (like San Francisco’s 1906 Earthquake), border wars, and anything else that catches our Steampunk related interest from the California Gold Rush through to the first western movies (silent ones, of course).
We’ll be taking what was and twisting it to what we need it to be with the hoped for outcome being the start of a Weird West Steampunk plot.
The journey commences in virtual time traveling stage coaches powered by teams of clockwork centaurs armed with Winchester rifles.
Instructor Bio:
Beth Daniels is becoming so seeped in Steampunk she at times wonders whether she’s become a tea bag. The author of six historical romances set in the 19th century American West, she’s been a frequent mental visitor as well as a modern tourist to ghost towns, museums, former saloons, and has climbed aboard both horse and steam driven train (which was held up by a dandy set of re-enactors) in her quest for just the right experience to fuel her mind. She also spent 22 years living in the southwest and can assure anyone who hasn’t visited the area that it is gold turned hot.
You can find more about Beth at www.RomanceAndMystery.com
Historical Research for Novel Writers
Presented by Karen MacMurray
Dates: August 6 – 31, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The workshop will cover the following:
In the workshop I will introduce the participants to the best online resources (with mention of those physical resources they could access if desired [primarily in the Southeast]) in these areas. I will be providing screen shots of different resources and links for easy access. There will be assignments as the best learning is by those who actively participate.
Instructor Bio:
Retired librarian from the Horne Library, South Piedmont Community College. Also worked in the Lee County Library System (Cape Coral, FL), Edison Community College (Ft. Myers, FL), school libraries in Ohio.
Written and illustrated two children’s books presently being published (Animal Families and The Burrowing Owl).
Written and published the ebook “Best Presentation Secrets”. Presently working on a historical novel “My Father’s Legacy”. Event Coordinator for The Carolinas Writers Conference held in Wadesboro, NC during April. Presented live workshop at the Carolina Romance Writers Club on “Basic Research Methods for Writers”. Presented live workshop at Carolinas Writers Conference, April 2, 2011 on “How to do Historical Research”
Male POV
Presented by Sascha Illyvich
Dates: August 6 – 31, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
In this workshop, learn the ins and outs of character creation from a side of romance we rarely hear from, the male romance reader/writer! Kinky Erotic Romance author Sascha Illyvich shares with us tips on how to create more memorable heroes, avoid some common pitfalls and have more fun with our writing!
What you’ll learn from this class:
Instructor Bio:
Sascha started writing ten years ago, releasing poetry and an occasional short erotica story before focusing on kinky erotic romance in various subgenres. His books have been listed under the Road to Romance’s Recommended read list, as well nominated for the CAPA.
He is also the host of the Unnamed Romance Show on Radio Dentata and continue to write for Renaissance E-books, and Total E-bound. Readers can find his work, plus free reads at www.saschaillyvich.com
He is also part of the WriteSex Panel, a blog group that’s defining erotica for writers in any genre! Find us at www.writesex.net
Male POV
Presented by Sascha Illyvich
Dates: August 6 – 31, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
In this workshop, learn the ins and outs of character creation from a side of romance we rarely hear from, the male romance reader/writer! Kinky Erotic Romance author Sascha Illyvich shares with us tips on how to create more memorable heroes, avoid some common pitfalls and have more fun with our writing!
What you’ll learn from this class:
Instructor Bio:
Sascha started writing ten years ago, releasing poetry and an occasional short erotica story before focusing on kinky erotic romance in various subgenres. His books have been listed under the Road to Romance’s Recommended read list, as well nominated for the CAPA.
He is also the host of the Unnamed Romance Show on Radio Dentata and continue to write for Renaissance E-books, and Total E-bound. Readers can find his work, plus free reads at www.saschaillyvich.com
He is also part of the WriteSex Panel, a blog group that’s defining erotica for writers in any genre! Find us at www.writesex.net
What Does Nora Roberts Know That You Don’t?
Presented by Carol Hughes
Dates: August 6 – 26, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
What does Nora Roberts, Stephen King, George Lucas (STAR WARS), Stephen Spielberg (E.T.), Terry Russo (SHREK/PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), James Cameron (TITANIC/AVATAR) know about writing that makes them the mega stars that they are?
How are they able to turn out the constant string of stories that they do while you are barely able to struggle to the final page of your current WIP?
