Workshops are open to anyone. Cost is $15.00 for CHRW Members, $20.00 for non-members.
CHRW members receive 2 free workshops per year.
Win a free workshop! Celtic Hearts Chapter is pleased to donate a workshop to Romance University in the month of February! During the month of February, join in the discussion at Romance University during RU’s lectures, and for every comment, you’ll be entered into the giveaway drawing. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win a class!
2/01/2010 - 3/29/2010
Druids: The Ancient Priesthood of the Celts
by Sharon Gunn
Shrouded in mystery, the ancient religion of the Druids continues to fascinate people today as much as it did the Romans and Greeks. The druids, respected soothsayers, healers and political advisors, were the most enlightened and civilized influence in northern Europe until the advent of Christianity.
The Celts believed the natural features of the earth were inhabited by gods and goddesses. They venerated oak groves, but also performed rituals on hilltops, and by streams and lakes. Fire was associated with several divinities, and each of the four seasons began with a fire ritual: Imbolc (spring), Bealltuinn (summer), Lughnasadh (autumn) and Samhain (winter). The rituals of the druids existed until the 18th century in Gaelic Scotland and Ireland although the people who were the cultural heirs of the druids did not recognize themselves as such. Neo-druidism was a creation of 18th-19th centuries -- different groups have recreated the religion of the druids as best they knew how; one well-known group worships at Stonehenge each year at the summer solstice.
Instructor Bio:
Sharron Gunn has taught Gaelic language and history as a non-credit university course and French in high school. French has earned her enough to eat and stay warm, but Gaelic is her true love and avocation. She has an honours degree in Scottish History and Celtic studies from the University of Glasgow.
She was born on the east coast of Canada where many people are of Scottish, Irish and French origin, and learned Gaelic from her grandfather who may have been descended from a dynasty of Gaelic poets. In the Scottish Highlands and Gaelic Ireland you could earn very good money writing poetry a few centuries ago. Imagine that, all you struggling poet-songwriters!
4/5/2010 - 4/30/2010
The Power of GMC: Crafting Compelling Characters and Kick-Butt Stories
by Renee Knowles and Eliza Knight
Do you find yourself confused by GMC? Is it a challenge to create gripping goals, motivations and conflicts for your characters? Do you have a hard time determining the difference between internal and external GMC? Do you want to kick up the tension and conflict in your story? Then it’s time to learn the ins and outs of GMC.
Without a solid backbone of internal and external goals, motivations and conflict, your story won’t grab the reader and characters can fall flat. This class will teach you how to dig deep and uncover your hero and heroine’s true GMC, re. You’ll learn how to define their goals succinctly and relate them directly to their conflicts and motivations. You will do exercises designed to help you use GMC to enhance your plot and give your story more direction.
In those lessons we’ll also be discussing POV, passive vs. active, showing vs. telling, and other nitty gritty details that make your manuscripts come alive.
Instructor Bios:
Renee Knowles is an award-winning historical and contemporary romance author with The Wild Rose Press and Siren Publishing. She is also an editor for The Wild Rose Press and a published freelance writer whose work has appeared in national consumer and trade magazines, as well as newspapers. Renee’s novellas consistently receive 5-star reviews, and she was called a “brilliant author” by Two Lips Reviews.
Renee is the author of a series of writing how-to books, Savvy Business Skills for Writers, from Wild Child Publishing. She often gives workshops and online classes to writing groups all over the country. Renee has several years of experience in public speaking and frequently presents on business topics and image. She has presented writing workshops at Colorado Romance Writers, Seattle Romance Writers’ Emerald City Conference, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the Northern Colorado Writer’s Conference. She also teaches online writers’ classes through AuthorMBA.com and RWA chapters.
For more information on Renee, please visit her website at www.reneeknowles.com.
Eliza Knight is the author of sizzling historical romance and erotic time travel Highlander romance. Eliza is the author of the award-winning blog, History Undressed and has published numerous articles on writing craft and history. She is a freelance copy editor, professional critiquer, President of the Celtic Hearts Romance Writers signature chapter of the RWA and Contest Chair for Hearts Through History. She presents workshops on history, researching techniques and writing craft, to writing groups online. For more information on Eliza, please visit www.elizaknight.com or www.historyundressed.blogspot.com.
5/3/2010 - 5/28/2010
To Be or Not to Be and Other Editing Quandaries
by Cindy Vallar
Authors are told to write the best book we can, but in today’s competitive market that’s not always enough. We could follow Mark Twain’s advice: Substitute damn every time you’re inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. In reality, though, the writer has to make the changes. While not all of us are adept at putting on an editor's hat, there are some simple steps to take to tighten the writing and polish the manuscript.
This workshop provides tips on what an author can look for to improve your chances at getting past the initial query. We'll cover passive vs. active sentence construction, redundancy, weak vs. strong verbs, stating the obvious, synonyms, cause and effect, dangling modifiers, clarity of pronouns, author intrusion, speaker identification tags, adverbs and adjectives, head hopping, and more. The list may seem daunting, but if you know what to look for, you can easily make corrections that may increase your chances of getting a request to see your entire manuscript.
Instructor Bio:
Cindy Vallar, Associate Editor of Industry for Solander, writes the “Red Pencil” column where she compares a selection from an author’s published novel with an early draft of that work. She also reviews for the Historical Novel Society’s journal, Historical Novels Review. She is a freelance editor, the editor of Pirates and Privateers, and the author of The Scottish Thistle, her debut historical novel about the Camerons and MacGregors during Scotland’s Rising of 1745, and Odin’s Stone, a romantic short story of how the Lord of the Isles settled the medieval feud between the MacKinnons and MacLeans on the Isle of Skye.
She belongs to the Historical Novel Society, the Red River Branch of the Clan Cameron Association, the Scottish Clans of North Texas, and the National Maritime Historical Society. In 2005 at the Clan Cameron North American Rally, Cindy received the first Friend of Clan Cameron Award. Prior to becoming an author and editor, she was a school librarian for twenty years, and she also taught computers and social studies. She invites you to visit her award-winning web site, Thistles & Pirates (http://www.cindyvallar.com/), to learn more.
6/1/2010 - 6/30/2010
Building Your Online Platform
by Deborah Brent
Since about 2002, I’ve been Deborah Brent. This is the name I plan to use in my writing from now on. Will you answer to Jennifer, Sandra, or Alexandra? Deborah is my real first name. I’ll answer to it. Keep this in mind when choosing a name. This course will help members pick their name or if they want to use their real name.
There are lots of writing-related Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, and chat rooms. We will look at online sites and help members decide which ones they have the time and which ones suit their personalities. Also, we will talk about what to and what not to share online that may impact your career.
You need a website. There are others much more computer literate than me who can tell you how to do this. We will go over some of the basics, free and cheap sites and how to pick a web designer.
Lastly, we will look at the conferences and workshops online that can help them learn their craft and advance their career.
I can’t guarantee that you will get published by building your platform, but when the time comes for the editor to look for you online, they will find you.
Instructor Bio:
Deborah is a native of East Tennessee. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee with a focus on history and a minor in anthropology.
She is a member of: Organization of American Historians; Phi Eta Sigma – National Honor Society for college freshmen; Phi Alpha Theta – History Honor Society; Romance Writers of America® (www.rwanational.org) and several of its chapters.
She has ghost blogged and written many newsletter articles for Smoky Mountain Romance Writers (www.smrw.org), a chapter of Romance Writers of America ®, and other chapter newsletters. Some of these have been reprinted throughout the US, Canada and New Zealand.