Here’s a list of our most recent speakers and the topics they’ve presented.
You can watch the replays when you become a member.
Go here to join us now!
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Kathryn Lye
Harlequin Lines, Submissions and More
Kathryn Lye is editor of Harlequin Heartwarming and guest editor for several
other Harlequin series. During her twenty plus years at the company, she’s had the
great fortune to acquire and work with many talented, award-winning authors.
Previous to joining Harlequin in 1997, she developed her editorial skills in a number of
roles with educational publisher Thomas Nelson Canada. Kathryn holds a B.A. in
history and philosophy from the University of Toronto–Trinity College and completed
the Publishing program at Ryerson University. An obsessive soccer fan, Kathryn never
misses watching a Liverpool FC match, and has joined the board of the Toronto
supporters’ club. Kathryn is interested in seeing original stories with touching
romances that highlight the core themes of home, family and community.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Rob Dircks
Doing Your Own Audiobook
Rob Dircks, Goldfinch Publishing’s owner and chief-everything-guy, is the Audible bestselling author of Where the Hell is Tesla?, The Wrong Unit, Don’t Touch the Blue Stuff!, and he’s a member of SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America). His prior work includes the anti-self-help book Unleash the Sloth! 75 Ways to Reach Your Maximum Potential By Doing Less, an illustrated children’s book with his brother Dave, Alphabert! An A-B-C Adventure!. His sci-fi short stories appear on Rob’s original audio short story podcast Listen To The Signal, also narrated by the author.
Find out more here: https://goldfinchpublishing.com/authors/rob-dircks/
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Jane Porter
Tule Publishing
USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014.
Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear.
In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network.
Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.
You can learn more about Jane at janeporter.com
Learn more about Tule Publishing here: https://tulepublishing.com/
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Katie O’Connor
Rowan Prose Publishing
Katie gave us an overview of the new publishing company, Rowan Prose Publishing.
Rowan Prose Publishing was founded in 2023 and launched in January 2024 by Kelly Moran, Shelly Small, & Katie O’Connor to be a unique publishing experience.
Find out more at:
https://www.RowanProsePublishing.com
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Patricia Johns
Amish Romance
Patricia Johns writes bestselling Amish romance from Spruce Grove, Alberta. She writes for Harlequin’s Love Inspired and Heartwarming lines, and has a new miniseries coming out through Bethany House beginning in 2025. She has also written one Amish cozy mystery through Crooked Lane Books that was nominated for the 2024 Edgar awards. She lives with her husband, teenaged son and spunky parrot. When she isn’t writing, she can be found indulging her dollhouse miniature obsession.
Find out more about Patricia on her website:
https://patriciajohns.com
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Rachel Brimble
Writing Historical Romance
Rachel has been published by Harlequin Mills & Boon, Kensington Books, Aria Fiction and the Wild Rose Press. She has a new title coming out in May 2024 with Harpeth Road.
She has written contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels, but for the last few years, she has fallen passionately in love with the historical genre, whether that be historical fiction, historical romance or saga.
Find out more about Rachel on her website:
https://rachelbrimble.com
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Atticus – An Author’s Best Friend
Formatting Software
presented by
Monique from Atticus
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Ginny Sterling
TikTok – An Introduction
The basics of TikTok and deciding if this social media platform makes sense for you and your books.
Ginny Sterling writes sweet and inspirational contemporary as well as historical romance. Find out more about Ginny on her website here:
https://ginnysterling.com/
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Christmas Party & Elections
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Suzy Vadori
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Writing a Book
In this presentation, Suzy talks about industry secrets and stuff you NEED to know to get attention for your book.
Suzy Vadori is a YA author, a book coach and an editor.
From Suzy’s website:
“I teach writers with big dreams the actions they can take to triumph, through writing technique, insider industry info, and mindset. If you’re tired of spinning your wheels and are ready to blow the doors off your writing goals this year, I’m excited to help.”
For more information, visit Suzy’s website here: https://suzyvadori.com
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Jane Porter
Keys to Success and Survival in the Romance Industry
Jane is a bestselling author and started Tule Publishing, a boutique publishing company. She’s spoken to us a few times in the past and is always inspirational. Here are some links to her and Tule.
Tule Publishing: https://tulepublishing.com/
Jane Porter: https://janeporter.com/
Saturday, August 19, 2023
Author Erin Nicholas and Editor Lindsey Faber
How to Find and Evaluate Feedback
We all need it, but it’s not all created equal. Erin Nicholas and Lindsey Faber have both been working in publishing for over a decade—they’ve judged contest submissions, been critique partners with authors at all levels, and edited bestsellers and winners, so we’ve seen a little bit of everything! And they’ve both been critiqued.
