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Instruction occurred at Clark County Public Library last Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Specifically, aspiring writers were able to learn about the steps to take.

Christian Women Authors of Winchester – consisting of several published writers from the local area – hosted the first of a two-part writing workshop dedicated to teaching others about the writing process. 

“This particular workshop was really getting people to think about what they were going to write [about], how to start that process, and to figure out what interests them”, said Rhonda Gould, author of “The Journey: Finding Healing Through Scripture from Life’s Hard Questions.” 

Presenters included Caron Massey, Joy Matthews, Rhonda Gould, and Sher Hudson. 

While Massey is the author of “In the Stillness: A Prayer Journey to Hearing the Voice of God,” Matthews is the author of “The Church Under the Mango Tree and Other Missionary Adventures,” Gould wrote the book mentioned above, and Hudson wrote “Mara, Not Mara: Downward Spiral – Upward Faith.” 

Additional group members include Nicole Webb, Vaché King and Ronda Simmons. 

To start the workshop, some “get to know you” questions were asked to discover what writers were writing about or if the information was being thought up recently. 

Afterward, the authors had the opportunity to speak. 

Massey reviewed tips for expository, descriptive, narrative, and persuasive writing. These included presenting facts rather than opinions, utilizing sensory details, taking time to develop the storyline and characters, and appealing to ethics, emotion, and logic. 

Matthews used a “The Process of Writing” handout to describe terms such as autobiography, copy editing, cover photo, and much more. Thus, writers would have a more complete understanding of various terminology. 

Gould went over with writers the Sticky Note Timeline, used as a self-reflective process leading to better self-awareness of why individuals do what they do, understanding areas of strength and weakness, and identifying major life lessons. 

Hudson discussed The Hero’s Journey, a commonly used template beginning with a call to adventure and ending with a return that shows the course of a character throughout the story.

Hudson also guided others through an activity titled Picture This, asking them to describe their story as though it was the scene of a movie from a comedy, science fiction, or another genre. 

As morning crossed into the afternoon, the first workshop ended with door prizes. 

There is much that can be looked forward to for the next meeting. 

Along with discussing different processing of writing and writing tools, publishing options, and their cost factors, the next meeting will likely give prospective authors a chance to do more independent writing and share. 

“[We’ll] probably let them do some writing in class…just to get them used to thinking through the process of a storyline”, Gould said. 

Thus far, feedback has been positive. 

“We did a survey, and we got some really good comments back”, Gould said. 

The second workshop will occur at the Clark County Public Library on Saturday, May 20th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

To register, contact christianwomenauthorsofwin@gmail.com. 

The group can also be found on Facebook at “Christian Women Authors of Winchester.”