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LIRW's 4th Annual Mini Rom-Con! 

Join us on Zoom! November 15th 2025 9am-5pm EST

3 amazing workshops with:
Libbie Grant
Jamie K. Schmidt
Damon Suede
+ Network with other Writers!

Free for members
Non-Members $35
Early Bird just $25 (before Oct. 15th)
Recordings Included!

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Libbie Grant

Take off Your Pants

In this three-hour masterclass, bestselling author Libbie Grant guides you through her popular "Take Off Your Pants" outlining method. Participants will learn how, when, and why to outline; techniques for creating a blueprint for a great story that will need minimal edits; and will unlock the power of putting character--not plot--at the center of story. Come with a vague idea for a story and leave with a completed outline that's ready to guide you through a relatively pain-free writing process.

Libbie Grant, who also writes as Olivia Hawker, is an author of literary and historical fiction. She is a Washington Post bestseller and has been a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, the Willa Literary Award, and the Audie Award for outstanding audiobooks. Her novel One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, a favorite of readers around the world, made Amazon's Top 100 Bestselling Books of 2020. A permanent resident of Canada, she divides her time between Victoria, BC and the San Juan Islands of Washington State. For more information, please visit hawkerbooks.com.
 

Jamie K. Schmidt

​Writing Back of the Book Blurbs or Query Letters

You’ve got a great book. You’ve invested in editing and a genre perfect cover. You’re advertising on Facebook and Amazon and are getting clicks —but no sales. It could be your blurb that’s keeping the reader from taking the next step and purchasing your book. In this workshop, Jamie will show you how to tighten up your book blurb and give suggestions on rewriting with an eye on closing the sale. You can also use the techniques in this workshop into crafting your query letter to better attract an agent or editor.  Attendees are encouraged to come with one problematic book blurb or a query letter that needs sprucing up. Jamie will try to address as many as she can, time permitting.

 

USA Today bestselling author, Jamie K. Schmidt is known for her erotically charged romances, Jamie’s books have been called, “hot and sexy, with just the right amount of emotional punch,” and “turbo-paced, gritty, highly sexual thrill rides.” As a #1 Amazon best seller, Jamie writes daily, drinks lots of tea, and sneaks away to play video games whenever she makes her deadlines. Along with her husband and her seventeen-year-old son, Jamie lives in Connecticut with her rescue pup Romeo and two cats, who are cool with her writing schedule as long as they can be cuddled up in a blanket next to her. You can find Jamie on Instagram at @jamiekswriter and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JamieKSchmidtBooks/book

Damon Suede

INDELIBLE DIALOGUE: words that work

Talk isn’t cheap. Conversations can make or break a book and help your characters pop off the page. Dialogue shapes your pace, anchors your stakes, and keeps your plot moving at the perfect rhythm. Whether you’re writing witty banter or heartfelt confessions, dirty talk or silent accusations, dialogue can help you characterize and world-build more efficiently than any other single element in your prose. In this hour, we’ll unpack an arsenal of tricks you can use to cut the flab in your gab and unleash unforgettable communication. Join screenwriter and novelist Damon Suede for an arsenal of nitty-gritty techniques to turn that chatter into convos that matter.

 

Bestselling author Damon Suede has been a full-time writer for print, stage, comics, and screen for three decades. He has won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year.

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Writer Networking Session

Join fellow writers at the end of the day for an hour long networking session! Meet writers from around the country! Find critique partners. Ask and give advice. Perhaps even find your new writer BFF! 

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LIRW Board

President

Robin Dunn

Vice President - Programming

Violet Vahle

Vice Presidents - Communications

Heather Alexander

Lauren Smith

Treasurer

Leslie Vollard

Secretary

Ruth Vincent

©2025 Long Island Romance Writers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Long Island, New York

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