Why did TITANIC and AVATAR each gross over $1 BILLION in ticket sales in only a matter of weeks?
Are you interested in learning the secret techniques that each of these mega stars has in common?
It’s not as hard as you think – not if you know the simple-to-master writing secrets that they know and haven’t shared with you.
Seasoned pro or beginning writer, pansters or plotter – it doesn’t make any difference. You already know that writing takes a lot of hard work, perseverance, talent and a hearty dose of luck. Without the necessary writing tools to craft your wonderful story ideas into a finished work that people want to buy, all the hard work, talent, luck and perseverance in the world is useless without a solid, well-crafted story full of multi-dimensional characters to make you story come alive for every reader – or movie-goer.
Every successful story contains characters that come alive for the reader.
Every successful story is build on a solid, easy-to master, story structure that works every single time.
Every successful story lives on in the hearts and minds of readers because their authors have mastered the simple secrets needed to turn them into writing super stars.
And you can, too. Join us and give Nora Roberts something to worry about.
Instructor Bio:
From Oscar’s Annual Bash to Cannes’ glitzy Red Carpet. From fabled palaces to rat-infested tunnels. From the floor of the Coral Sea to the vacuum of space. From the rain slicked streets of midnight Paris to the bombed out streets of Beirut at high noon.
Writer Carol Hughes has lived and written about sights, adventures and characters that have dazzled audiences, and raised more than a few eyebrows, around the world. Dashing Alpha males, deadly killers, fictional red-haired mermaids, and celluloid heroes – she’s known them all. She’s navigated the killer-infested back alleys of Europe’s grandest cities and the shark-infested corridors of Hollywood’s studios – and picked up enough secrets and tips to make living – and writing – an adventure in itself.
How to Teach an Online Workshop, Two Weeks
Presented by Catherine Chant
Dates: August 6 – 17, 2012
Deadline: August 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
This two-week workshop begins with an overview of why you would want to create and teach an online workshop, and covers these topics:
At the end of this workshop you will have a basic outline of your course and the first draft of a proposal ready to polish and send out to workshop coordinators.
Instructor Bio:
Catherine Chant is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She served as Workshop chair or co-chair for her chapter, From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) from 2005 go 2009. Her short fiction and non-fiction work has appeared in RWA newsletters, CharacterS, SchoolArts, MetroKids, Twilight Times, Apollos Lyre, and various instructional websites where she writes about computers, gaming and crafts. Her young adult time travel romance WISHING YOU WERE HERE was a finalist in the 2008 Golden Heart awards. She is currently working a new young adult novel.
You can find more about XXX at www.catherinechant.com
SEPTEMBER
Not So West But Still Weird: Steampunk Settings In Old New York, Boston, Chicago and Elsewhere In The Industrial East
Presented by aka Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane
Dates: September 4 – 28, 2012
Deadline: September 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Steampunk says Victorian Britain to many readers, but the Industrial Revolution was making steam in the 19th century in America, too. Frequently this is referred to as Weird West Steampunk and tends to have settings west of the Mississippi, following the axiom that Horace Greeley never said “to go west, young man.”
However, it takes a city to really get the boiler steamed up, and we have some excellent Industrial cities to use as settings for the type of Steampunk tale as those Victorian ones plunked down in foggy London.
In the four weeks of this workshop we’ll investigate what 19th century New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and sample bits of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburg history can offer in the way of inspiration as well as setting for a “Weird East” Steampunk tail. Might even toss in a bit on New Orleans and St. Louis. They might not be totally East of the Mississippi, but they’re purdy darn close.
Things to be lined up on the tea table and long mahogany bar are American inventions, industries associated with the cities, the transportation hubs, the slums, red-light and gambling districts, the coppers and private detective firms, science, slang, and entertainments that could be found in these American cities from the 1850s to the close of World War I.
So come with the glimmer of an idea or none at all. A lot of story dreaming and a bit of research will be required along the way.
Instructor Bio:
Beth Daniels is becoming so seeped in Steampunk she at times wonders whether she’s become a tea bag. The author of six historical romances set in the 19th century American West, she’s been a frequent mental visitor as well as a modern tourist to ghost towns, museums, former saloons, and has climbed aboard both horse and steam driven train (which was held up by a dandy set of re-enactors) in her quest for just the right experience to fuel her mind. She also spend 22 years living in the southwest and can assure anyone who hasn’t visited the area that it is gold turned hot.
