The second annual Words & Wine event, to benefit WriterHouse, will be held on October 23, 1-4pm, at Keswick Vineyards. Admission ($30 per person or $50 per couple) includes wine tasting, complimentary wine glass, light hors d’oeuvres, and one raffle ticket. Can’t attend the event? Raffle tickets are available for $5 each or 5 for $20. You need not be present to win. Writer House – 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville, VA / www.writerhouse.org / 434-296-1922

Sunday, October 9, 2:00pm

Author Tayari Jones discusses family secret-keeping, loyalty and betrayal. “Tayari Jones is fast defining middle-class black Atlanta the way Cheever did Westchester,” according to The Village Voice, while Judy Blume says this novel will “break your heart before you even know it.” Free and open to the public. Books available for purchase and signing. Writer House – 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville, VA / www.writerhouse.org / 434-296-1922

TWITTER FOR WRITERS

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Are you mystified, intrigued, or maybe even a little bit irritated by everything you’ve been hearing about Twitter and what a great promotional tool it is?

Do you want to get in on the action, but you’re not sure how to begin? (Or how to get the fantastic results you keep hearing about, but aren’t seeing from your own “tweets” yet?)

Twitter for Writers will show you how you can use Twitter to

• Promote your book or business
• Drive traffic to your website, blog, or Facebook page
• Create a lively online community of people (and organizations) with interests similar to yours
• Discover surprising fringe benefits
• Have fun!

Topics covered will include:

• Creating your profile
• Choosing who to follow, and attracting the people you want to follow you
• The basics of tweeting and re-tweeting
• How to create an effective and easy-to follow promotional strategy
• How to get your tweets re-tweeted
• How you can make the most of your tweets through:
• Use of the “hash-tag” (#)
• Twitter conventions such as #FF, #WW, #TT
• Interfaces with Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media
• Twitter etiquette

This three-hour introductory mini-course will include lecture/demonstration, Q&A, brainstorming exercises you can gear to your own individual needs, and hands-on practice on your own laptops (or tablets). The inaugural session is offered at a $75 first-come, first-served price: limit 8 participants.

Want to reserve a spot? Have questions? E-mail Janet Hulstrand or call her at 202-744-7338.

Janet Hulstrand is a freelance writer, editor and teacher of writing and literature. She has used Twitter to promote books, blogs, editorial services, museum foundations, study abroad programs and other endeavors, for herself and for her clients. She tweets from @janetjoy and @AmerWriteMuseum.

Author Danielle Evans

Writing Against Stereotype: African-American Characters in the Fiction of Danielle Evans

Sunday, September 18, 2:00pm

The New York Times Book Review says about Danielle Evans’ short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self: “Evans follows girls and young women who are intelligent, gutsy and black….Rather than limiting the collection’s gaze, this perspective amplifies the universal pitfalls of coming of age in 21st-century America.” Evans recently won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize for fiction.

Free and open to the public. Books available for purchase and signing.

WriterHouse, 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville, VA, 434-296-1922, www.writerhouse.org.

Seminar: Get Your Short Story or Essay Published, with Clifford Garstang

September 17, 2011, 9:00am-1pm

In this course we’ll identify resources and techniques for conducting market research and classifying magazines, formatting your stories, cover letters, contests, submission strategies, the perils of simultaneous submission, keeping adequate records, and dealing with rejection. Participants will have the option to submit a draft cover letter for critique along with the first page of a story.

Registration required: $55 Members | $60 Non-Members. WriterHouse, 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville, VA, 434-296-1922, www.writerhouse.org

Seminar: The Art of the Radio Essay with Janis Jaquith

September 10, 2011, 9:00am-1pm

Ever heard those personal commentaries on NPR stations and wonder how it’s done? Learn how to grab the listener by the lapels; how to create a mini-movie in the minds of thousands of listeners; how to NOT sound like you’re reading from a script.

Registration required: $55 Members | $60 Non-Members.

WriterHouse, 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville, VA, 434-296-1922, www.writerhouse.org