From the Pamlico Writers Group

 

The public is invited to a Pamlico Writers Group luncheon meeting featuring Wilson, North Carolina resident Merry Simmons, aka Hannah Meredith, a successful historical romance writer. The meeting will be held April 28 at 11:45 a.m. at Golden Corral, 1424 Carolina Ave, Washington.

Simmons’ program, “Leaping, Falling, & Laughing: A Primer for Those Who Write,” will cover areas she found easy and those where she stubbed her toe in her writing career. See her work at http://www.hannahmeredith.com/ and her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HannahMeredithAuthor page.

Simmons has a BA and MA in English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She taught English Composition and Literature at both the high-school and university level for 20 years, then sold real estate for 25 years while dabbling in writing.

In 2000, she won the Writer of the Future Contest (with a $6,000 cash prize and a free California writing workshop) and used this as entrée to submit articles to major sci-fi and fantasy magazines. Over the next few years, she sold a dozen short stories to magazines such as Asimov’s Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, and Paradox.

Like most writers, she wanted to write a novel and wrote a 250,000 word manuscript that flowed in a dozen different directions. She decided to write a more linear plot and chose historical romance primarily because she loved history and enjoyed reading romance.

She quickly discovered that publishing romance was very different. She set up her own publishing house, Singing Spring Press which now has five books available in print and ebook formats which have all been decently successful. Her Christmas anthology continues to sell in April at the rate of about four a day.

Simmons has presented programs at Wilson libraries and the Arts Council. She has served as an enrichment speaker on two different Princess Cruise Line’s ocean cruises where she honed her speaking craft.

Attendees should go through the normal buffet line and assemble in the private meeting room. Please leave a tip for your server so that we may reduce our facility costs.

The Pamlico Writers Group holds a general critique group meeting on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Turnage Theatre. The public is invited.

Become a member of PWG and see this and other events at the Pamlico Writers Group website at http://www.pamlicowritersgroup.org.