Portrait of Harriette Austin
http://onlineathens.com/stories/080208/living_2008080200195.shtml
Speakers: Session Titles, Session Descriptions, Bios
Agyeman Janell Walden Agyeman Agent Q & A
Bio Agyeman Janell Walden Agyeman
Janell Walden Agyeman has worked as a literary agent for the past 18 years with Marie Brown Associates. She also consults with independent publishers. Earlier, she worked in editorial positions for Doubleday & Company and the Howard University Press. New to the Atlanta area, she is particularly interested in young adult and middle grade fiction and nonfiction, and adult non-fiction projects. Non-fiction topic areas that especially interest her are: memoir & biographies, spirituality, environment/nature, health & wellness, American, Latino and African-American or African Diaspora cultural or historical studies and contemporary events. Her best known clients are Sharon M. Draper, winner of multiple Coretta Scott King Awards and Leonard Pitts, Jr., celebrated syndicated columnist and 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Commentary.
Black Robert Alan Black
No More Writer’s BlockEver stare at a virgin piece of paper, an empty notepad, a blank computer screen and realized you have no idea what to write?Everyone has had these experiences.Ever gone days with no motivation for writing?Everyone has those kinds of days or weeks. For some it stretches to months and years.As an architect, designer, cartoonist or writer over the past 51 years I may have had those experiences. In 1976 I began to read articles and books about creative thinking on demand and that you can learn how to create, how to generate ideas whenever you need them. Since then, even when I feel BLOCKED, I can still write, I can still create. It is always my choice. It is always your choice.As a full-time professional creative person I seldom had the luxury of “waiting for the mood” to change or “waiting for the MUSE to appear”. I had to be creative on the spot.This session is about how to take those dull moments, those periods of lack of motivation and to make them productive, creatively to help you complete your book, novel, story, article and move with your life.Yes some blocks appear to come from emotional factors, some from psychological factors. Most of these are erased by simply working or applying the idea generating techniques you will learn during this session. Bio Black Robert Alan Black, Ph.D., CSP From the age of 2 Alan Black drew instead of spoke due to a birth defect that was finally corrected by the age of 6. When he entered elementary school it was Mrs. Johnson, the art teacher, who taught and encouraged his drawing skills. As a pre-teen he designed houses for fun. As an early teen he wrote mystery television stories and created imaginary quiz shows. Until he first entered college he copied, traced and created cartoons. In architectural school he became the college paper’s cartoonist and a columnist. During the past 51 years of working Alan has been a television newswriter and weekend desk editor, cartoonist, architect, interior designer, graphics/signage designer, college professor of design, freelance writer, professional speaker and consultant. For the past 32 years he has focused his life on helping people realize and develop their natural creative thinking abilities into skills through workshops, articles, books and keynote presentations at creativity conferences, leadership institutes and for clients around the globe .
Booth Doris Booth
E-BOOKS: HOW TO BE YOUR OWN PUBLISHER
The publishing world has changed. Now you, as an author or small publisher,
can directly sell your books in the burgeoning e-book marketplace (growing
at nearly 200% per year), and keep a bigger share of your sales. We’ll
define e-books and what they mean to you as an author. We’ll talk about
preparing your manuscript for e-book distribution (it’s different), where to
get and how to use ISBN numbers, the process of converting digital documents
and physical books for use on devices like devices like Apple’s iPad,
Amazon’s Kindle, Sony Reader, eReader, Blackberry, Nook, iPhones, and
Android-powered devices. We’ll also look at what formats are best for your
book and what’s involved in getting your title into the retail sales
channels such as Apple iPad, Sony, Barnes & Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle,
Powells.com, Ebookmall.com, Kobobooks.com and more. You don’t have to limit
your e-book market to Kindle. Your books can be seen in a broader
marketplace. Authorlink.com provides e-book conversion services for authors
and small presses and has converted hundreds of titles for a variety of
devices. Bio Booth Doris Booth Editor-in-Chief, Authorlink.com, Manager, Authorlink Literary Group Doris Booth is CEO of Authorlink.com a leading marketing and information web site and social community for editors, agents, writers, and readers. A
strategic partner with the international technology group, Innodata Isogen,
Authorlink provides e-book conversion services for publishers and individual
authors. The parent company’s full service Authorlink Literary Group
represents true crime, thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, young adult,
mystery/suspense, and nonfiction. Notable sales include: National
Bestseller THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND MAN, by Stephen G. Michaud and Debbie
Price; BEYOND CRUEL (St. Martin’s Press) also by Michaud; source material
from Michaud’s LETHAL SHADOW/BEYOND CRUEL for the first-ever web-to-TV crime thriller, RPM (Mandalay Teleplays, LA for TNT Television); LEAVING
GLORYTOWN, ONE BOY’S STRUGGLE UNDER CASTRO (Farrar Straus & Giroux) by Eduardo Calcines, a Junior Library Guild Pick; and IDA MAE TUTWEILER AND THE TRAVELING TEA PARTY, by Ginnie Siena Bivona, adapted by Hallmark Studios as BOUND BY A SECRET, starring Meredith Baxter and Lesley Ann Warren.