They’ll discuss the various types of feedback from beta readers to critique partners to editors to proofreaders to review teams.
Their presentation will cover:
• How to find good feedback (with takeaway “checklists” and questions to use).
• How to incorporate the feedback—when to ask for the feedback (before, during, or after you’re finished—what’s best?) and when to make changes.
• How to evaluate feedback from different sources—how to know when it’s good, when it’s bad, or when it’s just not helpful.
• How to dig deeper with each type of feedback.
• How to cut ties when it’s not working.
• Q&A to answer your questions about the editing process.
Presenter: Erin Nicholas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 70 contemporary romances and romantic comedies. She’s been both traditionally published and independently published, and her books have been translated into several languages. She’s been published since 2009, writing much longer than that, and has been critiqued by…well, a lot of people in that time. Some of that feedback has been sought out, welcomed, and very helpful. Some has been, um, none of those things. Needless to say, Erin will never let Lindsey get away.
Presenter: Lindsey Faber is a developmental editor with more than fifteen years of industry experience. Her clients’ books have achieved impressive accolades, including spots on the New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestseller lists, as well as starred reviews and industry awards. Lindsey holds degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Cincinnati, and she has spoken on writing at conferences across the country, as well as taught writing at the university level.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Meet at Katie’s house for coffee & chat & write!
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Nancy Herkness
Motivation and Writing
Nancy spoke to us about different ways to motivate yourself to get your writing done.
Nancy Herkness is the award-winning, best-selling author of contemporary romance for readers who love richly developed characters and an immersive reading experience. Meet the wealthy, powerful alpha heroes who need down-to-earth women to show them how to find soul-deep love and pulse-racing passion. Nancy’s vivid writing brings to life settings both elegant and homey, while making her flawed but fascinating characters leap off the page and into your heart. Savor the thrill of falling in love by diving into one of Nancy’s books.
Author of the Royal Caleva, Consultants, Wager of Hearts, and Whisper Horse series, as well as several other contemporary romance novels, Nancy has sold over a million books. She is also a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award.
Nancy has received many honors for her work, including the Book Buyers Best Top Pick, the New England Readers’ Choice award, and the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English literature and creative writing.
After graduating, Nancy had a varied career which included retail management and buying (including her favorite department—shoes), COBOL programming, computer systems sales and marketing, and a brief stint as a receptionist at a dental office. Once her children were in school full-time, she sat down and wrote A Bridge to Love, her first romance novel to be published.
A native of West Virginia, Nancy now lives in suburban New Jersey with two tabby cats.
Learn more about Nancy here: https://www.nancyherkness.com
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Allison Lyons, Editor at Harlequin Intrigue
Romantic Suspense
Allison did a general talk on writing romantic suspense and then took questions.
from the Harlequin website:
Allison Lyons is an editor for Harlequin Intrigue. She’s been at Harlequin for more than twenty years and has had the opportunity to work with a variety of authors and lines that span the three editorial offices. Allison started reading books by Danielle Steele when she was too young to understand them. But that didn’t stop her. Each story gave her insight into what made two people fall in love. And it especially taught her that they wouldn’t let anything—or anyone—get in the way of that romance. Who knew it was planting the seed for a career editing those very types of stories! She’s currently looking for books that still promise that happily-ever-after, but also include lots of gritty, juicy suspense, especially those that fit the Harlequin Intrigue promise. Reading is her favorite hobby—obviously!—but running has become a newfound passion. Staying healthy is something she does not take lightly, especially in this unpredictable world.
To find out more about her, follow her on Twitter @Allison_Lyons
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Julie Hiner
Putting Tension and Fear in Your Story
Julie Hiner is an author, storyteller, and blogger. She has independently published an inspirational work of non-fiction and two dark crime novels. Two of Julie’s short horror stories have been published in anthologies, and she is currently collaborating in the horror realm. Julie’s home-base is KillersAndDemons.com where she serves up toxic cocktails of 80s metal, ritualistic murder, and raw horror.
Julie lives in her hometown in Canada, nestled near the Rocky Mountains. A hardcore 80s rocker at heart, Julie’s writing is infused with music of all eras. Her dark crime novels are a fusion of 80s metal, 70s acid rock and dark storytelling. Obsessed with the dark mind of the serial killer, Julie’s characters are based on bits and pieces of some of the most terrifying monsters to roam the earth.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Olivia Gaines
Creating Content That Clicks
A 90-minute workshop targeting new authors or authors who want to refresh their brand. Three twenty-minute blocks of instruction with time for Q & A and includes a downloadable workbook. Grow fans and followers by creating captivating content which markets and promotes your books from your blog, newsletter content, and mastering your IG & FB business pages.
