Be Your Own Date for Valentine's Day!

Feeling overwhelmed by the bombardment of ads showing happy couples?

Shift from a sense of lack to a sense of joy, peace, and gratitude. 

Here are some tips to avoid the pressure and boost your morale:

1. Host a casual gathering with friends. Have a pizza party. Watch a movie. Play a sport. Time spent with friends reminds us of how lucky we are to have special people in our life.

2. Hike the great outdoors. Nature is the great healer. Even just a walk around your neighborhood can boost your mood. Greet the people you meet. Make their day and yours.

3. Do good. If the walk around your neighborhood highlights problems, then spend time bagging up litter or help a neighbor in need.

4. Spread love. Perform random acts of kindness.

5. Escape into a good book. Reading is my favorite escape! Before you know it, the big heart day will have passed.

If you are tempted to perform a love spell... I suggest you first read SPELL CHECK, a sweet romance about a teen's attempt to stop her best friend from casting  a wrongful love spell. Book 1, The Teen Wytche Saga.

Happy reading!

Ariella

 

Ariella Moon Book Signing Event!

Meet Ariella Moon and other Coachella Valley authors at the 

Palm Springs Writers Expo

January 14, 2023 from 1:00- 4:00

The Mizell Center in Palm Springs

480 S. Sunrise Way

Admission is free!

Don't miss this chance to meet award-winning and upcoming 

fiction and non-fiction authors.

                                                  

 Award-winning author and shaman Ariella Moon will be signing and selling books from her two Young Adult fantasy series: 

THE TWO REALMS TRILOGY and THE TEEN WYTCHE SAGA. 

Additionally, Ariella's visitors can receive chocolate (while they last) or an oracle card reading if they say the secret magic password:

"I believe in fairies!"

Copyright 2023, Ariella Moon

New Zoom Class For Aspiring Authors!

Connecting with fabulous presenters is a key perk of being the Writing Labs Coordinator for the Palm Springs Writers Guild, including January's presenter,  Margaret Lucke. 

Margaret Lucke

"From Brilliant Idea to Successful Publication"

January 13, 2023    1:00 PM -3:00 PM

A Palm Springs Writing Lab on zoom

$45. for students and PSWG Members

$90. For Non-Members

 

From Brilliant Idea to Successful Publication 

 

Everyone has stories to tell, and many of us want to put our stories into the hands of readers. The start of a new year presents a good opportunity to take a big-picture look at what you want to accomplish with your writing in the months ahead. 

 

In this session we’ll explore the process of developing your story, from getting the initial spark, through putting it down on the page, to getting it published and out into world. Whether you are writing a novel, a short story, a memoir, or a personal essay, you’ll come away with inspiration, helpful information, and a clear idea of the path that leads to becoming a published author. 

 

What you will learn:

 

·     How to find story ideas when you need them

·     The six essential elements of any good story

·     How to approach doing the necessary research

·     Strategies for writing the first draft

·     Strategies for rewriting process

·     Approaches to getting your story published

 

 REGISTER

About Margaret Lucke 

Margaret Lucke flings words around as a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She writes tales of love, ghosts, and murder, sometimes all three in one book. She is the author of four novels—House of Desire, House of Whispers, Snow Angel,and A Relative Stranger(an Anthony Award finalist)—and is the editor ofFault Lines,a short story anthology from the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She is a former president of Mystery Writers of America NorCal.

 

Margaret has also published two how-to books on the craft of writing and more than 60 short stories, feature articles, and scripts for mystery weekends. For many years she has taught fiction writing classes for UC Berkeley Extension and other venues. Visit her at www.margaretlucke.com.

Connect With Margaret Lucke

AMAZON

FACEBOOK

To sign up for 

"From Brilliant Idea to Successful Publication" REGISTER HERE

When not booking presenters on writing craft, Ariella Moon can be found walking her dogs and dragon, eating chocolate, or writing the sequel to THE VIKING MIST. 

Hocus Pocus: Another Magical Writing Lab from Ginger Hanson

Hocus Pocus: How Setting, Props, and Sensory Details 

Add Magic to Your Story

A Zoom Online Writing Lab Presented by the

 Palm Springs Writers Guild 

Friday, October 14, 2022

1:00 PM - 3:00PM Pacific Time

$45. Standard PSWG Member

$90. Non-Member

As Writing Lab Coordinator for the Palm Springs Writers Guild, I am pleased Ginger Hanson will again share her wisdom and insights on how to enrich our stories!

