Instant Plot: How to Plan Out Your Novel the Easy Way

Laurence MacNaughton
Saturday, June 2
1:00 – 3:00
Arvada Public Library

7525 W. 57th Avenue, Arvada, CO 80002

Hate outlining? You’re not alone. Whether you’re plotting your novel, creating an outline or writing a synopsis, you need the fundamental skills you’ll learn in this class. Find out how to take charge of your plot, avoid the three dumbest plotting mistakes, spot the warning signs of a dead-end story and master the core principles of dramatic structure. Through classroom exercises, you’ll map out the spine of your story and walk out with a solid plan to get your novel finished.

Laurence MacNaughton is a suspense author and writing coach. He offers free tips on beating writer’s block, finding a literary agent, getting published and more at www.YouCanWriteANovel.com. His articles have appeared in Writers’ Journal and the Rocky Mountain Writer, and he’s represented by literary agent Kristin Nelson. Find out more at www.LaurenceMacNaughton.com.

Showcasing Voice in Dialogue
Bree Ervin
Saturday, July 21
Time and location TBA. Please check www.rmfw.org/events for updates.

We all hear over and over again how important it is to make our dialogue true, to make each character’s voice unique. We hear that if we’re writing our dialogue well, we shouldn’t even need dialogue tags, because the reader should be able to tell who is speaking. But how do we do that? I mean, "hello" is "hello," right? Maybe not. After all, in the days before caller ID we all knew how to recognize who was calling as soon as we heard that first "hello" come down the line. Tone, pitch, cadence–these all tell us who we’re speaking to. Face to face we add body language, gestures, and facial expressions to the mix. Toss in a unique accent or a light salting of slang and voila! Voice. Come to this interactive, hands-on dialogue workshop and learn how give your characters their voice.

Bree Ervin is a Colorado Native who was born with a gypsy heart. When not running away from home she can be found curled around a good book, or at her desk trying to write one. She has worked as a freelance editor, publicist and marketer for five years and runs Think Banned Thoughts LLC, a full-service author-care business where she holds the title of Word Slut.

Is Your POV Slip Showing?

Chris Devlin, Nikki Baird, and Kathy House
Saturday, August 18
Time and location TBA. Please check www.rmfw.org/events for updates.

Do you get critiqued on your point of view? Confused about the difference between third person close vs. third person omniscient? Ever wonder what "wandering point of view" really means? Join RMFW members Chris Devlin, Nikki Baird, and Kathy House for an interactive workshop on point of view. This session will cover the basics on different point of view options for your story: first person, third person omniscient, and third person close. We’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each, including the common pitfalls in creating each type of point of view, loaded with lots of published examples. Bring the first two pages of your work-in-progress for a chance at a group critique and discussion of point of view possibilities.Chris Devlin

Chris Devlin is a long-time RMFW member, active in critique groups and as a contest judge. This year, she’s co-chairing the CO Gold contest. Her novel, St. Vitus Academy: The Lazarus Rock, finalled in the Pikes Peak Writing Contest in YA paranormal. She is currently seeking an agent for one book while exploring self-publishing options for another.

Nikki Baird writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror, both long and short form. Her short horror story "Devastation Mine" was published as part of the anthology Broken Links, Mended Lives, which was Nikki Baird nominated for a Colorado Book Award. She has been a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold contest for the last two years in the speculative fiction category and is a regular contributor to both the aspiring writer’s blog www.writersonthebrink.comand the Southwest Plaza Critique Group, an open critique group in southwest Denver. She is currently trying to place her second fantasy novel with a publisher.

Kathy HouseKathy House, who writes mystery and fantasy, is a long-time member of RMFW and the Southwest Critique Group. She worked both in both public relations and technical writing for more than 25 years. Kathy has master’s degrees in English and psychology and completed a study of writing and personality types (http://yourwritingtype.info) for her psychology degree. She lives in Lakewood with her husband, Curt, and a beautiful but shy Bearded Collie, Samantha.

We will be featuring authors Barbara Samuel (aka Ruth Wind and Barbara
O’Neal)and Laura DiSilverio (aka Lila Dare and Ella Barrick.)

Two multi-published authors — with very different perspectives — share
their right-brain and left brain approaches to "the Writing Life." They will
discuss their differing approaches to productivity, attitude, habits,
networking, promotion, and professionalism. A writer’s life can be challenging.
Learn how these writers balance their daily responsibilities, overcome
obstacles, and cultivate success.

Free and Open to the Public

Tuesday May 15, 2012

6:30-8:30 pm, doors open at 6:00 pm

Celebration Place at the Citadel Mall, Colorado Springs
Address: 750 Citadel Drive East, Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Finding Celebration Place:
Go to the north end of the mall adjacent to Academy Blvd.

