Join us for a roundtable discussion about future NEC-RWA projects and workshop ideas. What can our chapter do to enhance our craft and our outreach? What can we do as romance writers and chapter members to help the chapter help us? As romance writers, we are always looking for new ways to develop, refine and polish our craft. What types of workshops or speakers do you think would prove beneficial to you and to our chapter? Put your thinking caps on and have a few ideas to toss into the ring! Come prepared to participate. Your new board is looking forward to kicking off an active and fun two years.
Category Archives: Meetings
June 24 – Outgoing Board Party and Book Swap
Join us on June 24 to celebrate the past year with the outgoing board. Bring goodies and a book you have enjoyed for a Yankee swap. Make sure to include a note about the book and to wrap it or just put it in a brown bag so we can’t see what it is.
May 20 – Writing a Series
At the May 20 NECRWA meeting, Karenna Colcroft will discuss developing and organizing series. The presentation will include various tools used to keep series information organized, such as software, files, etc., as well as how to develop an idea into a series if your muse or your editor asks for a series when you hadn’t planned one.
Karenna Colcroft is the author of twenty-one romances ranging from stand-alone short stories to full-length novels. Her series include the M/M paranormal series Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat and the contemporary Remind Me series. Under the name Jo Ramsey, she has nine young adult novels published, including novels in the two series Reality Shift and The Dark Lines. She has two other romance series and two other young adult series planned.
April 15 – Conference round table
Come join fellow chapter members for an open discussion about our upcoming Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference in late April. No question is off limits. What’s it like to sit with an agent or editor? How should I prepare for my appointment? What should I focus on in terms of workshop choices? Any tips on networking with fellow members? What to wear and what not to tear? Whether it’s your first conference for your tenth, come and join us for a lively discussion about the biggest event our chapter puts on each year – conference!
March 18 – Writing Sex When you Don’t Feel Sexy
Have you ever had to write a smoldering love scene, and yet your heart just wasn’t in it? Does the thought of writing steamy sex make you cower in fear?
Erotic romance author Suzanne Rock will talk about tips and tricks that will not only put you in the mood to write great sex, but add depth and character to your scenes that will make them memorable for both your readers and you.
The course will be based on her book co-written with author Em Petrova entitled Writing Sex When you Don’t Feel Sexy, available at all major ebook distributors.
Award winning and bestselling author Suzanne Rock resides in central Massachusetts with her college sweetheart and two daughters. She started writing paranormal erotic romance in 2009 and sold her first story, Spyder’s Web, to Loose Id in June of that year and has since published eleven erotic works with three different publishers. In addition to writing, she teaches courses on craft and the publishing industry through Romance Writers of America and Savvy Authors. She’s also is the social media partner for Pink Petal Books and Astraea Press.
February 19 – E-BOOK PUBLISHING MADE EASY(ER)
If someone had told Barbara Keiler a year ago that she’d be an indie publisher, producing and selling e-book editions of her backlist titles, she would have roared with laughter. She’s a writer, an artiste—and a confirmed technophobe. But she had obtained the rights to a bunch of her out-of-print novels and figured she ought to do something with them…and to her amazement, she’s managed to e-publish ten of them so far, to place them for sale in the Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo and iTunes stores, and to land several of them on Amazon bestseller lists. Barbara will share what she’s learned so far about preparing manuscripts, commissioning artwork, pricing, promoting and trying to stay sane in the brave new world of electronic publishing
Writing under the pen name Judith Arnold, Barbara is the author of more than eighty-five published novels. She has been a three-time finalist for RWA’s RITA Award, and she’s won several Reviewer’s Choice Awards from RT as well as the New England Chapter’s Bean Pot Award for her novel Hope Street. Her next novel, Good-Bye to All That, will be released in March.
January 15 – Open Meeting
It’s a New Year and NEC resumes our monthly meetings on January 15, 2012. As usual, meetings are held on the 3rd Sunday of the month, with December and July being vacation months for our chapter. We will also resume meeting at the Old Town Hall in Bedford, Massachusetts. Directions are on NEC’s website.
As 2012 dawns, there are some exciting things on the horizon for many of our members, as well as new ideas, publishing industry changes, the rising popularity of self-publishing and Mayan predictions.
In honor of the New Year, the board thought we’d open up January’s meeting to the membership by opening up a discussion about writing goals and resolutions and how we can obtain those goals. Whether your goal is to create or update a website, join social networks and media, or start a brand new novel, breaking through writer’s block, or switching genres we hope the discussion will be lively, helpful and encouraging. Likewise, we will break into small groups and discuss goals amongst your groups and how you might go about accomplishing those goals. Afterward, share your goals for 2012 if you’re willing and VP Mary Reiber will follow up at the monthly meetings to see how things are progressing.
