During our 2-hour Saturday workshops (after the regular meeting), experienced instructors guide participants through lecture and example to increase their marketability and the quality of their writing. Any work required of the students is done during that session. These workshops are open to the public and fees are kept low to encourage participation.
In Person & via Zoom
UNM Continuing Education (UNM-CE). Our Saturday meetings/workshops will still include a Zoom component. Workshops will start at 12:30, after the regular meetings end. Go to the SWW Meeting Location page for more information about our meetings at UNM-CE.
For a schedule of all our events, go to this page. What workshops would you like to see offered? Contact our class/workshop coordinator at office@swwriters.com to let us know.
Saturday, December 14 – No Workshop Scheduled
Saturday, January 11, 2025
12:30 – 2:30 pm
In Person and Via Zoom
SWW members: $20 ♦ Non-members: $30
Rose Marie Kern
Finding Your Niche Markets: A Pathway to Multiple Streams of Income for Writers
NICHE: A focused, targetable part of a market.
As a writer, poet, or artist of any kind, you are a specialist providing a product or service that focuses on a specific client group’s needs. If you wish to make your endeavor profitable, you need to identify your target audience — your personal Niche Markets.
In addition to looking over your potential niches, Rose will walk you through ways of finding magazines and publishers who are looking for these stories.
Every Occupation. Every Hobby. Every Experience. Every Lifestyle…
has useful information someone wants to know,
or generates interesting situations that enhance
fictional and non-fictional storylines.
Rose has had over a thousand articles and short stories published locally, nationally and internationally. Her workshop assists authors in two major areas: Finding an audience, and looking at how a story can be tailored to focus on the needs of that audience which increases its chances of successful acceptance.
To Register:
Call the SWW office at 505-830-6034 (Monday–Thursday, 9:00 am–noon) or use the online registration form. Our online payment portal utilizes PayPal, but you’ll be given an option to pay by credit card without signing into PayPal.
The Zoom invitation link and the password will be emailed to those who register. Please contact the class/workshop coordinator at Info@SWWriters.com for more information.
Saturday, February 8, 2025
12:30 – 2:30 pm
In Person and Via Zoom
SWW members: $20 ♦ Non-members: $30
Dorinda Wegener
From Pitch to Launch: Publicity Steps Authors Can Take to Maximize Book Exposure
The presenter will discuss what a formal Book Publicity timeline looks like, as well as touch upon tools an author can use to maximize their own book’s initial impact. Tools discussed will be: media landscapes, PR packets, the book’s “elevator pitch,” reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, events, tours, and social media outlets. Time will be given for participants to (1) generate a book pitch, (2) to discover what ‘successful’ Publicity means to them, and (3) an audience Q&A. Note: a writer does not need to have a book in order to benefit from this event for knowledge gleaned works with any career stage and genre of writing.
Dorinda Wegener was selected as a Poets & Writers Magazine 2024 Get The Word Out Poetry Cohort Participant. Her debut collection, Four Fields, was published by Trio House Press in July 2024. She is a Perianesthesia Certified Registered Nurse in Virginia, who holds an MFA in Poetry from New England College.
To Register:
Call the SWW office at 505-830-6034 (Monday–Thursday, 9:00 am–noon) or use the online registration form. Our online payment portal utilizes PayPal, but you’ll be given an option to pay by credit card without signing into PayPal.
The Zoom invitation link and the password will be emailed to those who register. Please contact the class/workshop coordinator at Info@SWWriters.com for more information.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
12:30 – 2:30 pm
IN PERSON ONLY
SWW members: $20 ♦ Non-members: $30
Brenda Cole
How to Speak in Public and Live to Tell the Tale
Does the thought of getting up to speak in public leave you gasping for breath and a heart rate like a hummingbird? Join Brenda for a practical workshop on how to prepare, give and survive public speaking. She will cover:
- How to project, handle a microphone and present yourself in the best light
- How to write a “parachute”
- Speaking versus reading to your audience
- Breathing exercises and other brief methods of calming yourself
- Everyone will give a 3-5 min talk
Come prepared with 3×5 or 4×6 index cards and ideas on what you want to talk about. Due to the nature of this hands-on topic, this is an in-person workshop only.
Brenda Cole’s first public stage appearance was at age 6. She has performed as a soloist, actor, lecturer and on radio, television and stage. She has multiple degrees including a BA in Speech and Theatre. She has been a member of SWW for decades and is the chair of the Collegium.
To Register:
Call the SWW office at 505-830-6034 (Monday–Thursday, 9:00 am–noon) or use the online registration form. Our online payment portal utilizes PayPal, but you’ll be given an option to pay by credit card without signing into PayPal.
Workshop and Class Refund Policy
If you cancel one week before the beginning date of the workshop or class, you will receive a full refund. Cancellations after one week prior up to 24 hours prior to the beginning of the workshop or class will receive a credit only toward a future workshop or class of your choice. If you do not cancel or don’t show up for the workshop or class you will receive no refund and no credit. For multi-session classes, if you miss a class, you receive no refund. We pay our instructors based on how many students enroll, so you are part of that roll count if you don’t cancel as detailed above.