You can find more about Beth at www.RomanceAndMystery.com
Creating a Web Presence
Presented by Casey Dawes
Dates: September 4 – 28, 2012
Deadline: September 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
This workshop demonstrates the three steps necessary to creating a web presence: People, Persona and Platform.
It covers these topics:
Going in-depth on the following platforms:
At the end of this workshop the attendees will have a well-rounded picture of their readers, an idea of the brand they want to project, including what aspects of their personal life they are willing to share and what they won’t, and a plan to join the conversation on the world wide web using website/blog, Facebook, Twitter and more. The workbook will include specific instructions about what’s needed to set up and use these three platforms.
Assignments will be given on Mondays and due on Wednesdays. Answers to comments and questions will be given throughout the course.
All attendees will get a free copy of “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics.”
Instructor Bio:
Casey Dawes is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA). She’s published four non-fiction books and had numerous articles appear in magazines ranging from Spider to Hispanic Outlook for Higher Education. She wrote a well-used article for her local RWA Newsletter: “Marketing for Writers: What’s Your Brand?” and presented a well-received workshop on marketing to her local group. In her spare time, she is hard at work on a contemporary romance novel.
Casey works as a business coach with women business owners in the San Jose, California area to help them step into their power as business leaders. Prior to beginning her coaching training in 2003, Casey worked in multiple careers ranging from being a stage-hand at an Actor’s Equity theater in New England to running a multi-million dollar international software users group (IDUG).
During her 25+ years in the technical industry, Casey personally consulted for organizations such as AT&T, Verizon, Principal Financial and UPS, helping them understand and organize their customer data to create more business opportunities for these large corporations. She has been the “closer” for sales of consulting services to these organizations and created and launched a training program at IBM for their database sales people. This gives her a deep background in understanding both technology and marketing and sales. She brings that knowledge to her work with women entrepreneurs to help them understand and leverage technology tools and social networking media, such as Twitter, Linked-in and Facebook.
You can find more about Casey at www.WiseWomanShining.com
Is That Hollywood Calling?
Presented by Cindy Carroll
Dates: September 4 – 28, 2012
Deadline: September 1, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Writing scripts and writing novels are two completely different things. Just because we can write books doesn’t mean we can write screenplays.
Is That Hollywood Calling? is a quick and dirty month long course on the differences between writing books and writing scripts.
If you want to unleash your inner screenwriter this is a great place to start as a primer. For novelists it covers how writing a screenplay can cause light bulb moments for some of those often quoted snippets of writing advice like show don’t tell and keep it active. It also covers how thinking like a screenwriter can help improve your novel writing.
Instructor Bio:
Cindy joined RWA in 1992 and started out writing novels but turned to scripts when an idea for one of her favourite television shows wouldn’t leave her alone. That first attempt, and her second teleplay for the same show, garnered her honourable mention in the Writer’s Digest 76th Annual Writing Competition in the screenplay category. She graduated from Hal Croasmun’s screenwriting ProSeries intensive in June of 2008.
Her interview with David Rambo, writer/producer for CSI appeared in the summer special edition of The Rewrit, the newsletter for Scriptscene, Romance Writers of America’s screenwriting chapter. All three parts of the interview can also be found on her blog. Currently working on her third feature, Cindy is also developing two new television pilots.
You can find more about Cindy at www.cindycarroll.com
OCTOBER
I Used to Hate Writing a Synopsis
Presented by Susan Palmquist
Dates: October 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: October 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
In this workshop participants will:
There will be mini exercises after each lesson and two major exercises at the end of each week.
Week One and Two: We’ll work on putting together the short 1-2 page synopsis, answer questions and get feedback.
Week Three and Four Exercise: We’ll work on writing a longer synopsis (3-5 pages).
Instructor Bio:
Susan Palmquist is a freelance writer and author of six novels, four of which are romances. She’s also a short story writer who’s been published in magazines in both the US and UK. Two of her stories have recently appeared in anthologies. Under her pen name, Vanessa Devereaux, she writes erotica and erotic romances and has published six novels/novellas with a new novel set to be released in June 2011.
