Speakers/Presenters - Redwood Writers

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Many thanks from the Redwood Writers to Tom Jordan who is underwriting

the conference keynote speakers and session presenters with a generous donation.

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Morning Keynote: David Corbett

“Beyond the Book: Writing Opportunities in a Multi-Platform Era”

With the multi-media possibilities intrinsic to eBooks, writers will be challenged to provide content that exploits the medium’s possibilities, not just becoming versed in the demands of scriptwriting, but seeking out and nurturing relationships with art designers, filmmakers, actors and musicians in an increasingly competitive environment.

David Corbett is the author of four novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar), and Do They Know I’m Running (“a rich, hard-hitting epic”—Publishers Weekly, starred review). David’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in journals as diverse as Mission and Tenth, The Smoking Poet, and Best American Mystery Stories (2009 and 2011). Penguin will be publishing his book on the craft of characterization in early 2013. He has taught at the UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program and numerous writing conferences across the US. Visit him at: http://www.davidcorbett.com/

“The keynote speaker was motivational and gave me something new to use,” last conference attendee.

Luncheon Panel: Laurie McLean, Mark Coker, Charlotte Cook and Joel Friedlander

“Leap into Tomorrow’s Publishing”, Linda McCabe, Moderator

Linda C. McCabe spent a month in France scouring museums and trekking through medieval hilltop villages in the Midi-Pyrenees researching her novel Quest of the Warrior Maid. She is a past-president of Redwood Writers and recipient of the Jack London Service Award from the California Writers Club. She has had essays published in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Los Angeles Times and Redwood Writers’ anthologies as well as the Centennial Edition of the California Writers Club Anthology West Winds. You can visit her at: www.LindaCMcCabe.com or http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/

Panelists: Mark Coker, Charlotte Cook, Joel Friedlander, Laurie McLean

Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, a leading ebook distributor, has helped over 17,000 independent authors publish and distribute over 44,000 ebook titles. Mark and his wife Lesleyann, a former reporter for Soap Opera Weekly Magazine, co-authored Boob Tube, a satire on daytime television soap operas. Despite representation by a top NYC literary agency, their book was rejected by every major New York publisher of commercial women’s fiction. The experience inspired Mark to start Smashwords. A contributing writer for the Huffington Post (http://huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker), Mark also blogs and tweets about e-books and the future of publishing at: http://twitter.com/markcoker and http://blog.smashwords.com.

Charlotte Cook, MFA, former publisher and cofounder of KOMENAR Publishing, brought to publication six award-winning novels before returning to story editing and consulting in 2010. As a principal in Adapting Sideways with Jon James Miller, they work with screenwriters and novelists in polishing manuscripts and pitches, and getting published. Charlotte has also been a final judge in several fiction categories for the annual international Indie Awards as well as participating in the judging of other writing contests. She has taught writing since 1993 and been a popular guest speaker and workshop leader at writers’ conferences throughout California and across the U.S. Many of her students have been published, found agents, won contests, and entered graduate programs. More information can be found at www.adaptingsideways.com, including opportunity to contact her.

Joel Friedlander, (@JFBookman) is an award-winning book designer, a blogger, and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish. Joel is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, CA, a publishing services company where he’s helped launch many self-publishers since 1994. He also writes a popular blog on book design, book marketing and the future of the book at http://www.theBookDesigner.com.

Laurie McLean: At Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco, Northern California’s oldest literary agency founded in 1972, Laurie McLean represents adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, nouveau westerns, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, etc.) as well as middle-grade and young-adult books. She looks for great writing, first and foremost, followed by memorable characters, a searing storyline and solid world building.

For more than 20 years Laurie ran a multi-million dollar eponymous public relations agency in California’s Silicon Valley. She is passionate about marketing, publicity, negotiating, editing and a host of other business-critical areas. She is also a novelist herself, so she can empathize with the author’s journey to and through publication.

Finally, Laurie is the dean of the new San Francisco Writers University at www.SFWritersU.com and on the management team of the San Francisco Writers Conference. Check out her blog, www.agentsavant.com, for tales of the agenting life, and www.larsenpomada.com for valuable information and links, plus her submission guidelines.

Click one of these tracks for more information.

Craft of Writing Track	Genre Track	Publishing Track	Marketing Track

Workshop Presenters

Craft of Writing Track

The Craft track sessions will take writers from the research stage through developing character and improving grammar skills to creating authentic dialog that bring scenes alive.

