Meetings
Regular meetings are usually held in-person and on Zoom, on the second Saturday of the month (unless otherwise noted) in January, March, April, May, June, September, October, and November. February is our annual Valentines luncheon and July is when we have our summer picnic. There are no meetings in August or December. Directions for in-person meetings can be found here. Meetings typically consist of a two-hour workshop and may include a brief business meeting and, if needed, a lunch break. Please see workshop descriptions below for times.
**Guests are welcome to attend one or two regular meetings before joining. Please e-mail us for more information.**
*Please note, dates and/or times are subject to change based on workshop presenter’s availability.
November 16, 2024
Topic: Hidden Emotion & Subtext: Making Dialogue Crackle with What Isn’t Said
Speaker: Becca Puglisi
Location: UVic, Engineering & Computer Science Building, Room ECS660, Victoria and via Zoom
Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 pm (please arrive by 9:45)
Come with a story project in mind and be ready to apply what you’ll be learning in this workshop to your characters. This can be a story that’s in the planning stage or one you’re currently working on, whether it’s in the drafting or revision stage. If you’re in-between projects, feel free to use one of your completed stories, and practice on characters you know well.
Becca Puglisi lives in sunny south Florida, where she spends her weekends baking, watching movies with her family, and relaxing at the beach. The rest of the time, she works as an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of transformative books for writers—including the second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus, an updated and expanded version of the original volume. Her books are available in multiple languages, are sourced by universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. To date, this book collection has sold over a million copies. Her passion for learning and sharing her knowledge with others led her to co-create the Writers Helping Writers® blog and One Stop For Writers®, a powerhouse online resource that helps authors elevate their storytelling. An avid reader in the fantasy, historical fiction, and post-apocalyptic genres, she’s also intrigued by What If? scenarios and would love to get back to writing those stories when time permits. You can find her online on Facebook and Twitter.
December 2024
No Meeting
January 11, 2025
Topic: Deep POV
Speaker: Barbara Longley
Location: UVic, Engineering & Computer Science Building, Room ECS660, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria and via Zoom
Time: TBD
Barbara Longley graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education/Human Relations, and holds a Master’s in Ed./SLD from the University of Minnesota. When the integration district where she taught dissolved in 2015, she transitioned into writing full time. Ms. Longley is listed on RWA’s Honor Roll of Bestselling Authors, and her books have garnered many awards, including a Maggie, the Holt Medallion, a National Readers’ Choice, two Heart of Excellence awards, a Bookseller’s Best award, and the Diamond Award for reaching more than a million readers. Barbara creates memorable heroes and heroines who grow into their strength and go on to save the day. She is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
February 8, 2025
Valentine’s Luncheon
Location: Moxies Yates, 1-1010 Yates Street, Victoria
Time: 12:00 pm
As lovers of all things romantic, Valentine’s Day is our special time to celebrate “us” and everything we do. “Us” includes all our authors: seasoned, newly published or aspiring, in all genres. Join us to celebrate! Please see the February issue of Tide Lines for details.
March 8, 2025
Topic: Planning Your Romance Series
Speaker: Sarah Pesce
Location: Via Zoom
Time: 10:00 am to 11:30 am
Sarah Pesce is a romance editor, book coach, and reader. She’s edited for best-selling authors such as Talia Hibbert, Jenny Holiday, Nikki Payne, and Liana De la Rosa, as well as dozens of indie romance authors. She got her start in romance by stealing her mother’s Harlequins and flipping to “the good parts,” and then she was hooked. She’s still a voracious romance reader, but now she gets to help romance writers with all the parts so they can find their publishing HEAs. Find her at Lopt and Cropt Editing Services, or follow her on Instagram for romance-related tips and tricks.
April 12, 2025
Topic: Choosing the Fatal Flaw & Boffo Beginnings and Fab Finales
Speaker: Laurie Schnebly Campbell
Location: Via Zoom
Time: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves giving workshops that draw on her background as a counseling therapist and a novelist who beat out Nora Roberts for “Best Special Edition of the Year.” She also enjoys writing copy for a Phoenix ad agency, playing with her new grandson, recording for the blind, vacationing in Sedona (the red-rock town named for her grandpa’s mom), and running WriterUniv.com. “People ask how I find time to do all that,” Laurie says, “and I tell them it’s easy. I never clean my house!”