Friday, June 26, 2009

 

FWA Ancient City Chapter Newsletter for July



Saturday, July 18, 2009, 10:15 a.m.

Author: ARLISS RYAN
Topic: How to Research and Write the Historical Novel


Whether you’re writing an historical fiction or non-fiction novel, you will want to hear Arliss Ryan as she talks about the fifteen things you need to know to research and incorporate history into an engaging novel.

Ryan is the author of three novels, two of them historicals. The Kingsley House (St. Martin’s Press) is set in Michigan and is based on the actual house built by her ancestors. She is currently completing editorial revisions for The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare, a novel of Shakespeare’s wife, which will be published by New American Library in June 2010.


In addition to the above novels, Ryan's literary credits include the novel: How (not) To Have A Perfect Wedding, a social satire published in 2007 by Sourcebooks. Short stories: Her works have appeared in over 20 literary magazines including Wind, Nexus, Santa Clara Review, New Orleans Review, Edge City Review, Journal 500 and Bellowing Ark. For nonfiction, her articles and essays have appeared in Parents, Parenting, Ladies’ Home Journal, Child, HERs, Sail, Aviation USA, Senior Times and other regional and national publications.



Saturday, August 15, 2009, 10:15 a.m.

We’ll be having a special double-event: first Rita Malie will discuss Writing Memoirs. Her talk will be followed by book sales and signings. Refreshments will be available during this time. After this short break, Rik Feeney will talk about the Book Expo America 2009.

Author: RITA MALIE
Topic: Writing Memoirs



What is a Memoir? A true story remembered and told by the one living it w/real-life plot, characters, setting. There is nothing new, but what is forgotten.

This is the age of the memoir. It’s the perfect product of our confessional times. There is a national appetite for true confession. Until this decade memoir writers tended to stop short of harsh reality, cloaking w/modesty their most private and shameful memories. Today no remembered episode is too sordid, no family too dysfunctional, to be trotted out for the masses in books, magazines and on talk shows.


Join Rita Malie as she talks about her family experiences, writing Goodbye America, and tells you how to tell your story and shape it for publication. Goodbye America was approved for continued display and sale at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum Aramark Gift Shop in New York Harbor.


Author: RIK FEENEY
Topic: Book Expo America




What’s going on in the world of books? Author/Book Coach and Publisher, Rik Feeney, spent several days at Book Expo America 2009 in New York. Find out what’s new in the publishing industry. Get the answers to questions Rik asked several agents, editors, and publishers.

This program is Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Main Library. Book sales, and refreshments follow the program. All sales benefit the Friends of the Main Library.



Critique Groups

If you are interested in our online Yahoo critique group and/or face-to-face critique meetings, please contact Jeff Swesky at jswesky@yahoo.com.



Upcoming Events / Contests

March 1st – July 13th

From now until July 13th is the window available to submit your entries into the 2009 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition. This is the FWA’s members-only annual writing competition. For details visit: http://www.floridawriters.net/RPLA.html


July 13th – August 8th

Check out the exciting online classes offered by the Orange County Chapter of RWA!

"Writing Cozy Mysteries"
With Cheryl Arguile w/a Emily Brightwell
July 13, 2009 – August 8, 2009

ABOUT THE CLASS:
In Cozy Writing 101, Emily Brightwell will share the method she uses to
plot her "Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries" Victorian mystery series. In this
class, Emily will cover everything from how to come up with a real killer of an
idea to how to get to the solution of the crime.
Topics covered will include: coming up with your protagonist, how to find
the very best suspects, the kind of setting needed for a cozy, how to plant
clues and red herrings and finally, the final resolution.
This is the same great class Emily taught here in 2006!

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Emily Brightwell is the author of the best-selling Victorian London Murder
Mysteries featuring the detective team of Mrs. Jeffries and Inspector
Witherspoon. She has written twenty-five novels in this cozy mystery series and
is busy working on the next.

