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DATE & TIME   |   March 19th, 2022 – Social at 12:00 PM, Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm or later–after the business meeting concludes
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and Community Room at the Woodbourne Library, 6060 Far Hills Avenue, Centerville, Ohio 45459. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   | Shari Heinrich & You all!: Brainstorming your Current or Future Creative Writing

Brainstorming your Current or Future Creative Writing

Juliette Hyland plots one of herbooks
Rachel Plots one of her books, now published with Harlequin Medical Romance

Our March program, Brainstorming your Current or Future Creative Writing, is back by popular demand. This program includes light instruction on brainstorming techniques. Members are encouraged to bring their favorite craft book to chat briefly about in the small group, especially if it helps them with brainstorming. You go home with the book you brought, unless you are offering it up to a new home.

Following the brief instruction offered by Shari Heinrich, we’ll spend the majority of the program in hands-on practice, broken into small groups. Those on Zoom, we will attempt to break users into groups of 4-5 (this will be our first time trying that). Last time we offered this program, several of our members worked on novels, such as Juliette Hyland plotting out Falling Again for the Single Dad (now available from Harlequin) and Shari Heinrich using the technique “unlikely combinations” to come up with the idea for one of her novels now in second draft stage, a young adult paranormal about a teenage shifter who is not the animal she expects.

poster boards for brainstorming
these poster boards cover different types of brainstorming

COFW will supply small poster board and markers, in case members find them helpful, along with several visual models of story structure. Donna MacMeans is supplying a host of sticky notes, which she encourages you to take home with you. You supply places where you are blocked, or want additional ideas, to brainstorm your plot, a plot hole, or anything else. Novel or short story, novelette or novella, it’s all fair game. Group members will take turns so that each person has a chance to make forward progress. After the first round of brainstorming, the room will decide whether to stick with the existing groups for the next round, or to mix up members. Participants don’t have to ask for brainstorming help, but if you’re staying for the session, we hope you’ll helping kick-start creativity for one of your COFW friends. Guests are welcome to attend this brainstorming session.

Attending Our Hybrid Meeting

Presentation is free for members and prospective members who have not yet visited for two complimentary meetings. For those members who cannot join us in person, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted in the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Google Group, and on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page.

If you are not a COFW member and wish to attend this presentation via Zoom, email cofwpresident@gmail.com.

About Our Speaker

Aurthor Shari Heinrich

Shari Heinrich writes young adult fantasy populated by characters full of sass and heart. She’s querying Queen of Wands, where teen thief Angela makes the unforgivable mistake of falling for her mark and activating the family’s curse to the ancient Egyptian goddess of retribution.

Contact Shari: www.ShariHeinrich.com

Shari will supply brainstorming techniques that Harlequin medical author Robin Gianna shared one of the times COFW offered this program, along with additional techniques.  

 

 


DATE & TIME   |   February 19th, 2022 – Social at 12:00 PM, Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at The Forge Tavern 1375 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH 43220. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   Optimizing Amazon Ads

The Art of Copywriting

Selling books is hard…
…especially if your prospective buyers don’t read the description.
Do you know how to hook a reader?
Typical descriptions convert at 1:30. That means you have to pay for 30 clicks to get one new reader. That’s expensive. With proper copywriting, you can get that down to 1:8 or better.
Would you rather pay for 8 or 30 clicks?
This presentation will be about the art of copywriting, but also what you need to know to “do the math” to understand if you’re profitable.
Data and Copywriting go hand in hand.

Attending Our Hybrid Meeting

Presentation is free for members and prospective members who have not yet visited for two complimentary meetings. For those members who cannot join us in person, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted in the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Google Group, and on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page.

If anyone has any questions, or prospective members who would like to Zoom with us, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

About Our Speaker

Brian D. Meeks is a writer with 19 novels and 6 non-fiction titles, including Mastering Amazon Ads and Mastering Amazon Descriptions. He has spoken at all four 20BooksTo50K conferences and built up many lifelong friends from the community. For seven years he’s made his living as an author and copywriter.