If you are driving, park in or near Citadel Lot 9-C.

Enter the mall through the glass doors BETWEEN Dillards and Burlington
Coat Factory.

Immediately on your left you’ll see the large glass wall of Imagination
Space.

Follow that wall to the corner and turn left.

A little ways down on your left will be the entrance to Imagination Space.

On your right, directly across from the Imagination Space door, is the
entrance to Celebration Place.

Menu: TBA
Adult beverages are available at the cash bar downstairs

PROGRAM: The Dark Side of Real Estate Appraisal

Learn the characteristics of mortgage and appraisal fraud, trends and threats to the industry, and what is being done to counteract them. This presentation describes mortgage and appraisal fraud in the USA and in particular Colorado including several examples of real cases.

Bio: Ivor Hill is a Certified General Appraiser with more than 30 years of international real estate and surveying experience. He is the appraiser member of the Colorado Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud and Foreclosure Task Force, a charter member of the Center for Responsible Appraisals and Valuations in Washington DC, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and an SRA Member of the Appraisal Institute.

Ivor has spoken twice on Capitol Hill, Washington and was recently the keynote speaker addressing the Colorado Senate finance subcommittee regarding the licensing of appraisal management companies in the state. He has been active in the fight against mortgage fraud, holding seminars attended by more than 4,000 real estate and law enforcement professionals. He has served as a Grand Jury appointed special investigator, an expert witness on a major mortgage fraud investigation in Colorado and on investigations for District Attorneys on behalf of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Justice Department in conjunction with the Secret Service. He has been featured in both press and TV interviews on mortgage fraud. Ivor volunteers his time educating new Federal, state, county and city law enforcement agents and other real estate professionals on mortgage fraud.

RSVPs ARE MANDATORY. The reservation deadline is Monday, May 7, 2012. RSVP to Becky Martinez: rebgrace50 AT aol.com or call 303-522-1073. No shows and anyone not cancelling their reservation 72 hours in advance will be expected to pay since RMMWA will be billed for their reservation.

18th Annual CIPA EVVY Awards

Reception-Ceremony-Sponsorship

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Lone Tree Arts Center
10075 Commons Street
Lone Tree, CO 80124

The Reception (including food and cash bar) will be held in the LTAC Event Hall from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The Awards Ceremony will be held in the Main Stage Theatre beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m.

This year’s competition brought in the second largest number of book entries in the history of the CIPA EVVY awards! This year’s competition was open to e-books and audio books! This year’s competition will be one of the best!

Join emcee, film and television actress, Maggie Roswell, for an evening of fun and entertainment and cheer on your peers and friends!

Maggie Roswell is a film and television actress and voice artist from Los Angeles, California. She is best known for her voice work on the Fox network’s animated television series The Simpsons, in which she has played recurring characters such as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Miss Hoover, and Luann Van Houten, as well as several minor characters. This work has earned her both an Emmy Award nomination and an Annie Award nomination.

Tickets available at various levels, from individual to sponsorship. See http://www.cipacatalog.com/pages/CIPA-EVVY-Awards for more info.

LITERARY SALON
Saturday, May 19, 2012
10:30 a.m. to noon
The Villas at the Atrium
3350 30th Street, Boulder, CO
Free, Open to the Public

In the fashion of the great literary salons of the 18th and 19th centuries, the BWW hosts a lively discussion about writing and publishing. All genres and experience levels are welcome. .

ONLINE CONVERSATION WITH DINTY W. MOORE
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Location to be Announced
Free to Professional Members

Dinty W. Moore is the founder and editor of BREVITY: A JOURNAL OF CONCISE LITERARY NONFICTION, as well as the author of numerous books, including THE MINDFUL WRITER: NOBLE TRUTHS OF THE WRITING LIFE, CRAFTING THE PERSONAL ESSAY: A GUIDE FOR WRITING AND PUBLISHING CREATIVE NONFICTION and the memoir BETWEEN PANIC AND DESIRE, winner of the Grub Street Nonfiction Book Prize.

ONLINE CONVERSATION WITH LES EDGERTON
Saturday, May 26, 2012
1 to 2 p.m.
Location to be announced
Free to Professional Members

Les Edgerton is the author of HOOKED: WRITE FICTION THAT GRABS READERS AT PAGE ONE & NEVER LETS THEM GO, as well as numerous other books, including THE PERFECT CRIME, THE BITCH, THE RAPIST and GUMBO YA-YA, a collection of short stories. He is editor-at-large for NOIR NATION INTERNATIONAL CRIME MAGAZINE and his work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, an O’Henry Award, The Edgar ALlan Poe Award, a Pen/Faulkner Award and others. He holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a Certificate in Barbering from Pendelton Reformatory.

