Winding Up for the Pitch

Heather Cashman

You’ve finished your manuscript, and you’re ready to look for an agent. How do you find an agent and then how do you make your pitch?

You can check out the Write Stuff Pitch Workshop and Pitch Session next month. This is a pre-event for the 2022 Write Stuff Conference.

Part 1 is October 2, a virtual session with agent Heather Cashman of Storm Literary Agency. She’ll lead you through a day-long workshop on finding and querying an agent, and developing and critiquing a pitch.

You’ll then have a week to practice your pitch. Part 2 is October 9, a virtual pitch session with one of four agents: Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group; Carrie Howland of Howland Literary; Lawrence Knorr of Sunbury Press, and Paul S. Levine of Paul S. Levine Literary Agency.

Register for the workshop and pitch session here: https://greaterlehighvalleywritersgroup.wildapricot.org/event-4316841

Kelly Jensen – Writer of Love Stories, Bibliophile, Gamer, Hiker, Cat Herder, Waiting for the Aliens

Tags

Kelly Jensen, World Building, Writing, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Romance

Kelly Jensen, critically acclaimed and award winning Author, will join us at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Saturday, March 14, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Kelly will facilitate 3 sessions:

 Grab the Reader in the First Chapter

 Outlining is for Everyone

 Worldbuilding

 

** Scroll Down for Details **

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Biography:

If aliens ever do land on Earth, Kelly Jensen will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred stories of the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do. 

Kelly is the author of twelve novels, including the critically acclaimed Chaos Station series and the award-winning novel, Block and Strike. She has also published eight novellas and too many short stories to count. Some of what she writes is speculative in nature, but mostly it’s just about a guy losing his socks and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need. 

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An Interview with Kelly Jensen

By Conference CoChair—Umber Rana

Q: Do you have a disciplined writing routine?  If so, what does it include? Do you have any pre-writing rituals or habits before you sit down?

Kelly: I do have a routine! I write Monday through Friday from 6 am to 9 am. I aim for 2000 words or a chapter every day. After getting my words down, I edit or work on administrative tasks. But words always come first.

I don’t really have any pre-writing rituals except to eat breakfast. I’m pretty focused on breakfast. I think about it the night before and cook something hot most days. It’s my writing fuel!

Q: Share the strangest source of inspiration for your writing that you can remember.

Kelly: One of my favorite books (To See the Sun) was inspired by a Harlequin Historical Romance set in Montana during the 1800s. It wasn’t a book I’d normally pick up on my own, but part of a judging packet for the RWA’s RITA contest. I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. Marriages of convenience (arranged, mail-order-spouse) have long been one of my favorite romantic tropes, but it’s not one that works well for gay romance. So I decided to try writing one. I set my story on another planet, and as a nod to this unexpectedly good read, gave my planet a wild west sort of theme: a new colony at the far edge of the galaxy, populated by former miners and terraformers who’d like a companion to share their new lives with. It was a fun book to write, and an idea that might never have occurred to me without that great little historical!

Q: What advice can you give beginning authors in establishing their brand and media presence?

Kelly: Be your most authentic self. I agonized for years over my social media presence and my author brand, only to realize that my blog, my IG feed, and my Twitter and Facebook posts all said the same thing: I was a science fiction nerd who played too many video games, bought too many books, and liked to go hiking. For me, the best part was that I tend to write characters with the same hobbies as mine. So it all fit. I aim to be upbeat and personable without getting too personal.

Q: How do you find the stories and lives that become the subject of your books? How do you research?

Kelly: My stories nearly always start with a single character. I want to write a certain sort of person in a certain situation, and my plot (including the other main character(s)) flows from there. For example, my current WIP is about two men who have recently become empty nesters (like me!). I obviously got this idea while packing my daughter up for college and wondering what I was going to do with all my spare time. And thinking about how much I’d miss her.

For my novel Block and Strike, I wanted to share the experience of how studying a martial art helped me find my voice and become a more assertive person.

The Chaos Station series explores the effects of war on former soldiers, their families, and society.

But each of these books started with a single character. Oliver for my current WIP, who is now home alone wondering who he’ll share breakfast with (told you breakfast was important). In Block and Strike, Max learns to embrace his differences and to rise above the bullying he’s endured all his life. In the Chaos Station series, Felix finally figures out how to leave the war behind, and how to embrace the love of the man he never forgot.

