Friday, August 28, 2009

The Big Apple Conference, Autumn 2009

WRITING AND PUBLISHING WEEKEND: AUTHORS AND AGENTS
The International Women’s Writing Guild

Presents its 58th Semi-Annual
Big Apple Conference
The National Arts Club (New Location)
15 Gramercy Park South (near East 20th Street)
New York City

October 17 & 18, 2009 (Saturday and Sunday)

_______________________________________________

Saturday Writing Workshop, October 17
9:30 am to 4:45 pm:

Plot: The Structure of Story in Fiction, Memoir and Narrative Nonfiction/How to Shape Your Work Using Change,
Movement and Territory
with
Lynne Barrett
_______________________________________________

Sunday, October 18
10:15 am to 6:00 pm:

Meet the Authors/Meet the Agents
_______________________________________________
Saturday, October 17, 9:00 am to 4:45 pm

9:00 to 9:30 am: Registration
9:30 to 10:00 am: Introducing ourselves to each other
10:00 to 12:30 pm: "Plot: The Structure of Story in Fiction, Memoir, and Narrative Nonfiction/How to Shape Your Work Using Change, Movement and Territory"

* What is story? How to discern plot, significant action, and design.
* Learn to see in scenes: Each scene is a little story that moves the larger story along. Wheels, tension and contrast.
* Construct meaningful journeys: How does the world change characters? How do characters change the world?



12:30 to 1:45 pm Lunch



1:45 to 4:45 pm Workshop continues



* Map the territory: Who owns what place as the story begins? Where do secrets lie? Where is danger and opportunity?
* Establish thresholds: Imbuing place and action with meaning. Obstacles and the distribution of discoveries.
* Find your ending: reversal, resolution, and measures of change.

LYNNE BARRETT is the author of two short story collections, The Secret Names of Women and The Land of Go. She has been honored with the Edgar Allan Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America for best mystery story and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. She is editor of The Florida Book Review (www.floridabookreview.com), and professor at Florida International University, where she teaches in the M.F.A. program. Lynne’s webpage is http://lynne.barrett.googlepages.com.


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SUNDAY, October 18: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Twelve recently published Guild authors tell how they found their agents, how they got published, and speak of their successes and disappointments along the way. Questions from the audience are invited.



MEET THE AUTHORS
Stephanie Alston-Nero, Glenda Baker, Lynne Barrett, Eleanor Garrell Berger, Arlene Bice, Marian Bond, Toni Carroll (Termin), Marion Goldstein, Victoria Moran, Elsa Nad, Chris Ranck, Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Book Fair of Books by Author Panel (12:30 to1:30 pm)

Lunch (1:30 to 2:30 pm)

SUNDAY, October 18: 2:30 to 6:00 pm

The “Meet the Agents” Open House has yielded wonderful matches between authors and agents over the years. The agents introduce themselves at the podium and speak about their “shop,” trends in the marketplace, hits and misses. Then, members of the audience seek out those agents whom they wish to meet. After you introduce yourself and speak briefly about your work, the agent will let you know if he or she is interested in hearing from and possibly working with you and how to submit your work.

MEET THE AGENTS These agents have frequented our Big Apple events recently: Robert Astle, Robert Astle & Associates Literary Management, Barbara Braun, Barbara Braun Associates; Regina Brooks, Serendipity Literary Agency; Diana Finch, Diana Finch Literary Agency; Linda Langton, Langton’s International Agency; Jessica Regel, Jean Naggar Literary Agency; Rita Rosenkranz, Rita Rosenkranz Agency; Regina Ryan, Regina Ryan Publishing Enterprises


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REGISTRATION FEES (prices have remained the same for many years):

Discounted fees for full weekend conference as well as for Sunday all-day conference. Save up to $45 (or pay for individual sessions):

Weekend (both days, all events)
MEMBERS: $130.00 NON-MEMBERS: $160.00

Sunday Full-Day (morning and afternoon sessions)
MEMBERS; $80.00 NON-MEMBERS $105.00

or

Sunday, October 18 (10:00 AM - 1:30 PM)
MEET THE AUTHORS Open House & Book Fair
MEMBERS: $50.00 NON-MEMBERS: $60.00

