February 2010 Meeting

Saturday, January 9, 2010
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee

Career Planning

Even though most published authors remain bivocational, just to make ends meet, there important steps of career planning that go into preparing for the day when you finally get published. From great idea to great writing to great platform, we’ll look at elements that everyone can be doing now—no matter where you are in your writing journey—that will help shape the future of your career as a published author.

January 2010 Meeting

Saturday, January 9, 2010
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee

Is My Manuscript Ready to Submit?

So you’ve finished your manuscript and you’re wondering: Is it ready to submit? How do I figure out whether to submit to a publishing house or an agent? This month, we’ll be trying to answer some of these “what next?” questions when it comes to writing/publishing, including ways to determine if your manuscript is ready to submit to editors/agents—and if you are, too.

December 2009 Book-Signing Event

Five Middle Tennessee Christian Writers authors will be participating in two book signing events in the Middle Tennessee area on December 12, 2009:

November 2009 Meeting

Saturday, November 14, 2009
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

What Next?

So you’ve finished your manuscript and you’re wondering: What next? Do I revise? Do I work on something else? And then, after you’ve worked on polishing that manuscript for a while, you wonder: Is it ready to submit? How do I figure out whether to submit to a publishing house or an agent? This month, we’ll be trying to answer some of these “what next?” questions when it comes to writing/publishing.

Next Meeting: October 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Special Guest Speaker

Debora Coty is a mother of two, the wife of one, and the primary zookeeper of a myriad of Coty creatures. In addition to her prolific work as an internationally published freelance writer, fiction author, event speaker, and newspaper columnist, Deb is a piano teacher and an occupational therapist. She is the author of The Distant Shore and Billowing Sails, historical novels for young adults. Visit her online at www.deboracoty.com.

August 2009 Meeting

Saturday, August 8, 2009
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Discussion Topic: Plot or Plod?

This month, we’ll be trying to answer some of the following questions:
• How much action/tension should a book have?
• How do you deal with a “sagging middle”?
• How often and how long should you let your readers “rest” between conflicts?
• How do you keep the momentum going in the story?

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For more information about MTCW, click here.

July 2009 Meeting

Saturday, July 11, 2009
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Discussion Topic: Scenes, Disasters, and Consequences: Hooking the Reader

To continue with our discussion begun so wonderfully by last month’s guest speaker, Tamara Leigh, on Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts, this month, we’ll be looking at how to write scenes that propel the story forward and keep the reader hooked, while also incorporating those character goals, motivations, and conflicts we’ve been learning about.

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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

June 2009 Meeting

Saturday, June 13, 2009
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Special Guest Speaker: Best-selling and award-winning author Tamara Leigh!

After Tamara Leigh earned a Master’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology, she and her husband decided to start a family, with plans for Tamara to continue in her career once she became a mother.

When the blessing of children proved elusive, Tamara became convicted to find a way to work out of her home in order to raise the children she and her husband longed to have. She turned to writing, at which she had only ever dreamed of being successful, and began attending church. Shortly thereafter, her agent called with news of Bantam Books’ offer of a four-book contract. That same day, Tamara’s pregnancy was confirmed. Within the next year, she gave up her speech pathology career, committed her life to Christ, her first child was born, and her first historical romance novel was released.

As Tamara continued to write for the secular market, publishing three more novels with HarperCollins and Dorchester, she infused her growing Christian beliefs into her writing. But it was not enough, and though her novels earned awards and were national bestsellers, she knew her stories were lacking. After struggling with the certainty that her writing was not honoring God as it should, she made the decision to write books that not only reveal Christianity to non-believers, but serve as an inspiration for those who have accepted Christ as their Savior. Her inspirational romances are peopled with characters in varying stages of Christian faith, from mature believers to new believers to non-believers on the threshold of awakening.

Tamara Leigh enjoys time with her family, volunteer work, faux painting, and reading. She lives near Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, David, and two sons, Skyler and Maxen.

Tamara’s Books:
Leaving Carolina (September 2009)
Faking Grace
Splitting Harriet
Perfecting Kate
Stealing Adda

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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

May 2009 Meeting

Saturday, May 9, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Discussion Topic: Using Point of View to Deepen Description & Character Development

To wrap up our three-month series on Description, we’ll look at how to use Deep Point of View to craft descriptions of setting and characters without garnering comments like “telling” or “author intrusion” from critique partners, contest judges, and editors. We’ll look at how determining each viewpoint character’s unique internal language can add depth and layer to descriptions, and we’ll also discuss how to show and not tell what things/people look like from our character’s viewpoints.

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Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.

April 2009 Meeting

Saturday, April 11, 2008
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN TIME!

Panera Bread
406 21st Ave S
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 320-1500

Discussion Topic: Character Descriptions & Development

We’ve all been told “don’t overdo the descriptions” when writing. But how do we know how much is enough and how much is too much? We’ll be looking at how genre affects the technique of writing descriptions of characters, along with looking at some classic and some contemporary examples of how published authors handle it. If time permits, we’ll also discuss how we develop characters and look at some ways to develop quirks and mannerisms to make our characters unique.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Membership in MTCW brings many benefits to the beginning writer as well as the multi-published writer, including weekend writing marathons once a month, a month-long writing marathon each October, as well as additional meetings for brainstorming and creativity exercises.

For more information about MTCW or the upcoming meeting, please post a comment and one of our moderators will be in touch with you shortly. Membership in MTCW is contingent upon attendance at at least one monthly meeting or the personal referral of a current, active MTCW member.