The Annapolis/Anne Arundel County Chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) will host Kat Spitzer on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. in room 205 at Maryland Hall. The Annapolis area writer will discuss her life as a writer and her first book The Happy Hypochondriac. She writes the daily blog of the same name (www.happyhypochondriac.com). She also writes nonfiction for magazines and is a twice-weekly contributing blogger for What’s Up? Kids.

The meeting is open to the public and free to MWA members and first-time guests. All others may pay $5.00. Annual dues to MWA are $40.00 and include other benefits on top of monthly attendance. MWA meetings meet the third Wednesday of every month in room 205 at Maryland Hall. For more information visit: www.marylandwriters.org.

The Annapolis/Anne Arundel County Chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) will host MWA member Charles Heller, who will give a presentation titled, “From Vision to Book.” It is the story behind his memoir, Prague: My Long Journey Home, launched in December 2011 and already recipient of two awards. Charlie – who has been a columnist for several newspapers and a magazine freelancer – will discuss the ten-year process of writing and rewriting the book; searching for, finding, and firing an agent; looking for a publisher without an agent; publishing the book in another language with a traditional publisher; and eventually going with a subsidy publisher in the US. He will describe the publicity campaign which is currently in progress, and he will let the audiences in on the “dirty secrets” of the real economics for authors in today’s unsettled world of publishing. Fans can learn more about the author at http://www.charlesoheller.com/.

The meeting is open to the public and free to MWA members and first-time guests. All others may pay $5.00. Annual dues to MWA are $40.00 and include other benefits on top of monthly attendance. MWA meetings meet the third Wednesday of every month in room 205 at Maryland Hall. For more information visit: www.marylandwriters.org.

Annapolis chapter meeting news (added 2012-01-18): unfortunately, Susan Reimer won’t be able to join us this evening due to a sudden injury. We wish her all the best and will be sure to have her back when she’s better!

Instead, tonight’s meeting will be an open forum for members to discuss their works in progress and recent writing/publishing successes. Showcase your successes with fellow writers tonight at Maryland Hall at 6:30 in Room 205!

Khris Baxter is a screenwriter, producer, and script consultant. He teaches screenwriting at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda in MD, Gettysburg College in PA, and the low-residency M.F.A. at Queens University in Charlotte, NC. His body of work includes many optioned screenplays and one produced film. He is a member of the Virginia Film Office where he is a judge for the annual Screenwriting Competition.

Khris Baxter provided the following handouts during his talk:

Screenwriting Resources (pdf)

3 Act Structure (pdf)

The meeting is open to the public and free to MWA members and first-time guests. All others may pay $5.00. Annual dues to MWA are $40.00 and include other benefits on top of monthly attendance. MWA meetings meet the third Wednesday of every month in room 205 at Maryland Hall. For more information visit: www.marylandwriters.org.