Struggling to stay on track with your writing goals? SavvyAuthors' Accountability Group is a supportive group designed to help writers stay consistent, overcome procrastination, and make real progress on their projects.

We will focus on:

• Goal Setting & Check-Ins: Set writing goals and track your progress.
• Weekly Accountability Check-ins: Share wins, challenges, and next steps.
• Encouragement & Support: Connect with like-minded writers to stay motivated.

Whether you’re drafting a novel, editing a manuscript, or just trying to write more regularly, this group will keep you accountable and inspired. Join us and turn your writing dreams into reality!

Feeling stuck in your story? Struggling with plot holes, character motivation, or the dreaded writer’s block? Unlock the Block is a supportive brainstorming group designed to help authors break through creative roadblocks and get back to writing with confidence.

This group will help authors:

• Work through tricky plot points with group feedback.
• Help develop compelling, well-rounded characters (including root fear, emotional would, and misbelief).
• Get fresh perspectives on any craft story elements.
• Overcome any other writing block challenge.
• Connect with fellow writers who understand the struggle.

Writers can sign up to "share" their story or writing challenge with the brainstorming group each month and get feedback.

Whether you need a simple push or a story overhaul, we’re here to help you find the answers and reignite your creativity. Join us and get unstuck!

Want to sharpen your writing skills while discussing the best books on the craft? The SavvyAuthors Writing Craft Book Club is a space for authors of all levels to dive into insightful books on storytelling, style, and technique.How it works:

• Recommendations will be taken and members will vote on the craft book that we will read.
• Read and discuss books on all things writing, from plot structure to character development. Join a bi-monthly video chat to discuss the book of choice.
• Share key takeaways and how to apply them to our own work.
• Engage in writing exercises inspired by each book.

Whether you’re refining your prose, strengthening your storytelling, or seeking fresh inspiration, this club is for you. Join us as we learn from the masters and grow together as writers!

During the bi-monthly video sessions, cameras do not need to be turned on, and there is no pressure for anyone to do so.

Are you seeking a coach and mentor who listens? Doesn't squash your writing style? And who provides positive, constructive feedback to meet your goals?

As a certified coach with a background in education and over a decade of working with writers, my goal is to offer you an individualized mentoring/coaching program to help guide you through the writing and publishing process. No part of your writing process is too small or too large for us to tackle together.

We will work as a team on the writing goals that you wish to accomplish during the three-month program.

I am as comfortable working with new writers as with those who have multiple publishing credits. I also read and write across multiple genres and have worked with writers who write fantasy, science fiction, mystery, historical fiction, horror, romance, etc.

The direction of the mentoring and coaching is founded on the goals you wish to accomplish. I am flexible, if the needs arises, in changing the mentoring and coaching to suit your needs and wants. You should come willing and able to work on your writing and be prepared for honest feedback.

Your personalized mentoring/coaching program can include, but is not limited to:

• Unlimited access via email for brainstorming, coaching, specific questions and regular check-ins,
• Regular private online chats in the Savvy Authors chatroom, by phone or Skype (schedule and time to be mutually agreed on). NOTE: Most are weekly and from 30-60 minutes.
• Reviews of your notes, outline and draft or revised manuscript with feedback targeted to take you to the next step with your story, tailored to your current goals,
• A writing schedule to complete your draft or edits with prompts to remind you of deadlines and regular check-ins to help keep you on track,
• Mini-lessons, articles, resources and recommended reading as appropriate,
• Includes coaching on the pitch and the synopsis,
• Discuss and brainstorm path options for your writing career.

This program is not a workshop or class but those elements may be present at the discretion of the mentor based on the needs of the students. Students should be prepared to engage in regular discussion with the mentor in order to get the best out of this experience.

Enrollment is limited to five (5) students so I can give the attention needed to each writer.

• Start Date: Monday May 5
• End Date: Sunday October 19

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and bring your story to life in this intensive, bootcamp-style writing event designed to take you from a spark of an idea to a polished, pitch-ready manuscript for SavvyAuthor’s Autumn Pitchfest.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or reviving a dusty draft, this event will guide you through every step of the writing process—planning, disciplined writing, editing, and preparing your book for pitching in our October event.

