Three big events will dominate the summer of 2013 for me: an Art Party to open the exhibition of works by fellowship winners; an online workshop on writing basics; and a literary reading at an historic plantation. Check them out below!

Event #1

First Look pARTy! at the Biggs Museum of American Art

Friday, August 2, 2013, from 5:00 to 7:00

Be one of the first to see the works of this year’s DDOA Individual Artist fellows at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, Delaware. This year’s Award Winners XIII exhibit will feature works by the seventeen Delawareans honored with IAF grants from the State of Delaware in 2013. Each IAF artist will have a spot in the exhibit. From the Biggs Museum’s Exhibition calendar:

Award Winners XIII: August 2 – October 13, 2013

For thirteen years, the Biggs Museum has partnered with the Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) to showcase the artistic talents of Delaware in an annual summer exhibition. The annual Award Winners exhibition features the talent of the current Individual Artist Fellows of the Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA). Delaware artists: painters, photographers, sculptors, writers, musicians and craft artisans, have the honor of winning the DDOA’s annual distinguished fellowship prizes. The fellows are chosen by jurors from hundreds of entries. In a partnership with the DDOA, the staff of the Biggs Museum invites each year’s Award Winners to the only group exhibition honoring their combined accomplishment.

The annual Award Winners exhibition is one of the most important annual projects at the Biggs Museum in carrying out its mission to celebrate artistic diversity, provide public educational access to Delaware’s fine-arts community, and to bring more awareness of both the museum and art to the community. Award Winners traces the evolution of the local art scene in Delaware and is presented to the public with hopes of encouraging conversation, comparison, debate and reflection of the diverse nature of work being created in Delaware.

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Event #2

Back to Basics Workshop

Online workshop running from August 4 – August 11 (one week) sponsored by the Mary Roberts Rinehart Pittsburgh Chapter of Sisters in  Crime.  The workshop is both a beginner and refresher course and is open to any writer. From the chapter website::

When: August 4-11, 2013 (1 week)

Where: Online via Yahoo Groups

How Much: $25 for Members, $30 for Non-Members

This is not your Grandma’s Grammar class, folks. This is about writing. This is about writing efficiently and effectively.

This workshop is designed to be both new for the beginning writer, and a review for the more experienced writer. Each day will be a lesson on a specific writing topic: Point of View; Passive vs. Active Writing; Show Not Tell; Word Choices; Backstory; Delivering Dialogue; Creating Conflict. I will post a lesson, with examples to illustrate each point, and exercises to practice the lesson of the day. In workshop mode, we will exchange and review the exercises day by day.

Preparation

This workshop will be of particular use for beginning writers, to learn some fundamentals. For writers with some or more experience, the daily offerings on writing topics could serve as a review or a new approach to basic skills. No draft is necessary because I will be offering unique exercises. Writers can apply the lessons to their work, but it will be a how-to each day.

About Ramona

Ramona DeFelice Long works as an author, independent editor, and instructor. As an editor, she works with private clients, primarily in the genres of mystery, women’s, and literary fiction. Her clients range from well-published to new writers and young writers. She has edited several anthologies of short fiction for chapters of Sisters in Crime as well as private writing groups. As an instructor, she teaches courses online and craft workshops (Scene Writing, Short Stories, Story Q&A) and intensives (Self-Editing) at writing conferences. As an author, she’s been published in fiction and non-fiction in a variety of publications. She is also a regular at free writes and Open Mics in the great state of Delaware.

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Event #3

Literary Reading at John Dickinson Plantation

When: Saturday, August 24, 2013, at 1:00 p.m.

Where: John Dickinson Plantation, 340 Kitts Hummock Road, Dover, Delaware

What: Literary reading

Join two local authors representing the Delaware Division of the Arts’ Individual Artist Fellowship Program for a literary reading at the home of one of the state’s most treasured historical figures.

Ramona  DeFelice Long of Newark and Russell Reece of Bethel will share stories and discuss the importance of value and impact of place in their writing. Following the reading will be a plantation tour and historical demonstration.

The John Dickinson Plantation is a working 18th century plantation complete with a period farm complex and the beautifully restored home of John Dickinson. One of American’s leading patriots, Dickinson was called “the Penman of the Revolution” for  his eloquent and passionate writings about liberty.  The John Dickinson Plantation is supported through the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

This event is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.