Q: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Kelly: Slow down and take a break. You won’t forget how to write if you take a few weeks or even a few months off. Remember to recharge between books. And, most importantly, remember your process but don’t be a slave to it. Use what works, discard what doesn’t.

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Saturday, March 14, 2020

Grab the Reader in the First Chapter

First impressions last. Hook your reader with a compelling first chapter by learning how to introduce your characters, setting, and plot without giving away every secret in the book. We’ll discuss how to include just enough backstory (not too much), and how to tease your readers into turning to the next page.

Outlining is for Everyone

Don’t let the idea of an outline hold you back. Planning what you need to write every day doesn’t necessarily mean a long list of detail. What it can mean is writing faster and to the point with just a few minutes of planning ahead–before you start the book or a few minutes before you start writing!

Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding isn’t just for fantasy and science fiction. Readers want to know where they are, when they are, and how your story relates to the world it’s set in. Learn how to represent the familiar and create the unfamiliar in a way that won’t overwhelm your story or your characters. This workshop will include an exercise that may be shared with the class.

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“Moving and well written, Building Forever will leave you with a mansion-sized smile.”

—Sarina Bowen, USA Today bestselling author of Goodbye Paradise

“Jensen’s talent for world-building and memorable, unique secondary characters are on full display here in this fabulous series starter. Deeply felt emotions and a lovely romance have me eager for more in this world!”

—Annabeth Albert, author of Out of Uniform series

“Love is an adventure”

 

You can find all of Kelly’s books on Amazon

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Learn more about Kelly on her website: kellyjensenwrites.com

Follow her blog: kmkjensen.wordpress.com

And her social media links:

Facebook: /kellyjensenwrites

Twitter: @kmkjensen

Instagram: @kellyjensenwrites

Linktree: linktr.ee/kmkjensen

 

 

Lawrence Knorr – Publisher, Author, Professor, Eagles Fan

Tags

Hellbender Books, Lawrence Knorr, Milford House Press, Sunbury Press, Writing, Writing Conferences

Lawrence Knorr, founder and owner of Sunbury Press in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Lawrence will be taking pitches on Saturday, March 14. 

“Sunbury Press is a rapidly growing publisher of a wide range of categories represented by six imprints. We typically receive approximately 1000+ proposals a year, publishing roughly 50 of them (about 5%). We choose to invest in those opportunities that we feel have the best chance in the current marketplace. We are always seeking new titles to publish including: history, historical fiction, police procedurals, crime thrillers, horror, steam punk, young adult, current events, science, reference, art history, ANY local/regional history, humor, spiritual/metaphysical, self-help, professional, memoirs, etc. If we didn’t mention your category — try us anyway!”

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Biography:

Lawrence Knorr is the co-owner of Sunbury Press, Inc. and has been involved with book publishing since 2000. He holds an MBA from Penn State University, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Scrum Master (CSM). Lawrence’s 30+ year career in information technology, as a programmer, analyst, project manager, CEO, and Chief Information Officer has prepared him well for the “Age of Content” – the era of eBooks, data integration, eCommerce, and networks. Lawrence has taught business and economics courses for over fifteen years at local colleges and is the author or co-author over twenty books. He is also an award-winning digital artist. Lawrence often speaks or is a panelist at numerous writers conferences and book fairs.

He is currently working on Graves of Our Founders and Tigers for a Day. He previously published a three volume set of his Knorr grandparents lineage entitled Seventy-One Years of Marriage: The Relations of George and Alice Knorr of Reading, Pennsylvania.

Click “Continue Reading” for An Inteview with Lawrence Knorr

Sarah Bolme – Author, Director of Christian Indie Publishing

Tags

Book Marketing, Christian Indie Publishers Association, Christian Writers, Indie Publishing, Sarah Bolme, Writing, Writing Conferences

 

Sarah Bolme,  Director of Christian Indie Publishers Association (CIPA). will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Saturday, March 14, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Sarah will discuss:  

Three Things to do Before You Publish

The number of books published each year keeps increasing. With so much competition, it is difficult to stand out and get your book noticed. Doing the three things presented in this session before you publish a book helps every author—whether traditionally or self-published—get a jump start on marketing to make their book stand out among the competition.

Sarah will also be hosting Marketing Sessions throughout Saturday.  To sign up for a consultation session, follow the instructions on the registration form. Your actual times for the consult will be assigned after registration is closed, and will be attached to your personal conference booklet upon signing in.

