Join us for our monthly programs.
Regular Meetings are held on the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 am to noon and the third Tuesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm (no Tuesday meeting in December).
Starting with our annual meeting on October 2, 2021, SouthWest Writers will return to in-person gatherings on those first Saturdays but in a new location: UNM Continuing Education (UNM-CE). Our Saturday meetings will still include a Zoom component, and our Tuesday night meetings will be strictly online. Go to SWW Meeting Location for more information about our meetings at UNM-CE.
See a schedule of all our events, and visit our YouTube Videos page for a listing of the recorded speakers from 2016 to the present.
New ZOOM MEETING Procedure
Read about SWW’s new Zoom Meeting procedure on this page.
2021 Zoom Meetings
♦ January – August meetings took place via Zoom
♦ Our September 4 meeting took place on Zoom
♦ Tuesday, September 21, 6:30 pm: Benjamin Percy: The Ninth Metal, Reading & Craft Discussion
♦ Saturday, October 2, 10:00 am: Rob Spiegel: Using Scenes to Build Your Story
♦ Tuesday, October 19, 6:30 pm: David J. Corwell: On the Edge of Their Seats — Horror and Suspense
♦ Saturday, November 6, 10:00 am: Lynn Miller: Writing Like a Reader: Your Audience and Story
♦ Tuesday, November 16, 6:30 pm: Robert Kidera: Taking the Mystery out of Mystery Writing
♦ Saturday, December 4, 10:00 am: Lynne Sturtevant: Writing for the Web
Beginning October 2
Saturday Meetings will be hybrids — In-Person & Zoom
For the new in-person location, go to this page.
Tuesday, September 21
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Via Zoom
Speaker: Benjamin Percy
THE NINTH METAL, READING and CRAFT DISCUSSION
In this presentation, author Benjamin Percy will read from his latest novel, The Ninth Metal, and lead a craft discussion.
Benjamin Percy is the author of four novels (most recently The Dark Net), three story collections (including Suicide Woods), and a book of essays titled Thrill Me that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. His sci-fi trilogy — The Comet Cycle — will be published in 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and has been optioned by the Russo brothers (Avengers: Endgame).
He is part of the new Dawn of X-Men at Marvel and writes both Wolverine and X-Force. He has written for DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment and is known for his celebrated runs on Green Arrow, Teen Titans, Nightwing, and James Bond. He also writes the series Devil’s Highway and Year Zero for AWA Studios. He wrote two seasons of the audio drama Wolverine, produced by Marvel and Stitcher. The first season, “Wolverine: The Long Night,” was listed as one of the top 15 podcasts of the year by Apple and won the iHeartRadio Award for Best Scripted Podcast. His other honors include the Whiting Award, an NEA fellowship, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories, 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, and Best American Comics.
His fiction and nonfiction has been published in Esquire (where he was a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men’s Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Ploughshares, Tin House, McSweeney’s, and the Paris Review. Visit the author at BenjaminPercy.com.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Tuesday Meeting – September 2021
Time: September 21, 2021, at 6:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Saturday, October 2
10:00 am – noon
In Person & via Zoom
Speaker: Rob Spiegel
USING SCENES to BUILD YOUR STORY
Scenes are the building blocks of storytelling, whether you’re writing a novel, short story, or memoir. If you get scenes right, you get your story right. The scene is the action, the sequel is what follows from that action. Dorothy confronting the Cowardly Lion is the action of the scene. The Cowardly Lion singing and joining Dorothy’s merry band is the action’s sequel. This talk will explore the elements needed to create powerful — and sometimes quiet — scenes and sequels in your storytelling.
Rob Spiegel’s first published writing was a children’s story in 1976. Since, he has published countless short stories, six books, and thousands of articles. His involvement in SWW goes back to the early 1980s when he gave talks on writing for the short story Romance Market — you know, True Confessions.
In-Person Meeting:
Go to the SWW Meeting Location page for information about our new meeting place.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Saturday Meeting – October 2021
Time: October 2, 2021, at 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Tuesday, October 19
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Via Zoom
Speaker: David J. Corwell
ON the EDGE of THEIR SEATS — HORROR and SUSPENSE
David J. Corwell will discuss all things horror and suspense — at least the topics that can be covered in the time allotted. Please bring all your questions about these exciting genres, as this session will be run as an open discussion among members.