Burton Tony Burton
“Climbing the Mountain to a Great Story: Story Arc and the Three-Act Structure”
Having a well-constructed story arc is vital to any good story, and one of the best foundational methods to achieve that is the three-act structure for a story. In this workshop, author Tony Burton will discuss the elements of a good story arc, and how to use the three-act structure to build a good story arc, as well as how to expand the structure to accommodate longer stories. This will be a participatory session, so bring along paper and a pen or pencil!
“E-books: Marketing and Promoting”
With the growth of e-books as a way to both enter the publishing world and as a way for experienced authors to keep their backlist alive, how do we make the best use of these intangible yet marketable forms of literature? In this session, author and publisher Tony Burton discusses ways to market and promote your ebooks.
Bio: Burton, Tony Tony Burton
Tony Burton has been writing both fiction and nonfiction for over twenty years. He has two published novels, several nonfiction works, has contributed to several anthologies, and has over 160 published short articles and stories in newspapers and magazines. He teaches creative writing classes at the Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, GA, and has been a presenter at numerous conferences, including past Harriette Austin conferences, Killer Nashville, the Northwest Georgia Mountains Writers Conference, and others. Tony is also the owner and chief editor of a small-press publishing house, Wolfmont LLC, with three imprints: Wolfmont Press, Honey Locust Press, and Denouement Press. He is the vice-president of the Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA).
Coleman Evelyn Coleman
Writing Children’s Books
This workshop will help you understand why you should not write stories to teach children a lesson, write for kids because it’s so darn easy, believe you’ve got a great story based on a critique from your kid’s class, or use the book, “Go the F to Sleep” as an example of how to get published in the children’s market. Plus, she’ll share with you everything you need to know to get published.
Writing the ThrillerThis workshop shoots you in the head, leaving the bullets: voice, plot, characterization, point of view, viewpoint and dialogue, all lodged in your brain. Learn everything you need to know to write a solidly researched thriller and get it published. Also, you’ll get bonus information about new ways to publish.
Bio Coleman Evelyn Coleman
“Vivid details and suspense” is how Booklist described Evelyn Coleman’s adult thriller, What a Woman’s Gotta Do still available at Random House after 13 years. Dallas Weekly Free Press called it “mesmerizing, richly detailed and impeccably researched, while the Chicago Tribune wrote it was a “thrilling and suspenseful journey.”Coleman, an Edgar nominated, award winning author writes across genres from picture books to young adult and adult novels. Her latest books, Freedom Train and the American Girl doll Addy’s mystery, Shadows on Society Hill have garnered rave reviews. Visit “storylineonline.net” to watch James Earl Jones and Amber Rose Tamblyn reading her picture books, To Be a Drum & White Socks Only.Coleman was a recent honoree of the Ashley Bryan Children’s Conference and the recipient of Dekalb Public Library’s Trail Blazer Award. She is the 38th Annual Georgia Author of the Year, Children/Young Adult Literature, 2002 King Baudouin /Belgium Cultural Exchange Fellowship, Honored 2003 by the Black & Latino Caucus of the NCTE, 2000 Atlanta Mayor’s Fellowship, the North Carolina’s Arts Council’s Fiction Fellowship and a past President of Mystery Writers of America, SE and a member of International Thriller Writers, Inc and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.Coleman teaches writing at various conferences and Universities. She has also served as a judge for many writing organizations and University competitions. Coleman has been a past-certified instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature, and for thirteen years, she was a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and stress management trainer.
