Presentation: Michael Buzzelli-Charm Your Readers with Humor: Tips on Writing Rom-Coms
NOTE: No regular meeting in November. Members will be on retreat.
January 2, 2027, Carla Swafford, Basics for Publishing a Book
February 5, 6, 2027, Southern Magic Annual Workshop
March 6, 2027, Carla Swafford, Basics for Setting up a Website (WordPress)
April, May, June – TBA
July 3, 2027-Sherrilyn Kenyon (subject TBA)
Bring an excerpt and questions you have about your current or future writing projects and members can critique and offer each other help with writing projects.
If you can, bring school supplies to donate.
Coming in the next months…
September 5, 2026
Guest Speaker Layne Goode (Mississippi Licensed Certified Social Worker), will speak about Mental Health. In person
October 3, 2026
Guest Speaker Sarah Stillwell will discuss World-building focused (what goes into creating an unfamiliar setting and making it familiar). In person.
November 2026–NO MEETING (Writers retreat for members)
December 5, 2026
Guest Speaker Michael Buzzelli will speak with our group about humor tips and about his holiday romance, All I Want for Christmas. His article, ‘How to Charm Your Readers with Humor Tips on Writing RomComs’ was featured on the RWA website. He will present his topic in person.
June’s speaker will be Jodie Cain Smith. She is the founder of the Mobile Literary Festival, which is a big event every year at the Mobile downtown library and she is the event planner for the Haunted Book Shop. To be presented through Zoom.
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Heads up: There will not be a meeting in July. Because it’s July the 4th. Happy 250 years to the USA.
Critique Time
Luck has nothing to do with it! Writers work hard to get their thoughts on paper. Bring an excerpt and questions you have about your current or future writing projects and members can critique and offer each other help with writing projects.
Presentation: Author Betty Bolte presents Writing Paranormal Romance.
USA Today Bestselling author Naima Simone loves writing sizzling romances with heart, a touch of humor and snark. Her books have been featured in The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, and described as balancing “crackling, electric love scenes with exquisitely rendered characters caught in emotional turmoil.”
She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.
Naima’s presentation will be on plotting.
Guest speakers are Jeeah Kim and Sariah Waller. Birmingham Police Chaplain, Marvin
A. Neal, will make a visit to collect much needed school supplies for the Birmingham
City Schools.
The authors:
Jeeah Kim is a Korean-American poet from Prattville, Alabama. She is a lifelong learner with a passion for equity in education, literacy and public speaking. The author of Asynchoritos (2022) and everything I couldn’t tell you (2023), she writes about everything from the fantastical, the day-to-day, and the experiences of Asian-American diasporas.
Sariah Waller is a published writer, a senior at Oak Mountain High School who just completed the Ava Long Creative Writing Workshop at UAB. She published her very first book, “The Healing Heart” on Amazon in April of 2022 while in eighth grade. It’s a love story about two different people from two different backgrounds whose hearts become one. She is currently working on a new book called “The Red Dagger.”
Program: Per Bestselling author Lauren K Denton, “I will plan to talk about my path to publishing, a little about my agent search, give a few recommendations for online help for writing, querying, and publishing, and how using journals has been helpful in my writing. It’ll be a little hodge podge, but if anyone has specific questions, I’m happy to answer any.”
Lauren is the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Hideaway and Hurricane Season, along with Glory Road, The Summer House, The One You’re With, and her most recent, A Place to Land. Born and raised in Mobile, Lauren lives with her husband, two daughters, and one shedding doodle in Homewood. For more than ten years, she wrote a monthly local newspaper column about life, relationships, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books.
We’ll view a video about “How to Upload a Book to Amazon in 2025.” Please attend even if you know how. Maybe there will be tidbits you were unaware of or you can help explain anything the presenter didn’t make clear.
Coming in June: USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Lauren K Denton talking about her publishing path.
