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Chapter Meeting News – September 12, 2009

September 9, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as

General Meetings are held the second Saturday of the month at the Brea Community Center, 695 E. Madison Way, Brea, CA 92821. For a map and directions, click here.
Meeting fees are $10 for Members and $20 for Non-Members.

Meeting Schedule for September 12 2009:

9:30 am: Doors Open / Ask an Author—Volunteer Ask an Author/s for September: Nancy Farrier
10:30 – 10:45 am: Announcements

Morning Workshop Speaker: EVE ORTEGA w/a TESSA DARE Historical romance author and OCC Member, Eve Ortega will be discussing “Cut to the Chase: Techniques to Keep Your Prose Tight and Your Story Moving.” She is a part-time librarian, full-time mommy, and swing-shift writer of historical romance. RT Book Reviews has given four and half stars to all three books in Eve’s Regency England trilogy–Goddess of the Hunt, Surrender of A Siren, and A Lady of Persuasion.

11:50 – 1:00: Lunch Break (Lunch Orders available)
12:30 – 1:00: Book signings
1:00 – 1:30 pm: General Meeting and Announcements

Afternoon Speaker: LINDA HOWARD–New York Times Best-selling author Author of romantic suspense, including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, Dying to Please, and her newest release Burn. Linda began writing at the age of nine, sold her first book way back when dirt was two days old, and currently lives in a nut house. She has no idea how she ever gets a book written, but nevertheless, she’s written forty-something of them so far, and may be closing in on the number fifty, but she doesn’t know and has no time to count them. She does know that number 25, Dream Man, was the first to hit the New York Times List, and every book since then has also made the list. She is active in her local RWA chapter, Heart of Dixie, and served a four year term on the RWA Board of Directors.
3:00 pm: Meeting Adjourns

Attention: OCC Members Attending the Meeting–Monthly Critique Drawings!Volunteer Critique Author for September: Laura Wright

Important 2009 Dates to Remember:

September 14, 2009 – October 10, 2009 Online Class: “Plot That Novel YOUR Way” with Sue Viders and Becky Martinez.

For current Online Class Schedule and registration information, please visit http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html.
For more chapter meeting information visit OCC’s website at http://www.occrwa.org

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Inner beauty is great…but gimme a little outer beauty, too!

September 8, 2009 by in category Archives

If you watched Miss Universe recently, you’re probably feeling overly conscious of your age, your pores, the crooked teeth your miserly parents always assured you were “characterful.”

At the same time, beauty pageants are fun to watch—how could they not be, with all that beauty on display? If you like to look at pretty things, Miss Universe is a must-see show.

You just have to hold on to your perspective. Remember, those women have trained for years to get where they are now, and it hasn’t been easy. That looking beautiful is their job, while for the rest of us it’s very much an optional extra.

My latest book (Her So-Called Fiancé, out from Harlequin Superromance this week), features a beauty queen heroine. Sabrina is forced to keep a hold of her perspective when the media attributes her dumping in the first round of the Miss USA pageant to her chunky thighs. Ouch!

So, what can we learn from beauty queens? Some beauty tips, obviously! Try these, which come courtesy of Hollie Domiano, a volunteer in the Miss America program and author of Myths America: A Practical Guide to Pageantry (self-published through Lulu.com for the specialist pageant market):

– Use hair conditioner for shaving your legs etc. It lubricates the hair and makes shaving easier. Your skin will be smoother, too.

– Got sunburn? Take a cup each of cornstarch and baking soda, place in a bath of cool water, and soak in it.

– Need moisture on your skin? Try oatmeal. It’s great for moisturizing dry skin.

For a lighthearted look at keeping our wannabe beauty queen feet firmly grounded, Julie Linker, author of young adult novel Crowned, passes on these “truisms” :

You know you’re a beauty queen when
– You know the difference between a crown and a tiara.
– You own 2 pairs of taupe leather pumps.
– You think 5-inch acrylic heels go with everything.
– You paid more for your evening gown than for your car.
– Your coach has never caught a football.
– Diet Coke is the breakfast of champions.

