7:00 a.m. Check-In table opens
Pick up registration materials at the check-in table
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Seminar Syllabus for Friday, March 24
Kathryn Craft
GLVWG Write Stuff™ Conference Schedule – Friday, March 24
23 Thursday Mar 2017
Category Archives: Write Stuff Conference Presenter
Interview with Amy Deardon – Award Winning Author and Publisher
09 Thursday Mar 2017
GLVWG’s Donna Sooy recently interviewed Amy Deardon, who will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Conference™, Friday and Saturday, March 24 & 25, 2017.
On Friday, Amy will give conferees tips on Insider Self-Publishing: Separating the Amateurs from the Pros. Saturday, she’ll conduct two sessions, What’s the Right Type of Publishing for My Book?, and Does My Book Have What it Takes?
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DS: I read you are an award-winning author, publisher, and budding online entrepreneur. Congratulations. What is a budding online entrepreneur?
AD: Writing/Publishing is a wide-open field, with more options now for people to create and sell information than ever before. I am constantly looking for methods to deliver helpful products that will allow others to reach their goals… and hopefully allow me to help support our family in the process. A win-win!
DS: There are times when people relax at home, they read, crochet and color in the Mandela pattern books. What is your favorite pastime when relaxing?
AD: I tend toward the crafty side with sewing and needlework, although don’t do nearly as much as I used to. It seems I’m always working on a writing project and the computer is never too far away.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to do a lot of work from home, and since it’s not healthy to be too closed in I get out to exercise, or to meet with friends for coffee, or go to Bible study. Evenings are nice when my husband and kids and I cook dinner together as we talk.
Award Winning Poet – Therése Halscheid
02 Thursday Mar 2017
Once again, GLVWG’s intrepid Dawn Sooy took the time to interview award winning poet, writer, teacher, and photographer, Therése Halscheid, who will present Writing From The Inside Out, at The Write Stuff Conference™ on Saturday, March 25, 2017.
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DS – It sounds like you have a busy schedule and have traveled extensively. Do you have a family? If so, what kind of reaction do you get when you are ready to leave home?”
Therése – I do not have a traditional family. My comings and goings reflect my writing process, which is to say that I am nomadic. I live on the road to write — largely by way of house-sitting or artist colonies or teaching opportunities. It is a contemplative lifestyle though I often feel those I house-sit for are my extended family. There is a sense of oneness when our lives join for periods of time. Over the years there have been occasions where a partner has joined me, which made the house-sit very enjoyable. It is a lifestyle that requires no home though, for me, home is wherever I am on Earth.
Meet Author Phil Giunta
25 Saturday Feb 2017
Author Phil Giunta is a regular fixture at GLVWG, and will share his advice on Writing the Compelling Short Story at The Write Stuff Conference™, Saturday, March 25, 2017. GLVWG’s Dawn Sooy does the honors by asking a few questions about Phil’s life as an author.
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DS – I recently saw a short story of yours (Tower Sixteen), won second place in the Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest. What was the inspiration to write this story?
Phil – I’ve always been fascinated with the WWII fire control towers (commonly known as observation towers) that were constructed along the Delaware coast. Currently, only one is open to the public near Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen State Park and every time I go there, I climb the spiral steps 75 feet to stand at the top and look out upon the park, the ocean, and the Delaware Bay. It’s a gorgeous view.
Long before Cat and Mouse Press started their annual writing contest four years ago, I knew I wanted to write a short story about those towers, but the idea just hadn’t come to me. I was usually buried in several other writing and editing projects. Then in March 2016, a friend reminded me about the writing contest and I learned that the theme for that year was Beach Nights. That’s when it hit me immediately—a ghost story! Most of my paranormal tales have a lot of heart and emotion. I wanted this story to be no different, plus it had to honor our military and those who served at Fort Miles. I know “Tower Sixteen” accomplished all of the above. How do I know this? I was told the ending brought one of the contest judges to tears. Who can ask for anything more?
Meet Author/Editor Patti Giordani
21 Tuesday Feb 2017
GLVWG author, Mitzi Flye, took the time to interview Patti Giordani, one of our presenters at the The Write Stuff Writers Conference™ on Saturday, March 25, 2017. Patti has been a long member of GLVWG, as well as a Copy Editor for the annual GLVWG Write Stuff Anthology.
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MF: For some reason, the GLVWG Conference Committee thought I should interview Pattie Giordani. Maybe it’s because I’ve known her all of her life (and dumped her out of her baby carriage). Thank you for allowing me to interview you (she’s touching me!). I will be nicer to you than I was when you were 8 and I was 12.
