Newsletter of the Society of Southwestern Authors
Vol. 36, No. 4 August/September '08
|
|
Upcoming Events
August 17
Forum @11:30-2PM
Four Points Sheraton
Ned Mackey
"Poetry With Pizzazz!"
August 23
Saguaro Romance Writers @10-1:30PM
El Parador, 2744 E Broadway Blvd
Christina Skye, "The Sensual Hero's Journey"
$15 members, $20 others. E-mail Suzanne
Moore at suz72350@hotmail.com
Sept. 27-28
Wrangling With Writing
Holiday Inn Palo Verde
(see article this page)
October 19
Forum @11:30-2PM
Four Points Sheraton
SSA Writing Contest AWARDS!
"Come and see who won!"
November 16
Holiday Book Fair @12-4PM
Four Points Sheraton
"Get your Holiday shopping done early"
To R.S.V.P. Forum
Leave Phone Message
at 546-9382
or e-mail: forums@ssa-az.org
WEDNESDAY before the Forum
$20 paid at the door
|
|
Poetry With Pizzazz! Using Multimedia
by Jude Johnson
There's more to presenting your poetry (or any other genre!) than just
reading it. Ned Mackey will show us how to utilize multimedia for your
next public signing to make an indelible impression and increase interest
in your work.
Ned used fine art for writing prompts during his thirty-six year career
as a high school English teacher. He has won first prizes in poetry from
the Society of Southwestern Authors and the Arizona State Poetry Society.
"Art for Poetry's Sake," twenty-six ekphrastic poems accompanying a
visual presentation and discussion of fine art images, will emphasize
how the connection of spoken word and visuals can create a memorable
experience.
Join us at the Sheraton Four Points Conference Center on August 17th.
As always, you can either call in your reservations to 546-9382 OR e-mail
forums@ssa-az.org by the Wednesday prior (in this case, August 13th).
Wrangling With Writing Conference
"How to Write and Sell Your Work"
Top Publishers, Agents, Editors and Keynoters
Coming to
The Society of Southwestern Authors Conference
HURRY: Top publishers, agents, editors and keynote
speakers will join hundreds of published and aspiring
authors in Tucson Sept. 27-28 for the 36th annual
Wrangling With Writing conference.
The conference, at the Holiday Inn Palo Verde, will
feature more than 30 workshops and keynote presentations by Taylor
Mali, the nation's foremost poetry slam specialist and passionate
teacher's advocate (with a rousing performance of his poetry); Corey
Blake, instrumental in the development of more than 300 screenplays
and manuscripts ("Your Book, Your Legacy"); and multiple book author
Deborah LeBlanc, President of the Horror Writers Association and
Mystery Writers of America's Southwest Chapter ("When Everyone
Else Says You Can't").
Complete information, including a downloadable registration form,
is currently available at the Wrangling With Writing website, www.ssaaz.
org/conference.htm or call Registrar at (520) 296-5299. Cost is $275 for members
of the Society of Southwestern Authors, and $350 for non-members. The fee includes
five meals and registration packets. In addition, there is a $20 fee for each pitch
or consultation interview scheduled with guest editors, agents, publishers and
marketing consultants.
Full-time writing, English, and literature teachers can receive a $75 discount.
Two full scholarships will be awarded to deserving participants. Essay on "Why
I Love to Write" required.
In addition to keynote speeches, presentations, and professional interviews, books
from faculty members and other authors will be available for sale. The conference
will run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
Sunday, Sept. 28. Workshops begin each day at 9:15 a.m.
Wrangling With Writing enjoys a lasting reputation as one of the nation's most
affordable and valuable conferences, in terms of both presentations and marketing
opportunities. It also enjoys the presence of many of the country's top workshop
presenters and agents.
"We always try to accomplish two things above all with Wrangling With Writing—providing as much technical and marketing inside information to our participants
as possible, and to give participants the best possible opportunity to sell their work,
or receive the best advice on doing so," Wrangling With Writing Director Penny
Porter said. "We've had quite a few book deals come out of this conference, and
many other leads and consultations that led to book deals."
Wrangling With Writing is anchored by a faculty of 30-plus editors, authors,
workshop presenters, publishers, and marketing consultants—including National
Book Award and Pulitzer nominees, Burroughs Award and Independent Publishers
Book Award recipients, and publishers St. Martin's Press and Harlequin. Workshop
topics cover creative and technical points of all forms of writing—fiction, non-fiction,
essays, memoir, screenwriting, and poetry. Topics will also address the business side
of publishing, including marketing, self-editing, preparing manuscripts for agents
and publishers, selling to non-traditional markets, and more.
"One of the things that, I feel, distinguishes our conferences from others is the
attention we pay to all forms of publishing," Porter said. "You can't be a writer in
today's publishing world and expect the publisher to buy your book, expect them
to do all the work, and wait for the advance and royalty checks. While this can and
does happen, it's very important to know the many ways to publish today and how
you can help your own cause by being informed. Like our other presentations, these
workshops give the very latest information and tips on the publishing world."
For more information, contact Penny Porter at (520) 296-5299 (wporter202@aol.
com) or Barbara Stahura at (520) 575-9650 (Barbara@BarbaraStahura.com).
