Join us for our monthly programs.
Regular Meetings are 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 at the Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living located on the northwest corner of Louisiana and Claremont — two blocks north of Menaul — at 2801 Louisiana Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110. Go to the map on the bottom of this page for directions.
See a schedule of all our events, and visit our YouTube Videos page for a listing (with links) to the recorded speakers from 2016 to the present.
If you’d like to check out one of our meetings but you’re not a member yet, please read our visitor policy.
In-Person Meetings
To protect our members’ health during the Covid-19 emergency, in-person meetings scheduled through July are cancelled.
Our hope is to resume normal meetings beginning in September:
♦ Saturday, September 5, 10:00 am: Corrales Writing Group. Topic TBA.
♦ Tuesday, September 15, 6:30 pm: Steve Brewer. Topic TBA.
♦ Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am: Rose Marie Kern. Topic TBA.
Online Meetings
♦ May 2nd presentation: available on YouTube.
♦ May 19, June 6, June 16: took place via Zoom.
♦ Saturday, July 4, 10:00 am: Kathy Louise Schuit. Details below.
♦ Tuesday, July 21, 6:30 pm: Dan Wetmore. Details below.
♦ Saturday, August 1, 10:00 am: Hakim Bellamy. Details below.
♦ Tuesday, August 18, 6:30 pm: John Rember. Details TBA.
Meeting Postponed — Poetry Share
April’s Tuesday meeting was cancelled, but signup for the Poetry Share is ongoing. Go to this link to add your name to the list.
ATTEND a ZOOM MEETING
Saturday, July 4
10:00 am – noon
Speaker: Kathy Louise Schuit
ILLUSTRATIVE IDEAS for STANDOUT MEMOIR, POETRY and PROSE
Depending on which online scorecards you read, memoir is either the fastest growing genre in book publishing or it’s the most over saturated. Obviously, it’s both. It should be just as obvious that savvy memoir writers will be using every tool in their marketing arsenal to get people to pick up, hold onto, and favorably review their stories.
This presentation will introduce you to some of these tools. Many are more familiar than others. Some have been used by celebrities to more fully personalize their own memoirs. Old black and white photographs have widespread appeal for readers of many genres and generations, but did you ever think of writing a key memoir chapter or vignette in the form of a screenplay? Illustrative ideas for adding a unique flare to memoir, poetry, and prose are endless and may be as simple to tap into as using a marker-drawn hand puppet as your narrator.
Bio:
Kathy Louise Schuit won her first writing awards as a journalist in the early 2000s. These days she devotes great swaths of each 24 hours to seeking out ways to creatively use words and pictures in digital fine art and design. She is the author/illustrator of an award-winning picture book and the current editor of the SouthWest Sage newsletter—a finalist awaiting placement in the National League of Press Women’s Communications Contest. Reach her at: designers@openwithdesign.com
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SouthWest Writers Live Zoom Saturday Meeting
Time: July 4, 2020, 10:00 AM Mountain Time
To Join the Zoom Meeting, Click:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89776218610?pwd=MUtUa0I0Q0hQK2h0VCszNFlyT3ZiZz09
Meeting ID: 897 7621 8610
Password: 754257
If you have not used Zoom before, I suggest giving yourself 10 minutes prior to the meeting to get signed in. Although using a computer is the best way to join a Zoom meeting, you can sign in to Zoom on your cellphone by calling this meeting phone number 312-626-6799. When calling in you will only be able to listen to the workshop. You can also download the Zoom App on your cell phone for all of the Zoom tools (video and audio).
Joining a Zoom meeting through a web browser on a desktop, laptop, or tablet is simple by following the directions listed below:
Here are some tips on how to get into ZOOM via a web browser:
1. Click on the Zoom link –> www.zoom.us
2. Click on the “Join Meeting” located near the right top corner of your web browser.
3. Type 897 7621 8610 into the meeting ID box and click Join Meeting<. A password box will appear and you will type in 754257.
4. Select your audio options. We will not be using video for all attendees, as the video option has a tendency to slow down connections. You will be able to see a shared screen of information we will be discussing within the meeting.
ATTEND a ZOOM MEETING
Tuesday, July 21
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Speaker: Dan Wetmore
THE SKINNY on the SHORT-LINE STUFF
Dan Wetmore will offer the essential differences between poetry & prose, and tips for crafting the former: 1) what each form is best suited to communicate, as a function of how each is able to communicate; 2) unique challenges poetry poses to those who aspire to master the form (foremost, heightened demands for concision and its catalyst, precision); 3) a partial survey of poetry’s various forms and the appeals & perils of ‘formed’ and ‘free-form’ works; and 4) an overview of the process from conception to conclusion: the triad of finding inspiration, composing, and editing.
Bio:
Dan Wetmore has logged a half-century as a practitioner of verse, resulting in one published full-length collection (My Mother’s Gentle Unbecoming), with three more poised for launch. He’s been an inhabitant of Albuquerque for eleven years, a permanent resident for six, a member of Southwest Writers for two, and on its board of directors for one.
