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2023 Chapter Meetings

For 2023, meetings will mostly occur via Zoom, with a few in-person events in a variety of locations (including our pre-pandemic meeting place at the Greenbrier Library, 1214 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, VA).

Chapter dues ($10 per person, both sisters and misters welcome) are covering the Zoom membership for the chapter. Members will be sent an invitation to join the meetings. Because of the cost involved in a professional Zoom account, these meetings are limited to members only.

Some of the meeting topics include:

  • Critique sessions with an opportunity to share your work
  • Author speaker forums
  • Forensics
  • Pathways to publication
  • Presentation on a topic related to mystery writing
  • Field trips to crime labs, police departments, and 911
  • Q&A sessions with published mystery authors

If you’d like to join us, please click on the About Us tab.

Stay safe, everyone!

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Upcoming in 2022!

For 2022, meetings are scheduled via Zoom; however, some meetings may be moved to in-person as we learn more about COVID risks.

Chapter dues ($10 per person, both sisters and misters welcome) are covering the ZOOM membership for the chapter. Members will be sent an invitation to join the meetings. If you’d like to join us, please click on the About Us tab.

Stay safe, everyone!

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April 11, 2022, 7 PM EST
Blogging 101 for Authors, with Mystery Author Heather Weidner

Learn to build a successful blog as Heather shares how to create a blog, tips, and lessons learned from building her own successful blogs.

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May 9, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
“It would be so nice if you weren’t here!”

Join this fascinating session on personality-disordered types who inevitably get in trouble, get killed, or get even! Judith Fowler will present traits common to each personality-disordered type and examples drawn from TV, films, or books. Judith holds a master’s in forensic psychology and worked as a forensic discharge planner for defendants, judges, and lawyers. This interactive session will challenge participants to pick up their pens to invent characters using the list of traits guide.

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June 13, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
“Security Discussion”

Don’t miss this extraordinary session on security-related topics. Guest to be announced.

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No meetings in July and August. Enjoy your summer!

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September 12, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
Filter Words with Jayne Ormerod

As the term suggests, filter words create a veil or barrier between characters and their own actions or situations, other characters, and events. They add padding and wordiness that rarely adds value. You don’t want to miss this valuable session to learn how to recognize filter words in your own writing.

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October 10, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
Pitfalls of a Successful Newsletter with Allie Marie

Ever thought of creating a newsletter to build readership, but don’t know how? Join this beneficial session to learn the dos and don’ts of a successful newsletter and why it’s important to your writing.

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November meeting to be determined.

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December holiday gathering to be determined.

Virginia is for Mysteries III Book Launch

Thurs., Feb. 17, 2022, 7-8:30 PM EST
Author Chat & Giveaways – Via Zoom (link below)

Zoom Link Details

Virginia is for Mysteries III Book Launch & Author Chat

Feb 17, 2022, 07:00 PM Eastern Time (the US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/j/94534050693

Meeting ID: 945 3405 0693

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Find your local number: https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/u/ackhp9JyZ

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2022 Chapter Meetings Announced

For 2022, meetings are scheduled via Zoom; however, some meetings may be moved to in-person as we learn more about COVID risks.

Chapter dues ($10 per person, both sisters and misters welcome) are covering the ZOOM membership for the chapter. Members will be sent an invitation to join the meetings. If you’d like to join us, please click on the About Us tab.

Stay safe, everyone!

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February 21, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
Elements of a Mystery & Save the Cat! Writes a Novel book highlights

You don’t want to miss this exciting session to learn about the parts of a mystery presented by Yvonne Quinn Saxon & Kim Blanchard Thorn.

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March 5, 2022, 9 AM to 6 PM EST
Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival

Virtual Live Panels are free to attend online. Don’t miss 41 bestselling mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, paranormal, historical, romance, and women’s fiction authors (includes chapter members Maria Hudgins, Teresa Inge, Jayne Ormerod, & Allie Marie!).

*Registration link will be available in the next two weeks. The festival will serve as our March chapter meeting.
https://www.suffolkmysteryauthorsfestival.com/

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April 11, 2022, 7 PM EST
Blogging 101 for Authors, with Mystery Author Heather Weidner

Learn to build a successful blog as Heather shares how to create a blog, tips, and lessons learned from building her own successful blogs.

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May 9, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
“It would be so nice if you weren’t here!”

Join this fascinating session on personality-disordered types who inevitably get in trouble, get killed, or get even! Judith Fowler will present traits common to each personality-disordered type and examples drawn from TV, films, or books. Judith holds a master’s in forensic psychology and worked as a forensic discharge planner for defendants, judges, and lawyers. This interactive session will challenge participants to pick up their pens to invent characters using the list of traits guide.

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June 13, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
“Security Discussion”

Don’t miss this extraordinary session on security-related topics. Guest to be announced.

—————————————

No meetings in July and August. Enjoy your summer!

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September 12, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
Filter Words with Jayne Ormerod

As the term suggests, filter words create a veil or barrier between characters and their own actions or situations, other characters, and events. They add padding and wordiness that rarely adds value. You don’t want to miss this valuable session to learn how to recognize filter words in your own writing.