MEET THE AGENTS Open House (2:30 PM to 6:00 PM)
INTRODUCTORY AGENT FORUM & ONE-ON-ONE MEETING WITH AGENTS
MEMBERS: $55.00 NON-MEMBERS: $65.00

Saturday, October 17 (9:30 AM – 12:30 PM and 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM)
Lynne Barrett, "Plot: The Structure of Story in Fiction, Memoir, and Narrative Nonfiction"
MEMBERS: $90.00 NON-MEMBERS: $100.00

IWWG MEMBERSHIP: $45.00 (Members receive discounts on all IWWG workshops.) To join the IWWG online, click on the following link: http://iwwg.org/index.php?section=join

To register online for the Big Apple Conference via PayPal, click on the following link: http://iwwg.org/index.php?page=1042

To register by Mail, send a check to: IWWG, PO Box 810, Gracie Sta., New York, NY 10028

For a list of suggested hotels for an overnight stay in New York City, click on the following link: http://www.iwwg.com/index.php?page=1048

Registration fees are recorded as they are received. We do not mail out confirmation receipts. For confirmation, call (212) 737-7536. (In the event of your cancellation, payments may be applied to a future IWWG event.)

Credit cards are not accepted at the door.

Contact: IWWG, Telephone: 212-737-7536 or Email: dirhahn@iwwg.org

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How Do First Authors Get Published?

How Do First Authors Get Published?

They told us it would be impossible - but we did it anyway!
Find out how at the

Wilton Library
First Authors' Panel

Thursday, Aug. 27
7 to 8:30 PM


No charge but reservations are recommended


Ready to be inspired?

Want encourgement to make your dream of a published book become reality?


FIRST AUTHORS' PANEL



Join us for a lively panel discussion at the Wilton Library in which three authors, with just published first books, will talk about our books, and of course, share our experiences in both writing and publishing our works.

Meet Jessica Bram, founder and teacher at the Westport Writers' Workshop and author of Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey; Matthew Dicks, with his delightfully quirky first novel Something Missing; and Margot Berwin, with her Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire: A Novel, which has a garnered a Publisher's Weekly starred review.

Jessica Bram will lead this lively discussion. Whether or not you're an aspiring writer, or just want to hear about these great new reads by local authors, be sure not to miss it.

There is no charge for this event. Books available for purchase and signing, courtesy of RJ Julia Booksellers.

WHEN:
Thursday, Aug. 27
7 to 8:30 p.m.

WHERE:
Wilton Library
Brubeck Room
137 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton


NO CHARGE TO ATTEND.

RESERVATIONS ARE RECOMMENDED BY CALLING 203-762-3950 or visit www.wiltonlibrary.org.


Westport Writers' Workshop
32 Webb Road
Westport, Connecticut 06880


For questions or more information visit www.wiltonlibrary.org or call (203)762-3950

Also, if you are interested in receiving information about The Westport Writers' Workshops, click on the title of this blog and sign up for their newsletter! They feature some really fantastic workshops. I myself will likely be in attendance for this particular event. Join me!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Trish Lapidus's Kitchen Table Writing Group in New Haven


Dear Writing Sisters,

I am starting a kitchen table writing group this fall. I offer to host the group in my home on the first Sunday afternoon (second Sunday if the first is a holiday) of each month from 3:00 to 5:00pm. I live in the Westport area of New Haven at 33 Farnham Avenue, Apt 40 just before you get to Southern CT State U. Easy to get to from Route 15 and from Whalley Avenue. As a landmark, I live within easy walking distance of the face of West Rock Ridge.

Please let me know if you would be interested in writing and sharing around my kitchen table. Also, if you know of other women who would be interested, please pass the word. I will also ask Elizabeth Julia to post this notice in the next issue of Network, the newsletter of the Guild.

Patricia/Trish Lapidus
Writing Consultant, Life Coach, Author

Including Sweet Potato Suppers, a New eBook
and Long Awaited, Swamp Walking Woman


http://swampwalkingwoman.blogspot.com/

Mary Carroll Moore is inviting you to a Book Release Party!




You’re Invited to the Book Release Party and Author Reading

Tuesday, October 13, 7:00 p.m.

The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center

Sleepy Hollow, NY

www.writerscenter.org



Thursday, November 5, 7:00 p.m.

