Julie Kenner nominated for RT Award
Congratulations to Julie Kenner! Her book, The Manolo Matrix, has been nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award in the Best Chick Lit Novel category. [1/20/07]
Christine Keach earns second place
Christine Keach’s manuscript, Under Cover of Darkness, took second place in the romantic suspense category in the 13th Annual Ignite the Flame contest sponsored by the Central Ohio Fiction Writers. [1/5/07]
Deb Yates wins a Maggie!
Deb Yates’ manuscript, A Secret Heart, won the historical category in the Georgia Romance Writers 2006 Maggie Awards of Excellence competition. [1/5/07]
December 2007 Meeting
DATE: December 11, 2007
Annual Christmas Party!
LOCATION: At the home of Jane Sevier
(Directions will be posted on the Yahoo Loop)
TIME: 7 - 9? PM
Meats will be provided, members will bring drinks, side dishes and desserts.
We will have a book exchange! Bring one wrapped new book - preferably one that you read this year and really enjoyed.
November 2007 Meeting
DATE: November 13, 2007
TIME: 7 - 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Marie Callendar’s restaurant (Loop 360 & Hwy 183) - view map
TOPIC: Start With a BANG: Hooks & Cliffhangers – It’s All About Pace
SPEAKER: Jordan Dane
Find out how to begin and end your scenes and chapters so the reader can’t put your book down. Leave them wanting more.
Learn about the DEFINING SCENE for your lead characters—the first time they’re on the page. The author only gets one chance at a reader’s first impression. Take your best shot—literally.
BUILD AN ONION FROM THE INSIDE OUT by focusing a scene on dialogue as the main framework, then developing the rest with body language, mood/setting, then the emotional layering of introspection. Make each word count.
Find out how to WIN A FULL CRITIQUE of your first chapter from Jordan Dane.
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Bio:
After Jordan Dane sold her first 3-books in auction to Avon/HarperCollins in June 2006, her debut title – No One Heard Her Scream – held more significance. Everyone heard her scream!
Pursuing publication since 2003, Jordan received awards in 33 writing competitions, including her 2005 Golden Heart entry – Crossing the Line. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Kiss of Death, International Thriller Writers, Inc., and her beloved Outlaws—the Oklahoma City chapter of RWA. Jordan and her husband John share their residence with an intelligent canine and two cats of highborn lineage.
Ripped from the headlines, Jordan’s gritty suspense plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. She loves challenging a reader’s moral barometer with the borderline ethics of her characters and their flawed personalities–dark, angst-ridden antiheroes pitted against unforgettable villains.
In her debut novel – No One Heard Her Scream – A relentless detective in San Antonio is barred from an investigation into her sister’s murder and forced to take another assignment. Skeletal remains buried in the wall of an old theatre destroyed by arson make an intriguing new case. But when the bones turn out to be a woman, close to her sister’s age, the hunt for a killer gets personal–a vendetta for justice.
A seductive mob enforcer, with his own secrets, stands between her and a powerful man linked to the murder. Drawn into the sinister world of human trafficking, the modern-day slave trade, the detective unravels a grim trail of destroyed lives–leaving her little hope for vindication in her sister’s death and a nameless young woman buried alive.
In 2008, take a front row seat to suspense with Avon and Jordan Dane’s 3-book series–No One Heard Her Scream, No One Left to Tell, and No One Lives Forever.
Visit her at www.jordandane.com
October 2007 Meeting
DATE: October 9, 2007
TIME: 7 - 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Marie Callendar’s restaurant (Loop 360 & Hwy 183) - view map
TOPIC: Hot and Memorable: A quick and non-dirty guide to writing great love scenes
SPEAKER: Sherry Thomas
Never read the Kama Sutra? Don’t know a position for every day of the year? Can’t bring yourself to use anatomical terms?
No worries. Because love scenes aren’t about that at all. Let Sherry show you how to get away from the who-does-what and what-goes-where and and concentrate on what truly make love scenes stand out: the deepest emotions.
September 2007 Meeting
DATE: September 11, 2007
TIME: 7 - 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Marie Callendar’s restaurant (Loop 360 & Hwy 183) - view map
SPEAKERS: Heather Foeh and Michelle McGinnis
TOPIC: Creating a Web Presence
Michelle and Heather will help you tame the wild internet with their workshop on creating a web presence. They will focus on all three levels of authors: newbies, almost-published and published. Find out what you should be doing at each stage of your career and how you can make your website work for you. There will be plenty of examples plus a handout featuring a glossary and helpful web addresses.
Some of the topics that will be covered include:
- How to register a domain name - and what to do with it once you have it
- Blog vs. website - what’s the difference?
- How often should you refresh your site design?
- eNewsletters
- Getting listed in search engines
- Design and layout tips
BIO
Together, Michelle McGinnis and Heather Foeh have over twenty-two years of web design and coding experience.
