January 2012
Title: Incorporating Humor Into Your Writing
Instructor: Ally Broadfield
Date: January 2 – 27, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
 DESCRIPTION: Humor is a part of our everyday lives. It can inspire hope, relieve tension, and help connect us to one another. Learning to use humor effectively will enhance your work and may even boost your creativity by challenging you to approach your craft in a new way. Even if your subject matter is serious, the subtle use of humor can help ease tension and give your reader a chance to breathe again after an intense scene. Learning to be funny is one of the most difficult writing skills to master, but as long as you possess a sense of humor, this class will teach you the skills you need to add humor to your stories.
BIO: A graduate of The George Washington University, Ally Broadfield is a former school librarian whose passion is sharing knowledge. She has participated in several RWA sponsored workshops and has studied every book about writing she’s been able to get her hands on since she decided to stop dabbling and get serious about being published. Known for her witty dialogue, she firmly believes that humor belongs in every story. She is a News Writer for the Best Friends Animal Network and an RWA PRO. Her first manuscript she didn’t consign to the dust bunnies under her bed is currently on submission. She writes historical romance and young adult paranormal/fantasy romance, and is an active member of SCBWI and several RWA chapters, including YARWA, FF&P, HHRW and NTRWA.
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Title: Show & Tell: An Interactive Workshop
Instructor: Shannon Donnelly
Date: January 2 – 27, 2012
Classroom: Prairie
 DESCRIPTION:Both showing and telling are valuable tools for any writer--writers need both narrative passages as well as dramatic scenes, so each has its own place within any writer's skill set. In this workshop, we'll use writing examples to figure out the truth hidden in the advice to "show, don't tell." Learn how "show, don't tell" really means "show more with dramatic scenes, and tell only when you need to move the story along."
The "showing" part of the workshop blends a set of exercises to strengthen an understanding of what makes a scene come to life by using more vivid descriptions to reveal characters--their thoughts and emotions--by showing them in action and using deep POV.
The "telling" part of the workshop includes tips, tricks, and techniques to help strengthen narrative and identify when it's time to "tell" your story to the reader to compress information, smooth transitions, or otherwise better establish settings and scenes for the reader.
Topics we'll cover:
- Definitions -- what is showing, what is telling
- Telling: Use of the Narrative Voice
- Breaking it down part 1: Showing to Pull a Reader into Your Scenes
- Breaking it down part 2: Better Narrative (so a reader doesn't skip this)
- Going Deeper in Viewpoint to Better Show a Character's Inner World
- Transitions & Word Count--Where Telling Really Helps
- Showing and Telling--Mixing it up Again
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, and others. Her writing has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and other reviewers, who note: "simply superb"..."wonderfully uplifting"....and "beautifully written."
Her Regency romances can be found as ebooks on Kindle, Nook and at Smashwords. She has had novellas published in several anthologies, has had young adult horror stories published and is the author of several computer games. She lives in New Mexico with two horses, two donkeys, two dogs, and only one love of her life. Shannon can be found online at sd-writer.com, facebook.com/sdwriter and twitter/sdwriter.
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February 2012
Title: Demystifying Social Media
Instructor: LaTessa Montgomery
Date: January 30 – February 24, 2012
Classroom: Mile High
DESCRIPTION: This workshop is aimed at anyone who wishes to learn the basics of social networking and how it can be used to expand their author’s platform; with heavy emphasis on blogging, and specific focus on Twitter and Facebook
Jumping into social media can be daunting task. With my workshop, I take the fear out of this process by breaking up social media into easy to manage chunks. This is a hands on workshop through which I walk participants through each lesson and have virtual classroom hours establish so we can interact with each other real time via Twitter and IM to aid in the learning process.
BIO: An avid reader of all things fiction since childhood, La-Tessa's love affair began at the age of five. It was then she met her best friends Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys at the local library. In junior high, she met the Wakefield twins from Sweet Valley High and they shared several adventures. However, in high school she discovered the enchanting world of romance and has been hooked ever since.
La-Tessa has a BA and MBA in marketing which she utilizes in her roles as business consultant and marketing analyst. Through these roles, she’s become well versed in conventional marketing/PR methods, as well as the ever changing online marketing, SEO/SEM, and social networking avenues. She’s called upon occasionally to teach workshops and host chats on social networking, blogging, and author branding by her local RWA chapter, online writing communities, and local business owners.