9:30 – 10:30 am David Corbett – “Next Step: Finding the Character Behind the Character”
A character’s solidity derives from the writer’s own memory and empathy. In this class, David will guide students through a variety of exercises to help them learn how to use people in their own lives for raw material, and how to plumb personal experiences of profound emotional impact.

11:00 – 12:00 pm Geri Spieler – “Fact Finding for Fiction Writers: Easy Research Techniques to Pump Up your Novel”
Writing fiction does not relieve a novelist from fact. Inaccurate detail will sink a novel into the chasm of sloppy writing and lazy work habits. Never underestimate your reader. Accurate references such historical data, legal and medical references, are critical examples of professional writers. Learn the skills for fast, accurate and reliable search techniques that boost your book out of the slush pile.

Geri Spieler is an author and investigative reporter. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English. She is former president of the San Francisco/Peninsula Branch of California Writers Club, conference director of the Jack London Writers Conference and board member of NorCal, a consortium of Northern California California Writers Club consortium. Geri has written for Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Forbes. She was the founder and editor of Electronic Commerce News, Research Director for the Gartner Group and a Research Associate at Stanford University. Geri is a book reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, an official blogger for the Huffington Post, a member of National Book Critics Circle and The Internet Society. She is the author of the four-time award winning Taking Aim at the President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman who Shot Gerald Ford, Palgrave Macmillan Jan. 2009. Currently she is research associate at Stanford University. Visit her at: http://www.gerispieler.com/.

.1:45 – 2:45 pm Arlene Miller – “Grammar: Don’t Skip This Important Step”
This breakout Arlene will discuss the importance of correct grammar and punctuation. While it is crucial to submit your work to a great editor, you want to submit the work in already good shape, with careful attention paid to the mechanics of your writing. You also want to have perfect writing when you submit a proposal to an agent or publisher. We will talk about common errors, taking questions from the participants. I promise you will learn something new!

Arlene Miller is the author and publisher of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! Her business, bigwords101, conducts grammar and business writing workshops at local colleges and companies. Arlene’s background includes teaching English, newspaper reporting, technical writing, and freelance editing. The book is available for Kindle and Nook, as well as in paperback everywhere online, Copperfields, and local coffeeshops. Check out her website at www.bigwords101.com..

3:15 – 4:15 pm Catherine Brady – “Revealing Character through Dialogue”
Dialogue offers the most direct means for exploiting one character to reveal the hidden inner life of another, to force secrets to surface in ways that have consequence. This talk emphasizes “site-specific” strategies for creating dialogue that sounds authentic and dramatizes the effect of one conversational partner on the other.

Catherine Brady is the author of three short story collections, including Curled in the Bed of Love, winner of the 2002 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and The Mechanics of Falling, winner of the 2010 Northern California Book Award for Fiction. She’s also the author of a book on writing craft, Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction, and a biography of a Nobel laureate, Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco and is currently at work on a novel.

Genre Track

The Genre track sessions offer tips for historical fiction, mystery, poetry and enthusiastic writing for young adults.

9:30 – 10:30 am Christopher Gortner – “Historical Fiction: Stepping Back Through Time”
C.W. Gortner will show you why literary writers are leaping into historical fiction as a genre. It is the novel – possibly more than any other art form – that can explore complexity over sensation when it comes to recreating the past. Here is a form of time travel in which, if the novelist has done the necessary research, writer and reader can create a fiercely imaginative and challenging experience. Thanks to a growing loyal fan-base, genre books help keep the literary publishing operation in business. Gortner will show you how to dust off your literary shoes, and head into the future of historical fiction.

Christopher Gortner holds an MFA in Writing with an emphasis in Renaissance Studies from the New College of California. He is the author of The Last Queen, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici and The Tudor Secret. In his extensive travels to research his books, he has danced in Hampton Court’s great hall and lived in a Spanish castle. His novels have garnered international praise and been translated into sixteen languages to date. His next novel, The Queen’s Vow, about Isabella of Castile, will be released on June 12, 2012. He recently completed the second novel in his Tudor series,The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles (US) or Elizabeth’s Spymaster (UK) and is currently working on a novel about Lucrezia Borgia. Half-Spanish by birth, C.W. divides his time between Northern California and Antigua, Guatemala. Visit him at: www.cwgortner.com

11:00 – 12:00 pm Deborah Grabien – “Jumping into Mystery with Character”
Most mystery writers begin with the plot. I prefer to write mysteries in a way that puts the characters first. How and why a character-driven mystery is more immediate than a plot-driven story – and why, sometimes, working that way can be painful.