Michelle is currently an Interactive Product Director at nFusion - a high-tech marketing agency in Austin and one of Inc. magazine’s fastest growing companies. In past lives she’s worked as a web developer (which is how she met Heather) and a Romance Director running a phone-and-online personals section for a newsweekly.
Heather is a Marketing Best Practices consultant with Astadia Consulting (also one of Inc.’s fastest growing companies), but her past includes many years as a corporate and freelance web designer and even a stint as a technical writer, which she will never ever do again.
August 2007 Meeting
DATE: August 14, 2007
TIME: 7 - 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Marie Callendar’s restaurant (Loop 360 & Hwy 183) - view map
SPEAKER: Carolyn Williamson
TOPIC: Viewpoint
Does your hero notice that your heroine’s shoes are from Prada, her dress is made of organza, and her make-up is made by Mary Kay? Zoom into your main characters heads with appropriate thoughts and dialogue so readers can live your story along with your characters.
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Holding a master’s degree in home economics, author Carolyn Williamson has taught cooking to children, teen-agers, adults, and prison inmates. She also wrote and directed videos on nutrition and fair fighting for married couples.
After her husband learned he had high cholesterol, she altered the way she cooked. When two romance writer friends complained about unappealing recipes for diabetics, she began writing the text for the cookbook, THERE IS LIFE AFTER LETTUCE. The three friends developed healthy versions of their favorite family recipes and Carolyn revamped recipes she’d used when catering cocktail parties for Detroit automobile executives. The three authors sold the cookbook to Eakin Press in Austin, Texas.
A former president of NTRWA, and author of ten yet to be published romantic suspense novels, some of which have won awards, Carolyn works as a paralegal and tries out new recipes on her husband, two daughters, and three grandchildren. Her son who once asked, “What is this Desperation Stew number 104?” has finally escaped being a guinea pig and lives in Seattle.
July 2007 Meeting
There will be no meeting in July due to the RWA National Convention in Dallas.
June 2007 Meeting
DATE: June 12, 2007
TIME: 7 - 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Marie Callendar’s restaurant (Loop 360 & Hwy 183) - view map
SPEAKER: Lisa Renee Jones
TOPIC: Promotion
About the Class:
Lisa Renee Jones will be focusing her RWA Austin speech on the role promotion plays in building a career versus making a sale. After working so hard to get published many authors see themselves stuck with low income, poor exposure, and no future sales. Recreating a career and changing pen names can be a reality if things don’t fall into place for an author. Talented authors often get lower pay and fewer deals than less talented authors. Why? How do you avoid this happening to you?
Lisa will focus on taking control of your career and the way your ability to sell yourself and take charge of your sales can impact your future. A wide variety of topics will be covered and many will have to be brief because of time limitation for the one evening class. However, Lisa will have lots of material to hand out and will be available to answer email questions after the evening is complete.
A few topics to be covered:
- Promotion is all about selling yourself and that starts with the vision you have for your career and how you sell that to your agent, editors, and readers
- Brand – what is it and why does it matter
- A career versus making a sale
- Why is promotion your job? What happens if you choose not to promote?
- Midlist- why it’s the kiss of death
- Being the CEO of your career and image
- Cheap, easy ways to get your name out there: Websites, blogs, review sites, contests, newsletters (an important one), interviews, and more that authors at all levels of career should take advantage of
- Things all print authors should do
- Optional things print authors should consider at certain times in career
- Author communities and associations – when are they affordable and when are they not
- Group promotion – when, why, how, pros and cons
- Value your time—a formula for time versus results
Author Bio:
Lisa Renee Jones is an author of paranormal and contemporary romance. After she sold her first novella to Avon in 2006 she followed up by selling four novels to Harlequin as well as selling a novella to Kensington, Berkley, and Pocket. You can find her sizzling romances at Ellora’s Cave as well. She recently signed on to write another novella for Avon.
Lisa lives in Austin, Texas where she spends her days writing the dreams playing in her head. Before becoming a writer, Lisa lived the life of a corporate executive, often taking the red eye flight out of town and flying home just in time to make a little league ball game.
Her award winning company LRJ Staffing Services had offices all over Texas and in Nashville and was recognized by Entrepreneur magazine in 1998 as one of the top ten growing women-owned businesses list.
Over the next year Lisa plans to move to New York just in time for a busy year of book releases. You can visit her at www.lisareneejones.com.
Lisa has been highly involved in promoting other authors work though she no longer does promotional work because of her writing schedule. Her clients included:
-Sylvia Day - Brava, Avon Red
-Shelley Bradley aka Shayla Black– Kensington, Berkley
-Vivi Anna - Kensington, Avon Red
-Caridad Pinero – Harlequin, Pocket
-Delilah Devlin – Avon Red, Kensington, Ellora’s Cave
-Elle James – Harlequin
-Myla Jackson – Kensington, Avon Red
-And many more!
Find samples of Ms. Jones work at www.lisareneejones.com