On Jan 2, 2022, he accepted a position as the Managing Editor of Blockster.com, a crypto new website. For the last couple weeks, he’s been building his writing team and is excited about this new writing adventure.

All of it began with a single blog post Jan 2, 2010.

Before that, he didn’t like writing.

DATE & TIME   |   January 15th, 2022 – Social at 12:00 PM, Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at Hope Hotel (Building #823 in Area A), the room TBD (in the Conference Center, look for the COFW sign), 10823 Chidlaw Rd., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH 45433. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   | Priscilla Oliveras: Balancing Emotion and Pacing for Unforgettable Fiction

As authors we know that emotion is the key to engaging readers in the story, but we’re often urged to trim backstory and inner dialogue to focus on driving the story forward. This presentation provides practical tips to get that critical emotion on the page without bogging down your story. Balancing emotion and pacing can help you deliver the emotional impact your story needs to keep readers turning pages and push a scene or novel beyond competent to unforgettable. Bring your thesis manuscript pages to study/dissect during hands-on exercises.

Attending Our Hybrid Meeting

Presentation is free for members and prospective members who have not yet visited for two complimentary meetings. For those members who cannot join us in person, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted in the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Google Group, and on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page.

If you are not a COFW member or prospective member and wish to attend this presentation, use the field and button below to register, and the Zoom information will be sent to you approximately one week before the presentation.

If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

About Our Speaker

Priscilla Oliveras is a USA Today bestselling author and 2018 RWA® RITA® double finalist who writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. Proud of her Puerto Rican-Mexican heritage, she strives to bring authenticity to her novels by sharing her Latinx culture with readers. Her books have earned Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist along with praise from O, The Oprah Magazine, Washington Post, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Frolic, and more. She earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where she currently serves as adjunct faculty while also teaching the online class “Romance Writing” for ed2go. A long-time romance enthusiast, Priscilla’s also a sports fan, beach lover, and Zumba aficionado, who often practices the art of napping in her backyard hammock.
Find out more and check out her events calendar at https://prisoliveras.com/books/, and follow her on Facebook www.facebook.com/prisoliveras or Twitter and Instagram via @prisoliveras.

Register – Non-COFW Individuals

For writers who are not checking out COFW to potentially become members, but who are interested in this workshop, the cost is $20.00.

Registration is closed.

DATE & TIME   |   November 13th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at The Forge Tavern 1375 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH 43220. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   The Storyteller’s Toolkit

The Storyteller’s Toolkit is a plotting presentation that applies to all fiction genres and to authors in all stages of their publishing careers, particularly beginner and intermediate storytellers. The presentation addresses:

  • Story premise: Developing your story idea.
  • High concept: Adding layers to your story premise to make it more marketable.
  • Conflict: Enhancing your story premise with conflict.

The presentation will diagram premise, high concept, and conflict in a movie to demonstrate how the three elements work together to make a compelling story. At the end of the presentation attendees will be able to:

  • Craft a strong story premise.
  • Define high concepts and incorporate this element into their story premise.
  • Identify various types of conflict and incorporate one or more of these elements into their story plots.

Patricia Sargeant is the national best-selling, award-winning author of more than 20 novels. Her work has been featured in national publications such as Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, Suspense Magazine, Mystery Scene Magazine, Library Journal and RT Book Reviews. She has also been interviewed on podcasts including Destination Mystery with Laura Brennan, Conversations LIVE! with Cyrus Webb, Read You Later with Lasheera Lee and Katara’s Café with Katara Johnson. Visit her at https://patriciasargeant.com/.

Presentation is free for members. For those members who cannot join us at The Forge Tavern, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted in the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Google Group, and on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page.

If you are not a COFW member and wish to attend this presentation, use the field and button below to register, and the Zoom information will be sent to you approximately one week before the presentation.

