How to Write An Article for Your Chapter Newsletter

I think strong local support in your newsletter is an excellent way of providing and showing commitment to the chapter. It creates a strong voice and presence. And it makes for a highly interesting newsletter. How many of us don't eagerly read the articles written by a member? You could be that member. Too many of us think we haven't got anything to contribute. But everyone has an article or two or three or four or more in them. Don't believe me? Check out the dozen suggestions below.

Interview an author—famous or otherwise. Ask them the questions you've been dying to ask. Present it as a Q&A article such as Eileen Putnam does in her 'Writers on Writing:" column in RWR.
Report on a workshop done at your local chapter. Perhaps even have the president ask for volunteers for each meeting. Add research links and suggested reference books to your report.
Poll your members. What do they have to offer in the way of expertise and or learning moments? Suggestions of the sort of questions you could use to stimulate ideas are:
1. How to trick yourself into writing.
2. What I learned this year.
3. Develop on-line and informal discussions into articles.
Conduct an on-line survey.

Pick a specific topic that interests you. Here's an example I took off one of the loops. "I'm in the process of charting my characters growth in my WIP. I was wondering what others thought were the emotional step needed to go from not trusting someone to love?"

Have your questions as specific as possible.

Send them to the loops you're on. Get permission from the moderator if necessary.

Put your research together into an article. Be sure and give credit to the contributing authors.

Write a commentary on an article in RWR.
Do a report on a how-to book.
Work together with one or two others and come up with an article.

Brainstorm for ideas. Pick a topic you can work on. Do your research whether it is more reading, interviewing, etc. Develop it into an article. Polish it and present it to your newsletter editor.

Share an "aha" moment. If you don't think it's enough for an article, read some books and find out what others have to say on the topic. Ask others to contribute their experiences on the same topic. For example: say it hit you in the shower that your story isn't working because you neglected to give the hero internal conflict. (It happens). So you go back to your how-to books and decide to fill out a GMC chart for him. Now the story makes sense. How do you turn that into an article? Look for a broader application. What holes in your work led you to discover your problem? In retrospect, how could you have discovered this much earlier? Read some books on character development, internal conflict, GMC, etc., ask other people specific questions on the topic then assemble your notes, create an outline, and write an article.
Use your day job expertise to create an article that applies to writing. You live on a ranch? How about an article "You Wanna Ride a Horse, You Got To Know Where the Horn Is.' You're a psychologist? How about an article on manifestations of childhood abuse that would be visible in an alpha hero, a beta hero, the heroine, etc.?
Agree to do a column, especially if you have a specific expertise such as grammar, forensic pathology, etc. Consider having questions and answers in your column. Other ideas for a column: do you read a lot of romance novels (you do, don't you?). Why not use that to create a column? For instance, do character sketches of your favorite hero (or heroine) of the month and why these characters worked. How about the diary of a story? Why not a column that introduces members of the chapter? What about...the possibilities are there.
How about doing an article on great, catchy, timeless opening hooks. Or plot devices? Add a little research from your how-to book and you have a meaty article.

12. Try writing an article on a day in the life of a writer. What obstacles did you overcome and how? What worked to get your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard?

Here's a chance to exercise your creativity muscle, to think outside the box and in the process, build your chapter. I can assure your there are ideas for articles all around you. In fact, if you really tried, I think you could come up with at least one solid idea a month.

So can we count on an article from you next month?