Our speaker for the January 27, 2024 meeting (last Saturday of the month) is Lori Freeland.

Topic: The Ins and Outs of Internal Thought  

What your characters don’t say is as crucial as what they do say.     

Internal thought can either add depth to your story and amplify your characters or dilute your wow moments and water down your words. The goal in any novel is to make your readers feel as though they’ve stepped into your character’s body and to let them experience the world through your character’s eyes. Discover how internal thought relates to topics such as deep point of view, dialogue, subtext, tension, pacing, character likeability, character motivation, and story credibility. What goes on inside your character’s head can be a major player in creating their world. It’s worth taking the time to perfect.  

Lori’s Bio:

Lori Freeland, an encourager at heart, believes everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she holds a BA in psychology from The University of Wisconsin and lives in the Dallas area. A regular contributor to Writers in the Storm and Crosswalk and former editor for The Christian Pulse and Armonia Publishing, she’s presented multiple writing workshops at conferences across the country and has experience in developmental and copy edits in various genres of fiction and nonfiction. She writes articles, novels, and everything in between. When she’s not curled up with her dogs drinking too much coffee, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head.

Our speaker for the November 25 meeting (last Saturday in November at the Presbyterian Church) is our own Laura Drake.

Her Topic: Advanced Craft Workshop!

You know the feeling – when you start a book and immediately suspend disbelief to fall into the story world. As authors, we know that this isn’t easy to do. It takes more than a good scene. It takes a maestro of craft to pull it off.

If you’re past problems with POV, character development and stage direction, this class will help you understand the subtle nuances that can be the difference between a ‘good writer’ and a popular author.

Laura Drake is a hybrid author of Women’s Fiction and Romance. Her debut, The Sweet Spot, won the 2014 Romance Writers of America® RITA® award. She’s since published 14 more books. She is a founding member of Women’s Fiction Writers Assn. and Writers in the Storm blog.

Laura is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She’s a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

Our speaker for the October 30th in-person meeting at Hood County Library is Lori Wilde:

She will speak on “Less Tell, More Show: Techniques for Making Your Writing Leap Off the Page.

Her Bio:

Lori Wilde is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of 97 works of romantic fiction. She’s a three-time Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has won numerous other awards as well. Her books have been translated into 26 languages, with more than five million copies of her books sold worldwide.

Her series, Wedding Veil Wishes, inspired three movies from Hallmark, that went on to shatter viewing records.

Lori is an RN with a BSN and a MLA from Texas Christian University. She holds a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA, a certificate in forensic nursing from Kaplan and she is also a RYT-200 yoga instructor.

A sixth-generation Texan, Lori lives with her husband, Bill, in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World.

Charles Somervill is a retired Presbyterian minister. His educational background includes a Master of Divinity degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, an MA in psychology from Eastern New Mexico University, and a PhD from the University of Oklahoma. 

Since retiring Charles has taken up fiction writing.  His published works include Murder by Faith, The Granbury Murders: A Mark and Lori Mystery, The Granbury Assassin: A Mark and Lori Mystery, and The Granbury Witch: A Mark and Lori Mystery.

Non-fiction published works include Leadership Strategies for Ministers, and Stepfathers: Struggles and Solutions.

You can read reviews on books by Charles Somervill at Goodreads.com/csomervill or Amazon or Thrift Books.

On the Goodreads website Charles answers the following questions.

1. How do you deal with writer’s block?
2. What’s the best thing about being a writer?
3. What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
4. What are you currently working on?
5. How do you get inspired to write?
6. Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

We expect a good attendance from our membership to hear this accomplished author.

The Strategic Power of Deep Editing!

Learn my psychologically-based deep editing and you’ll power your writing and your scenes with emotion. 

This webinar covers:

1. Deep Editing Tools
2. Margie’s Four Levels of Amplification
3. Effective stimulus response patterns
4. Writing fresh faces and voices and visceral responses
5. Emotional Impact on the POV Character

Saturday, May 20, Hood County Library, 10:00 a.m. – Noon

More information here.

Our next meeting will convene in the 1st floor Pecan Room at the Hood County Library on Saturday, February 25th, a few minutes after 10:00 a.m. The Library opens at 10:00 a.m.

