Monthly Events

June 1: Are Audiobooks for you? with Bryan Canter

Plus mid-year luncheon

Would you like to have your book produced as an audiobook? Would you like to expand your book’s reach into the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry? In this presentation, audiobook project management consultant, Bryan Canter, will provide high level insights into the various audiobook production options available to authors, address the issues associated with producing your own audiobook, and provide a deep dive into the specifics of finding a narrator/producer and managing a project using the Audiobook Creative Exchange (ACX) as an example platform.

About Bryan Canter:

Bryan is a book and audiobook publishing consultant with My Word Publishing out of Denver, a book advertising and marketing specialist with the Successful Writer Marketplace, and an interior layout designer.  Bryan has published three of his own books in multiple genres. He has managed over twenty book publishing projects and thirteen audiobook projects for his clients. 

July 6: Creating Tension with Cara Putman

In this workshop, award-winning author Cara Putman delves into the essential elements of narrative construction, focusing on the interplay between external, internal, and spiritual threads within your story. Unlock the secrets to captivating your readers from the first page as you learn to intertwine external conflicts—those visible struggles that drive the plot forward—with the internal complexities of your characters’ desires, fears, and growth. But we won’t stop there. Delve even further into the soul of your narrative as we explore the often-overlooked spiritual dimension, infusing your story with the layer of purpose and meaning.

You’ll gain invaluable insights and practical techniques for infusing your writing with tension that grips the heart of your audience. Whether you’re a seasoned author seeking to elevate your storytelling craft or a budding writer eager to embark on your literary journey, this workshop promises to inspire, enlighten, and empower you to craft novels that resonate long after the final page is turned. Join us and unlock the full potential of your storytelling today!

About Cara Putman:

Cara is an attorney, lecturer at a Big Ten university, active in women’s ministry, and all around crazy woman. Crazy about God, her husband and her kids that is. She graduated with honors from Mid Plains Community College in North Platte, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!) and George Mason Law School.  Prior to graduation from law school, Cara landed a prestigious position with the US Department of Justice Honors program in Washington, D.C. However, at the close of her clerkship with Federal Court of Federal Claims Senior Judge Loren Smith, her husband accepted a job at Purdue University, which moved them from the city to Lafayette, IN, where she works with a small firm and teaches at Purdue.

In addition to her legal endeavors, Cara is a multi-published author. Since receiving her first contract in September 2006, Cara has seen 14 novels, three repackages and a Complete Idiots Guide in print with two more novels releasing in the next six months. Cara is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers currently serving on the Executive Board. She homeschools their four children, operates Mom’s taxi, and is desperately seeking a laundry and kitchen fairy. You can learn more about Cara at www.caraputman.com and follow her on facebook, twitter, and pinterest.

Aug 3: Building Your Author Community with Donna Schlachtern

Monthly meetings are great. Annual conferences, awesome. But what about the other 350 days?  Creating an author community who meet, pray, text, Zoom, encourage, and help one another can move you from good to great.

About Donna Schlachtern: 

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers’ groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed career writers.

Sept 14: Building Character with Felicia Ferguson

How do you create characters that your readers want to have coffee with or —even better — accidentally include in their prayer time because they feel so real? To create memorable characters, we must hit the reader’s heart, their own pain, the longing for more in their own lives. Empathy is the ability to say, I not only understand but I feel what you feel, and it’s key for keeping a reader turning the page. In this workshop, Felicia will dive into motivations, goals, fears, personalities, and the lies they believe to help you craft three-dimensional characters. Come with your current work-in-progress in mind or come with a mind open to creating new characters and get hands-on practice during the workshop.

About Felicia Ferguson:

Felicia achieved master’s degrees in Healthcare Administration and Speech-Language Pathology, but has written since childhood and dreamed of authoring books that teach and inspire others. An award-winning fiction and non-fiction freelance writer, she has previously published devotions with Christian Devotions and Inkspirations, written articles for national luxury lifestyle magazine, VIE, and guest blogged on multiple websites. But her greatest writing love is contemporary Southern women’s fiction and romantic suspense. Her heroines are strong women who work through their spiritual and emotional issues using biblical principles and counseling techniques, finding real hope in their happily-ever-after endings.As a child, Felicia lived in Kansas, Texas, and Louisiana before her family settled on a horse and cattle farm in Kentucky. As an adult, she’s lived in Tennessee, the Florida panhandle, and now Colorado. When she’s not glued to her laptop, Felicia enjoys hiking, Bible studies with friends, and looking forward to the next story. Her weekly radio devotions air Saturdays on Christian Mix 106. Learn more at feliciafergusonauthor.com.

Oct 5: Writing Fast with Kimberley Woodhouse

Need to hit a deadline fast? Don’t have enough hours in the day? Kimberley Woodhouse will teach you how to maximize the hours by writing fast.

About our presenter:

Kimberley Woodhouse is the bestselling author of more than forty books which have earned many accolades including Christian Retailing’s Top Pick, Booklist starred reviews, and multiple Publisher’s Weekly starred reviews. Winner of the Carol Award, the Holt Medallion, the Golden Scroll, the Christian Market Book Award, the Selah, and many others, she is also a popular speaker/teacher and has shared with more than two million people at over 2,500 venues. A lover of history and research, she often gets sucked into the past and then her husband has to lure her out with chocolate and the promise of eighteen holes on the golf course. Married to the love of her life for three-plus decades, she lives and writes in Colorado where she’s traded in her hat of “Craziest Mom” for “Nana the Great.”  To find out more about Kim’s books, follow her on social media, and sign up for her newsletter/blog, go to: https://kimberleywoodhouse.com

Nov 2: Board Members Marketing Chat

Details to be posted soon!

Dec 7: Christmas Party

Details to be posted soon!