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MF: You have quite a varied background in editing, including being an editor of a nonprofit organization’s magazine and assistant features editor at The Express-Times daily newspaper. But you’re also a writer. Which do you find most rewarding?
PG:Thank you for doing this interview with me! (No one made me say that. LOL) As for editing vs. writing—I find both rewarding. As you know, I’m a Libra so I tend to look at both sides of a question. As an editor, I enjoy helping other writers shape and improve their work. And the most rewarding part is when an author says I made the work better. But I do think my scale is tipped toward writing, because I’m nosy! I’m interested in people, what they do, what they love, their backgrounds, their aspirations—you get the idea. I’m also interested in businesses, places, things, history, and many other topics. Researching and writing articles helps me delve into subjects I might never otherwise have the chance to learn about.
Meet Jaime Saloff -Helping Authors Write More, Sell More, and Be More.
11 Saturday Feb 2017
Tags
Author Entrepreneur, Book Marketing, Self-Publishing, Writing Advice, Writing Conferences, Writing Courses
Last December, we announced that Jaime Saloff will be attending The GLVWG WriteStuff Writer’s Conference™, March 24-25, 2017, with “What’s the Right Type of Publishing for my Book”, and “Self Publishing on a Budget”.
GLVWG member, Mitzi Flye, had an opportunity to interview Mitzi about her views on the writer as an entrepreneur and her business that helps boost your self-published book, Bookectomy™
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MF: Thank you so much for being a presenter for The Write Stuff conference. Your bio and your website seem to show that your business caters to women. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I wondered how that happened. Was that a conscious decision or did it “just happen”?
There’s two answers. The first is that it was a marketing decision. The more focused one can be in marketing, the easier it is to find and connect with a target audience. (This is also important when marketing books.) However, my younger son, who helps me with my graphics, recently said I was being sexist, so we changed the logo to include a male. (He is, of course, not pregnant like the women, but he is holding a bouncing baby book.) In addition, I guessed. I thought I worked with about 1/10th the amount of men as women over the years. But after my son’s prodding, I went and counted. Turns out I worked with about 50/50 men and women. I seem to get along very well with critical ex-military, chiropractors, psychology specialists, and cranky lawyers, where on the women side I tend to work with a lot of doctors, healers, and the metaphysically inclined. After nearly twenty-years in the business, I find I can work with almost anyone, men or women.
Colleen Warmingham – Organizing Author Content and Business.
29 Sunday Jan 2017
Colleen Warmingham, Owner of Minimologist LLC, will be presenting two sessions on How To Organize Your Business and Content, Saturday March 25, 2017, at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™ .
GLVWG member, Judy Mehl, had an opportunity to interview Colleen, who’ll provide insight to authors with organizing the materials that support the product you sell – your writing, and a separate session to organize the back office side of things.
Interview by Judith Mehl, www.judymehl.com
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GLVWG: You have a unique business based on organization, yet you’ve expanded that to encompass so much more than a filing system. Would you tell us about that?
Colleen Warmingham: I’ve been a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, and in continual training monthly, for ten years. The organization has different specialties—different ways to solve problems. Others have specialties in downsizing or hoarding. Mine is office organization. I’m certified in FreedomFiler, a home filing system, and the Evernote paper and electronic system for note taking and keeping. This area is also something dear to me—repurposing, reusing, gifting. I created the name, Minimologist, LLC. because the name reflects my core value of minimizing my impact on this precious planet and helping others do the same.
An Interview with Kathryn Craft
25 Wednesday Jan 2017
Kathryn Craft
Last month, we announced Kathryn Craft will be conducting one of the Friday half-day workshops to explore MAXIMIZING THE EMOTIONAL POTENTIAL OF YOUR NOVEL, and two additional working sessions on Saturday at the GLVWG WriteStuff Writers Conference™ , March 24 and 25, 2017.
GLVWG member, Tammy Burke, had the opportunity to interview Kathryn about her upcoming seminar at the conference.
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What a delight that you’ll be at the 2017 GLVWG “Write Stuff” Conference as a presenter. You have been a motivating inspiration for GLVWG for many many years in various capacities. We’re happy to have you!
Kathryn Craft: Thanks Tammy! It will be so fun to be back home. I attended this conference every year straight from 2000-2012, when it was my honor to host my brand new agent on the agent panel, and then returned as a presenter in 2013. I’ve missed it.
Could you tell us a little bit about what got you into the writing world? Was it when you became a freelance dance critic for the Morning Call or was it before then? What was the spark?
Kathryn Craft: In 1983, when a company I was dancing with approached The Morning Call about a review, I learned they needed a dance critic. I wrote a sample review. The editor read it and said, “Don’t write in the first person because we don’t yet know who you are. Don’t say, ‘It seemed as if’—it weakens your writing. Don’t use more than five sentences per paragraph. Can you start this weekend?”