Crossley & Cummings Dac Crossley and Paige Cummings
Self-Publishing: Why the Heck Not?
Paige and Dac will review the pros and cons of self-publishing, when it might be a good idea to self-publish, the types of self-publishing, the steps to take on the road to self-publishing, and what do you do after your book is in your hands.
Bio Crossley Dac Crossley
A retired ecologist (University of Georgia), Dac Crossley writes western fiction based on his father’s stories of bandits and Texas Rangers. Growing up in South Texas, he roamed the brush country where his grandfather fought bandits and his father fought Indians. Dac’s self-published Texas novels have won first place in the Independent Publisher Awards contest for the past two years.
Bio Cummings Paige Mercer Cummings
Paige Mercer Cummings started writing as soon as her chubby fingers could hold a fat red Co-cola pencil, and hasn’t slowed down. Retired from the Navy and the Red Cross, she is currently the director of a local free clinic. She writes Southern mystery and fiction, often based on her coastal childhood home on the Ridge in McIntosh County, Georgia. She has been a Harriette Austin Writer since 1995.
Dansby Susan Dansby
Screen Writing
Bio Dansby Susan Dansby
Susan Dansby received four Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy® Awards and three Writers Guild of America Awards for her work on the CBS daytime drama, As The World Turns. As a professional television director, her credits include Guiding Light, Ghostwriter, Sesame Street and General Hospital. She holds a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University, is the author of How Did You Get That Job? My Dream Jobs and How They Came True, and is currently a script writer on The Young and the Restless.
Eberhart Wally Eberhart
So You Want To Be a Columnist
Print and electronic media gobble up opinions by the yard, but only if the words offer up fresh and engaging thoughts. This session will focus your talent on writing columns that provoke or inform, as well as alerting you to the marketing aspects of column writing.
Brainstorming your magazine or feature idea like an editor
Editors are busy, harried, folks. You have only a minute or two to convince them that they should buy your story idea. What is it that will make your story idea tantalizing and saleable in 60 seconds or less? We’ll try to boil this problem to its essentials in this session.
Bio Eberhart Wally Eberhart
Wally Eberhart has been engaged in writing and editing since he published a newsletter in fifth grade. He’s been on the staff of a number of newspapers and magazines, and taught at the Grady College of Journalism and other j-schools until he retired recently. Since then, he’s continued as a writing teacher for the non-traditional set, and freelances on the side. His writing has appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, Georgia Alumni magazine, Athens magazine, the Greenville News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Southern Distinction, among other publications. He holds degrees from Michigan, Bowling Green State University and Wisconsin-Madison.
Friscoe John Fristoe
“Lyrical Joy”
Nashville born, Grammy nominated songwriter, John Fristoe will take you in his session through the process of songwriting from concept to completion.
With anecdotes from his own career, which include contacts with Jimmy Hendrix, Duane Alman, Bruce Springsteen, Ricky Nelson and many others…some brief, but all in depth encounters.
You also will be introduced to the nitty gritty aspects of songwriting from copywriting to syllable counting. Plus, you will have an opportunity to get started on your own song, and express what John likes to call the creative process of songwriting, “lyrical joy”.
Gilstrap John Gilstrap
Adrenaline Rush: How to Write Suspense Fiction
A day-long seminar on the construction of intelligent suspense fiction. What makes for a strong plot? How do you take cardboard characters and give them life on the page? Through lively lectures and writing exercises, students get a peek at the skeleton that gives structure to the stories that keep us reading long into the night.
Broken Bones, Ballistics & Backdrafts: Technical Stuff That Writers Should Get Right
Fiction readers are getting more sophisticated all the time, and it’s a writer’s job to get the details correct. New York Times bestselling author John Gilstrap brings his thirty years of experience as a firefighter, EMT, safety engineer and hazardous materials specialist to the classroom in a lively, interactive session to teach the basics of projectile ballistics, fire behavior, how explosives work, and how the human body functions. What actually happens when a person gets shot or stabbed? Do silencers really work? What’s the difference between a fire, a deflagration and a detonation? Was there really another shooter on the grassy knoll when JFK was shot? These and many other questions will be answered. Note: This presentation contains graphic imagery.