Hmm, I think I just got disqualified.
What’s your take on beauty and pageantry? Are you pro-pageants – or do they just make you feel a mess?
Abby

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Launching in August, Harlequin Teen

August 30, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

I wanted to update you and share information about the launch of Harlequin Teen. You can click on the Harlequin Teen link & see the information about the line, with text and pictures. I’ve also have included the text and links below.

And you can check out http://harlequinteen.com/teen as well. There’s information there on the Harlequin Teen Panel as well as their Twitter address. Additionally, there’s an article in on the program in USA Today and another one in the Shreveport Times, FYI.
Here’s the info:
Introducing Harlequin Teen, the home of exciting, authentic fiction for every young reader who loves to escape beneath the covers of a great read.
The current market for teen fiction is incredibly exciting — Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series being the tip of a huge iceberg. With its selection of heart-pounding, edgy stories from established authors and fresh new voices, Harlequin Teen is poised to capture a significant portion of that growing audience. Our range of genres will include everything today’s young readers embrace — contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and historical.

MY SOUL TO TAKE
by Rachel Vincent
On sale Aug. ’09
Learn more

INTERTWINED
by Gena Showalter
On sale Sept. ’09
Learn more

There! Now you know….


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Ten Steps to Publication

August 28, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

On Saturday August 22, Charlotte Lobb and I taught a full day workshop sponsored by OCCRWA. It was a special workshop arranged by the OCC Board to offer more resources for writers, and it was the second such workshop offered this year. The first one was a Plotting workshop by Diane Pershing back in January.

I discussed Character and Conflict, and Charlotte talked about Point of View and Dialogue. Every writer can always learn something new, even after many books (I picked up some great tips on dialogue from Char.) It was a small group, only about 17 people or so, which made for an intimate class that encouraged discussion. This made me think about the great resources available to aspiring writers from groups like OCC, which sounded like a good topic for a blog.

Ten Steps to Publication:

1. Write. If you don’t write it, you can’t submit it and no one can publish it! Find your own schedule, your own rhythm. Every writer’s life is different, and every writer’s process is different. Find what works for you and do it, no matter what. Make the time.

2. Join a writer’s group. OCCRWA is a great example of a valuable writer’s group. There are monthly meetings with two speakers every month! There is the contest, which gets your work in front of published author and editor judges. There’s the newsletter and the email loop. There’s cool special workshops like the one Char and I just did. The most important thing a writer’s group can offer, however, is support. No one understands the angst of a writer better than another writer.

3. Get a critique partner or group. Writers tend to be introverted individuals who hang out alone in front of their computers. Some of them are even too afraid to show their work to anyone. In my seventeen years as a serious writer, I have found critique partners/groups to be an invaluable objective eye. Every writer has a blind spot. Is there a phrase or word that you overuse? Is there a grammatical error you always make? Your critque partners will find it and alert you to it before you send off the manuscript.

4. Enter contests. Entering contests is a good way to get objective feedback, but you should have reasons for choosing the contests you enter. The Orange Rose from OCCRWA is one geared to get your manuscript ready for the Golden Heart or submission to an editor or agent. Or maybe you want to enter a contest because a certain author or editor is judging. Perhaps you’re worried about your synopsis so you enter a synopsis contest. Always have a reason, even if that reason is just to support your local chapter. 🙂

5. Know when to stop editing the first three chapters. Many aspiring authors write a dynamite three chapters, then edit them until they squeak. There is such a thing as editing the life out of pages, and you want to avoid that. Walk away from chapter three and move on to chapter four. An editor can’t buy only three chapters of a book.

6. Finish your book. As stated in number 5 above, an editor can’t buy only a few chapters. They need to see the whole book. Just do it. You will be astounded at the sense of accomplishment you get from writing The End.

7. Read new authors. The new authors are the writers who sold their work within the last year. This tells you what editors are buying. Plus you get some great reading material!

8. Learn about the market. Writing is a joy, an outlet, a balm to the soul. Publishing is a business. If you want to get paid for your work, you need to learn about the market. Read the RWR. Subscribe to Publisher’s Marketplace (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/) so you can get Publisher’s Lunch, a daily email that tells you the news in the marketplace. There is also a daily email listing the deals made that day by editors and agents for all genres of books–and the subscription is only about $20 a month.

