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ResidenciesEach sixteen-week online semester is preceded by a ten-day intensive Residency on Whidbey Island. Residencies are required for participation in the following semester's classes. Faculty at Residencies will include both visiting faculty as well as those who are teaching in the following online semester.The residencies are also open to individuals not seeking a degree through the MFA program. For more information, please see the Residency page. Books by the participating authors will be available for purchase before and after evening readings. Information about the authors can be found on the Faculty page of this website. Site: The Captain Whidbey Inn on Whidbey Island Directions to The Captain Whidbey Inn Reserve Housing for the Residency For better viewing: Click here to view Daily Schedule in a separate window Click here for downloadable Daily Schedule (PDF) Spring 2012 Residency Daily ScheduleFriday January 6th thru Tuesday January 10th
Wednesday January 11th thru Sunday January 15th
FacultyKit Bakke • Gloria Burgess • Tess Gallagher • Nina Hess • Christine Holbert • Cheston Knapp • Yi Shun Lai • Deb Lund • Melissa Manlove • Laurie McLean • Kathleen Dean Moore • Dave Patneaude • Terry Persun • Alan Rinzler • JoniSensel • SusanWingate • Steve WhiteKit BakkeSaturday, 1/7 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A)ORAL HISTORY - IT’S NOT ABOUT ME Oral history-taking is a specific methodology for eliciting and documenting human events and experiences. From the simplest family history to books like John Hersey’s Hiroshima, oral history records life as seen and felt by people who lived it first-hand. This class will present key features of the oral history methodology, provide a resource list and a brief opportunity to experiment with the technique. Sunday, 1/8 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A) INJECTING NON-FICTION INTO FICTION (AND VICE VERSA) In literature, what differentiates fiction from non-fiction? Why do we care? The line between fiction and non-fiction has been increasingly challenged ever since Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. We'll explore authorial approaches in this vein and consider opportunities and challenges to this post-modern flexibility. Monday, 1/9 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A) CHASING TRUTHINESS It's said that the victors write the histories and the losers write the songs. Drawing primarily on examples from American and British biography, we'll consider different renditions of historical truth, and how each relates to the author's skills and purpose, the topic at hand and the raw materials available. Kit Bakke is the author of Miss Alcott's E-mail and Dot to Dot, both of which contain hefty doses of non-fictional material. She's taught at Field's End, Edmonds Write on the Sound and other venues, and is a founding member of Seattle7Writers. Before turning to writing, Kit was a pediatric oncology nurse for 13 years, and an IT and business consultant for an additional 13 years. Even before that, she spent five years as a fulltime anti-Vietnam war activist. She’s currently working on two projects about the 1960s. Gloria BurgessFriday, 1/13 and Saturday 1/14 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A)THE POWER OF POETRY TO RENEW AND HEAL, PART 1 (INVOCATION) PART 2 (APPLICATION) Whether you write poetry or simply appreciate it as a reader and listener, poetry offers a unique portal to experience our world, making visible the vast, wondrous landscape of the human heart. This workshop is an invitation to explore this exquisite landscape, to lean in and listen deeply so that we can connect to ourselves and one another across real and perceived boundaries. We will delve into the armature and language of poetry to reveal how poetry can serve as a resource for renewal and healing - in our relationships, our families, our workplaces, and our communities. Part 2 will be a conversation that includes commentary by the presenter and participants about their knowledge, experiences, and reflections on the theme of the power of poetry to renew and heal. Sunday, 1/15 • 3:00 - 4:00 (A) HOW TO EAT A POEM One of the deadliest things a writer can do is to read poems, or any other kind of text, straight from the page. Anyone can do that. In this lively, interactive session, you will learn how to savor and celebrate the cadence of words and silence, so that your listeners can enjoy a delectable feast of words, well-wrought and well-rendered. Dr. Gloria Burgess delights in mining the evocative, rhythmic, lyrical power of language. An award-winning writer, performer, and director, she infuses memory and presence into her writing, performances, and teaching. Her insights on poetry and writing have been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, British Public Radio, a