For a great inside look at how to get the most out of your
Wrangling with Writing experience, see the article, "Meet Me In The Bar:
Notes on Working A Writer's Conference" by one of our favorite workshop
leaders, Bob Yehling, at ssa-az.org/meet_me.htm
|
Successes
Dorothy Daniels Anderson's play, The
Bed, has just been optioned by Theater
West for their 2009 season. Dorothy
has had four of her one-act plays
produced at the Herberger Theater
Center in Phoenix as part of their
lunchtime theater program. She also
had one of her ten-minute plays given
a stage reading in 2007 at the Pandora
Festival of the Arizona Women's
Theater in Scottsdale. In addition she
has had staged readings of two plays
at the Theater Artist Studio.
Her book, Arizona Legends and Lore,
Tales of Southwestern Pioneers, published
by Golden West Publishers is currently
in its ninth printing.
Eileen Birin of Neelie Publishing
announces the publication of her
newest book, Burnt Incense, a novel of
trust - deceit - defense.
Thirty-five days out from midterm
elections, Kathryn Bradford falls
for the only man to turn her head
in twenty-five years of marriage, a
handsome, soft-spoken staffer on
her husband's senatorial campaign.
Nelson Bradford's bid for office is the
most widely watched race in America,
dubbed "the Civil War." The opposing
candidate is Peter Bradford, his older
brother, who is yet again the more
beloved sibling. As Nelson shakes
hands and kisses babies in hopes of
narrowing Peter's lead, his plasteredon
smile is less convincing than ever -
especially at home. Kathryn is wealthy,
beautiful, and a closet romantic, and
she runs headlong into an affair that
could turn her husband's campaign
into yesterday's news. And that's
exactly what her new lover has in
mind. Burnt Incense is a story of the
politics of a marriage, trial by fire, and
ultimately America's most widely
watched murder case.
Burnt Incense can be seen on Google
and Kijiji or contact Eileen for more
information: neeliepubl@aol.com.
John Borchardt has written mostly
about technology and writing these
days. His article "Rigged for Research"
about using working offshore oil
platforms for university marine
biology research was published in the
March issue of the United Airlines in-
flight magazine, Hemispheres (www.
hemispheresmagazine.com/2008_03/
sciencetech.php). He also covered the
234th national meeting of the American
Chemical Society in New Orleans and
wrote five articles on biofuels and other
new fuel technology based on meeting
presentations. He also presented two
workshops at the meeting. He wrote
a 34-page magazine supplement on
oilfield chemistry for E&P Magazine.
He also has an article in the July issue
of The Writer, "What Toastmasters
CAN DO for Writers." Another, "13
Strategies to get you through a DRY
SPELL" is scheduled for the August
issue of The Writer. His article "Science
Writing: A Lucrative Niche (with
Paying Markets) was published in
the April 2 issue of WritersWeekly.
com (http://writersweekly.com/
this_weeks_article/004612_04022008.
html).
Jane Eppinga's book, They Made Their
Mark: An Illustrated History of the Society
of Woman Geographers, is scheduled
for release by Globe Pequot in mid-
September and is ready for pre-sales on
Amazon.com. Jane traveled to Madrid,
Spain on June 30 where she gave a
presentation on the book at the 10th
Annual International Interdisciplinary
Congress on Women July 3-9. The
web site is www.mmww08.org The
event is held every three years in a
different country. This year's more
than one hundred countries are
represented with approximately 5,000
participants. Subject matter includes:
Feminisms and Social Movements,
History, a Different World, Economics,
Politics, Territories and Environment,
Dislocations and Frontiers, Human
Rights, Communication and the Media,
Science and Technology, Culture and
Creativity, Education, and Health.
Sandra Farris recently sold the
movie rights to her new manuscript,
Obituary Column, for $25,000 to an
independent film company, Melissa
McGinnis Productions. At this time
the manuscript has been submitted to
Random House on speculation by her
agent who is with A-Z talent Agency.
She has another manuscript almost
completed. Obituary Column was
written based on an idea by Dan Farris,
who shares all rights with Sandra.
Bob Ring announces the publication of
his great-grandfather's memoir, Detour
to the California Gold Rush: Eugene Ring's
Travels in South America, California, and
Mexico, 1848-1850. Twenty-one-yearold
Eugene's incredible adventure
begins while at sea in South America's
Strait of Magellan, when he first hears
the news of the great California gold
rush from a passing ship. Heading
north along the west coast of South
America, Eugene describes his forays
in Valparaiso, Callao, Lima and
Guayaquil; his stopover in Panama
City; his unplanned journey to San
Francisco; his life there initially as a
bookkeeper among the gold-crazy,
exploding population; his horrifying
and heroic experiences in the great
Sacramento flood; and the lure of
gold and his adventures in the mines.
The story continues with Eugene's
decision to spend the winter of 1850
in Panama, before returning to the
gold fields the next spring; his tenman
foraging party's abandonment
on the west coast of southern Mexico,
while ashore looking for food and
water for his becalmed ship; and
finally his exhausting, cholera-laced
trek across the jungles and mountains
of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to
Veracruz, where only five survivors
catch a salvation ship to New Orleans.
Complete information at http://
ringbrothershistory.com or contact Bob
at 520-529-8328, ringbob1@aol.com.
|
|
