September Meeting

On Saturday, September 27th starting at 11:00 am, Katie McGarry will be presenting on writing Emotionally Authentic Characters.

May Meeting Cancelled

Due to events, the May Louisville Romance Writers meeting is cancelled.

May Meeting

May 2014 Education Program

Ergonomics — and More! — for Writers: How Caring for Your Body Will Make You a Better (and More Comfortable) Writer

Nathan Lynch, a licensed Physical Therapist with twelve years of experience, will address issues commonly encountered by writers. He will provide guidelines for creating a workspace that can avoid or ameliorate such problems as neck and back pain or repetitive motion injuries. Additionally, he will suggest stretches or other activities to keep writers healthy and physically able while engaged in an essentially sedentary vocation.

A graduate of Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, Nathan has five years of experience focused on the shoulder, the most complex joint in the body. He has complemented his education with specialized training and certification which qualify him to administer functional capacity examinations (i.e., for determination of workman’s compensation or social security disability). This training also provides for evaluating ergonomics in the workplace. In addition, he has earned the title of Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (think personal trainer), which approaches fitness from a healthy, rather than injured, perspective. Last, he brings the extremely specialized experience of a close relationship with a writer, so he has personally observed many of the bad practices he will address.

March 2014 Meeting

Date: March 22

Topic: Freud Knows Romance

Speaker: Sandy James: Sandy is an award-winning author writing in multiple genres, including contemporary romance for Grand Central Forever. She also teaches psychology, and has presented her fun, fascinating workshops on psychology and characterization at National RWA conferences.

Description: This workshop empowers participants with some basic psychological principles that will give them tools to use in their characterizations. The workshop includes theories on motivation, explanations of emotion, and discussions of personality formation. Sigmund Freud’s defense mechanisms are a “must know” for writers. Without a grasp of concepts such as rationalization, sublimation, and projection, authors miss some fantastic opportunities to make their heroes and heroines consistent and endearing. www.Sandy-James.com

January Meeting Cancelled

Due to inclement weather, the January Louisville Romance Writers meeting has been cancelled. Please check with this site for the rescheduled date of Katie McGarry's presentation.

2014 Calendar of Events

Date: January 25

Topic: Writing Emotionally Authentic Characters

Speaker: Katie McGarry

Description: Katie McGarry is the author of Young Adult novels Pushing the Limits, Dare You To, and Crash Into You. In this presentation she'll show writers how to dig deep into the characters in order to write scenes that will make your readers laugh and cry.



Date:  February 22
Topic: Refine Your Work for Publication

Speaker: Susan Lindsey

Description:  Susan Lindsey of Savvy Communication has twenty years of experience in writing, editing, and media relations. She is the director of Women Who Write and a member of the Talking Story writers' group, the American Copy Editors Society, and the Editorial Freelancers Association. Find out more about Susan and Savvy Communication at www.savvy-comm.com.


Date: March 22

Topic: Freud Knows Romance

Speaker: Sandy James: Sandy is an award-winning author writing in multiple genres, including contemporary romance for Grand Central Forever. She also teaches psychology, and has presented her fun, fascinating workshops on psychology and characterization at National RWA conferences.

Description: This workshop empowers participants with some basic psychological principles that will give them tools to use in their characterizations. The workshop includes theories on motivation, explanations of emotion, and discussions of personality formation. Sigmund Freud’s defense mechanisms are a “must know” for writers. Without a grasp of concepts such as rationalization, sublimation, and projection, authors miss some fantastic opportunities to make their heroes and heroines consistent and endearing. www.Sandy-James.com

Date: April 26

Topic: Story Lab: Dissecting a Novel for Fun and (Educational) Profit

Speaker: Group Discussion--come with your questions and hot topics!

Description:Courtney Milan’s novella The Governess Affair is on the LRW operating table--we’re going to cut it open, poke around its innards, and figure out what gave it life (or what caused it to die on the table, if it turns out to be not your thing). Story structure, world building, character arc--whether you love our patient or not, dissecting it will provide craft lessons you can take back to your own writing. Please read Milan’s novella prior to the meeting. LRW will buy each interested member a copy!



Date:  May 24

Topic:

Speaker:

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Date: June 28

Topic: Meditation for Writers: Banish the Inner Critic, Access Your Creativity, Heighten Your Focus

Speaker: John Shealy, PhD

Description: “Writer” is just one of the roles we take on, and when you’ve been in work or family mode, it can be challenging to transition to mindset for creativity. Or maybe you’re harassed by an unhelpful inner critic when you try to write. As science discovers more and more benefits to prayer and meditation, it’s only smart to consider how a moment of stillness could reinvigorate your writing life. Psychotherapist, life coach, and yoga and meditation teacher Dr. John Shealy uses mindfulness and an integrated view of spirituality and psychology to help people reach their goals and manage stress and anxiety.

January Meeting

The Louisville Romance Writers is excited to announce that Will Lavender will be speaking to our group on January 26, 2013 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm! We hope to see you there!

Will Lavender is a native of Whitley City, Kentucky. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, Sharon, and his children, Jonathan and Jenna. He is a graduate of Centre College with an MFA from Bard College. His debut novel, Obedience, was a New York Times and international bestseller. His novels have been sold in 13 countries.

A former poet and short story writer, Will moved to genre fiction after finding that he loved thrillers. The field seemed ripe for different kinds of novels, novels that used some of the traits from his earlier experimental fiction and built on literary ideas about form and context. His favorite poets are John Ashberry and David Berman, and if you look closely into his novels you can see some allusions to literary figures and many acknowledgements of the literary world Will was once a part of.

