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03/25/10 - 03/29/10 - Online Workshop - Direct Your Book: Theatrical Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel with Leanna Renee Hieber

RWA online Women's Fiction Chapter is pleased to announce our FIRST
WORKSHOP!

*Direct Your Book! Theatrical Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel*

Instructor: Leanna Renee Hieber

Dates: March 25, 26, 27 and 29th.

Cost: $20 for members of RWA Women's Fiction and $25 for non-members

Registration Deadline is March 20, 2010

FMI:
http://www.rwa-wf.com/2010/02/18/workshop-direct-your-book-theatrical-techniques-to-a-blockbuster-novel-by-leanna-renee-hieber/.

Course Description

Join best selling, award winning, multi-published author Leanna Rene Hieber
as she teaches her unique hybrid approach in writing novels. With her
background in theatrical constructs, Leanna uses this remarkable theatrical
approach to crack open a whole new way to think about your fiction. She
utilizes techniques inherent to actors, directors and other theatre
professionals in the creation and telling of stories and teaches you to use
these techniques to bolster story structure and characterization. As an
author, think about what it takes to step into the role of actor, director,
cinematographer, etc. and feel the lightbulbs go off as you troubleshoot
your way towards an engaging, character-rich, one-of-a-kind hit novel.

Leanna Renee Hieber graduated with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University,
with a focus in the Victorian Era. A scholarship to study in London helped
set the course for her Strangely Beautiful series. The dramatic, historic,
spiritual and paranormal are the primary forces in her lyrical, eerie,
atmospheric fiction. While performing in the regional theatre circuit she
adapted works of 19th Century literature for the professional stage and her
one-act plays such as Favorite Ladygarnered national attention and continue
to be produced around the country. She hit the fantasy fiction scene with
her novella Dark Nestwhich won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in
Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Her critically acclaimed debut
novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is the first in her
Strangely Beautiful series of ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels
published by Dorchester Publishing and landed on Barnes & Noble's mass
market and overall Bestseller List.
Leanna uses her background in theater to break down theatrical constructs
and uses a unique hybrid approach in writing her novels.

You may pay via paypal: payments to treasurer.rwawf@gmail.com, please
include your name, RWA# (if applicable), email address and the workshop name
in the Comments section

Payment By Check: RWA-WF Treasurer, 9710 Velilla Road, Burke, VA 22015,
please include a note with your name, RWA# (if applicable), email address
and the workshop name.

The final day to register for this workshop is March 20th.

The workshop will be a yahoo loop. You will be notified with an invitation
to join the loop prior to the workshop date. RWA-WF reserves the right to
cancel this workshop should fewer than 20 participants sign up for this
workshop. Upon a cancellation of this workshop by RWA-WF all registered
participants will receive a full refund.

05/01/10 - Retreat: Bandera, TX - The Wild Rose Press Mini-Writer Retreat

The Wild Rose Press Mini-Writer Retreat, Saturday, May 1, 2010
Spend the day at Silver Spur Guest Ranch, Bandera, TX
Get away to the country, and enjoy the ranch atmosphere.
Mingle with other romance writers.
Participate in a workshop, or get inspiration and just write.

Rates: $65.00—10AM through evening (includes lunch & dinner, program, T-shirt
and goody bag)
$50.00—10AM through late afternoon (includes lunch, program, T-shirt
and goody bag)

*Horseback riding is $35.00 extra per person

Retreat sessions involve:

Writing for medical field
Cowboy Q&A
Bare bones plotting
And chat time with the owners of The Wild Rose Press.

Those interested should contact Rhonda Penders at: rpenders@thewildrosepress.com

03/29/10 - 04/24/10 - Online Workshop: Writing a Series with Multiple Main Characters by Linda Wisdom

WRITING A SERIES WITH MULTIPLE MAIN CHARACTERS by Linda Wisdom

From Monday, March 29, 2010
To Saturday, April 24, 2010

Sometimes you want to write a series but you don't want to use the same heroine and hero for each book. And no reason why you should.

Linda Wisdom created a series with a different witch in each book, but she's also kept the series connected just enough to invite the reader to buy all the books, but they also can stand alone.

Discuss on a series with multiple main characters and what it takes to make them separate yet connected.

$30.00

REGISTER at http://StoryStewUniversity.com

Linda Wisdom was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. She majored in Journalism in college then switched her major to Fashion Merchandising when she was told there was no future for her in fiction writing. She held a variety of positions ranging from retail sales to executive secretary in advertising and working for a personnel agency.

Her career began when she sold her first two novels to Silhouette Romance on her wedding anniversary in 1979. Since then she has sold more than seventy novels and one novella to four different publishers. Her books have appeared on various romance and mass market bestseller lists and nominated for a number of Romantic Times awards and Romance Writers of America Rita Award.

She lives with her husband, Bogie, her spoiled rotten Chihuahua/Yorkie, Barney, a equally spoiled mini white Schnauzer, Syd, yet another spoiled parrot, and Florence, her tortoise with attitude in Southern California.

