Sisters in Crime Grand Canyon Writers proudly present Fireside Chats!
Spend an evening with acclaimed, bestselling authors and learn from the masters – in the comfort of your own home.
To view previous Fireside Chats on our YouTube Channel, please scroll down toward the bottom the page.
OCTOBER 2023 – AUTUMN FIRESIDE CHAT
Getting the Most Out of NaNoWriMo!

join us for the AUTUMN FIRESIDE CHAT on Thursday, October 5, 2023 with USA Today bestselling, multi-award-winning author, Gigi Pandian, when she shares the secrets to making NaNoWriMo work for YOU!
- The goal of NaNoWriMo is simply to write a draft! NO experience is necessary.
- Your NaNoWriMo work doesn’t have to be great—it doesn’t even have to be good. No one’s is, so you’ll be in wonderful company!
- Drafts are simply the initial versions. That’s how every writer begins.
- Just set your NaNoWriMo goal. You can either set a goal for a brand-new novel or set a goal for a novel you’ve already started. – NaNoWriMo can help anyone in their writing process. The first step is to show up
THOUSANDS OF WRITERS will participate in NaNoWriMo in the comfort of their own homes.
FIND OUT HOW to be part of an exciting writing journey and achieve amazing results in your own work.
WHETHER YOU are a “pantser”, a “plotter”, or your writing style is a hybrid of the two, Gigi can help you accomplish your writing goals!
“National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: draft an entire novel in just one month. Why do it? For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to silence your inner critic, let your imagination take over, and just create!
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.” (From the National Novel Writing Month’s Website.)
GIGI PANDIAN is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and locked-room mystery enthusiast. The child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India, she spent her childhood being dragged around the world on their research trips, which inspired her fiction. She now lives in northern California with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden. Gigi writes the Secret Staircase mysteries, Accidental Alchemist mysteries, Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories. Her debut novel, ARTIFACT, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” Debut Novel by Suspense Magazine, and her fiction has received Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Derringer Awards, and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award. Along with Kellye Garrett and Walter Mosley, she’s one of the co-founders of Crime Writers of Color.
Gigi’s latest Accidental Alchemist novel, THE ALCHEMIST OF RIDDLE AND RUIN, debuted in August 2022. Her first Secret Staircase mystery, UNDER LOCK & SKELETON KEY, was published by Minotaur Books in March 2022, garnering multiple starred reviews. It was called “wildly entertaining” by the New York Times Book Review. The second Secret Staircase Mystery, THE RAVEN THIEF, launched in March 2023, and the next Accidental Alchemist Mystery will be out in fall 2023.
Please see below for separate start times in separate time zones:
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM – Arizona
8:00 PM to 9:30 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Central Daylight Savings Time
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM Mountain Daylight Savings Time
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Upcoming Winter Fireside Chat:
To view previously recorded Fireside Chats, please click “VIEW” in the list below.
View the Summer Fireside Chat Independence Day For Writers: WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN FROM THE START! with internationally acclaimed, all-star panel Robin Burcell, Ellen Byron, Barbara Hinske, John Copenhaver and Raquel V. Reyes held on Thursday, July 28th at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern
View the Rachael Herron Fireside Chat on REVISING YOUR FIRST DRAFT: ALL THE TOOLS YOU’LL NEED! held on Thursday, April 4th at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern
View the Helen O’Hare Fireside Chat on ASK THE EDITOR! held on Thursday, February 2nd at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern
View the Lindsey Wade, Author, Former Detective, State Attorney General Office Investigator Fireside Chat on BEYOND THE BADGE! held on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Barbara Hinske, Nickolette Lemmon and Karen Odden Fireside Chat on INDEPENDENCE DAY FOR WRITERS–TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR WRITING CAREER! held on Thursday, July 14th at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Tess Gerritsen Fireside Chat on Building A Blockbuster Career, One Creative Step at a Time! held on Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Jeffrey J. Mariotte – Edith Maxwell (Maddie Day) Fireside Chat on Open New Avenues: How to Write Multiple Genres and Write 3-4 Books in a Year! held on Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 5 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Catriona McPherson Fireside Chat on Deep in a Bowl of Porridge: Planting Clues that Are Just Right held on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Dennis Palumbo Fireside Chat on Mastering the Craft of Riveting Novels by Writing Short Stories held on Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 6 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Barbara Hinske and Nicolette Lemmon Fireside Chat on Independence Day for Authors! How to Be Your Own Publisher and How to Maximize YOUR Books Sales—No Matter Who Publishes Them held on Thursday, July 15th at 6 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time.
View the Sandra (SJ) Wong Fireside Chat on Mixing Genres to Create A Great Story held on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 6 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time
View the Kellye Garrett Fireside Chat on Challenges and Opportunities on the Path to Publishing Success held on Thursday, December 3, 2020 at 5 PM AZ/7 PM Eastern Time.
View the Barbara Hinske Fireside Chat on From Novella to Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie held on Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 6 PM Arizona/8 PM Eastern Time.
View the Lori Rader-Day Fireside Chat on Put the Chill in Your Thriller! held on Thursday, October 29, 2020 at 6 PM Arizona/9 PM Eastern.