Writing Classes & Seminars

2017 Speaking

I am taking a break from speaking and teaching seminars. My next engagement will be at the October 2019 OCC/RWA Birthday Bash on the second Friday-Sunday at the Brea Embassy Suites.

Previous Seminars & Speaking:

2016 Speaking

New York Times best-selling author Debra Holland and I spoke on a panel in July 2016 at the Romance Writers of America National Conference. The topic was writing for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds. We will do a similar panel with other authors at the March 24-26, 2017 California Dreamin’ Writers Conference at the Embassy Suites in Brea, CA.

On October 13 we spoke to Professor Karen Felts’ class on Sexuality and Gender at Orange Coast College and fielded questions about romance writing, the writer’s journey, publishing, and the link between imagination and life-experience in writing fiction.

Speaking dates 2015 and backward to 2012:

October 10-12, 2015. OCC/RWA Birthday Bash. Seminar/panel: “Keeping the Dream Alive.” Embassy Suites, Brea, CA.

September 30 – October 6, 2015. NINC (Novelists, Inc.) annual conference in St. Pete’s Beach, FL.

September 17, 2015. Beginning Your Novel or Memoir 10-week series. Lake Forest, CA. Query Lou of your interest or ask for details on future series via the Contact Me box on this page. Master traditional fiction-writing tools: character, plot, POV, voice, setting, dialogue, sensory, query letter, and more. Explore self-publishing, contest submissions, editing existing work, joining critique groups, attending writing conferences.  For more info or to sign up for future classes, contact Lou at lounelson@cox.net or call 949-916-3310.   See the “About” tab on this website for details about your instructor.

• April 16, 2015. Fireside chat featuring Herb Williams-Delgart for the Intermediate Novel & Memoir class series. His topic: “Social Media Marketing.”
• March 27-29, 2015. California Dreamin’ Writers Conference. Interactive lecture, “Sizzling Scenes.”
• February 19, 2015. Learn the secrets of best-selling authors in this intensive 10-week series, Intermediate Novel & Memoir Writing. 6pm in Lake Forest, CA. To register, email lounelson@cox.net or send me a note via the Comment box at right.
• October 21-27, 2014..NINC (Novelists, Inc) Writers Conference, St. Pete’s Beach, Florida. Moderator, “Night Owl Panel on Metadata.” For information on metadata and how it can help increase book sales, see my blogpost “Metadata: Helping Your Readers Find You & Your Books.” For a report on the publishing marketplace and highlights of the conference, see my post, “The Publishing Market Changes; “Partnership” Takes on Importance.”
• October 17, 2014. Orange County Romance Writers of America Birthday Bash & Conference. Seminar, “Formatting Your Manuscript for Submission”
• September – October 2014. Beginning Your Novel or Memoir, 6 intensive weeks, a great experience.

• June 14, 2014. Two locations for the California Writers Club. Audience participation lecture: “Sizzling Scenes: Setting, Scene Goal, and Sensory Elements.”

• April 1 to June 3, 2014. Intermediate Novel & Memoir Writing, a 10-week series, 6:00-8:30pm Lake Forest, CA, 92630 To register, call (949) 916-3310 or email lounelson@cox.net  …Ten inspiring weeks to gain the knowledge and confidence to write the story of your heart and get it published. Award-winning UCI writing instructor and best-selling author Louella Nelson makes learning fun and natural.
• Oct 13, 2013. Moderator: Panel on Writing the Romance Novel. BIG ORANGE BOOK FESTIVAL. Chapman University, Orange, CA
• OCTOBER 12, 2013. Seminar on Scene Design. Orange County Romance Writers of America 31st Annual Birthday Bash. Embassy Suites, Brea, CA
• September 12, 2013. Write Your First Novel, Story, or Memoir, a ten-week intensive course starts, Lake Forest, CA  Call 949-916-3310.

• June 1, 2013. Seminar, “Scene Pacing & Emotion: How to Generate Action and Enthrall the Reader,” for the East Valley Authors’ birthday celebration in Azuza, CA. EVA’s announcement of the winners of the BIAY challenge as well as any winners from Out-Write Beth: Take Two! will complete the day. For directions and more information, go to http://eastvalleyauthors.com/?p=625
• March 2013. “Writing the Killer Synopsis” with Louella Nelson at the California Dreamin’ 2013 regional RWA conference at the Double Tree Hotel in Santa Ana, CA.  Sherrilyn Kenyon and Julia Quinn were the key-noters.  For more info on next year’s event, go to http://www.socalrwa.org.
• Winter 2014.  Intermediate Novel Writing intensive 10-week series Thursdays at 6pm  in Lake Forest, CA.  No prior classroom experience required.  Topics in this fun, intensive series:  plotting, pacing the novel, emotion, scene design, voice, sensory and description, synopsis, marketing, self-publishing, and more. Many former students are agented, published, or sold with the pub date pending, and they continue to network and support each other’s goals.  The series will repeat in 2014 and 2015.
• July 28, 2012. “Sizzling Scenes:  Setting, Scene Goal, and Sensory” seminar at the Romance Writers of America National Conference, Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, CA.
• Jan 19, 2013. All day seminar, “Genius Plotting Workshop”– Brea, CA.  Participants came away with a plotted external story and internal character arc of change, both storylines dovetailed and ready to write. http://www.occrwa.org/workshop_Genius-Plotting.html
• Repeating every fall:  “Writing Your First Novel, Memoir, or Short Story,” a 10-week intensive workshop.