Save the Date

Saturday, October 27, 2018. Almost Halloween. What a spooky time for a writers’ conference. Or is it?

Save that date for the Fifth Steel Pen Creative Writer’s Conference. The conference will have a Halloween theme, but the sessions will cover all genre and the only horror will be your own when you discover how much you don’t know. Or, worse, when you realize you’ve missed the registration cutoff date.

Next year’s keynote speaker will be Michael Poore. He is the author of the novels Reincarnation Blues (Del Rey, 2017) and Up Jumps the Devil (Ecco, 2012). His short work has appeared in Agni, Southern Review, Fiction, and Glimmer Train, and in anthologies, including The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012.

Mike has his own brand of humor, and his books fit well with a Halloween theme. If you want to find out how, you’ll have to come to the conference, read his novels for yourself, or both.

The 2018 venue is the same as it was this year, and it was rated highly by all who attended. So join us at the Fair Oaks Farms Conference Center just off I-65 near Rensselaer, Indiana.

The call for proposals will be sent out at the beginning of the year, and registration will open in late spring or early summer. So keep your eye out for those announcements.

We hope to see you on October 27, 2018.

We Nailed It!

 

We aren’t supposed to brag about our own conference, so we will let the numbers do it for us. Of the 70 people who attended the Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference on Saturday, 24 filled out the general evaluation. Of those 24, all said their likelihood of attending again was either good or excellent, with the excellents leading 17 to 7. Here are some of the written comments:

·       Great price, great presentations. Loved it!

·       It was great! Lots of work and truly appreciated.

·       Thank you for the high level of organization.

As with anything, there are opportunities for improvement, and we appreciate those comments, as well. The biggest problem was that one of the rooms was too small, and we already have some ideas on how to resolve that issue next year.

The facility at Fair Oaks Farms also received rave reviews. That’s good, since the Fifth Annual Steel Pen Creative Writer’s Conference will be held on October 27, 2018 at the same place. We will provide more information about next year’s conference in the November 15 blog post.

But back to this year. The highlight was the keynote speech by Catherine Lanigan, who provided inspiration to keep writing even when we’ve been told we aren’t good enough. She also presented a session on writing romance and gave tips for navigating the business side of the writing profession no matter what your genre.

As already mentioned, one of the three rooms was too small. It was supposed to hold up to 24 people, which might have worked if the Committee members had been good judges of which topics would capture the smallest audiences. For those sessions that met in the Boardroom, the classes were cramped but also intimate, as you can see from this picture of the novel-in-stories workshop presented by Melissa Fraterrigo.

Finally, the networking was wonderful, as was the food. The last photo shows the appetizers available during the cocktail hour.

Tune in next week for a personal testimony about the conference.

Too Many Choices, Part III

The last two posts described six of the nine breakout sessions at the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference, and this post will cover the remaining three. Each of the workshops listed below is designed to help writers sell their books. Read on for more information.

They DO Judge a Book by Its Cover: Cover Design 101 for Authors

When readers aren’t familiar with your work, what draws them to your books? The beginning paragraphs are important, but potential buyers must open the book to read them. The cover is usually the first thing that catches readers’ eyes and makes them look inside. Self-published authors are responsible for designing or selecting their own covers, so how can you make your cover stand out in a good way? This workshop uses discussion, exercises and examples to share sure-fire methods for creating great book covers.

Rod Martinez is the recipient of the 2017 Jerry Spinelli Scholarship from the Highlights Foundation. He writes middle grade fiction and has published a half dozen books. To view his book covers and find other information about Rod, go to http://rodmartinez.us. 

Online Marketing: Using Your Website to Maximize Sales

It’s common knowledge that every author needs a website, but what do you do with it when you have it? J. Steven Young’s session answers that question and provides advice on simple and economical ways to enhance your website and build your marketing platform.

As a writer, Steven has authored over a dozen books ranging from early childhood activity books to YA fantasy. As a marketer, he utilizes cost-effective and free tools to boost exposure and sales and to streamline the self-marketing process. Steven combines his technology training with his love of writing by holding webinars, providing individual training, and engaging in consulting work to show authors how to brand themselves and sell their books in a digital world. You can learn more about him at www.jstevenyoung.com.  

Picking Up the Mic: Using Performance Storytelling to Enhance Promotional Opportunities

Do you give library presentations or school talks, or are you looking for a way to increase attendance at book signings? Performance storytelling can generate interest and add value to those promotional opportunities. In this workshop, Mary Dean Cason and Gregg Fraley will help writers find their spoken voice and will provide essential tools and techniques to be better story performers.

