Part 2, “Building Dialogue, Creating Character, Forming Plot,” by Greg Elliot

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2245629439?pwd=Sk92UXVZNzBpK1Z3NWd1TWtPcUM3UT09&omn=81240819787

Back by popular demand, the MWSA Writers Education Series continues on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 5:00 PM EST with Greg Elliot who will speak with members about screen writing and writing for television.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2245629439?pwd=Sk92UXVZNzBpK1Z3NWd1TWtPcUM3UT09

MWSA’s 2024 season will start two weeks earlier than in years past.

We’ll start accepting author book submissions on January 2, 2024, and the window will remain open until June 1. This will give us more breathing room before this year’s awards banquet in San Diego, CA, on September 28, 2024.

We’ll provide further details as we approach the season kickoff. Stay tuned!

Topic: Getting to the Heart of the Matter: How and When to Reveal Emotion

Presenter: Greg Elliot, Screenwriter/Writer/Editor
November 9, 2023, at 4 PM EST

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81667323159?pwd=eH2oAsuNw5sXqgk49FHQGHK4ONQXdG.1

Click here to see videos of Greg’s past presentations.

When: August 3, 2023 @ 4PM EST

Subject: Story Structure 2: character development, tension, and conflict.

Presenter: Greg Elliot

MWSA Zoom Webinars Are Back!
What: MWSA Writer’s Education Webinar Series Welcomes Greg Elliot

When: May 20, 2023, 1 PM EST.

Who: Greg Elliot. For fifteen years, Greg taught at UCLA for the Extension Writers’ Program and was the recipient of their Outstanding Instructor Award in Screenwriting in 2014. Elliot wrote for Star Trek: Voyager, for which he received a Sci-Fi Universe Award nomination. He was a Story Editor on the Warner Brother series Savannah and an Executive Story Editor on the WB series Charmed. Greg also wrote for the Disney Channel series In a Heartbeat. Professionally, Greg has edited short stories, novels, nonfiction books, brochures, how-to books, personal essays, and college papers.

Greg will offer classes on story structure, broken into two parts. The classes will each last 1.5 hours, and questions will be permitted at the end.

The First  Session: Story Structure: Setting Your Scenes, Backstory and Flashbacks, Your Beginning and Ending.

Questions? Please email MWSA Board Member Gary Zelinski at gbzelinski@gmail.com if you have any questions.

We'll be announcing our 2022 Season Finalists via live video presentation on our Facebook page tomorrow, July 1, at 8 PM Eastern Time. We're making this announcement a little earlier than planned to give as much time as possible to our award winners to make plans to join us in New Orleans.

To watch the video live, click on the image above or use this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/542447014158688 

To watch the video after it's finished playing, you'll be able to find it here:

https://www.facebook.com/MWSA.MembersPublic/videos

To make your conference (and/or awards banquet) reservations, visit the conference page on our website

https://www.mwsadispatches.com/events/2022-conference

Good luck to all our MWSA authors!

Thanks, 
MWSA Awards Directors

PS. We'll send our finalists email notification shortly after the video airs. At that time, we'll also update the 2022 season page our website to list the winners.

Due to the earlier-than-normal date for our conference and awards banquet, we’ll be closing our submission window earlier this year: June 1.

We’re also planning to announce our 2022 awards finalists on July 15—a month earlier than normal.

Visit our Review and Awards page for information.

Visit our 2022 Conference page for more details about our next general membership conference in New Orleans.

Titled “Your Work in Progress” this first class will focus on “Your first line and what comes after.” This class can benefit most of us. Our guest instructor will be Joseph Badal, a multi award winning author and this year's MWSA Writer of the Year.  He has also been a Tony Hillerman awardee twice, and Eric Hoffer award winner, and an Amazon and Barnes and Noble #1 bestseller. So, plan on being there! More to come.

Zoom links TBD

MWSA Review & Awards 2022 Season will kick off on January 15.

Due to the earlier-than-normal date for our conference and awards banquet, we’ll be closing our submission window earlier this year: June 1.

We’re also planning to announce our 2022 awards finalists on July 15—a month earlier than normal.

Visit our Review and Awards page for information.

Visit our 2022 Conference page for more details about our next general membership conference in New Orleans.

Standby for further details

General Membership Conference Zoom

Due to the cancellation of our conference in New London, CT, we'll be hosting our general membership conference via Zoom session again this year.

Please join us this Saturday, September 18, at 11:00 AM Central Time (9 Pacific, 10 Mountain, and 12 Eastern).

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84600288448?pwd=RVhpbWlEWmw3Ylg2MkoxeTFPMzFhZz09

Are you new to Zoom or planning on joining us via telephone?

