Writing Workshops with the Pros

    Three-hour intensive workshops - Master Classes - with nine conference speakers will give writers an opportunity to work side-by-side with the pros.  Many of these workshop leaders are inviting writers to bring a work-in-progress to discuss in their small-group sessions.  


    Here's a synopsis of the classes from the presenters.  We've indicated wherever possible which speakers have suggested bringing in a work-in-progress or making other preparations for the workshops.


       My Recipe for Chicken Soup for the Soul Intensive, Linda Apple:  This is a writing workshop. The goal is for you to leave with a first draft to edit and submit to Chicken Soup for the Soul. We will go into a more depth approach to creative nonfiction and put what we’ve learned on paper. We will share our ideas, brainstorm together, and share our stories.

       Members of the workshop will receive a My Recipe for Chicken Soup for the Soul Ideas Cookin’ Book, to keep record ideas for each element of their life-story. Then during the last portion of the session you will use these ideas to write down the bones of your story.

      As a professional courtesy, Linda will read each story and offer any needed suggestions before you submit your story.


     Keeping Them Hooked---Page 1, 5, 50, Jeannie Lin:  A craft workshop which provides tips on how get your novel from "almost there" to being read.  Please bring a first chapter that you'd like to workshop.


    Creating Believable Characters, Elaine Viets:  Elaine Viets has worked an incredible number of minimum-wage jobs to help her create the characters in her two bestselling series.  She'll give you tips on how to create characters so real your readers will think they're living next door!


     Will the Center Hold?, Mary Troy.  Every situation worthy of our attention has its own downfall built in, has a crack, a fault running through it. Sometimes it is not found, never pushed hard enough, never tested. Marriages last for 50 years at times by avoiding stress. But sometimes the fractures occur, the stress points are tested. Will the marriage survive or not? That is a story.  The subjects are limitless. 
    This class will examine what is sometimes called the Iago factor after a Susan Neville essay. Is it a jealous co-worker, a religious conviction, a hidden past, a feeling of inferiority, or a repressive government? Whatever name it goes by, it provides the stress in a story. We will discuss how it works in good works, and then take examples from the stories students in the class are working on.  How and what is the Iago factor in that work? Is it missing or too obvious?
    Students are encouraged to bring in summaries of their work in progress for discussion.

    All Grants and Only Grants, C. Hope Clark.  Hope has contacted grant entities in Missouri and surrounding states in order to gather specifics about how our writers can get grants in our region. In this workshop, she will explain the tremendous variety of grants, fellowships, retreats, and sponsorships available to the serious writer.

    Who's Listening to You?  Effective Online Marketing, Kathleen Ortiz.  From evaluating web site traffic, discussing effective blogging methods, boosting your SWO (S-W-what?) and deciphering the ‘creepy’ term known as branding, this course will cover a variety of online marketing topics so attendees can analyze their current online presence, uncover who their current audience is, who their target audience should be, and what they can do to make it more effective.  Note:  This workshop is suggested for experienced users.  We'll be emailing workshop attendees a link prior to the conference to help them hone in on specific areas.

    Language as Landscape, Joanna Beth Tweedy.  Novelist and poet Joanna Beth Tweedy will explore with participants the roots of language and place as they relate to the South Midland Dialect, which is among the most vivid, illustrative, and metaphoric American dialects extant and alive today. The author will engage participants in small- and large-group discussions as well as brief writing exercises, centering specifically on the notion that how individuals are bound and where they are bound share an exquisite kinship, a connection that ultimately effects itself through a region’s diction and idiom. 

    Through many examples—from vocabulary, pronunciation variations, grammatical anomalies, and phrases unique to regions within the South Midlands—the workshop will demonstrate how linguistic landscapes are “mapped,” and how language becomes place. The workshop is geared toward a general audience of writers and readers with an interest in diction and dialect. No formal background in linguistics is necessary to enjoy or participate in the workshop.

    Digital Publishing, p. b. smith.  For the first time in history, content creators, including writers, can maintain total control over the publication of their works if they choose to publish digitally, and many are reaping significant financial rewards in the process, earning more money per book selling $2.99 digital downloads than on $29.99 conventionally published books. But how do you publish digitally? This class demystifies the process with step-by-step instructions for the most popular and successful digital platforms.                       