La-Tessa is an active member of her local RWA chapter, River City Romance Writers, where is currently serves as Vice President and Program Chair. She’s also a member of Savvy Authors and is Senior Review Editor for www.RomanceInColor.com
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Title: Contests: The Basics
Instructor: Alexa Bourne
Date: January 30 – February 24, 2012
Classroom: Flatirons
 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.
BIO: Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romantic suspense writer by nights, weekends and all school holidays. She recently signed her first contract with Decadent Publishing for a contemporary Scottish novella, Her Highland Champion. When she's not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV and thinking about exercising. To learn more about her, visit www.alexabourne.com or http://alexabourne.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @AlexaBourne.
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March 2012
Title: Twitter for Novices: Exploring and Enjoying the Twitterverse
Instructor: LaTessa Montgomery
Date: February 27 – March 23, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
DESCRIPTION: Jumping into Twitter can be daunting task, even to those experienced with other social media such as blogging and FaceBook. However, with my workshop, I take the fear out of this process by breaking up theTwitterverse into easy to manage chunks. This is a hands on workshop through which I will participants through each lesson and have virutal classroom hours establish so we can interact with each other real time via Twitter to aid in the learning process.
NOTE: This is a continuation of LaTessa’s previous workshop.
BIO: An avid reader of all things fiction since childhood, La-Tessa's love affair began at the age of five. It was then she met her best friends Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys at the local library. In junior high, she met the Wakefield twins from Sweet Valley High and they shared several adventures. However, in high school she discovered the enchanting world of romance and has been hooked ever since.
La-Tessa has a BA and MBA in marketing which she utilizes in her roles as business consultant and marketing analyst. Through these roles, she’s become well versed in conventional marketing/PR methods, as well as the ever changing online marketing, SEO/SEM, and social networking avenues. She’s called upon occasionally to teach workshops and host chats on social networking, blogging, and author branding by her local RWA chapter, online writing communities, and local business owners.
La-Tessa is an active member of her local RWA chapter, River City Romance Writers, where is currently serves as Vice President and Program Chair. She’s also a member of Savvy Authors and is Senior Review Editor for www.RomanceInColor.com
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Title: Selling to Woman’s World Magazine: Beyond the Basics, Part I
Instructor: Kate Willoughby
Date: February 27 – March 23, 2012
Classroom: Prairie
 DESCRIPTION: Woman’s World, one of the last remaining periodicals to publish short fiction, pays $800 for an 800 word romance story, and if you sell to them there’s a good chance over a million people will read your story.
Nice work if you can get it, right? Well, you can. My class, “Selling to Woman’s World Magazine—Beyond the Basics, Part I,” will give you the tools you need to break into this tough market.
Each week we’ll examine one or more key story elements that occur over and over in Woman’s World romantic fiction. These story elements enhance submissions and give them that certain something unique to the publication. Students will complete simple assignments designed to help pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in the stories they’ve been submitting and stories they have yet to write.
We’ll also deconstruct three of the most popular plots. Then, I’ll guide you through the plotting process so that by the end of the month, you’ll be set with numerous plots and ideas, all ready to go. Industrious students may even have finished stories.
BIO: Kate Willoughby’s Woman’s World expertise comes from six years of analysis, writing, and submission to the magazine. In that time, she’s sold to them seven times at a success rate of about 25%. At least five former students have also sold. In addition to her seven Woman’s World stories, she has published eight novels and novellas, print and electronic, with Ellora’s Cave and Liquid Silver Books.
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April 2012
Title: It Happened Right Here: Writing and Researching a Historical Novel Set in your Hometown or Where You Currently Live
Instructor: Beth Daniels
Date: March 26 - April 27, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
DESCRIPTION: Doing historical research is a wonderful treasure hunt for either novelist or history enthusiast. Re-enactors frequently get rabid about it.
But if you aren’t in a position to travel to the places where the documents can be found – for not everything is available on the Web…yet – what’s a writer to do?
Use what is at hand, that’s what. There’s no reason why where you live, whether it’s your hometown or your current town, can’t supply what you need in the way of events, merchants, businessmen, what was of interest, what was available, prices of things, the local scandals…well, the list could get quite long.
This workshop will get you started along the way. Dipping deeper is always possible but you need to know what to ask for at the library or museum archive first and that’s what we’re going in search of in this workshop.
In 4 weeks we’ll concentrate on events, who’s in the news, who’s new in town, what the social scene is, where to shop, what the upper class, middle class and worker class is wearing, what addresses would make things come alive, what people are paying for things, whether there is a canal, a railroad, a well-travelled trail, a stage line, toll roads, Indian troubles (if you live in the US), immigrant problems (which arise everywhere), if there is a military presence or a war in progress, and how this (and other) information can be used to put that pondering expression on your muse’s face.
