WRITERS FORUM 2010
Attending Writers Forum is an opportunity to learn about many aspects of writing.
Writers Forum presents a variety of speakers sharing information about the craft and business of writing.
These literary workshops take place on the third Thursday of each month, February through November (no workshops in January or December).
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm (we start promptly at 7:00 pm)
$15 at the door
Location: Petaluma Community Center at Lucchesi Park, 320 No. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma, California
March 18 - Jean Hegland, author Writing as a Creative Process
Rather than being a necessary chore, revision is an opportunity for a writer to exceed his or her own initial grasp. As one writer aptly put it, “Revision lets me be smart slowly.”
All artists (and many scientists) rely on a surprisingly similar process to move from an initial question, idea, image, or other “triggering subject” through to a fully-realized final product. This workshop will use lecture, examples, and discussion to examine that creative process and how it tends to manifest itself for writers. We'll look at the myths that can prevent writers from taking full advantage of this process, and will also discuss specific strategies that may be particularly fruitful at different points in the writing process.
JEAN HEGLAND is the author of three books. Her first novel, Into the Forest, has been translated into a dozen languages, and selected for a number of campus- and community-wide reading programs. Most recently, it was chosen by Santa Rosa Junior College to be the English Department's Work of Literary Merit for spring semesters 2010 and 2011. Of her second novel, Windfalls, the Midwest Book Review says it is "a profound look at motherhood," and Publishers Weekly calls it "a good prospect for reading groups."
Excerpts from her book of non-fiction, The Life Within: Celebration of Pregnancy, have been published as a college English textbook, a high school science textbook, and a book about journal-keeping for pregnant women.
Jean is a frequent presenter at writing conferences, and often teaches creative writing courses at Santa Rosa Junior College. She lives in the woods west of Healdsburg.
April 15 - Teresa LeYung Ryan and Elisa Southard, authors and motivational speakers "Writer's Talking Tagline to Build Fame"
Every writer who attends this workshop will get a chance to craft and build a unique talking tagline to be used in person, in blogging, in press releases, and on talk shows.
ELISA SOUTHARD is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and author of the amazon.com business best seller, BREAK THROUGH THE NOISE: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message. Elisa knows what it takes to turn an encounter into a marketing moment. Her combined experience as an author, public relations/marketing consultant, television moderator, and sought-after speaker give her a deep understanding of the challenges facing authors charting their own careers. She has led seminars for such organizations as the California Society of CPAs, the Women’s National Book Association and audiences at Barnes and Noble Booksellers. Currently working on her second book Bring Your Inner Motorcyclist Out for professional women launching a new pursuit, Elisa is often quoted as saying, “Don’t kill a marketing moment, execute it.” http://BreakThroughTheNoise.com
TERESA LEYUNG RYAN says: “You are THE expert of your experiences. Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, make your name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues in your writing. Teresa wears three hats: as Coach Teresa of Major League Tryouts to Build Your Name workshops; as author of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published (a 22-day playbook); as a community spirit who uses her novel Love Made of Heart to inspire adult children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas their parents suffer. http://WritingCoachTeresa.com
Teresa has been helping writers since her mother-daughter novel Love Made of Heart was published. As a manuscript consultant and writing-career coach, she helps her clients identify themes and archetypes, polish their manuscripts, and map out their careers.
Her website www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com offers resources for readers and writers.
As a community spirit, Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her mother-daughter novel Love Made of Heart to:
• shed light on stigmas suffered by immigrants
• advocate compassion for mental illness
• help survivors of family violence find their own voices
Love Made of Heart (an immigrant daughter's journey to self-forgiveness) is:
• recommended by the California School Library Association and the California Reading Association
• used in Advanced Composition/English-as-a-Second-Language classes
• archived at the San Francisco History Center
May 20 Tanya Egan Gibson
June 17 Carolyn Jewel, author
CAROLYN JEWEL has been writing stories ever since she could scribble. Now that she's grown up (mostly) she writes historical and paranormal romance because she loves history and imagining the lives of people who lived in years past, and because she's fascinated by the loves and travails of the not-exactly-human in any time period.
Carolyn’s website: http://www.carolynjewel.com
July 15 B. Lynn Goodwin, author
B. LYNN GOODWIN is a teacher, editor, freelance writer, published in numerous anthologies, newspapers and ezines. She is the author of You Want Me To Do What? – Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing), and owner of Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com
August 19 - Gordon Burgett - Picking the Right Publisher, a Pre-Journey Map to Success
Why you write your book or articles, the purpose and how that fits into your life goals, should affect the way or with whom you publish. Once you have a strategy on paper, it gets considerably easier to map out the steps that can make your success happen.
You may start with articles, and from them produce books. Or write books and sell the chapters as articles en route. You may focus on an area of expertise from which you create a publishing empire, or you may simply write and write and let others publish and sell. Or you may do it all! So Gordon will explain what you need to know about each of the key publishing categories and how one usually opens doors to the others. He will explain the magazine/newspaper world, major book publishers, ancillary publishing (where you can be in print in minutes and marketed in days), and the three kinds of self-publishing: niche, full form, or the POD/BOR version (where much of the money hides).
How does he know? Burgett has the key book in print in two of the fields and in 40+ years of writing and publishing has done them all.
Websites:
www.gordonburgett.com (for Gordon)
www.mybookpublishedinminutes.com (for the book/program)
Biography:
A veteran speaker and journalist, Gordon currently speaks nationwide, mostly about publishing. He has offered over 2,000 presentations, and in Sonoma County has spoken at Santa Rosa Junior College for 20 years, including this fall (2010).
With a long career as a magazine and newspaper writer (with 1,700+ freelance articles in print), Gordon just had his 39th book published. As a publisher since 1981 (mostly to dentists and educators), he has published another 75+ products. He is a long-standing member of the National Speakers Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Independent Book Publishers Association.
Gordon’s best known books are The Travel Writer’s Guide, How to Sell 75% of Your Freelance Writing, and Niche Publishing: Publish Profitably Every Time.
With four degrees, Burgett was twice a university dean, directed CARE (and Peace Corps) programs in Colombia and Ecuador, twice studied in Brazil, played professional baseball, and led a gold hunt up the Paushi Yaco (Upper Amazon) River in Ecuador. He survived to lecture.
September 16 Jody Gehrman, author
October 21 - to be announced
November 18 - David Corbett
For more information: Marlene Cullen, mcullen@comcast.net
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