Quarterly Chapter Meeting/Event: February 17, 2024

Lone Tree Library, 10055 Library Way, Lone Tree, Colorado 80124 (303-791-READ)

Also Via Zoom; (Information on how to join the presentation will be posted in the Sisters in Crime-Colorado Groups.io members listserv.)

Please note: Chapter meetings are a member only benefit. You can learn more about us and our chapter here: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/join/

To request more information, please use our contact form: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/connect/

PROGRAM/SCHEDULE

9:30 am – 10:00 am   Welcome, Announcements

10:00 am – 12:00 pm   Artificial Intelligence As It Impacts Writers by Danica Favorite

12:00pm – 1:00 pm   Lunch (brown bag or visit nearby restaurants)

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm   The Psychology of Police Officers/Dealing with Dangerous Individuals. Two Part Presentation by John Nicoletti, Ph.D., ABPP

RVSP on our Meet-Up Page or through our Groups.IO Listserv

The Zoom login information will be posted in the chapter’s groups.io listserv.

About the Presenters:

Danica Favorite is the Community Manager at PublishDrive. A multi-published hybrid author, Danica understands the many challenges faced by authors today, and seeks to help them navigate those challenges, both in her role at PublishDrive and as an author. Her mission is to empower people to tell their stories, because every story matters.

“As an advocate for the thoughtful integration of AI in publishing, my goal is to empower authors to leverage artificial intelligence ethically and effectively. Understanding AI’s potential, I focus on guiding writers through its complexities, ensuring they harness its capabilities to enhance creativity while upholding artistic integrity. My commitment is to demystify AI for the publishing community, moving forward in a positive direction.”

John Nicoletti, Ph.D., ABPP EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE: Ph.D. in Psychology, Colorado State University 1972, Colorado Psychology License 1974. Board Certified Specialist in Police and Public Safety Psychology 2011

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 40+ years providing service to numerous local state and national law enforcement and School Districts. Dr. Nicoletti’s area of specialty includes threat assessment, mass casualty trauma recovery, and de-escalation of conflict. Most recently Dr. Nicoletti, Dr. Dvoskina and the DeAngelis Foundation received a Grant from the Department of Homeland Security to provide training to school districts and college campuses on detecting and disrupting targeted violence and violent extremism. Dr. Nicoletti’s publications include Violence goes to school, and Violence goes to college. He was a co-author of a document on assisting Chiefs of Police on safeguarding mental health after a mass casualty event. Dr. Nicoletti has responded to or assisted with over 15 mass violence events. Internationally, He has provided psychological services to McMurdo Bay and the South Pole since 1996. Dr. Nicoletti was also selected to be part of a team from Harvard to develop Mental Health Services in the Outback of Australia for the Rio Tinto Mining Company. He also provided Insider Threat Training to the Pine Gap facility in Alice Springs Australia.

Quarterly Chapter Meeting/Event: October 21, 2023

Lone Tree Library, 10055 Library Way, Lone Tree, Colorado 80124 (303-791-READ)

Also Via Zoom; (Information on how to join the presentation will be posted in the Sisters in Crime-Colorado Groups.io members listserv.)

Please note: Chapter meetings are a member only benefit. You can learn more about us and our chapter here: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/join/

To request more information, please use our contact form: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/connect/

PROGRAM/SCHEDULE

9:30 am – 10:00 am   Welcome, Announcements

10:00 am – 12:00 pm   Eight Weeks to a Complete Novel by Becky Clark

Have you ever wanted to speed up your process and write a complete and non-crappy novel in only two months? Learn how to create a flexible outline you can live with (even if you hate outlines with an intensity usually reserved for walking into a spider web); how to write fast; and how to organize yourself using Becky Clark’s tried-and-true techniques. This workshop will teach you how you can devise your own system to reliably get from premise to THE END in only eight weeks, allowing you to write multiple books per year.

12:00pm – 1:00 pm   Lunch (brown bag or visit nearby restaurants)

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm   The Mind of a Hunter and Mercenary vs. Contractor Two Part Presentation by Jacob Schriver

The Mind of a Hunter: In this presentation, Jacob Schriver presents how individuals in his line of work think, how they make their moves and understand the world around them. The purpose of this talk is to give authors an initial understanding to make their characters, including the hero and villain, more realistic.