PBS film on social activism and the arts, and in her workshops and keynote presentations. Gloria's latest book, Dare to Wear Your Soul on the Outside, opens with the inspiring story of her father's life-changing relationship with Nobel Laureate William Faulkner. Drawing on the powerful matrix of images, narrative, and poetry, she offers us a new paradigm for living a courageous, creative life, showing us how to be intentional as we create our own legacy. A Cave Canem Fellow, her poetry has been published many anthologies, including Gathering Ground, From My Soul to His Spirit, and The Listening Ear: Black Poets Lean South. Gloria’s books of poetry include The Open Door and Journey of the Rose. Author of best-seller, Legacy Living, she is currently working on an inspirational book for children titled Pass It On!. www.gloriaburgess.com Tess GallagherThursday, 1/12 • 2:00 - 3:00 (A)VOICE IN POETRY, I Tess will lead a two-day demonstration workshop focusing on creating a recognizable voice, with examples to start each session. Friday, 1/13 • 2:00 - 3:00 (A) VOICE IN POETRY, II Tess will lead a two-day demonstration workshop focusing on creating a recognizable voice, with examples to start each session. Tess Gallagher is the author of eight volumes of poetry, including Dear Ghosts, Moon Crossing Bridge, and My Black Horse. Her Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems will be published Fall 2011 from Graywolf Press. Gallagher's The Man from Kenvara: Selected Stories was honored at the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival this September in Cork where she did a reading and a class. Ms. Gallagher's translation of Liliana Ursu's A Path to the Sea, with Adam Sorkin and the author, will be out from Pleasure Boat Studio in Fall 2011. Upon returning home from Ireland in October, Gallagher read her poems and participated in a public interview at the Vancouver International Writers' Festival in Canada. In June of 2010 she was a guest in Montenegro at an international festival where her poems were presented in translation. Blackstaff Press in Belfast published Barnacle Soup -- Stories from the West of Ireland, in 2008, a collaboration with the Irish storyteller and painter Josie Gray. Distant Rain, a conversation with the highly respected Buddhist nun, Jacucho Setouchi, of Kyoto, is both an art book and a cross-cultural moment. Gallagher is also the author of Amplitude, Soul Barnacles: Ten More Years with Ray, A Concert of Tenses: Essays on Poetry, and two collections of short fiction: At the Owl Woman Saloon and The Lover of Horses and Other Stories. She has spearheaded the publication of Raymond Carver's Beginners in Library of America's complete collection of his stories published Fall 2009. Jonathan Cape published Carver's Beginners as a single volume in the UK. She spends time in a cottage on Lough Arrow in Co. Sligo in the West of Ireland and also lives and writes in her hometown of Port Angeles, Washington. Nina HessSaturday, 1/14 4:30-5:30 (B)MAKING MAGIC: WRITING FANTASY FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN From J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, fantasy fiction has taken hold of today's readers, and the trend is showing no signs of abating. In this hands-on workshop, we'll explore what makes writing fantasy different from other types of fiction; how to decide whether your fantasy idea is appropriate for children, young adults, or adults; and tackle some writing exercises that will unleash your imagination--even if you never thought the fantasy genre was for you! Sunday, 1/15, 4:00-5:00 (B) WRITER-FOR-HIRE A work-for-hire contract may seem like a signing a deal with the devil, but many successful authors have made their names--and a solid living--under the auspices of a work-for-hire agreement. This session will explain the technicalities as well as the upsides and downsides of this special publishing agreement, and we'll workshop what it would be like to take on such an assignment. Bring your writing notebooks and your questions! Nina Hess is the editor-in-chief of Dungeons & Dragons Books/Wizards of the Coast where she has edited dozens of fantasy titles for children and adults including the #4 New York Times best-selling Neverwinter by R.A. Salvatore, the New York Times best seller A Practical Guide to Dragons by Lisa Trumbauer, and the YALSA award-winning Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley. Before joining Wizards in 2003, Nina edited children's books at McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Children's Books. She is an instructor at the University of Washington's Writing for Children certificate program and the author of seventeen early readers for the educational market, as well as the trade book titles, Whose Feet? (Random House), and A Practical Guide to Monsters (Mirrorstone) which debuted at #3 on the New