9. Set goals. No one gets anywhere without setting goals. If the idea of writing a whole book overwhelms you, then concentrate on writing the next page, or the next paragraph, or the next chapter. Keep your goals realistic according to what you can reasonably accomplish. Setting impossible goals guarantees failure. Remember: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

10. Let go of the fear. We all have a fear about getting published. I’ve published 11 books (#12 currently in the works), and I still get nervous around release time. Every writer is worried someone will tell her that her baby is ugly. Don’t project, just deal with the here and now. And don’t be afraid to finish that book and send it out. We’re all dying to hear what you have to say!

See you on the shelves!

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September Online Class: “Plot That Novel Your Way” w Sue Viders and Becky Martinez

August 26, 2009 by in category Archives

“Plot That Novel YOUR Way” with Sue Viders and Becky Martinez
September 14, 2009 – October 10, 2009
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassSep09.html

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: September 13, 2009
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE CLASS:
Plotting is never easy, even for the seasoned writer. How do you keep everything straight and go in the right direction? While this class is aimed at the beginning writer, any level writer can benefit from this overview of various plotting systems. It provides explanations of ways to plot and goes into detail on how authors who write by the seat of their pants can use those ways to make their own plotting—or lack of it—easier.

To give you some idea of how the class will be conducted, here is a brief outline of the subjects we will be discussing in depth during the coming weeks. We’ll be including assignments to go with the various lectures, and discussing the assignments with the class members. We’ll also leave plenty of time for students to ask questions at any time.

Plot that Novel YOUR Way Outline

Week 1
1. Introduction & Greetings
2. Lesson One – A Quick look at Plotting using the 5 W’s
3. Lesson Two – The 3-act structure & Building an Outline

Week 2
1. Lesson Three – Plot Points & Turning Points
2. Lesson Four – Using the Story Board for Pacing

Week 3
1. Lesson Five – Introduction to the Plotting Wheel
2. Lesson Six – Plotting Wheel pt. 2

Week 4
1. Lesson Seven – Putting it all Together
2. Lesson Eight – Plotting backwards & No Plotting
3. Wrap Up – Discovering the Method that works best for you

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS:

Sue Viders is the author of more than 20 books, numerous articles and columns for both artists and writers. An international art marketing consultant, she was the director of the Art Education Division of Color Q, Inc. for over 30 years. Her first writing book Heroes and Heroines, Sixteen Master Archetypes, is used in many colleges and universities from creative writing master programs to screen writing courses. Her latest book, 10 Steps to Creating Memorable Characters is gaining use as a practical workbook for writers who want to further develop their characters. She is a practicing artist, seminar leader, and educator with on-line classes both for writers and artists.

Sue lives in Lone Tree, CO with her husband. Her five grown children and six grandkids live nearby. She is currently working on a coffee table book about the art of money with one of her daughters and a children’s book with her 15 year-old grandson.

Her latest product for writers is Deal a Story; an interactive card game consisting of 101 cards and six sections and is based on her Heroes and Heroines book. Check it out at www.dealastory.com or at her blog http://dealastory.blogspot.com

Becky Martinez is an award-winning former broadcast journalist and published author who teaches classes to writing groups and conducts online writing workshops. Her latest book, a romantic suspense, will soon be published by The Wild Rose Press. Her first published romance novel was an Aspen Gold finalist. She has had several short stories published, including “The Problem” in July 2008 by The Wild Rose Press and she contributed a short story to an anthology that was a 2007 New Mexico Book Award finalist.

With Sue Viders, Lucynda Storey and Cher Gorman, she co-authored the writing book, Ten Steps to Creating Memorable Characters, a workbook for writers.She is currently working with Sue Viders on a new book on plotting.

In addition, she has worked as a publicist, public information officer and public relations consultant in the Denver metro area and has taught classes and workshops on marketing, public relations and broadcast journalism.

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassSep09.html

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: September 13, 2009

Coming in October – Muse Therapy – D. D. Scott style – is all about injecting life into tired and/or stressed out muses. I’ll give writers fun and fabulous tools to analyze their muses’ funks, reign in their creative divas and up their page counts.

http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html Check out our full 2009 list of workshops.

Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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