WRITERS CONFERENCE
The
26th Annual
Conference Coordinator: Deanna R. Adams
Overview of Conference – Deanna
Adams
Keynote Address:
Erin O’Brien, “The Secret of Magical Writing”
___________________________________________________________________
Workshop
Workshop
Using Family
Creative Thinking
Traditional Publishing Plotting
Mysteries
History in Fiction
for Creative Writers
vs. Self-Publishing and
other Novels
Liz Adair
Michael Wilson
Deanna Adams
Les Roberts
11::00 –
______________________________________________________________________________________
Workshop
Raising Your Organizing
& Researching Pitching Your
Book
Metaphorically
Speaking:
Internet Profile
Historical Fiction
Idea to a Publisher
Polishing Your Poetry
Liz Adair
Laurie
Lewis
Peter Chakerian
Michael Salinger
Door Prizes, Book Sale & Author Signings
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Q & A Panel: The Writing Life - A Lively Discussion on
Writers and Their Work . . .
Hosted by the following Presenters:
*Writing Memoirs
* Finding Your Niche *
Writing & Publishing Fiction *Contracts
& Copyrights
Deanna Adams
Eileen Beal
Les Roberts
Steve Grant
Workshop
Workshop
ABC’s of Writing
Researching & Interviewing
Draft Great Queries
Creating Scenes
For Children
for Articles and Books
to Sell Your Work and
Using Dialogue
Sandra Philipson
Michael Olszewski
Tim Zaun
Deanna Adams
Private Editing Consults! Fee: $10. Register early!
Spaces are limited. Interested participants should contact Deanna Adams at
DeeNCR@aol.com for details and scheduling. Also,
visit her website,
www.deannaadams.com.
Fee: $95
Course Number:
Easy and Fast! Online Registration
www.lakelandcc.edu/continuingeducation
Or by Mail: Lakeland Community
College, Continuing Education Registration, 7700 Clocktower Dr., Kirtland, OH
44094-5198
For more Information: 440-525-7116
– 440-525-7812
– 1-800-589-8520
*Conference
Presenters:
Keynote Presenter:
Erin O’Brien on “The Secret of Magical
Writing.” Erin O’Brien's eclectic essays in the
Coordinator Deanna Adams
is an award-winning writer whose articles and essays have been published
in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Her books include Rock ‘n’
Roll and the
Liz Adair
is a novelist and family historian whose fourth novel,
The Mist of Quarry Harbor,
was a Deseret Book best seller. Though all of Liz’s books are laced with family
history, her latest novel, Counting the
Cost, is the first to shadow a complete story arc based on one of her
ancestors. Liz blogs twice weekly at
www.sezlizadair.blogspot.com. Course Description –
USING FAMILY HISTORY IN FICTION:
Liz Adair will show you how you can mine your family’s history to create
three-dimensional characters, unforgettable settings, and story arcs that ring
true. She’ll demonstrate with examples from her own works and allow time for a
writing exercise and sharing. Liz believes you will leave the class with a story
that needs to be told. Course Description –
HOW
TO RAISE YOUR INTERNET PROFILE: This
is a basic course for those just beginning to explore how to use the Internet as
a marketing tool. Liz will show you how to use the Internet to make your name
recognizable and create a following—whether you’re published or not. If you are
published, Liz offers ways to create a buzz, increase name recognition, and
boost sales of your book.
Eileen Beal has a BA in History and an MA in American Social and Cultural History. Since quitting teaching in 1986, she’s been a magazine staff writer, managing editor, newspaper writer and editor, writing instructor and editorial consultant. She has written 4 health-related books, and hundreds of general interest articles for local and national publications, including The Plain Dealer, Crain’s Cleveland Business, Profiles (Continental Airline’s in-flight magazine), Community College Weekly, Current Science, Aging Today, and Parade. Editing Sessions:
Eileen will use her vast experience to help others tweak their nonfiction writing skills. Panel Discussion: Eileen will discuss how to find out what your writing strengths are, and how to market yourself.
Award-winning writer, reporter and
journalist Peter Chakerian has been published in The Plain Dealer,
Akron Beacon Journal, Sun Newspapers, Cleveland Magazine,
Northern Ohio Live and other publications throughout the
Steve Grant, a
senior attorney at Standley Law Group in
Laurie LC Lewis shifted her focus from romance to complex historical fiction when she began writing her Free Men and Dreamers series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812. Dark Sky at Dawn and Twilight's Last Gleaming—books one and two in the series—were finalists in the USA Book News National Best Books 2008 Competition. Dawn's Early Light is scheduled for an October 2009 release. Visit her web site at www.laurielclewis.com, or her blog at www.laurielclewis.blogspot.com. Course Description- ORGANIZING & RESEARCHING HISTORICAL FICTION: Laurie will discuss the essential role research plays in creating captivating characters, settings and plot lines that keep readers invested and turning pages. She’ll discuss organizational tools to maintain character credibility throughout your work—character bibles, timelines, outlines, etc. There’ll also be a discussion of essential resources where writers can harvest historical details to make settings and characters rich and authentic.
