Our speaker for October had to cancel, so we’ll be using our meeting time to prep for NaNoWriMo. Even if you’re not “officially” doing NaNo, there are useful lessons for all of us in the skills it takes to write 50k words in a month. After we go over some helpful hints, Stephanie Kay will tell us more about Word Wars, and we can use the last part of the meeting to split up into groups for critique sessions or brainstorming. Or, if you’re ready to roll, feel free to bring your laptop or a pen and paper and get a jump start on your project.

We hope to see you all on Sunday, October 22nd at 1pm in Bedford!

1. Not Just For NaNo: Tips and Tricks for Writing Fast and Keeping on Track. NaNoWriMo is fast approaching, and while it’s not for everyone, it can help develop skills that all writers find useful: writing quickly, focusing on a single project, and sticking to a deadline. We’ll discuss different methods that can help you win NaNoWriMo and also keep you on track all year long. Bring your favorite tips and tricks to share! (Tamsen Parker)

2. Word Wars (Stephanie Kay)

3. Brainstorming/Critique Sessions (small groups)

Ever see a book teaser with an amazing graphic and a quote that makes you smile, pulls at your heartstrings, or revs your…engine? In this workshop, you’ll learn the basic steps of graphic design. Marianne will share sites that have royalty free high-quality pictures and free programs to create your teasers for social media sites, website banners and blog posts. By the end of the session, those who choose to participate will leave with an epic teaser formatted and ready to post on all social media, blogs, and websites.

**You are encouraged to bring taglines or quotes from a WIP or published work so you can use them to create teasers during class.**

BIO:

Marianne Rice loves to write fun and spicy contemporary romances set in small New England towns. If she’s not writing, it’s because she’s stuck at high school attempting to teach her juniors and seniors to appreciate literature, and maybe even write a complete sentence or two. Marianne spends the rest of her time chauffeuring her herd of children to their varying sporting events, writing, shoe shopping, eating chocolate, and when there’s time, relaxing with a glass—or bottle—of wine and a romance book. You can find her all over social media and on her website at www.mariannerice.com

By popular request, after Gabriela Pereira speaks to us about marketing for creatives, we’ll have a marketing and promotion roundtable.

We’ll talk about what’s working for you (newsletters, FB ads, BookBub, etc.)–or maybe not so much–and do some networking to try find possible cross-promotion buddies. We’re sure Gabriela will have given us some great fodder for our discussion!

Hope to see you on Sunday!

You asked, and we’re answering!

Due to member feedback, we’ll be incorporating a critique session into our regular meetings. Held after the main speaker, the session will switch up topics, and we’re open to suggestions! This is YOUR chapter, what would add the most value for YOU?

On Sunday May 21st, after our own Barbara Keiler/Judith Arnold speaks to us about writing our 101st book, we’ll have our first critique session. We’re setting aside some time to split up into groups and do critiques of pages.

If you’d like feedback on your work, please bring copies of an excerpt of no more than 5 double-spaced pages. Think about if there’s anything in particular you’d like people to read for. We’ll break off by genre this time, and even if you don’t have work you’d like feedback on, please feel free to stay and lend an extra pair of eyes.

The best-selling author of more than 100 books, Judith Arnold will be presenting How to Write Your 101st Book at NECRWA’s May 21st meeting.

Writing a novel is a major accomplishment. Writing two novels is the start of a career. How do you keep going after two novels? How do you sustain your enthusiasm, your energy, and your creativity over the long haul? How do you keep your family from forgetting who you are, your neighbors from thinking you’re that weird, pale hermit who emerges only to grab the mail and drag out the trash, and your muse from filing for divorce? This talk will offer suggestions, encouragement, and reassurance.

Writing under the pen name Judith Arnold, USA Today bestselling author Barbara Keiler knew she wanted to be a writer by the time she was four. With one hundred and one published novels to her name, she has been able to live her dream. Four of her novels have received Reviewers Choice awards from RT Book Reviews, and she’s been a multiple finalist for Romance Writers of America’s RITA™ Award. Her novel Love In Bloom’s was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly, and her novel Barefoot in the Grass has appeared on recommended reading lists at hospitals and breast cancer support centers. Married and a mother of two sons, Barbara lives near Boston in a house with four guitars, three pianos, a violin, an electronic keyboard, a balalaika and a set of bongo drums.

Pat Barletta will be presenting Lying, Cheating, and Making Love: Using Body Language to Zing Those Characters and Slay Those Plots at NECRWA’s April 23rd meeting.

How do you create multi-dimensional characters without going into long paragraphs of exposition? One method is to use body language, an integral part of character development. As a component of dialogue, it allows the writer a means to show rather than tell, and it provides a multi-purpose tool that can be used for subtext, conflict, and characterization. We’ll examine the uses of body language in fiction, and Pat will provide some specific examples you might find useful in your writing.

Pat is a native of the Boston area. Its history has inspired her writing, and probably influenced her decision to become a high school British Literature teacher. She’s also been an accounts receivable clerk, a receptionist and telephone operator (before cell phones), head of an elementary school library, and president of a food pantry, not in that order. Long ago, she published three historical romances in another life where she called herself Amy Christopher. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree in Popular Fiction at the fabulous Stonecoast program in Maine, where she met many talented writers, who encouraged me and made my writing better. And now she is an author writing about dark heroes, feisty heroines, magic, and other fantastical things.

NECRWA’s Annual Conference, “Let Your Imagination Take Flight,” is happening earlier than usual this year—on April 7th and 8th. Are you ready? At this month’s meeting, members of NEC’s Conference Committee will help you prepare, giving brief presentations on

• What’s new at conference this year

• What first-time attendees can expect/should do to get ready

• What to expect during an agent/editor appointment (including some role-playing between your President and your conference Editor/Agent Coordinator)

• How to preparing for a book signing

• How not to lose your mind/cool at conference, especially if you are an introvert

We’ll then break out into smaller groups to talk about these issues in more depth; you choose which topic group to join.

And we’ll end by practicing elevator pitches. Even if you are not meeting with an editor or agent at conference, it helps to have an “elevator pitch” ready to share with fellow conference goers. (Elevator pitch = the two or three sentences you offer when you meet a fellow conference attendee in the elevator, or in line for dinner, or waiting in the bathroom, and that person asks, “So, what are you working on?”) Bring your own elevator pitch for your current WIP and we’ll practice by sharing them with each other, and giving each other constructive feedback.