About Hocus Pocus: How Setting, Props, and Sensory Details Add Magic to Your Story:

Our stories invite readers to exist with our characters in a three-dimensional world we created. Our job is to convince them to stay in this world until the story ends. The wise use of setting, props, and sensory details help to entice readers to stay to The End.

In this workshop, Ginger Hanson will provide insights into how well-written, three dimensional scenes enhance your storytelling. She will focus on how to incorporate setting, props, and sensory details into your writing toolbox. 

1. Setting Up Your Story World
2. Propping Up Your Characters
3. Do Your Characters Have Sensory Deprivation?

Location:
Zoom Online Meeting

To receive a full refund minus a $25 cancellation processing fee, attendees must cancel their registration 5 days before the event. No refunds will be given after that time.

REGISTER

Unable to attend, no problem, all paid registrants will receive a video replay of this presentation.

You will receive an invitation to the Zoom online meeting after you have registered and payment is complete. Meeting begins at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.

About Ginger Hanson:

When she was 12 years old, Ginger Hanson won her first writing contest with a short story about her puppy. Encouraged by winning a pen set, the future award-winning author decided to become a writer. Her published writing runs the gamut from historical romances to Federal Aviation Administration instructional manuals. She has been a workshop presenter at national, regional, and online writers’ conferences and taught  online writing classes. In 2013, she regained the rights to her five published novels and launched Saderra Publishing, adding a novel, novella, essay collection, and two writing skills books to her collection of published works. https://www.gingerhanson.com

A Great New Mystery Novel by Lucy Foley

My September Recommended Read

AMAZON 

Book, television, and movie protagonists are a lot like real people—if I don’t initially like them, I will walk away, no matter how highly acclaimed they may be. Just such acclaim drew me to New York Times Bestseller Lucy Foley’s newest novel, THE PARIS APARTMENT. But I doubted I would warm up to the main character, Jess.

 

Two things kept me reading.

 

Firstly, I remembered how some reviewers of my book, SPELL FIRE, said they were glad they stuck with the book despite their initial misgivings about the heroine, a teen desperately trying to hide her obsessive compulsive disorder and depression from her warring parents.

 

Secondly, I was raised on Agatha Christie novels and I can’t resist a challenge. (I was delighted to discover Foley had employed a subtle homage to one of Christie’s most controversial books!)

 

THE PARIS APARTMENT is not for readers who eschew stories told from multiple points of view. Though I felt the author did an excellent job creating distinct characters, an intriguing mystery, and delicious plot twists. Agatha Christie would have been proud.

 

“Mental illness has a stigma attached to it and having such a character was risky. I fell in love with her the first time she washed her hands, and the 100th. Because, like may young adult books, it was written from our Ainslie's point of view it was like peaking into someone’s diary, almost. I am all smushy inside I liked this book so much!” 

                                                                                                        ~Amazon Reviewer

AMAZON          BARNES AND NOBLE        RAKUTEN KOBO

My August Recommended Read

I loved Julie Garwood's recent release, GRACE UNDER FIRE. Garwood brilliantly built tension, sexual and otherwise, and set up the protagonist's flaw so that the reader has a gleeful, here-we-go! moment at a vital point in the story. Terrific world building and believable characters further enrich this page turning novel. GRACE UNDER FIRE is a fun end-of-summer or any time read.

Enjoy!

New Zoom Class on Scene & Sequel

 Last Day to Sign Up For "Mastering Scene & Sequel"

Presented by Ariella Moon

Friday, August 12, 2022

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

Online Zoom Writing Lab

All registrants will receive a presentation recording 

With “Mastering Scene and Sequel,” writers will learn:

 

·     The core psychology behind scene structure

·     How to set up action scenes followed by reaction scenes

·     The specific duties and obligations of scenes 

·     How to craft mission driven scenes 

·     How to “cut and thrust”

·     How to strategically place and vary scenes

 

Ariella Moon invites you to join her for this informative and interactive writing lab. If time permits, Ariella will guide each attendee on the live zoom call with an analysis of a brief scene from their work in progress. Please have your scene handy!

#writing class #writingcraft #fictionwriters #writinglab #PalmSpringsWritersGuild #AriellaMoon #storystructure 

#aspiringauthors #AriellaMoon