Here’s the follow-up to Wednesday’s post for writers. Let’s start with more events coming up. The CTRWA (CT Romance Writers of America has a wonderful president who finds and books all kinds of opportunities to sell your books. Although I’m not a romance writer (my books don’t follow the traditional romance pattern), they’ve been gracious enough to let me join them to take advantage of their monthly meetings (where I always learn something new) and these opportunities. Here’s one coming up.

Join me and seven other writers of romantic novels for a book signing at Barnes & Noble, Holyoke, Mass, on August 2, from 11-4pm at an in-person book fair where you can meet Isabel Morin, AK Nevermore, Anna James, Krista Beggan, Grace Hartwell, Sera Cassell, Tara L. Roí and more of your new favorite authors! We’ll be reading from our books, personalizing and signing them, and generally having a good time! It’s an enormous store, with a coffee bar, so drop in any time you’re passing. We’d love to see you!

Jane Friedman is hosting a free webinar on August 5 at 3:30pm ET, when professional book designer Damon Freeman of Damonza and author Jule Kucera will be talking about book covers and how to make them better. In this session, you’ll learn what makes a cover successful (or not) in today’s market. Whether you’re self-publishing or traditionally publishing, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of how to evaluate a cover’s effectiveness—and collaborate more confidently with your designer or publisher. One of the most valuable things about Jane’s webinars is the opportunity to have your work critiqued. So, if you’d like to get feedback during the class on your book cover from Damon, Jule, a vortnd/or Jane, fill out this form. Register here for free

Ireland Writing Retreat (see below) run the Wild Atlantic Writing Awards (WAWA), and this year the topic is “Secrets.” Stories should be no more than 500 words, and the word “secrets” cannot be used in your story title or in the story itself. Winners in each category will receive 500 euros in cash, or 1,000 euros off any of their writing retreats in 2025 or 2026. ​​Deadline Sunday, August 31.

Need a little peace and quiet to get some writing done? Ireland Writing Retreats runs retreats in Ireland (and France, too) where you can get help with your writing, and also spend some time visiting an island, a hundred-year-old thatched cottage, a castle, a national park, as well as special food and drinks tastings. They provide similar excursions and activities in France. More information about individual retreats here. The next ones are in September and October.

There’s nothing like writing with friends to keep you accountable. You can do it with two weekly virtual writing workshops from WestportWRITES, sponsored by The Westport Library, which offers two free weekly Writing Sprints to Prompts and an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) with award-winning author and teacher Tessa Smith McGovern. This is like a write-in but with extras – it’s writing time followed by a 30-minute Q&A where you can ask Tessa anything about writing, publishing, or marketing your stories (including where and how to submit for publication). Every Tuesday from 12-1:30 pm and every Wednesday from 7-8:30 pm ET. You can join from anywhere.

Member Alison McBain is one of the leaders of the Poets’ Salon, which meets online on the second Saturday of each month at 10am ET. After each meeting (where you can share your poetry and receive feedback) she shares a free newsletter (somewhat like this one) with events and submission opportunities for poets taking place each month. You can access it here.

Five years after “retiring” BookCon and BookExpo, ReedPop has announced—to the surprise of many in the book business—that it plans to revive BookCon. The new iteration of the consumer-facing show is slated for April 18-19, 2026, at New York City’s Javits Center. This is not BookExpo, an industry trade show – it’s entirely a consumer event.” Much like its earlier iteration, which was among the first large-scale fan events catering to genre readers, the upcoming BookCon will feature book signings, panel discussions, book club meetups, sprayed edges workshops, book swaps, a “fantasy ball,” and more. I went to the last one, and it was amazing. More famous authors in one place than I’d ever seen before. Put the dates in your calendar, and buy tickets early – it’s quite the event.

Here is an article for those of you wondering whether to use Medium or Substack to promote your writing.

Happy writing until next month!