We meet at 10:00 a.m. at the (Presbyterian Church) Fellowship Hall.

Greg Gifford will speak on Slang, Idioms, Euphemisms and the Secret Language of Subcultures.

Fellowship Hall, 10 a.m., Saturday, October 31.

Geoff Mantooth will speak. This month’s presentation is “Using AI to Write a Book: It’s Not What You Think.”

Last month, we engaged in a brief discussion about using AI. Join Geoff Mantooth as we expand the discussion by delving into examples, results, and consequences of using AI to write a book.

Our next meeting: Fellowship Hall, Saturday, September 26, 10:00 a.m.

Topic: Social media and wellness for authors.

Summary: Aspects of social media geared specifically towards authors, while also touching on wellness for authors and getting through blocks and burnout

Bio: 

Courtney Marquez is the founder and owner of Sol Creative Wellness LLC, providing social media, graphic design, and website services to authors since 2021. She is also recently 200-hr YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) certified, and is building an oasis for authors to flow through their creative blocks and burnout using yoga, community, and more. When she is not working, she enjoys hanging out with her dogs and husband, laying out in the sun (preferably at the beach, but not required), or sweating it out with a good workout session.

Our next meeting is Saturday, August 29, Fellowship Hall – Presbyterian Church at 10:00 a.m.

Leanne will speak on ‘Finding and keeping your writer voice.’

Bio:

Leanne Kale Sparks is the author of the award-winning Kendall Beck series, featuring an FBI agent hunting down child abductors and murderers. She has also contributed two short stories to the Sisters in Crime Colorado Mystery Merge Anthologies. But other stories are always buzzing around in her head, and new stories with intriguing characters are coming. The Rocky Mountains of Colorado is the backdrop of her stories and the place that will always be home. When not writing, she and her husband—who sleeps with one eye open—spend time swimming, reading, and spoiling their German Shepherd and Corgi. And drinking an alarming amount of coffee and wine. 

Topic: Writing Dialogue, inspired by the book written by Tom Chiarella.

Meeting: July 25, 10:00 a.m. at the Fellowship Hall West of the Granbury square.

Bio:

I’ve been a part of Writer’s Bloc for almost eight years. My favorite genre is Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Xenofiction. (Writing from a non human perspective.) I am currently working on my debut novel, Avatars of Another Universe. I am attending Tarrant County College for a degree in Graphic Design and I also work at the TCC bookstore.

Our summer workshop is scheduled for Saturday, 10:00 a.m., Presbyterian Church, Fellowship Hall on June 27.

1. No charge to attend.
2. Laura Drake will direct the workshop: 10:00 to 2:00 p.m.
3. Bring your own work or do a writing assignment from Laura.
4. GWB will purchase and serve pizza for lunch
5. Topic: Bleeding on the page – writing emotion.
6. We hope you will attend.
7. Bring your laptop or writing materials.

Bleeding on the Page – Writing Emotion

Whether you write suspense, mystery, memoirs or romance, one of the most important tools in a Writer’s toolbox is the ability to express true emotion on the page.  Emotion is the glue that binds a reader to your characters and to you, as an author.

Laura will explain the tools you’ll need to achieve and refine this skill, including pacing, visceral responses, expanding and contracting time, how to handle backstory and how to achieve deep POV. She’ll illustrate by breaking down examples from Best Selling authors’ novels.

Talk – 

Research ideas and random things I’ve learned while marketing my book 

Bio – 

Jennifer Marra writes and constructs crosswords. Her debut novel, The Days Between, is available now. Jennifer’s creative nonfiction has appeared in literary journals including The Forge and Wanderlust. She won an award for her essay “Getting the Hang of It” in Fall 2020. Her crossword puzzles are regularly published in major newspapers and have appeared in The Atlantic.

Jennifer lives in Texas, with frequent escapes to Connecticut.

Her debut book, The Days Between, is out! On Amazon, B&N, bookshop.org and more. 

Check out my website for news about my crosswords and novel. https://www.jennifermarra.com/

We meet on Saturday the 25th at 10:00 a.m. at Fellowship Hall.

Iretired from Kyndryl in 2025 and walked directly into the writing career I had been building in the margins for forty years.

Today I write under the name J. L. Yarrow with my wife, Leanne. Our series, the Time Forward Trilogy, is published by The Story Plant and has earned international award recognition. The deadlines on my calendar now involve manuscripts, not migrations. The problems I solve involve plot and character, not cloud architecture.

https://jlyarrow.com/home

Our next in-person meeting will be Saturday, March 28, 10:10 am, in the Hood County Library – upstairs in the Cottonwood Room.

Geoff Mantooth will speak on conflict and how to keep readers turning pages.

“The Quick and Dirty Novel Synopsis”

William Ledbetter started out as a short fiction writer, so came to novel writing with a different perspective and like many writers, developed his own unique way of pulling together the elements of a story to create a synopsis. He calls it “The Quick and Dirty Novel Synopsis” and will share this “one of many methods” via a humorous presentation about an alien invasion.