Mike Olszewski is
a veteran
Sandra Philipson
is a children’s author, reading specialist, educator and businesswoman.
She has written 5 picture books, one chapter book, co-produced a family movie,
“Miracle Dogs,” (based on her first book), and visited hundreds of schools with
her educational
programs.
Award-winning editor
Nancy E. Piazza is a published writer
with 20 years of editing experience. Through her business, Writeperson
Ltd.—Western Reserve Editing, she edits novels, short stories, nonfiction books,
articles, essays, memoirs, blogs, and letters for aspiring as well as published
writers. Editing Sessions:
Les Roberts is
Michael Salinger
is a poet, performer, author, director and playwright. He has been involved in
promoting creative writing through performance and education in places as
interesting as
Michael Wilson is
author of Flash Writing: How to Write,
Revise and Publish Stories Less
Than 1000 Words Long, and has been teaching creative writing for
more than a decade. He has a BA from
Tim Zaun is a blogger, freelance
writer and speaker. He writes on primarily business, entrepreneurial and
eco-friendly issues. His features have appeared in the Cleveland Business
Connects, Inside Business and Presentations, CoolCleveland.com and Greenbiz.com.
You can view his portfolio at www.timzaun.com.
Course Description – DRAFT GREAT QUERIES TO
SELL YOUR WORK. Learn the basic structure of a winning query letter.
Discover ways to pique an editor’s interest to increase your odds of making that
sale and get your articles published. This workshop will include time to hone
those skills.
Deanna
Marks 25th Annual Lakeland Fest
With
Touching Salute to Her Writing Roots
From John Ettorree's Blog: www.workingwithwords.blogspot.com
For many years, my friend
Deanna Adams has organized a
twice-annual writers
conference at Lakeland Community College, picking up the torch
from its founder, and her mentor, the late Lea Leaver Oldham. At
this year's 25th annual event, held last month, Deanna marked the
occasion with a touching tribute to all the things that helped make
her the writer she is today. We thought it was a particularly moving
evocation of the many sources of support, inspiration and
encouragement that go into the formation of a writer, and so we
bring you her entire presentation. If you enjoy this half as much as
we did, we hope you'll consider stopping by her site and sending her
some love.
In September of 1983, I was a
newly married 29-year-old (my own 25th anniversary had been two
months ago), just beginning to realize my dreams of being a “real”
writer. Ever since I was a kid, I had visions of sitting at the
typewriter cranking out fascinating prose, writing dramatic stories,
and imparting wonderful bits of wisdom. I wrote little plays and
children’s books in elementary school. And dreadful poetry in my
teenage angst years. And then, in my early 20s, decided I need some
real guidance. So I enrolled here at Lakeland and signed up for a
Creative Writing class and met my first mentor, Mr. Gene Dent. He
taught in an interesting manner, and boy, he knew his stuff. He then
encouraged me to take the journalism classes he was also teaching.
So I did.
Now, to back up a bit, I must
confess - I was not a good student in high school. As a matter of
fact, my mother often said I must really like my initials, DF,
because she saw them so often on my report cards. That of course was
partly due to my “rebel stage” but it was also because I never had a
teacher who really encouraged me to do better. Most wrote me off as
someone just getting by. Probably won’t amount to much. And I began
to believe that.
But then I took Journalism 101
with Mr. Dent. And that’s when my writing life changed. When he
handed back that first assignment, I was thrilled to see I got a B-
on it! But then there was a note at the bottom where he wrote “See
me after class.” Oh-oh. (I wasn’t unfamiliar with that phrase). And
this is what he told me. “You really have a way with words,” he
said. “And I know you can do better than this. So I want you to do
it over. I want you to polish up the lead. Give me a little more
detail about the subject. And watch your run-on sentences (which,
incidentally, I am still known for – and interestingly, many of the
great contemporary writers do it all the time now, so it appears I
was simply ahead of my time). Mr. Dent then told me he’d re-grade
it.
Wow. Here, I was really happy with
the B-. But he thought I could do even better! And because of his
faith and confidence in me, I wanted to prove him right. I did it
over, paying attention to everything he’d told me. When he handed it
back to me the second time, I saw a big red A. And in his class, and
under his direction, I saw many A's after that. And while taking all
the required courses for my Associates in Arts degree, I continued
taking creative writing courses each and every semester. And of
course, joined the staff on the Lakelander, the college newspaper.
