May 2012: Resonance - The Subtle Elements of Fiction

Resonance: The Subtle Elements of Fiction
Creating a story that has depth and richness, that touches something deep inside your reader, that lingers in her memory long after she has reached ‘the end’ - this is what resonance is all about.  This workshop will discuss how to employ the following elements to enhance this:   Subtext,  Imagery, Revelations and Transitions.

Join us as we welcome Winnie Griggs to speak on the subtle elements of fiction.

Winnie Griggs has written both single title and category romances and has published with three different romance lines.  She is also a regular columnist for the regional periodical The Minute Magazine.  Her work has won a number of regional and national awards, most recently the 2011 Lorie for Best Inspirational Romance of 2010.

Winnie has presented writing workshops on various topics at national conferences such as Romance Writers of America and the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, as well as at numerous regional conferences (NJRW, Moonlight & Magnolias, Calgary, Emerald City to name a few) and smaller writers’ workshops and monthly programs.  She is a founding member in her local ACFW chapter and is also a board member of her local Romance Writers of America chapter.

You can learn more about Winnie and her books at www.winniegriggs.com

 

DFW Ready Writers will meet on Saturday, May 12 at 11:00am for lunch, fellowship, and teaching time with Winnie Griggs. We meet at La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant on Highway 121 in Colleyville. DFW Ready Writers is the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers and meets the second Saturday of each month. Visitors welcome! 

Join us as we welcome these upcoming speakers:

*Margaret Daley-"Great Hooks" (2-hour seminar, June)
*Golden Keys Parsons-"What Makes Christian Fiction Christian?"(July)
*Leann Harris-"Defining Your Characters" (August)
*Gina Conroy-"Blogging" (September)

April 2012: Action and Pacing

Join Rapid-Fire Fiction author, Ronie Kendig, as she speaks on writing action and how to keep your pacing strong enough and your story compelling enough that you get blamed for sleepless nights and children relegated to “on your own” meals! Action isn’t just for suspense and mystery genres—it exists in every genre! 

Join DFW Ready Writers on Saturday, April 14 at 11:00am for lunch, fellowship, and teaching time with Ronie Kendig.  We meet at La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant on Highway 121 in Colleyville. DFW Ready Writers is the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, and meets the second Saturday of each month. Visitors welcome! 

Ronie Kendig grew up an Army brat and married a veteran. Together, she and her husband have four children, a Golden Retriever, a Maltese Menace, and a Husky-puppy mix. She has a degree in psychology, speaks to various groups, volunteers with the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and mentors new writers. Rapid-Fire Fiction, her brand, is exemplified through her novels Dead Reckoning, a spy thriller, and the military thriller series, The Discarded Heroes, which includes Nightshade (Retailer’s Choice Award Finalist), Digitalis, Wolfsbane, and Firethorn (January 2012). Ronie can be found at www.roniekendig.com, on Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Join us as we welcome these upcoming speakers:

• Margaret Daley - "Great Hooks" (2-hour seminar, June)
• Golden Keys Parsons - "What Makes Christian Fiction Christian?" (July)
• Leann Harris - "Defining Your Characters" (August)
• Gina Conroy - "Blogging" (September)

March 2012 - "E-book Publishing: Why, Why Not, and How"

"E-book Publishing: Why, Why Not, and How"

Saturday, March 10 at 11:00am

Are you sitting on a manuscript that you know is better than a lot that gets published, yet you don't have a contract? Thinking about putting it out there yourself? Let's consider together the advantages and disadvantages. Then, if you decide to take the plunge, you'll leave our session with clear instructions on how to do it!

Join DFW Ready Writers on Saturday, March 10 at 11:00am for lunch, fellowship, our e-book publishing workshop.  We meet at La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant on Highway 121 in Colleyville. DFW Ready Writers is the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, and meets the second Saturday of each month. Visitors welcome!

 

Lee Carver has retired from her globe-trotting life as the wife of a senior vice president of the world’s largest bank. She and her husband have served as volunteer missionaries for six years, while he was a bush pilot in the Brazilian Amazon. Lee managed their home as a free missionary guesthouse.

