Seven Secrets of an Amazing Author Website

Every writer needs a website and we all want them to be amazing. But how? Thomas Umstattd, of Austin, TX, will be presenting the ‘7 Secrets to Amazing Author Websites,’ via live webinar, on Saturday, April 9, 2016 at the ACFW DFW Ready Writers monthly meeting, 10:30am.

Thomas built his first website at the age of 13 and taught his first web design class at only 16 years old. Thomas went to the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor where he graduated cum laude with a degree in Business Management. He founded Umstattd Media, his first web design and media company, in 2007 while still in college.

In 2009 he started AuthorTechTips.com, a website to help authors use the web to promote their books. The site was twice featured in Writers Digest as one of the 101 most helpful websites for authors. AuthorTechTips.com is now AuthorMedia.com, a resource for authors timid about technology.

As an award-winning speaker, Thomas teaches audiences all over the world. His friendly speaking style blends multimedia and audience participation. He offers audiences a unique perspective that help them use the web in a whole new way.

Thomas currently serves as the CEO of Castle Media Group LLC. He sits on the board of directors for several nonprofits, including Texas Alliance for Life and Story Help Groups. He is active in his church and helped co-found the Austin Rhetoric Club in 2004.

PLEASE NOTE: Guests and members alike are asked to reserve a spot for this program with our NEW event email: DFWReadyWriters.Events@gmail.com. Subject line: Thomas Umstattd – April 9. 

In the message please provide your name, phone number, and how many spots being reserved..

We look forward to having you join us!

     The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers

(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.

Finish the Book: A Procrastinator’s Guide to Getting to THE END and Pressing SEND

What writer doesn’t dream of typing THE END and hitting that SEND button?

You’ll get practical advice to do just that when you join us Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 10:30am for this presentation by Kathleen Y’Barbo.

As we prepare in proactive anticipation to send our finished manuscripts on their way, we look forward to Kathleen’s talk entitled “Finish the Book: A Procrastinator’s Guide to Getting to THE END and Pressing SEND.”

Kathleen’s knowledge and expertise of this topic has been learned through the writing and publishing of more than fifty novels, with nearly two million copies in print, here and abroad.

She has earned multiple awards including the Carol Award, a RITA nomination, and a Reader’s Choice Award. Her Sadie’s Secret, A Secret Life of Will Tucker, historical romantic suspense novel won the 2015 Romantic Times Inspirational Romance of the Year.

Another of Kathleen’s books, Firefly Summer, is the first novel in the contemporary Pies, Books & Jesus Book Club series and has ties to her hometown of Port Neches, Texas, as well as a character named Bonnie Sue, the same as her own momma and with a suspiciously similar personality.

Kathleen’s other job is as a paralegal, in addition to being a proud military wife. She is a tenth-generation Texan and while Texas remains in her heart, she currently cheers on her beloved Aggies from north of the Red River.

     The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers

(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.

Taming the Social Media Beast

Facebook account? Twitter account? Pinterest…..too much time getting lost in them instead of writing? Then the February meeting is for you!

Join us Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 10:30am, when multi-published author, Becky Wade takes a practical look at this very subject in ‘Taming the Social Media Beast.’

Becky explains:

“We’re writers, not social media gurus!  The bulk of our time should be spent writing yet, for many of us, social media has become a frustrating, energy-sapping beast that we need to tame.”

Sound familiar???

In this talk, Becky will provide practical tips about how best to utilize Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.  Her goal isn’t to overwhelm you by adding more items to your To Do list.  Take heart!  The insights provided are designed to give writers the best value for whatever amount of time they have to dedicate to these platforms."

Becky is a California native who attended Baylor University, met and married a Texan, and settled in Dallas.  She published historical romances for the general market before putting her career on hold for several years to care for her three children.  When God called her back to writing, Becky knew He meant for her to turn her attention to Christian fiction.  She loves writing funny, modern, and inspirational contemporary romance!  She's the Carol Award, INSPY Award, and Inspirational Reader's Choice Award winning author of My Stubborn Heart, Undeniably Yours, Meant to Be Mine, and A Love Like Ours.

The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers
(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.

AUTO CRIT- IS IT FOR YOU?