The Loft Literary Center

Minneapolis, MN

www.loft.org


Nominated by publisher for a PEN/Faulkner Award


Qualities of Light, a novel by Mary Carroll Moore, is being released this week from Spinsters Ink/Bella Book, and Mary would love support from fellow IWWG members to spike sales on Amazon.com. It's being offered at a pre-order price of $10.17, so if you're interested, please visit amazon today and purchase a copy. Tell your friends!

Mary's gotten some great pre-pub reviews. Ann Bannon, best-selling author of The Chronicles of Beebo Brinker, wrote, "How many writers have caught that lightning-in-a-bottle that is young love? The story, set in lush summer in the Adirondacks, suffuses the young lovers with those qualities of light that illuminate the water, the woods, and the human heart. This is a tender and lively coming-of-age tale told with delicate insight, a romance etched in moonlight--the one we all wish we had had in our seventeenth summer."

Qualities of Light explores the budding of forbidden romance in the face of family tragedy, the forging of a new relationship between a daughter and her gifted, difficult parents, and an adolescent girl's confrontation with her own qualities of light and darkness.

Catherine Friend, author of Hit by a Farm, wrote, “Mary Carroll Moore’s skill as a painter blends beautifully with her sensitive portrayal of first love in Qualities of Light. She successfully layers Molly Fisher’s many struggles---guilt surrounding her brother’s accident, frustration that she and her father don’t understand each other, and confusion over where she fits in a group of lake friends. Shining through these layers are Molly’s vivid voice and her deepening love for a young woman named Zoe. Moore’s skillfully crafted novel both moves and entertains as she follows Molly’s summer journey.”

Ellen Hart, Minnesota Book Award winner, wrote, “Qualities of Light, by Mary Carroll Moore, isn’t just a beautifully nuanced contemporary lesbian romance, but a sensitive exploration of the cruelty and kindness--the intricate balancing act--that is family love. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.”


Please support a fellow IWWG member! Thank you!


To order from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Qualities-Light-Mary-Caroll-Moore/dp/1935226061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249898663&sr=8-1

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Award-winning writer and editor Adele Annesi is launching a new website

Award-winning writer and editor Adele Annesi is launching a new website, AdeleAnnesi, on the theme of place as inspiration to complement her Word for Words and Writing Linx blogs for editors and writers.

Come visit the site to leave a comment on the Contact Me page. It would be great to hear from you!

Adele
Adele M. Annesi
Publicity Chair, CT Authors and Publishers Association

Visit my blogs

Word for Words
http://wordforwords.blogspot.com/

and

Writing Linx
http://writinglinx.blogspot.com/

The Adirondack Writer's Retreat

Dear Writers--

As the Adirondack Mountain Writers' Retreat draws near (August 20 - 23), I find myself with two slots left open. I want to fill them, and I want to do my best to make them affordable to interested writers. For that reason, I am offering a $50 discount to any registrant who is a member of the IWWG.

But WAIT! I can do better!! If TWO IWWG members sign up, I will deduct an additional $50 from the fee of each. Time is short and I will have to accept registrations on a first come, first served basis.

This note so far has discussed only money. I don't want to make the message unduly long, but I must add that this will be an outstanding creative writing workshop (fiction, memoir, personal essay) with gifted writer and teacher Irene Sherlock. Writers are urged to bring a work in progress and "workshop it" for the four days through seminars, discussion and consultations, pushing it toward publication. There's lots more information on my website (PersisGranger.com) and I'd be delighted to answer questions by phone (518-623-9305) or email. Please share this information with writers whom you think may find it of interest.

Many thanks--
Persis Granger
Registering Now - The Adirondack Mountain Writers' Retreat
August 20 - 23, 2009, a 4-day Creative Writing Workshop with Irene Sherlock
Visit PersisGranger.com

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Suite 101 - Therese Haberman

For anyone who lives or works in the local Newtown area of the Constitutional State -


Therese Haberman has just been named to the Feature Writer slot for Suite 101, "Parenting a Gifted Child" Section.

http://www.suite101.com/writer_articles.cfm/mstherese
http://parentingagiftedchild.suite101.com/
http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/mstherese


She is listed as Therese Haberman,
Facilitator, White Oak Women Writer's Group
Newtown, CT