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Description: “I could get this writing done…if only life would calm down enough to let me!” Life is far from perfect. Curveballs, and even sucker-punches will be a part of every writer’s life. When adversity hits, creativity can feel like it’s under siege. Take the time NOW to learn how to protect and preserve your embattled muse so you’re ready when a crisis hits. Multi published author and the creator of The Chunky Method of time management for writers, Allie Pleiter has met deadlines in the midst of some imposing traumas. With humor and insight, she shares practical and inventive strategies for staying afloat and staying creative in life’s stormiest seas.
Topics include:
– Survival tips for getting your creative self out alive
– Strategies for calm and gratitude
– Private, professional, and public communication
– Tactics for public speaking
– Writing about it: how, when, and if
Instructor Bio: : Allie Pleiter is the author of over 40 published novels, two parenting books, and is the creator of the popular Chunky Method of time management for writers. To date, Allie has sold 1.4 million books in 7 countries and 4 languages. Her seventeen-year writing career has included the challenges of keeping the words coming during not one, but four life-threatening illnesses for her son (he’s fine now!). Meeting these obstacles has given her a passion for helping creatives and other high-energy workers survive and thrive in tough times. In addition to writing, Allie maintains an active writing productivity coaching practice and speaks regularly on faith, the creative process, women’s issues. Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com to learn more.
Description: Writing Conflict Hurts — not just because it makes your characters suffer, but also because it’s painful to create and carry through on a page. However, conflict drives story and holds an editor’s attention, which means it sells books. Conflict also entices readers to turn the page, which helps create a satisfying experience (plus repeat purchases). Bring a story idea to this interactive course and learn how to build, refine or edit your stories by creating compelling conflict and stronger plots, one element at a time. Takeaways include:
* Developing story goals that are hindered by conflict
* How to deepen character and create emotionally satisfying reads
* Better understanding of internal and external conflict
* The “bumpers” that keep your characters acting consistently
* Conflict that catches the attention of editors and agents
* Summarizing and presenting your finished or developing story
Instructor Bio: Melinda Curtis, an award-winning USA Today bestseller of over 35 romances, is a writing craft geek. Before turning to writing as a career, she worked with a cultural anthropologist and a marketing psychologist on how to create more compelling packaging at the shelf. One class short of a psychology minor, Melinda believes that “knowing more about what makes people tick can add depth to your writing.”
Description: Embarrassment Prevention skills.
Do not send your manuscript to an agent, editor, contest, or retailer until you have worked it over, backwards, forwards and sideways. Show off your writing chops by sending out clean pages.
Let me arm you with all the tips I wish someone had given me, and save you from the embarrassment of the kind of mistakes I’ve made. Sit down with me for an hour, or sign up for a month-long online class, and learn how to easily spot crutch words, spelling weaknesses, inconsistencies, overused words, passive words, repetitious words, slow pacing, redundancies, clichés, poor/incorrect word use, sentence and paragraph structure, punctuation typos, dialogue rhythms and flow, and Point of View issues.
Do not follow in my footsteps! Learn from my mistakes instead and you’ll find yourself leaps and bounds ahead of your competition. Contact Kathryn for more information
Instructor Bio: Author of page-turning, Romantic Suspense, Women’s Fiction, and Short Stories about feral cats, Kathryn Jane takes readers to places they’d like to live and introduces them to characters they will end up loving.
Fulfilling her passion for education Kathryn presents workshops for both aspiring and accomplished writers and covers a broad spectrum of subjects. In her spare time (she says laughing), Kat loves spreading kindness and joy to family, friends, and strangers alike.
Description: Your 24/7 Assistant – How to build a website that looks good, is smart and grows your author business. Walk through the step-by-step process to build a beautiful, intentional and effective website with or without coding. This will be a working workshop. We’ll audit our websites and make updates as we go. Don’t have a website yet? No problem, we’ll walk through the steps to create a great one from scratch.
Instructor Bio: Tivi Jones has been a professional marketer since 2004. She currently serves as a marketing, branding and communications consultant with clients like PBS, Cisco, Carolina Parent magazine, Forward Cities and more. She loves the brand and community building opportunities marketing presents. While she loves working with big brands, she also loves helping entrepreneurs and “solopreneurs” use effective media, awesome marketing and contagious moxie to create sustainable lifestyle businesses.
Description: What do you do when a horse shows up in your story? Do you panic? Hit the brakes? Inform her she can’t have a horse? Not if you take this course filled with basic horsemanship, in-depth equine knowledge, critical terminology and a bonus list of don’ts to save you from looking like a rooky and making readers toss your book at a wall.
Presenter KATHRYN JANE has extensive experience riding in the show ring, on the racetrack, over jumps, cross-country chasing cattle, training horses and assisting veterinarians.
Instructor Bio: Author of page-turning, Romantic Suspense, Women’s Fiction, and Short Stories about feral cats, Kathryn Jane takes readers to places they’d like to live and introduces them to characters they will end up loving.
Fulfilling her passion for education Kathryn presents workshops for both aspiring and accomplished writers and covers a broad spectrum of subjects. In her spare time (she says laughing), Kat loves spreading kindness and joy to family, friends, and strangers alike.