It all starts March 26 and concludes April 27. You might need a trip to your local library or historical society but perhaps not if the historical archives of the local newspaper are available online as well as in microfiche form. We’ll be using only materials easily available to you as much as possible. Your search can always extend from there but what we’re after is the data seeds from which a story can grow.
Hope to see you there!
BIO: Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story (“The Dragon’s Tale”) in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology from Damnation Books. She is the author of WRITING STEAMPUNK. And the co-author of LOVING TRIXIE FINE, a Babyboomer contemporary romantic adventure fantasy.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing. Now she puts her history degree, rather than the English one, to work ferreting out facts about life in Britain and America, then spinning the details off into workshops and in-progress non-fiction tomes. Oh, yes, she also writes novels.
In fact, twenty-eight of Beth’s novels have appeared in print and/or e-book format, and in 12 different languages in over 20 countries.
Visit her website: www.RomanceAndMystery.com
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Title: Selling to Woman’s World Magazine: Beyond the Basics, Part II
Instructor: Kate Willoughby
Date: March 26 - April 27, 2012
Classroom: Prairie
DESCRIPTION: In this continuation of Selling to Woman’s World Magazine—Beyond the Basics I, we’ll examine eight more story elements and five plots in our quest to understand just what it takes to sell to Johnene Granger, the discerning fiction editor at Woman’s World.
BIO: Kate Willoughby’s Woman’s World (WW) expertise comes from six years of analysis, writing, and submission to the magazine. In that time, she’s sold eight stories to them at a success rate of about 28%. Her blog, “Writing for Woman’s World,” is a resource for those who want to break into the WW market, and through the original “Secrets of Selling to Woman’s World Magazine” class she’s helped at least six writers sell to the magazine. (Click here for testimonials.) She has also published eleven novellas, print and electronic, with Ellora’s Cave and Liquid Silver Books.
Link to Womans’ World blog - http://womansworldstyle.blogspot.com/
Link to my website - http://kate-willoughby.blogspot.com/
Link to testimonials - http://womansworldstyle.blogspot.com/p/more-testimonials.html
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May 2012
Title: The W Plot...Or The Other White Meat for Plotters
Instructor: Karen Docter
Date: April 30 - May 25, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
 DESCRIPTION: One of the staples of any writers’ group conversations is the plot. It’s integral to every novel, holds everything together. It’s the vehicle that carries readers from page one to “The End”. It’s one of the scariest things an author faces when s/he decides, hey, I want to write a novel!
How many of us have made this decision, then stared at that blank page or computer screen without a clue how to proceed? What about those of us who write by the seat of our pants, the pantsers? Do we dare risk scaring off our muse by [shudder] plotting our story? How do the mega-plotters, the overachievers, know when it’s time to stop and just put pen to paper?
Join four-time Golden Heart finalist and Daphne du Maurier winner Karen Docter as she shares the “W” plotting technique she’s used successfully for years.
Karen analyzes the movie “Romancing the Stone” to show how the technique works, discussing the detailed plot points for the main characters including the villain. Throughout this 4-week online workshop, you’ll uncover the skeleton of your own novel. Whatever your genre, by the end of the class not only will you have the tools you need to finish plotting your story using the “W”, you’ll have the information you need to write the synopsis we all love to hate…all without writing one word of the novel.
If you’ve already started your novel, that’s okay. It’s never too late to apply the principles of the “W” to your developing story. Have you run into a wall? Don’t know where to go next? Has the story gone flat? Use the technique to pull apart the story elements so you can plug the holes, work around walls that loom in your path, and get your story moving again.
This is a hands-on-your-own-book workshop designed for the novice or the experienced writer.
BIO: Karen Docter won the Category (Series) Romantic Mystery Suspense unpublished division of the 2005 Daphne du Maurier Award. She's a four-time Golden Heart finalist and a charter member of The Golden Network & RWA® PRO®. Also a member of Colorado Romance Writers, Kiss of Death Romance Writers & From The Heart Romance Writers, she writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She holds a B.A. in Technical Journalism. To foster literacy, she’s been a speaker at local Jr./High schools, tutored composition and reading classes, and taught college level English composition. FMI: www.karendocter.com
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Title: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Kick-Ass Website
Instructor: Diane Whiddon
Date: April 30 - May 25, 2012
Classroom: Prairie
 DESCRIPTION: Having a professional website is the cornerstone of your marketing plan and now it’s more important than ever. Published authors need to promote online to new and current readers, and unpublished authors need to appeal to agents and editors with a professional website. Social media, including Goodreads, email lists, search engine optimization and techie terms like widgets and plugins can make it that much more overwhelming.
