
August 16, 2020 Meeting – WriteFAST! with Siera London

Workshop Your WIP!
We are holding an informal (virtual) meeting this month, with no presenter. We’ll be breaking into small groups to “workshop” the aspects of our works-in-progress (manuscript, blurb, etc.) that we’re struggling with or that are stymieing us. Sometimes talking these issues through with supportive writer friends and colleagues can help us figure out how to solve them. Or, if you don’t feel like workshopping anything, you can hang out and socialize while others are in the breakout rooms.
Please note that NECRWA meetings are online.
Make Your Protagonist’s Job Work for YOU!
Our work shapes us.
Whether your protagonist is a scientist, a homemaker, a fast food worker, or a demon hunter, they spend countless hours every week working and thinking about work, and they have for most of their life. If you take the time to really think about how your protagonist’s profession affects their personality and worldview, you’ll see the results in the added depth, naturalism, and uniqueness of your characterization.
In this workshop, you’ll have a chance to partner up and create a character together! Then I guide the group through a series of interactive exercises and brainstorming sessions. You’ll use the character’s job as a lense to build characterization, covering everything from job skills and the economic nitty-gritty to deep POV and story structure.
Please note that NECRWA meetings are online.
BIO: Rose Lerner discovered historical romance when she was thirteen, and tried her hand at writing one a few years later. Her writing has improved since then, but her fascination with all things Regency hasn’t changed. Rose is a tour guide by day (at least, she was before lockdown…), and by night she writes romance! Her protagonists include a chemist, an innkeeper, an army officer, a con artist, a valet, a maid-of-all-work, and a confectioner. Books in her small-town Lively St. Lemeston series have been featured in NPR’s Book Concierge and Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. Visit RoseLerner.com to find out more. (Rose also freelances as a book doctor, editor, and research assistant at RoseDoesTheResearch.com, helping authors tap into their creativity and realize the full potential of their ideas!)
“Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.” –Khaled Hosseini
Fiction may be little white lies for some but characters are real. A story may get over when you reach THE END but characters have the power to live in our hearts, minds and leap off the page and into our lives.
Join fiction author and international freelance journalist, Anju Gattani, in a power-packed workshop (complete with handouts) as she dissects character archetypes and deep-dives into the different dimensions of your characters. Anju will explore how to make your protagonists and villains sparkle on the page, amp up the tension and drive story forward. Join Anju as she summons protagonists to THE END so you can lead them toward THE BEGINNING of a sequel or series.
Please note that NECRWA meetings are online.
BIO: A fiction author, freelance journalist, fiction writing instructor, blogger and former newspaper reporter, Anju was born in India but grew up in Hong Kong. She has also lived and been published in Singapore, India, Australia, New Jersey, Connecticut, and finally dug her roots in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, with her husband, 2 dashing boys and a rebel lion-head rabbit. Anju has been published in cover stories, fiction, feature, news, interviews, travel, perspective pieces and more.
‘Duty and Desire’ the debut in her Winds of Fire series, is slated for release on June 2, 2020. Anju hopes her books will Bridge Cultures and Break Barriers.
The New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America® is pleased to announce the winners of the New England Readers’ Choice Awards:
ROMANCE NOVELLA
3rd: Bernadette Walsh, See Me
2nd: Juno Rushdan, No Way Out
1st: Sandra Owens, Caitlyn’s Christmas Wish
EROTIC ROMANCE
3rd: Jordyn Kross, Winter’s List
2nd: Mia London, Accidental Tryst
1st:L. A. Witt, Assist
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
3rd: Nancy Yeager, Third Husband’s the Charm
2nd: Elizabeth St. Michel, Lord of the Wilderness
1st: Karen Muir, Fated Beginnings
ROMANCE WITH RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS
3rd: Dana R. Lynn, Hidden in Amish Country
2nd: Laurel Blount, Hometown Hope
1st: Laurel Blount, A Rancher to Trust
PARANORMAL/FANTASY/TT ROMANCE
3rd: Patricia Barletta, Moon Bright
2nd: Lisa Rae Roman, Fae Touched
1st: McKenna Dean, Bishop Takes Knight
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
3rd: Jeanine Englert, Lovely Digits
2nd: Leslie Marshman, Goode Over Evil
1st: Kaylea Cross, Covert Vengeance
SHORT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
3rd: Susannah Erwin, Wanted: Billionaire’s Wife
2nd: Claire McEwen, After the Rodeo
1st: Jo McNally, It Started at Christmas…
LONG CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
3rd: Miranda Liasson, All I Want for Christmas is You
2nd: Kilby Blades, The Secret Ingredient
1st: Ellie Finch, The Search for Prince Charming
GRAND PRIZE
And our grand prize winner, 6 weeks of author coaching with Mel Jolly, is: Jo McNally, It Started at Christmas… (short contemporary romance)
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an author in possession of a book to promote, must be in want of a place to hide.