Olivia Gaines is a USA Today Best Selling, Emma Award, and multiple award-winning author who loves a good laugh coupled with some steam, mixed in with a man and woman finding their way past the words of “I love you.” An author of contemporary romances, she writes heartwarming stories of blossoming relationships filled with heart and humor. The Technicians, The Blakemore Files, and the Modern Mail Order Brides, are one clicks for thousands of readers.
When Olivia is not writing, she enjoys quilting, playing Scrabble online against other word lovers and spending time with her family. She is an avid world traveler who writes many of the locations into her stories. Most of the time she can be found sitting quietly with pen and paper plotting more adventures in love. Olivia lives in Hephzibah, Georgia with her husband, son, grandson and snotty evil cat, Katness Evermean.
Learn more about Olivia Gaines on her website: https://ogaines.com
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Dete Meserve
Scripts
Dete Meserve is the award-winning, bestselling author of three novels in the Kate Bradley Mystery Series: Good Sam, Perfectly Good Crime, and The Good Stranger and a fourth standalone mystery/suspense novel The Space Between. Her first non-fiction book, Random Acts of Kindness, co-authored with journalist Rachel Greco was published in March 2019.
Her first novel, Good Sam, was produced as a feature film for Netflix Original Film and was released worldwide in May 2019. The film was produced by Meserve based on a screenplay by Meserve and Teena Booth. The film stars Tiya Sircar (The Good Place). Watch it here: https://www.netflix.com/title/80998967
When she’s not writing, she is a film and television producer in Los Angeles and a partner and CEO of Wind Dancer Films. Her recent credits include Executive Producer of What Men Want (Paramount), Executive Producer of Ready Jet Go (PBS), and Producer and Screenwriter of Good Sam (Netflix).
Meserve lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children–and a very good cat that rules them all.
Learn more about Dete Meserve on her website: https://DeteMeserve.com
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
A.S. Fenichel / Andie Fenichel
Insta Love
A.S. Fenichel gave up a successful career in New York City to follow her husband to Texas and pursue her lifelong dream of being a professional writer. She’s never looked back.
A.S. adores writing stories filled with love, passion, desire, magic and maybe a little mayhem tossed in for good measure. Books have always been her perfect escape and she still relishes diving into one and staying up all night to finish a good story.
Multi-published in historical, paranormal, erotic and contemporary romance, A.S. is the author of several series, including Forever Brides, Everton Domestic Society, Wallflowers of West Lane and more. Strong, empowered heroines from Regency London to modern-day New Orleans are what really excites A.S., and that’s what you’ll find in all her books.
A Jersey Girl at heart, she now makes her home in Southern Missouri with her real-life hero, her wonderful husband. When not reading or writing, she enjoys cooking, travel, history, puttering in her garden and spoiling her fussy cats.
Andie Fenichel writes the same wonderfully independent heroines and the heroes who win their love as A.S. Fenichel, but in contemporary, instalove stories.
Learn more about A.S. Fenichel / Andie Fenichel on her website asfenichel.com
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Christmas Party & Elections & Goal Setting
Saturday, October 15, 2022
Jennifer Probst
Write Big. Write Smart. Write Naked.
Not only is Jennifer Probst a New York Times bestselling author, but she has also written two books on writing: Write Naked and Write True.
Learn how to transform your passion for writing into a career. Write Naked intermingles personal essays on craft with down-to-earth advice on writing romance in the digital age
Check out Jennifer’s website and you will find some excellent resources for writers. Learn more here: https://JenniferProbst.com
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Melissa McClone
How to Make Your Writing Better With Revisions
USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning author Melissa McClone writes heartwarming women’s fiction and sweet contemporary romance novels for Tule Publishing Group, Harlequin Books, and Cardinal Press. She has published more than 50 novels, optioned 2 screenplays, and sold more than 3 million books in over 25 languages. Melissa graduated from Stanford University with a mechanical engineering degree, but discovered she prefers writing happily-ever-afters to jet engine testing and analysis. When she’s not writing relatable characters and sigh-worthy happy endings, she spends her time in the rainy Pacific Northwest reading from her Kindle’s ever-growing TBR, napping with her dog and cats, and decorating her Happy Planner. She is married to her own real-life hero, has 3 young adult children, and is learning to be an empty-nester!
Learn more about Melissa McClone on her website: https://MelissaMcClone.com
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Tamara Hughes
Developmental Editor
Developmental editor Tamara Hughes gave us a breakdown of the various types of editing and explained how developmental edits work.