Dare To Dream – Keynote
If New York Times bestselling author John Gilstrap had listened to the advice he received from parents, teachers and friends, he never would have published a thing. As it is, he listened to the naysayers for at least 20 years too long. In this moving, inspirational presentation, John decodes the culture of negativity that keeps artists of all stripes from achieving the dreams they were born to live, and gives people the tools to turn it all around. It’s never too early, and it’s never too late to dare to dream.
Bio Gilstrap John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap is the New York Times bestselling author of eight thrillers, the latest of which, Threat Warning, will be released in July 2011. His previous books include Hostage Zero, No Mercy, Six Minutes to Freedom, Scott Free, Even Steven, At All Costs, and Nathan’s Run, four of which were selections of the Literary Guild. His novels have been translated into more than 20 languages.
John has also adapted four bestselling novels for the big screen: Red Dragon (uncredited) from the Thomas Harris novel, for Dino DeLaurentiis Productions; Word of Honor (from the Nelson DeMille novel, for Dino DeLaurentiis Productions); Young Men and Fire (from the Norman Maclean book, for Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures/ Warner Brothers); and Nathan’s Run (from his own novel, also for Warner Brothers). Currently, he is writing the screenplay for his book Six Minutes to Freedom for Sesso Entertainment. A former firefighter and EMT, John holds a master’s degree in safety from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in history from the College of William and Mary in Virginia
Iakovou Judy Iakovou
Creating Dynamic Characters With Authentic Voices
What do we remember most about our favorite fiction? The characters who populate it! From Hamlet to Scarlett O’Hara, Oedipus to Vito Corleone, characters, and what they say, give fiction vitality and longevity– the true goal of every writer. In this session, participants will learn the key ingredients to making characters real, believable and memorable, by understanding the roles of backstory, external features, internal conflicts and passions. They will also learn to allow the character to speak for himself by writing revealing dialogue. Some in-class writing exercises will be included.
Bio Iakovou Judy Iakovou
Judy Iakovou is the author of the Nick and Julia Lambros mystery series in collaboration with her husband, Takis. Their first book, So Dear To Wicked Men debuted in St. Martin’s Press in 1996 with a Kirkus starred review. Since that time, they have published Go Close Against the Enemy, There Lies A Hidden Scorpion and, in the anthology Deadly Morsels, the novella Another’s Curse. The couple has been featured in articles in Mary Higgins Clark’s Mystery Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Athens Banner Herald. In 2009, writing under the name of Ann Stamos, her Ellis Island novel Bitter Tide, from Five Star/Cengage, debuted to outstanding reviews. In Bitter Tide, she draws upon her knowledge of character to create historical characters of multiple backgrounds and ethnicities.
Judy is an experienced teacher, having taught The Basic Elements of Fiction through the University of Georgia Continuing Education, as well as teaching First Year Composition and Multicultural Literature in the English department at UGA. She has also been a frequent presenter at the Harriette Austin Writers Conference. She is currently an academic advisor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA.
Kay Terry Kay
Author Talk: A Q&A With Terry Kay
The program would be what the title implies — asking questions of an experienced writer about writing/publishing topics of interest.
Bio Kay Terry Kay
A 2009 recipient of the Governor’s Award in the Humanities, and a 2006 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, Terry Kay has been a sports writer and film/theater reviewer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), a public relations executive and a corporate officer. He is the author of eleven published novels, including the recent Bogmeadow’s Wish, released in March, 2011.
His other works include The Book of Marie, To Dance with the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli and The Year the Lights Came On, as well as a book of essays (Special K) and a children’s book (To Whom the Angel Spoke).
Three of his novels have been produced as Hallmark Hall of Fame movies –
To Dance with the White Dog, The Runaway and The Valley of Light.
His books have been published in more than twenty foreign languages, with To Dance with the White Dog selling two million copies in Japan. An essayist and regional Emmy-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist,
Kay’s work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. LaGrange College and Mercer University have recognized his work with honorary doctorate degrees.