    You'll learn how to prepare a manuscript for Kindle, the iPad, the Amazon Bookstore, Smashwords and other online distribution avenues. If you prefer not to do the digital conversions yourself, you'll leave with recommendations and contact information for pros who prepare manuscripts for digital publication and artists who can design compelling book covers, all for affordable prices. The class will be illustrated with examples of real authors who are making digital publishing work, including Joe Konrath and Rob Walker, among others. You'll also get information about the type of books that are most in demand. If you want to ride the digital waves and put your book in front of a worldwide audience, this class is for you.

    Tapping into Your Creative Flow:  How to Write Something Out of Nothing, Sandra Carrington-Smith.  Join Sandra in a fun-filled exploration to find the keys to opening your doors to creativity and setting your own inner writer free! This workshop will offer exercises and ideas to help overcome the dreaded writers’ block. 

    All nine sessions will be held from 9 a.m. until noon on Sunday. Anyone registered for the conference can attend a Master Class workshop by paying an additional $50 fee and selecting the class preference on conference registration form at www.missouriwritersguild.org.

               

Missouri Writers' Week

The Missouri Writers' Guild has received a proclamation signed on November 26th by Governor Jay Nixon making the week of April 3-9, 2011 "Missouri Writers Week."

The proclamation reads:

Whereas, the Missouri Writers' Guild was established for the purpose of supporting writers in all possible ways; and


Whereas, the Guild is comprised of published writers and college-level writing students from across the state; and


Whereas, Missouri is the home of many contributors to the field of journalism;
and


Whereas, the citizens of the state of Missouri join together with the Missouri Writers' Guild for the purpose of honoring all those, past, present and future, who participate in the profession of writing.


Now therefore, I, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Governor of the State of Missouri, do hereby proclaim April 3-9, 2011, to be

MISSOURI WRITERS WEEK

and encourage citizens to full enjoy the rich opportunities for writing, appreciation and learning available throughout this week.


Writers, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and all those whose lives are touched by the writing profession within Missouri, please consider this your call to action and plan to use this week for opportunities to highlight the many contributions and accomplishments of our writers.  April is also National Poetry Month, so there should be numerous opportunities for literary voices to be heard.


We'll wrap up the week with the Just Write! Conference and the "Show-Me Showcase" Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 9th.

Happy Birthday, Mark Twain

Today marks Samuel Clemens 175th birthday.  It's getting close to the end of a year of celebrations and honors for Missouri's most legendary author and although he's been gone a hundred years now, he's nevertheless gotten his wish.  Now that he's been gone a hundred years, his autobiography has been published, just as he requested.  It's in the top five non-fiction books on the New York Times Bestsellers List.  Not bad for a guy from a little river town smack dab in the middle of the country.


Although Hannibal isn't my hometown, it's pretty close to it.  I grew up on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, but every Friday night I got in my parents' '57 Chevy to go grocery shopping in Hannibal.  We'd stop at the Mark Twain Dinette for maid-rites and Frostop root beer---curb service, of course---before crossing the bridge to head home.  We lived close enough to the river levee that I was in junior high before I realized sandbags lining the driveway every spring were not a part of my mother's landscaping plan.


Like every kid I grew up with, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the first book I read after I'd finished all the Dr. Seuss books.  My first newspaper after the University of Missouri was the Hannibal Courier-Post.


I was visiting my family in Quincy last summer, passing through Hannibal on my way back to St. Louis.  Cindy Lovell, executive director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, had already agreed to be a speaker at the 2011 Missouri Writers' Guild Just Write! Conference, but we'd never actually met except through our email exchanges, so I took advantage of the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting.


I found Cindy in her office, working on a multitude of projects, one of which was the CD telling Clemens life story being launched later this evening at a celebration in Hannibal.  As she was telling me how the unique project came about, I was impressed by Cindy's enthusiasm and creativity.  She was lining up talent like Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, she said.  Then there was producer Carl Jackson and maybe even Jimmy Buffett!  You can find out more about the project by visiting the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum website.  


To say Cindy knows Twain is a classic understatement.  She can quote him so well I believe she may actually be a reincarnation of the Old Man himself.  Nevertheless, three hours sped by like Halley's comet, and as I drove back to St. Louis, I knew Clemens would be pleased to have his legacy in Cindy's very capable hands.  


In October, the Museum won the Governor's 2010 Humanities Award for Exemplary Community Achievement, recognized for programs that include the young authors' workshops, teacher workshops, "night at the museum" sleepovers, and the soon-to-be released CD.  


