SouthWest Writers offers classes and workshops to advance the skills and marketability of writers. Experienced instructors guide participants through lecture, example and, often, critique to increase the quality of their writing.
What is the difference between a class and a workshop? A class can be more than one session and usually includes assignments to be completed outside of class. Our workshops are two-hour sessions that occur after our monthly first-Saturday meetings. Any work required of the students is done during the workshop session.
In-person classes are held at the Carlisle Executive Offices (click here for directions). The class information below will indicate if a class is in person, via Zoom, or a hybrid of both. For a schedule of all our events, go to this page.
What classes would you like to see offered this year? Contact our class/workshop coordinator at Info@SWWriters.com to let us know.
Upcoming Classes
Class Instructor: Sonja Dewing
Making Dollars and Sense out of Amazon Ads
- 3-week Class
- Saturdays: October 21, 28, and November 18
- Platform: In Person & Zoom
- 1:00 pm–3:00 pm (MST)
- $120 SWW members ♦ $150 Nonmembers
Find out the secrets to creating ads that test your books profitability and don’t cost an arm and a leg. Class one: Let’s get your book set up to get fans and best possible sells in Amazon. Class two: Set up Amazon Ads; Start your first ads and the secrets to keeping them from spending too much. Class three: Set up more ads—and why to keep going.
Sonja Dewing is an award-winning author and publisher (Plot Duckies Publishing), creative writer, book writing coach, and self-publishing guru. She’s also the founder of the Women’s Thriller Writers Association. And she’s become a wizard at Amazon ads. Sonja’s an avid hiker, backpacker, traveler and also plays roller derby with Elevated Roller Derby as ‘Author of Pain.’ She loves adventure and living in Albuquerque with her giant puppy Bo.
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.)
Meeting Information: Our in-person classes take place at the Carlisle Executive Offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Directions to the class, as well as the Zoom invitation link and password, will be emailed to those who register. For more information, please contact the class/workshop coordinator at Info@SWWriters.com.
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.
Classes you might have missed:
2023
♦ Using WordPress to Build and Maintain Your Webpage
with Jamii Corley
♦ Success with Self-Publishing
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ SHOW, Don’t TELL! aka: Don’t Make Your Friends and Family Read Bad Stuff
with Kathy Louise Schuit
2022
♦ Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal
with Loretta Hall
♦ Hearing Voices: Using Multiple Narrators to Deepen Your Novel
with Ellen Meeropol
♦ Formatting Your Book Using Microsoft Word
with Mary McArthur
♦ Self-Publish Your Book with KDP Amazon
with Rose Marie Kern
2021
♦ Publishing with KDP Amazon
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ Writing Stories Children Will Love
with Chris Eboch
♦ Writing for Magazines
with Loretta Hall
♦ Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Book Covers From Art to Finish
with Rose Marie Kern and Kathy Louise Schuit
♦ Writing Scenes That Drive Your Story
with Rob Spiegel
2020
♦ Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Bring Your Memoir to Life
with Rob Spiegel
♦ Self-Publish Your Book with KDP Amazon
with Rose Marie Kern
♦ Websites for Writers
with Loretta Hall
♦ Blogging Your Way to Success
with Rob Spiegel
♦ Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal
with Loretta Hall
2019
♦ Researching Your Writing Project
with Loretta Hall
♦ Polishing the First Chapter
with Sarah Baker
♦ Blogging Your Way to Success
with Rob Spiegel
♦ Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Writing for Magazines: Bagging Your First Magazine Assignment
with Melody Groves
♦ Make Money from Writing
with Chris Eboch
♦ The Secret(s) to a Successful Book Signing
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Bring Your Memoir to Life
with Rob Spiegel
♦ Independent Self-Publishing
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Illustration: It’s Not Just for Children’s Books
with Kathy Louise Schuit
♦ Writing a Producible Play
with Richard E. Peck
♦ Self-Publish Your Book with KDP Amazon
with Rose Marie Kern
2018
♦ Revising Fiction – Making Sense of the Madness
with Kirt Hickman
♦ Writing for Magazines: Bagging Your First Magazine Assignment
with Melody Groves
♦ Websites for Writers
with Loretta Hall