Biography:

Sarah Bolme provides assistance to small publishers and independently published authors marketing books to the Christian marketplace. Sarah is also the author of the award-winning book Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace. The fourth edition will be released in February 2019.

Sarah is an independently published author and a traditionally published author. She is also the Director of Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA) an organization that exists to help small publishers and independently published authors market their books in the Christian marketplace.

Sarah’s  blog, Marketing Christian Books, is to educate and inform small publishers and independently published authors about publishing and marketing Christian books.

Click “Continue Reading” for Sarah’s interview

Jeanette Windle – Journalist, Political/Suspense Novelist, World Traveler

Tags

Jeanette Windle, Writing, Writing Articles, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Non-Ficion, Writing Workshops

Jeanette Windle

Award-winning author and journalist, Jeanette Windle, will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Saturday, March 14, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Jeanette will hold three craft sessions: 

Using the Six Senses Purposefully

A Story to Tell – Your Own or Another’s

The A to Z of Writing a Sellable Article

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Biography:

As daughter of missionary parents, award-winning author and journalist, Jeanette Windle grew up in the rural villages, jungles, and mountains of Colombia, now guerrilla hot zones. Her detailed research and writing is so realistic that it has prompted government agencies to question her to determine if she has received classified information. Currently based in Lancaster, PA, Jeanette has lived in six countries and traveled in more than thirty on five continents. Those experiences have birthed 16 international intrigue titles, including bestselling Tyndale House Publishers release Veiled Freedom, a 2010 ECPA Christian Book Award and Christy Award finalist, sequel Freedom’s Stand, a 2012 ECPA Christian Book Award and Carol Award finalist, and Congo Dawn, 2013 Golden Scroll Novel of the Year, the political/suspense best seller “CrossFire” and the Parker Twins juvenile mystery series.

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Saturday March 14, 2020

Using the Six Senses Purposefully

Bring Your Storytelling Alive! Fiction or non-fiction, effective telling of the story is what transports your reader into the world you want to share. And this is done most effectively through the six senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, and that all-important sixth sense of the writer–emotion. Bring pen, paper and creativity because this will be a hands-on exercise.

A Story to Tell – Your Own or Another’s

Non-fiction biography is the bread-and-butter of freelance writing. Whether writing your own memoir or someone else’s life story, this workshop will walk you through the practicalities of breaking down, organizing, and weaving into story form a compelling life narrative. Not writing a full book? Principles apply as well to the personal experience short story/article.

The A to Z of Writing a Sellable Article

Where to find material or choose a topic? What makes an attention-grabbing lead and headline? What to include and how to organize? A great conclusion or just petering out? Taught by a twenty-year-veteran missions journalist and editor, this workshop lays out in practical steps how to turn out consistently exciting, tightly written articles, no matter your theme or subject matter.

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JEANETTE WINDLE FICTION

INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE WITH INSPIRATIONAL IMPACT!!

“Jeanette Windle is a top-notch storyteller”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“You can’t finish a Windle novel without being deeply moved and better informed about the world around you.”—ROMANTIC TIMES

 

Jeanette Windle is profiled on Goodreads, and her books are available on Amazon.

 

You can find Jeanette Windle on her website:  http://jeanettewindle.com/

And you can follow her on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeanette.windle,

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/jeanettewindle

 

Meet Noah Ballard

Tags

Curtis Brown Literary Agency, Literary Agent, Pitching Agents, Writing, Writing Conferences

Noah Ballard is a good guy. A nice guy. Raised in NJ, Noah traveled to the Midwest to attend the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Upon earning his degree, he returned east to work for the Emma Sweeny Agency. Now, he’s settled close to home and family at the literary agency, Curtis Brown, Ltd. in NYC.

But this good guy will go loco with a few simple words.   Playful – Pleasant – Predictable.

Don’t say these words. Don’t do it. Because he’s a nice guy. We don’t want him to go loco—not yet.

Let him go “good” loco over your amazing manuscript. Noah is looking for thrillers, upmarket fiction, and noir contemporary. He wants provocative authors. He’s in the “now” – so nothing from last season, smarmy, or outdated. Hook him in the opener by a cute little Corgi with bloody paws. Give him characters with bright green hair and tattoos of ancient Sumerian gods. Thrill him with a chase scene, taking him backwards, the wrong way, through the Chunnel – oh wait, that’s been done before. But he’s cool if you do it again; with panache and no – ‘ly’ words. Challenge his intellect with a Kobayashi Maru scenario, then add a few RKO twists and turns.