Kay is a three-time recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year award and in 2004 was presented with the Townsend Prize, considered the state’s top literary award. In October, 2006, he received the prestigious Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award from Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. In March,2007, he was presented the Brooke Baker Award from Dunwoody Library honoring his career as a writer.
Also in 2007, Kay was presented the Stanley W. Lindberg Award, named for the late editor of The Georgia Review and considered one of the state’s most prestigious literary honors, given for an individual’s significant contribution to the preservation and celebration of Georgia’s literary heritage.
Mary Kole
The Little Darlings: children’s market Picture books through Young Adult and Q&A?
This session will be a Question and Answer session.
Bio Kole Mary Kole
Mary came to children’s literature from a writer’s perspective and started reading at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency to see what it was like “on the other side of the desk.” She quickly found her passion here and, after a year of working behind the scenes, officially joined the agency in August, 2009. In her quest to learn all sides of publishing, she has also worked in the children’s editorial department at Chronicle Books and earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of San Francisco. Mary is passionate about exciting, high-concept story ideas and editorial work. With all of her clients, she uses her well-honed editorial eye to develop each project to its full potential. She especially enjoys traveling to conferences and SCBWI events to meet writers and actively build her list. Mary lives in Brooklyn and operates the East Coast office of the agency.
At this time, Mary is only considering young adult and middle grade novels and truly exceptional, funny, quirky and character-driven picture books (she especially loves working with author/illustrators). She’s seeking fresh, unique voices and idiosyncratic characters who, by book’s end, are more flesh than fiction. Her favorite stories are upmarket, high-concept, character-driven and well-plotted…featuring a mix of fast pacing, emotional resonance, and beautiful writing. In essence: literary spark with commercial appeal.
http://www.andreabrownlit.com/agents.php
Luedke Amanda Luedke
Navigate the Digital Age
Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook … take the uncertainty out of these essential tools and learn how to use the web to advance your writing career. Taught by literary agent Amanda Luedeke, whose experience with social media involves website and community development for major national brands.
Query Letters That Work
Get your foot in the door by learning how to construct a query letter that an agent will actually read. With experience in writing marketing and sales copy for national brands, literary agent Amanda Luedeke unpacks what it takes to write a query that not only gets read, but demands that the reader ask for more.
Bio Luedeke Amanda Luedeke
In 2006, Amanda graduated from the acclaimed Professional Writing program at Taylor University Fort Wayne. Since college, she’s made her living as a writer, working as a freelancer for local newspapers and marketing companies, while operating her own writing business.
Her love for writing and ability to think strategically landed her a full time job in marketing at an agency in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Since starting there in 2008, Amanda has written web and print copy for Vera Bradley, Brecks, and Peg Perego. She’s also assisted in marketing strategy for these companies, conducting research, launching social media sites, and proposing and working on major projects targeted at the online consumer. (Yes, she knows … she’s one of those people.)
Before becoming an agent, Amanda worked as Chip MacGregor’s Assistant. She brings a unique understanding of marketing and social media to the MacGregor Literary team.
Editorial Needs – Represents general market and CBA fiction and nonfiction. Specifically, spec fiction, YA, mid-grade fiction, post college-aged fiction and nonfiction, women’s fiction and literary fiction.
Agent, MacGregor Literary Inc www.macgregorliterary.com
Bio McClanahan Rebecca McClanahan
http://www.mcclanmuse.com/bio/history.html
Rebecca McClanahan is the author of nine books, most recently Deep Light: New and Selected Poems 1987-2007 (Iris Press) and The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings (University of Georgia Press), which won the Glasgow Prize in Nonfiction, and Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively (Writer’s Digest Books). Her poems, essays, and stories have appeared in Ms. Magazine, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Southern Review, Kenyon Review, Boulevard, Seventeen, and numerous literary magazines and anthologies throughout the country.
McClanahan has received a Pushcart Prize in fiction, the Wood Prize from Poetry magazine, and the Carter prize for the essay from Shenandoah. Her work appears in The Best American Essays 2001, The Best American Poetry 1998, and has been aired on NPR’s “The Writer’s Almanac,” “The Sound of Writing,” and “Living on Earth.”
