Calendar
Next Up
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Pitch Prep and Conference Do’s and Don’ts
Coming Soon
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Last Minute Conference Prep, Mock Pitches
Past Meetings
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Chapter Holiday Party and Year-End Celebration
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Judge Bubba is coming to talk to us! Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Randy “Bubba” Pierce will be talking to us about what it’s like to be a judge. He’ll talk about the daily doings of a judge, how to make judicial decision, and how to do research.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
GCCRWA’s own Donna Melton Harris will speak about “A Day in the Life of a Reporter.”
Saturday, September 12, 2009
GCCRWA member Kelly L. Stone will present “The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind.” Stone, will discuss how to supercharge your creative output by learning fun, easy-to-use, and effective techniques for tapping into your most valuable yet most underutilized writing resource– your subconscious mind. Her presentation is based on her upcoming book, THINKING WRITE: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative from Adams Media.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Inspirational Romance author Stephanie Newton presents: “Writing Sensual Love Scenes Without S-E-X.” We will discuss those scenes in books that punch up the emotion (EQ) and sensuality without being, necessarily, touchy scenes. We’ll talk about some movie scenes, too, where the EQ is high, but they’re not the most sensual of scenes.
Stephanie’s Bio:
Stephanie Newton wrote her first suspense story at the age of twelve, but didn’t write seriously until her youngest child was in first grade. She lives in Northwest Florida where she gets her inspiration from the sugar white sand, aqua blue-green water of the Gulf of Mexico, and the many unusual and interesting things you see when you live on the beach. You can find her most often enjoying the water with her family, or at their church, where she makes the coffee and her husband preaches the sermons. Visit Stephanie at her website: www.stephanienewtonbooks.com.
Coming soon:
MOVING TARGET, LIS, August 2009
SMOKE SCREEN, LIS, January 2010
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Workshop Day–We will break into groups to work on Query Letters/Synopses, Plotting, and Chapter Critiques.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Award Winning author Carolyn Haines joins us this month to talk about Writing Dark. While lighter or more humorous books can be filled with sex and violence, books that are darker are often known for these elements. But there’s more to writing dark than graphic sex and violence, it’s an approach to language and content. We’ll talk about how to judge an audience for sex, violence, and the fear factor in your fiction. We’ll also talk about why an author might want to write both dark and light, and how difficult that is to navigate.
Carolyn Haines’s latest novel, Wishbones, is the 8th in the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series, which is set in the Mississippi Delta.
The author of over 60 books, she has received critical acclaim for her mystery series as well as her stand alone titles, which have hit regional and national bestseller lists. Fever Moon, a historical thriller released in 2007, was a Book Sense notable book, and Penumbra, set in 1952 Mississippi, was named one of the top five mysteries of 2006 by Library Journal, a distinction given to Hallowed Bonesin 2004.
Her short story, “The Wish”, was included in the anthology, Many Bloody Returns, which hit the New York Times bestseller list last fall.
She is the author of Ham Bones, Bones to Pick, Hallowed Bones, Crossed Bones, Splintered Bones, Buried Bones, Them Bones in the Sarah Booth Delaney series.
Touched and Summer of the Redeemers, two general fiction novels, have been reissued in trade paperback.
Her first non-fiction book, My Mother’s Witness: The Peggy Morgan Story (River City Publishing), tells the story of a woman who testified against Byron Dela Beckwith, a white supremacist who murdered civil rights worker Medgar Evers.
Along with Rebecca Barrett, Haines edited a collection of memories about Mobile author, Eugene Walter, titled Moments with Eugene, and she is currently editing a collection of short stories set around the Mississippi Delta Blues and a crime/noir element for Bleak House.
The author was awarded a 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence and a writing fellowship from the Alabama State Arts Council.
Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
She has published short fiction in journals and magazines.
Haines is a native of Lucedale, Mississippi, but she makes her home in Semmes, Alabama and teaches the graduate and undergraduate fiction writing classes at the University of South Alabama where she is an assistant professor. She is an animal activist and works to help educate the public about the need to spay and neuter pets.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Join us as GCCRWA member Kelly L. Stone delivers her workshop No Matter How Busy You Are, You Can Find Time to Write! The workshop is based on the Kelly’s in-depth interviews with 104 successul and bestselling authors and book TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life– No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages! (Adams Media Jan 08)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
CRITIQUE SESSION
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Author Kathy Carmichael will present The Writer’s Gold Mine: Point of View and Characterization. She explains viewpoint options and how they differ from one another, and also discusses how each works best with different types of books. She will demonstrate how use of viewpoint helps build the story and create characters your readers will care about. Time permitting she will do a short interactive exercise. This is an intermediate level workshop but it can benefit all levels of writers.