David J. Corwell y Chávez’s stories appear in Hazard Yet Forward, Tales of the New Mexico Mythos: Weird Fiction From the Land of Enchantment, Voices of New Mexico, Día de los Muertos: A Day of the Dead Anthology, Tales of the Talisman (Volume 6, Issue #2), and Cloaked in Shadow: Dark Tales of Elves. He is a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop, the Borderlands Press Writer’s Boot Camp, and the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction program. He’s been an active member and volunteer with SWW since 2000.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Tuesday Meeting – October 2021
Time: October 19, 2021, at 6:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Saturday, November 6
10:00 am – noon
In Person & via Zoom
Speaker: Lynn Miller
WRITING like a READER: YOUR AUDIENCE and STORY
Every successful work of fiction or creative nonfiction is a dance between the author’s intentions and the reader’s expectations of how the story will develop and deliver. We’ll explore building a relationship with your audience, one that fuels the reader’s satisfaction and investment in your story. A story is a transaction between writer and reader. We’ll be looking at what Lynn calls the contract with the reader.
Lynn C. Miller’s fourth novel, The Unmasking, came out in October 2020. Her third novel, The Day After Death, was named a 2017 Lambda Literary Award finalist. She’s published stories in various journals and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Co-publisher of Bosque Press, she lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In-Person Meeting:
Go to the SWW Meeting Location page for information about our new meeting place.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Saturday Meeting – November 2021
Time: November 6, 2021, at 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Tuesday, November 16
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Via Zoom
Speaker: Robert Kidera
TAKING the MYSTERY out of MYSTERY WRITING
Every genre of writing—including mystery—has its own particularities and conventions. Robert Kidera will explore: 1) becoming familiar with the genre; 2) understanding the details of the crime and police procedures; 3) defining an unfolding conflict; 4) creating compelling characters; 5) playing fair with the reader; 6) integrating setting into your mystery; 7) plot twists, misdirection, dead ends, red herrings, turning convention on its head; and 8) comparing different mystery writing processes and finding one that works for you. Bring your questions! Presentation notes will be available. Together we’ll try to take some of the mystery out of mystery writing.
Robert D. Kidera’s debut novel, RED GOLD, won the Tony Hillerman Award in the 2015 NM/AZ Book Awards. Other award-winning books are GET LOST, CUT.PRINT.KILL, MIDNIGHT BLUES, and A LONG TIME TO DIE. He is the owner of BLACK RANGE PUBLISHING and the producer of THE BLACK RANGE PUB, a podcast celebrating the history, people, and cultures of the American Southwest.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Tuesday Meeting – November 2021
Time: November 16, 2021, at 6:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Saturday, December 4
10:00 am – noon
In Person & via Zoom
Speaker: Lynne Sturtevant
WRITING for the WEB
You’ve attracted a new visitor to your website. Hooray! How do you get them to stay and read your material? I will share simple design tweaks that slow down busy, distracted readers. We’ll take a plain text paragraph from blah to intriguing without changing a word. The three types of copy found on most writers’ sites—page content, writing samples, and blog posts—benefit from different approaches. I’ll break them down. Finally, I’ll answer the age-old question: How much text do I really need on my site?
Lynne Sturtevant is the author of five nonfiction books, one novel and countless articles, short stories, and blog posts. Before moving to New Mexico, she owned a travel agency, an online business for local historians, and a tour company. She’s also a website designer working with authors over 50.
In-Person Meeting:
Go to the SWW Meeting Location page for information about our new meeting place.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Saturday Meeting – December 2021
Time: December 4, 2021, at 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
Our Zoom log-in policy has changed due to recent disruptions to our free meetings. Non-members are now required to contact our office (505-830-6034 or info@swwriters.com) or sign up for Elerts to receive a link to our upcoming meetings. SWW Members sign into the Members Only portion of the website. Once in the Members Portal, follow the Zoom log-in directions posted prior to the meeting.
