Instructor: Tamela Buhrke

July 1 - 26;  Fee:  $40

A publisher will expect you to have a blog, but you shudder at the very idea.  Who are you to blog?  Maybe you don't even have a book out yet.  What value could you offer?  Where can you find the time?  And what will you write that will make even the slightest difference in the sales of your book or the process of being published?

If you think blogging is a waste time that could be better spent writing your book, then join this class and you'll find out how blogging might just be the best thing to happen to your writing, your author career and your book sales.

Better yet, you might even have fun doing it.

Testimonials:

I feel so much more comfortable with my blog site. Thank you thank you thank you!

I've done a one-eighty on blogging, and have come up with an approach that suits me, which I'll develop into weekly blog topics.

Tamela Buhrkehas been a web designer and internet marketer since 1998. She is also a published author of Angel Unraveled and Angel Unprepared.  Ms. Buhrke has been teaching business owners and writers how to use the web for marketing for over twelve years.

Instructor: Tamela Buhrke

May 6 - 31; Fee: $40

Get Serious. Get Discovered.

We all know that the slush pile is getting larger and the number of new authors being chosen is dwindling.  So how do you stand out?

There are two pillars of success in becoming a professional author:
1. Hone your craft.
2. Build a fan base.

That's how you get noticed by agents and editors.  That's how you sell books when you are published (whether self published or traditional).  Do them early in your career, do them together, do them well, and you will become a successful author.

This class is for those who are serious about becoming, not just an author, but an author who sells books and builds a professional career.   You'll learn how to combine your efforts so that you hone your craft as a part of building your fan base.  (And yes, my friends, you can build a fan base without ever having completed a manuscript.)  Best of all you can do it in a way that improves your writing, helps you find your voice and fleshes out details of your novels.

Are you ready to get serious?  Then this class is for you.

What previous students have said about this class:

The biggest thing was to convince me I really do need to start now, and it's not all that mind-boggling a prospect if I lay out a plan in advance, and take it step by step.

The course gave me the boost I needed to get my head out of the sand and look ahead to marketing my book. You provided a full scope of information, and enough backup to keep me going.

I've done a one-eighty on blogging, and have come up with an approach that suits me, which I'll develop into weekly blog topics.

I've come away inspired to write some fresh short stories using my book characters and setting.

I really liked the videos, the thoughtful, personalized feedback

The class was well thought out and packed with valuable information.  It was a lot to digest given where I am on the marketing path, but made the road ahead clearer and much more achievable.

(This class was originally titled Platforms Aren't Just Shoes)

Tamela Buhrke has been a web designer and internet marketer since 1998. She is also a published author of Angel Unraveled: The Watcher Series Book 1. Ms. Buhrke has been teaching business owners and writers how to use the web for effective marketing over twelve years. She is a weekly contributor of marketing and book business information on Chiseled In Rock blog, the unofficial blog for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Her marketing book, My Platform Is Sinking—A How to Guide to The Social Media World For Writers & Authors is due to be published in 2013.

Instructor: Margie Lawson

May 6 - 31; Fee: $50

Two Prerequisites:

1. Empowering Characters' Emotions

2. Deep Editing: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More

You can meet the prerequisites with the Lecture Packets for both courses. They're available through Paypal from Margie's web site.

This class is about openings. All your openings, not just the first opening in your book.

The opening of your prologue and/or first chapter need to carry powerful content, and powerful structure and style.

The opening of every scene and every chapter needs to hook the reader with content and structure and style too.

This course covers:

-- what the reader needs in the first few paragraphs

-- the two promises writers give readers on the first page

-- strategic use of Margie's deep editing techniques and systems, including:

-- the EDITS System

-- power words and backloading

-- ten cadence-driven rhetorical devices

-- scene-themed, character-themed, and emotion-themed words

-- objective constructs

-- linear load issues

-- style and structure

Margie-Grads may know most of Margie's deep editing techniques. In this class they'll learn how to pull them together and make their openings smooth and compelling.

Margie Lawson—psychotherapist, editor, and international presenter – developed psychologically-based editing systems and deep editing techniques used by new writers to multi-award winning authors. She teaches writers how to add psychological power to create page turners.