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October 10, 2022, 6:30 PM EST
Pitfalls of a Successful Newsletter with Allie Marie

Ever thought of creating a newsletter to build readership, but don’t know how? Join this beneficial session to learn the dos and don’ts of a successful newsletter and why it’s important to your writing.

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November meeting to be determined.

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December holiday gathering to be determined.

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Next meeting: January 15, 2022

We’ll be kicking off the New Year at the Chesapeake Barnes & Noble at Greenbrier Parkway near Greenbrier Mall on Saturday, January 15, 2022, at 10 a.m. This month, our meeting will include both a write-in and a planning session in which we’ll discuss creative ideas about how to make our chapter fit your writing lifestyle better. So come on out, get a coffee, and let’s write!

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“How to Create Vivid Settings in Your Writing” with Author Maria Hudgins, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021

Join the Mystery by the Sea Chapter of Sisters in Crime for “How to Create Vivid Settings in Your Writing” with Author Maria Hudgins!

When: Nov. 8, 2021, 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting: https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrfuCtpj8uH9FBw9B12m2LR72cyPT9Qjq9?fbclid=IwAR3MgDJtHfOuiihjASNv10UqvQpiANt-lZ-5Vc-hv44PNpWgG20RbmsFwAI

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Maria Hudgins is the author of six Dotsy Lamb Travel Mysteries (https://mariahudgins.com/dotsy-lamb-travel-mysteries/): Death of an Obnoxious Tourist, Death of a Lovable Geek, Death on the Aegean Queen, Death of a Second Wife, Death in an Ivory Tower, and Death in Istanbul. These stories are set in Italy, Scotland, the Greek Islands, Switzerland, England, and Turkey. Before using a place as a setting, Hudgins visits and takes copious notes. These stories follow college history professor Dorothy Lamb and her friend Lettie Osgood.

Two mysteries in her Lacy Glass Series (https://mariahudgins.com/archaeology-mysteries/) are now available on Kindle and in paperback. Scorpion House centers around an expedition house in Luxor, Egypt. The Man on the Istanbul Train follows the young botanist from Istanbul to an archaeological dig in central Turkey in her pursuit of the archaeologist Paul Hannah.

Maria Hudgins lives in Hampton, Virginia.

May be an image of sky and text that says 'How to Create Vivid Settings In Your Writing SinC Mystery by the Sea Chapter Presents... "How to Create Vivid Settings" with Mystery Author Maria Hudgins Monday, Nov 8, 2021, 6:30-7:30pm est Zoom: Registration Required Questions: Contact event organizer Teresa Inge via Facebook'
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WE’RE GOING VIRTUAL

Lonely writer

We know, we know! No meetings since this whole crazy pandemic thing started! Hopefully you are using your quarantine time to write! But writing is a solitary profession and we are a social people. It’s time to “get out” and recharge your creative batteries…at least virtually.

So YEAH for the digital age, allowing us to “meet” without leaving the comforts of our homes–and without spreading the virus.

On your marks, Get ready to…ZOOM!

Your dues have gone to purchase a one year ZOOM membership for the chapter. Members will be sent an invitation to join the meetings. This is one of the many benefits of your $10 membership. If you’d like to join us, please click on the About Us tab.

This is great news not only for those who normally attend in-person meetings, but also for anyone unable to attend meetings due to work conflicts, travel issues, or health concerns. We will ZOOM every meeting, even after the libraries open and we start mingling again.

Stay safe, everyone!

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There’s a Snowstorm a-Brewing…

Ever heard of the Snowflake Method of plotting?  You don’t want to miss our next meeting, Monday, March 9, 6-8 p.m. at the Greenbrier Library.

The Snowflake method: Turning a single idea into a novel, the easy way. Do you want to write a novel, but you’re stuck figuring out how to start? Or maybe you already have a great synopsis–but how do you convert that into ninety-thousand words? Join us as we explore a near-effortless way to take a simple idea and build it into a story of any length and genre, fiction or nonfiction. Whether you write novels, short stories, or screenplays, Snowflake is the best way to create the foundation for your work. With this easy method you can produce anything from an elevator pitch up to a spreadsheet of scenes/chapters showing the word counts needed, pivot points, act breaks, and more. If you’re a “pantser” this workshop will change your life! If you’re a plotter, there’s a 98.7% chance Snowflake will change your life! If you’re a veldic poet, results may vary.

 

Presenter Bio: Rick Eley is a Tidewater native, an IT professional, and an author of several fine sentences. He writes sci-fi, horror, fantasy, as well as creative and instructional nonfiction. His work is featured in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, Issues in Science and Technology magazine, HRW newsletters, and he’ll be featured in an upcoming Fahrenheit Books sci-fi anthology and Owl Creek Press horror anthology. Four of his short stories have won prizes in multiple writing contests. Rick has also presented writing craft seminars for The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk, at Hampton Roads Writers annual conferences, and for HRW’s Traveling Pen series. In his spare time, he organizes the Tidewater Writers critique group and is a member of Hampton Roads Writers board of directors. Sometimes he even finds a few minutes to work on his concurrent projects: a book on the craft of modern writing, a collection of memoir short stories, and multiple sci-fi novels.