But, it doesn’t have to be! Having an effective, professional website can be easier than you think. You can have a successful online marketing strategy just by talking about what you love most—writing and your books. With the tools and resources you’ll get in this class, you’ll be able to make the most of your website.
What you’ll learn:
- How to create a compelling, interesting author page effortlessly
- The basic pages every site needs and suggestions for their content, including what to put on your home page and books page
- How to develop an easy and sustainable social media strategy for you
- The pros and cons of blogging and list building – what works and what doesn’t
- De-mystifying search engine optimization (SEO)
If you’re motivated, you might just leave the class with completely re-written, highly focused website copy that will appeal to your visitors, a deeper understanding of online marketing and a social media strategy that will work for you.
BIO: Diane Whiddon has been a graphic designer and artist for over fifteen years, and she’s been designing websites since she started Novel Website Design in 2006. She’s an expert in Search Engine Optimization, marketing for creatives and solopreneurs, and translating techie speak to English. Nothing pleases her more than working with writers and other creative entrepreneurs who love what they do. Helping them shine their lights online and share their gifts with the world to find profit and fulfillment is her greatest passion.
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June 2012
Title: Tips and Techniques for More Effective Proofreading
Instructor: Ally Broadfield
Date: June 4 - 29, 2012
Classroom: Mile High
 DESCRIPTION: Editing is one of the most difficult tasks a writer faces and even seasoned authors often have difficulty detecting errors in their own work. When writers proofread their own work, it's not unusual for them to overlook errors because their mind knows how the text should read and automatically corrects it.
Whether you're polishing your manuscript for a contest, preparing to submit to an agent or editor, or planning to self-publish, knowing how to effectively proofread your work is an essential skill.
The lessons will cover:
- Tips & Tricks for Better Proofreading
- Grammar Resources
- How to Identify and Correct Common Errors In:
-
- Capitalization
- Punctuation
- Sentence structure
- Verb tense
- Dialogue
- Misplaced and dangling modifiers
- Commonly confused words
- Plural and possessive forms
Lectures will include techniques for improving proofreading skills, examples of correct and incorrect usage, and homework assignments to reinforce the lessons. Individual feedback will be provided on all exercises.
Beginner, intermediate and experienced authors will benefit from this workshop.
BIO: A graduate of The George Washington University, Ally Broadfield is a former school librarian who runs her own proofreading business. She is also a News Writer for the Best Friends Animal Network. An RWA PRO, she current has three manuscripts on submission. She writes historical romance and young adult paranormal/fantasy romance, ans is an active member of SCBWI and several RWA chapters, including YARWA, FF&P, HHRW, and NTRWA.
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Title: MORE of Everything You Need to Know to Have a Kick-Ass Website
Instructor: Diane Whiddon
Date: June 11 - July 6, 2012
Classroom: Flatirons
DESCRIPTION: In this continuation of her "Everything You Need to Know to Have a Kick-Ass Website" workshop, you'll learn MORE about what having a professional website is all about. The cornerstone of your marketing plan, your website is now MORE important than ever. Published authors need to promote online to new and current readers, and unpublished authors need to appeal to agents and editors with a professional website. Social media, including Goodreads, email lists, search engine optimization and techie terms like widgets and plugins can be overwhelming.
But, it doesn’t have to be! Having a MORE effective, professional website can be easier than you think. I will teach you MORE of the tools and resources you need to gain a deeper understanding of online marketing and gain a social media strategy that will work for you.
You can have a well written, highly focused website that will appeal MOREto your visitors and provide you a successful online marketing strategy. And you can do it all just by talking about what you love most—writing and your books.
BIO: Diane Whiddon has been a graphic designer and artist for over fifteen years, and she’s been designing websites since she started Novel Website Design in 2006. She’s an expert in Search Engine Optimization, marketing for creatives and solopreneurs, and translating techie speak to English. Nothing pleases her more than working with writers and other creative entrepreneurs who love what they do. Helping them shine their lights online and share their gifts with the world to find profit and fulfillment is her greatest passion.
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August 2012
Title: Editor's First Aid: CPR for Your Dying Manuscript
Instructor: Lynnette Labelle
Date: August 6 - 31, 2012
Classroom: Mile High
 DESCRIPTION: Maybe the horror stories about the hard road to publication are keeping you from finishing your novel. Maybe you've had one too many rejections with no explanation. No matter what is killing your writing, it’s time to breathe a little life into your manuscript.
