GCCRWA Proudly Presents

Beth Cornelison presents: Breathing Life into a Scene.

"Breathing Life Into A Scene" looks at how to add detail and depth to your scenes without slowing your pace and how to make scenes more emotional and vivid with well-chosen description, the five senses, and character-defining perspective. From word choice to characterization, this workshop gives invaluable advice on adding the extra sparkle your scenes need to hook an editor.

Award-winning author Beth Cornelison received her degree in public relations from the U of GA in 19- mumble mumble. After seriously pursuing publication for six years (give or take), she sold her Golden Heart™-finaling manuscript to Silhouette Intimate Moments in 2004. Since that time she has published with Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Samhain, and Five Star Press. She is the Vice President and Conference coordinator for the NOLA STARS and currently lives in Louisiana with her husband, one son, three cats and two really stupid turtles.

Cynthia Eden presents: Keeping the "Normal" in Your Paranormal Tales.

This paranormal writing workshop will teach attendees how to give human traits and flaws to non-human characters. Supernatural characters are, by their very creation, beyond the norm, but when a writer grounds these beings with human traits, readers can better relate to the stories and develop a deeper appreciation for the paranormal hero or heroine.

Cynthia Eden is an award-winning writer who pens tales of paranormal suspense and sensual romance. Her publishers include Kensington Brava, Avon Red, Red Sage and ImaJinn Books. Cynthia has always been a fan of stories that push the envelope, preferring to write (and read) tales that feature supernatural elements.

Roland Haas presents: Enter the Past Tense.

The author speaks about his book, "Enter the Past Tense," and his life as a CIA assassin.

While at Purdue University on an NROTC scholarship in 1971, Roland Haas was recruited to become a CIA deep clandestine operative. He underwent intensive training to prepare for insertion into hostile areas, including High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachuting and weapons instruction. In the course of his first mission (to East and West Germany, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Romania, and Austria), he assassinated several international drug dealers. On his return, he was thrown into an Iranian prison, where was physically and psychologically tortured. Over the next thirty years, he served the agency on an as-needed basis, engaging in such activities as hunting down and eliminating members of the Red Army Faction and extracting Soviet Spetsnaz officers from East Germany. His cover jobs included being a part owner of an Oakland health club, which brought him into close contact with steroid abuse in professional athletics, drug abuse in general, and the Hell's Angels, whom he believes tried to have him killed. He also served in Germany as site commander for the Conventional Forces in Europe weapons treaty. His most recent cover was as the deputy director of intelligence in the U.S. Army Reserve Command, which involved him with the Guantanamo detention facility.

A true story that pulls no punches, Enter the Past Tense also chronicles Haas's descent into, and recovery from, alcoholism that resulted from the stress of this extraordinary life. It is an eye-opening look at the dark, but many would argue necessary, side of intelligence work--and one that readers won't soon forget.

Roland W. Haas is an assistant deputy chief of staff and the command senior intelligence officer of the U.S. Army Reserve Command. He lives in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Carolyn Haines presents: Creating Characters in a Mystery Series.

A mystery series writing workshop covering the development of characters that can span several books. The protagonists for mysteries, thrillers and suspense are all first cousins, but each genre demands a few special quirks.

Carolyn Haines is the author of over 50 books in multiple genres. Two of her books ("Penumbra" and "Hallowed Bones") have been named top five mysteries by Library Journal in their respective years, and her Bones series have been listed on several bestseller lists. Her story, "The Wish," was included in the NYT bestselling anthology, "Many Bloody Returns," and her latest book is a thriller out with MIRA called "Revenant." She teaches at the University of South Alabama and is the recipient of a writing fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. She is an animal activist and urges everyone to spay and neuter.

Virginia Kelly presents: Google This! Tips and Tricks for Writers Make It Work For You.

Google searching, including interesting and useful tips and tricks that hide behind Google's simple interface.