York Times picture book best seller list. Visit her web site at www.ninahess.com. Christine HolbertTuesday, 1/10 2:00-3:00 (B)THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING What lies ahead for the book? What is the impact of digital technology on publishing? New technologies are transforming the publisher’s work in numerous ways. We will examine some of the new technologies: books released as downloads in a variety of ebook formats as well as new ways to market books using social media to publicize and attract passionate readers. Wednesday, 1/11 2:00-3:00 (B) MARKETING YOUR BOOK! We will examine the marketing aspects of the publishing industry: advertising, promotional materials, book launches, book tours, press releases, distribution, and industry networking will be discussed as necessary factors for the optimization of sales and distribution for published works. Through a discussion of communications and PR relations, students will learn the specifics of establishing, maintaining, and communicating with press and marketing-related contacts. Christine Holbert, a resident of rural north Idaho, is founding director of Lost Horse Press, a nonprofit independent press that publishes poetry titles of uncommon merit, and makes available fine contemporary literature through cultural, educational and publishing programs and activities. The Lost Horse Press Northwest Series for Emerging Writers is dedicated to works- often ignored by conglomerate publishers- which are so much in danger of vanishing into obscurity in what has become the age of chain stores and mass appeal food, movies, art and books. Ms. Holbert has guided to completion such outstanding titles as Love by Valerie Martin, Hurry Back by Alvin Greenberg, Thistle by Melissa Kwasny, Woman on the Cross and Tales of the Dalai Lama by Pierre Delattre, Just Waking by Christopher Howell, A Change of Maps by Carolyne Wright, and Lucifer by Philip Memmer, among others. Ms. Holbert is just completing work on a design studio overlooking 43-mile-long Lake Pend Oreille which will house an office, workshop space, and Lost Horse Press' 1906 Chandler & Price platen press on which broadsides and chapbooks soon will be printed. Cheston KnappFriday, 1/13 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B)INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING We'll run through the ins and outs of how a literary magazine is put together. From submission to selection to editing to print. We'll also talk about how Tin House's three different branches, the magazine, the summer writers workshop, and the books division, and how all three work to achieve a common goal. Expect stories, pointers, and ample time for Q&A. Saturday, 1/14 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) THE FUTURE Like everything else, is not what it used to be: Paul Valery so nicely sums up our anxieties about change, and our desire for things to stay the same. The publishing world, it's no secret, is transforming. Electronic distribution is coming to be as big a component as print. Virtual marketing adds to the mayhem, no doubt. We'll talk about the challenges facing us, we writers and editors of the written word, and how we might approach them. Sunday, 1/15 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) THE SHELLS OF MEN In this talk, we will explore, literally essay, what it means to call a work of art organic, and why that might still have some relevance in our changing literary landscape. We'll try to go as deep as we can without drowning. Cheston Knapp is managing editor of Tin House magazine and executive director of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. He lives in Portland, OR, with the choices he's made. Yi Shun LaiTuesday 1/ 10 2:00-3:00 (A)REALLY SOCIAL: A WRITER'S GUIDE TO BRANDING YOURSELF ON THE INTERNET What is social media? How did it get to the point where everyone says you have to use it? Is that really true? And why would any writer want to write and think in 140-character chunks? We'll explore the answers to these questions and talk about how writers can best use tools like blogging, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to leverage their works, both existing and forthcoming. The session culminates with a mini-workshop on some social media tools. Yi Shun Lai likes social media so much that she makes her living from it. She's an expert in external communications and has crafted and executed social media and business strategies for several nationwide brands. She has been a writer and editor for over 15 years. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, the Patagonia catalog, Women's Health, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. Web: www.thegooddirt.org; Twitter, LinkedIn. Deb LundSaturday 1/14 4:30-5:30 (B)PICTURE BOOKS: IDEAS TO PUBLICATION This map for creating picture book stories will shorten your learning mileage with tips, tools, and rules for the road. We’ll start our trip with characteristics of picture books, then tour through ideas and plots, character and voice, and structure and format, before detouring into your questions. Prepare to fill your tank with enough information to send your inner critic packing! Sunday 1/15 4:00-5:30 (B) FICTION FIREWORKS This hands-on workshop will provide the spark you need to ignite new stories and fire up current ones. Learn to "think tension" and get into your characters' bodies to keep readers blazing through your pages. Bring ideas or think about your works in progress to build anticipation and crack open your stories for the oohs and aahs that follow. Deb Lund is the author of Monsters on Machines and Harcourt's celebrated dinoseries. Deb has taught writing for over twenty years, frequently presenting at conferences, workshops, libraries, and schools. She supports writers and teachers through coaching, online blogs, continuing education courses, and other resources. More picture books, novels, a book on teaching writing, a children’s music CD, and creativity coaching certification are among Deb's current projects. www.deblund.com. Melissa ManloveFriday 1/13 • 2:00 - 3:00 (B)ABDUCTED BY ALIENS, or Close Encounters of the 4.5 Kind (the Kind Where You Are Published)... in which we will explore the process of getting published, possibly learn to understand publishers better, and see the many stages and relationships of publishing in less alien terms. Saturday 1/14 • 2:00 - 3:00 (B) A NERVOUS SAUSAGE, or Prosody for the Faint of Heart ... in which we will revel in the poetry of language, explore its various musics, learn some rules, and then bend them. Sunday 1/15 • 2:00 - 3:00 (B) A KICK IN THE GUT, or How to Tell a True Story... in which we will discuss the necessity of knowing your Emotional Plot (though not necessarily in your first draft), ponder how we discover the emotional core of a story, and judge how the rest of a story may grow from this center. Melissa Manlove is an editor at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She has been with Chronicle for seven years. She is passionate about all age groups and genres of children’s books, with the exception of religious topics. When acquiring, she looks for fresh takes on familiar topics as well as the new and unusual. An effective approach and strong, graceful writing are important to her. She has 13 years of children’s bookselling experience. Laurie McLeanTuesday, 1/10 • 4:30 - 5:30 (B)WRITING AND SELLING GENRE FICTION Genre fiction, including romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thrillers, horror and to some extent westerns, have writer rules and reader expectations that must be met if you’re going to write for these lucrative markets. Find out the secrets of Genre Fiction Success from literary agent Laurie McLean who specializes in these types of books. Wednesday, 1/11 • 4:30 - 5:30 (B) THE AGENT'S ROLE IN THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF PUBLISHING With the disruptive force of digital technology turning the publishing world upside down, everything is changing from the definition of a book to what it means to be a published author. As some barriers are eliminated and new challenges arise, such as how to market yourself as an author, the role of the literary agent is evolving too. Agent Laurie McLean shares her wisdom on how to navigate these choppy seas of digital publishing. Thursday, 1/12 • 4:30 - 5:30 (B) MOVING BETWEEN WRITING FOR ADULTS AND WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS One of the fastest growing and strongest selling areas of publishing today is the teen or YA market. Can you straddle the fence between writing for adults and writing for teens? Many authors do just that. Find out how you can succeed as an author with each foot planted squarely in these diverse and surprisingly similar worlds. Laurie Mclean, Agent, Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents At Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco, Northern California's oldest literary agency founded in 1972. Laurie 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. 