Soon Mr. Dent suggested I apply for an internship at the
News-Herald. And that’s when I met my second mentor. Janet
Podolak, who was then, and still is now, the best writer that paper
has ever had. And I don’t care if someone tells that to Jim Collins
. . . It’s true.
As my editor, she took me under
her wing, and while I first had to write up a lot of dry pieces like
“Tip of the Hat,” the events calendar, and I think an obit or two,
Janet began assigning me real features. And just about a month
later—after telling her I was going on vacation—she told me to take
notes, and photos, and I could write about my experience in a
feature for the Sunday edition. Are you kidding me? I’d never
written a travel piece, and with all those details and description
you need . . . I didn’t think I could pull it off. But again, she
thought I could. Soon as I got back, she and I worked on the piece
together. I learned so much. And I tell you, seeing your words in a
big Sunday feature on the front page of the travel section - or any
section - is absolutely thrilling - and addicting. It had been a lot
of work. But I couldn’t wait to do it again. And again. I stayed at
the News-Herald writing pieces for free, long after the
other interns had left.
My first piece of advice to those
of you just starting out: If someone gives you an opportunity to
write for publication, even if it’s a church bulletin, do it! Don’t
ask how much they’ll pay you. You’re getting paid in experience. And
the more you do it, the more confident you’ll become, and the better
writer you’ll be. And you’ll also, then, have writing clips to show
future editors who will pay for your work. That internship was in
1981. In the winter of ’82, I met my third mentor, Lea Leever
Oldham, the founder of this conference. Now she was a real pistol.
I’d never met anyone like her before or since. She had the
confidence, the wisdom, and the gumption (and dramatic flair) I
could only dream of having. I took a couple of her classes, and one
day, she came up to me at the end of one and said, “You’re coming to
the writer’s conference I’m having, aren’t you?” Now anyone who knew
Lea, knows that tone of voice she often used. It was not a question.
I was going to the conference.
I’m often told by aspiring writers
how lucky I am to have had not one, but three mentors in my career.
But this was no lucky accident of fate. I made myself be at the
right place, at the right time, with the right people. You can’t
meet mentors in any business without being where those mentors -
those teachers – are. So go to where writers hang out. Be it in a
classroom, an author reading, or coffee shop. I’ve also had aspiring
writers say, “Well I love to write, but right now, I just can’t
afford to take any writing courses, or go to a conference or
workshop.” Believe me, I know where they’re coming from. As a young
divorcee in my late 20s, I was working two jobs and still struggled
to pay the rent, and all else that goes with making a living. But
there are ways to get to where you want to be if you want it badly
enough, you don’t have to have a lot of money to do it.
But you do have to have
determination, and you must be willing to sacrifice for it. I wanted
to be a writer badly enough.
So I decided I didn’t need a new
blouse or earrings, and I could make do with those old shoes (just
shine ’em up a bit), and bought a lot of generic products. And I
saved up a couple dollars each week for the next class I wanted to
take. And I practically lived at the library – after all, it’s FREE.
I read all the kind of books that I wanted to write. And I studied
them – paying attention to how they began, how the stories – Fiction
or Nonfiction - connected, how they were organized chapter by
chapter. And I read - and studied - tons of books on writing. I took
out all the writing magazines available – like those out there on
the conference table. (Which, today, is also Free). And I went to
that conference – Lea Oldham’s First Western Reserve Writers
Conference, 1983. And I went to nearly every one after that.
Including the Spring ones, which she began later.
This leads to my second piece of
advice. Invest in yourself. No one cares more about your future than
you do. No one cares more about you becoming a writer than you do.
No one will help you become a good writer more than those who have
been there, right where you sit today. But you have to be
Determined. You have to Sacrifice. And You have to Get A Little Help
From Your Writer Friends . . . If you don’t have any writer friends,
it’s because you haven’t yet been to a writing class, a writers’
conference, or a local book signing. You haven’t been to where
writers - and their mentors - hang out.
But you are today. So I know every
one of you has that determination. And probably more than a few of
you had to sacrifice a bit to be here today. Be it by saving up a
little money, or getting your husband, mother, sister or brother to
watch your kids. (Been There!) But trust me on this: By the end of
today - The First Day of the Rest of Your Writing Life as you rejoin
me in this room for refreshments and the Q and A Panel, you will
agree with me that it has been worth every penny, and a few
sacrifices. And that this is still the best deal for writers in town
– or probably anywhere. Because thanks to the founder of this
conference, who knew what it’s really like to be a writer, you will
gain concrete and useful information, insight, inspiration, and yes,
a new writer friend or two.