Lee lived in six foreign countries and studied nine languages. She has taught biology and chemistry, served as volunteer church music director and organist. She currently works with homeless women in Fort Worth, the Prayer Shawl Ministry, and sings in the choir. Her current interest in publishing e-books and formatting for others makes use of her finely critical eye for detail.

The Carvers, married forty-four years, have two adult children and five grandchildren.

Join us as we welcome these upcoming speakers:

• Ronie Kendig - "How to Write Rapid-Fire Fiction" (April)
• Margaret Daley - "Great Hooks" (2-hour seminar, June)
• Golden Keys Parsons - "What Makes Christian Fiction Christian?" (July)
• Leann Harris - "Defining Your Characters" (August)
• Gina Conroy - "Blogging" (September) 

February 2012: The Secret Life of Pansters

The Secret Life of Pantsers—Magic Tricks and Delightful Games

Presented by

Kathleen Baldwin

Pantser: (pant´zər) 1: she who writes by the seat of her pants

Why do you write the way you write?  Are you a frustrated Pantser living in a Plotter’s world? What do your brainwaves have to do with it?  Come explore how your creative mind operates.  Plotters and Pantsers alike will benefit from Kathleen’s tricks, tools and delightful games that make a writer’s life easier.

Did you know Pantsers are hardwired differently than Plotters?  Take the quiz and find out where you fall on the Pantser vs Plotter scale. Learn why you write the way you write and how to take advantage of your incredible creative brainwaves. 

The writer’s mind is fabulously brilliant, but also temperamental. We’ll discuss ways to care for and protect your “muse” and never lose her again.

 

Good News: Pantsers, you really can have your cake and eat it too--you can excel at craft and yet still hold onto the wild adventure of natural spontaneous storytelling.  Put the joy of storytelling to work for you.  Set yourself free by using post-production analysis magic. 

Kathleen will share several of her ultra-fab, super-secret, story analysis tools.  Every writer needs to be familiar with Swain and Bickham’s scene and sequel story analysis.  Kathleen simplifies it for you.  Learn how Pantsers and Plotters use these analysis tools in extremely different ways to create rich satisfying stories.

Join DFW Ready Writers on Saturday, February 11 at 11:00am for lunch, fellowship and our pantsers workshop, at La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant on Highway 121 in Colleyville.  We are the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers and meet the second Saturday of each month.  Visitors welcome! We look forward to seeing you there.

Kathleen Baldwin graduated with a BA in Art/Design, and a minor in psychology.  She also accrued enough credits to have graduated in Secondary Education with teaching minors in History and English. This enabled her to work with emotionally disturbed teens using art therapy. Kat loved college and would still be there if it weren’t for the siren call of money. During her college years she participated in groundbreaking studies delving into how the brain functions during the creative process.

Kathleen lives in Texas with her heroic husband of thirty years and their four, mostly grown, children. She is the author of four Regency romantic comedies published by Kensington and is currently writing Young Adult Romance. 

January 2012: Taking Settings to the Next Level

What exactly is setting? Why do you need setting details in your novel? How much is too much? How much is too little? Who cares?

For the answers to these and other questions about setting, come to DFW Ready Writers on Saturday, January 14th, 11:00am as multi-published author Lena Nelson Dooley leads this workshop on setting. Be prepared to participate in the presentation, because not only will you learn about setting, you’ll get the chance to practice what you learn. Bring paper and pen or your laptop, netbook, or tablet that is charged and ready to use. And don’t forget your creativity and imagination. We’ll all journey together across the plains of middle America.

Award-winning author Lena Nelson Dooley has more than 690,000 books in print. She is a member of AmericanChristian Fiction Writers and the local chapter, DFW Ready Writers. She’s a member of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas.

Lena loves James, her children, grandchildren, and great grandson. She loves chocolate, cherries, chocolate-covered cherries, and spending time with friends.  

Her 2010 release was Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, from Summerside Press which recently won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for excellence in publishing Western literature. Lena is currently under two 3-book contracts with Charisma House/Realms. The first book released in October 2011. It’s Maggie’s Journey, book one of her McKenna’s Daughters series.

In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally.

Join DFW Ready Writers at 11:00am for lunch, fellowship and our synopsis workshop, at La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant on Highway 121 in Colleyville.  We are the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers and meet the second Saturday of each month.  Visitors welcome!