Workshops you might have missed—examples of topics and presenters from the last few years:
2024
♦ Find Your Niche Market
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ The Writer’s Wheel & Screenplay Hero’s Journey: 2 Keys to Organize YOUR Writing
with Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos
♦ How to Speak in Public and Live to Tell the Tale
with Brenda Cole
♦ Writing the Difficult Topic
with Mary Collins
♦ The Basics of Writing Award-Winning Fiction and Nonfiction for Children and Teens
with Chris Eboch
♦ From Hiaasen to Evanovich – Comedic Writing Techniques
with Lisa Haneberg
♦ Copyrights, ISBNs & Barcodes
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ Do You Need a Publisher?
with BR Kingsolver
♦ A Gentle Goodbye: Life-Affirming Stories
with Andrea M. Penner
♦ Creating 3-Dimensional Non-Stereotypical Characters
with Marilyn R. Atlas
2023
♦ Criticism Tips and Tricks, How to Take it and How to Give It
with Patricia Walkow and Chris Allen
♦ Finding Your Niche Markets
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ Creating a Book Tour
with E. Joe Brown
♦ Book Award Competitions: Get a Running Start
with Sara Frances
♦ “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of Copyright Compliance
with C. Daniel Miller
♦ Writing a Ten-Minute Play
with Andy Mayo
♦ Preparing Print-Ready PDFs with Affinity
with RJ Mirabal
♦ Let’s Make a Scene
with Charlene Bell Dietz
♦ How to Speak in Public and Live to Tell the Tale
with Brenda Cole
♦ Military Writing Techniques and Tips
with Jim Tritten
♦ From Writer to Author
with Rose Marie Kern & Cornelia Gamlem
2022
♦ Writing a Page Turner
with Hallie Ephron
♦ Finding Your Niche Markets
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ Social Media 101
with Elizabeth Layton
♦ Keeping Your Eye on the Prose (not the press)
with Lauren Wolk
♦ Creating Three-Dimensional Characters
with Melody Groves
♦ Marketing Best Practices
with Geoff Habiger
♦ Publishing an eBook on Amazon
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ How to Speak in Public and Live to Tell the Tale
with Brenda Cole
♦ Wildness in Your Writing
with Lisa Taylor
♦ The Path from Writer to Author
with Rose Marie Kern and Cornelia Gamlem
2021
♦ Starting Your Novel in 2021: Taking it Day by Day
with Jonathan Miller
♦ Jump Start Your Writing with Short Forms
with Miriam Sagan
♦ Romance Genres and Subgenres: Understanding Reader Expectations
with Tamra Baumann and Jeffe Kennedy
♦ Writing Great Love Scenes for Romance and Other Genres
with Sarah Storme/Lydia Parks
♦ Plotting a Romance (and Other Genres)
with Robin Perini
♦ Finding Romance Publishers and Agents
with Sarah Storme/Lydia Parks
♦ Finding the Story in History
with Pamela Nowak
♦ The Art of Screenwriting
with Art Eisensen
♦ Mystery Genres & Subgenres
with Joseph Badal, Michael Avery, Keri Bovee, Charlene Bell Dietz, Marcia Rosen, Margaret Tessler, Robert D. Kidera
♦ Tips from Successful Mystery & Thriller Writers
with Keri Bovee, Charlene Bell Dietz, Patricia Smith Wood, and Robert D. Kidera
♦ The Mystery Market, Today and Tomorrow
with Pat Wood, Michael Orenduff, and Robert D. Kidera
♦ Queries and Cold Reads
with Shannon Snow and Haley Casey
♦ Taxes and Best Accounting Practices for Writers
with Brian Reinhardt
♦ Poetry Fireside Chat, August 11
with Jacqueline Murray Loring and Dan Wetmore
♦ Poetry Fireside Chat, August 18
with Preston H. Hood III
♦ Poetry Fireside Chat, August 25
with Lisa C. Taylor
♦ Insider Tips for Using the Internet
with Loretta Hall
♦ NaNoWriMo
with Kathy Kitts and Grant Faulkner
♦ Special Presentation: Speculative Fiction — An Overview
with Kirt Hickman, Bruce Kingsolver, David Lee Summers, Dollie Williams
♦ Special Presentation: Speculative Fiction — Fantasy Genres
with Joyce Hertzoff, Bruce Kingsolver, David Lee Summers, Vicky Murata, Kirt Hickman
♦ Special Presentation: Speculative Fiction — Purely Science Fiction
with Kirt Hickman, Geoff Habiger, Dollie Williams, Natalie Wright
♦ Finding the Story
with Loretta Hall and Patricia Walkow
♦ Understanding Rights & Copyrights
with Rose Marie Kern