Our speaker will be Dr. Jake Brewer.

Topics: Workflow, in and out of one’s genre, and the relationship between plot and causality.

Bio:

I completed my undergraduate degree in English Literature, Creative Writing, and Film at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned my Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Oklahoma State University. My doctoral studies were completed at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Now I’m at Tarleton State as an Assistant Professor of English, where I teach creative writing (especially fiction), renaissance literature, and film. My short fiction has been published in F(r)iction, The Hunger, and most recently on the podcast Tales to Terrify.

Monday, Sept. 26, at Langdon Center Studios…

Come and listen. His site: https://www.harryhallspeaks.com/

Bio:

About Harry

In school, most of us learned math, science, reading, and other lessons. Some skills became invaluable on personal and professional levels, sometimes both.

However, few of us leaned about public speaking.

Unlike almost any other discipline, we experienced public speaking on the fly, in the form of an oral test or presenting a book report. We studied, we read, we prepared-for the written assignment, but few of us invested in the speaking part, either because we didn’t know how, or the teacher didn’t give us class time to do it. So when our name was called, our hearts raced, our mouths dried, and we began, hoping to, ‘get through it,’ before taking our seat, not sure that we accomplished our speaking goals, which were mostly not even part of our thought process, anyway.

There’s a better way.

I taught public speaking for more than 20 at two colleges. I learned that connecting with the audience begins long before you reach the stage, that you can send so many negative signals to an audience before you begin making recovery almost impossible. You sabotage your speech before you’ve even said a word. As you proceed, you are chained to notes, your body language signals ‘I’m nervous,’ and you never connect.

Following just a few tips will send your public speaking to another direction. Learning public speaking fundamentals such as: how to begin and end a speech, ways to strengthen speaker/audience connection, how to use notes, and other strategies go a long way in helping you overcome Americans’ number one fear.

A basic session in public speaking will get you on your way to dropping the shackles of self-doubt and rid yourself of the intimidation of public speaking, and initial fear behind you, making you want to reach for next level, and beyond.

Topic: Do your characters fail to ‘come to life?’

We hope to see you there.

And here’s the website for more info:

Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop – Learn to write your best. Learn to sell what you write.

Topic: What I Learned While Getting My Book Published!

We hope to see you there – Langdon Center Studios (enter on Stockton Street) 6:30 p.m. on Monday 25 July, 2022.

We will have a short business meeting and then hear from Colin Holmes.

Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a
beige cubical as the communications director for an
international electronics firm. A recovering advertising
creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies,
and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds,
TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles,
and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and
cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste
site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating
characters at every turn.

Holmes began writing screenplays after working with
an advertising client who he thought had a story that
should be a movie. Deciding if he could write 60-second
commercials, he was stubborn enough to tackle a 120-minute movie script. His original screenplay became the feature film Edge of the World released in 2018.

While not his first novel, Thunder Road is the first to reach publication, a feat that occurred six months after his 60th birthday. As a multi-genre story, many agents passed, not knowing quite how to package the novel. The book was discovered by CamCat Editor, Helga Sheir as a
tweet Holmes posted during the #PitchMadness Twitter pitch fest.

Holmes lives just west of Fort Worth and writes novels, short stories and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way of his far too patient wife. He is an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a board member of the DFW Writers Workshop and serves as the Director of the 2022 DFW Writers Conference.

He’s a long-suffering Texas Rangers baseball fan, and appreciates barbeque, fine automobiles, and unpretentious scotch.

We are pleased to announce that Will Clarke will speak at our summer seminar, Saturday, June 11, 2022.

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Langdon Center, 308 E. Pearl, one block east of the Granbury Square. Come to the historic chapel/concert hall for the seminar.

Admission: GWB Members $10. Open to the public for $25.00.

His topic is: Story 2.0. Hacking the Operating System of the Human Mind.

Will Clarke is the author of several works of fiction, including The Neon Palm of Madame Melançon, Lord Vishnu’s Love Handles: A Spy Novel (Sort of), and The Worthy: A Ghost’s Story. His novels have been selected as The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and Kirkus Review’s Best of the Year. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and family.