Enrollment Information at: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJul09.html

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: July 12, 2009
If you have specific questions, email: occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com


Tuesday, July 14th

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, Mr. Henry Stevens will share his expertise in investigations and interrogations from 7:00 to 8:45 p.m. at the Southeast Branch Public Library located at 10599 Deerwood Park Blvd. River City Writers' monthly meetings are free and open to the public.

Mr. Stevens transferred from Infantry to Military Police Corps in 1965 as a result of an injury. He retired from active duty in May 1984. During the nineteen years as an M P officer, he served in four foreign countries and at nine stateside posts in eight states.

Upon returning to Jacksonville after retirement from active duty, Mr. Stevens became a faculty member at UNF’s Institute of Police Technology and Management. For twenty years (1989-2009), he developed and delivered advanced criminal investigation training courses to experienced police officers. Courses were conducted on campus and on-site throughout the English-speaking world.


July 29th - August 1st

The Anhinga Writers' Studio is hosting the Anhinga Writers' Studio Summer Workshops July 29-August 1 in Gainesville, Florida. Five genre tracks. Manuscript consultations. Editors, publishers, agents. Conference anchored by Charlaine Harris, NYT bestselling author of Southern Vampire series (True Blood -- HBO weekly drama).

For more information, visit: http://www.anhingawriters.org/


August 7th – August 9th

Let your creative spirit soar at the 2009 UNF Writers Conference to be held
at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, August 7-9, 2009.

The conference is for writers of FICTION, NON-FICTION and SCREENPLAYS.

The Florida Writers Association partners with UNF to kick off the three-day
conference on Friday, August 7, with a full day of writing workshops. On
Saturday, August 8, and Sunday, August 9, writers participate in Fiction,
Non-Fiction and Screenwriting Critique Workshops. Sunday afternoon¹s
schedule includes a marketing panel and a workshop featuring the UNF Writers
Conference Book & Film Deal Connection, an opportunity for attendees to
submit their work to agents, book editors and film producers after the
conference.

New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry will keynote and do a workshop on "Writing Effective Dialogue." More information and registration online at http://www.unfwritersconference.com/.


Thursday, August 27th

Literary Legends Awards Dinner, Thursday, August 27 at the Sawgrass Mariott Hotel in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. Three acclaimed Florida authors will be recognized for their lifetime achievements during the Literary Legends Awards dinner presented by the Florida Heritage Book Festival. New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, Dr. Michael Gannon, the “dean of Florida studies,” and Harry Crews, an iconic novelist and writing instructor have been selected to receive this year’s Literary Legends Awards. The Honorable Kurt Browning, Florida Secretary of State, will be on hand as a guest speaker and to help with the awards ceremony. More information and registration online at: http://www.fhbookfest.com/.


September 11th – September 12th

Florida Heritage Writers Conference, Friday, September 11. Day-long writer's conference with eight workshops covering the craft of writing, getting published and marketing. Literary agent Lucienne Diver is joined by seven other authors and journalists.

Among the workshops and presenters:
"When History is Gone," Shawn Bean on researching your book; "How to Storyboard Your Novel," T. J. MacGregor; "Marketing with Wit & Enthusiasm," Pamela Bauer Mueller; "Putting the Mystery in Your Mystery," Thomas Cavanagh; and "Getting an Agent's Attention – The Right Way," Lucienne Diver. More information and registration online at http://www.fhbookfest.com/.


October 22nd

Fundraiser Annoucement:

When: October 22nd, 2009

Where: Orlando Marriott Lake Mary

Who: Margie Lawson, developer of innovative psychologically anchored
editing systems and techniques.

Why: Florida Writers Foundation has the unprecedented opportunity to bring Margie Lawson [www.MargieLawson.com] and her Masters Class in Empowering Characters Emotions to writers across Florida. In addition to learning all that’s described on the following pages, we’re raising money for a good cause with the profits! 100% of the profits from this all day workshop will be used for fighting illiteracy by Florida Writers Foundation.

For more information: http://www.floridawriters.net/uploads/Microsoft_Word_-_102208_Margie_Lawson_regtn.pdf


October 23rd - October 25th

The 8th Annual Florida Writers Conference will be held October 23 – 25, 2009 at the Orlando Marriott of Lake Mary.