Okay, maybe it’s not universally acknowledged. But plenty of authors love the peaceful hermit life of writing a book and freeze in the face of going out and actually asking someone to buy it. Whether you suffer from anxiety, introversion, shyness, or any combination of the above, sometimes it seems like nothing is more terrifying than telling the world, Hey! Look at me!
Bree Bridges (the painfully shy half of Kit Rocha) has spent a decade perfecting the art of building an online brand and a marketing machine while being, to put it gently, straight up freaking terrified of talking to people.
Join her for a free-wheeling adventure through tricks and strategies to get your name out there, build long-term relationships with reviewers, maximize the potential of every terrifying human interaction, survive the pressure to Do All The Things on social media, and find ways to navigate the high-pressure world of actually selling that book you just wrote.
Whether you’re self-published, traditionally published, hybrid, or just getting ready to start building your brand, you’ll leave with some new ideas on how to get the most from doing the least. (At least when it comes to scary things!)
Extroverts are also welcome. Plenty of the tricks will work for you, too! Just don’t make any sudden movements. We’re shy.
BIO:
Kit Rocha is the pseudonym for co-writing team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges. After penning dozens of paranormal novels, novellas and stories as Moira Rogers, they branched out into gritty, sexy dystopian romance.
The Beyond series has appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, has been nominated for best erotic romance in the RT Reviewer’s Choice award five times, and won in 2013 and 2015. Their new Mercenary Librarians series from Tor debuts in 2020.
Please join the New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America® in congratulating the finalists in the 2020 New England Readers’ Choice Awards contest!
ROMANCE NOVELLA
Sandra Owens, Caitlyn’s Christmas Wish
Juno Rushdan, No Way Out
Bernadette Walsh, See Me
EROTIC ROMANCE
Jordyn Kross, Winter’s List
Mia London, Accidental Tryst
L. A. Witt, Assist
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
*Karen Muir, Fated Beginnings
Elizabeth St. Michel, Lord of the Wilderness
Nancy Yeager, Third Husband’s the Charm
ROMANCE WITH RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS
Laurel Blount, Hometown Hope
Laurel Blount, A Rancher to Trust
Dana R. Lynn, Hidden in Amish Country
PARANORMAL/FANTASY/SF/TT ROMANCE
*Patricia Barletta, Moon Bright
McKenna Dean, Bishop Takes Knight
Lisa Rae Roman, Fae Touched
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Kaylea Cross, Covert Vengeance
Jeanine Englert, Lovely Digits
Leslie Marshman, Goode Over Evil
SHORT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Susannah Erwin, Wanted: Billionaire’s Wife
Claire McEwan, After the Rodeo
Jo McNally, It Started at Christmas…
LONG CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Kilby Blades, The Secret Ingredient
Ellie Finch, The Search for Prince Charming
Miranda Liasson, All I Want for Christmas
Be sure to join us at our annual Let Your Imagination Take Flight conference, April 25-26, at the Boston/Woburn Hilton, where the winners in each category will be announced, as well as the winner of the Grand Prize: Six weeks of author coaching by Mel Jolly ($600 value!)
A special thanks to our contest coordinator, Jackie Horne.
* denotes an NECRWA member
Isabel will discuss grammar and Chicago Style basics, common mistakes in manuscripts, and pointers to get you through the editing and revision process. This presentation will include copyedit examples, practical tips, and a short Q&A.
BIO:
Isabel Ngo (she/her) is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles, California, with experience in journalism and literary publishing. She graduated in 2018 from Loyola Marymount University, where she studied theatre, English, and studio arts. Isabel offers copyediting and sensitivity reading services through Tessera Editorial, a company of BIPOC committed to diversifying the publishing industry. You can find Isabel on Twitter @isabelsprout and learn more about Tessera at our website: www.tesseraeditorial.com