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.
Category Archives: Events and Speakers
William Ledbetter will speak on February 28: Fellowship Hall, 10 a.m.
“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.
Bio:
William Ledbetter is a Nebula Award winning author with three novels and more than seventy speculative fiction short stories and non-fiction articles published in five languages, in publications such as Asimov’s, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Escape Pod and the SFWA blog. He’s been a space and technology geek since childhood and spent most of his non-writing career in the aerospace industry. He lives near Dallas with his wife, a needy dog and three spoiled cats. His Killday novel series is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible and Interstellar Flight Press. http://williamledbetter.com/
January 31, 2026 Speaker
Our next in-person meeting will be Saturday, January 31 in the Hood County Library at 10:10 am. Wendy Wheeler will speak.
Title: Step Up but Watch Out! Social Media for Writers
If you have a book or books, social media and other forms of self-marketing can help you increase your audience. If you self-publish, then all marketing (as well as all the other deliverables of getting a book out and finding people to sell it to) is up to you. I’ll share what current theory is on how/where/why to promote yourself with social media, gaffes to avoid, and also take a side trip into the wild world of Writer Beware, a lawyer’s blog about scam artists preying on writers.
Bio:
Wendy Wheeler has sold fiction to Analog, Daily SF, Gorezone and other periodicals. Her stories have appeared in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Snow White Blood Red, The Crafters, plus more. In her many decades of marketing, communications and social media for high tech — her day job back in Austin — she got executive-level training in social media at Dell for special product launches, like the Internet of Things. Visit her at www.wendy-wheeler.com.
GWB Meeting – November 22
Next in-person meeting is Saturday, November 22. Robin Tatum will speak on intuitive EDITING by Tiffany Yates Martin.
Tiffany Yates Martin is editor for many best-selling and career authors. Her writing blog (at foxprint Literary) offers a wealth of transparent, useful information. I will present a summary of her book, intuitive EDITING, which proved pivotal in saving me time and guesswork in my own editing process.
Robin Tatum is a multi-published writer of YA crossover fantasy and paranormal mystery novels with threads of whimsy and humor. She enjoys helping other writers on their journey.
Margie Lawson Webinar for October 25
The EDITS System is a tool I created for writers to analyze scene components. It’s the ultimate show-don’t-tell power tool!
It shows writers what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s missing.
When writers use this five-highlighter system, they see where story momentum starts and stops. Where tension starts and stops. Where the reader may start and stop.
The EDITS System helps writers find a compelling balance of emotion, dialogue, internalizations, tension, setting, description, action, senses, body language, dialogue cues, and more. They learn what works for each specific scene.
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Writers: Bring 5 pages of a work-in-progress. If possible, bring highlighters – yellow, blue, green, and pink. Bring a red pen.
GWB Speaker for September 27
We meet at the Fellowship Hall on Sept. 27 at 10 am.
Genie Bishop will speak on what not to do:
What Not To Do When You Write Your Break-out Novel is a tongue-in-cheek summary of common mistakes that can be made by any writer. This was inspired by the wealth of information I received from my critique group. I am published in technical non-fiction writing but found I had much to learn when switching to fiction/novel writing.
Meeting – August 23, 2025
Granbury Writers’ Bloc will meet Saturday the 23rd in the Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall at 10:00 a.m.
Our speaker is Shirley Jump via Zoom.
Next Meeting: July 26
Our next meeting is Saturday, July 26, 10:00 am, at the Fellowship Hall.
Laura Drake will facilitate a ‘Check-In.’ She will give tips on organizing your writing, and then answer questions. If you have a work-in-progress and need assistance or suggestions, bring it.
If all goes well, we will broadcast the meeting via a Zoom call. Hopefully, the record function will work and you’ll be able to review the discussion in replay mode after the meeting.
Summer Workshop on June 14
Anita Dickason will speak at the Fellowship Hall from 10 am to about 1 pm. Cost is $10 per person. Guests and visitors are welcome.
www.anitadickason.com
GWB Meeting May 31
We will meet at 10:10 am at the HOOD COUNTY LIBRARY, upstairs in the Cottonwood room. The parking lot may be full. Use the big church lot or the public lot behind Farina’s.
Geoff Mantooth will speak on “Character.”
Why Readers are drawn to Characters above all other elements of a story.
Tools to develop memorable and compelling people that readers want to spend time with.
Participation of the audience (in character or out) is encouraged.
Geoff Mantooth is a former electrical engineer and intellectual property attorney who won the largest trademark infringement jury verdict in Texas history. He explores compelling stories in his Substack newsletter Trials By Writing.
https://trialsbywriting.substack.com.