Memorable songs don’t write themselves. This week, Edward Sparks, talented musician, songwriter, and maker of fine instruments, will talk about the art of writing songs that speak to the heart. A lot of songs have great instrumentation, musical hooks, vocals, and harmonies, but the lyrics fall flat. Ed believes in…
Learn from a best-selling author, editor and marketing expert who has been through a variety of publishing paths including self-publishing, working with a literary agent, and contracting with small and large traditional publishers – and whose novels have gone on to win a number of literary awards and earn her…
Mary Ann Jung is an award-winning actress and Smithsonian Scholar who performs delightful and inspiring shows about amazing women in history. She has appeared on CNN and Good Morning America and done numerous shows for the National Archives and Smithsonian Museums. She has been a lead actress and Royal Court…
Are you feeling frozen inside? Stuck in your head? Locked-up and, therefore, unable to write? Do you have a story idea coming to mind, but something is thwarting the starting process? Are you starting to feeling discouraged, demoralized, inadequate? Most writers will agree they have suffered through the creative agony…
The Annapolis Chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) presents Open Mic Night! This is your chance to read your published, unpublished, finished, or in-progress poetry, fiction, non-fiction, etc. in front of a friendly group of supportive people. This is always a crowd favorite, so be a part of the…
Are you feeling lost, lonely, or uninspired? Trying to figure out how to reignite the creative spark in your writing practice? Even if your writing is stronger than ever, come lend your talents and imagination to the group in this interactive zoom meeting. Annapolis Chapter President Becky Shiles will lead…
Flashbacks, multiple storylines, chronological order, and circular narrative structures are some of the options to develop your story when writing novels. And then there’s a handful of options to approach your plot development. What about point-of-view, emotional arcs, narrative arcs, motivations, and predicaments? How does culture influence both plot and…
Most fiction writers spend a lot of time negotiating and then renegotiating how to assemble the seemingly endless amount of swirling ideas into a coherent story. Topics like external conflict, revisions, more revisions, editing, passive voice and dialogue, as well as how to manage time and approach a query letter,…
For twenty-five years (1988-2013), John DeDakis was deeply involved in CNN’s coverage of almost every major national and international news story, retiring in 2013 as a Senior Copy Editor of CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis, whose journalism career began when he was tear gassed in 1970 while covering…
What does it mean to “think well”? How does this skill relate to “writing well”? Freelance writer, editor and speechwriter, herbalist, permaculturalist, and traditional rug-hooking artist, Leigh Glenn, will take us on a journey through the intertwined crafts of thinking well and writing well that naturally lead to synthesizing and…