In this workshop, you will learn how to write fiction for kids, including picture books to middle grade readers. It is geared to writers who are trying to break into a new kind of kid-lit but are unsure which one to choose.

By the end of this workshop, you will certainly learn all the ins and outs of creating your children’s manuscript, whether it’s a picture book or middle grade novel.

You will also have a chance to start writing your first children’s story. We will start with the youngest ages and work up to the twelve age group.

I can’t underline how fascinating it is to write for this age group. Whether you’re new to writing or are currently writing in another genre, you will be fascinated by the themes and types of writing that are possible for this age group. You have the golden possibility of molding young minds and hearts in a way like no other type of writing offers you.

So, please try your hand at creating books for kids. Be prepared to be informed, inspired, and encouraged to try your hand at kid-lit of every kind. It is a workshop that will be as interesting and inspiring as it is informative.

Want to make your books stand out online? Learn how to use Canva, a free and user-friendly graphic design platform, to create eye-catching marketing materials—even if you’re not a designer.

We’ll walk through the basics of Canva, explore ready-made templates, and show you how to design graphics for social media posts, ads, and even printed materials like bookmarks and flyers.

Whether you're preparing for a new release or refreshing your author brand, this class will help you create visuals that connect with your audience and boost your visibility.

This 4-week workshop explores the possibilities of responding to art through ekphrastic poetry as well as taking on a different speaking voice in poetry through the persona poem.

In the first part of the workshop, ekphrastic poems and persona poems are introduced theoretically and we will look at examples. In the second session on each mode, we will write ekphrastic poetry and persona poems with the help of prompts and writing exercises.

• Week 1: Ekphrastic poetry: theory & examples
• Week 2: Practice: writing ekphrastic poetry
• Week 3: Persona poems: theory & examples
• Week 4: Practice: writing persona poems & combining both modes

All participants will receive a critique for one ekphrastic and one persona poem each.

This workshop is particularly suitable for intermediate and advanced poets to explore new forms, but the lessons are also accessible for beginners.

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to construct a thriller from beginning to end. Some of the topics covered are:

• What is a thriller and why are they so popular?
• The many different categories of thrillers
• Secrets of creating commercial story ideas
• Developing a ‘hot’ plot
• How to start your story with a bang and keep up the momentum
• Techniques that help us write high octane scenes and chapters that keep readers turning pages
• Designing heroes that your readers care about as well as three dimensional villains
• Crafting twists and reversals that no one sees coming
• Strategies to keep the tension taut, and the suspense sizzling
• Uncovering the techniques of top thriller writers

So if you want to learn how to write one of the world’s most popular genres, then join me for the workshop, ‘Writing the Thriller.’

Your reader magnet should grow your list AND help turn ideal readers into loyal fans. In this 3-part bulletin board workshop, we’ll dive into what makes a great magnet, how to deliver it smoothly, and how to use it to grow a high-quality mailing list of readers who actually want your books.

By the end of the week, you’ll have a polished plan (or an upgraded version) of your reader magnet and know how to make it work harder for your author career. Each lesson includes actionable takeaways and exercises you can implement right away. Plus, attendees receive access to a free 30-minute strategy session with award-winning speaker & marketing coach for fiction authors, Laurie Cooper, for personalized guidance.

Lesson 1 (Monday): What Makes an Effective Reader Magnet?
Identify what type of reader magnet best fits your genre, audience, and author brand.

Lesson 2 (Wednesday): Tools, Tech, and Delivery Systems
Understand how to get your magnet into the hands of readers effectively.

Lesson 3 (Friday): Making Your Reader Magnet Work Harder
Learn how to turn magnet claimers into engaged readers and build the foundation for long-term reader relationships.

You’re a real wizard with words but computer stuff? Not so much. Whether you’ve got a long neglected website or never really set up a proper web presence, author, e-commerce expert and big honkin’ nerd Hillary DePiano is here to show you easy ways to get more out of the tools you’ve already got… even if you’re not even remotely tech savvy.

From marketing essentials like building a website to tips for turning blog readers and social media followers into lifetime fans, we’ll demystify the tech stuff and help take your writing career out of the dark ages!

