Posts filed under 'WLT Events'
Winter Writing Practice Retreat
Relax and Prepare for the New Year with Saundra Goldman
Saundra Goldman
at Austin’s Casa de Luz
1701 Toomey Rd
$109 WLT members / $169 nonmembers
(Advanced reservations must be made through the Writers’ League.)
This winter’s retreat will help you set the tone for the season with a day of writing practice and meditation. While the media tells us to shop, party and overeat, the Earth gives us a different message, that it is time to withdraw, to go under. May Sarton wrote that, “Winter is the season when both animals and humans strip down to the marrow.”
Topics and exercises at the retreat are designed to help you go deep inside yourself, to strip to the marrow, and get grounded for the weeks and months ahead.
A macrobiotic lunch is included in the registration price. We will be breaking for lunch, so students also have the option to leave campus and purchase food during that time.
Open to all levels of writers.
Who Should Attend?
- Anyone interested in starting a writing practice
- Writers who want to deepen their writing experience
- Students of past “Build a Writing Practice” classes
Writer and art historian Dr. Saundra Goldman brings years of experience in writing practice, including intensive study with Natalie Goldberg. Her short stories, essays, and reviews have been published in literary journals, museum catalogs, textbooks, anthologies, and professional journals, including Art News, New Art Examiner, Art Papers, Theater and Drama Review, and the Texas Observer. She also served as art critic to the Austin American-Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. She is currently writing a book about the feminist performance artist and sculptor Hannah Wilke.
Interested? Register here.
Add comment November 24, 2009
Our WLT Holiday & Raffle Party!
You’re Invited!
5:30 – 8:30 PM Thursday, December 3, 2009Nuevo Leon Restaurant
1501 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78702
Come celebrate the holidays with us and fellow Writers’ League members! We’ll enjoy complimentary appetizers and the cash bar at Nuevo Leon Restaurant, and then we’ll raffle a few writer-worthy prizes.
The price of entry is one raffle ticket ($5 each or $20 for 5 tickets) either purchased at the door or contact the Writers’ League to purchase tickets prior to the event. You do not need to be present at the party to receive the raffle prizes. The only prize you must be present to win is the WLT Agents’ Conference registration. Please contact us if you have any questions about the event!
RAFFLE PRIZES INCLUDE:
- One free registration for the 2010 WLT Agents Conference (must be present to win)
- One free session with an agent at the 2010 WLT Agents Conference OR $50 towards any WLT class
- Two hour Social Media consultation (courtesy Nettie Hartsock)
- Dinner for 6 with Angela Shelf Medearis (courtesy Frances Townsend)
- Italian dinner with H. W. Brands (courtesy Louis Brusatti)
- Two hours of editing (courtesy Sheila Allee)
- $50 Gift Certificate from BookPeople
- A two-hour publicity consultation with Jennifer Hill Robenalt of Hoopla Media
For more information, visit our website.
Add comment November 19, 2009
Blast Off: the Book Launch and Beyond!
Monthly Program from our “Build a Book” Series
Tweed Scott
David Marion Wilkinson
7:30 p.m. Thursday November 19
at the Writers’ League Office
611 S. Congress Ave., Suite 130
*FREE*
You’ve written your book, landed at a publisher, and now it’s time to meet your public at book signings and events. Authors who’ve been there will share their experience about how to prepare for readings and signings; plus, we’ll hear from a bookseller to see what works from the store’s perspective. Arrive early; seats fill up fast!
Panelist: president of the WLT Board of Directors, Tweed Scott and public relations specialist, David Marion Wilkinson.
Please join us beforehand 5 – 7 PM at Doc’s Motorworks Bar & Grill, 1123 S. Congress (two blocks south of the WLT office) for a Mix and Mingle Happy Hour!
Add comment November 12, 2009
WLT Supports All Members Participating in NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel Writing Month!
The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of November. (Learn more about this fun and painstaking goal at the NaNoWriMo website!)
Wrimos are almost two weeks into their novels by this point. We know it can get stressful. Maybe it’s starting to feel like the end is nowhere near? Well, we believe in our Wrimos! The goal may seem unattainable, but it is perfectly attainable.
The WLT is hosting NaNoWriMo related events all throughout the month. Feel more than free to stop by our office, meet other Wrimos, and write non stop!
NaNoWriMo
Friday the 13th Lockdown
Come join fellow Wrimos for a “killer” all-nighter on November 13 from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. here at the WLT offices. We’ll also snack, socialize a little, and play a game or two. The 12-hour lockdown is a great way to boost your word count.
Please:
- Be a registered NaNoWriMo participant
- Be actively working on a novel
- Be 18 or older – this is required by the Writers League insurance company
- Plan to stay the whole twelve hours – that’s why it’s called a lockdown!
- RSVP to receive the secret password.
Space is limited.
RSVP is first-come, first-served. Once we’re full, we’re full. After that, we’ll start a waiting list. If you RSVP and then can’t make it, please let us know so someone else can take your place. Please don’t show up without the password!
What you’ll need to bring/do:
- Bring potluck snacks to share during the long, long night
- Wear comfortable clothes, and bring a sweater in case it gets chilly
- If you think you’ll need a nap, bring a pillow/blankie
- Bring headphones – please make sure the sound doesn’t bleed through
- Arrive by 7 pm if possible. We’ll post the phone number at the door for emergency late arrivals.
No drugs or alcohol allowed.