She also writes a weekly money saving blog at called The Budget Smart Girl’s Guide to the Universe. And is a writing tutor for Writer’s Bureau and Writing Magazine UK. Head hopping and poor use of POV are the most common mistakes she sees in student’s work.
You can find more about Susan at www.susanpalmquist.com or write her at skpalmquist@gmail.com
Basics Bootcamp
Presented by Gina Ardito
Dates: October 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: October 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Deciding to write is the easy part. But without the proper training, a new recruit can soon find him/herself in the weeds.
“Ten-hut! Fall in, cadets, for Basics Bootcamp!”
Over four weeks, we’ll strengthen your writing skills so you can safely maneuver the obstacle course of romance writing. Master the rules and hone your writing chops so your story can be all that it can be.
Each registrant will have the opportunity to receive an in-depth personalized critique of one writing submission (maximum: 15 page length with standard formatting.)
Enlist now!
Instructor Bio:
Gina Ardito is multi-published in hardcover, paperback, and electronic formats. She has more than ten years’ experience in writing, mentoring, and critiquing. Known by some associates as the “contest judge junkie,” Gina has judged the RITAs, the Golden Heart, and too many local RWA chapter contests to list. A co-founder of Dunes & Dreams RWA, she has served as chapter President and General Whip-Wielder.
You can find more about Gina at www.ginaardito.com and www.katherinebrandon.com
Writing Steamy Sex Scenes: Making Your Readers Beg For More
Presented by Suzanne Rock
Dates: October 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: October 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Writing a good sex scene takes hard work. If an author isn’t careful, he or she can be caught up in clichés and euphemisms, both of which can detach the reader from the story. By contrast, a great sex scene can give the reader new insight into the characters and their relationship, as well as further the plot or expand a theme.
In this course, we will focus on the key elements that make a sex scene memorable and learn how to use writing tools such as prose, scenery, dialogue, and point-of-view to create scenes that both you and your readers will love.
Instructor Bio:
Suzanne Rock writes dark, paranormal, erotic fiction for Loose Id and Red Sage Publishing. Readers can find information about her latest releases by visiting her website www.SuzanneRock.com, her Facebook page www.facebook.com/Suzanne.Rock or her Goodreads account www.Goodreads.com/Suzanne_Rock.
To stay in touch with fans, Suzanne co-administers a group blog for lovers of paranormal romance called Embrace the Shadows. Here she helps to run the blog’s most popular feature, a book cover competition called the “Cover Clash.”
When not blogging or writing, Suzanne can be found chatting on twitter www.twitter.com/Suzanne_Rock, watching her favorite television shows (Supernatural and Trueblood), or reading a good book.
OMG, I Heart It!
Presented by Suzanne Lazear
Dates: October 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: October 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The Young Adult market seems the place to be, but how to you not only make your story stand out in the crowd, but write a story teens want to read?
Teens are smart, savvy, and the books they read today are not your mother’s teen fiction.
Come join us and find out what teens expect out of a YA novel and how to write the YA story you want to tell in a way that appeals to today’s teens. Learn about the different genres from paranormal to contemporary and from clean teen to racy reads.
This hands-on class will work on the mechanics of writing YA and how it differs from writing for adults. Topics include creating realistic dialogue, characters, worlds, and plots teens can relate to, tone and pacing, and other differences and avoiding common YA pitfalls as well as what teens expect from today’s YA authors.
All YA manuscripts in all genres are welcome from “I have an idea” to polished and ready. In this class we delve into writing the YA that today’s teens will love. Lessons will be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with the instructor available most days to answer questions. There is no mandatory homework and the instructor will be available to answer manuscript-specific questions. Lessons include quotes from teen readers and YA writers and a recommended reading list. Topics covered include: Instructor Bio: Suzanne Lazear writes Steampunk tales for teens and is a member of the Los Angeles Romance Writers and several other RWA chapters. She’s taught various online classes and presented to writing organizations on both writing YA and Steampunk. Suzanne also contributes to Geekmom.com, Steamed, and several YA debut author blogs. Her Steampunk Dark Fairytale for teens, “Innocent Darkness,” book one of The Aether Chronicles, will be released by Flux in August, 2012. She occupies a small corner of the West Coast where she lives with the hubby, the tot, a hermit crab, and two chickens. You can find more about Suzanne at www.suzannelazear.com
NOVEMBER Series Business – Is Writing a Series Right For You?
