Choose from a variety of hour-long sessions and ninety-minute interactive workshops offered throughout the morning. Our industry experts will talk on subjects that focus on Craft, Genre, Publishing and Marketing.
Click on a name or topic, below, to read more.
CRAFT 1
10:10 - 11:10 a.m.
SESSION - Scene Stealer
You’ve felt the pulse-pounding drama of a good story, caught up in a book that feels so real you might have been inside it. What makes a story come to life? Strong, powerful scenes--the building blocks of great fiction and memoir. They bring flat narrative into full-color action, allow you to breathe life into compelling characters through dynamic action, and when added up, they create powerful plots. This workshop will give you a crash course in this essential element of writing.
JORDAN ROSENFELD
Jordan Rosenfeld is author of the forthcoming novel Fallout (Running Wild Press, 2025), as well as Women in Red and Forged in Grace and six books on the craft of writing, including How to Write a Page-Turner, the bestselling Make a Scene, Writing the Intimate Character, A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, Writing Deep Scenes and Write Free. Her freelance writing has been published in hundreds of publications, including: The Atlantic, The New York Times, Scientific American, Writer’s Digest Magazine, The Washington Post and many more. She is also a freelance manuscript editor, writing coach and teaches online classes.
Books:
- Make a Scene
- Writing Deep Scenes
- How to Write a Page Turner
- Writing the Intimate Character
- A Writer’s Guide to Persistence
- Write Free
AMANDA McTIGUE
Amanda McTigue has spent her life writing for the page and the stage. Her debut novel Going to Solace was named a Best Read by public radio KRCB. Since then, her published short stories have earned her a Pushcart Prize nomination, and a semi-finalist nod from the American Literary Review. Amanda’s written works for the stage have been produced at Carnegie Hall, the Minnesota Opera, and Sonoma County’s Green Music Center. In previous lives, she was an actor-singer in New York City, a concept writer for Disney Entertainment, and a director/producer for Paramount Entertainment. Since moving to Petaluma in 2000, she’s been staging operas and musicals at Sonoma State University. She’s told prize-winning stories live at Petaluma’s West Side Stories. She also coaches, helping singers act and actors sing. She’s hard at work finishing her second novel, The Cautionary Tales.
- amandamctigue.com
- www.instagram.com/amanda.mctigue
- amandamctigue.substack.com
- www.facebook.com/amanda.mctigue
11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
WORKSHOP - UNDERGOING: Resonance and Power on the Page
We writers may have some good stuff going—images in our heads, ideas in outline, or maybe we’re sitting on a near-final manuscript. We could be writing horror or lyric poetry, satire or high drama, sticky non-fiction or living histories, but at some point, the question arises: does the reader care? Maybe it comes from an editor or a friend, or maybe from our own intuition as we go along. Can we feel the beating heart? Are we reaching through the page? In this workshop, we’ll do some short, deep dives (through exercises and prompts) in order to open the emotional landscape of our writing, enhancing authenticity and meaning on the one hand, surprise and subtlety on the other.
CRAFT 2
10:10 - 11:10 a.m.
SESSION - Making Metaphors
Whenever I read a metaphor, something alters, and a rival reality emerges. If someone’s hair color is compared to basil, the world that previously kept those two things apart is made anew. “Every metaphor or simile is a little explosion of fiction within the larger fiction of the novel or story,” writes James Wood. Magically, with this explosion, a new way of seeing emerges, and this is the power of metaphor and fiction. In this session, we'll focus on a strategy for making metaphors and then, for the bulk of our time together, you'll write some of your own. You'll come away more adept at creating original metaphors.
Handout: Metaphor-Lecture-Handout.docx
NINA SCHUYLER
Nina Schuyler’s short story collection, In This Ravishing World, won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature and was published on July 2, 2024. Her novel, Afterword, was published last year and won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Science Fiction and Literary and the PenCraft Seasonal Book Award for Literary-Science Fiction. Her novel, The Translator, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and the Northern California Book Award. Her nonfiction book, How to Write Stunning Sentences, is a bestseller. Her short stories have been published by Zyzzyva, Fugue, Nashville Review, Your Impossible Voice, Santa Clara Review, and elsewhere.