Mary Dean Cason teaches the art and craft of live storytelling and has performed at venues throughout Chicago, Northwest Indiana, and Mexico. She is the founder of Wine, Women & Stories, co-founder of Indigan Storyteller, and co-creator of Michiana Stories. Mary Dean is the author of What Solomon Saw and Other Stories, the recipient of the Pinch Literary Award, and the winner of the University of Chicago’s 2008 Writer’s Prize for Fiction. For more information, check out her website at www.marydeancason.com.

Gregg Fraley is an author, speaker, creativity consultant, and radio host. His program, “Michiana Story Hour,” airs on WRHC in Three Oaks, Michigan. You can find out more about him at http://greggfraley.com.

As noted in the first post in this series, the Conference Committee hasn’t set the actual schedule yet, so it is too early to know which of the nine breakout sessions will conflict. But with this lineup, you can’t lose.

Registration for the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference is now open. Sign up at www.inwriters.org/steel-pen-conference and join us at Fair Oaks Farms on October 28.

Too Many Choices, Part II

Located just off I-65 north of Rensselaer, Indiana, Fair Oaks Farms provides a tranquil setting for a writers’ conference. Its comfortable conference rooms allow attendees to relax, while the spellbinding presentations will keep them wake. But what are those presentations? Last week’s post discussed three of the breakout sessions, and this post covers three more.

Metaphors and Metaphoric Language

A good book is a dog that keeps you company at night. Feel free to groan at the terrible metaphor, then come to Vickie Weaver’s workshop and learn to write better ones. Using examples and exercises, she will show you how the words you choose can add texture and flavor to fiction and nonfiction alike.

Vickie’s first book, Billie Girl, won the 2009 Leapfrog Literary Contest. Her short stories have also received several awards, which include a Pushcart nomination. Learn more about her at www.vickieweaver.com.

Words Fly Off the Page: Practical Pointers for Public Poetry Readings

Do you perform at poetry slams, read for family and friends, or present selections from your own works to promote your books? Would you like to? Patsy Asunction’s workshop will use guided discussion, hands-on practice sessions, and demonstrations to develop key skills for effective public reading. Although focused on poetry, this session will provide practical pointers for all genres.

To use her own words, Patsy’s poetry collection, Cut on the Bias, depicts her world slant as a biracial child raised by an immigrant father and WWII vet. Her works have also appeared in numerous online and print publications. An expert public reader, she is a female emcee and has thousands of YouTube views. To learn more, check out her website at www.patasuncion.wix.com/patsy-asuncion.

Weaving Words: A Braided Essay Workshop

Braided essays take several threads and weave them into a cohesive whole. It can be created by a single writer or done through collaboration, where each theme is composed by a different individual. In this workshop, Janine Harrison, Laura Madeline Wiseman, and Colleen Wells will discuss their experience collaborating on a braided essay and lead participants in writing exercises on braiding, followed by workshop discussion.

Janine Harrison teaches creative writing at Purdue Northwest and is the 2017 Highland Poet Laureate. Her publications include the poetry chapbook, If We Were Birds, and short works appearing in anthologies and other publications. You can find more information at https://janineharrison.live.

Laura Madeline Wiseman has authored 25 books and chapbooks, including the Nebraska Book Award 2015 Honor Book Intimates and Fools. She is the editor of Bared and Women Write Resistance, selected for the Nebraska 150 Booklist. Laura teaches writing at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and her website is found at www.lauramadelinewiseman.com.

Colleen Wells’ work has appeared in various anthologies and journals, and she is a frequent contributor to The Ryder Magazine. In 2002, she earned an award from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and she is currently working toward her credentials as a Certified Journal Facilitator. Her memoir, Dinner With Doppelgangers—A True Story of Madness and Recovery, was published in 2015. Learn more about Colleen at  http://www.colleenwells.com.

These workshops give you three more reasons to attend the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference on October 28. Registration opens June 1. The registration link and other information on the conference will be posted at www.inwriters.org/steel-pen-conference.

Next week we’ll cover the final three breakout sessions.

Too Many Choices, Part I

When planning a writers’ conference, selecting and scheduling sessions is always a dilemma. How many choices should the conference offer? Either there are too few and you sit in on sessions that have little to offer you, or there are too many and you miss out on one or more interesting sessions because they conflict.

One of last year’s participants missed out on several sessions she wanted to attend, and she suggested on her evaluation form that we offer workshops more than once. We took her comment very seriously. After all, there’s a reason it’s called the Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference with an apostrophe after the s. The conference belongs to the writers who attend, not to IWC or the Conference Committee. Unfortunately, repeating sessions limits the number we can offer overall, and the Committee believes that most participants would rather have too many choices. So after careful consideration, that’s what the Committee opted to provide.