When you have an area of expertise and know how to string sentences together, it can sometimes be just that easy to get paid to write nonfiction.
Fifteen years later I entered the longest labor of my life when my family suffered the kind of tragedy that can make a novelist out of you: my first husband committed suicide after a day-long standoff on our idyllic little farm. In the years to come, it grew clear that for me, the medium of story would be crucial to finding hope within this darkest trial of my life.
I quickly met the first of many fiction-writing obstacles, and each came stamped with the word “humility.” I took a voluntary downgrade from the nominal pay of a dance critic and wrote fiction without pay for a decade. I learned that stringing lovely sentences was no longer enough. An informed opinion was no longer enough. Desire was not enough. I needed to make a substantial investment of time and money in a storytelling education. I quickly realized I could no longer go it alone, and came to my first GLVWG meeting in 2000.
Jennifer Lader Helps Authors Turn Writing into a Business
18 Wednesday Jan 2017
Tags
Author Coach, Being Productive, Business of Writing, Editing, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Conferences
Jennifer Lader, editor and profile coach, will be helping authors turn writing into a moneymaking business at the Write Stuff Writers Conference™ on March 25, 2017.
Article by Charles Kiernan, Write Stuff Conference™ Chairman
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I have known Jennifer Lader for years, being part of my longest standing critique groups. I witnessed her “coming into her own” at a rather phenomenal rate. I am pleased to have her as one of the conference’s non-fiction presenters for 2017.
Jennifer Lader has developed a proprietary process for helping small businesses and sole proprietorships identify and share what they can do for others. After many years as a freelance writer and three years as the editor of what became an award-winning newspaper under her tenure, Jennifer brought her writing and business skills together to build up a successful enterprise as a contractor.
Today, she helps individuals and small businesses develop powerful and easy-to-share profiles, then get the word out.
Along with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Grinnell College, Jennifer has her master’s in public administration. She is the senior writer for the Center for Advanced Emotional Intelligence, marketer for Business & Community Financing Solutions, and managing editor for Architects Marketing.
She knows how to pitch stories to the media and has landed her clients in highly positive feature articles. Besides GLVWG, she is a member of the Nonfiction Authors Association and of the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild. Her work has been recognized with a 1st Place Keystone Press Award for niche publication and a 1st Place Simon Rockower Award for her article on the cultural impact of the television show “Bewitched.”
At the conference will be presenting two back-to-back sessions entiled, THE FINE LINE: HOW TO TURN YOUR WRITING INTO A MONEY-MAKINIG BUSINESS. You’ll come away with specific actions that you can take to launch or invigorate your freelance career.
GOAL: Get into the mindset that you can make money as a freelancer.
OBJECTIVES:
- Find out the number one way that you can easily promote your services, enable others to envision how you can help them, and melt away your competition (lesson 1)
- Learn how to think like a business person (lessons 2-7)
- Make plans now to stake your claim in three easy steps (lessons 8-10).
Wow, could we really make a living at this craft? Let Jennifer tell you how.
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You can contact Jennifer Lader at jennifer@jenniferlader.com. To learn more about Jennifer Lader’s process, check out her website, jenniferlader.com.
Vicki Selvaggio Returns to the The WriteStuff Writer’s Conference™
09 Monday Jan 2017
Tags
Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, Literary Agent, Query Letters, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Conferences
Article by Chaz Kiernan, GLVWG WriteStuff Conference Chair
Vicki Selvaggio was at our Write Stuff Writer’s Conference™ last year (April 2016) as an agent, and may I add, our most sought after agent for the pitch sessions. This year she comes as a presenter (although she will take a few pitches as time allows).
I am going to share with you an email from her (edited) that pretty much says it all.
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Hi, Charles,
Nice to hear from you. I’ve included some presentations below, but I offer more than these. I can also customize a presentation to match the needs of your members.
Agent 101: An Inside View of Acquiring Clients
(We decided to have Vicki present this one of Friday evening, March 24, before the Social Gathering. Think party.)
As an Associate Agent and Author, Victoria Selvaggio knows firsthand that finding representation can be as hard as or even harder than becoming published. But…having a good understanding of the agent’s role, as well as your own, as the author, is just as important as advocating further, for the right agent-author relationship.
Through this presentation, “Agent 101: An Inside View of Acquiring Clients”, attendees will get a behind-the-desk look at what being an agent means for Victoria—from query letters to rejections to revision to requests to finally, representation and beyond—which will provide helpful tips on how to review your manuscript as if you were also an agent.