Not sure where to start? As a freelance editor, I'm telling you there’s only one surefire way to avoid the dreaded rejection slip—know your craft. And I mean really learn it. Knowing your craft inside and out is the only way to identify and correct the problems in your writing.
Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe you think editing just isn't your strong suit? Don't worry. You don't have to do it alone. I'll walk you through some of the most common mistakes writers make so you can apply CPR to your dying manuscript.
In Editor’s First Aid, you'll learn about dialogue dilemmas, plotting problems, and bad beginnings, including:
- The 13 most common dialogue mistakes.
- How to avoid dialogue blunders.
- How to correct episodic writing.
- Understanding poor execution of GMCs (goals, motivations, conflicts).
- How to turn up the emotion.
- When (if ever) to add a prologue.
- All about the inciting incident and why it’s the best place to start your story.
Other benefits of Editor’s First Aid include:
- A professional editor to answer your questions.
- Opportunities to have your work professionally edited. (Samples will be randomly selected with a minimum of six critiques if class size permits.)
- A chance to see real examples of how an editor looks at a manuscript.
BIO: Lynnette Labelle is a freelance copyeditor, proofreader, and manuscript editor with over eleven years of experience. She’s the owner of Labelle’s Writing on the Wall, an editing and coaching service for writers.
Lynnette specializes in developmental copyediting, substantive or big picture editing, and line editing for romance (romantic suspense, paranormal romance, romantic thriller, contemporary romance, and romantic comedy), mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, crime, paranormal/supernatural, urban fantasy, and YA. She proofreads nonfiction and all fiction genres, and helps writers create hooky query letters and strong synopses.
Lynnette has a bachelor of education degree from the University of Manitoba, where she specialized in English and French. She excelled in Advanced Creative Writing in university and studied writing for children and teens through the Institute of Children’s Literature. She’s a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, Romance Writers of America, RWA Online, and Savvy Authors. For more information, visit: www.labelleseditorialservices.com
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September 2012
Title: The Synopsis Queen Tells All
Instructor: Kara Lennox
Date: September 3 - 30, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
 DESCRIPTION:Does the thought of writing a synopsis give you hives? Would you rather have a root canal? Multi-published author Kara Lennox, who has sold many books on synopsis alone, will show you how to not only make the process (almost) painless, but to use the synopsis as a writing tool to make sure your book is as strong as it can be.
Using tools from her screenwriting experience, Ms. Lennox will illustrate how to break down the synopsis-writing process into a foolproof formula that will have maximum impact for minimum words, focusing on these main parts:
- Introduction of premise or inciting incident
- Making setting part of the story
- Introduction of main characters and how to make them memorable
- Goals==what is the question your story will answer?
- Conflict
- Major plot turns
- Black moment
- Ending, including how the characters have grown and changed
- Integrating your theme into your synopsis (without being preachy)
Also discussed will be how to infuse the synopsis narrative with a lively style so that it's
entertaining rather than dry as dust and gives the reader a taste of the author's voice.
Included as a hand-out will be an actual selling synopsis with the parts labeled.
BIO:Award-winning, bestselling author Kara Lennox (a.k.a. Karen Leabo) has written more than 60 contemporary novels of romance and romantic suspense for Harlequin Books and Bantam Loveswept. Most of these have been sold on proposal or synopsis alone. An incurable plotter, she has always enjoyed sitting down to write the synopsis and would love to show other writers how to find joy in synopsis-writing.
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Title:Whose Head Are We In? The Nuts and
Bolts of Point of View
Instructor: Susan Palmquist
Date:September 3 - 30, 2012
Classroom: Prairie
DESCRIPTION: One thing that can label you as an amateur writer is head hopping in your story. In this workshop you’ll learn all about point of view and how using it correctly can make your manuscript stand out from the crowd. Some topics covered include:
- Learn the differences between first and third person tenses and how they relate to point of view
- Know which POV is right for your story
- Know how to spot and prevent head hopping
- Learn how to use deep POV to add more emotional depth to your story
BIO: Susan Palmquistis both a freelance writer and author. She’s written articles for Health, Arthritis Today and Lifetime TV. Her short stories have appeared in magazines in both the US and UK, including Woman’s World. Under her real name she writes both romances and mysteries. Under her pen name, Vanessa Devereaux, she’s a bestselling author of erotica and erotic romances. Including the bestselling Who’s the Boss? and Brazen Ladies trilogy. Her recent titles include How I Met My Lover and Forbidden. She has many more stories due for release this year including another Regency trilogy called Just For Your Pleasure, and the first in a new series called Perfect Pairing. She’s currently at work on two erotic suspense novels and a screenplay.