More information will be available soon at: http://www.floridawriters.net/FWA_Annual_Conferences.html



Good luck with you writing projects and see you at the next meeting,
Jeff Swesky

Saturday, June 06, 2009

 

FWA Ancient City Chapter Newsletter for June

Hello Ancient City Writers,



Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 10:15

The CHIA Plot by Nancy Haddock

Plot is what makes the reader keep turning the pages. It is the backbone of all books. Nancy Haddock will address this vital topic with a method she calls the CHIA Plot -- or -- “Growing a Plot from a Simple Sentence.”



This is an interactive program designed to help writers dive from initial concept into full story development. The technique encompasses aspects of characterization as well as plotting. Haddock created Chia Plot to illustrate story building to a creative writing class she taught in Dallas, and since then has presented the program to professional writing organizations.

Nancy Haddock’s debut book, La Vida Vampire, launched a new series from Berkley Publishing Group in April 2008, garnering rave reviews, including a 4 1/2 star Top Pick from Romantic Times BookReviews magazine. Her second book, Last Vampire Standing was released in May 2009.



In writing paranormal romantic mystery, Haddock drew on her long experience with things-that-go-bump, on her love of the mystery genre, and on the historic wealth of St. Augustine, Florida. She writes full-time, and is a dedicated resident-tourist who never gets tired of exploring the sights of her new hometown.


Upcoming Events / Contests

March 1st – July 13th

From now until July 13th is the window available to submit your entries into the 2009 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition. This is the FWA’s members-only annual writing competition. For details visit: http://www.floridawriters.net/RPLA.html


Monday, June 15th

On Monday, June 15th at 6:00 p.m., Elaine Viets talks about Dead-End Jobs at the Ponte Vedra Library as part of the Book Talk Café program:

Elaine Viets says she was taught the virtues of hard work as a young girl growing up in St. Louis. But she managed to forget everything she learned, which is why she turned to mystery writing. The bestselling author of the Dead-End Job Mystery series will talk about those dead-end jobs and her latest book, Killer Cuts, at the next Book Talk Café program on Monday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ponte Vedra Library.

Viets now lives in South Florida, and like her amateur detective protagonist, Helen Hawthorne, she actually works those rotten jobs she writes about in her long-running series. To research her novels, Viets has been everything from a hotel maid to a telemarketer. Killer Cuts finds Helen Hawthorne working at Miguel Angel’s high-end beauty salon in Fort Lauderdale. Because beauty is a high-risk business, it’s no surprise that Miguel is mixed up in a murder—and so is Helen.

Her second series features Josie Marcus, a mystery shopper and single mom. Viets says she didn’t work as a mystery shopper but her mother did. She served on the national boards of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with her husband, actor Don Crinklaw, where they collect speeding tickets.

Viets will talk about those rotten jobs and answer questions before signing books. Sponsored by the Ponte Vedra Friends of the Library, Book Talk Café is free and open to the public and offers refreshments as well as the opportunity to purchase the author’s books.


Saturday, June 20th


Ancient City member and author of The Hive, Chris Berman, will be signing books at the Daytona Beach Barnes & Noble located on W. Speedway. He will be there from 2:00 to 4:30.


July 29th - August 1st

The Anhinga Writers' Studio is hosting the Anhinga Writers' Studio Summer Workshops July 29-August 1 in Gainesville, Florida. Five genre tracks. Manuscript consultations. Editors, publishers, agents. Conference anchored by Charlaine Harris, NYT bestselling author of Southern Vampire series (True Blood -- HBO weekly drama).

For more information, visit: http://www.anhingawriters.org/.


October 23rd - October 25th

The 8th Annual Florida Writers Conference will be held October 23 – 25, 2009 at the Orlando Marriott of Lake Mary.

More information will be available soon at: http://www.floridawriters.net/FWA_Annual_Conferences.html

Good luck with you writing projects and see you at the next meeting,

Jeff Swesky

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