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Tuesday Evening Meeting – July 2020
Time: Jul 21, 2020 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
To Join the Zoom Meeting, Click:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85008272489?pwd=bWEwTjBsRnc3NXV2WDZkUjVJWDBZQT09
Meeting ID: 850 0827 2489
Password: 425229
If you have not used Zoom before, I suggest giving yourself 10 minutes prior to the meeting to get signed in. Although using a computer is the best way to join a Zoom meeting, you can sign in to Zoom on your cellphone by calling this meeting phone number 929-205-6099. When calling in you will only be able to listen to the workshop. You can also download the Zoom App on your cell phone for all of the Zoom tools (video and audio).
Joining a Zoom meeting through a web browser on a desktop, laptop, or tablet is simple by following the directions listed below:
Here are some tips on how to get into ZOOM via a web browser:
1. Click on the Zoom link –> www.zoom.us
2. Click on the “Join Meeting” located near the right top corner of your web browser.
3. Type 850 0827 2489 into the meeting ID box and click Join Meeting. A password box will appear and you will type in 425229.
4. Select your audio options. We will not be using video for all attendees, as the video option has a tendency to slow down connections. You will be able to see a shared screen of information we will be discussing within the meeting.
ATTEND a ZOOM MEETING
Saturday, August 1
10:00 am – noon
Speaker: Hakim Bellamy
“FLASH” FICTION: PICTURES and POEMS
In 2019, a book I’d been working on for almost nine years was released. It was the maturation of my growth as a writer and my friendship with photographer Justin Thor Simenson. What began as a folder of image files shared with me, ended up a book of poems (read: short, short stories) that served as companions to the most haunting images. A neighborhood with no people, only stories of people. Unsure whether this was a book of made-up stories or lives left behind, our book We Are Neighbors began to take on a life of its own last year…right before a global pandemic stole our aesthetic and turned actual city streets into ghost towns. We’ll talk about the process, timing, and what happens when you write something that comes true.
Bio:
Before being tapped by Mayor Keller to serve as the Deputy Director of the Cultural Services Department, Hakim Bellamy was the Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Albuquerque (2012-2014). Bellamy is a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellow, a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, an Academy for the Love of Learning Leonard Bernstein Fellow, Western States Arts Alliance Launchpad Fellow, Santa Fe Arts Institute Food Justice Fellow, New Mexico Strategic Leadership Institute alum, and soon to be Citizen University Civic Seminary Fellow (July 2019).
Zoom Meeting Information:
Topic: SWW Saturday Meeting – August 2020
Time: Aug 1, 2020 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
To Join the Zoom Meeting, Click:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88037861588?pwd=SXo3UW5YL2JnS2pEUjVRRjFEN2laQT09
Meeting ID: 880 3786 1588
Password: 607057
If you have not used Zoom before, I suggest giving yourself 10 minutes prior to the meeting to get signed in. Although using a computer is the best way to join a Zoom meeting, you can sign in to Zoom on your cellphone by calling this meeting phone number 929-205-6099. When calling in you will only be able to listen to the workshop. You can also download the Zoom App on your cell phone for all of the Zoom tools (video and audio).
Joining a Zoom meeting through a web browser on a desktop, laptop, or tablet is simple by following the directions listed below:
Here are some tips on how to get into ZOOM via a web browser:
1. Click on the Zoom link –> www.zoom.us
2. Click on the “Join Meeting” located near the right top corner of your web browser.
3. Type 880 3786 1588 into the meeting ID box and click Join Meeting. A password box will appear and you will type in 607057.
4. Select your audio options. We will not be using video for all attendees, as the video option has a tendency to slow down connections. You will be able to see a shared screen of information we will be discussing within the meeting.
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 (watch on Youtube)
♦ 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
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
Speakers and Topics for 2018:
♦ Jack Woodville London, Stick to the Story
♦ Marc Calderwood, Celluloid Aspirations
♦ Steve Brewer, Nuts & Bolts: The Mechanics of Clear Writing
♦ Lorena Hughes, To Err is Human, To Learn Divine
♦ Melody Groves, Don’t be Afraid to Cry: Putting Emotions into Writing
♦ Judith Avila, Can You Relate? The importance of diverse relationships in your writing
♦ Benjamin Radford, A Personal Path to Publication
♦ Joanne Bodin & Jeanne Shannon, The Passion of Poetry
♦ Matthew Yde, The Irresistible Writer
♦ John Cousins, Enter the Matrix
♦ Michael Backus, Practical Tips To Improve Your Writing Gleaned from 15 Years of Teaching Creative Writing
♦ James McGrath Morris, “What I learned about writing from the novelists Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.”
♦ Marcia Fine, Marketing, Research and Fortitude for Authors
♦ RJ Mirabal, Research Between the Ears
♦ Jonathan Miller, From Start to Finish: How to Start and End Your Books, and Take Your Characters Along for the Ride
♦ Loretta Hall, The Writing Right Rite: How to Avoid Distracting, Credibility-Destroying Factual Errors
♦ Jane Lindskold, Work Habits for the Successful Writer
♦ Jim Tritten, Short Stories are Fun!
♦ Gerald Hausman, Zen and the Art of Writing
♦ Rose Marie Kern, CUT IT OUT! Editing Makes it Better!
♦ Laura Mixon, The Care and Feeding of your Beast: A Writer’s Wilderness Guide
♦ Patricia Smith Wood, Permission to Write
♦ Betty Moffett, Writing Down Your Family Stories
