WriteAngles Conference 2018 Registration Has Started

Registration for this year's WriteAngles Conference has opened. The conference will take place on Saturday, November 17 at the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.

Morning Speaker - Andrea Hairston

Afternoon Speaker - Edie Meidav


8:15 to 9:00 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 to 9:30 am – Morning Keynote Speaker: Andrea Hairston (Morrison Room)

NOTE: Individual agent meetings will run concurrently with the morning panels, 9:45 to 12:30, by pre-arranged appointment.

PANEL SESSION I – 9:45 to 11:00 am (Choose one)

The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir: Writing the Journey of Your Life (Morrison Room)
Workshop leader: Jennifer Browdy

Writing Sex (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Sacchi Green, Emily Nagoski, Jupiter’s Slut (moderator), Cecilia Tan

She Did What? Weaving the Elements of Fiction into a Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Liz Bedell, Jennifer Jacobson, Ellen Meeropol (moderator), Lisa C. Taylor

PANEL SESSION II – 11:15 am to 12:30 pm (Choose one)

Writing the Short Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Jennifer Acker, Linda Rowland-Buckley (moderator), Linda McCullough Moore, Kate Senecal

Just the Facts: The Ins and Outs of Writing Historical and Research-Based Fiction & Nonfiction (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Joy Baglio, Maxine Schmidt, Jacqueline Sheehan, Marya Zilberberg (moderator)

Open Mic (Morrison Room)
Moderator: Ilya Parker

12:30 to 1:30 pm – Buffet Luncheon

1:30 to 1:45 pm – Celebration of WriteAngles Community Grant (Morrison Room)

Legal Clinic 1:30 to 4:00 pm (concurrent with afternoon keynote speech and panels)

1:45 to 2:45 pm – Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Edie Meidav (Morrison Room)

PANEL SESSION III – 3:00 to 4:15 pm (Choose one)

Agents Panel: Successful Loglines (Morrison Room)
Panelists: Serene Hakim, Christine J. Lee, Julie Stevenson, moderator TBA

Publishing Your Poems (Executive Board Room)
Panel moderator: Gail Thomas

4:15 to 4:30 pm – Wrap-up (Morrison Room)
Names will be drawn for attendance prizes. You must be present to win

Visit the WriteAngles website for more information

Register Now for the WriteAngles Conference!

Registration is now open for the 2016 WriteAngles Conference! The conference by writers, for writers will be held on Saturday, October 29 at Mount Holyoke College’s Willits-Hallowell Center in South Hadley, Mass. The annual event, now in its 30th year, offers participants the chance to mix with experienced writers and agents in panel discussions, face-to-face meetings and in casual networking opportunities. Carole DeSanti and Lisa Papademetriou will be keynote speakers. WriteAngles 2016 offers eight new panels and workshops, a legal clinic and opportunities for participants to discuss their work one-on-one with a literary agent. For more information, and to register, please visit writeanglesconference.com

Register for the 2015 WriteAngles Conference!

Registration is now open for the 2015 WriteAngles conference! The conference by writers, for writers will be held on Saturday, October 17 at Mount Holyoke College’s Willits-Hallowell Center in South Hadley, MA and offers participants the chance to mix with experienced writers and agents in panel discussions, face-to-face meetings and in casual networking opportunities.

Keynote speakers for this 30th writing conference are award-winning author Susan Stinson, and Carol Edelstein, author and co-director of A Gallery of Readers, a monthly reading series and independent press. WriteAngles 2015 offers eight new panels and workshops, opportunities for participants to meet one-on-one with an agent, and a new legal clinic. For more information, and to register, please visit writeanglesconference.com

Another WriteAngles Conference Come and Gone

It's hard to believe, but after months of hard work, this year's WriteAngles Conference is over. We had a ton of fun, and there were so many interesting panels to choose from, it was hard to decide what to do.

As registrar, I didn't get a chance to attend too many panels, but I did manage to take in the entire Writing Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction one. D. Dina Friedman moderated this panel that included writers Jeannine Atkins and Lisa Papademetriou. I was so impressed with what these ladies had to say that I bought one of each of their books. If I were richer, I would have picked up more.

Add in two great keynote speakers and four fabulous agents and it was a wonderful day. The staff from the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College did a superb job of creating a relaxing, pleasant setting for the conference, and once again, the food was phenomenal. After a short rest, I'm ready to do it all again.

Have you attended any writers conferences this year? What was your favorite part?

Reduced Blogging Schedule This Week

This week will be a reduced blogging schedule because I am attending this year's Muse Online Writers Conference. If you've ever wanted to attend a writers conference, but just couldn't swing the cost or find one close enough you, then this is the answer.

Each year is a week full of FREE workshops, online chats, and pitch sessions with agents and publishers.

Keep an eye on http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/ so that you'll be able to sign up for the 2011 conference as soon as they start registrations.

This year I will be pitching my next children's manuscript to a publisher I would be excited to work with. Your prayers and good wishes would be appreciated.

"You Asked for It" by Cheryl Malandrinos

I'm a big fan of the Muse Online Writers Conference, which takes place every October. Lea Schizas, my friend (and even if she doesn't know it, mentor) is the brains behind the Muse Conference. Lea, along with the other coordinators of this totally online, completely free writers conference, do a spectacular job each year of helping their fellow writers hone their craft over 7 days of workshops and online chats.

I presented a workshop at the 2008 Muse Conference, but I really wanted to focus on me last year, so I took a variety of workshops geared toward the areas that needed improvement.

One of those workshops was titled "Finding Your Writing Voice Through Personal Essays" given by the very talented Ann Hite, who has published more than sixty stories.