She also writes both historical and paranormal romance.
Find out more about her writing here:
https://tamarahughes.com
You can find out more about her editing services here:
https://tamarahughes.com/editing-services/
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Paige Tyler
How to Write Rugged Masculine Heroes
Come join Paige Tyler, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 50 romantic suspense and paranormal romantic suspense books as she leads a free-flowing conversation about what it means to write rugged masculine heroes. She’ll talk about the descriptions and terms that work and the ones that might not take you to where you want to be. Show up with your own thoughts on what a rugged masculine hero means to you and we’ll all get a chance to learn a few things, and have a good time doing it!
More about Paige here: https://paigetylertheauthor.com/
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Jennifer Snow
Script Writing
Indie romance authors are sitting on a gold mine of beautiful love story IP that television networks are seeking. In this course, learn the basics of adapting your novel to screenplay and how to get it in front of film executives.
Jennifer Snow is a USA Today bestselling author and screenwriter writing contemporary romance and thrillers. Her novels have won awards, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and have been translated into over 10 languages. Her debut rom com, Mistletoe & Molly, adapted from her novella, aired on UPTV and Super Channel and she has four new films airing in 2022 on various networks.
A Canadian living in Torrevieja, Spain with her husband and son, she loves to travel and spend time near the ocean.
More information can be found at www.jennifersnowauthor.com
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Kelly Moran
Building a Street Team
Discussion on the pros and cons of an author street team/reader’s group, how to build one, how to engage them, topics to discuss within the group, group settings, reward systems, leverage to keep them active, tasks to assign them, how to handle problematic members, and how to protect yourself while still giving them the scoop.
Kelly Moran is an international bestselling author of enchanting ever-afters. She gets her ideas from everyone and everything around her and there’s always a book playing out in her head. No one who knows her bats an eyelash when she talks to herself. She is a RITA® Finalist, RONE Award-Winner, Catherine Award-Winner, Readers Choice Finalist, Holt Medallion Finalist, and landed on the “Must Read” & “10 Best Reads” lists at USA TODAY’s Lifestyle blog. She is a former Romance Writers of America® member, where she was an Award of Excellence Finalist. Her books have foreign translation rights in Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, and the Netherlands. Her interests include: scary movies, all kinds of art, driving others insane, and sleeping when she can. She is a closet coffee junkie and chocoholic, but don’t tell anyone. She’s originally from Wisconsin, but she resides in South Carolina with her significant other, her three sons, their wily dog, and their sassy cat. She loves hearing from her readers.
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Diana Cranstoun
The Virgin’s Promise
Have you ever felt The Hero’s Journey doesn’t quite… work for you? That you’re forcing your story into a structure it doesn’t want to fit? This workshop will explore The Virgin’s Promise by Kim Hudson, a more feminine-oriented take on a character’s story arc. But don’t be fooled. Feminine doesn’t necessarily mean ‘female’. Rocky Balboa’s journey in the first Rocky movie is classic Virgin’s Promise.
Diana Cranstoun is a transplanted Scot. Having spent almost 40 years in Calgary, she’s now relishing the cawing of seagulls, ocean swells, and more temperate climate of Vancouver Island.
A member of ARWA since 1990, she has had short stories broadcast on CBC Radio and published in magazines in the UK as well as two screenplays optioned.
She’s also been down a coal mine, fired a machine gun and realized a life-long dream when she stood atop Masada.
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Roxy Boroughs
Acting for Writers
Discover the techniques actors use to develop their stagecraft and how you can transfer those same dramatic skills to enhance your writing.
Before turning her attention to fiction, Roxy Boroughs appeared in numerous TV commercials and movies. In addition to her sexy romantic suspense series, Psychic Heat, she’s one of three authors involved in the Frost Family Christmas series, combining sweet romance with cozy mystery.
See Roxy’s other titles, sign up for her newsletter, and find out about her village life in the Canadian Rockies here: https://www.roxyboroughs.com
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Christmas Party & Elections
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Barbra Campbell
How to Write and Sell a Short Story
How to Write and Sell a Short Story won’t be able to solve the eternal debate over pantsing vs. plotting, or if the only way to have a successful planner is to use colorful markers and pretty stickers! Those decisions are solely yours, and whether you write epics, novels, or short stories, they’ll probably stay the same.
This class is designed to walk you through the chaotic world of telling a story in less than one hundred pages and finding a reader base. Whether you want to toss a few quickies into the world for fun, or you want to make it your full-time endeavor, understanding the bigger picture of short stories will educate your decision-making.