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. Query her at query@agentsavant.com. Laurie is also the dean of the new San Francisco Writers University at www.SFWritersU.com and on the management team of the San Francisco Writers Conference. Kathleen Dean MooreSaturday, 1/14 • 2:00-3:00 (A)THE NATURE ESSAY: PRACTICING THE OSPREY'S ART Here is how an osprey hunts: soaring over water, patiently watching. All she sees are surfaces, reflections on the riffles, the glistening pines. Then the angle of light changes, or the direction of the wind, and the osprey catches a glimpse of a shadow under the surface of the water. She tucks her wings and dives. So it is with the nature essay. A nature essay begins with patient, loving, informed observation of a particular location. Then it pursues a truth briefly revealed in that place. In this talk, we will examine the essayist’s art of moving between experience and the exploration of its meaning. Sunday, 1/15 • 2:00-3:00 (A) THE WRITER IN A WORLD OF WOUNDS In a world of economic and ecosystem collapse, many writers are reluctantly putting aside their novels or essays to write instead in the unfamiliar form of the political manifesto -- Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, David James Duncan. I’ve found myself in the same uncomfortable place, wanting to write about birdsong, but writing instead about birds with their wings on fire. How can a writer negotiate the competing demands of art and activism, hope and despair? What are the obligations of a writer in what Aldo Leopold called a 'world of wounds'? What sources of strength and gladness will empower our work? [ bio ] Dave PatneaudeTuesday, 1/10 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A)RESEARCHING STORIES FROM OTHER ERAS: THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY, VERISIMILITUDE, AND OTHER BIG-WORD ESSENTIALS "Write what you know" is useful advice, but on the surface, limiting. What happens when a writer wants to step outside his or her small area of expertise and write a story about a situation or in a setting he or she knows little or nothing about? No problem! There's a bridge from ignorance to knowledge, and it’s built of research, doggedness, and imagination. In this session YA author David Patneaude will discuss, and show examples of, his journeys into both the past and future to lend credibility to his historical novels A PIECE OF THE SKY and THIN WOOD WALLS, and his dystopian thriller EPITAPH ROAD. Wednesday, 1/11 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A) PUTTING ON YOUR EDITOR'S HAT: LOOKING AT OTHERS' WRITING (AND YOUR OWN) TO DEVELOP AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH TO REVISION "Killing your darlings" (as one famous writer put it) is never easy. But if you begin with the premise that no writing is sacred and follow that with an objective method to evaluate what you or someone else (one of those 'real' writers, maybe) has done, some of your emotional attachment to early drafts may disappear. In this session David Patneaude will talk about his experiences with submission, rejection, rewriting, and revision, and discuss, using examples, a practical, qualitative, and quantitative approach for looking at the strengths and weaknesses of a piece of writing and determining how to make it better. If possible, come prepared to discuss something you’ve read that others may be familiar with. Thursday, 1/12 • 3:15 - 4:15 (A) USING ALL THE TOOLS IN YOUR WRITERS' TOOLBOX Your writers' toolbox has lots of compartments, big and small, and in each there are tools. Getting something significant written and published and marketed is a big project, and you can't get it done with just a hammer or just a wrench or just a screwdriver, or even with all three of those. You need to be familiar with each tool in your box and how to use it and then you need to employ everything applicable to the particular genre you're writing in. In this session David Patneaude will discuss some of the essential implements a writer needs to utilize, and tasks a writer needs to accomplish, to be an effective and respected writer and to get a writing project up and running with a reasonable chance to move on down the road. (We'll talk about genres, too, particularly those sometimes-confusing classifications for young readers.) Bring writing materials, as at least one of the topics discussed will involve a short writing exercise. David Patneaude began writing seriously (more or less) in the 1980s. His first novel, SOMEONE WAS WATCHING, was published in 1993. His books have been named to dozens of state young readers' lists and honored by the New York Public Library, the Society of School Librarians International, the Winnetka (Illinois) Public Library's "One Book, Two Villages" program, and the Washington State Public Library. His latest is EPITAPH ROAD. When he's not in a coffee shop writing, or at a school or library or conference discussing writing, or out on the trail thinking about writing, he's home in Woodinville with his wife Judy, a junior high librarian. Terry PersunTuesday, 1/10 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A)USING FORM IN FREE VERSE POETRY Each poem that comes into the world has its own way of presenting itself, often beginning with the sound of a line or phrase. Taking that poem further draws on how the poem makes sense, whether literally, emotionally, or musically. From these two pieces, format can dictate how a poem is read aloud as well as on the page. This discussion will brush over alliteration, repetition, etc. so that the focus is