Deborah Grabien is a cook, guitar player, cat rescuer, traveller, and all-around rocker chick. She also writes a little: she’s the author of the Haunted Ballad series (St. Martins Minotaur), six standalone novels, and the Kinkaid Chronicles, the first of which, Rock & Roll Never Forgets, was released to unanimously great reviews in July 2008, and was followed by While My Guitar Gently Weeps, London Calling and Graceland. The fifth Kinkaid, Book of Days, will be out in September 2011. Deborah lives in San Francisco, heads back to London and Paris and Florence whenever she can, and honestly believes you’re never too old to rock and roll. Visit her at: http://deborahgrabien.com/.

1:45 – 2:45 pm Jody Gerrmann - “Give Your Young Adult Fiction Zap and Zing!”
What makes some novels so appealing to young readers while others languish on the shelves? How can adults capture the elusive teen “voice” editors seek? In this hour-long interactive lecture/discussion, Young Adult author and playwright Jody Gehrman will address the three most sought-after ingredients in YA fiction: Atmosphere, Action, and Attitude.

Jody Gehrman is the author of six novels and numerous plays. Babe in Boyland is her most recent Young Adult novel, published this year by Penguin’s Dial books. Her other novels include Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, Triple Shot Bettys in Love, Notes from the Backseat, Tart, and Summer in the Land of Skin. Her plays have been produced in Ashland, New York, San Francisco and L.A. She and her partner David Wolf won the New Generation Playwrights Award for their one-act, Jake Savage, Jungle P.I. She is a professor of English at Mendocino College. Visit her at: http://www.jodygehrman.com/

.3:15 – 4:15 pm Abby Bogomolny – “The Oldest Literature”
Abby Lynn Bogomolny will discuss and have participants practice choosing words for their sounds in one of the oldest forms of literature, the catalog poem. Used as a hybrid form of history and entertainment — meant to be heard as well as read on stone, papyrus or paper — the catalog poem is poetry’s most accessible form. Expect to be introduced to poetic meter, rhyme and scansion.

Abby Lynn Bogomolny is the editor of New to North America: Writing by US Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren and the author of the poetry collection People Who Do Not Exist. She is full time faculty in the English Department at SRJC.

“The agents panel helped me grasped the importance of a talking tagline,” last conference attendee.

Publishing Track

The Publishing track builds sessions on name recognition, working with agents, online networking and new ways to publish.

9:30 – 10:30 am Verna Dreisbach – “Fabulous Fiction”
Agents receive thousands of queries a year, request hundreds of partials and read even fewer manuscripts. The first page, the first paragraph and sometimes the first sentence is all that is ever read. Learn how to avoid the most common mistakes and gain the edge when submitting your work to an agent or publisher.

Verna Dreisbach, of Dreisbach Literary Management, is an agent, writer and educator. Verna is the founder and president of Capitol City Young Writers, a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and inspiration of aspiring young writers in junior high and high school. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Sacramento State University with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English. She has a taught publishing and writing courses through the University of California Davis Extension and is currently teaching college level English courses in Sacramento, CA. She is the editor of Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in their Lives, published by Seal Press. Through her agency, Verna represents both fiction and non-fiction authors with a particular interest in books with a political, economic or social context. She represents a variety of fiction including commercial, literary and young adult. With over 13 years as a police officer, Verna also has a genuine interest in the genres of mystery, thriller and true crime. She does not represent fantasy, sci-fi, horror, screenplay, Christian or children’s books. Verna is an AAR Member. Visit her at: http://www.dreisbachliterary.com/

.11:00 – 12:00 pm Pete Masterson – “Indie Publishing How-To”
Pete will discuss the self (independent) publishing process, with the steps to prepare a book and publish it, explaining the differences between traditional trade publishers, subsidy publishers, and true independent publishing. The last segment will be a Q&A to address the myriad questions that inevitably arise when talking about indie publishing, CreateSpace, Lightning Source, and other publishing platforms.

Pete Masterson is the author of Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers. Since 1997, his Aeonix Publishing Group (www.aeonix.com) has produced books for clients. Previously, he owned a print shop, managed a trade book typesetting service, and supervised publication production at NASA Ames Research center.

1:45 – 2:45 pm Laurie McLean & Verna Driesbach – “Undercover Agents”
How eBooks have changed the Agent’s role in publishing and how that will affect the way authors work with Agents.

Laurie McLean: At Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco, Northern California’s oldest literary agency founded in 1972, Laurie McLean represents adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, nouveau westerns, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, etc.) as well as middle-grade and young-adult books. She looks for great writing, first and foremost, followed by memorable characters, a searing storyline and solid world building.