Will is now the author of "puzzle thrillers," novels that are not quite mysteries and not quite thrillers but incorporate elements of both. His inspirations are diverse: he writes with the moody atmosphere of Stephen King, with the intellectual gamesmanship of Jeffery Deaver, and with the pacing of Michael Connelly. But his greatest inspiration comes from the world of mysteries, where everything hinges on that last, devastating reveal.

Will was a college professor for six years. While teaching, he began to think about ideas such as obedience and the role of the professor in the classroom. This led him to research the works and studies of the great social scientist Stanley Milgram, and this in turn led to his first novel,Obedience. Around the time he was researching Milgram, an odd criminal case was in thenews in his hometown. His time as a professor and this unusual story culminated in a novel that The Wall Street Journal called, "A mystery as ambitious as one could imagine."

Will's second novel, Dominance, has been more than two years in the making. Again the setting is a college, and again a group of students must race against the clock to solve a tangled mystery. But this time, the stakes are even higher...

Last Saturday, the Louisville Romance Writers enjoyed our annual holiday party! Just as a reminder, there will be no meeting in December. See you in January!

April's Meeting Topic

In April, we will be critiquing opening paragraphs. Please bring with you, to the meeting, the opening paragraph to one of your manuscripts.

February 2012 Meeting Topic

Our next meeting will be Saturday, February 25th from 11:oo a.m. to 1:00 p.m at the Bon Air Library

The meeting topic will be:

Jumping into the Deep End of the Social Media Pool

- a discussion of the most commonly used social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Goodreads, blogs) and how to use them to promote yourself and your writing
- tips for achieving maximum benefits while minimizing the time dedicated to social media

- organizing and linking multiple social media profiles for optimal exposure

2011 Workshop Calendar

Join Louisville Romance Writers in 2011 for a year filled with fun, fellowship and education! Workshops are held during the second half of each of our monthly meetings, and cover a wide variety of writing-related topics, from craft to creativity, from coming up with the perfect pitch to describing the perfect first kiss.

January - Productivity tips for the busy writer

February - Join us as we kick off our First Annual LRW Writing Challenge! To help us celebrate, we've invited as our very special guest, NY Times best-selling author, Lani Diane Rich. Lani’s first novel, Time Off for Good Behavior, was written during the famed Nanowrimo novel-writing challenge, and with that novel, Lani became the first previously unpublished novelist to publish a Nanowrimo manuscript. Time Off won the Rita award for Best First Book, and since then, she’s published seven more novels and one collaboration. She'll be sharing the secrets of her phenomenal success!

March - Writing Challenge Wrap Up! Our members have been vying for four weeks for the chance to win the ultimate prize -- POSSESSION OF GERARD BUTLER, THE LRW SOCK MONKEY. Who will triumph and take home this brown and white stuffed trophy? Tune in and find out!

April - Special guest speaker, romantic suspense author Kathy Carmcihael

May - "Creating Sympathetic Characters" presented by LRW member Lisa Tapp

June - No meeting due to RWA National conference in New York City!

July - "Me, LLC" presented by LRW member Sara Reinke

August - Promotion Round Table - Published LRW members share their tips and tricks of the trade for stretching your marketing dollar and making the most of terrific promotional opportunities. Alternate: Guest speaker YA author Kelly Creagh, pending availability

September - "Meyers-Briggs Personality Inventory for Writers"

October - "Charettes: Story Architecture" presented by LRW member Sarah Yates

November - Sold: One Year Later - YA author and LRW member Katie McGarry shares her thoughts and experiences one year after signing a multibook contract with HQN. What has she learned? What would she do over? What does she wish would last forever? Join us to find out more from a budding best-seller in the making!

December - No meeting. Happy Holidays! Remember, it's never too early to start shopping for a Sock Monkey for YOUR favorite LRW member!

Welcome to the online home of Louisville Romance Writers!

Louisville Romance Writers (LRW) is an affiliated chapter (#202) of Romance Writers of America®, the world's largest romance writers group. All writers interested in writing romantic fiction are welcome.

Here at LRW, we take pride in helping to educate our members about the craft of writing and the business of publishing. We offer inspiration to persevere, reach new levels, and, in doing so, provide members with the tools they need to attain publication.

Meetings are held on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Bon-Air Regional Library, 2816 Del Rio Place (meeting room) in Louisville, (see sidebar map.) from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome to attend up to two meetings at no cost or obligation before joining.

Here are some of the benefits you’ll receive as a member of Louisville Romance Writers:

EDUCATION through:

• Monthly Meetings
• Tours
• Workshops
• Education on craft, industry, special attention to subgenres
• Monthly critiquing group
• Support and information on RWA’s PRO and PAN programs
• National and regional RWA news

INSPIRATION through member networking and fellowship, through which we share information on:

• Agents
• Contests for writers
• RWA affiliated listserves
• Market news
• Resource/research links
• Publishers
• Special interest RWA chapters
• Conferences
• Online workshops and classes
• Query letters, synopsis, contract reviews and other craft issues
• And more!

Plus, as a member, you'll receive access to LRW's exclusive online loops, which include regular discussions of writing and writing related subjects as well as chapter and national-related news.

PUBLICATION:

LRW supports local published authors and local romance booksignings. For those not yet published, we strive to provide the resources, education, support and information you need to succeed.