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You’re invited to join the Dallas Area Romance Authors for our hybrid Holiday Breakfast & Passing of the Gavel. Our guest speaker is best-selling author Cassie McLaughlin, speaking about "We Duet Better Together: Successfully Coauthoring a Book."
We will gather in person on Saturday, December 3, 2022, from 9 am to noon. Our in-person meeting will be at the Dallas College Mountain View Campus, Building B, Room 149, 4849 W Illinois Ave, Dallas, Texas, 75211.
Check-in starts at 9 am, with a full breakfast at 9:30. This catered buffet includes chicken, waffles and other yummy goodies. We’ll have our annual turnover meeting at 10. If you'd prefer, you can join us in our regular Zoom room, starting at 10 am with the business meeting. Zoom details are below. Everyone is asked to RSVP via Evite at http://evite.me/BWdn1bWvx5.
Please RSVP so we can plan correctly for breakfast. Also RSVP if you're attending virtually. Just write a note that you're going to be virtual.
DARA members attend for free, and guests are $10.
The DARA tradition of a holiday raffle continues, with many great items being donated by our members. If you’d like to donate a basket or item to the raffle, please contact Janet at janetleighbooks@gmail.com. You can bring your item to the meeting.
Invite your friends! The More the Merrier!
About CaSandra McLaughlin A native of Marshall, Texas, Cassie is a national best-selling author and motivational speaker. She wrote, directed, and produced her first movie, Deacon Brown's Daughter, based on the book she co-authored with Michelle Stimpson. Cassie is also a songwriter, and her song “I’m Free” is featured in the movie. In 2019, Deacon Brown’s Daughters won Best Featured Fiilm at the Capital City Film Festival. CaSandra is also an advocate for domestic violence awareness. In 2016, she wrote and produced a play, Don't Love Me to Death, to take a stand against domestic violence, and she has also penned a book about her own domestic violence experience. Cassie is married to Richard, with a beautiful daughter Chloe, and an amazing granddaughter Nova.
Visit Cassie online at https://www.casandramclaughlin.com/.
We all know tropes are important to writing romance. Heck, many of our readers ask for them by name, “Best friend’s little sister? I love those stories!” But are we using them as effectively as we can? After all, we know our readers love them, so why not wring every last bit of story juice out of them?
In this workshop, we’ll whip tropes into shape so your books become one-click material. We’ll talk about why tropes are essential, what separates them from cliches, and how we can use them in specific ways to create original stories that resonate with our readers. We’ll talk tropes and romance and have a pretty good time doing it!
Join us for a short social time at 9 am central time, followed by a brief business meeting at 9:30 am. Our speaker starts about 10 am.
DARA meetings are held the fourth Saturday of each month from January to October. We're currently meeting on Zoom -- to invite a friend, please contact our Membership Chair, Priya Ardis, at info@dallasarearomanceauthors.com.
About Jennifer Hilt
I’m a USA Today Bestselling author who has worked as a plotter and concept creator. I’ve written 24 books across four pen names. I have degrees in linguistics and literature. I live in Seattle with my family and my canine fan club. I love collecting dictionaries in unfamiliar languages, bingeing Scandi-Noir streaming series, and shouting out tropes from the comfort of my couch.
You can learn more about Jennifer at jenniferhilt.com.
Amanda Arista will be our guest speaker at the February 26 DARA meeting, teaching us about Down and Dirty Character Development.
Why spend months developing a character only to find that its the wrong character for the story you want to tell? Using this boiled-down amalgamation of three top screenwriting teachers, Amanda Arista will show you how to create a character that will leap off the page with their own backstory, voice, and deep connection to the story you want to tell.
Our February meeting will be held on Zoom. Social time starts at 9 am, followed by a brief business meeting at 9:30. Amanda will begin about 10 am. (Click here or on the Zoom image below to go to the meeting link.)
Invite your fellow authors to join us! Please contact info@dallasarearomanceauthors.com for an official invite with Zoom link (needed only so we can keep track of who attends). Guests are welcome to attend one meeting for free, and additional meetings without joining will be $5 each. Free meetings are one of the many benefits of DARA membership!
About Amanda Arista
Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel.
During the summer after second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, much to the surprise of the local librarian. So she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.
She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise. She recently added a tiny human to the mix who is following in her mother’s footsteps of storytelling.
Along with her BA in English & Psychology and her MA in Education, Amanda is a graduate of the SMU Creative Writing Program and now teaches other aspiring authors. She has delivered lectures at several writer conferences and loves discussing craft, character, and structure. Her current favorite: Stirring up Trouble with Romantic Subplots.
She is represented by Kimberly Brower, of Brower Literary & Management.
Visit Amanda on her website: Amanda Arista.
