What Kind of Workshops and Speakers Does LARA RWA Host?

Updated

LARA RWA (Los Angeles Romance Authors) hosts monthly meetings that pair a guest speaker with a craft or business topic aimed at romance writers. The published schedule shows two confirmed 2026 sessions: a February 15 workshop on direct selling with Alexis Roark, and a March 15 workshop on description and dialogue with Laurie Schnebly (listed as March 16 in the speaker description). Meetings are currently held via Zoom, and first-time visitors attend free.

What the meetings look like

Each meeting is built around a speaker and a single topic, with a pre-meeting slot listed as "TBD" ahead of the main session. The two announced workshops show the range of subjects LARA covers:

Date Speaker Topic Format notes
February 15, 2026 Alexis Roark Pulling Back the Curtain on Direct Selling Worksheet completed during the session; Q&A time at the end
March 15, 2026 Laurie Schnebly The Double D's: Dynamic Description & Delicious Dialogue Craft workshop drawing on the speaker's writing and teaching background

The February session is explicitly business-focused: it covers what selling direct actually costs in money, time, and attention, and asks attendees to work through a worksheet so they leave with a concrete picture of whether direct sales fits their situation. The March session is craft-focused, offering tools for writing description and dialogue rather than prescribing one method.

The speakers

Alexis Roark leads the direct-selling workshop. The session description frames it as the unglamorous side of selling direct — ad spend, credit card bills, packing orders — rather than a success story.

Laurie Schnebly leads the description and dialogue workshop. Her background includes advertising copywriting, counseling therapy, and romance writing; she won "Best Special Edition of the Year" over Nora Roberts and teaches for WriterUniv.com, with 51 first sales from her classes according to the site.

What to expect if you attend

  • A worksheet or hands-on element. The February workshop has attendees fill out a worksheet as the session progresses, so you leave with something usable rather than just notes.
  • Q&A time. The February session reserves time at the end for attendee questions.
  • A mix of craft and business topics. The two announced sessions sit on opposite sides of the writing career — one on writing technique, one on the economics of selling.
  • Zoom delivery. Meetings are held via Zoom until the organization is cleared by the State of California for group gatherings.

Checking the schedule

The site lists upcoming meeting dates running from February 2026 through February 2027, but only the February and March 2026 sessions have confirmed speakers and topics at the time of the published page. Later dates (April 12, May 17, June 14, and onward) appear as dates without announced programming, so the speaker lineup for those months isn't yet available.

If you want to see a specific topic covered, the practical move is to check the meetings page closer to each date, since pre-meeting details and speaker announcements are listed as TBD until confirmed. First-time visitors and guests attend free, which makes a single session a low-commitment way to judge whether the programming fits your career stage.