Description: Mindset, Motivation & well-being A to Z for Writers presents a host of suggestions for overhauling your writing life inside and out. Some of the topics will resonate and some will need to percolate for a while, but everything from coping with anxiety to applying zero-based thinking can potentially recharge your existence until you are unstoppable in every aspect. These premises apply to more than just writers, but the creative juices needed to produce stories is more draining than it looks. These concepts could be the missing ingredient you’ve been searching for.
The course will present the ideas and offer outside readings or internet links to explain each one. Course participants will be encouraged to post experiences and thoughts.
About the Instructor: Joy E. Held, A.A.S., B.A., M.F.A. is an author, freelance editor, educator, Yoga Alliance Registered yoga and meditation teacher, college English professor, certified Journal to the Self facilitator, and workshop presenter with over 500 articles published in trade magazines, newspapers, and literary journals. Her historical romance novel Message to Love was published in 2010 by The Wild Rose Press. Her nonfiction book Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity will be released from Headline Books, Inc. in spring 2020. Joy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Hearts Through History Romance Writers, Northeast Ohio RWA, and the Author’s Guild. She holds degrees in education, journalism, and an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. http://www.joyeheld.com
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Do storyboards, sticky notes, spreadsheets and index cards give you hives? Does your manuscript wander in circles – yet you’re afraid a detailed outline will suck the heart and soul out of your writing?
All you need is a simple word-processing program to stitch together the perfect quilt of a plot to keep your novel on track and moving in the right direction – while still giving your muse room to play. We’ll use a step-by-step technique to plot a novel from start to finish and give you a huge head-start on your first draft (and the dreaded synopsis).
This will be a working course! Bring your best idea (the one that’s been bubbling in your brain for six months) or a manuscript that’s wandering in the desert, and we’ll shape it up and get it moving. We’ll also be deconstructing one of my own novels as part of this class as well as using examples from a variety of books in different genres.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Suzanne Johnson was happily ensconced in New Orleans as a university magazine editor and veteran copyeditor when Hurricane Katrina sent her adopted hometown underwater. She took her Katrina experiences, added wizards and magic (and the sexy undead pirate Jean Lafitte), and began what has become the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series published by Tor Books. Writing under the name Susannah Sandlin, she also writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake. She was the founding copyeditor for Entangled Publishing, leaving when her own writing career needed more TLC. Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author and does copyediting work for other authors both as a freelancer and on Reedsy.com
Description: EVERYONE can write their own great ad copy if they have the right tools and mindset…so let me help you with that. This hands-on interactive workshop is incredibly effective with attendee participation.
Instructor: Kathryn Jane takes readers to places they’d like to live and introduces them to characters they learn to love, by writing page-turning, Women’s Fiction, and Romantic Suspense, as well as Heartwarming Short Stories about feral cats. Fulfilling her passion for education Kathryn presents a broad spectrum of workshops for both aspiring and accomplished writers. In her spare time (she says laughing), Kat loves painting tiny rocks and spreading kindness and joy to family, friends, and strangers alike.
DESCRIPTION: What is the hype with Holiday Romances? Have you ever wondered why so many people write them Holiday Romances? Or why there are so many people that read them? This year alone Hallmark will come out with over One hundred and twenty new Holiday Romance Movies!
So what does it take to write a Holiday Romance? When do you publish it? When do Publishers even send out calls for them? Come find the answers. Join the thousands of writers who are publishing Holiday Romance short stories, novellas and novels to move their careers forward. Learn what you need to incorporate into your story. How to write a sci-fi, fantasy or paranormal holiday story and more. Come learn what it takes to write in one of the hottest selling sub-genre of Romance!