A number of Linda's book backlist, including her Hex paranormal series, has been optioned for film and television.
She is a two time Rita finalist

Affiliations
Charter member of Romance Writers of America
Charter member of Orange County Chapter, Romance Writers of America
Member of San Diego Chapter, Romance Writers of America
Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal Chapter RW

03/22/10 - 04/16/10 - Online Workshop: Work Your Niche by Paula Margulies

Work Your Niche by Paula Margulies
From Monday, March 22 2010 To Friday, April 16 2010
Work Your Niche! – How to Define and Reach the Target Audiences for Your Book The Work Your Niche! workshop provides tips on how to identify different audiences for your book and successfully promote your work to those targeted groups. The course covers existing niche categories (with built-in audiences hungry for more reading material), including romance, sci-fi, fantasy, New Age, mystery, historical, self-help, memoir, Christian, and African American literature. The workshop also covers basic promotional techniques for developing momentum and interest in those audiences you'd like to reach with your writing. Outcomes: After completing this workshop, attendees will know how to: 1. Identify different brand images and niches for themselves and their books. 2. Write dynamite press releases for different targeted audiences. 3. Develop niche book store and media contact lists. 4. Set up cross country book tours with maximized media opportunities. 5. Design promotional material and other giveaways for book signings with niche audiences. 6. Book speaking engagements at targeted venues. 7. Optimize their websites, conduct blog tours, and use social media to reach out to niche markets on the Internet. $30.00 REGISTER NOW About the Workshop Leader Paula Margulies is the owner of Paula Margulies Communications, a boutique public relations agency specializing in helping talented authors get premium exposure for their publications. Paula works with publishers, agents, distributors, bookstores, and media outlets to ensure that authors and their books get maximum attention and coverage from their target audience. She consults with authors to set up book tours, garner interest and exposure with targeted media, including newspapers, magazines, websites, television, and radio, and build a successful brand strategy for themselves and their books. Paula has specialized for more than fifteen years in communications, marketing, and public relations for all types of products and services. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned her master's degree in Language Arts and Literature, she also holds degrees in marketing communications and education. She has served as the marketing and publicity director for both large companies and small businesses and is an instructor in business communications and public relations at community colleges throughout Southern California. Paula is a regular contributor to Author Magazine and is also the author of numerous award-winning short stories and essays, so she understands the business of writing firsthand. Her debut novel, Coyote Heart, was published April 17, 2009, by Kirk House Publishers, a small press in Minneapolis.
Contact : Paula Margulies
Registration and Payment must be made no later than March 19th, 2010. CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED. REGISTER NOW.

03/15/10 - 04/10/10 - Online Workshop: How to Construct a Killer Query by Vivi Anna

How to Construct a Killer Query by Vivi Anna
From Monday, March 15 2010 To Saturday, April 10 2010
Query letters are the keys to the publishing doors. They are usually the first contact a writer makes with a potential agent or even an editor. A killer query can open those lines of communication and grant an opportunity to the author to make that agent or editor perk up and take an interest in the author's work. Sometimes an author only gets one chance to make an impression. An author needs to make a good one with a killer query letter that showcases their story as unique but saleable. Write query letters as if you're trying to sell a movie to a Hollywood producer. Queries should be short, succinct and snappy. Like a logline for a movie, they should tell the uniqueness of the story in as few words as possible. Get that agent or editor to want more. Course outline: • examining movie loglines • examining high concept pitches • excavating the gems in your story • how to turn those gems into pitch worthy gold • crafting the query • editing your query • adding a good solid bio with or without credits • critiques of your finished product Ten lucky students will get an extra bonus at the end of the class. Agent Laura Bradford will read your queries and give you her thoughts on why it does or doesn't work. $30.00 Register Here Instructor: With ten books in print and several novellas and short stories in anthologies and ebook form, Vivi Anna has oodles of experience writing query letters that work. She's published with Silhouette Nocturne, Kensington, Avon, Ellora's Cave, Samhain and Loose ID. Before selling to New York, she'd written several screenplays and had all of them read by top Hollywood producers because of her skill of making an impression—with the killer query letter. Vivi's a recent Romantic Times Reviewer Choice Award winner and second time nominee for 2009. She's finaled and won several writing contests including the Golden Quill and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. And in 2002 she made it to the top 10% of writers at the prestigious Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles. "When Vivi Anna announced her first workshop, I immediately signed up. Not only was I a fan of her work, but I was also an author just getting my feet wet in the erotic romance industry. Throughout the informative workshop, Vivi Anna shared a multitude of resources, and taught with ease and confidence. I continue to use the many tools she provided to this very day. I wouldn't hesitate to sign up for another workshop with her. " ~Ann Cory, published with Samhain, Ellora's Cave, Liquid Silver, and Resplendence.
Contact : Vivi Anna
Registration and Payment must be made no later than March 12th, 2010 CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED. REGISTER NOW!

07/12/10 - 07/24/10 - Online Workshop: Break Free From the Slush Pile with CJ Lyons

July 12 – July 24, 2010

"Break Free From the Slush Pile"
with CJ Lyons

About the Class:
Join award-winning medical suspense author CJ Lyons as she explains the secrets to successful pitching, tips to engage an editor or agent through your query letter, and reveals the creation of a high concept.
CJ has received requests for manuscripts every time she pitched. She'll help you feel more comfortable during your pitch session and more confident with your pitch. This workshop will help you polish your query letter, create a pitch, and prepare you for meeting an agent or editor.

About the Instructor:

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about. In addition to being an award-winning medical suspense author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and keynote speaker. She has been invited all over the country to present her workshops and speak to audiences ranging from physicians to first responders to romance and thriller authors including: Colorado Fiction Writers, Oklahoma Writers Federation, the University of South Carolina at Beaufort, RWA National, MWA's Sleuthfest, Lowcountry RWA's Master Class, Left Coast Crime, and PennWriters, among others.

Her first novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller. LIFELINES also won a Readers' Choice Award for Best First Novel.

Her second novel, WARNING SIGNS, was published by Berkley in January, 2009, with the third, URGENT CARE, scheduled for November, 2009. To learn more about CJ and her work, go to www.cjlyons.net.

http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJuly10.html