President's Contest winners 2014:

Walter Williams Major Work Award:

First place - Carolyn Mulford, Show Me the Murder
Second place - Leslie A. Lindsay, Speaking of Apraxia
Third place - Scott Miller, Counterfeit

"Show-Me" Best Book Award:

First place - Bill Hopkins, River Mourn
Second place - Chris Bostic, Fugitives from Northwoods
Third place - Ellen Gray Massey, Papa's Gold
Honorable mention - Carolyn Mulford, Show Me the Deadly Deer

Best Magazine Article Award:

First place - Diana West, "Hideout Heaven"
Second place - Marti Attoun, "Little Free Libraries"
Third Place - Lynn Cassity, "Finding Family in TWA Skyliner Magazine"
Honorable mention - Kyle Kapper, "A Mint Jewel Ups the Stage"

Congratulations to all entrants and winners!

Meet Us in St. Louis for the Fifty Shades of Writing Conference this Weekend

The Missouri Writers' Guild will host its 99th annual writing conference this weekend in downtown St. Louis. Special guests are Chuck Sambuchino, Mary Buckham, Margie Lawson, Matthew Frederick, and multiple agents, like Sorche Fairbanks, and editors like Danita Allen Wood.  

Check out the 2014 MWG conference faculty >>>>

The event starts Friday after lunch and run through Sunday afternoon. Full conference registration is still available online only until Saturday morning.

Even if you can't dedicate the entire weekend to the Fifty Shades of Writing Conference, its possible to still attend bits and pieces of the conference without paying the full rate. You don't have to attend the entire conference to attend Show Me Awards Banquet and the Sunday Masters classes. Tickets to those portions of the conference are sold separately. 

Show Me Awards Banquet 

CHUCK SAMBUCHINO, an editor for Writer’s Digest Books, a bestselling humor book writer, and a freelance editor, will give the keynote speech at the Show Me Awards Saturday Night Banquet. He works for Writer’s Digest Books and edits the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS as well as the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog is one of the biggest blogs in publishing.

Saturday Night, Mr. Sambuchino's keynote is titled, ‘How to Get Published: Professional Writing Practices & What Editors Want.’ Banquet tickets are $40 for conference attendees and $45 for anyone else. 

Banquet registration can be done through the registration page, by just selecting the banquet option.

Master Classes 

Master Classes, scheduled 9 a.m. to Noon on Sunday, are available for a separate fee of $50.They offer a more in-depth study with conference faculty in a smaller class room setting. Class size is limited.

Class options are as follows:

Mary Buckham, Super Power Openings

Learn how to make your opening as strong as possible. Includes characterization (where and how you need to engage a reader with your character and how to do that); hooks (more detail than the one hour workshop; raising story questions and why this matters; Scene and Sequels; and Pacing in an opening. By learning what makes a powerful opening, a writer can expand those techniques throughout their manuscript.  

Sorche Fairbank, How to Query/Pitch/Describe/Summarize/Talk About your Book

Sometimes it feels easier to write a book than it is to effectively and confidently pitch, summarize, or talk about one. This interactive intensive session will cover how to talk (and write) about your book in one sentence, in one paragraph, and in one page. We'll go over uses for each, from logline/elevator pitches to the query synopsis and for DIY authors, book jacket descriptions, press releases, Amazon descriptions, and more.  

Margie Lawson, The EDITS System: Putting Power on the Page
The EDITS System is a tool created for writers to analyze scene components. It’s the ultimate show-don’t-tell power tool. It shows writers what’s working, what’s not working, what’s missing. Writers learn how to take a scene from the POV character’s head, to the reader’s heart.


Gina Panettieri, Brilliant Beginnings
Whether you're asked to include them with your query, or they're simply the first thing an editor or agent sees when opening your submission, your opening ten pages can make or break your submission. Most editors state they make a decision to keep reading, or not, within the first few pages of a manuscript. Make yours the very best they can be. This workshop will focus on the key elements you need to demonstrate in these opening pages, and what fatal errors you absolutely must avoid. The class will discuss winning opening lines/paragraphs, hooking the reader, pace, action, dialogue, setting the scene, making characters memorable quickly and leaving the reader wanting more.


Ken Sherman, What It Is to Be a Writer
We'll discuss your writing work habits, how you deal with yourself from day to day, how you interface with other writers who you meet in networking situations like at this conference, how you approach an agent at a party, a conference, or via an e-mail, how you make a commitment to yourself and to your book, and how you work with your agent from the time you agree to work with each other, as your agent submits you to publishers. Sometimes there's rejection, which needs to be identified in terms of the whys, and how, if necessary, you face rejection head on. This will be a seminar for open discussion, and we'll all learn from each other as personal journeys are discussed. 

Matthew Frederick, What’s the Big—or Little—Idea?
Successful nonfiction books—memoirs, travelogues, cookbooks, self-help manuals, humor books, and all the rest—are rarely published as initially conceived. Typically, the core concept must be revised, revamped, and re-centered many times before an inspired idea is found to propel the project forward. This workshop will introduce numerous strategies to help you discover, broaden, narrow, heighten, deepen, and redefine the core concept for your nonfiction project. Whether you are just beginning or are feeling mired in a long-term effort, you will leave this session with a fresh perspective on it. Bring to the workshop a project title/subtitle, one-sentence “tagline,” 200-word synopsis (such as might appear on a book jacket), outline, and any other working material.



Learn more on the Missouri Writers Guild Conference Website >>>

It's Not Too Late To Register for the Fifty Shades of Writing Conference

Late registration open through Saturday

Late registration is available for the Fifty Shades of Writing Conference this weekend at the Ramada Plaza Hotel Downtown St. Louis Convention Center. All late registrations must be completed online and paid via Paypal between now and Friday. Or, paid by cash or check at the conference.

Late registration costs:

$190 for Missouri Writers' Guild Members
$200 Chapter Members
$220 Non-Members


Registration includes all Friday and Saturday activities EXCEPT individual agent pitch sessions, the Saturday Night Banquet and Sunday Master Classes. Agent pitch sessions will only be available as space allows, for example if there are cancellations, and are not guaranteed.

Click here to register online >>>