How much revision is enough? How much is too much? And where should a writer even start?

In this workshop, we'll talk about the difference between proofreading, revision, and redrafting.

I'll also add the strategies I've learned over the years for receiving and incorporating feedback, when to revise and when to stand your ground, and general tips and tricks for each stage of the polishing process.

Sex scenes - they should be more than Tab A into Slot B

You’ve all probably experienced this – you’re reading a romance novel, and here comes the first sex scene. Meh. It’s okay, pretty bare bones, so to speak, but you keep going. Then the next sex scene starts and you make a face. Really? This is it? Has this person even had sex? (Not that it’s purely necessary, but I would imagine it helps a lot.)

Sex scenes are a special, unique part of romance writing. Whether your story is contemporary, historical, paranormal, or some other genre, sex scenes will probably be a big part of your plot. In romance, sex scenes are not porn, they’re used to bring the main characters together, to introduce new obstacles, and more. But those scenes must be properly fleshed out in order to keep the reader interested.

I’ve written 500+ sex scenes and will give you some of my best tips and tricks (including my list of sex scene words and phrases!) to make your sex scenes really shine! This workshop is applicable for writers in all phases of their writing journey.

• Why sex scenes are important to your plot – figuring out the number and placement of them, and more
• The physical aspects of the sex scene – make sure your hero doesn’t have three arms!
• The emotional aspects of the sex scene – it’s more than tab A into slot B, especially for women
• Going from drab to fab – using your creativity to craft great sex scenes
• Putting it all together

Tropes are both the building blocks of our writing and the magical potion that can take “been there, read that” to “omgincomprehensablewordsofhappy.” How do we take something that’s been done before and make it our own?

First, we need to work out why certain tropes attract readers and what their expectations are. Then this workshop will discuss subverting tropes and reinventing approaches, without losing emotional buy-in from the reader.

In Using Backstory to Enhance Your Novel, students will examine how to use backstory effectively to enhance their stories using elements of a character’s past.

We will cover:

• What is Backstory?
• Flashbacks and How to Use Them,
• The Five Ws of Backstory—Who, What, Where, When and Why—of a character’s past.
• Prologues—how to use a prologue to provide backstory.
• Dialogue—how to manipulate your readers by using a character’s dialogue to hint at backstory.
• Weaving—how to weave backstory into your story.
• Inner Thought—revealing your character’s backstory through inner thought.
• What Do They Want?—how your character’s backstory can affect his goals.
• Bonus - The New Way to Plot: Plotting With Backstory.

Included in the workshop is a workbook with assignments, checklists, and more.

The elevator pitch is the bane of many a writer’s existence. But it can be a powerful tool, not just for marketing your book, but for editing, and writing as well.

In this course we’ll explore the elements that make up a perfect pitch, practice pitching, and learn how distilling your book into its core elements will lead you to a deeper understanding of your work than you may have thought possible!

By the end of this course students will:

• Feel empowered to write an elevator pitch for any project they are working on.
• Understand the importance of a killer pitch and what a bad one will cost them.
• Have tools to create, workshop, and practice an elevator pitch.
• Have written a number of elevator pitches.

Magicians are excellent at misdirection, and we can learn from them for our writing, too. If you're crafting a mystery story, you need to rely on misdirection to lead your readers down false paths without lying to them or hiding the true magic of your plot. In this workshop, writers will learn how to take the visual aspects of a magic show and convert them into literary methods for mysteries. This workshop will have two learning lessons, and one writing/feedback assignment, but you don't need to have a story in the works to participate.

Think of this as a four-week, no-rules, no-permission-needed dive into your creative instincts. Shake off perfectionism, embrace creative chaos, and make art your way.

You’ll find inspiration in unexpected places, break the creative “rules” that hold you back, and define your artistic identity with confidence.

Whether you’re feeling stuck, uninspired, or just ready to create with more freedom, this course will help you reconnect with your creative fire.

By the end, you’ll have a clearer sense of your voice, a toolkit of creative prompts, and the momentum to keep going.