For those members who cannot join us at The Forge Tavern, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page and in the COFW Google Group. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

DATE & TIME   |   October 16th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at Hope Hotel (Building #823 in Area A), the Sabre-Phantom room, 10823 Chidlaw Rd., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH 45433. . See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   Sexual Tension – Getting Away from Wham, Bam, Thank you, Ma’am

High heat sex scenes are popular like never before. But what makes a scene go from ho-um to cold shower-worthy? The key is sexual tension. Without that basic conflict – as with all stories – the momentum of the scene will falter and lose steam. Not what you want with your sex scenes!

In this class, students will learn first what creates sexual tension and then how to build it in their own stories for maximum impact. Dubbed by her editor as “The Queen of Sexual Tension,” Jeffe Kennedy will give away her secrets for drawing out the suspense, building expectations and finally delivering those crucial climactic moments.

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has won the prestigious RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America (RWA), has been a finalist twice, been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as a Director at Large. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

For those members who cannot join us at The Hope Hotel, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page and in the COFW Google Group. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

The Hotel can be tricky for people who have not been there before. Turn into the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base like you are entering gate 12A, then immediately turn right into the Hope before you go through the pass and ID gate. The hotel sits far back on the right and cannot be seen from the road.

DATE & TIME   |   September 18th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at Hope Hotel (Building #823 in Area A), the Sabre-Phantom room, 10823 Chidlaw Rd., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH 45433. . See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   Trope Your Way to a First Draft

In genre fiction tropes are marketing devices. Everyone has their favorite! But as writers you can use these tropes to build your characters, and conflicts – basically your first draft! Even better, your initial marketing blocks are baked into the earliest parts of the draft. Let Juliette Hyland show you how she uses tropes to figure out how to torture her characters before delivering their happily ever after!

Juliette Hyland believes in strong coffee, hot drinks and happily ever afters! She lives in Ohio, USA, with her prince charming, who has patiently listened to many rants regarding characters failing to follow the outline. When not working on fun and flirty happily ever afters, Juliette can be found spending time with her beautiful daughters, giant dogs or sewing uneven stitches with her sewing machine.

For those members who cannot join us at The Hope Hotel, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Facebook page and in the COFW Google Group. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

The Hotel can be tricky for people who have not been there before. Turn into the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base like you are entering gate 12A, then immediately turn right into the Hope before you go through the pass and ID gate. The hotel sits far back on the right and cannot be seen from the road.

DATE & TIME   |   August 14th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at The Forge Tavern 1375 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH 43220. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   The Case for Diversity and Inclusion

This is a workshop that focuses on understanding what Diversity and inclusion really is, how it affects each and every one of us, and focuses on examining the way that we think about the world we live in. The workshop will examine understanding biases, privilege, microaggressions, discomfort, and how to navigate initiating diverse and inclusive dialogue.

Jordyn Blanson was a military child who grew up in culturally diverse environments; she was born in Panama, Central America, has lived in 9 states, and traveled around the world. Her upbringing sparked her passion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and she’s been fortunate enough to have made it a focus in both her personal life, and in her career. She is a published author of short stories and a comic that focus on people of color, she provides sensitivity reads for major textbook companies, and is the host of a podcast that focuses on Working while black called ‘Wait Say What”. And perhaps more importantly, she has a Masters in Industrial Organizational Psychology, which focuses greatly on Diversity and Inclusion.

For those members who cannot join us at The Forge Tavern, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Group page, which can be accessed via the Romance Writers of America website under the Forums tab. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

DATE & TIME   |   July 17th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be held via Zoom. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   NLP and Writing Great Novels

About NLP and how it can help authors devise and complete great novels:
NLP, or neurolinguistic programming, is a tool that helps you write more, better, and faster. Used with respect and compassion, NLP is a gentle way to help you have what you want without having to “work” to be different than who you are.