Previous Speakers and Topics for 2021:
♦ Jonathan Miller, A Novel for the New Year
♦ Marcia Rosen, Podcast Marketing for Authors
♦ David Morrell, Thoughts and lessons from 48 years as a published novelist
♦ Natalie Goldberg, The Way of Haiku
♦ Susan Elizabeth Phillips, The Writing Life: Craft, Characters, Creativity, and Career
♦ Darynda Jones, Humor & Heat: How to Write Funny Without Sacrificing Sexual Tension
♦ David L. Robbins, The Art and Craft of the Narrative
♦ Gerard Hanberry, Geraldine Mills, Luke Morgan, Pete Mullineaux, Moya Roddy, Readings by Irish Poets
♦ Raffi Andonian, Controversial Historical Sites
♦ Debra W. Englander, Why You Need a Book Coach
♦ Dean Wesley Smith, Writing into the Dark: Writing Clean, One-draft Stories Without an Outline
♦ Sheryl Brown, Screenplay from Stakeholder Perspectives
♦ Jeffrey Candelaria, Artists, Writers, and a Business Mentality
♦ Paige Wheeler, Agents and Authors
♦ Fauzia Burke, Author Platforms
♦ Robin Cutler, The Power of Self-publishing
♦ James McGrath Morris, Researching Your Book
♦ Loretta Hall, Elements of Nonfiction
Previous Speakers and Topics for 2020:
♦ Melody Groves, 10 Dialogue Tricks to Make Your Characters “Talk Good”
♦ Jacqueline Murray Loring, International Publication Opportunities (or My Magical Tour of Ireland)
♦ Sherri Burr, Synchronicity and Perseverance: Two Elements to Finishing a Project
♦ Chris Allen, Brenda Cole, Charlene Dietz, Mary Therese Ellingwood, Evelyn Neil, Jim Tritten, Readings from the 2019 SWW Winners Anthology
♦ David Morrell, Getting Through It: How To Create A Storyline
♦ Chris Eboch, Myths about Writing for Children
♦ Rose Marie Kern, Niche Markets: A Pathway to Multiple Streams of Income
♦ Bennett R. Coles, Inside the Mind of a Publisher
♦ Sarah Baker, Jacqueline Loring, Kathy Schuit, Writing Through Lock Down: Importance of Literature in the Face of Fear and Uncertainty
♦ Kathy Louise Schuit, Illustrative Ideas For Standout Memoir, Poetry, and Prose
♦ Dan Wetmore, The Skinny on the Short-line Stuff
♦ Hakim Bellamy, “Flash” Fiction: Pictures and Poems
♦ John Rember, Writing, Teaching Writing, and Worrying about Happy Endings at Three in the Morning
♦ Corrales Writing Group, Building and Sustaining an Effective Writing Group
♦ Steve Brewer, Using Humor to Hook Readers
♦ Kathy Kitts, NaNoWriMo: How and Why You Might Want to Participate
♦ Geoff Habiger, What Do Publishers Really Want?
♦ Elizabeth S. Layton & Jacqueline Murray Loring, Screenplay Writing as Creative Magic
♦ Panel: Loretta Hall, Carolyn Carlson, Robert Kidera, Writing Contests from the Judges’ Perspective
Speakers and Topics for 2019:
♦ Steve Brewer, I’ve Looked at Books from Both Sides Now
♦ Kirt Hickman, Write Realistic Dialogue
♦ Jacqueline M. Loring, Creating the KiMo Book
♦ Sarah H. Baker, Critique Groups: How and Why
♦ Dan Wetmore, The Pros and Cons of Non-Prose
♦ Jeanne Shannon & Rob Spiegel, Great Poets of New Mexico
♦ Don Bullis, Adventures in Research
♦ Rose Marie Kern, How to Copyright Your Book
♦ Johnny D. Boggs, The Modern World of Publishing
♦ Judith Avila & Patricia Conoway, Memoir Panel
♦ Brian Stinar, WordPress for Writers
♦ Betsy James, Evoking and Organizing the Fiction Draft
♦ Jonathan Miller, Planning Your Own Epic Series
♦ Robert Vardeman & Melody Groves, Writing Authentic Historical Fiction
♦ Jeffe Kennedy & Robin Perini, Romantic Elements and Tropes
♦ Bob Kidera, Margaret Tessler, & Patricia Smith Wood, What Makes a Mystery Writer?
♦ Gail Rubin, How to Market Your Expertise
♦ Loretta Hall & Susan C. Cooper, Writing Nonfiction
♦ Elise McHugh & Bryce Emley, UNM Press Panel