McClanahan, who earned a Ph.D. and M.A.T. from University of South Carolina and a B.A. from California State University, currently teaches in the MFA programs of Queens University (Charlotte, NC) and Pacific Lutheran University, the Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop and the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center. Before moving to New York in 1998 she co-directed The University of North Carolina Writing Project and its affiliates, the Open Institute and the Reading-Writing Institute. For fifteen years she was Writer-in-Residence/Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Poetry-in-the-Schools Program, for which she received a Governor’s Award of Excellence.
Malone Susan Mary Malone
WRITING EFFECTIVE SCENES:
The backbone of a great novel
Novels are composed of scenes, each one building upon the last. Learn to effectively create them, and use them in the service of your book.
Bio Malone Susan Mary Malone
Award-winning author and editor Susan Mary Malone is the author of four traditionally published books (fiction and nonfiction) and many published short stories. A free-lance editor, forty-plus Malone-edited books have now sold to Traditional publishers.
Author of: By the Book (novel), BodySculpting: The Weisbeck Way; Fourth and Long; Five Keys to Understanding Men ,
See Malone’s short stories, “Descent,” “The Dream Delicious,” “Illusion of the Heart” at Amazon.com/Shorts
Will evaluate manuscript submissions, Any genre though strong preference is Literary and Women’s Fiction.
Miles Jackie Lee Miles
OPENING LINES THAT GET PUBLISHED:
What does it take to get an editor’s attention in today’s tough market? Jackie Lee Miles says it’s an opening line that will hit’em right in the face. That and a bridge to that line that will keep them reading. In Opening Lines That Get Published Miles will explore what you need to do and what you need to write that will make your opening one that will be remembered. No matter where you go with your book, if your opening is weak no one will read it. Gone are the days where you could let the reader meander along for fifty pages. Readers today want instant gratification. Find out what it takes to get your opening where you need it to be to catch your dream editor’s attention.
Bio Miles J .L. Miles (Jackie Lee),
J .L. Miles (Jackie Lee), a resident of Georgia for thirty seven years, hails from Wisconsin via South Dakota. She considers herself “a northern girl with a southern heart”. She resides in a suburb of Atlanta with her husband Robert. Her debut novel, the critically acclaimed Roseflower Creek, was Cumberland House Publishing’s lead book when it debuted in hardcover. Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons called it, “A powerful, extraordinary novel.” Roseflower Creek was re-released by Sourcebooks in May of 2010.
Cold Rock River, the journey of two young women born a century apart, was re-released by Sourcebooks in July of 2010. N.Y. TIMES best-selling author DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK writes: “Cold Rock River by J. L. Miles is a powerful story of family, love and loss that will keep you up into the wee hours. Absolutely wonderful! Beautifully told and straight from the heart of an exquisitely talented writer.”
Miles latest project is All That’s True. Andi St. James’ privileged life is turned upside down after her brother’s tragic death. As the relationships around her crumble, Andi embarks on a poignant and sometimes laugh out loud journey of self-discovery, where she learns the devastating consequences of deception and realizes that making the most of what you’ve got is a big part of all that’s true.
When not writing, Miles tours with The Dixie Darlins’, four nationally published book-writing belles—with a passion for promotion—serving up helpings of down-home humor and warmth. Visit the website at www.j.l.miles.com. Write the author at Jackie@jlmiles.com.
Author of
ALL THAT’S TRUE
DIVORCING DWAYNE
COLD ROCK RIVER
ROSEFLOWER CREEK
Oates David Oates
Haiku
Capture moments that move you, become more aware of the moment you’re in, touch readers with the sad, funny, beautiful, poignant or mysterious instant you grasped. Come learn how to use haiku (about nature) and senryu (on human nature) to capture and share your world. David Oates is an experienced creative writing instructor, with two books of haiku and senryu and more than 100 of these poems published in magazines.
Performance Poetry and Open Mike
Read and perform your work effectively—come learn the ins and outs of sharing your poetry and fiction with an audience. Instructor David Oates has been involved in poetry reading and performance for more than twenty years, including travelling to schools as a poetry performer for Poetry Alive! and running the Athens Poetry Slam and Open Mike for six years.