Virginia Kelly, a college librarian, teaches research courses and conducts workshops for students and faculty. Her 2003 Golden Heart™ Finalist was published as "To the Limit" by Silhouette Intimate Moments. "To the Limit" was a finalist in the Best First Book category of the Holt Medallion and the Desert Rose contests, and also in the Best Long Contemporary category of the Aspen Gold contest.

Allison Knight presents:
E-Publishing – Is It For Me?

Multi-published in both print and digital books, Allison Knight will explore today’s digital market and the Internet. Various digital avenues will be defined, both advantages and disadvantages of digital publishing will be examined, and the future of the digital market will be highlighted. The newer reading devices will be demonstrated.

Allison Knight began her fiction writing career twenty years ago. Addicted to historical romance Allison is anticipating the release of her 13th book in August of 2008. A transplant from the north, she claims the south. “Even though you have to watch the weather, the Gulf Coast is like a little piece of heaven.”

Catherine Mann presents: High Octane Heroes.

RITA® Award winning author Catherine Mann dissects the characterization of her military alpha heroes, discovering what makes them tick, why they appeal to readers and how to apply those charismatic elements to your own hero, regardless of his occupation. A one hour interactive workshop, packed with practical tips and visual aids – ooh-rah!

National best-selling author Catherine Mann blasted onto the scene six years ago and already has over a million books in print in multiple languages. Catherine writes action packed military romantic suspense novels for Berkley and Silhouette Romantic Suspense, as well as page-turning steamy romances for Silhouette Desire. Winner of both the prestigious RITA® Award and the Bookseller’s Best Award, she has spent the past twenty years following her military flyboy husband around the country with their four children in tow, currently landing in the Florida panhandle.

Barbara Collins Rosenberg presents: Important Issues in Book Publishing Contracts This session will look at all aspects of the creative, legal and financial relationship between an author and a publisher. Questions are welcome, but they must be general in nature; the speaker will not provide advice nor commentary on specific writers' or publishers' contracts. Barbara Collins Rosenberg opened The Rosenberg Group in 1998 and has been accepting romance writers and authors of women’s fiction as clients since 1999. Romance and women’s fiction are the only fiction genres that The Rosenberg Group represents. The agency has a unique expertise in college level textbooks for the first and second year courses. Additionally the agency represents nonfiction for the large commercial market. Barbara’s clients include a RITA™ award winner, a World Series MVP, and the Estate of a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist along with several authors on the cusp of publication.

Don McNair presents: Tune Up That First Chapter.

Over a lifetime of professional writing and editing, Don McNair has identified universal mistakes writers-even published ones-make. Unfortunately, many will unknowingly make those same mistakes the rest of their lives. Unless, of course, someone points them out.

In this workshop I'll identify those mistakes in a way that will get Conference attendees to rethink old habits. I'll name and show the problems, propose their solutions, and provide handouts that will help solidify that new-found knowledge. They'll see that these "first-chapter" lessons also apply to the rest of their manuscript.

For years, McNair wished he could teach his writers how to edit themselves. He finally developed a program, which he calls "21 Steps to Fog-Free Writing," to do just that. He is now retired from PR, but today uses his editing and teaching skills to help other romance writers. Mr. McNair has recently launched "McNair Edits," an editing service aimed specifically at helping RWA members become published. His first ad appeared in the October RWR. Visit him at McNairEdits.com..

Novelist Don McNair spent 40 years helping other writers grow. He edited magazines for 12 years, overseeing a staff and freelance writers. A major PR firm recruited him to edit staff-written materials, write features, and develop client communications programs. In six years there he won several regional and national honors, including PR's highest award; the Public Relations Society of America's "Silver Anvil." He spent the next 22 years heading up his own PR company, McNair Marketing Communications, and wrote three how-to books and three published novels.

Kelley St. John presents: Extreme Pitch Makeover – How’d She Do That? Pitching to an Editor or Agent.

