Highlighting RWA chapters
by Southern Magic chapter
Hello from the Magicians of Southern Magic! The Southern Magic chapter (#178) is based in Birmingham, Alabama, and was established in December 1997. Yes, we’re celebrating our 25th year as a chapter. Our name is derived from the nickname for Birmingham, “Magic City,” which the city earned because of its growth between 1881 and 1920. We strive to promote excellence in romantic fiction through educational opportunities to improve both our members’ writing and their marketing skills. Those educational opportunities include everything from individuals sharing their experiences to more formal workshops with experts in various fields.
We’re a friendly and supportive bunch of romance writers. Our members include those working to be published for the first time as well as multipublished and award-winning members. We strongly believe in sharing our breadth and depth of knowledge and experience to provide continuing support for each other. More than that, we believe in being available to answer questions, resolve issues, and to comfort and celebrate with each other. We recognize that many questions can be answered by searching on the internet. You can’t build a network, a community, or a friendship solely by searching the internet, though. Getting together has proven to be very important in ways we hadn’t realized until the recent pandemic separated us, forcing the chapter online only for a year. Being able to come together again is a huge relief!
Chapter member benefits include the camaraderie of in-person meetings, chapter-sponsored workshops, an annual writing retreat, scholarship opportunities (i.e., for RWA’s Pen to Paper program), and networking opportunities to expand your personal contacts through volunteering. The less-quantifiable benefits of membership include the connections and friendships you’ll make and, hopefully, come to depend upon over time. While some of us have been members of the chapter for a long time, others have just joined but still are reaping these benefits at each meeting.
We held our most recent writing retreat in November 2022, which was a smashing success. The highlight of the weekend included dedicated time to analyze romance movies, timed writing sprints, mini-topic presentations by our members, and learning from each other. Around the craft- and marketing-related discussions, we had plenty of time to socialize and become closer. The cost of the retreat is paid for by the chapter as a member benefit.
We’re also planning a workshop for 2023 to help expand our members’ knowledge base about writing craft, marketing, and research. We’re in the early planning stages, but we’re hoping to hold it by summer. Bringing in a more well-known author to speak on craft topics will also help bring in non-members who may then consider joining. Our goal is to continue to build our membership which will help all members, old and new alike, by expanding the knowledge and experience base of the membership as a whole. Being able to turn to someone you trust to ask a question is priceless!
We meet at 10:30 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month at the North Shelby County Library in Birmingham, with occasional hybrid meetings with online speakers. For more information, please visit www.southernmagic.org or email our president, Betty Bolté, at [email protected]. You can join our chapter by visiting our website (https://southernmagic.org/contact/) where you can Click to Join.