Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - Jan Winebrenner - A freelance writer for 27 years, Jan Winebrenner authored eight books and wrote countless articles for periodicals as diverse as VIETNAM TODAY,LEADERSHIP, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, TODAY'S CHRISTIAN WOMAN, and DECISION. She wrote feature articles for a parenting magazine for two years before changing her focus to writing books infused with a love of classical Christian literature. Jan founded the Dallas Christian Writers Guild and frequently speaks for writers' groups and college and university writing classes. Mentoring and encouraging other writers is one of her passions. Recent books include The Grace of Catastrophe and Intimate Faith, both published by Moody Press.

www.janwinebrenner.com

Tuesday, September 14, 2010: Jan Brand “Write by Numbers.” How to stay motivated and engaged by understanding the basics of plot and structure.  

Jan Brand is a freelance writer who lives in Arlington, TX. As the Assistant Director of North Texas Christian Writers, an organization of over two hundred writers, she facilitates ten writers’ groups. Her goal is to see God honored in America again. Much of her fiction and nonfiction focuses on America’s Christian heritage. Her work is aimed at causing us to remember the past, so that we can build a better future. When asked why she writes, her reply is, “To change the world, one heart at a time.” She’s published in The Christian Communicator, Eagle Mountain Lake Living Magazine, Victoria Magazine, and Chicken Soup for the Soul, and others.

Here are the DAWG critique guidelines -- please read them before signing up for a critique.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - Parris Afton Bonds was conceived in Paris, Kentucky and was born in Tampa, Florida on July 21, 1944. The mother of five sons and the author of thirty-five published novels, she is the co-founder of Southwest Writers Workshop and co-founder and first vice president of Romance Writers of America.

She wrote her first novel at the early age of five (The Blackhawk Women Ride Again), but didn’t publish professionally until free-lancing while living outside the United States. Back in the States, with more than a dozen articles and short stories to her credit, she tackled novel writing again. With the explosion of the romance novel at that time, she wrote and sold her first submission, the historical romance Sweet Golden Sun, to Popular Library.

Ms. Bonds attributes her fascination with historical romances and, in particular, Native Americans, to authors she read as a child and young woman, such as: Frank Yerby, Rafael Sabatini, James Fennimore Cooper, Dale Van Every, and Edna Ferber. The plight of the Native American as described in the novel Romana by Helen Hunt Jackson, most influenced Parris Afton Bonds.

ABC’s Nightline calls her one of the three best-selling authors of romantic fiction. Award-winning Parris Afton Bonds has been interviewed by such luminaries as Charlie Rose and featured in major newspapers, as well as published in more than a dozen languages. She donates time teaching creative writing to both grade-school children and female inmates. The Parris Award was established in her name by the Southwest Writers Workshop to honor a published writer who has given outstandingly of time and talent to other writers. Prestigious recipients of the Parris Award include Tony Hillerman and the Pulitzer nominee Norman Zollinger.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - Win Shields, former staff writer for Bob Hope and longtime writer and script doctor for Universal Studios (Punky Brewster, Murder She Wrote and others), will teach us how to create effective dialog -- a key component to any novel, script and even to narrative non-fiction and documentaties -- learn from one of the industry's noted experts. You can't get any better instruction than this unless you go to LA.