Three hours of teaching to lift your writing skills to the next level.
New Meeting Location
Frost Bank Conference Room
8501 Davis Blvd, North Richland Hills, TX 76182
2025 Meeting Dates
March 15, April 19, May 17, June 21 — August 16, September 20, October 18, November 15
- Meetings are usually held on third Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., March to June and August to November.
- You have the option to submit a 250– to 1,000-word email attachment before the next meeting, which Frank uses for teaching and to facilitate interactive discussion.
- In-person discussion only (no Zoom connection). Missed paid attendance still allows a manuscript submission for improvement suggestions by those present.
- Cost: $35 per session. Watch for preseason discount for all eight sessions at just $220 ($27.50 per session).
Preparation for the Meeting
If you want your writing included in the discussion, email up to 1,000 words at least a day before the meeting.
Your physical presence is important. Hands-on, physical experience is always the best way to help others and to help yourself. Without your interaction with other writers in the room, we miss your input that helps grow one idea into another, to the point of brilliance. If you’ve paid to attend but can’t, your participation is lost, but if you’ve submitted something, your manuscript will still be used in discussion among those who are present.
What should I submit? Whatever you think will have the greatest benefit. Don’t worry about making everything perfect, because there is no such thing. Make it your best, and we’ll work hard at finding ways to make it better. Or you can attend without submitting anything.
What format do I use? A file extension DOC, DOCX, or RTF work best. For presentation on the screen, both in the conference room and on Zoom, the text is reformatted to make it most visible for everyone.
How should I prepare? Get a good night’s sleep, and come prepared to ask questions, share thoughts, and laugh a little. It will be fun. If you think of a writing-related question between now and the meeting, no matter how trivial you think it might be, email it to fball@RoaringLabs.org. Chances are, our discussion and answers will help the rest of the group as well.
How is the time allocated? After our opening prayer, but we might take 5–10 minutes to discuss how we’re doing and answer a few questions of general interest. After that, the remainder of the time is split among the submissions. Yes, we do use a timer to keep us on track.
What does Frank do to prepare? Very little. He may glance over the manuscripts and note a few things that might be helpful to the group. But reading the manuscript, making edits, or adding comments as is typical in a writer’s critique group would not be helpful. Why? Because it’s crucial that we all experience the brainstorming and creative thinking process as ideas develop in real time.
What do I get after the meeting? As long as technology has served us well, then you’ll have a link where you can access a video recording of the meeting online, just in case you want to fast-forward to a section and listen again. When your submission is put on the screen, Frank adds edits and suggestions to the text, saves the file, and emails those copies to everyone registered for the meeting.
Our three hours will pass quickly. Frank is always early to be sure everything is set up so the meeting can start promptly at 9:30. The bank doors open at 9:00 a.m. Come early and enjoy open discussion over a free cup of coffee. We will take a five-minute break in the middle of our schedule.