on form. Here we will explore line length, end stops, enjambment, stanza breaks, punctuation, number of syllables, meter, and how all this affects the reading of the poem aloud and on the page. Wednesday, 1/11 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A) MASTERING VOICE IN FICTION This course will briefly cover key structural elements needed for writing fiction, such as character, plot, and setting. This will lead into several ways to consider genre selection based on you as well as your story concept. From here, the discussion will explore voice - how to define it, does it change for each novel, and what elements of voice are most important. At this point in the student's career, I think I can cover some key structural elements quickly, and then lead the class into a discussion on genre selection. Again, this would be brief, because the real exploration is in how genre, POV, age of main character, etc. can affect voice. I don’t believe we have one voice that we mysteriously acquire along the way, I believe that, like actors, we have to take on the voices of our characters and change the voice of our narration to suit the particular work. Thursday, 1/12 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A) BREAKING THE RULES This course is meant to explore the 'rules' of writing and when it's okay to ignore them - and when it's okay to abuse them. The discussion will cover adverbs, repetition, passive voice, POV, and much more. Although the general publishing business operates off of a 'guilty until proven innocent' thought process, I believe it should be the other way around. If I notice repetition, I should be looking for 'why' the author chose it before I call it a mistake. In this sense, I'm asking the students to know why they do something, and to do it on purpose. This attitude will increase each author's awareness of his or her craft. Tuesday, 1/10 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) SELECTING A PUBLISHING MODEL - 1 This course will help the student understand the publishing options available to them, and to give them an idea how to select which option might be best for them, for a particular work, or for both. Although the discussion will cover large publishers, small publishers, and self-publishing options, the focus will be on small independent publishing. Wednesday, 1/11 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) WORKING WITH SMALL PUBLISHERS - 2 In this class, we will explore more closely the benefits and possible drawbacks of working with publishers, editors, and artists who are part of a small publisher's staff (or outsourced). A brief discussion of contracts will be included. Thursday, 1/12 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) TAKING YOUR WORK TO THE PUBLIC - 3 Small publishers have particular ways in which they produce, distribute, and market their titles. This course will explore what an author can expect from a small press, and what they can do to help move their books. Terry Persun is the author of six novels ranging from science fiction to literary. His most noted literary title, "Wolf's Rite," won a Star of Washington Award, a POW Award for Best Novel, and was a ForeWord magazine Book of the Year Finalist. His latest novels include an historical fiction, "Sweet Song," about a black passing as white; and a dystopian science fiction novel, "Cathedral of Dreams." He has also published two poetry collections and six poetry chapbooks, two of which were contest winners. He writes technical articles for trade journals, including articles about the behind-the-scenes technologies used in movies and at theme parks. Terry has been writing professionally for over twenty-five years. Alan RinzlerSaturday, 1/7 • 4:30 - 5:30 (B)STRATEGIC TWEETING AND OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTHORS' SELF-MARKETING THEIR WORK How the various types of social networking can be utilized at home for a limited amount of time each day without losing valuable creative hours or even leaving the house. Case histories and specific techniques for the tools of social networking, including twitter, website, blogs, YouTube, Face Book and other channels of connecting with potential readers without an intermediary like the mass media or commercial publishers. Sunday, 1/8 • 4:30 - 5:30 HOW THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS SHIFTED FROM PUBLISHERS TO AUTHORS IN WRITING AND GETTING PUBLISHED A major shift has occurred in the book business with commercial publishers finally realizing that the old ways of marketing don't work. Expensive ads in the New York Times and 26 city tours with limos and hotel suites are a waste of money since they don't sell books as well as an author communicating online directly with a reader. The inability of publishers to predict what will or won't sell, moreover, has helped make self-publishing a powerful new tool