In a well-attended meeting including guests from as far away as Ohio and Virginia, Wendy and Erica delivered an informative program on how to create settings to enhance your story. Using examples from their books and life experiences, topics covered included: “Where am I?” From a reader’s perspective, why it’s important to know setting in … Read more

Jeffrey Briggs interviewed local authors Jeanne Matthews and Alice K. Boatwright about their personal processes for getting from the blank page to the finished manuscript. He even suggested adding a fourth “R” to the mix: Repeat! Some of the topics covered were: Research Both authors use a wide variety of resources such as news articles, … Read more

Alice Boatwright engaged award winning short story author and educator Art Taylor in a wide-ranging conversation about the history and writing of the short story. Some of the topics that were covered: Is the short story a training ground for writing novels? Why readers like short stories Economy, efficiency and focus – the three essentials … Read more

Award-winning author Glen Erik Hamilton was entertaining and thought-provoking. He shared his techniques and tricks for managing our external environment, our internal mindset, and shifting our mental gears between writing and rewriting our work. In other words, how to shut out the real world and allow room for fictional ones. Hamilton explained that he takes … Read more

The invitation asked people to bring: A song parody, a poem written by you or someone else, a funny or touching story about a wonderful (or heartbreaking) holiday memory, a limerick or a haiku or even a run-on sentence… and if you read something while wearing a Santa hat, so much the better. The thirteen … Read more