How to Write and Sell a Short Story will explore:
- Technical definition of a short story
- Creatively speaking, what’s the difference between a short story and a longer work
- Common faults/difficulties of short stories
- Is there a market beyond steamy contemporary romance
- Finding short story readers
- Multi-author collaborations versus personal series
- Breaking the rules, not the bank
- Publishing and marketing schedule when you’re putting out more than one book a month
- Talking to Amazon
- Q&A
Barbra Campbell and her pen name have published somewhere around 70 short stories/novellas in the last twenty-four months. In the beginning, she wallowed alone in the trenches where she shed many tears over all of the calendar dates with zero sales and page reads on her KDP dashboard. The mere vocabulary of the author world threatened to melt her brain while she struggled to remember the differences between BookBub, Booksprout, BookFunnel, Book Brush, and Bookdoggy.
But she’s insanely stubborn and moderately crazy so she stuck with it.
Now she spends her days writing, marketing, organizing, and chatting with short story author friends who understand the love-hate relationship of the constant rapid release world.
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
JP McLean
Writing Deeper Dialogue
It seems authors either love writing dialogue or hate it. But regardless, it’s something we have to master if we want to write engaging stories.
Dialogue is a heavy lifter in our toolbox. When done well, it can:
- Reveal character
- Heighten emotion
- Define subtext
- Advance the plot
Learn how to write deeper dialogue that conveys much more than words.
JP (Jo-Anne) McLean is best known for her urban fantasy series, The Gift Legacy. Her debut novel earned honourable mention at the Whistler Independent Book Awards, and one of her short stories earned honourable mention from the Victoria Writers’ Society.
Her work borrows from the thriller, paranormal mystery, and romance genres, and includes endorsements from Ethel Wilson fiction prize winner, Jennifer Manuel, and Canadian bestselling author, Elinor Florence, among others.
JP is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and makes her home on the coast of British Columbia. She writes best when she’s within sight and sound of water, even if it’s just a fountain, and hopes never to stop reading, writing or imagining the impossible. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her cooking dishes that don’t look anything like the recipe photos or arguing with weeds in the garden.
Visit her at https://jpmcleanauthor.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Katie O’Connor
Career Planning
Do you want to be more productive and meet your writing and publishing goals? Join us as we learn how to create a plan to fulfill your career and life goals. We’ll go over the basics of creating a long-term plan and discuss how to work that plan and evaluate its success.
Romance author Katie O’Connor is an avid reader and writer. She writes both sweet and steamy romance novels with contemporary and western themes. Katie started writing soon after high school and continued to write while raising a family. She received her first book contract in 2011 and has continued to publish her works both traditionally and independently. With eighteen published novels and three more set to release in 2021, Katie’s career is on the fast track to success.
Katie loves romance and prides herself in writing compelling, heart-tugging stories with wide appeal. She is currently working on several small-town series and four non-fiction books.
Katie is happily married and living her dream with her husband of over 40 years, two children and five grandchildren. If you need her, you’ll find Katie behind her laptop at her home in Calgary or hiding out in the woods in North Central Alberta writing and watching the deer stroll past.
Website: https://www.katieohwrites.com/
FaceBook: https://facebook.com/katieohwrites
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Alyssa Alexander
What To Do When You’re Stuck:
4 Methods to Plot Your Way Out of Writer’s Block
There is no right or wrong way to plot. Every writer has a different process, and that process may change from book to book. Sometimes, what used to work no longer does, or you need to shake things up to get past writer’s block. Here are four methods to plot your novel, and one Mack Daddy of a plotting chart to get you over the hump.
Despite being a native Michigander, Alyssa Alexander is pretty certain she belongs somewhere sunny. And tropical. Where drinks are served with little paper umbrellas. But until she moves to those white sandy beaches, she survives the cold Michigan winters by penning romance novels that always include a bit of adventure. She lives with her own set of heroes, aka an ever-patient husband who doesn’t mind using a laundry basket for a closet, and a small boy who wears a knight in a shining armor costume for such tasks as scrubbing potatoes.
Website: Alyssa-Alexander.com
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Lucy Lennox
Using Newsletter Magnets to Grow Your Business
In this presentation, Lucy will cover two different kinds of reader magnets and discuss how to use this bonus content to draw existing and new readers to sign up for your newsletter. The session will cover which elements go into creating a successful reader magnet, how to use exclusive bonus material to incent readers to sign up for your mailing list, and ways to use that mailing list to beef up your launch, increase your rank, and spur backlist sales. Learn how Lucy built a mailing list of over twenty-thousand readers organically in less than three years and used it to launch a recent release to the #1 spot in Amazon’s Contemporary Romance category.