Whether you self-publish, have a team of editors with your traditional publisher, or are somewhere in between, we all need tools to help us write crisper and in a more polished manner. Agents, editors and publishers (as well as our readers!) appreciate well-worded, well-paced works.

Join us on Saturday, January 9th at 10:30 a.m. as multi-published, award-winning author Julie B Cosgrove reviews the self-editing program called Auto-Crit. She will explain each of the layers of the program, go through some samples of how it works, and relay her honest opinion and her experiences with using it. Then you can better decide if this tool would be beneficial to your writing career this year. Unfortunately, there won't be enough time to input pieces of each member's writing, so it is not necessary to bring a laptop.

Julie is our DFW chapter webmaster and has self-published as well as been traditionally published. She has four novels in the market place and is under contract for five more in 2016-2017. She was awarded the honor of being one of the "50 Writers You Should Be Reading in 2015" by The Author Show, and one of her short stories won second place in a statewide competition hosted by Texas Authors Association.
 She regularly contributes to several devotional websites and publications including The Journey, Light from the Word, Thoughts About God, The Life.com, Good News Daily and Faith-Filled Family Magazine. She has published six non-fiction works and is a professional workshop leader and speaker.
Julie has achieved the highest level of speaking in Toastmasters International and was awarded outstanding club secretary (2013) and outstanding club president (2015) for District 25, which encompasses an area from Abilene to Irving and from Waco to the Red River. She is also the outgoing president of the women of her denomination in North and Central Texas.

The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers
(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.

JOIN US FOR OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY!!

The annual ACFW-DFW Christmas party will include a pot luck lunch with ham provided and the exchange of gifts in the $10-15 range (but it doesn't have to be store-bought).

 Several authors of short Christmas stories will read them to us, we'll play one game with a writer's twist, and install the new board officers.

The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers
(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

                                       Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge!  

Writing Through the Chaos and Not Losing Your Mind.

When your life suddenly takes a  ninety degree turn and you have deadlines, and your perfect world spins out of control, how do you keep writing? 

Join us on November 14th to find out. 

Leann will share some of the lessons she learned on her journey from being on top of the world to finding herself looking up from the bottom of the well, and about the God who walked with her through it all.

Leann Harris ( a.k.a Barbara Harrison) has always had stories running around her head, and started writing when her youngest child started school. Her first book was published in 1993. She’s a teacher of the deaf and written all her adult life. She’s been contracted with Harlequin through her eighteenth book. She’s written romantic suspense, inspirational romantic suspense, futuristic and inspirational romance. She has also ventured into Indie books. In the series of Legacy of Lies, Book1-The Last Lie, 06/14, Book 2-The Last Truth, 11/14 are out. Book 3-Stolen Secrets should be out at the end of 2015. Her last LI book, A Rancher for Their Mom, had a June 2015 release. Book 3 of Rodeo Heroes Series will be out in June 2016.

The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers
(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.

JOIN US ON OCTOBER 10th

READY WRITERS presents:
Author Frank Ball and...

How to Write a Captivating Story 

Good grammar, interesting or helpful information, and abundant details help you write great blogs. But you need more than basic skills to produce a captivating story—or a book that will keep readers up all night to find out what happens. Learn the five essential elements of great storytelling so you can hold your readers’ attention from the beginning to the end.

Frank Ball founded North Texas Christian Writers and is now building the ministry of Story Help Groups to encourage and equip all Christians to tell their life-changing stories. In preaching, teaching, and counseling, he tells stories that strengthen people’s faith and causes the light of Christ to shine brightly. He is a writer, speaker, and thought provoker—a weird dreamer who thinks he will one day snow ski a left and right track past both sides of a tree.

The DFW Chapter of the American Fiction Christian Writers
(fondly dubbed Ready Writers) 
meets the second Saturday of the month 

              from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon at               

Arlington Community Church

1715 W Randol Mill Rd, Arlington, TX 76012

(click on name for directions.)

Guests are always welcomed to attend free of charge! Members pay $2.00 per meeting.

Please join us for a Dutch Treat lunch at a local restaurant nearby after the meeting to network and fellowship with other Christian writers who are serious about their gift and their craft.