KEYNOTE SPEAKERS & FACULTY

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Faculty • Pitch Sessions

	Kevin Smokler: Called "A publishing visionary" by The Huffington Post and Mashable, Kevin Smokler is the author of forthcoming essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons the Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched Since High School (Prometheus Books, Feb. 2013) and the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His writing has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, Paid Content, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and on National Public Radio. Keynote: Saturday lunch - "I Wrote a Book. Now What?" Kevin will discuss the responsibility placed on authors today to get their work marketed. Book promotion and sales is more than landing on NPR or even being on Facebook and Twitter. He will focus on nonfiction books and the marketing of articles, expertise and research. The message, nonetheless, will hold true for the fiction writers among us!
	JA Jance: As a second-grader in Mrs. Spangler's Greenway School class, I was introduced to Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz series. I read the first one and was hooked and knew, from that moment on, that I wanted to be a writer. The third child in a large family, I was four years younger than my next older sister and four years older than the next younger sibling. Being both too young and too old left me alone in a crowd and helped turn me into an introspective reader and a top student. When I graduated from Bisbee High School in 1962, I received an academic scholarship that made me the first person in my family to attend a four year college. I graduated in 1966 with a degree in English and Secondary Education. In 1970 I received my M. Ed. in Library Science. I taught high school English at Tucson's Pueblo High School for two years and was a K-12 librarian at Indian Oasis School District in Sells, Arizona for five years. My ambitions to become a writer were frustrated in college and later, first because the professor who taught creative writing at the University of Arizona in those days thought girls "ought to be teachers or nurses" rather than writers. After he refused me admission to the program, I did the next best thing: I married a man who was allowed in the program that was closed to me. My first husband imitated Faulkner and Hemingway primarily by drinking too much and writing too little. Despite the fact that he was allowed in the creative writing program, he never had anything published either prior to or after his death from chronic alcoholism at age forty-two. That didn't keep him from telling me, however, that there would be only one writer in our family, and he was it. I started writing in the middle of March of 1982. The first book I wrote, a slightly fictionalized version of a series of murders that happened in Tucson in 1970, was never published. For one thing, it was twelve hundred pages long. Since I was never allowed in the creative writing classes, no one had ever told me there were some things I needed to leave out. For another, the editors who turned it down said that the parts that were real were totally unbelievable, and the parts that were fiction were fine. My agent finally sat me down and told me that she thought I was a better writer of fiction than I was of non-fiction. Why, she suggested, didn't I try my hand at a novel? The result of that conversation was the first Detective Beaumont book, Until Proven Guilty. Since 1985 when that was published, there have been 21 more Beau books. My work also includes 14 Joanna Brady books set in southeastern Arizona where I grew up, and seven Ali Reynolds books, set in Sedona, AZ. In addition there are four thrillers, starting with Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees, that reflect what I learned during the years when I was teaching on the Tohono O'Odham reservation west of Tucson, Arizona. Another wonderful part of being a writer is hearing from fans. I learned on the reservation that the ancient, sacred charge of the storyteller is to beguile the time. I'm thrilled when I hear that someone has used my books to get through some particularly difficult illness either as a patient or as they sit on the sidelines while someone they love is terribly ill. It gratifies me to know that by immersing themselves in my stories, people are able to set their own lives aside and live and walk in someone else's shoes. It tells me I'm doing a good job at the best job in the world. Featured Speaker: Saturday night - "The Writer's Life"
FACULTY: a   b   d   f   g   h   k   n   o   p   r   s
	Steven M. Adelson is a graduate of the University of Maryland and is a former Military Logistic Management Specialist. He is now an author, lecturer, university instructor and researcher. He has lectured on several occasions to the Society of Southwestern Authors and at their annual Wrangling With Writing Conferences on research techniques and developing realistic character backgrounds. Mr. Adelson has been published in such diverse publications as Financial History Magazine, Writer's Digest, Irish American, Blue Murder Magazine, Tucson Weekly, Mountain Views Magazine, and The Arizona Daily Star. He is currently writing a book which will expand on how an author can research their material before writing their manuscript. Workshop 19: Discovering the Hidden Article Market This session will provide instruction on how you can discover a variety of little known publications, both here and abroad, who might be interested in your article. Aside from the magazines found on your local magazine rack, there are a plethora of publications you may not have considered: museum publications, trade magazines, airline magazines, and magazines published by associations. Learn how to find out who they are and what sort of material they are looking for. This lecture will concentrate on those magazines that are paying publications.