Lucy Lennox is finally putting good use to that English Lit degree earned way back in the 1900s.
She enjoys naps, pizza, and procrastinating. She has some snarky kids and is married to someone who is better at math than romance but who makes her laugh every single day and is the best dancer in the history of ever.
She stays up way too late each night reading M/M romance because she is a sucker for a good story.
Website: Lucy Lennox, Bestselling M/M Romance Author
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Tracee Garner
Basic Marketing for Authors
Seven areas of beginner marketing tactics every author should know.
Tracee Lydia Garner is a best-selling and award-winning author. She is a dynamic speaker and engaging presenter with a wealth of knowledge and resources. She writes fiction and nonfiction hoping to uplift, inspire as well as educate readers through her tales of hope, love and overcoming adversity. A northern Virginia native, Tracee makes her home in a suburb just outside of the Washington, DC metropolitan area and loves writing, reading and teaching all about marketing and publishing. Tracee recently was elected president of the Washington Romance Writers CC Chapter.
As a person with a disability, Tracee has been an advocate for over twenty years and maintains a day job currently as a case manager in DC at a small nonprofit organization. Tracee Lydia Garner has done workshops for the RWA National conference on disability topics, diversity, as well for her local chapter of RWA where she is involved and has been the editor/agent coordinator for three years. Tracee also taught How to Write the Novel, Romance Novel Writing and the Self Publishing Boot Camp within her alma mater’s workforce development section of the college’s offerings for almost 14 years. Visit Tracee at www.traceegarner.com for more information.
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Drew Hayden Taylor
Portraying Indigenous Characters
Drew Hayden Taylor shares tips and pitfalls for writers wishing to depict indigenous characters in their novels.
During the last thirty years of his career, Drew Hayden Taylor has done many things, most of which he is proud of. An Ojibway from the Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario, he has worn many hats in his literary career, from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., to being Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He has been an award-winning playwright, a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), short-story writer, novelist, television scriptwriter, and has worked on numerous documentaries exploring the Native experience. Most notably as a filmmaker, he wrote and directed REDSKINS, TRICKSTERS AND PUPPY STEW, a documentary on Native humour for the National Film Board of Canada, and for CBC, co-created SEARCHING FOR WINNITOU, an exploration of Germany’s fascination with North American Indigenous culture. 2 years later he followed it up with the documentary COTTAGERS AND INDIANS, about Indigenous/non-Indigenous conflicts over land and water issues.
As a playwright, Drew has proudly been a part of what he refers to as the contemporary Native Literary Renascence. An author of more than 20 plays (resulting in almost a hundred productions), his popular plays such as TORONTO AT DREAMER’S ROCK, ONLY DRUNKS AND CHILDREN TELL THE TRUTH, THE BERLIN BLUES, and COTTAGERS AND INDIANS have left their mark on the Canadian theatre scene.
In the world of prose, he enjoys spreading the boundaries of what is considered Indigenous literature.
In 2007, Annick Press published his first Novel, THE NIGHT WANDERER: A Native Gothic Novel, a teen novel about an Ojibway vampire. 2010 saw the publication of his novel MOTORCYCLES & SWEETGRASS (Finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction). More recently, Douglas & McIntyre published a collection of his Native themed science fiction short stories, titled TAKE US TO YOUR CHIEF AND OTHER STORIES. Last fall, a new novel titled CHASING PAINTED HORSES, published by Cormorant Press, brought his publication total to 33 books.
His success as a writer has allowed him the opportunity to travel the world, spreading the gospel of Native literature. Through many of his non-fiction books, from the four-volume set titled FUNNY, YOU DON’T LOOK LIKE ONE, to the ME FUNNY, ME SEXY, ME ARTSY series, he has tried to educate and inform the world about issues that reflect, celebrate, and interfere in the lives of Canada’s First Nations.
Self-described as a contemporary story teller, his exploration of the storytelling tradition has explored many boundaries. For example, he co-created and was the head writer for MIXED BLESSINGS, a television comedy series as well as contributed scripts to four other popular Canadian television series including BEACHCOMBERS and NORTH OF 60. In 2007, a made-for-tv movie he wrote, IN A WORLD CREATED BY A DRUNKEN GOD (based on his play which was a finalist for the Governor General Award for Drama) was nominated for three Gemini Awards, including Best Movie. In 2011 and 2012, he wrote the script for the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, now known as the INDSPIRE AWARDS
The last few years has seen him proudly serve as the Writer-In-Residence at the Berton House in Dawson City Yukon, the University of Michigan, the University of Western Ontario, University of Luneburg (Germany), Ryerson University, Wilfrid Laurier, as well as a host of Canadian theatre companies i.e. Cahoots theatre, Blyth Theatre etc.