This workshop will help you:
Presented by Misty Evans
Dates: November 5 – 18, 2012
Deadline: November 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Instructor Bio:
Misty Evans was bitten by the writing bug when she won a contest in 4th grade with an essay about her dad. Today, she writes the award-winning, best-selling Super Agent and Witches Anonymous series.
Her debut novel, Operation Sheba, Super Agent Series Book 1, won the CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Award in 2008, a CAPA nomination in 2009, and the New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2010.
Operation Sheba was the number one Kindle Romantic Suspense book and a Top 10 Kindle bestseller for over a month.
I’d Rather Be In Paris, the second book in her Super Agent Series, was nominated for a 2009 CAPA for Best Romantic Suspense, and along with the third book in the series, Proof of Life, was a Top 100 Kindle Bestsellers in 2010.
Misty is currently at work on the next books in both her current series as well as a new series, Lost Worlds, with Carina Press. She likes her coffee black, her conspiracy stories juicy, and her wicked characters dressed in couture.
You can find more about Misty at www.readMistyEvans.com or follow her on www.twitter.com/readmistyevans
Word Loss Diet
Presented by Rayne Hall
Dates: November 5 – December 7, 2012
Deadline: November 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
Tighten and tone your writing style, and use simple revision tricks to slim your manuscript in four weeks. Shed thousands of words without changing the plot!
Pre-Requisite: Students must have a full or partial manuscript of at least 20,000 words to work with for this hands-on workshop.
Instructor Bio:
Rayne Hall has published 22 books (under several pen-names), seventy short stories (mostly fantasy, paranormal and horror) and thousands of articles. She has a college degree in Publishing and a masters degree in Creative Writing&Personal Development. A member of the Society of Authors (the British organisation for professional writers), she worked many years as magazine editor and creative writing teacher. Many of her horror stories have won contest prizes, and two were selected for honourable mentions in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Rayne is an experienced teacher who enjoys helping students to create sparkling scenes.
World Building, Two Weeks
Presented by Monette Michaels
Presented by
Dates: November 5 – 16, 2012
Deadline: November 3, 2012
Fee: $16.00
Course Description:
The criteria of a good fictional world are a world (a) in which the readers can immerse themselves and (b) one they want to revisit.
The approach to this two-week class will be lecture and hands-on exercises with specific comments and assistance from the instructor. By the end of the two-week class, the student will have created a fictional world from both the micro-and macro-cosmic aspects. The student should come to class with at least a general idea of the genre in which they wish to create world and a general idea of what type of world they wish to construct.
Instructor Bio:
The author writes as Monette Michaels and Rae Morgan. Her first-published book was Fatal Vision (as Monette Michaels) in the late 1990s with one of the early e-publishers; it was republished by LTDBooks out of Canada in 2000. She went on to write several other single titles for LTDBooks: Death Benefits (an EPPIE finalist), Green Fire (a Dream Realm finalist), and The Case of the Virtuous Vampire (an EPPIE finalist and a CAPA Finalist) and now republished as The Virtuous Vampire at Liquid Silver Books. She won an EPPIE in 2005 for Blind-Sided, published at Atlantic Bridge Publishing. She currently writes three series as Monette Michaels: the Gooden and Knight Paranormal Mystery series (The Virtuous Vampire, The Deadly Séance), The Security Specialists International series (Eye of the Storm, an EPPIE Finalist) and the Prime Chronicles Trilogy (Prime Obsession).
As Rae Morgan, she writes the Coven of the Wolf Series ( Destiny’s Magick, Moon Magick (Dream Realm finalist), Treading the Labyrinth (EPPIE finalist), and a novella“No Secrets,” in Zodiac Elements: Water). Her single titles are Earth Awakened (a Terran Realm book), Enchantress, “Evanescence,” in Edge of Night, and “Once Upon a Princess,” in Ain’t Your Mama’s Bedtime Stories.
For the first years of Liquid Silver Books, she was the Acquisitions Editor and also edited books. She is currently a Senior Editor over the Terran Realm line of books, a shared world concept, and still reads and edits for the main lines of LSB, as needed.