Look, this isn’t his first rodeo. He’s been all over the country and the world, presenting at conferences, workshops, and generally enthused about writing and publishing. His agency represents bestselling authors and Pulitzer prize winners, so he’s not easily manipulate by trends. He longs for the underserved voice. He particularly dislikes when authors try to school readers. His advice: don’t start any piece of writing with the definition of a word. Give him a good story that’s honest and relatable. Give him vigorous dialogue. Speech, he reminds us, is what characters do to each other. It’s just as interactive as punching a villain in the face. Above all, Noah wants to be different after he reads your powerful book. He’s picky, street-wise, tough.

He’s even quit smoking.

Noah will be taking pitches at the 2020 GLVWG Write Stuff Conference™ on Saturday, March 14 (advance registration required).   When you query or pitch to Noah:

• Do … be polite and respectful.
• Don’t … try to shock or disgust him.
• Do … be confident.
• Don’t … stalk him (you won’t get published and it’s illegal).
• Do … provide a query with just enough info about your finished manuscript (and you) that will make him ask for sample pages. Think of queries as a window display and agents as window shoppers. You want the agents to come in and buy from your shop.

And oh yeah, he lives in Brooklyn. You don’t mess with people from Brooklyn. They go bad loco over tepid literature.

 

To read more about Noah Ballard, click on the following links:

https://www.curtisbrown.com/agents/noah-ballard

http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/noah-ballard

http://pennwriters.org/noah-ballard-interview

 

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Bernadette Sukley, Write Stuff Writers Conference™ Flash Literature Contest Organizer and Chairman of the 2016 GLVWG Anthology, ‘The Write Connections’, has been researching, writing and editing for over 25 years. Her work has been featured in national and international publications. Her focus is human interest, health and lifestyle. She’s also written and edited guides, pamphlets, columns, stories, and novels. She’s published two novels (A Saving Hurricane, Find Me a Woman) and a nonfiction book (Made in Pennsylvania) within the last eight years.

You can find Bernadette on her website: https://www.bernadettewsukley.com/, as well as her Facebook Page, and Twitter.

Harrison Demchick – Author, Editor, Filmmaker, and Musician

Tags

Creative Logic in Writing, Harrison Demchick, Story First Draft, Writer Courses, Writing, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Workshops

Harrison Demchick, Author, Editor, Filmmaker, and Musician, will join us at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Saturday, March 14, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Harrison will facilitate 3 sessions.

Bad Math: How the Right and Left Brains Work Together

It’s the End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Fine

The Blueprint, or Building the Perfect Draft

 

Biography:

Raised on a steady diet of magical realism, literary fiction, science-fiction, and Spider-Man comics, Harrison Demchick spent most of his formative years inside his own head, working out strange thoughts and ideas that would eventually make their way into stories, screenplays, and songs.

He went to Oberlin College to attain one of modern day’s most notoriously useless degrees, a BA in English with a creative writing concentration, but then actually used it, working for over a decade as a developmental editor of fiction and memoir. Harrison is also an optioned screenwriter, winner of the 2011 Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, and an inaugural fellow of the Johns Hopkins University/Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund. His first film, Ape Canyon, is currently in production.

The Listeners, his first novel, was published by Bancroft Press in 2012. Otherguy, his debut EP, launched in 2018. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his girlfriend and their two cats with a combined seven legs. He’s working on a series of short stories, a couple screenplays, a pair of musicals, a concept album, and whatever else keeps him distracted from the dark void that will one day consume us all.

** Click “Continue Reading” for Interview and Course Syllabus **

Meet Michael Ventrella – Writer, Editor, Lawyer, Musician, Wise Guy

Tags

Editor, Legal Advice for Authors, Michael Ventrella, Pennwriters, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Workshops

Author Michael Ventrella, will be at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Saturday, March 14, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

He will offer three sessions.