The years of writing have brought him many accolades by his peers, including the Floyd S. Chalmers Award, Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Canadian Author’s Literary Award. He has also been the recipient of many other varied honours; an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Mount Allison University, a Plaque of Honour on the Peterborough Walk of Fame, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award, Ontario Premier’s Award for Creative Arts and Design, and Victoria Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Theatre, to name a few.
Oddly enough, the thing his mother was most proud of was his ability to make spaghetti from scratch.
Website: Drew Hayden Taylor
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
C.J. Carmichael
Conflict
A deep dive into conflict, the various types and how to use them in your novel to create a compelling narrative drive.
USA Today Bestselling author C. J. Carmichael has written over 50 novels, with more than three million copies in print. Three of her novels have been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, including A Bramble House Christmas. A film version of A Bramble House Christmas premiered as a Hallmark Mystery movie in 2017.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Elinor Florence
Hand-Selling Handbook
Bestselling author Elinor Florence hand-sells dozens of copies every time she appears at a bookstore, farmer’s market, service club, or public library. With more than 100 events under her belt, she explains what works and what doesn’t. She will give you a complete how-to guide from start to finish, including how to prepare, what equipment to bring with you, and most importantly, how to connect with your potential buyers.
Bestselling author Elinor Florence is a career journalist who wrote for daily newspapers and magazines across Canada.
Her wartime novel Bird’s Eye View, about a young Canadian woman who joins the air force and studies aerial photographs, was a Toronto Star bestseller. Her second novel Wildwood, about a single mother who spends one year living off the grid in northern Alberta, was named by Kobo as “One of the Top 100 Canadian Novels of All Times.”
Elinor is proud of her Canadian heritage, both white and indigenous. She lives in the mountain resort town of Invermere, British Columbia where she writes a monthly newsletter titled Letters From Windermere, and is working on her third novel. Read more at www.elinorflorence.com.
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Working with a Publicist
Mickey Mikkelson, from Creative Edge Publicity, discussed what a publicist can do to promote your books and career.
Three of Mickey’s clients also joined us:
—Bestselling Authors:
Kathrin Hutson, VS Holmes, and
Jennifer Anne Gordon
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Christmas Party & Elections
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Kathleen Sweeney
Book Brush
Book Brush is an amazing image creation software platform built just for authors to help them easily create professional-looking ads and images for social media. Book Brush offers tools every author needs in his or her marketing toolbox to make it easy to embrace the marketing side of writing.
Join Kathleen Sweeney from Book Brush for a fun live walk-through of the Book Brush tools. Get ready to embrace the marketing side of writing & see why authors say Book Brush saves them both time and money!
Learn how easy it is to use Book Brush to create your own eye-catching marketing images for all things social media. Plus explore video effects, create Box Set images, design your own book covers, and more! Kathleen will share handy tips & tricks along the way and have time for Q & A, too.
Kathleen is the Manager of Marketing and Customer Service at Book Brush. She has over 17 years of client service and business assurance experience across the financial recovery and healthcare industries. She thoroughly enjoys working with authors and helping them create eye-catching images. She lives in central Illinois with her husband and three busy, fun-loving boys. Her hobbies include reading and turning socks right side out.
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Kate McMurray
Big Picture Revising
You’ve finished the first draft of your novel. What next? Many writers find the revision process daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. In this workshop, we’ll discuss practical ways to approach revision. I’ll focus on the big picture, rather than the little details, to make sure you’ve got a great story. This includes what questions to ask yourself as you go back over your manuscript to make sure your book has a great hook, tight pacing, and compelling characters. I’m bringing my editorial experience to the table, too, to discuss common pitfalls authors fall into and how to avoid them to make your book the best it can be.
Kate McMurray writes smart romantic fiction. She likes creating stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities. She advocates for romance stories by and for everyone. When she’s not writing, she edits textbooks, watches baseball, plays violin, crafts things out of yarn, and wears a lot of cute dresses. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with two cats and too many books.
She is active in Romance Writers of America, having served as president of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter, and VP of programs and president of RWA NYC, the New York City chapter.
Saturday, September 19, 2020
LaQuette
Outreach, Investment, Correction
LaQuette, former president of RWANYC (one of the most diverse chapters in RWA), talks about how to promote diversity within your chapter.
LaQuette writes unapologetically sexy & diverse characters for Sourcebooks Casablanca, Harlequin Desire, & St. Martin’s Press Romance.
She crafts emotionally epic, dramatic tales that are deeply pigmented by reality’s paintbrush. Her novels are filled with a unique mixture of savvy, sarcastic, & brazen characters who are confident in their right to appear on the page.