Books:
- In This Ravishing World
- Afterword
- How to Write Stunning Sentences
DIANE FRANK
Diane Frank is author of eight books of poems, three novels, and a photo memoir of her 400-mile trek in the Nepal Himalayas. She is also Chief Editor of Blue Light Press. While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems won the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Poetry. Diane plays cello in the Golden Gate Symphony and collaborated with Matt Arnerich to create an orchestral suite based on her poem, "Tree of Life." She teaches poetry, flash fiction and memoir workshops at San Francisco State University and Dominican University. Her first novel, Blackberries in the Dream House, won the Chelson Award for Fiction and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Books:
- While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems
- Canon for Bears and Ponderosa Pines
- Letters from a Sacred Mountain Place
- The Winter Life of Shooting Stars
- Blackberries in the Dream House
11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
WORKSHOP - Poetry as the Language of the Soul
Diane Frank will share ideas about:
- Poetry as the Language of the Soul
- How poems take the flying leap to the magic place
- Writing poetry larger than yourself
- Reaching the transcendent core of a poem
- How poetry speaks through time.
She will read some of her poems and then offer a writing prompt, with a brief writing session, followed by a first flight open mic for the poems that are written from the prompt.
PUBLISHING / MARKETING 1
10:10 – 11:10 p.m.
SESSION - Love to Write But Hate to Sell? Create Comfortable Conversations That Sell Your Book
Every Year, thousands become first time authors. Every year thousands of books sit in the garages of their authors, waiting for the orders to come through. Today you will walk away with concrete ways to move those books out and bring cash in. The Lean In Factor will guide you in how to use your voice to sell your writing.
RAY ENGAN
Ray Engan was a shy little boy who avoided talking to strangers by walking inside the safety of his Mom’s wrap around skirts. He went on to a career in stand-up comedy, performing with and writing for some of America's best comedians. He created a skill of connecting through comedy in the business world and became the sales manager of America’s most award winning small business, Ray has testified before a presidential task force, and appeared on MSNBC, as a Voice of small business in America.
Today, Ray is an award winning motivational speaker, coach and Sales coach to entrepreneurs. He created the program, The Humor Algorithm, which demystifies the process of humor and can make anyone funnier. Currently the President and CEO of Leadership Through Laughter and has coached over 2 dozen National Speakers Association Hall of Fame speakers. His upcoming program, The Lean In Factor, is designed for entrepreneurs who present to make quicker connections, faster friendships and bigger sales, and is due out next month.
- RayEngan.com
- LeadershipThroughLaughter.com
- medium.com/@ray_37327
- www.facebook.com/ray.engan/
- www.linkedin.com/in/leadershipthroughlaughter
JEFF GOINS
Jeff Goins is the best-selling author of five books, including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve. His award-winning blog Goinswriter.com has been visited by tens of millions of people, and through his online courses and events, he's taught over 20,000 writers since 2012. Jeff lives outside of Nashville with his family, where they spend most of their free time listening to records and making homemade pasta.
Books:
- The Art of Work
- Real Artists Don’t Starve
- "What Is Writing?"
11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
WORKSHOP - Bestseller Bootcamp: How to Bake the Marketing of Your Book into the Writing Process
Bestselling author Jeff Goins knows the difference between a book that lands and one that falls flat—he's done both. In this workshop, Jeff will break down the book planning process, sharing with you the anatomy of a bestseller, how you can find your next big idea, and how to start writing it. Pulling from both fiction and nonfiction examples, he'll share with you how most bestselling books are not accidents or mere strokes of luck but more often than not a predictable process that anyone can follow. This workshop is ideal for anyone who has just started their book and needs help figuring out where to go or is tired of missing the mark and wants to figure out what they're missing. Uniquely blending both traditional writing practices with nearly twenty years of marketing experience, Jeff will help you fill the gaps and make your next book your best one yet.
Questions?
Comments?
Send Us a Message
If you didn't find answers to your questions on the FAQ page, please use this form, or send an email to:
[email protected]
We will respond as soon as possible.
Thank you!
Questions? Comments?
Send Us a Message