JUNE PREVIEW
“Reading Between the Lines: Structuring and Staging Dialogue for Revelation,” with Catherine Brady, the author of three short story collections, including CURLED IN THE BED OF LOVE, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, as well as the writing book STORY LOGIC AND THE CRAFT OF FICTION. 1 to 3 p.m., Saturday, June 2, 2012, Villas at the Atrium, Boulder, Colorado. $45 General Admission | $40 Professional Members.

MORE ONLINE CONVERSATIONS
Upcoming Online Conversation guests include Betty Webb, author of the bestselling Lena Jones mystery series, Betsy Lerner, literary agent, Gene Perret, author and comedy writer, and Ned Stuckey-French, essayist.

For more information about signing up as a Professional Member or speaking to our group, please e-mail me at lorideboer@rocketmail.com.

It’s All About Character. And Story.

Presented by Terri Bischoff,

Acquiring Editor, Midnight Ink

May 19, 2012

8:00 am to 4:00

Table Mountain Inn

1310 Washington Ave, Golden, Colorado

Continental Breakfast and Deli Lunch provided

Member early bird registration (prior to April 30, 2012) – $70.00

Member after 4/30 – $80

Non-Member early bird – $85

Non-Member after 4/30 – $95

All registrations must be received by May 14, 2012
To Register:

www. rmfw.org

or by mail:

RMFW
c/o Vicki Law
PO Box 452
Montrose, CO 81402
vruchhoeft -AT- bresnan.net
Continental Breakfast and Deli Lunch provided

Join editor Terri Bischoff for an intensive workshop on developing your overall story and character arcs. The morning session will include developing a character arc for one book or over a series. The afternoon session will be all about developing your story, and just like with characters, we will work on an story arc for one book or several in a series.

Terri Bischoff : Terri Bischoff joined Midnight Ink as an Acquiring Editor in October 2009. She leads all editorial directions and creates the seasonal lists. She has dramatically increased the number of titles per season, as well as expanded the type of crime fiction MI has published. Terri has a wealth of experience and knowledge in both mysteries and in bookselling, having been involved for 15 years in all areas of bookstore operations, particularly as book buyer and reviewer. She has worked at Kramer Books in Washington, DC, and more recently, Terri owned and operated Booked For Murder Mystery Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin.

Speed Dating with an Author: We have four talented and knowledgeable authors who have donated their time to meet with attendees. If you’re interested in a 10 minute session with any of our guest authors, indicate your choice on your registration. Bring the first two pages of your work-in-progress for a quick critique or use your time to ask industry related questions.

Angie Hodapp

Betsy Dornbusch

Carol Berg

Peggy Waide

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Thursday April 19 in the Aspen Leaf room at the Colorado Springs Marriott (5580 Tech Center Dr., Colorado Springs 80918)
Doors open at 7pm.
Visit _www.PikesPeakWriters.com_ (http://www.PikesPeakWriters.com) for more information.

Tuesday evening, May 8, 2012
6 p.m. cocktails
7-10 p.m. dinner and program
$50 – register online with secure PayPal at www.ColoradoAuthors.org. More information there too!
Hilton Garden Inn, Cherry Creek
600 South Colorado Boulevard

FREE valet parking

Fling together a few spring-wild poets, essayists and fiction writers and what gets sprung?
Visionary Revisions, Hermit Crabs, Thieveries, Strange Terrains, and Say Whats.
Join our award-winning writers* Dan Beachy-Quick, Jennifer Davis, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, Carmen Gimenez Smith
for a hey day of celebration.
Click here for details http://www.arapahoe.edu/departments-and-programs/a-z-programs/writers-studio/literary-festival

RSVP required by April 16.

April 19, 2012
5:00 to 8:00 pm
Residence Inn Marriott, Denver City Center
*1725 Champa St., Denver, CO

Come celebrate as 25 of the Colorado Book Award Finalists share
their work! Invite family and friends. There’ something for everyone,
from children to teens to history buffs and mystery lovers! Readings
will be followed by a book sale and signing. See full list of attendees here:
http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/cba-upcoming-events

The event is free. Attendees can partake in the Residence Inn’s Happy Hour
for $6 per person (includes hors d’euvres, wine and beer), and event
parking is available for $5. Special hotel rates are available for
attendees coming in from out of town or for those interested in taking
advantage of a night in Denver.

For more information, contact Christine
Goff by calling the office at 303.894.7951 x 21 or by emailing
goff.*