What we’ll provide:
- Liquids – sodas, water, tea, and coffee, ice (there is also a soda machine in the building)
- Extension cords and surge protectors (though it wouldn’t hurt to bring one if you have it)
- Tables, chairs, and one small couch
- Access to the internet for folks who just can’t write without it
- Access to the Writers’ League library
Last Chance Write-In
November 30 from 9 a.m. to midnight. Use your final writing hours wisely by spending them at our WLT offices.
Additional NaNoWriMo Support
If you are a WLT member who receives the official NaNoWriMo Certificate of Completion, the WLT will give you 50% off of the submission fee for WLT manuscript contest.
Best wishes to our Wrimos!
Add comment November 10, 2009
The Art of Interviewing
Learn Effective Interviewing Skills with Suzy Spencer
Suzy Spencer
at the Writers League Office
611 S. Congress Ave. Suite 130
$99 members / $159 non members
Effective interviewing is an art form essential to the success of all writers — whether you’re doing research for a novel or nonfiction book; writing newspaper, magazine, or journal articles; preparing your thesis or dissertation; creating web content; blogging; or promoting your own book.
In fact, if a writer doesn’t know what questions to ask, how to ask or answer them, as well as how to listen to glean information that no one else has, the writer could miss key opportunities to make an even better book, story, or article.
New York Times best selling author Suzy Spencer, a professional in the techniques of interviewing, will teach the course through lecture, discussion, and role-playing. This two-session class will teach writers how to prepare for an interview, how to conduct an interview, how to turn a bad interview into a good one, and how to follow-up after an interview.
The information from this class is useful for everyone, but especially if you are: a freelance writer or journalist who wants to bump up your interview skills to excel in a tight market, a blogger who wants to add original reporting to your blog, an authors who is — or who plans to be — interviewed to promote a book, or an author interviewing prospective agents and/or publishers.
Interested? Register here.
Add comment November 5, 2009
Book in a Month: Novel Writing Tool Kit
Novel Writing Online Class with Kit Frazier
Kit Frazier
Self study, online course
starts Oct. 26 – Nov. 30, 2009
$149 WLT members / $209 nonmembers
Kit Frazier
Just in time for National Novel Writing Month! Whether you’re thinking about writing a novel or mired in the middle of your work in progress, this is the class for you. The intensive course of study reviews Christopher Vogler’s The Hero’s Journey’s three-act structure and Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation, and Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction, and breaks these concepts down into a manageable, 30-day writing regimen, with particular emphasis on those all-important first five pages and middle-of-the-story conflict.
The Book in a Month Tool Kit includes:
- PowerPoint Videos of Class Instruction
- Personal Goal Tracker Calendar
- Character Worksheets
- Character Goal, Motivation & Conflict Sheets
- Story Board Worksheets
- Time Tracker Worksheets
Add comment October 22, 2009
The Writers’ League of Texas 2009 Bookish Brunch
Reservations extended until Wednesday, October 28th!
The Bookish Brunch
Honoring:
Texas Book Festival Authors
Click on their image and read the author’s bio.
Also honoring the 2009 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award Winners
9 to 10:30 am, Sunday, November 1
At the home of Frances Townsend & Ted Gilman in Austin
$40 WLT members/$50 nonmembers
Proceeds benefit the Writers’ League of Texas
For more information, please visit our Bookish Brunch page.
Add comment October 2, 2009
Monthly Program
“Build a Book” Series: Meet Your Publisher and Editor and Marketing Reps and Publicist and …
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- Deltina Hay
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- Colleen Devine Ellis
Once your book is signed, you’ll have a whole team of people working with you. Find out more about the publishing team who will bring your book to the market. Arrive early, seats fill up fast!
Panelists: Publicist, Colleen Devine Ellis, market rep, Gillian Redfearn and author/publisher, Deltina Hay.
For more information, please email us at wlt@writersleague.org or visit our website.
Before the program, join us at Doc’s Motorworks Bar & Grill, 1123 S. Congress (two blocks south of the WLT office) for a very special “Mix and Mingle Happy Hour.”
Add comment September 11, 2009
Google Settlement Teleconference
The Writers’ League of Texas Presents
The Google Book Settlement:
What’s an Author to Do?
Teleconference Call with Media Attorney Steven D. Smit
4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2
Free to Writers’ League members / $10 for nonmembers
Register here
Steven D. Smith
If you’re an author who has received an opt-out letter regarding the Google Book Settlement, it’s hard to know what opting out or staying in actually means for you. And with the opt-out deadline of Sept. 4 approaching, authors are scrambling to make a decision.
As a service to our members and other authors, the Writers’ League of Texas is hosting a teleconference call with attorney Steven D. Smit, of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon, & Moody in Austin. Steve has been monitoring the Google settlement and will give an overview of the settlement and review the pros and cons of opting out.
NOTE: The conference call is limited to the first 90 registrants; you MUST register here. The dial-in number and pass code will be sent to registrants in an e-mail confirmation.
For more on the Google Settlement, see our previous post, “The Google Settlement: Opt Out or Stay In?”
Add comment September 1, 2009
2009 Agents Conference Photos Posted
Flickr donated a Pro account so we’re able to post all the pictures from the Conference. If you got any good pix please let me know and we’ll post them too. Giant thanks to Candice Munoz for being our event photographer for the weekend. She’s just starting her photographic career, so email the League if you want her contact information!
Add comment July 23, 2009