Starting with the underlying assumption that all behavior has an intended positive intention and that we always do the thing that feels the best, I’ll lead you through a few exercises that help you clarify your writing goals, expand your writer toolkit, and give you a few practical and useful ways to improve your writing, write faster, or handle roadblocks as they come up.

In this hands-on workshop, I’ll share about:

  • the building blocks of our experience, the senses, and explore how that applies to improving your fiction
  • the readers’ experience, and how to tap into that
  • a procrastination-busting tool to help you spend more time writing

If you’re curious about how to expand your toolkit as a professional writer and incorporate some ways that help you learn more easily and integrate more information, so you can complete great novels, then join us!

About Your Instructor:
Award winning novelist, Beth Barany writes in several genres including YA fantasy, paranormal romance, and science fiction mysteries. Inspired by living abroad in France and Quebec, she loves creating magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure that empower women and girls to be the heroes of their own lives.

Additionally, Beth runs her own company helping novelists as a creativity coach, NLP practitioner, speaker, and teacher to help them write, market, and publish their books to the delight of their readers.

For fun, Beth enjoys walking, gardening, and watching movies with her husband, thriller author Ezra Barany. They live in Oakland, California with a piano and over 2,000 books.

More at https://www.BethBarany.com.

Our meeting will be held via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Group page which can be accessed via the Romance Writers of America website under the Forums tab. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

DATE & TIME   |   June 19th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be Hybrid via Zoom and at The Forge Tavern 1375 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH 43220. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   Scrivener Lessons

Scrivener is excellent writing software for both plotters and pantsers. Want to find out what makes it so popular, or learn some new tricks? The author of Scrivener For Dummies will walk you through the basics and cover some of her favorite features.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

  • create a new project.
  • organize your manuscript.
  • import your existing work, notes, and pictures.
  • track your word count.
  • color code your files.
  • create a storyboard.
  • and more!

Gwen Hernandez, the author of Scrivener For Dummies, helps writers all over the world master Scrivener through online courses, in-person workshops, and private training. When she’s not using Scrivener to write romantic suspense, this lifelong nomad likes to travel, read, run along the beach, flail on a yoga mat, and explore her current home of Southern California. Learn more about Gwen at gwenhernandez.com or ScrivenerClasses.com.

For those members who cannot join us at The Forge Tavern, join us via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Group page, which can be accessed via the Romance Writers of America website under the Forums tab. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com

DATE & TIME   |   May 15th, 2021 – Business meeting at 12:30 pm, Speaker at 1:30 pm
Note: This month is a 4-hour presentation.
LOCATION   |   Meeting will be held via Zoom. See below for further instructions.
TOPIC   |   How to Growth Hack a Bestseller (One-Day Workshop)

Growth what? Growth hacking is one of the hottest buzzwords in marketing today, responsible for start-up viral sensations like Dropbox, Instagram, Facebook, and the original Hotmail. Few people realize that to guarantee success, the principles of growth hacking must be implemented long before a product is released. But how can an author apply these techniques when writing/self-editing/marketing their novel to better ensure a hit? Join publisher and editor Liz Pelletier as she demonstrates a new and innovative way to develop, write, edit, and market a book with the greatest chance of making your next release a best seller. This is an advanced workshop but even new writers will find it useful!

Liz Pelletier co-founded Entangled Publishing in 2011. Over the past 8, almost 9, years, Entangled has gone from a small start-up to a bestselling romance publisher, with more than 18 NYT bestsellers and 71 USA Today bestsellers. Her out-of the-box approach to everything from pricing strategies to marketing to editorial allows Entangled to be both disruptive and agile within a dynamic publishing landscape. You can find her on Twitter at @Liz_Pelletier.

Our meeting will be held via Zoom. The password will be posted on the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Group page which can be accessed via the Romance Writers of America website under the Forums tab. If anyone has any questions, email cofwpresident@gmail.com