Along the way to my writing life,
I worked hard at developing my skills, and soaking up as much
information as possible, so I could be a GOOD Writer (as opposed to
Being a BAD writer, and believe me, just because you are published,
doesn’t always mean you’re good), and so I made sure I learned from
the best. I accumulated Literary Heroes. Great writers who, by
merely reading their work, I learned so much from. Like William
Zinseer. And Mary Karr. And David Sedaris. Frank McCourt. Anne
Lamott. Susan Issaacs. And Elizabeth Berg. Even old guys like Ernest
Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. B. White, and Sherwood
Anderson. And of course literary women of long ago: Willa Cather,
and Flannery O’Connor, Katherine Mansfield. I know a few on that
list, some of you may never have heard of. You see, not all the well
known “great” writers have done it for me. Their work didn’t touch
my soul, for whatever reason. You have to read a lot to acquire your
own personal literary heroes, and they don’t have to always be the
best sellers.
This is just MY list – You go get
your own.
And there is also My Local
Literary Heroes List - and that keeps getting longer and longer -
which gives you an idea how lucky we are to be living in the Greater
Cleveland area, where I swear there must be something in the water
when it comes to the Arts – any of the Arts. To add to my Literary
Heroes, I don’t have to go any further than my own hometown. There
is Connie Schultz and Regina Brett, and Joanna Connors – all in one
newspaper! There is Michael Ruhlman, and Sarah Willis, and Les
Roberts. There is Michael Salinger, and Erin O’Brien, and Michael
Heaton and Scott Lax. There is John Ettorre and Ray McNiece, and of
course my old mentor, Janet Podolak.
I am so proud to call each and
every one of these talented writers who produce such great work in
Northeast Ohio, my friend. And whenever I happened to be mentioned
in the same breath as them (ok, not all that often, but it has
happened!) I feel so honored, and so humbled. And it makes me want
to work hard enough to have actually earned that mention.
And that’s why we need a Little
Help from Our Writer Friends. They help us aspire to be like them.
To strive to write even better than them. So there’s a chance that
someday, we can be mentioned in the same breath as them. And be as
supportive of them as they are to us. Because they are actually
willing to help us by teaching us. Or merely by taking the time to
talk to us at their book signings, about how they do it. We need
these writer friends. We need them when we, finally, get our work
published. We need them when we receive that 100th rejection letter.
We need them in the beginning of our career. And in the middle of
our writing trenches. And certainly at the end, when we’ve completed
that long project of writing a book and are, finally, the ones
sitting at that book signing – praying someone will buy our book, or
at least not ask us where the latest Stephen King novel is – Because
they think we work there (oh, yeah, ask any author, it happens!).
I have indeed learned from the
best. My writing mentors. My writing colleagues. My writing friends.
This is what I’ve learned from them:
1) Don’t FIND time to write – because you never will. You have to
MAKE the time to write.
2) Learn the art of writing by:
A) Taking Classes, workshops, and conferences such as these.
B) Learn by doing. Sit in that chair and write as if your life
depends on it. You’ll be amazed what comes through if you just sit
and write and write, and keep at it.
C) READ. READ. READ. Not just for pleasure, but to see how it’s
done!
Stephen King said it best: If you don’t have the time to read, you
don’t have the time or the tools to write.” Those are key words –
TIME. TOOLS. The Tools are seeing how the writer makes sense of it
all. How the prose comes together. How it all WORKS.
3) Support other writers – After all we’re in this together. Go to
their book signings, attend their workshops. Go see them when they
give a Presentation. Ask them questions. Tell others about them and
their work. Read a Good Local Book Lately? – SPREAD THE WORD!
4) And finally, make writer friends. This is why, as of today, I’m
reintroducing something that my mentor, Lea, always did at her
conferences. These little stickers to put on your name tags – Yellow
for Fiction, Pink for Nonfiction, Green for Poetry and Children’s
Writing? This way you can see immediately what those next to you are
writing. Seek out those whose writing interests are similar to
yours. Talk to them, discuss your craft, commiserate over your
rejection letters (and I believe you’re not a real writer until
you’ve received your share of them b/c that means you’re at least
sending your stuff out). Exchange emails with them, meet them at
coffee houses. Form your own writers group.
Because we need each other. We are
each other’s mentors, co-conspirators, and yes, friends. Because
those other people out there? The NON-writers? They don’t have a
clue what we writers have to endure. The Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
And Fears – oh, most certainly that!
Those ones, the ones who aren’t
writers? They think we do it because “We like to write” and “It’s
such a nice “Hobby” and “You’re so lucky to be able to just sit at
home and write in your pajamas . . .” They just don’t get it. We
don’t do it because we like it or merely because we want to – though
there is that. We real writers do it because we have to. We really
have no choice. And only you, the real writers here, know just what
I’m talking about.
So Folks, Here’s to another 25
years of Learning How to Do It.
From John
Ettorre's Blog at
www.workingwithwords.blog.com
2009 © website by mike miheli