Hourlings 3rd Annual Writing Workshop Day

The Hourlings Writing Group is hosting its 3rd Annual Writing Workshop Day on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at the Rust Library in Leesburg, VA. The event will be held from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM and will feature all of the neat “stuff” described in the flyer below:

The event is officially sponsored and promoted by the Loudoun County Public Library system. We are grateful for their support.

We’re also dedicating the event to Donna Royston, who organized the event in its first two years, but sadly passed away in December, 2024. This year’s event is being organized by David Keener, with the assistance of the Hourlings and other local volunteers.

Here’s the agenda for the event…

Time	Session
11:00 – 11:30 am	Setup and Socializing Making sure the room is set up: tables, chairs, A/V, signage, etc. General socializing as people arrive.
11:30 – 11:40	Introduction [David Keener] A welcome to the Workshop Day, plus an explanation of the schedule, the history of the event, and operational details such as breaks, lunch plans, etc.
11:40 – 11:50 am	All About Writing Groups [Alex Stacy] A brief overview of local writing groups for the benefit of the audience.
12:00 – 12:50 pm	Character Building 101 [Martin Wilsey] How do you come up with compelling characters? How do you keep track of critical details, like how they look or the details of their background? Author Martin Wilsey shares some of the strategies he uses to craft characters for his books.
1:00 – 1:50 pm	Lunch / Ideation Exercise [David Keener] Have you ever agonized over coming up with great ideas for a story? During lunch, David Keener leads a simple, fun, and effective writing exercise for generating story ideas.
2:00 – 2:50 pm	How to Get Started With Your Novel [Maeghan Jo Kimball-Peyruc] Writers are great at self-sabotage, citing problems like “finding the time,” “resisting the lure of perfection,” etc. Maeghan provides tips to help authors smash through the obstacles that are preventing them from finishing their stories.
3:00 – 3:50 pm	Crafting Memorable Action Scenes [David Keener] Have you ever encountered an action scene that just stopped a story in its tracks? Or one that just didn’t feel organically connected to the rest of the narrative? Do you have an action scene that’s just…lying flat on the page. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to craft effective and memorable action scenes that integrally connected to your story.
4:00 – 4:45 am	Getting Stories Accepted by Anthologies and Magazines [David Keener, Martin Wilsey] Two experienced writers and editors answer questions about how to get stories accepted by paying markets like anthologies and magazines. Here’s you chance to learn from experienced professionals who have functioned on both sides of the street.
4:45 = 5:00 pm	Breakdown Wherein the participants and audience help put the tables and chairs away and clean up the room.