| Writers
Offer Free Workshops for Aspiring Area Authors
Writers need a community in order to share their work, and
Chuck McCorvey says the Valley Writers group in Roanoke
would like to be that community. The group welcomes newcomers
to its regular gatherings and also has scheduled a series
of workshops to help aspiring authors get started.
The group has 33 members, some of whom are featured on its
website. McCorvey said members’ bios are added as available.
The group also publishes a monthly newsletter and makes
it available on the www.valleywriters.org
site.
McCorvey, who moved to the Roanoke area from Atlanta in
August 2001, wrote technical papers and books about the
world of intelligence during his career. Now, he has published
a work of fiction, which he describes as a techno-thriller
about a retired but active intelligence agent and the threats
to America by the al-Qaeda terrorists and other radical
Islamic terror organizations.”
The group has planned four free two-hour workshops, “Advice
for the Aspiring Author,” to begin May 16. All programs
in the series will be held on Monday evenings, 6:30-8:30
p.m. at the Roanoke County Library Headquarters on Route
419. Workshops scheduled include:
May 16: “Getting Started as a Writer”; a panel
of members of Valley Writers will discuss writing experiences
and answer questions. The panel will include McCorvey, Rodney
Franklin, Becky Mushko, Jim Morrison, Richard Raymond, Ed
Mitchell and Sharon Myers.
June 6: “Writing Improvement: The Basics and Beyond”;
Ferrum College English Instructor and award-winning writer
Mushko provides hints to streamline sentences and polish
prose.
June 27: “Researching Your Sources”; a panel of
Valley Writers provides research tips to help writers find
reliable sources for both non-fiction and fiction stories.
Panelists include Bud Feuer, Franklin Zirkle, Jim Morrison,
McCorvey, Richard Raymond, Ed Mitchell and Rodney Franklin.
July 18: “Dazzling Dialog & Powerful Prose”;
Becky Mushko provides help for dull writing.
The Valley Writers Chapter of the Virginia Writers club
meets on the First and third Tuesday evening of each month
at St. Thomas of Canterbury Anglican Church just off Hershberger
Road, and on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:00
a.m. at the Roanoke City Library’s Brody Room, 706
S. Jefferson Street.
Mystery work paints good portrait of lake
Smith Mountain Lake author Sally Roseveare’s new mystery
novel, “Secrets at Spawning Run,” is especially
attractive to those of us who watched the lake dam built
and the area grow to its current national prominence.
The author, a member of the Virginia Writers Club, set the
novel at the lake around the experiences of 30ish Aurora
Harris, who has returned home for her mother’s funeral.
Once the scene is set, the pace of the story heightens the
way we mystery readers want it to do. The book becomes a
novel you just have to finish as soon as possible to find
out exactly who among the cast of characters can be trusted.
Lead character Aurora’s dog King quickly wins the heart
of dog lovers, and I hope Roseveare will let us meet him
in her second work, now underway.
The book can be ordered from any bookstore and is at The
General Store at the lake and Givens Books in Lynchburg.
—Sandra Brown Kelly
Comments or questions? E-mail to comments@primeliving.net.
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