INSTRUCTOR: Rebekah is an Award Winning Bestselling Author and Screenwriter. Her debut novel Dead Awakenings, hit the bestseller list on release day. She has won several awards in both writing and screenwriting. Books in her popular fairytale retelling series Fairelle have won many awards including the Golden Palm and was a finalist for Rone Award as well as won Best Fantasy Series of 2014 from the Paranormal Romance Guild. Her trilogy The Society was released by Kensington and her new series Wolf River released in 2016. Rebekah is a prolific author releasing upwards of five books a year and is currently working on six different series. Rebekah’s screenplay No More Goodbyes has finalled in the Screencraft Family Film contest, Cinequest, and was awarded Best Screenplay by the New Hope Film Festival and Family in Film Festival.
Rebekah is the former President of the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA as well as a member of several local and online chapters. In her spare time when she isn’t writing you can find her teaching on SavvyAuthors.com or at RWA. Rebekah is also known for her elaborate cosplays with her family and has been a guest speaker and panelist at San Diego Comic Con, Wondercon, Salt Lake Comic Con, Long Beach Comic Con, Comikaze, Fyrecon and several other Comic Cons on the west coast as well as LTUE, Romantic Times Convention, RWA, InD’Scribe, Genre LA and Authors After Dark and Book Lovers Con.
DESCRIPTION: You’ve finally figured out how to create a website to promote your book—great! But once you set it up, how will people find you? What are readers looking for anyway? How do you figure out what is needed in a website today? The answers are easier than you think.
In “Website Tips & Tricks,” you’ll gain access to a ton of useful skills to build upon the foundation you already have and maintain your site throughout the years. It’s designed for authors who have very little technical knowledge, and you can implement what is learned right away with practical exercises.
Just a few of the topics include:
- The three pages your website absolutely must have
- What is important to Google in order to show up on search results
- Creating content that is reader-friendly and highlights your books
- Setting up your website so it loads faster
- Improving your website’s security
Most importantly, you’ll become comfortable playing around with your website.
INSTRUCTOR: Barb Drozdowich, who has published 27 books on a variety of tech topics, including 7 about software and technology. She teaches several online courses and has 60+ YouTube videos, all focused on making technology easier for beginners to understand. She breaks complex topics down into simple steps so that you can use what you learn right away.
Managing your website doesn’t have to be scary. Sign up for immediate access to “Website Tips & Tricks” and start improving your site today.
DESCRIPTION: In this brand-new month-long online class, New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight discusses the importance of creating the perfect cast for the kind of romance you’re trying to write.
A memorable romance cast is more than the sum of its parts. To create an effective book, all the characters – protagonists, antagonists, and minor characters – must work together as a unit. And each must fit the kind of book you’re trying to write. Leatherface of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre does not belong in a Rom Com. Nor do you want minor characters to steal the book.
But how do you create a good cast for this particular book and the audience you’re aiming for?
Angela discusses how to design your heroic couple for each other, along with the minor characters and sidekicks who help make the protagonists three-dimensional.
She’ll also talk antagonists and their henchmen, and how to use them to create tension and excitement.
Next, she’ll explore dialogue, humor and arguments as a way to develop character and conflict.
The result will be a firm foundation for your book so you won’t be flailing in the dark, trying to figure out why the heck your book isn’t working.
Lessons in this month-long online class will be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students may email scenes to Angela for her private critique and suggestions.
INSTRUCTOR: Angela Knight is the New York Times bestselling author more than fifty novels, novellas and eBooks.
Angela’s first book was written in pencil and illustrated in crayon; she was nine years old at the time. A few years later, she read The Wolf and the Dove and fell in love with romance. In 1996, she discovered the small press publisher Red Sage, and realized her dream of romance publication in the company’s Secrets 2 anthology. She went on to publish several more novellas in Secrets before going on to write for the Berkley Imprint of Penguin Random House. She was the recipient of a Career Achievement award in Paranormal Romance from Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine
She’s now an editor, writer and cover artist for Changeling Press, and teaches online writing classes.
Angela lives in South Carolina with her husband, Michael, a detective with the Spartanburg City Police Department. The couple has a grown son, Anthony.