Online classes
These are either two- or four-week courses ran through a Yahoo group. The fees for the four-week courses are $25 (or $20 for members of our chapter). The two-week ones are $15 (or $10 for chapter members). You don't need to be a member of RWA to participate.
To register, just send an e-mail to mwvrwa@gmail.com with your name, your PayPal name if it's different (so we can match payment to you), the workshop(s) you're registering for, and the e-mail address you'd like used for the class. Then send your payment via PayPal to the same address.
It's hard to notice on some screens and fonts, but the e-mail address has a "w" then a "v." We've had a couple people forget the "v" when they sent their payments and it makes things a bit more tricky to correct (PayPal doesn't let you simply cancel a payment unfortunately.)
July 7-31 (4 weeks)
Take the Mystery Out of Writing Mystery & Suspense Novels with Karen S. Wiesner
Time-saving tips from award-winning author Karen S. Wiesner to help you keep your mystery and suspense plot-lines straight from start to finish.
August 4-31 (4 weeks)
Secrets to Successful PR with Lisa Catto
PR doesn't have to feel like a four-letter word any longer! Join public relations professional Lisa Catto as she helps you put together your own press kit, learn how to develop an online presence, and get tips for working with the media.
September 1-28 (4 weeks)
Take Your Book from Good to Sold: Ten Lessons Learned with Shirley Jump
For first-time authors, the biggest hurdle to selling is learning how to craft a book that is better than good. Good wins contests. Good gets requests for partials. Good sometimes gets a revision request. But learning how to take “good” and turn it into “sellable” is the key to success. New writers may not see those small elements that make a big difference in a book’s salability. In this workshop, New York Times bestselling romantic comedy author Shirley Jump will share the ten lessons she learned that helped her take a book that had won the Tampa Area Romance Authors First Impressions contest and make it into one that was bought by Silhouette, plus how she turned formerly rejected books into single title sales. The workshop will include discussion of the revision process and the various elements authors need to look for before considering their book ready for an editor’s eyes. Today’s editors don’t have time to sit down with a fledgling writer and teach her how to take her novel to that next level. This workshop will fill in that final gap for the writer who is just ten lessons away from a sale.
November 10-21 (2 weeks)
Break Free From the Slushpile with CJ Lyons
This workshop focuses on queries, hooks and pitches. By the end, you will have a polished query letter, blurb and feedback on your opening page. Taught by medical suspense author CJ Lyons.
Contest
This is our first annual Pitch Perfect Contest, judging a long synopsis (4-10 pages), short synopsis (1-3 pages) and one-page query letter. The purpose of this contest is to help you get feedback on those dreaded synopsis, and have two polished versions ready to send to editors and agents. Since they seem to vary in required length, having a short and a long one will be helpful.
Not to mention, the grand prize is A FREE REGISTRATION TO RWA NATIONALS 2009! Isn't that awesome? Plus if you are a finalist in your category, an agent or editor will be viewing your proposal. Don't put off writing that synopsis any longer, submit it for some feedback and at least four sets of eyes will look it over and provide you with feedback.
We have some fabulous judges lined up too. Here are our categories and judges.
Contemporary - TBA
Futuristic/Fantasy/Paranormal - Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester Publishing
Romantic Suspense - Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency
Romantic Elements/Chick Lit - Sha-Shana Crichton, Crichton & Associates
Historical - Kate Seaver, Berkely Publishing
Young Adult - Michelle Grajkowski, Three Seas Literary Agency
Inspirational - Kim Moore, Harvest House Publishing
Erotic Romance - Raelene Gorlinsky, Ellora's Cave
For more info on our workshops and classes, please visit the chapter Web site at http://www.midwillamettevalleyrwa.com/.
7 comments:
I took the Shirley Jump class a year or two ago. She's a kick, and I learned a lot from her.
That's a nice line-up of classes!
Lisa, Thanks for telling us all about these classes. I have to admit I've never taken one though I imagine I should have and that anyone would benefit from additional informations.
You must be getting kind of excited -- you're off very soon, right? Eeekkkkeee,,,,,
Fabulous shameless chapter promo, Lisa!! Thanks for posting all that!
You've done an awesome job, Lisa!
Kendra, good to know! Her class looks really good, I think I'm going to take that one.
Karen, it's great to get access to all sorts of neat topics through the Web. I love it!
Alice, ... a week from Thursday. EEEEEEEKKKKK IS RIGHT! ACK!
Thanks Eli and Paty! ;)
If y'all know of anyone who might be interested in teaching classes for future months, that would be great!
Lisa, how about Margie Lawson? She's an old friend and I hear her online classes are popular. I can ask her if you want. Let me know.
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