The 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference will have three blocks of time with three choices each, so you may miss something you want to hear. The actual schedule hasn’t been set yet, so these blog posts won’t tell you which ones conflict. But the next three weeks will describe each of the nine choices and give you the opportunity to rank them in advance.

Writing a Great American Romance Novel

Keynote speaker Catherine Lanigan will present a workshop called “Writing a Great American Romance Novel.” The session will cover both craft and business issues, and the business issues in particular apply across genres.

Catherine is the author of over forty fiction and nonfiction titles, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. She is known primarily for her contemporary romance novels, such as the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming. She has also written historical fiction, romantic suspense, true stories, books regarding angelic intervention in human life, a craft book, and a screenplay. You can learn more about her at www.catherinelanigan.com.

How to Build Suspense into Your Fiction

This session by mystery and suspense writer Libby Fischer Hellmann also transcends genre. Libby is a master at creating suspense in her award-winning books. In this interactive workshop, you will learn how to use tangible techniques to build suspense in your own work, regardless of what type of fiction you write or are considering.

After leaving the nation’s capital and a career in broadcast news 35 years ago, Libby moved to Chicago and has been writing gritty crime fiction ever since. Her nominations and awards are too numerous to mention here, but you can read about them and her many books on her website at www.libbyhellmann.com.  

Connecting to the Unconnected: Exploring the Novel-in-Stories

How can a writer combine stand-alone but related short stories into a novel? This workshop by Melissa Fraterrigo is for everyone who missed last year’s breakout session by Cathy Day or who attended that workshop but wants more.

Melissa Fraterrigo is the author of the forthcoming novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press) as well as the short story collection The Longest Pregnancy (Livingston Press). Her works, both fiction and nonfiction, have appeared in more than forty literary journals and anthologies and have been nominated for awards on multiple occasions, including winning the Sam Adams/Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Contest. She teaches classes on the art and craft of writing at the Lafayette Writers’ Studio in Lafayette, Indiana. You can learn more about Melissa and the Lafayette Writers’ Studio at www.lafayettewritersstudio.com.

These are just three of the many reasons to attend the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference on October 28. Join us at the conference center at Fair Oaks Farms just off I-65 near Rensselaer, Indiana.

Registration will open June 1, and the registration link will be posted at www.inwriters.org/steel-pen-conference. You can find additional information about the conference there, too.

Next week we’ll cover three more choices.

2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers' Conference: Introducing Keynote Speaker Catherine Lanigan

www.inwriters.org/steel-pen-conference

As we previously announced, the Indiana Writers’ Consortium is please to have Catherine Lanigan as the keynote speaker for the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference. She is the bestselling author of over forty published fiction and non-fiction titles, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile.

In addition to giving the keynote speech, Catherine will present a workshop based on her craft book, Writing the Great American Romance Novel. That book and several of her others will be on sale at the conference, and she will sign them during the cocktail hour.

The title says this is an introduction, and that’s all it is. Catherine’s accomplishments are too many and too varied to do justice to in a blog post. What follows is just a sample.

Catherine is the author of the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. But what is a “novelization?” It simply means that the movie came first. Although Catherine didn’t create the original story line, few writers get the chance to novelize an award-winning movie. Just being given the opportunity is a great honor.

Some sources list the author as “Joan Wilder.” For those of you not in the know, Joan Wilder is a fictional romance writer who has the lead female role in the movies and is, of course, the female protagonist in the books. In recent years, however, Joan has shared the credit with Catherine, as she should.

Catherine is known primarily for her contemporary romance novels, which include the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming. She also writes historical fiction such as Web of Deceit and Wings of Destiny and romantic suspense such as Friday Papers.

                          

The Christmas Star, Catherine’s Vietnam war-based novel, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine, the Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine, and the Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

But Catherine doesn’t just write novels. Her non-fiction includes true stories in several of the Chicken Soup anthologies, a trilogy of books regarding angelic intervention in human life, and her craft book, Writing the Great American Romance Novel.

Nor is Catherine’s work limited to one medium. She recently completed a screenplay for the Oracle Film Group. Powder Pup Mountain Rescue will be aired on Netflix sometime this year, although the exact date is still to be announced.

There is plenty more, but it won’t fit here. For additional information on Catherine and her books, check out her website at www.catherinelanigan.com. You can also visit her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Pinterest, Google+, and Twitter@cathlanigan.

Better yet, come hear Catherine speak at the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference on October 28. It will be held at the conference center at Fair Oaks Farms just off I-65 near Rensselaer, Indiana. Registration will open in June.

Additional information on the conference will be posted at www.inwriters.org/steel-pen-conference  as it becomes available.

We hope to see you there.