Since yesterday was Inauguration Day, we had a smaller number of writers than usual, but that included some new members, which gave us a chance to get to know each other. I’m still loving the way Zoom meetings can expand my horizons, so I can meet people who would be unlikely to show up in person, because of distance. Here’s some of what we discussed.
If you like or write historical fiction, you may want to attend this virtual event at 7pm on Thursday, January 21. Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore will host authors Marie Benedict (The Mystery of Mrs. Christie), Melanie Benjamin, (The Children’s Blizzard), and Greer Macallister, (The Arctic Fury) for a historical fiction panel that will delve into their most recent novels: The Children’s Blizzard, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, and The Arctic Fury. Register here.
Here’s an unusual Short Story Challenge run by NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness. This international creative writing competition, now in its fifteenth year, challenges participants to create original short stories in as little as 24 hours. The challenge consists of four rounds. In the first round—January 22-30—writers are placed randomly in groups and are assigned a genre, subject, and character. Writers have eight days to write an original story of no longer than 2,500 words. In further rounds, the number of words decreases, but so does the time allowed for writing the story. For more details, check here. One of the benefits of this challenge is that feedback from the judges is provided for every submission and there are cash prizes for the winners.
The Westport Writers Workshops has many workshop classes, among them their popular series of One-off workshops on various topics of interest to writers. These include My Lessons In Self-Publishing with Libby Waterford and Allison Dickens this Saturday, January 23, from 10-12noon. Getting Your Book Published will be held on Saturday, February 6 (10a-12noon). Here’s one every novelist can use: Learn to Outline: How to Write a Novel and Not Lose Your Mind with Jessica Speart, on Saturday, February 20 from 10am-1pm. Others are available and WWW is always adding new ones.
Writer and teacher Tessa McGovern is offering a free one-hour writing sprint and ask-me-anything session every Tuesday at noon. Hosted by Westport Library, participants chat about successes and obstacles, write for an hour and then have 39 min to ask Tessa anything about writing or publishing. More information and the link on her website (link above).
On January 27 at 7 pm The Connecticut Press Club is offering a virtual Boost Your Brand Workshop, led by Javacia Bowser. The workshop promises to teach you how to: define and convey who you are, what you want, and what you stand for as a writer; build relationships with other writers, bloggers, editors, and agents; use social media to manage your brand’s reputation, and grow your audience before you launch your book or blog. Free to Connecticut Press Club members, $15 for non-members. More information and registration here.
Courtesy of the Poets’ Salon, the Meetup for Poets: The Sunshine State Book Festival will be held online all day on Saturday, January 30. It will feature 100 authors writing in eighteen genres. You can preview a sampling of the author booths right now – each author will have their own video presentation and list of books to browse online. Free.
The Big Moose Prize contest is open to traditional novels as well as novels-in-stories, novels-in-poems, and other hybrid forms that contain within them the spirit of a novel. Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Big Moose Prize for an unpublished novel. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes will be awarded on publication. Deadline January 31 and submissions are now open.
The Mark Twain House is offering a six-week online writing course with author Dana Meachen Rau (Who is series) for a six-week writing course! Each session runs on Zoom from 4 to 5:30 p.m every Thursday, February 11 through March 18. This six-week writing course is offered in conjunction with the Page to Stage Short Story Writing contest co-sponsored by The Bushnell and The Mark Twain House & Museum. More information to come! Registration is $150 and grants you access to all 6 sessions. This course is limited to 10 students. Registrants will receive a Zoom link in advance of the first class. Register here.
Member Elizabeth Chatsworth allowed me to interview her for her book launch last week. If you’d like to see how it went, here’s the link.
That’s about half the information for this month. Check out Monday’s post for more events, and ways to increase your book reviews, particularly before you launch.
Meanwhile, keep writing!