During this workshop, Kelley defines four types of pitches and helps writers decide which method works best for their particular book. She’ll start with the Mini-Pitch, or GMC Pitch. For fans of Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation and Conflict, you’ll find this pitch is the perfect starting point. Then you’ll learn about elaborating on that GMC Pitch and generating your Cover Blurb Pitch. After we’ve got those pitches mastered, we’ll move on to the High Concept Pitch. And finally, she’ll cover the Multi-hook Pitch, another form of the popular Cover Blurb pitch.   By the end of the workshop, you’ll be ready to face that agent or editor appointment with gusto – with your smile in place, your confidence soaring, and your final response ready: “Sure, I’ll be happy to send the full!”

Kelley St. John's previous experience as a senior writer at NASA fueled her interest in writing action-packed suspense, and she also enjoys penning steamy romances and quirky women's fiction. Since 2000, St. John has obtained over fifty writing awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award, and was elected to the Board of Directors for Romance Writers of America®.

St. John's media appearances include the CBS Early Show and NBC's Daytime (WFLA). St. John and her novels have been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publishers Weekly, Pages magazine, Quick and Simple magazine, Foam magazine, Accent on Tampa Bay magazine, and the Writer's Digest Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

Dianna Love Snell & Mary Buckham present: The Break Into Fiction™ Template Teaching Series is new, innovative…and best of all it works! This program is for writers trying to break into fiction publishing.

Mary Buckham and Dianna Love Snell will teach a two-hour, high energy workshop on Power Openings and Power Pacing from their Break Into Fiction™ template series. They will guide you through how to use the templates provided to kick YOUR story up to the next level. The workshop will include drawings for 3 attendees to receive a critique of their first 5 pages and 2 attendees to have 30 minutes one-on-one with both Mary and Dianna to ask questions about getting published.!

Award-winner author and national speaker Mary Buckham started writing with five children under the age of ten at home. She quickly learned the value of maximizing any and all writing time she found.

These days, when not writing romantic-suspense or thrillers she is busy presenting workshops both online and live around the U.S. and Canada and is one of the founders behind www.WriterUniv.com an online writing resource for novelists. To find out more about Mary, her books and her appearance schedule visit www.MaryBuckham.com

RITA™ award-winning author and national speaker Dianna Love Snell started writing while working a hundred feet above the ground on unusual marketing projects for Fortune 500 companies. She was hooked on writing the minute she penned her first story, which went on to sell and win a RITA™ award. Being a relatively new author, she understands the frustration of digging through tombs of reference material to figure out what works and what does not. That's why Dianna and Mary teamed up to offer new writers a way to plot that made sense and strengthened a story. To learn how to Plot YOUR Book in 2 Days visit BreakIntoFiction.com

Dianna's next book is a debut collaboration with NYT best seller Sherrilyn Kenyon. "Phantom in the Night" is a new B.A.D. Agency romantic suspense - a dark and edgy sexy adventure spiced with Sherrilyn's trademark humor. (Pocket - June 2008). In October of 2008, Dianna's paranormal novella - "Midnight Kiss Goodbye" - will be part of an anthology (St. Martin's Press). Visit www.DiannaLoveSnell.com

Lenora Worth presents: Emotional Suspense--New and Improved Edition.

Lenora Worth will take her popular Emotional Suspense workshop and turn it up a notch to show how to bring characters to life with deep, point-of-view emotions that make stories compelling. In this workshop, you will learn how to write with emotions and you'll also learn how to make your characters more human. There will be some audience participation, so get ready and get emotional!

Lenora Worth has written over 30 books for three different publishers. Currently she writes for Steeple Hill and Harlequin's Next. With over a million books in print, Lenora is considered a bestseller at Steeple Hill and has won numerous awards for several of her titles, including the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for "Logan's Child" in 1998. With a style described as emotional and edgy, Lenora continues to write the kind of romantic and suspenseful stories she loves as well as working freelance for a local Shreveport magazine. She also wrote a weekly opinion column for five years for the Shreveport Times. She is a member of RWA®, Novelists, INC, ACFW and several local writers' groups.