As I've mentioned, Cindy will be a speaker at Just Write! next April, presenting a breakout based on the Twain quote "Get your facts first....and then you can distort them as much as you please."  She'll also be on-hand for a presentation granting Samuel Clemens posthumous honorary membership in the Missouri Writers' Guild.

Here's Your Chance to Pitch!

Do you have a mystery you'd like to pitch?  How about an article about the weekend getaway in New Harmony?  Maybe you're ready to find a home for the children's book you just revised for the third time.  With over a half-dozen editors and agents set to attend the Just Write! Conference, it's the perfect opportunity for you to find just the right person to tell about your project.  April 9th is your chance to pitch!


Here's some information you might find helpful about each of our editors and agents to help with your pitch homework prior to the conference.


Lia Brown, Editor, Avalon Books.  Launching her career in publishing as a high school intern at Starlog magazine, Lia has spent the last twenty years working on a variety of fiction and nonfiction topics and genres at several publishing houses.  Avalon publishes "family friendly" romance, historical romance, mysteries, and Westerns.  No erotica or heavy violence.


Krista Goering, Agent, The Krista Goering Literary Agency.  Krista is an attorney-at-law and literary agent who lived in New York prior to moving to the Midwest when she married a Kansas City area businessman.  She has worked as a freelance writer, published a regional magazine, acted as editor-in-chief of a law journal, and practiced law.  Krista represents both nonfiction and fiction writing.


Margaret Mincks, Associate Editor, Spider Magazine for Children.  After graduation from the University of Virginia, Margaret moved to Chicago to pursue her career in writing, editing and improvisational comedy.  She selects content for Spider, edits fiction and nonfiction manuscripts, and writes features for both the magazine and its corresponding website.  Spider, a branch of the Cricket Magazine Group, is a Parent's Choice Gold Award winning-magazine for 6- to 9-year-olds.


Kristin Nelson, Agent, The Nelson Literary Agency.  Since forming the agency in 2002, Kristin has sold over 100 books to all the major publishers.  

She has landed several film deals and has contracted foreign rights on behalf of her clients in many territories. Kristin specializes in representing commercial fiction (mainstream, women’s fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy, young adult & middle grade) and literary fiction with a commercial bent. In general, she does not handle nonfiction projects with the exception of an occasional memoir.

Kathleen Ortiz, Associate Agent and Foreign Rights Manager, Lowenstein Associates.  Kathleen, a former high school visual media instructor, started her publishing career at Ballinger Associates as an editorial assistant and interactive media designer.  She's currently looking for fiction and nonfiction children's books, specifically young adult, middle grade and chapter books.  More info about Kathleen can be found in an earlier blog post.

Marcy Posner, Agent, Folio Literary Management.  Marcy has spent a lifetime in books, working briefly as a librarian before beginning her career in publishing.  She's looking for middle grad and young adult fiction, commercial women's fiction, historical fiction, biography, history, health, and lifestyle; also, especially thoughtfully-written commercial novels, thrillers with international settings, and narrative non-fiction.  Marcy is not interested in genre romance and mysteries, memoirs, traditional fantasy, or science fiction.

Deborah Reinhardt, Managing Editor, AAA Midwest Traveler.  Serving as M.E. for AAA Midwest Traveler for nearly two decades, Deborah is well-respected not only as the editor of a well-known regional publication, but also as a travel writer.  In 2009, she launched AAA Southern Traveler for AAA members in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.  The combined circulation for both magazines reach a total of 700,000 AAA households.

Susan Swartwout, Editor and Publisher, Southeast Missouri State University Press.  Susan and SEMO Press  

produce full-length books, three annual writing contests, and Big Muddy:  Journal of the Mississippi River Valley, an interdisciplinary magazine.  Susan has published two collections of poetry and her poems and short stories have been published in numerous literary journals.  It's a good idea to take a look at their catalog at http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/books/Full_Catalog.htm to see the titles they've published.  

Join "Funds for Writers" Founder C. Hope Clark for an Early-Arrival Seminar!

Join C.. Hope Clark, founder and editor of FundsforWriters.com, when she kicks off the Missouri Writers' Guild 2011 "Just Write!" Conference on Friday, April 8th with a special Early-Arrival Seminar.  Hope's seminar, Funding Streams for Your Writing Career, will focus on how contests, jobs, freelance markets, grants, and publishing can all mesh together for a rewarding writing career!