Kate Farrell earned a Masters degree from UC-Berkeley; taught in high schools, colleges, universities; founded the Word Weaving storytelling project, publishing educational materials, and editing the Wisdom Has a Voice memoir anthology project, 2011. Visit her website and blog: www.wisdomhasavoice.com.

For three decades, Robert Digitale has been a news reporter for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat. He has covered education, City Hall, real estate, commercial salmon fishing and Sonoma County agriculture. He hosts the Press Democrat’s online blog, “Digitale Stories,” and has released his first fantasy novel, HORSE STALKER, on sale here today. Robert and his wife Carol have three grown daughters living in Chicago, New York City and London.

Scott James, is a three-time Emmy winner for his work in TV news, and his columns about the Bay Area appear in The New York Times and The Bay Citizen. In the world of fiction his is novelist Kemble Scott, author of the bestsellers SoMa and The Sower, which was first released as an e-book.

Rob Loughran’s first novel High Steaks won the 2002 New Mystery Award. He has 22 books in print and also has a career as a failed screenwriter. He lives in Windsor, CA.

Marketing Track

The days of your publisher doing all the PR and marketing for your book is long gone. That, together with the fact that more writers are becoming indie publishers, adds up to this: authors must do their own marketing. In this track, you’ll learn the A-B-Cs of promoting your own books, both locally and throughout cyberspace.

9:30 – 10:30 am Frances Caballo – “I’m on Facebook! (Now What?)”
You’ve finished that book you’ve been working on and now you’re ready to use social media to promote it and stimulate off-the-chart sales – but how?
Learn how to:
• go further with Facebook
• use applications to boost sales
• see what other authors have done
• learn about document sharing websites where you can promote your book and encourage sales.

Frances Caballo has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She has worked with small businesses and local, regional and national nonprofits at all levels of management. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor for Redwood Writers and a volunteer with Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue and Recourse Mediation. She specializes in helping small businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, communications, and fund development needs. Frances studied at the Universities of Madrid and Salamanca in Spain and is bilingual in English/Spanish.

11:00 – 12:00 pm Joel Friedlander – “Author Blogging 101”
Learn why this powerful social media marketing tool is ideal for writers who want to grow their tribe, establish authority, and attract thousands of readers just by doing what you’re uniquely qualified to do–write! You’ll learn about popular blogging platforms, how to get started, setting goals for your blog, and measuring results.

Joel Friedlander (@JFBookman) is an award-winning book designer, a blogger, and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish. Joel is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, CA, a publishing services company where he’s helped launch many self-publishers since 1994. He also writes a popular blog on book design, book marketing and the future of the book at http://www.theBookDesigner.com.

1:45 – 2:45 pm Lee Stein – “Getting Found: Using Google (and other tools) to Promote Your Book and Yourself”
Every writer faces the challenge of getting his/her book found. As the cornerstone of any modern internet-based marketing program, you will learn to identify the keyword phrase that will help you “get found”. With that knowledge, you will then learn several low- or no-cost methods to leverage your keyword phrase into a potent book-marketing program.

Through his market consulting company, Stein Writes, Inc, Lee Stein has developed 12+ ways to cost-effectively promote web content such as white papers for his technology clients. As one of the writers, he has applied his methods to promote a recent anthology, 95 Percent Naked. Visit his website at: www.steinwrites.com

3:15 – 4:15 pm Jeane Slone with KRCB: “Radio & Writers” – “Local Steps in Promoting Your Book”
Slone is the Redwood Writers’ self-taught expert in marketing and selling one’s books locally. She says the best way to get the most sales is from signings at bookstores, festivals and fairs as well as libraries, book clubs, service clubs, literary clubs, salons and coffee houses. Get yourself out there, she says, to be heard and seen. Find your book’s niche and sell to those stores and shops. And definitely sell to your friends and encourage them to promote through word of mouth. Slone will discuss what to wear and what selections to present at readings.

Jeane Slone is the Vice President of the Redwood Writer’s Club, member of the Healdsburg Literary Guild, Military Writer’s Society of America, and The Pacific Coast Air Museum. She is a tutor for the Adult Literacy Program and runs the Odd Month Readings at county libraries. Her two historical fiction books are She Flew Bombers and She Built Ships During WWII; a third one, She Was a Spy During WWII, is in the works. Slone distributes more than 85 local authors’ books to over 22 Sonoma County shops and coffee houses. Visit her at: http://www.jeaneslone.com/

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