As well as writing, Susan teaches workshops for many RWA chapters and is also a tutor for
an online writer’s school in the UK. You can learn more about Susan and her work at www.susanpalmquist.com and www.vanessadevereaux.com
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October 2012
Title: How to Save Your Writing from These Common Errors - Worn-out Cliches, Wandering Body Parts, and Mangled Comparisons
Instructor: MM, the Queen of English
Date: October 1 - 27, 2012
Classroom: Mile High
DESCRIPTION:Are you guilty of –
- Using Clichés– Yes, they come in handy because every reader knows what you mean, but my advice is to avoid them like the plague.
- Giving Characters Eyes that Wander, Roam, or Shoot across the Room – Body parts are best left as parts of a body. When eyes start wandering and feet start running, your reader starts laughing. Not good.
- Mangling Your Comparisons– Mangled comparisons confuse your reader.
-
- Illogical comparisons– Her behavior tonight was similar to the other night. Behavior and night? You’re comparing apples to oranges here. Don’t.
- One-sided comparisons– My doctor is much better. Better than what?
- Pronoun errors– Elliptical phrases (phrases with words left out) in comparisons cause many writers to make pronoun errors.
- Misuse of -er or more, -est or most, misuse of less or fewer– No, tossing a coin isn’t the way to decide which word to use.
- Choice of then, than, from– Which one is correct to use in forming a comparison?
If you have found yourself guilty of any of these common writing errors, this workshop is for you. Each lesson comes with homework. The reward if you turn in all of the assignments? I will proof 1,000 words of your writing for grammar, usage, and punctuation errors.
BIO:As an English teacher for fifteen years and as a line editor for Black Velvet Seductions for the past two years, MM the Queen of English 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.
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November 2012
Title: Writing for the Young Adult Market - Where Do I Begin?
Instructor: Jordan Dane
Date: November 5 - 30, 2012
Classroom: Foothills
DESCRIPTION:Interested in writing for one of the hottest genres in the publishing industry? Young adult novelist Jordan Dane (Harlequin Teen) shares what she’s learned about trends/themes/subgenres in the Young Adult market for teens, the unique voice, how to create believable characters, & where to get ideas for books targeting teens 12-18 years old. This online workshop will be geared for aspiring authors & published authors wanting to learn about YA.
BIO:HarperCollins launched Jordan Dane’s suspense novels back to back in 2008 after the 3-book series sold in auction. Ripped from the headlines, Jordan's gritty plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense thrillers to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag. This national best selling, critically acclaimed author’s debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM was named Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2008.
Dane’s first Young Adult book is IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS (Apr 2011, Harlequin Teen) with ON A DARK WING released January 2012. Her next YA books with Harlequin Teen will be a series – THE HUNTED, release slated for fall 2012 through 2013.
Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their San Antonio residence with two cats of highborn lineage and two very lucky rescue dogs.
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Title: Coffee Break Social Media
Instructor: Amy Denim
Date: November 5 - 30, 2012
Classroom: Prarie
 DESCRIPTION:Using social media to build your platform doesn't have to take hours out of your writing time. In this workshop you'll learn how to use social media effectively to get your name and books out across the web in as little as fifteen minutes a day! Some of the topics we'll cover are:
- Choosing the right social media platforms for you
- How to be present across several platforms at the same time
- Finding your people and what to say to them and most importantly
- How to take social media coffee breaks to be present and effective and still have time to write
BIO: Amy Denim writes contemporary romance and loves hot heroes (like chefs and cowboys) and curvy intelligent heroines (like chefs and cowgirls.)
She's been a franchise sales coordinator, a life guard, a personal shopper, and a teacher of English as a Foreign Language. But now she spends her days reading and writing at her local library.
Amy started out her writer's life scared out of her wits because she hadn't yet created an online platform, wasn't on twitter, didn't have a Facebook fanpage and had never even heard of Goodreads. She just wrote books. So she spent a year becoming a social media fiend and now does consulting for creatives on how to use social media effectively. She started Coffee Break Social Media to help writers and artists learn to use SM platforms effectively (without the scare tactics) but still have time to create. She believes social media can be every writer's friend, sometimes they just need an introduction.
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