Please Note
The meetings listed below have already taken place.Most WRW meetings are recorded. If you would like to check out the tapes or mp3 discs from a previous meeting or workshop, please contact our Library/Archives Chair, Julie Stewart.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Where: see announcement that will be sent in early November
When: Sunday, December 4 from 2:00-5:00pm
Member Jennifer Bock hosts the WRW Holiday Party Potluck at her Annandale, VA home.
An announcement will be sent out in early November with Jen’s phone number, home address and driving directions.
Saturday and Sunday, November 5-6, 2011
Location: Bethesda Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Story Mastery with Michael Hauge
This workshop was not recorded.
Saturday, November 5, 2011 - STORY MASTERY
7:45 - 8:45 am: Registration/Continental breakfast
8:45 - 9:00 am: Introductions/Announcements
9:00 - 10:30 am: The Hero’s 2 Journeys: The OUTER JOURNEY, Part I
10:30 - 10:45 am: Morning break
10:45 - 12:00 pm: The Hero’s 2 Journeys: The OUTER JOURNEY, Part II and Pitching your Story
12:00 - 1 pm: Buffet Lunch
1:00 - 3:15 pm: The Hero’s 2 Journeys: The INNER JOURNEY
3:30 - 5:00 pm: Love Stories and Adapting Novels to Film
5:00 - 5:30 pm: Questions and Answers
These sessions includes valuable handouts, interactive pitching information, and opportunities to ask questions of one of the best story consultants in the world.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 - STORY MASTERY IN DEPTH**
** In order to sign up for Sunday’s workshop you must have attended the Saturday workshop.
8:45 - 9:00 am: Introductions and Announcements
9:00 - 12:00 pm: In-depth Analysis of a selected Hollywood Romantic Comedy film using all the steps explained on Sat.
2:00 - 6:00 pm: Private One-on-One Story Coaching with Michael Hauge
$150.00 for a 1/2-hour session. Only EIGHT sessions are available, so sign up early!
About our speaker: Michael Hauge is a Hollywood story expert and consultant, author and lecturer who works with writers and filmmakers on their screenplays, novels, movies and television projects. He has coached writers, producers, stars and directors for every major studio and network, including projects for Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron and Morgan Freeman. Michael works extensively with Hollywood executives, producers, agents and managers to help them recognize powerful material, and work effectively with writers to achieve a commercially successful screenplay. Michael is the best-selling author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read and of Writing Screenplays That Sell, now in its 32nd printing for HarperCollins. His bestselling DVD/CD seminar with Chris Vogler, The Hero’s 2 Journeys, is one of the top-ranked tools for story and screenwriting by professional writers and screenwriters.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Location: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Brainstorming and Conflict with Leanne Banks, Grace Burrowes, and Robin Kaye
9:30-10:00AM – Meet and Greet
10:00-10:15 – Announcements and Introductions
10:15-12:00 – Brainstorming Your Way Out of a Corner with Leanne Banks
Bring your problems with your work-in-progress to this workshop! Leanne Banks will discuss 17 brainstorming techniques. Then the workshop participants will divide into groups to brainstorm solutions to their books problems. This is a fun and empowering experience that will help you expand your way of solving writing problems.
12:00–1:45 – Marlene Judge Training led by Keely Thrall
Enjoy lunch with friends in Bethesda. For those who haven’t received contest judge training or who want a refresher, Keely Thrall will lead an interactive session during lunch at La Mad’s across the street from our meeting site.
2:00-4:00 – The Conflict Sanity Check with Grace Burrowes and Robin Kaye
A well-written romance with excellent character development, abundant steam, and plenty of snappy repartee can still fail as a book because it lacks either adequate conflict or properly resolved conflict. “The Conflict Sanity Check” checks draws on conflict theory and examples from romance fiction to illustrate nuts and bolts concepts that will help you write a more interesting, more satisfying love story.
Leanne Banks is a national #1 best-selling author of over 55 books. Leanne has been a finalist for the RITA three times and has received many writing awards such as the Maggie, the Golden Quill, and the Booksellers’ Best Award. She is also the winner of two lifetime achievement awards from Romantic Times Bookclub. Although Leanne has made the New York Times Bestseller list, she especially enjoyed the experience of when her name and book were included as a clue and answer in a New York Times crossword puzzle. Leanne’s favorite workshop topic is brainstorming, and she loves helping fellow writers discover solutions to their writing challenges.
Grace Burrowes is the sixth out of seven children, and says that being born that far down in the pile made her both determined to express her needs and articulate. She practices family law in western Maryland but attributes her modest complement of conflict management skills to having single-parented a determined, articulate daughter. Grace holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution and is the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of “The Heir,” and “The Soldier.”