She is the 2016 Author of the Year Golden Apple Award winner & the 2016 Write Touch Readers Award winner. Writing—her escape from everyday madness— has always been a friend and source of comfort. At the age of sixteen, she read her first romance novel and realized the genre was missing something: people that looked and lived like her. As a result, her characters and settings are always designed to provide positive representations of people of color and various marginalized communities.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Brenda Sinclair & Roxy Boroughs
Get Writing! Write Faster! And Conquer NaNoWriMo!
Brenda Sinclair is the author of thirty historical western and contemporary romance novels. After a career in the accounting field, she traded in numbers for words to become a full-time author. A member of her local romance association, she supports and mentors other writers, believing in paying it forward by helping others.
Brenda has been married for almost fifty years. During that time, she and her husband raised two sons and welcomed three wonderful grandchildren. When Brenda isn’t writing or researching her next novel, she enjoys walking her little dog, Kelly, checking out what Jack Abbott is up to on today’s installment of The Young and The Restless, or snuggling with Kelly on the sofa and enjoying a good book. Brenda believes life is good, and for days that life isn’t so good, just get over it.
Find Brenda at: https://www.brendasinclairauthor.com
Before turning her attention to fiction, Roxy Boroughs appeared in numerous TV commercials and movies. In addition to her sexy romantic suspense series, Psychic Heat, she’s one of three authors involved in the Frost Family Christmas series, combining sweet romance with cozy mystery.
See Roxy’s other titles, sign up for her newsletter, and find out about her village life in the Canadian Rockies here: https://www.roxyboroughs.com
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Getting to Plot Points in One Hour
Cathy Yardley
In this one hour session, you’ll learn a streamlined system to get from concept to plot points in one day. It covers:
- Examining your story concept first
- Creating character GMCs that work—with tests and fail-safes
- Creating two sets of easily identified plot points for a romance, one for each main character
This session synthesizes a number of established writing methodologies, but is straight-forward and easy to use.
Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin’s, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and sometimes being a little wrong is just right. She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures, because she’s had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society of Creative Anachronism; she’s spent a New Year’s on a 3-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert; she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of East Seattle, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth of any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs (and one husband.)
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
The Poetics of Romance
Dr. Barry Yzereef
Find out how a small book, written over two thousand years ago, can provide you with the critical tools to analyze novels, poetry, movies and TV shows, and help make you a better writer.
Dr. Barry Yzereef is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Calgary. He has taught courses in theatre history, dramatic literature and criticism, and stage directing. Along with his academic career, Barry has also directed many theatrical productions, some of which have toured internationally. He is currently enjoying the ‘quiet life’ of retirement with his lovely wife, writer Donna Tunney.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
What in the World?—Worldbuilding 101
Eve Silver
From a distant planet to the deepest point of the ocean, from a quiet hobbit hole to the action of a video game, from a romantic getaway to a car chase through Rome, from Middle Earth to middle grade—how does a writer create a world so real the reader can feel the damp fog, taste the salt air, hear the thud of hooves, or see the glow of the alien threat? Learn to build a believable and compelling world that draws your readers in and makes them want to visit again and again.
National bestselling author Eve Silver writes for both adults and teens. She has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines. Eve’s work won the OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award (2015), was shortlisted for the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy (2014), and was both an American Bookseller’s Association Best Book for Children and a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens (2013). She has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Quill and Quire, two RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, Library Journal’s Best Genre Fiction Award, and she was nominated for the Romance Writers of America® RITA® Award. Eve lives with her husband, two sons, an energetic Airedale terrier and an exuberant border collie/shepherd. And a snake called Ragnar.
Find out more about Eve Silver here: https://www.evesilver.net/
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Dissecting the Novel
Scott Eagan, Greyhaus Literary
Using basic theories of literary analysis, Dissecting The Novel guides authors into approaches for reading published authors’ writings to better understand why and how novels work, as well as what editors and agents are looking for in acquisitions. The workshop then shows authors how to study their own writing to best determine where they should send their writing and who they would want to read their writing. At the end of the workshop participants will also learn some basics of the query letter, synopsis writing and putting together proposals to send to editors and agents.
Scott’s education includes a BA in English Literature, A MA in Literacy and a MA in Creative Writing.
Scott is an active member of the Romance Writers of America and still dabbles in writing as a hobby.
Outside of the agency, Scott provides critiques with Writer’s Digest and does book reviews with Publisher’s Weekly.
His family continues to keep him busy with one who swims competitively, one who rides Hunter/Jumper equestrian and one who dances.