Mercenary vs. Contractor:  After his talk on the Mind of a Hunter, Jacob will describe the differences between a mercenary and a contractor, and what those definitions really mean.

It is the speaker’s hope that after this afternoon presentation in which he shares his experiences, authors will get the full benefit of terms what they actually mean.

RVSP on our Meet-Up Page or through our Groups.IO Listserv

The Zoom login information will be posted in the chapter’s groups.io listserv.

About the Presenters:

Award-winning author Becky Clark published her first book in 2001 and has been honing her writing process ever since. She has developed many tricks and tips to speed up her writing because the key to a professional writing career is to consistently produce books. She is the seventh of eight kids, which explains both her insatiable need for attention and her atrocious table manners. She likes to read funny books so it felt natural to write them, too. She surrounds herself with quirky people and pets who end up as characters in her books. Readers say her books are “fast and thoroughly entertaining” with “witty humor and tight writing” and “humor laced with engaging characters” so you should “grab a cocktail and enjoy the ride.” She writes the Marketplace Mysteries, the Mystery Writer’s Mysteries, the Crossword Puzzle Mysteries, the Dunne Diehl novels, as well as some nonfiction and short stories.

Here’s the link to Eight Weeks to a Complete Novel …www.amazon.com/Eight-Weeks-Complete-Novel-Organized-ebook/dp/B085BWJK1V

Jacob Schriver served as a firefighter in Colorado for two years before joining the United States Army as an airborne infantryman for six years, leaving the military in 2018. After the military, he attended Pacific West Academy Executive Protection School and Mano Maritime Security. Incorporating this additional training, he has worked in various states and countries providing security service for private clients, such duties entailing celebrity protection to close protection in hostile countries.

Quarterly Chapter Meeting/Event: August 5, 2023

Lone Tree Library, 10055 Library Way, Lone Tree, Colorado 80124 (303-791-READ)

Also Via Zoom; (Information on how to join the presentation will be posted in the Sisters in Crime-Colorado Groups.io members listserv.)

Please note: Chapter meetings are a member only benefit. You can learn more about us and our chapter here: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/join/

To request more information, please use our contact form: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/connect/

PROGRAM/SCHEDULE

9:30 am – 10:00 am   Welcome, Announcements

10:00 am – 12:00 pm   Complex Villains by Jason Henry Evans

Great stories are dependent on a great many things. Setting, plot, characters and arcs. But sometimes we forget the villains. Whether they are simpleminded, dastardly and cruel, or the sophisticated leader who never gets their hands dirty, it is all too easy to mail it in when it comes to the villain.

Not Anymore.

On August 5^th join me as we explore what makes a complex villain. See how memorable your villains can be once you put the work into them. It doesn’t matter if they are sympathetic or a mustache twirling maniac, rotten to the core. When you take the time to craft a great villain, you’ll find:

• Ways to mirror your protagonist’s weaknesses.
• Inspiration for new scenes that will shock your reader and bind them to the protagonist.
• Come up with new plots and plot twists that will deepen your story.
• An antagonist as memorable as your protagonist.
• Fans who will love the villain more than the hero.

At our discussion we will discuss the great pantheon of literary villains.  From Lex Luthor in Superman to Jean Valjean in Les Miserable. From the Monster in Frankenstein to Darth Vader. To make things simple,  we’ll go over a checklist of things you can do to make your villains the scene stealer they deserve to be.

So join me, bring something to take notes, and learn how to make your villains vicious, memorable, and complex.  

12:00pm – 1:00 pm   Lunch (brown bag or visit nearby restaurants)

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm   The World of Art Theft and Forgery by D. H. Beckwith

Join Author D.H. Beckwith for Sisters in Crime Colorado’s afternoon presentation of The World of Art Theft and Forgery. Learn about the most notorious heists; why art is a billion dollar industry; why this nonviolent crime is pursued by law enforcement the worldwide; why this world is popular in movies and books, and more!

RVSP on our Meet-Up Page or through our Groups.IO Listserv

The Zoom login information will be posted in the chapter’s groups.io listserv.

