Upcoming Writer's Conferences & Book Events

This month there is a huge release party for Brandon Mull's new series The Beyonders which comes out on Tuesday, March 15th will be held at Cottonwood High School in Murray, Utah. For further information please click on Brandon's site. Brandon always has an incredible release party and it is well worth attending. Usually there are booths for a few other authors from the same publishing firm there as well.

In April, there is a conference to be held in American Fork, Utah. For further details please go to Caleb Warnock's blog. The price is incredible and the information invaluable.

In May, the LDS Storymaker's will be hosting a conference in Salt Lake City. For further details click on their conference site. I went to this two years ago and the classes were amazing and it was absolutely brilliant to be taught by so many incredible authors.

Also in May, is the Provo Children's Book Festival will be held May 7th. The one I went to a few years ago had 30-40 children's book authors and illustrators, plus games and activities for the kids. It is an event well worth attending. There aren't many details as of yet, but keep checking the Provo Library website for details beginning in April.

Conference & Conference

The League of Utah Writers Conference that was held this last weekend was phenomenal. Wonderful speakers, amazing workshops, and the food was fantastic too. I was only able to attend the Saturday afternoon and evening events, but it was still worthwhile. Keep on eye out on this site over the next few weeks as I post what I learned.

I have also heard that the American Fork, Utah Arts Council is sponsoring a Fall Writers Conference the beginning of October include the following authors - Josi Kilpack, John D. Brown, Annette Lyon, LeAnne Tolley and Caleb Warnock. Here is the information if you are interested.

Autumn Conference for Writers Date: Saturday, October 9, 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Where: Historic City Hall
Cost: $39.00
For schedule, visit smashingstories.blogspot.com & click on conference link. TO REGISTER, CALL 801-763-3081 or email lori@afcity.net.

Fantastic Blog on Writing

One of the amazing people that I met at the American Fork Writer's Conference was up-and-coming author Natalie Whipple. She gave some fantastic advice on how to write synopsis. If you want to learn a great way how to do that, or to learn some other fantastic writing advice then I would HIGHLY recommend checking out her blog BetweenFactandFiction.

Things I learned at AF Writers Conference

A few weeks ago I attended the American Fork Writers conference. It was fantastic. It was a smaller scaled conference from others that I've gone to in the past, but the information given was still just as pertinent and helpful as all the others. Plus you just couldn't beat the price - $29. Guest authors included Ginger Churchill, Ally (Allison) Condie, Eric James Stone, Shannon Guymon, Natalie Whipple, Sara Larson, Linda Jefferies, and Caleb Warnock. Visiting Editors included Derk Koldewyn of Deseret Book, and Greg Finn of Granite Publishing.

The following is the first installment of what I learned from the various Keynote Speakers:

Ginger Churchill

- 3 Things That I Wish I Knew Before Becoming A Writer

• 1) How to Write
  
  - It is important to learn the ins and outs of writing. Attend classes if necessary and make sure to attend as many conferences as you can so that you can learn from other writers. - It is okay to admit that you are a writer. There is no shame in using your creative abilities to create stories. Be proud of who you are and what you are attempting to do/become.
  
  
• 2) How to Take a Critique
  There are two types of critiques
  • 1) The Cheerleader The cheerleader only focuses on the positives and tells you how wonderful you are. Though it is nice to hear cheerleading critiquing it is almost impossible to find out how to improve your work through it.
  • 2) Slasher/Helper The Slasher/Helper is often harder to hear as it will feel harsh, but take a moment to step back from the writer role and look at their critique from an evaluators role and you should be able to see which of their feedback might help improve the story and which of their feedback you can choose to disregard.
  
  
  - No matter whether you received the Cheerleader or the Slasher/Helper critique maker sure to thank them for taking the time to look at your work and provide feedback. - While they are providing the feedback do not defend your work if you disagree with them. Consider having someone else critique your work and if they come back with the same feedback then you need to step back and admit that there may be a problem with that part of the story.
  
  
• 3) Writing is a Team Effort
  
  • - It's not all about you. When you write you have to make it not about you, but about your readers and what they think, see, and hear when they read your story.
  • - You get out what you put in. So if you want to be published you need to work at being consistent with your efforts to write.

I really enjoyed listening to Ginger speak and am looking forward to checking out some of the picture books she has written for my kids. Keep checking the NedaraTree regularly for the next installment of what I learned from author Ally (Allison) Condie who has written YA Novels for the National as well as LDS markets. Hope you have an awesome day and don't forget...Have faith in what you are doing? You deserve to live the dream and to write the dream.

American Fork Writers Conference

I had an amazing time attending the American Fork Writers Conference this weekend in American Fork, Utah. It has to be one of the most inexpensive writers' conference with the most fantastic information that can help a writer move forward toward their dreams. I will try and post some of the things that I learned during the conference over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, there are a few events that I wanted to pass on the info for.
1) If you missed the AF Writers' Conference this year, then plan on coming to the one next year which will be held on April 16, 2011.

2) If you plan on participating in next year's conference there is also an opportunity to have your work published in anthology that will be sold on next year's conference. The due date for submissions is Aug 1, 2010. There is no submission fee and if your work shows up in the anthology you will get a free copy at next year's conference. Submissions must be no more than 500 words (20 lines if its poetry) and can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and novel excerpts. To submit your work or ask for further details regarding the submission guidelines then email submissions@writingindepth.com.

3) If you live in Utah and feel like you could use additional help in your writing, getting help with submissions, and much more the American Fork Arts council is sponsoring a weekly manuscript workshop with Caleb Warnock to be held at the AF Historic City Hall at 31 North Church Street. The class costs $10 each class when you purchase a month at a time, or $15 for a single class. I'm definitely going to start attending and I hope to see you there.

Never give up hope on your writing dreams.