Welcome and thank you for your interest in the 2023 Southwest Washington Writers Conference, which takes place Saturday, Sept. 9, at Centralia College.
Our master class will be Friday, Sept. 8.
We’re fortunate at the Southwest Washington Writers Conference to learn from romantic suspense author Elizabeth Goddard, the USA Today bestselling author of 50 novels, including Present Danger, Cold Light of Day, and the Rocky Mountain Courage and Uncommon Justice series. Her books have sold 1.5 million copies. In 2011, she won the prestigious Carol Award for her romantic mystery, The Camera Never Lies. She also received the Reader’s Choice Award and her novel Deception was a finalist for the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award in Inspirational Romantic Mystery/Suspense category. Elizabeth, the wife of a pastor and mother of four, is a seventh-generation Texan who loves to read and wanted to write from an early age. She wrote poetry and short stories and started penning her first romance novel at fourteen. She lived in Oregon for five years and now makes her home in Washington State. She enjoys reading and writing novels that whisk her away to another time and place and infuse a sense of hope and redemption.
Elizabeth will provide an inspirational keynote sharing her writing journey to publishing success.
She’ll also teach two workshops—The Well-Trained Author: Supercharge Your Brain to Generate Great Ideas and You Need Killer Instincts to Write Romantic Suspense.
The Well-Trained Author: Supercharge Your Brain to Generate Great Ideas is a workshop session with Q&A for fiction writers of all levels and genres and will aid both traditionally and indie published writers in building their book list for a successful career. Learn how to become prolific and more than a one-book wonder. The process starts with ideas and lots of them. A publisher (even if it’s yourself) doesn’t want a book; he or she wants an author. In this workshop you’ll learn where to find inspiration, how to become an idea ninja and a master curator, meaning you’ll learn techniques for developing an eye to see which in your idea collection is the absolute best of the best to present to the world—an idea you can transform into a great novel. Then do that all over again.
You Need Killer Instincts to Write Romantic Suspense is a workshop session with Q&A for romantic suspense writers of all levels and will aid both traditionally and indie published writers. Romantic suspense is one of the toughest genres to write because you need it all. You need compelling and relatable characters. You need an outstanding, nail-biting plot with plenty of unexpected twists. You need an unforgettable romance that tugs on heart strings. You need all of this with the ultimate goal of writing a story that’s unputdownable. Learn techniques for developing a good foundation and deep understanding of the genre, establishing the tone, twisting up your plot, and balancing romance and suspense.
For more information about Elizabeth, who is represented by The Steve Laube Agency, visit her website at www.elizabethgoddard.com. She also offers tips for writers on her website.