About the Presenters:

Jason Henry Evans has been an active member in the Colorado Writing community for over ten years. He has published four novels, including his debut, the Gallowglass, which was released in July of 2019 to much acclaim. He has had a dozen short stories published and has taught writing classes at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, Denver Pop Culture Con, and the Colorado Gold. His collection of short stories, entitled “Stories I tell my Friends,” will be published later this fall. He is married to The Fetching Mrs. Evans, and together they have one cantankerous cat.

Social Media Contact: Twitter: @evans_writer, Facebook Author Page: Jason Henry Evans, Instagram: jasonhenryevans

Website: www.jasonhenryevans.com

Don Beckwith, who writes as D.H. Beckwith, was raised in New York and Long Island, by a family of art lovers. As a child, he was first introduced to the Dutch and Flemish masters and continued from there. He studied at American International College in Massachusetts and Cleveland State University.

His sundry careers included ten years of broadcasting from New Hampshire to New York City. During that time, he won two national awards for radio documentaries he had written and produced. Don is also an Emmy-nominated voice actor.

Subsequently, he co-founded a special-events and catering firm in New York City that specialized in creating and managing events for the great art museums of New York, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, The Modern, the Whitney, and the Brooklyn Museum. He found himself consistently surrounded by many of the great paintings of the world, reinforcing his love for Art. He refers to himself, not as an expert, but more as an aficionado.  

Don has authored several mystery novels devoted to art and antiquities. 

Don is Married and lives in Denver. He has two grown sons and four grandchildren, one of whom is four years old and struggles mightily with Cerebral palsy.

Quarterly Chapter Meeting/Event: June 3, 2023

Lone Tree Library, 10055 Library Way, Lone Tree, Colorado 80124 (303-791-READ)

Also Via Zoom; (Information on how to join the presentation will be posted in the Sisters in Crime-Colorado Groups.io members listserv.)

Please note: Chapter meetings are a member only benefit. You can learn more about us and our chapter here: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/join/

To request more information, please use our contact form: https://sistersincrimecolorado.org/connect/

PROGRAM/SCHEDULE

9:30 am – 10:00 am   Welcome, Announcements

10:00 am – 12:00 pm   Great Characterization: more than description by Ann Dominguez

We’ve all read a book where the writer’s introduction of a character takes our breath away. We’ve also all sat at our computers, wondering how to say “She had gray hair. She was as tough as nails and didn’t care how many balls she busted before breakfast,” in a more engaging way.

You already have the world’s most fascinating character in your head, but we’re going to figure out how to make the reader sit up and say, “Wow! How did she do that?”

12:00pm – 1:00 pm   Lunch (brown bag or visit nearby restaurants)

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm   Murder in the Kitchen by Fran Gleason and Dr. Gleason

Whether you’re a cozy writer or a thriller-writer, we all need ways to bump off that unsuspecting victim or bad guy. Believe it or not, your chef’s knife is not the only way. Toxins abound in some everyday foods around you that our speaker, Chef Fran Gleason, will expose, which could become a dastardly way to off your character. Her son, Dr. Gleason will address side effects and add his own thoughts to Murder in the Kitchen.

RVSP on our Meet-Up Page or through our Groups.IO Listserv

The Zoom login information will be posted in the chapter’s groups.io listserv.

About the Presenters:

Ann Dominguez is a writer and practicing physician.  Her medical adventures have taken her from Chicago to Haiti, Guatemala, and Thailand.  The Code, the third book in her Kate Deming Suspense series, was released in October 2022.  Her writing has appeared in JAMA, Venn Magazine, Medical Economics, and The Well. She writes about medicine, mothering, and the liminal spaces where what we know has been stripped away.  Someday she hopes to finish a cup of tea before it gets cold.

Fran Gleason holds an Associate of Applied Science Culinary Arts degree from the Art Institute of Colorado, Denver, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2007 at the age of 50. She owned Mealtime Matters, LLC, a Personal Chef business in Colorado Springs from 2007-2013, where she provided weekly meals for her clients.

Fran started volunteering as a Chef Educator for Share Our Strength Cooking Matters Program in 2007 and continues that volunteer position today. She was given a Leadership Award and was inducted into the No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength Hall of Fame in 2013.

Joining Fran in her talk and PowerPoint presentation is her son, Dr. Gleason, who is the Director of Mercy Medical Center’s Emergency Department in Durango.