Robin Kaye was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge next door to her Sicilian grandparents. Living with an extended family that’s a cross between Gilligan’s Island and The Sopranos, minus the desert isle and illegal activities, explains both her comedic timing and the cast of quirky characters in her books. She’s lived in half a dozen states from New Jersey to Florida, but the romance of Brooklyn has never left her heart, nor has the beauty of Idaho, where she started her own family. She currently resides in Maryland with her husband, three children, two dogs, and a three-legged cat with attitude.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Location: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Barbara Samuel on Voice and the Heroine’s Journey
~ and ~
WRW Annual Meeting with Brown Bag Lunch
9:30-10:00AM – Meet and Greet
10:00-10:15 – Announcements and Introductions
10:15-12:15 – Voice Workshop – Voice is one of the most misunderstood aspects in all of writing—and possibly the most powerful. By working with hands-on, interactive exercises, we will explore the many aspects that create a writer’s unique fingerprint—and ways to fit that voice to the marketplace. Barbara Samuel has taught this workshop in dozens of settings, all over the world and online, and it always triggers very deep discussions and discoveries.
12:15-12:45 – Break for members to purchase lunch in the neighborhood if needed and return for Annual Meeting
12:45-1:45 – WRW Annual Meeting during brown bag lunch at Bethesda Chevy-Chase Center
1:45-2:00 – Short break
2:00-4:00 – The Heroine’s Journey – We are all familiar with the hero’s journey, as presented by Campbell, Vogler, and others. In contrast, the female journey is more internally and community focused, with different goals and beats. Join Barbara Samuel for an in depth discussion of the heroine’s journey, as presented in 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.
Barbara Samuel O’Neal fell in love with food and restaurants at the age of fifteen, when she landed a job in a Greek café and served baklava for the first time. She sold her first novel in her twenties, and has since won a plethora of awards, including two Colorado Book Awards and six prestigous RITAs, including one for THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS in 2010. Her novels have been published widely in Europe and Australia, and she travels internationally, presenting workshops, hiking hundreds of miles, and of course, eating. She lives with her partner, a British endurance athlete, and their collection of cats and dogs, in Colorado Springs.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Meeting point TBA
Exclusive WRW Tour of the Library of Congress, Jefferson Library
Join your fellow WRW members for an Exclusive Tour of the Library of Congress,
Jefferson Library. Space is limited and members must sign-up for this event in compliance with LoC guidelines. A special Programs sign-up email address will be announced in April. Reservations must be made through that address. Be sure to include your own email address as directions and the rendezvous point will be sent to you in May. The tour is restricted to 2010-2011 WRW members only.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Location: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Crafting a Firm Foundation for Your Novel with Sherry Lewis
10 AM: Award-winning, multi-published author and former RWA National President Sherry
Lewis shows you how to craft a firm foundation for your novel. From creating
conflict to challenging characterization, Sherry presents a day filled with
how-to workshops.
11:30 AM: Be part of the discussion as WRW hosts our guest for lunch.
1 PM: Sherry takes the floor again, covering the building blocks of books that
every novelist needs to know.
April, 2011
WRW’s retreat, In the Company of Writers, took place April 29-May 1.
March WRW Meeting: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Author Panel and Workshops on the Hero’s Journey and World-Building
March 5, 2011
Location: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Starts at 10:00am
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Author Panel and Workshops on the Hero’s Journey and World-Building
10:00am: Special guest Colleen Gleason will join us for a morning panel featuring noted sci-fi and fantasy authors, and WRW members: Catherine Asaro, Mindy Klasky, Pamela Palmer, Diana Peterfreund, and Rebecca York. Moderated by WRW member Jean Marie Ward.
Lunch with guests, panelists, and WRW members
Afternoon: Colleen will teach two one-hour workshops:
- The Hero’s Journey
- World-building
February WRW Meeting: Small-Press, Print On-Demand, and Self-Publishing
February 12, 2011
Location:
3000 Spout Run Parkway
Falls Church, VA
Starts at 10:00am
Meeting Room: The meeting will be held in the party room of a condominium building. Visitors need to be buzzed in but our hostess will probably have her son in the lobby to facilitate this. A sign will be up up, too. Our room is on the first floor to the left of the lobby.
Parking: There is visitor parking on the first tier on the right as you come off Spout Run. Overflow can go across the street to the shopping center.
Small-press, Print On-demand, and self-publishing
Presented by Misha Crews
Small press, print-on-demand, and self-publishing: the technology boom has brought many alternatives for the modern “indie author.” What are the pros and cons of these mediums, and how can writers use them to the best advantage of their careers (and pocketbooks)? From the delightful and delicious to the downright disheartening, WRW member Misha Crews will discuss her ups and downs as a small press and self-published author.
January WRW Meeting: 3rd Annual Jane-Austen-And-The-Movies Discussion featuring Persuasion
January 22, 2011
Location: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Starts at 10:00am
Our Third Annual Jane-Austen-And-The-Movies Discussion
WRW member Kathleen Gilles Seidel returns to discuss Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
Following the success of last year’s discussion of Sense and Sensibility, we will watch key scenes from the movie and discuss what choices the director made in their adaptation, not so that we can learn how to write screenplays, but so that we can write better novels.
You do not need to have seen the movie, but to participate in the discussion you will want to read (or reread) the book.