for authors to see their work appear more rapidly and in their total control, without the frustrating experience of being ignored or rejected by agents and publishers as an unknown newcomer or non-celebrity. Consequently, the topsy-turvey book business is in such a period of rapid change and experimentation that the author has more power and options to choose from than ever before. Monday, 1/9 • 4:30 - 5:30 WRITING THE BEST YOU CAN AND GETTING PUBLISHED Whether you hope to go the classic route and get an agent who’ll try to sell your book to a commercial publisher, or elect to cut the Gordian knot and self-publish for total control over content, packaging and faster distribution to the market, you still won’t sell unless you have a good book. In this session, we’ll analyze the most common mistakes in a draft proposal or manuscript, including characterization, plot structure, a narrative arc that leads to an emotionally satisfying conclusion, and other problems seen in various books prepared without professional feedback. Alan Rinzler has edited and published Toni Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Robbins, Robert Ludlum, Jerzy Kosinski, Shirley MacLaine, Clive Cussler, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, and others. He has been in the publishing business since 1962 as Assistant Managing Editor at Simon & Schuster, Senior Editor at Macmillan and Holt, Director of Trade Publishing at Bantam Books, VP and Associate Publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, President of Straight Arrow Books, the book division of Rolling Stone, West Coast Editor for the Grove Press, and for the past twenty years Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons. He retired as of January 1, 2011 and is currently active as a free-lance consultant and developmental editor. Joni SenselSaturday, 1/7 • 2:00 - 3:00 (B)SELF-PUBLISHING FOR TRADITIONALISTS SELF-PUBLISHING FOR TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED AUTHORS From ebooks of out-of-print works to the final books of series that fans love but that the publisher has declined to continue, authors have new options - without turning their backs on traditional publishing. Things are moving fast, but this talk would explore current options, opportunities, pitfalls, and examples. Sunday, 1/8 • 2:00 - 3:00 (B) ALLIANCE MARKETING TEAMING WITH OTHERS TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK (this would include how author group marketing is evolving and what the speaker learned from her experiences as an officer for one of the trend-setters, the Class of 2k7) Saturday, 1/7 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A) A WRITING FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS Whether a writer thinks of herself as an outliner or an intuitive, the subconscious plays a critical role in inspiration, theme, symbolism, and the meaning of the storytelling. I'll talk about ways to more consciously harness this power to express greater emotional resonance, passion, and universality. (Based in part on professional training I've had related to hypnosis). Sunday, 1/8 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A) A BUILDING WORLDS OUT OF WORDS Works from sci-fi to historical fiction need convincing worlds, not just for setting but for rich characters and believable plot points. I'll discuss ways to create a believable reality and how to leverage that world for stronger work. Monday, 1/9 • 4:30 - 5:30 (A) A DO KIDS STILL SAY THAT? The rewards and challenges of writing for young readers (when you're not one yourself) Joni Sensel is the author of four novels for young readers, two clandestine picture books, and several nonfiction books for adults. Her fiction has been praised as a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Bank Street College of Education "Best Book," a Cybils Award and Crystal Kite Award finalist, a Truman Award short-listed title, and a Henry Bergh Honor winner. She is co-regional advisor for the Western Washington chapter of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, and she lives at the knees of Mt. Rainier. Soundings Organizational MeetingThursday 1/12 2:00-3:00 (B)An informational and organizational meeting for all students and faculty who wish to be involved with Soundings Review. Susan WingateSaturday, 1/7 • 2:00 - 3:00 (A)"WUCHU SAY?" ALL ABOUT POV NARRATOR & VOICE I Don't let people tell you that you can't learn voice. You can. This workshop will examine other voice-y writers and teach ways your storytelling voice will stand apart from other writers. Through the use of audio clips and reading samples from well-known authors, students will learn how to develop their craft through exercises in voice. Sunday, 1/8 • 2:00 - 3:00 (A) "WUCHU SAY?" ALL ABOUT POV NARRATOR & VOICE II Don't let people tell you that you can't learn voice. You can. This workshop will