She'll also be leading a break-out session on Saturday for children's writers about how grants work for a children's author.  Hope will explain artist-in-education programs, educational grants and even how to become a non-profit in order to sell books in volume.  With grants as her specialty, Hope will lead a Master's Class, All Grants and Only Grants, on Sunday to explain the huge number grants, fellowships, retreats, and sponsorships available to the serious writer, specifically for Missouri and surrounding states.  Master's Classes are intensive small-group workshops led by conference speakers for conference registrants.

Originating in 2000, FundsforWriters.com includes the website, a whole family of newsletters and ebooks, all designed to help writers earn a steady income.  With over 100 publication credits online and in print within little more than a decade, Hope is a walking testimonial on how to achieve success in the writing world.  Her website has been recognized every year since 2001 by Writer's Digest as one of its 101 Best Web Sites for Writers.  She is also the author of The Shy Writer:  An Introvert's Guide to Writing Success, which gives stimulation and empowerment to all those writers who find it difficult to promote themselves or their work.

The weekend conference is slated for April 8-10 at the Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel in St. Louis.  Located in the central portion of the US, Hope said many writers have already indicated they're planning to meet her in St. Louis.  "It will be fun meeting Funds for Writers readers," she said.  "I rarely get to do that."

To take advantage of the Early-Bird Registration prices for "Just Write!" and to attend any of Hope's seminars, go to http://missouriwritersguild.org/mwg_conferencenews.shtml.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  Anyone posting a comment on the blog throughout the month of October will be entered into a drawing for a TOTAL FundsforWriters newsletter subscription donated by Hope!  And there will be a little something extra for anyone who can tell us who Sherlock is to Hope.

Monday Member Spotlight: Ann Hazelwood and Wee Writers

One of the wonderful things about living in Missouri is getting to experience the seasons changing and as summer slips into autumn, community celebrations and festivals signal yet another harvest season has begun.  Festivals are great opportunities to reunite with friends you haven't seen since last year's celebration, but they can also provide some wonderful little treasures to take home.

I found such a treasure a few weeks ago when I met MWG member Ann Hazelwood signing her books in front of Main Street Books in historic St. Charles during the annual Festival of the Little Hills.  You see, Ann has published several books about Missouri topics, including 100 Things to Do In and Around St. Charles, 100 Best Kept Secrets of Missouri, 100 Unique Eateries of Missouri, and 100 Festive Findsof Missouri, as well as numerous books about quilting, since she is a certified quilt appraiser and quiilt collector.  In 2004, she gathered a group of women together in her home with plans to form a writing group "just for the sake of writing," and, since she had been researching the best way to go about organizing such a group, Ann took the advice she had found in a book called Writing Alone and "Wee Writers" was born.
The writing interests of the group are as diverse as the members themselves.  Mary DuBois is a former suburban newspaper stringer who currently writes for magazines and the St. Charles Visitors' Bureau.  Hallye Bone is a quilter interested in writing.  Noelle Miles is a companion animal veterinarian in Millstadt, Illinois who loves Cardinal baseball, classical music concerts and running---in addition to writing, of course.  Jan Lewien has written for magazines and is the author of Black-Eyed Peas and Cornbread.  And writer Lilah Contine emigrated to the United States from London, England after World War II.  In addition to writing Dance of the Seals and Cat, Lilah has also been a member of the Missouri Chorale.

Throughout the past few years, Ann held meetings in her home, allowing the writers to work on projects and making sure everyone got their fair share of time.  Sometimes they shared.  Other times they offered guidance.  All of the time they supported one another in whatever they were doing, either individually or as a group.  When someone suggested the group put some of their work together into a book, they collectively took a look at pieces of writing they had shared since the beginning, and the result is The Red Thread, A Collection of Poetry, Stories and Essays.  

Dedicated to Lilah Contine, the group's oldest member, the book is a delightful treasury of poetry and prose put together by these writers for the sole purpose of sharing it with family and friends.  Much like its authors, the collection is diverse in its scope, somber in tone at times and gleeful at others, all carefully woven together with what the group refers to as "the thread that weaves our lives together and creates a unique tapestry."  They call it their "Red Thread"---their individual and collective love for the writing craft.

Wee Writers will have a book signing at Main Street Books, 307 S. Main in St. Charles on October 30th from 3 to 5 p.m.  The Red Thread is being sold only at Main Street Books and St. Joseph Health Center Gift Shops.  Anyone interested in purchasing the books wholesale can contact Ann Hazelwood at ann@booksonthings.com.