Join us to share your work or listen for the Harriette Austin Open Mike and Slam. The open mike is not competitive, and readers will be given five minutes to share original poetry or prose. For the slam, have 4 of your own poems you can perform without props in three minutes or fewer. Slam judges will be chosen from the audience.
Bio Oates David Oates
David Oates has written and published fiction, poetry, nonfiction, comic strips and haiku. He is the former editor of Monkey Magazine (humor and performance poetry) and the current host of Wordland, a public radio show devoted to readings and performances of poetry, fiction, and drama. He has been a member of several slam teams and comedy performance groups. His books are Night of the Potato (fiction and poetry), Shifting with My Sandwich Hand and Drunken Robins (collections of haiku and senryu)
O’Brien Kevin O’Brien
HOW TO MAKE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS ENTERTAINING – OR THE SHOW BUSINESS OF WRITING -
Kevin O’Brien speaks on the challenges facing any writer and particularly writers of plays or of material that has to “play” to a wide audience. How can you make your writing entertaining and yet substantial at the same time?
BIO – O’Brien Kevin O’Brien
Kevin O’Brien is the founder and artistic director of the Theater of the Word Incorporated, a Christian theater company which tours the country evangelizing through drama. Kevin hosts the television series The Theater of the Word on EWTN and can also be seen on episodes of EWTN’s The Apostle of Common Sense and The Quest for Shakespeare. In addition, Kevin performs dramatic readings of audio books for Ignatius Press. He writes a regular column for The St. Austin Review and is an associate editor of Gilbert Magazine. He has written and performed dozens of interactive comedy murder mysteries from coast to coast.
Olson Susan Olson
Writing
Based upon
By Grief Transformed: Dreams and the Mourning Process
Susan Olson
Spring Journal Books, 2010
In 1988, Susan Olson suffered the loss of her eighteen-year-old daughter in an auto accident. By Grief Transformed chronicles Susan’s journey through grief, guided by a series of vivid dreams. From personal story, her book expands to consider other dreams of mourning, including those recorded by C. G. Jung in his 1961 memoir, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Selections from mythology, literature, and religious texts amplify the dream material. Susan’s book, which began as a personal journal, became a meditation on the healing role of dreams in the mourning process.
In the first hour of this workshop, Susan will present material from her book and discuss the process of writing it.
In the second hour, participants will write about a dream or experience of their own and have the opportunity to share what they have written with the group.
Please bring writing materials and an example of a memory, dream, or reflection from your own life.
Bio Olson Susan Olson
Susan Olson grew up in Wisconsin, graduated from Smith College in 1964, and earned her M. S. W. from the University of Georgia in 1975. She graduated from the C. G. Jung Institute (Zurich) in 1992, practices Jungian analysis in Atlanta, and is a training analyst in the Inter-Regional society of Jungian Analysts. Susan has lectured and presented workshops on a variety of subjects, including dreams and the mourning process, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and our soulful companionship with animals. She is the author of “The Phantom of the Opera: Angel of Music or Demon Lover?” (Spring Journal, 2005), and By Grief Transformed: Dreams and the Mourning Process (Spring Journal Books, 2010).
Smith Redwin Smith
(Historical Research and More . . .)
God Is in the Details: Feeding the Writing god Within
As writers, are we not being human gods? Do we not create worlds, characters, destinies, (“life Stories”) . . .? And, how shall we feed our inner creative gods . . . through researching, observing, listening, feeling, thinking, reading,. . . through heightened awareness?
In Classic Novels: . . ., Dr. Arnold Weinstein, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University, wrote:
As an institution, the novel has a basic mission: to present the “life story.” This mission can be carried out in a stunning variety of ways . . . . After all, what is a “life story”? Despite our brave resumes with their sweet coherence, our actual experiential lives take place in the murk—no X-ray vision, little sense of our own dance—with few markers and still fewer guides.
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The miracle of the novel should jump out at you when you hold it in our hands. Between two covers, novels render visible the passages of life, the forming (and deforming) of individuals. Novels give us a plenary view of life—the interplay between hidden thoughts and spoken words, the effects of the environment, the incidents and accidents of existence. We are not equipped to get this view on our own.