examine other voice-y writers and teach ways your storytelling voice will stand apart from other writers. Through the use of audio clips and reading samples from well-known authors, students will learn how to develop their craft through exercises in voice. Monday, 1/9 • 2:00 - 3:00 (A) "WUCHU SAY?" ALL ABOUT POV NARRATOR & VOICE III Don't let people tell you that you can't learn voice. You can. This workshop will examine other voice-y writers and teach ways your storytelling voice will stand apart from other writers. Through the use of audio clips and reading samples from well-known authors, students will learn how to develop their craft through exercises in voice. Saturday, 1/7 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) JUMP ON BOARD THE STARSHIP E-PUBLISHING I With everything in publishing changing at lightspeed, how will you keep up? This class will teach ways to e-publish and to self-publish through POD publishing platforms like CreateSpace and Lightning Source. It will get down to building a bookcover and formatting the files to upload and sell online - whether as an eBook or a print book. We will also explore ways to publicize and market work through social sites, through online bookclubs and by manipulating online distributors to sell more books for you. By using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and many other social networks you will advance your career exponentially. Then, we'll show you how to promote your work so that it sells through Amazon, B&N and Smashwords. Sunday, 1/8 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) JUMP ON BOARD THE STARSHIP E-PUBLISHING II With everything in publishing changing at lightspeed, how will you keep up? This class will teach ways to e-publish and to self-publish through POD publishing platforms like CreateSpace and Lightning Source. It will get down to building a bookcover and formatting the files to upload and sell online--whether as an eBook or a print book. We will also explore ways to publicize and market work through social sites, through online bookclubs and by manipulating online distributors to sell more books for you. By using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and many other social networks you will advance your career exponentially. Then, we'll show you how to promote your work so that it sells through Amazon, B&N and Smashwords. Monday, 1/9 • 3:15 - 4:15 (B) JUMP ON BOARD THE STARSHIP E-PUBLISHING III With everything in publishing changing at lightspeed, how will you keep up? This class will teach ways to e-publish and to self-publish through POD publishing platforms like CreateSpace and Lightning Source. It will get down to building a bookcover and formatting the files to upload and sell online--whether as an eBook or a print book. We will also explore ways to publicize and market work through social sites, through online bookclubs and by manipulating online distributors to sell more books for you. By using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and many other social networks you will advance your career exponentially. Then, we'll show you how to promote your work so that it sells through Amazon, B&N and Smashwords. Susan Wingate, award-winning bestselling author, with writing compared to Alfred Hitchcock, Truman Capote and James Patterson, is co-host of the popular talk radio show, DIALOGUE: BETWEEN THE LINES. You can hear Susan as she chats with other authors about writing and the publishing industry. Susan has written nine novels, two short story collections, a few plays, one screenplay and tons of poems. Her latest 2011 release, DROWNING (contemporary women's fiction), won her a finalist award in the 2011 International Book Awards. As did the no. 1 book in her award-winning Bobby's Diner series. Susan teaches six writing workshops through PNWA at the Writers Cottage and at writing conferences around the country. Her pseudonyms include Myah Lin (literary fiction) and JJ Adams (noir mystery). She lives in Washington State with her husband, Bob Wingate. Steve WhiteMonday, 1/9 • 2:00-3:00 (B)YOUR NOVEL ON THE KINDLE Should you upload your novel to the Kindle? Steve White explains the advantages and dispels some myths. He will describe how to publish electronically to Amazon and Smashwords, then he'll pass on the tricks he learned through trial and error, including official and unofficial marketing techniques. Get ready for secret wisdom and hard data, so you can skip the unnecessary and do the essential. Steve White has written five novels over the past decade. In Spring 2010, he published one on the Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. Surprised by its success, he uploaded a second in Summer 2010. You can reach him through his writing blog, noveldog.com. Fall 2011 Residency Daily Schedule Spring 2011 Residency Daily Schedule. |
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