May 22, 2023

I mentioned some places to get feedback on your writing in the last post. Here are more options. Bardsy’s First Chapter Contest is open for entries until June 20. They’re looking for first chapters that grab their attention and leave the reader wanting more. Your chapter should set the stage for the story to come, establishing…

January 23, 2023

Welcome to the second part of the January update for writers. It includes some workshops and contests, with the deadlines for entering. Westport Writers Workshop continues to offer several onetime workshops, including many free options. For screenwriters, they have added a handful of new opportunities, from a free table read on January 28 with one of…

December 26, 2022

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet, since I’m sure you’re still recovering from the recent festivities, and gearing up for New Year’s. Member Alison McBain (The New Empire) regularly compiles a list of poetry-reading events and places to submit your poetry. If you’re a poet, you need to subscribe to her newsletter,…

December 23, 2022

First – Season’s Greetings! Whether or not you celebrate any particular holiday, it’s always good to welcome the lengthening days. Soon it will be time to set goals and make some resolutions for 2023. One of mine in 2022 was to turn both the WritersMic (our open mic evening) and the Writers Rendezvous back into…

November 17, 2022

Thanks to everyone who was at Wednesday’s Writers Rendezvous, for your input and helpful suggestions for other writers. There are a number of events happening tonight, so I’ll start with them. Gwen Hernandez, author of Scrivener for Dummies and host of many online Scrivener workshops, is running some new ones in November/December. One of the…

October 24, 2022

Welcome to part two of the October update for writers – you’ll find plenty of ideas here, which I hope you’ll consider trying! Fiona Davis, New York Times best-selling author of The Magnolia Palace, will be appearing on Thursday, November 10 at 6 p.m at the Ferguson Library in Stamford. Her latest historical novel is…

October 20, 2022

We had a great Rendezvous get-together yesterday, with two of our members arriving with their latest published books in hand! Congratulations to Alison McBain for her latest novel, The New Empire – an alternative history novel where the Chines have colonized the Americas, not Columbus, and a young Chinese man must choose between following the…

July 24, 2022

Here’s more info on writing conferences and contests, plus an interesting definition of erotic romance vs erotica – useful if you’re going to include sex scenes in your fiction. It’s notoriously difficult to write well, but if you’re going to do it, you may as well be informed. 🙂 Erica Verillo publishes a monthly list…

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