Do you find yourself falling back on descriptions in your novel, novella, or short stories that have gotten hung up on a cliché? It’s so easy to happen. Heck, we use clichés when talking to friends, relatives, co-workers, or casually met people, so it’s nearly habit that finds them keyed into a story!

This month is all about turning those clichés on their heels, their heads, suspending them above the ground or over the side of a very steep cliff…whatever it takes to make them fresh and surprising and sometimes funny or sad or threatening when they weren’t in their original form.

This is upping your creative ante time.

We’ll write then rewrite descriptions of characters, of settings, of events as they happened in the past and as they are happening right on the page this very minute. At least for your characters, they are. We’ll take on emotions, and you know how many of those there are that can get over maudlin or not maudlin enough.

Comedy can come into play. Terror, pain, actions, movements, appearances!

Let’s say the world of description is about to sit up and beg for more. Or maybe that’s your story doing the begging because flipped, souped up, graphic, colorized description will move your writing to a new level.

So, how about joining me for a month of playing with words. Surely, there is no better sport to be found outside of a book!

Have you ever wanted to write a series? Do you have an idea so big that there’s no way you can fit it into only one or two books? Then this class is for you.

From writing a trilogy to writing a twenty plus book series this class will help you figure out how to write that multi-book series.

• Figuring out your characters
• The over arching plot
• Plotting one book at a time
• Keeping it all straight
• Writing Schedule
• Using Tropes
• Side Stories and Reader Hooks

...And More!

Are you seeking a coach and mentor who listens? Doesn't squash your writing style? And who provides positive, constructive feedback to meet your goals?

As a certified coach with a background in education and over a decade of working with writers, my goal is to offer you an individualized mentoring/coaching program to help guide you through the writing and publishing process. No part of your writing process is too small or too large for us to tackle together.

We will work as a team on the writing goals that you wish to accomplish during the three-month program.

I am as comfortable working with new writers as with those who have multiple publishing credits. I also read and write across multiple genres and have worked with writers who write fantasy, science fiction, mystery, historical fiction, horror, romance, etc.

The direction of the mentoring and coaching is founded on the goals you wish to accomplish. I am flexible, if the needs arises, in changing the mentoring and coaching to suit your needs and wants. You should come willing and able to work on your writing and be prepared for honest feedback.

Your personalized mentoring/coaching program can include, but is not limited to:

• Unlimited access via email for brainstorming, coaching, specific questions and regular check-ins,
• Regular private online chats in the Savvy Authors chatroom, by phone or Skype (schedule and time to be mutually agreed on). NOTE: Most are weekly and from 30-60 minutes.
• Reviews of your notes, outline and draft or revised manuscript with feedback targeted to take you to the next step with your story, tailored to your current goals,
• A writing schedule to complete your draft or edits with prompts to remind you of deadlines and regular check-ins to help keep you on track,
• Mini-lessons, articles, resources and recommended reading as appropriate,
• Includes coaching on the pitch and the synopsis,
• Discuss and brainstorm path options for your writing career.

This program is not a workshop or class but those elements may be present at the discretion of the mentor based on the needs of the students. Students should be prepared to engage in regular discussion with the mentor in order to get the best out of this experience.

Enrollment is limited to five (5) students so I can give the attention needed to each writer.

One of the jobs many indie publishers farm out is cover design. Certainly, the most visible marketing tool today is your cover. During the days of physical bookstores all people saw of most books were the spines of the book. But today with online stores, every book is "face front."

However, you don't have to spend a lot of money to create an attractive book cover that reflects your vision and sells your book. In this course, you will learn the functions of a book cover, the basic principles of design, color, and layout, and how to use free tools to create your cover.

Topics:

• The functions served by a book cover
• Marketing and Cover Design
• Basic Design Elements
• Image selection
• Font Selection
• Layout
• The Principle of Thirds
• The Power of Color
• Using Kindle Cover Creator
• Using Pixlr Advanced

Our Pitchfest is still your next best chance to land that perfect agent or (and) sell your book to the publisher of your dreams! We open up the SavvyAuthor’s site for three fun-filled and exciting days where you post your pitch on our blog to a bevy of agents and editors.

Not sure what Pitchfest is? Check out our information page and our FAQ.

Still have questions?

Contact Us!