In the last seven years Margie presented over seventy full day Master Classes for writers. She taught her psychologically-anchored deep editing to over six thousand writers across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Writers who have studied her material credit her innovative editing approaches with taking their writing several levels higher—to publication, awards, and bestseller lists.

To learn about Margie’s 4-day Immersion Master Classes in Colorado, full day Master Class presentations, online course schedule, Lecture Packets, and newsletter, visit: www.MargieLawson.com.

Instructor:  Suzanne Lazear

Dates: May 6 - 31; Fee:  $40

Whether you're writing kidlit or adult, no matter if your story is Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy. Paranormal Romance, High Fantasy, Steampunk, a mash-up, or something in-between, worldbuilding is key.

In this workshop we'll focus on all aspects of worldbuilding, from where and when the story is set to the characters that populate it, the technology (and magic) they use, to their language, government, culture, and beyond. So bring your ideas, put on your adventuring gear, and lets go create a world.

Class is suitable for all levels from novice to expert and is open to all genres.

Suzanne Lazear writes the fairytale Steampunk series for teens "The Aether Chronicles." Book One, INNOCENT DARKNESS, just released from Flux.  She's part of the popular Steampunk group blog "Steamed!" http://www.ageofsteam.wordpress.com and has been known to run with bustles and covet tiaras made of clockhands.  Visit her website at www.suzannelazear.com

Instructor: Margie Lawson

Feb. 1 - March 31:  Fee: $90

Three Prerequisites, Online Courses or Lecture Packets:

1. Empowering Characters' Emotions

2. Deep Editing: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More

3. Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist

Do you want to dig deep into deep editing?

Do you want to take an advanced class with all Margie Grads?

Do you want Margie's Deep Edit Analysis for 30 pages of your WIP?

If so, this squeal-it's-a-deal class is for you!

Lectures will be short, compared to Margie's other courses. Emphasis is on applying deep editing to your WIP.

We'll focus on making each word, line, sentence, paragraph, page, and scene provide a clear, smooth, empowered read.

Enrollment is limited to 30.

Join me in Fab 30 and give your writing and writing career a rocket-powered boost!

Instructor: Margie Lawson

Dates: The class spans three months to support long-term change.

Jan. 1 - 5, Feb. 1 - 5, March, 1 - 5, and Sundays: Jan. 13, 20, 27; Feb. 10, 17, 24; March 10, 17, 24, 31

Fee: $60

Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors

Allow Writing Productivity and Creativity to Soar

In the last seven years Margie presented over seventy full day Master Classes for writers. She taught her psychologically-anchored deep editing to over six thousand writers across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Writers who have studied her material credit her innovative editing approaches with taking their writing several levels higher—to publication, awards, and bestseller lists.

Instructor:  Margie Lawson

Four Week Class: Wednesday, Jan. 2 - Friday, Feb. 1

Fee: $50

Empowering Characters' Emotions

-- the first course in Margie's Big Three Writing Craft Courses

Want to add a psychological punch to your writing and editing?

Want to learn how to capture the full range of body language on the page?

Want to turn your WIP into a page-turner by powering up emotion and hooking the reader viscerally?

The 350+ pages of lectures will cover the following topics - and more:

• Four Levels of Powering Up Emotion

• Overview of Body Language and Dialogue Cues

• Top Ten Rhetorical Devices for Fiction Wrters

• Fresh Visceral Responses and Motivation Reaction Units

• Cliché-busting

• The EDITS System

• Ideomotoric shifts

• Subtext Power

• Emotional Authenticity

• Backstory Management

• Emotional Hits

• Deep Editing techniques

• Rhythm and Cadence and Beats

Margie Lawson—psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter – developed psychologically-based editing systems and deep editing techniques used by new writers to multi-award winning authors. She teaches writers how to add psychological power to create page turners.

Margie taught psychology and communication courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Her resume includes adjunct professor, clinical trainer, facilitator of trauma response sessions, and director of a counseling center.

In the last six years Margie presented over seventy full day Master Classes for writers. She taught her psychologically-anchored deep editing to over five thousand writers across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Writers who have studied her material credit her innovative editing approaches with taking their writing several levels higher—to publication, awards, and bestseller lists.

To learn about Margie’s 4-day Immersion Master Classes, full day Master Class presentations, on-line course schedule, Lecture Packets, and newsletter, visit: www.MargieLawson.com.