If you’d like to know what’s coming up from February until August 2012, here’s a look at our meeting speakers and topics:
February – Barbara Keiler – Self Publishing
March – Suzanne Rock – Writing Sex Scenes When You’re not in the Mood
April – Marley Gibson – Writing Fiction and Non-Fiction
May – Karenna Colcraft – Writing a Series
June- Outgoing Board Party w/ NEC and Book Swap
November 20th – Kristan Higgins on Defining and Refining Voice
Two-time RITA Award Winner and New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author Kristan Higgins will be joining us for our November 20th monthly meeting. Kristan’s talk will focus on Defining and Refining Voice. As she says, voice is an element of writing that is often hard todefine. Every editor and agent wants a strong, fresh voice, but no one can identify just why a voice works or doesn’t. This workshop will examine examples of strong voice, definitions of voice, and why voice matters as much as it does. Exercises to define and refine voice will be described, as well as traps that often muffle voice. The revision process will be discussed in depth as well, since voice so often blooms during this phase of writing.
Called “the master of small-town romance” by Romantic Times, Kristan is a long-time New England Chapter member. Her hobbies include baking, eating desserts and stalking Derek Jeter. Visit her website at www.kristanhiggins.com and www.Facebook.com/KristanHigginsBooks. Her latest release is UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.
Lions, Werewolves, Birds, Oh My…!
Whether you’re writing Paranormal Romance featuring a badass shape-shifting vampire, werewolf, a spicy Contemporary with a cute puppy, an Historical with horses, dogs, and birds of prey, or Urban Fantasy with modern day dragons, Centaurs or reptilian creature of your own imagination, understanding the animals and creatures within the pages of your book is as essential to ‘world building’ as the setting, time and place.
Oftentimes, a dog or pet in a story can evolve into a secondary character, interrupt a romantic moment, provide a moment of comic relief, or increase tension in a dark Romantic Suspense. Sometimes, animals are portrayed incorrectly or it’s difficult to suspend belief when a person shape-shifts into a bird of prey. How can this be possible? How can you as a writer make the reader believe a full grown man can turn into a gigantic hawk?
Join NYT Bestselling author, Jessica Andersen, and multi-published Ellora’s Cave author, Frances Stockton, as they discuss this topic in depth at NEC’s October 16, 2011 meeting. Bring a pen, notebook or favorite note-taking device and we’ll have an entertaining discussion.
New York Times Bestselling author and multi-nominated RITA and Reader’s Choice nominee, Jessica Andersen has penned more than twenty science-based Romantic Suspense novels, the Mayan-based 2012 doomsday prophecy, Nightkeeper novels, and a four-book miniseries from Harlequin Nocturne with powerhouse authors, Gena Showalter, Nalini Singh, and Jill Monroe. And, believe it or not, there is more to come. To find out more about Jessica visit her website! http://www.jessicaandersen.com
Frances Stockton is the author of the Panthera series with Ellora’s Cave Blush and spicy Contemporary Romance with Ellora’s Cave. Having spent 12 years as a Veterinary Technician at a small animal veterinary clinic in Fallston, Maryland, earning a degree in History/Secondary Education and a genuine love of big cats, the idea of the Panthera was born during a horse-drawn carriage ride through Dallasduring RWA Nationals a few years ago. But as much as she loves incorporating giant leopards, lions and tigers into sensual romance, she’s been telling stories since kindergarten. Visit http://www.francesstockton.com to learn more!
September Meeting – Unstuck: Stocking Your Author’s Toolkit to Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing
We all have things in our author’s toolkit we use to help us write, but what do we do when we get stuck? This workshop will be centered around ways we can spark our creativity and push past blocks. Charlene Glatkowski will talk about her own “author’s toolkit” and writing process. Pretty much, she often gets stuck and has to find her way out. She’s discovered it helps sometimes to get out of “ye olde” regular groove and try something new. Come to this month’s NEC meeting to try some new tactics for getting unstuck and learn some fun ways to spark your creativity. There’ll be a giveaway too, so you may even win your own author’s toolkit!
Charlene Glatkowski writes young adult and adult fantasy as Lena Goldfinch. Her short-but-sweet romantic fantasy, The Language of Souls, is now available from The Wild Rose Press. You can visit her online at www.LenaGoldfinch.com.
This meeting will be on September 18 at The Old Town Hall in Bedford (directions)