So, I invite you to a “Potpourri”—a potpourri of research— about details (about no details), about observing, about awareness . . . about how, for many, we may be researching when not aware of it. Because, no matter what genre, I believe “Every artist dips his [sic] brush into his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures (Ward Beecher).” And, “Let each man [sic] exercise the art he knows (Aristophanes, Wasps, 421 B.C.E.).”
Bio Smith Redwin Smith Redwin Smith resides in Athens, Georgia. In retirement (insurance, building contracting, contract administration, design, sport car reconstruction . . . .), he has read his work on WUGA, writes short character-driven pieces, designs, “builds” a historical novel, and has been certified under David Krueger, M. D.’s “New Life Story” mentoring program in which he intends to incorporate the “teachings” of ”Literature”. For ten years, he haunted the UGA libraries researching his historical novel to essentially conclude that, “antebellum persons were simply ourselves performing on a smaller stage with different props, and a different script.” But, (a very big But!) without the researching he would not have discovered the nuances, the margins, the ambiance, . . . of their “human condition”. Now, he is convinced that continual subtle and bold research is essential to writers, to their craft—even to their very “personhoods”—because most persons are ongoing, living works of art, in whose art works writers collaborate ; and the more collaborative writer may be the continual “researcher”.
Seagraves Donny Seagraves Finding Fiction in Your Own BackyardA local family tragedy inspired author Donny Seagraves to write the middle-grade novel that became her first published book, Gone From These Woods. In this session, Seagraves will show how to take a real-life event and turn it into a fictional story. Participants will walk with the author through her fictional world, both in memory and in the rural Winterville area where she has lived for many years, meeting some of the people who morphed into characters.A writing exercise to help participants get started on their own stories will follow this exploration of setting and character. Seagraves also will talk about getting published and will answer questions. Session includes a detailed handout with information on using the five senses in writing, creating characters, and resources and websites for writers. For more information, visit www.donnyseagraves.com. Bio Seagraves Donny Seagraves Donny Seagraves Donny Seagraves is the author of Gone From These Woods, a children’s middle-grade novel for ages 9 – 12, published in 2009 by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, and issued in a Yearling paperback edition in 2011. She is a popular speaker at conferences and schools and has published fiction and non-fiction for children and adults in many regional and national publications. A native of Athens, Georgia and long time resident of nearby Winterville, Seagraves attended the University of Georgia. For more information, visit www.donnyseagraves.com.
Sambuchino Chuck Sambuchino EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING AN AGENTIn this six-hour intensive, Chuck Sambuchino, editor of Guide to Literary Agents, will go over every aspect of finding and signing with a literary agent. He will discuss the basics of what an agent does, how to locate an agent, frequently asked questions about submitting, how to compose a query, how to craft a pitch, how to write a synopsis, how to write a nonfiction book proposal, and more. This intensive invites lots of Q&A.BIO Sambuchino Chuck Sambuchino
Chuck Sambuchino is an editor and a writer. He works for Writer’s Digest Books and edits GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS (guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog) as well as CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK (gnomeattack.com), was released in Sept. 2010 and has been featured by Reader’s Digest, USA Today, the New York Times and AOL News. The film rights were recently optioned by Sony and Robert Zemeckis. His first book was writing-related: the third edition of FORMATTING & SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT (2009).Besides that, he is a produced playwright, magazine freelancer, husband, cover band guitarist, chocolate chip cookie fiend, and owner of a flabby-yet-lovable dog named Graham.
Beverly Varnado
Inspirational Writing
Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction or screenplays, Beverly Varnado will share contest opportunities and resources to help establish your writing career in the inspirational market. She’ll also provide many exciting book giveaways and handouts.
Bio Varnado Beverly Varnado
Beverly Varnado, , was one of ten semifinalists for the 2010 Jerry Jenkins Christian Writers Guild Operation First Novel. She’s also been a Finalist for both the Kairos Prize, an international screenwriting competition, and the Gideon Film Festival. She recently won a writing competition, for which she was awarded a book deal with WestBow/Thomas Nelson. Her novel, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees, will release in late 2011. The movie version of this book is under option with Elevating Entertainment. She blogs several times a week at http://bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com/.www.BeverlyVarnado.com