This is one of the personal essays I wrote for that workshop. I don't remember all the particulars about the assignment, but I am supposed to be at a family reunion. A relative I haven't seen for years asks me how things are going. This is my response:

"You Asked for It" by Cheryl Malandrinos

“Obviously no one told you how dangerous it is to ask me about my favorite subject—me.” I smirk, waiting for the feigned laughter to die down.

I feel the tickle in the back of my throat as knowing eyes look upward and disappear behind their lids. Someone could have saved us from this torture if this knucklehead hadn’t asked Miss Conceited to get up and tell us what the hell she’s been doing for the past twenty years.

Yeah, I know that’s how they feel, which is why it makes it all the better that poor Uncle Ray really stuck his foot in it by asking. Clearing my throat, I glance upon the crowd, fifty people I have nothing in common with except for blood, and if I could change that I would. Maybe I really was adopted. One can hope.

“Well, you’ve already met my kids—John, Katherine, and our baby, Sarah.” Oh, she hates it when I call her that. ‘I’m six years old, Mom,’ her defiant pout reminds me.

“After Sarah was born I became a stay-at-home mom and decided to fulfill my dream of becoming a published author.”

Aunt Alice leans over to Uncle George and whispers something into his ear. I know it’s nothing nice. Maybe something along the lines of, ‘Who ever told her she could write?’ By now I’m shifting my weight back and forth, something I’ve done ever since I had kids. “I write for a monthly newsletter and my first children’s book will be out next year.” This gets some nods, but they’re not about to call their friends to tell them about their famous relative.

I start pacing so that the rocking doesn’t make me look like I’m holding in an ocean of pee. Sweat trickles down my back. When did it get so darn hot out here? “I review books at my blog and work in book promotion.”

Cousin Tom has his index finger jammed into his back teeth and he’s digging away. For crying out loud, get a tooth pick!

“Other than playing wife and mommy, that’s about it.” I shrug and plaster a smile across my face.

Hands offer half-hearted claps from the few people still paying attention. As I slink back toward the table where my husband and the girls are nibbling on the last few potato chips, Linda, a cousin on my father’s side, saunters up to me. The tip of her turned up nose embellished by the way her green eyes glare downward.

“You should call your father. He doesn’t know what you’ve been up to lately either.” Her lips purse into a thin line, awaiting my response.

“Maybe I will.” I march off and plop into the empty chair next to Sarah. Who am I kidding? There will be peace in the Middle East before I ever call dear old dad.

My First Writers Conference

Last weekend I attended my first writers conference in person. I have participated in the Muse Online Writers Conference for at least three years now, but this is the first conference that I drove to and attended all day.

Some of my writing friends have asked me to share my experience, so I'll try not to bore anyone with the details while I share my day.

This was an all day affair that started with a continental breakfast and a great keynote speaker. Then we broke up into our sessions. In the morning I took How to Write Great Beginnings. Having never attended a conference before I wasn't sure what to expect. What it entailed was four published authors--some multi-published--discussing what makes great beginnings. There was a Q & A session, but I didn't find this workshop overly helpful, and one author admitted to not being prepared at all and rambled a lot, so that part was annoying.

Then I went to a mystery workshop to see if I could get some help with my crime fiction piece and that suspense short story I've had lingering in unfinished hell for a year or so. Another Q & A session, but because it was such a small group, all four authors gave their perspectives on each question. I knew one of the authors in this group, as she was a former client of Pump Up Your Book Promotion. I introduced myself and made a few potential contacts for future virtual book tours there.

Right before lunch I bought one book from each of the mystery writers--one that I wasn't quite sure about, but I didn't want to leave her out. Now I have even more books to review. I also bought Write from the Heart by Leslea Newman, who was the morning's keynote speaker.

Lunch was very nice and I sat with my buddy Frank who had told me about the conference and some of the presenters from the first workshop.

In the afternoon we had an amazing keynote speaker, Roland Merullo. Absolutely out of this world. He's written several books and even though he had lost his voice two days before the conference he managed to speak for the full hour or so.

The best workshop of the day was How Agents Think. You got a chance to submit the first page of your work. Conference coordinators chose selections at random, read them, and the four agents provided their thoughts on whether they were interested, wanted to know more, would pass and why. I didn't put anything in the box and am kicking myself, but I now have contact infomation for four potential agencies, most of them out of NY.

My buddy Frank, had the chance to meet with one of the agents, the only man on the panel, and he requested that Frank send along the first three chapters of his novel, so I am excited for him.

Got home around 5 p.m. and got right into Mommy mode. A fun day, and I offered to help coordinate next year's conference because you all know I have nothing else going on. I figure this will keep me in touch with people I need to be in touch with as I move along in my career.

Writers and Authors with Jo Linsdell--Blog Review

Writers and Authors is a great place for writers to network. Started by freelance writer and author, Jo Linsdell, this site recently made it onto the Preditors & Editors list of Sites of Distinction.

Their new format is as follows:

Mondays: Opportunities for writers
Tuesdays: Featured Author Interviews
Wednesdays: Publishers, Editors, etc.
Thursdays: Book reviews
Fridays: Upcoming events (chats, conferences, etc.)

In addition, you'll find an extensive blogroll with links to sites for writers, and various motivational items in the side bar: instant writing prompts, writing tip of the day, and quotation of the day.

Add Writers and Authors to your Favorites and put them on your blogroll because you'll want to keep an eye on this site.

Muse Online Writers Conference--Registration deadline approaching fast

The deadline to register for the 2008 Muse Online Writers Conference is September 1st. Now in its third year, the Muse Online Writers Conference offers writers the opportunity to hone their craft and learn about everything from book proposals to book promotion and beyond.

Don't miss this opportunity to attend a totally online and free* writers conference. Register now at http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com/.


* Our conference is FREE but ask if you can donate to help support this site and our cause (to continue offering you FREE workshops each year). Your generosity is appreciated.