Visit our "How to Zoom with MWSA Page!" 

Meeting ID: 846 0028 8448 | Passcode: 442307

Virtual Awards Banquet Video

We'll be announcing our 2021 season individual book medal and special recognition award winners via "live Facebook video premiere" at 8:00 PM Eastern (7 Central, 6 Mountain, and 5 Pacific) -- also this Saturday, September 18.

To watch the video live at that time, visit the "Events" section of our MWSA Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/MWSA.MembersPublic/events

If you miss the live presentation, you can watch the video any time by visiting the "Videos" section of our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/MWSA.MembersPublic/videos

Shortly after the video airs, you'll be able to see all this year's winners (and get more details) on our 2021 season page.

Good luck to all our 2021 season finalists, and hope to see everyone online for both the conference and the virtual awards ceremony.

MWSA will announce our 2021 awards finalists via Facebook Video Premiere on Saturday, August 7, at 5 PM Eastern (4 Central, 3 Mountain, 2 Pacific).

Click on the image to the right or the button below to go to our MWSA Facebook page and watch the video.

MWSA finalists can expect to receive an email notification with further details and recommendations shortly after the time mentioned above.

Good luck to all our 2021 season authors!

Get Your Book Right Before the World Judges You: What Agents, Publishers, and Reviewers Are Looking For

Part 4 — Style

New and unknown authors have discovered that the book publishing industry can be hard to break into. If an author chooses to self-publish, it can be difficult to know where to start with the editing, layout, and design, whether doing it for themselves or hiring someone else to do it. This presentation gives authors additional information on what is expected in the visual and technical areas of award-winning books. The next presentation in the series will delve into content and style. Industry standards change over time, so even if you think you know what is acceptable, this workshop is for you!

Dawn Brotherton is an award-winning author and featured speaker at writing and publishing seminars. She teaches for the College of William and Mary Osher Lifelong Learning and writes for Williamsburg Next Door Neighbor magazine. A retired Air Force colonel and softball coach, Dawn writes mystery, romance, middle grade fiction, children's picture books, and nonfiction books.

She completed her first novel in 2010. When she realized how hard it was to attract the attention of publishing houses and how much money they received from her hard work, she decided to go it on her own. She set up Blue Dragon Publishing, LLC, and took on other authors. The focus of Blue Dragon Publishing is to help a writer’s dream become a reality. Dawn’s focus is mentoring people through the process and helping them reach their goals.

Time: 11 July at 4PM CENTRAL time.

Click on the link below or paste it into your browser.

https://zoom.us/j/2245629439?pwd=Sk92UXVZNzBpK1Z3NWd1TWtPcUM3UT09

Presentation Video & Documents

MWSA Review & Awards 2021 Season will kick off on January 15 and run until June 15.

We normally announce our awards finalists in mid-August each year.

Visit our Review and Awards page for more information.

Get Your Book Right Before the World Judges You: What Agents, Publishers, and Reviewers Are Looking For

Part 3 — Content

When polishing your manuscript, there are some pitfalls to avoid and peaks you want to make sure to hit. We’ll be talking about tropes, cliches, character arcs, point of view, and much more (in 10 slides or less).

New and unknown authors have discovered that the book publishing industry can be hard to break into. If an author chooses to self-publish, it can be difficult to know where to start with the editing, layout, and design, whether doing it for themselves or hiring someone else to do it. This presentation gives authors additional information on what is expected in the visual and technical areas of award-winning books. The next presentation in the series will delve into content and style. Industry standards change over time, so even if you think you know what is acceptable, this workshop is for you!

Dawn Brotherton is an award-winning author and featured speaker at writing and publishing seminars. She teaches for the College of William and Mary Osher Lifelong Learning and writes for Williamsburg Next Door Neighbor magazine. A retired Air Force colonel and softball coach, Dawn writes mystery, romance, middle grade fiction, children's picture books, and nonfiction books.

She completed her first novel in 2010. When she realized how hard it was to attract the attention of publishing houses and how much money they received from her hard work, she decided to go it on her own. She set up Blue Dragon Publishing, LLC, and took on other authors. The focus of Blue Dragon Publishing is to help a writer’s dream become a reality. Dawn’s focus is mentoring people through the process and helping them reach their goals.

Time: June 13, 2021 at 4 PM CENTRAL time.

