Category Archives: Guest Speakers

Guest Speakers

Don’t miss Words, Words, Words with Carolyn Martin, April 28th

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Words, Words, Words

Welcome to another lively, interactive workshop with poet Carolyn Martin. In this class, we’ll “steal” words from famous writers like Mary Oliver, Shakespeare, John Donne, and Ellen Bass and play with a Word-of-the Day list that may spruce up your writing in the future. Come prepared to have fun, write, and share your creativity with your colleagues.

– Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D.

“All my life I have tried to find the truth and make it beautiful.” – Sting

Guest Speakers, websites

How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019

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How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019

Some of use have used Weebly, some WordPress, some Blogger, some Wix, some googlesites…  Zita recommended Weebly; it may not be the most robust, but it’s easy and it keeps up with the times—use of images, handheld devices to read webpages etc. She followed up her recommendation with an excellent demonstration of what it has to offer. Here is my attempt at interpreting her instructions, for anyone wanting to “try this at home.” Continue reading How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019 →

Guest Speakers, Uncategorized

Narrative Voice – from Sheila Deeth’s talk, Feb 2019

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Why does Voice matter?

  1. There’s a significant reader commitment when they “buy” your book – 12-24 hours of reading aloud, 6-12 hours spent silently in company of this voice
  2. There’s a significant author commitment too – lots more hours than that writing in this voice, so you’d better enjoy it
  3. Reader/author contract – you will make it worth the reader’s time (they’re paying you in time and money)
  4. Reader expectations –
    1. If it’s a legal contract, should be written in legaleze, but equally…
    2. The tale of a sweet old lady in small-town America probably shouldn’t devolve into pages of swearing
    3. A hard-bitten ex-marine story shouldn’t devolve into delicately phrased romantic pillow-talk
    4. And what about memoir? And what about when it’s not memoir and the comments say,“So sorry this happened to you…”
      1. How do we avoid being identified with first person narrator, vs.
      2. how do we prove we have the right to tell the tale? (Try, “I have some experiences in common with this character, but she isn’t me…”?)

Continue reading Narrative Voice – from Sheila Deeth’s talk, Feb 2019 →

Editing, Guest Speakers, self-publishing

Self-Editing for Self-Publishing, with Beth Jusino, October 2018

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Self-Editing for Self-Publishing, with Beth Jusino

There are LOTS of books out there. In bookstores the big names take up all the big space, but on the internet, Amazon gives the same size page to everything. You can self-publish and get an Amazon page for your book, but your self-published book will be one of the million self-published this year! Marketing will help people find it, but marketing, and even the world’s most gorgeous cover, won’t sell it unless you’ve written a good book. (After all, readers can “look inside” on Amazon as well as at the bookstore!) Continue reading Self-Editing for Self-Publishing, with Beth Jusino, October 2018 →

agents, Guest Speakers, publishing

Beth Jusino – Pitch Your Book

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Beth Jusino began her presentation with setting parameters for questions and stated that she will be happy to discuss individual projects in person following the two-hour session. With a slide presentation to highlight her talk, Beth presented “Pitch Your Book so That Publishers Pay Attention.” She showed us how to master the synopsis, the hook, and the verbal pitch to publishers and agents.

Continue reading Beth Jusino – Pitch Your Book →