How the Law Really Works

The Biggest Mistakes Made by New Authors

What Editors Look For

** Click “Continue Reading” for Interview and Course Details **

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Biography:

Outside of writing, Mike worked primarily as a public defender; however, he also was a lobbyist for the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action (and later served as the Massachusetts chapter President for a year), taught political science courses at Bunker Hill Community College, and was a campaign manager for a state representative. Mike also wrote songs and performed in two prominent bands, Agent 99 and Big House, which played the major clubs in the Boston area and received airplay on local college radio.

Mike also started a magazine about animated films called Animato in the mid 80s which grew to be quite prominent. He was quoted in many publications as an animation expert, including Entertainment Weekly and in the book THE DREAM TEAM: THE RISE AND FALL OF DREAMWORKS by Daniel M. Kimmel.

In 1997, Mike and his wife, Heidi, moved to the beautiful Poconos, where Mike now works as an attorney. Heidi is a Niche award-winning artist whose work can be seen in galleries around the country and in Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museums all over the world, as well as on ABC TV’s To Tell the Truth. They love the pitter patter of little feet (they have five cats:  McGonigal, Mrs. Premise, Mrs. Conclusion, Doctor Who and River Song).

Mike is a regular fixture at science fiction conventions on the east coast, where he appears on panels to discuss fiction, animation, and gaming. However, to many people, he’s known primarily as the Guy Who Predicted The Hodor Plot Twist.

Timons “Tim” Esaias Offers Full Day with Selected Elements of Style and Improving Prose

Tags

Timon Esaias, Writing, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Fiction, Writing Poetry, Writing Workshops

Tim Esaias

Timons “Tim” Esaias, adjunct professor at Seton Hill University for the Masters level program in writing popular fiction, will open the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on Thursday, March 12, at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

He will conduct a two half-day sessions on Thursday, March 12:  

What to Put In & What to Take Out:

How to remove meaningless stuff from your prose, and put content back in.

Selected Elements of Style

Key rules, the genre differences, and how to think about the morass of conflicting advice 

 

Then on Saturday, March 14, Tim will facilitate four sessions: 

Getting Conflict on the Page

Don’t Be a Bobble Head

Those First Few Lines

Writing Poetry for Genre Markets

 

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Biography:

Timons Esaias lives in Pittsburgh, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, with his wife who is a physician. He writes satire, speculative fiction, poetry, and the occasional essay. His work has appeared in over a dozen different countries, and fifteen languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award (1998) and the Rhysling Award (5 nominations, Third Place 1997), and he won the Asimov’s Readers’ Award for Poetry (2005). He is a member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange; a Member Demeritus of the Worldwrights; and a certified Rogue in Lair #1 of the Rascals, Rogues & Rapscallions.

** Click “Continue Reading” for Tim Esaias Interview and course syllabus **

JD Barker, International Bestseller, Presenter and Keynote at the Write Stuff Writers Conference™

Tags

Crossing Genres, Indie to Traditional, international bestselling author, JD Barker, Writing, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft, Writing Development, Writing Thrillers, Writing Workshops

JD Barker, international bestselling author, will be the headliner and Keynote Speaker at the GLVWG Write Stuff Writers Conference™, “2020 Vision”, on March 13 -14 at the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center.

Friday, March 13, JD will facilitate a Full Day Writing Development Workshop.

On Saturday, he will give sessions with From Indie to Traditional; Every Dirty Little Secret You Need to Know, and Crossing Genres – and Why You Should Do It!

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Biography:

J.D.Barker (Jonathan Dylan Barker) is an international bestselling American author whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural.

J.D. Barker has successfully crossed over from horror, to paranormal, to thriller, and back again, snatching readers from multiple genres and expanding his audience like a literary Pied Piper. Learn how to avoid the genre box and tell the story you want to tell to the largest possible group.

As a child I was always told the dark could not hurt me, that the shadows creeping in the corners of my room were nothing more than just that, shadows. The sounds nothing more than the settling of our old home, creaking as it found comfort in the earth only to move again when it became restless, if ever so slightly. I would never sleep without closing the closet door, oh no; the door had to be shut tight. The darkness lurking inside needed to be held at bay, the whispers silenced. Rest would only come after I checked under the bed at least twice and quickly wrapped myself in the safety of the sheets (which no monster could penetrate), pulling them tight over my head.

I would never go down to the basement.

Never.

Learn more about JD Barker at jdbarker.com

 

And in case you hadn’t noticed, JD will be speaking on Friday the 13th. 

** Click “Continue Reading” for JD Barker Interview and course syllabus **