Presentation Video & Documents

Get Your Book Right Before the World Judges You: What Agents, Publishers, and Reviewers Are Looking For

Part 2 — Technical

New and unknown authors have discovered that the book publishing industry can be hard to break into. If an author chooses to self-publish, it can be difficult to know where to start with the editing, layout, and design, whether doing it for themselves or hiring someone else to do it. This presentation gives authors additional information on what is expected in the visual and technical areas of award-winning books. The next presentation in the series will delve into content and style. Industry standards change over time, so even if you think you know what is acceptable, this workshop is for you!

Dawn Brotherton is an award-winning author and featured speaker at writing and publishing seminars. She teaches for the College of William and Mary Osher Lifelong Learning and writes for Williamsburg Next Door Neighbor magazine. A retired Air Force colonel and softball coach, Dawn writes mystery, romance, middle-grade fiction, children's picture books, and nonfiction books.

She completed her first novel in 2010. When she realized how hard it was to attract the attention of publishing houses and how much money they received from her hard work, she decided to go it on her own. She set up Blue Dragon Publishing, LLC, and took on other authors. The focus of Blue Dragon Publishing is to help a writer’s dream become a reality. Dawn’s focus is mentoring people through the process and helping them reach their goals.

Time: Time: May 23, 2021 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

We’ll add the presentation Video & Documents after the Zoom

Ruth W. Crocker is the author of more than sixty publications. Her articles, stories, and personal essays have been featured in The Gettysburg Review, Grace Magazine, O-Dark-Thirty, T.A.P.S. Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Redux, The Bennington Review, Story Circle and several anthologies and trade magazines. Among her writing honors are a notable essay in Best American Essays, a Pushcart Prize nomination, first prize in the Saturday Evening Post’s “Tribute to the Troops” essay contest, and the Lloyd D. Matterson Award for Excellence in Research. Her memoir, Those Who Remain: Remembrance and Reunion After War, received the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association, and the Silver Medal from the MWSA. Her nonfiction book, People of Yellowstone, received Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award in 2017. She holds a PhD from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Education from Tufts University, and a Master of Fine Arts in writing from Bennington College. Presently, she is editor of the National Newsletter of the Gold Star Wives of America, as well as a frequent speaker on the subject of memoir and the craft of writing. She lives and writes in Mystic, CT. Visit her at www.ruthwcrocker.com.

Click on the button below to join our Zoom session and watch Ruth’s presentation live. Again, that Zoom will take place May 15, 2021, at 4 PM Central, 5 PM Eastern time.

For details about MWSA Zoom sessions (create your Zoom account, learn how the Zoom interface works, become familiar with MWSA’s Zoom procedures, or if you want to join via telephone) click on our new Zooming with MWSA page. If you’re joining us via telephone, after dialing in, use Meeting ID: 943 7404 2536 and Passcode: 234384.

New and unknown authors have discovered that the book publishing industry can be hard to break into. If an author chooses to self-publish, it can be difficult to know where to start with the editing, layout, and design, whether doing it for themselves or hiring someone else to do it. This presentation gives authors additional information on what is expected in the visual and technical areas of award-winning books. The next presentation in the series will delve into content and style. Industry standards change over time, so even if you think you know what is acceptable, this workshop is for you!

Dawn Brotherton is an award-winning author and featured speaker at writing and publishing seminars. She teaches for the College of William and Mary Osher Lifelong Learning and writes for Williamsburg Next Door Neighbor magazine. A retired Air Force colonel and softball coach, Dawn writes mystery, romance, middle grade fiction, children's picture books, and nonfiction books.

She completed her first novel in 2010. When she realized how hard it was to attract the attention of publishing houses and how much money they received from her hard work, she decided to go it on her own. She set up Blue Dragon Publishing, LLC, and took on other authors. The focus of Blue Dragon Publishing is to help a writer’s dream become a reality. Dawn’s focus is mentoring people through the process and helping them reach their goals.

Time: Apr 25, 2021 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Presentation Video & Documents

Please join us on April 17 for a master class in fiction when Joseph Badal speaks on how to "Sustain Tension in a Novel

The time is 4:00 pm Mountain Time

5:00 CDT

6:00 EDT

3:00 PDT

Joseph Badal is one of our best writers and speakers. This is a class you do not want to miss. I hope to see you then.

Jack Woodville London, Director of Writing Education

MWSA Zoom Account is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: MWSA Education Joseph Badal Sustain Tension in Your Novel

Time: Apr 17, 2021 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

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Meeting ID: 912 5062 7047

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Wendy was the presenter for an MWSA Writers Education Zoom session covering website FUNdamentals.

Have a look at Wendy’s slide presentation below, or visit her website: https://www.wmmedcomm.com/

MWSA Review & Awards 2021 Season will kick off on January 15 and run until June 15.

Visit our Review and Awards page for information.