	Dorothy Daniels Anderson - author, storyteller, specializes in telling tales about Arizona in the olden days. She researches, develops and writes true historical stories many of which are found in her book and tape, Arizona Legends and Lore: Tales of Southwestern Pioneers. Dorothy also brings her training and experience as an ariZoni Theatre award nominated actress to this art form. Ms. Daniels Anderson makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona. She has a Masters Degree from Columbia University and has taught history in the Phoenix Union High School District. Dorothy has been affiliated with the Arizona Historical Society as one of their living history personalities and has done performing community residencies for the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Ms. Daniels Anderson has captivated hundreds of audiences in the Southwest with the compelling magic of her true stories. She has performed before the Arizona State Legislature as part of their Territorial Day Program and has entertained at the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame Banquet. Dorothy has performed at conventions, museums, colleges and universities throughout Arizona. Her artistic goal is to continue to develop a vital and exciting approach to recreating cultural history through the art and techniques of storytelling. Workshop 2: "The Evolution of Story" What worked before, what works now and future trends. She will explore story forms from ancient times to the 1800's-1900's, to today, discussing the basic needs of story through the art of storytelling. To illustrate, she will perform "No Tame House-Cat Woman," a full dress presentation of Arizona author Sharlot Hall's journey from an isolated Kansas homestead to becoming a nationally known writer.
	C. Michael Bennis will discuss the inspiring, perplexing, albeit loving world of the creative process. Learn to fall in love with characters that have no existence until you bring them to life. Discover creative tools that are so cool you will never fear writer's block. Learn the difference between hearing and really listening, and begin to delight in the active, exploratory world of imaginative, creative thinking. Michael studied at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, and later graduated from the University of Colorado. He was part of the 1961 University of Colorado Big 8 Champion football team as well as the 1962 Orange Bowl squad. He graduated from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. Signs of Destiny is Bennis' second published book, and he now enjoys living in Tucson, Arizona as a former toy and advertising industry executive. www.cmichaelbennis.com Workshop 4: "Secrets from a Male Romance Writer"
	Hazel Dixon-Cooper has been a professional astrologer for more than twenty-five years, and is the author of the internationally bestselling Rotten Day astrology book series. She is a research member of the American Federation of Astrologers and a member in good standing of the National Council of Geocosmic Research. She can be reached at www.hazeldixoncooper.com. Workshop 10: "What Sun Sign is Your Character?" Learn how to deepen your characters using astrology traits. It's different, fun, and those who wish to do so, can take an active part. Workshop 14: PANEL "Publishing in the Digital Age"
	Maxwell Drake is a dynamic and entertaining speaker always rated as one of the number one speakers of the events he attends. His Creative Writing Sessions have been a huge success to those interested in pursuing a career in writing and his open forum sessions are a pleasure for anyone interested in learning what goes on "behind the scenes" in the publishing industry. In January of 2011, he began teaching his classes for the Clark County Library District in Las Vegas, NV. His Genesis of Oblivion is an award-winning, six-novel series that has garnered the 2009 Moonbeam Young Adult Fantasy Award Winner for Excellence in Literature and the Dragonroots Magazine Best New Fantasy Saga of 2009 Award Winner. www.maxwellalexanderdrake.com Workshop 3: "How to Create a More Realistic Fictitious World" Have you ever wondered how sci-fi and fantasy authors create such vibrant, detailed worlds that suck their readers in and wrap them in a blanket so real, you question why our own world is not more like theirs? Join award-winning author Maxwell Alexander Drake as he lets you in on some of the secrets he uses to create worlds during his seminar "How to Create a More Realistic Fictitious World." Workshop 20: "Don't Tell Your Story, Show It!" Ever wonder how the really good books suck a reader in and hold their attention page after page. It's not the characters, nor the plot of the book. It is the way in which the author writes that separates their story from the pack. Join award-winning author Maxwell Alexander Drake as he presents his class "Don't Tell Your Story, Show It!" During this class, you will gain insight into how to put your story together in a compelling way that will have your readers turning page after page to see what happens next.
	Jan Holmes Frost received her education in Boston, Mass. Her book, Eight Things You Need to Know to Write a Novel, is a compilation of materials she has taught at numerous workshops and conferences. She is the author of the award nominated techno-thriller, Without Sanctions. Jan is a partner and editor with Loose Leaves Publishing, and a former acquisitions editor with Fireship Press of Tucson. www.janholmesfrost.com Workshop 8: "From an editors desk: The Ten Most Common Errors in Author Submissions" "Send Me The Complete!" How do you get an agent, editor or publish to say these words about your manuscript? Or will they say: "Thanks, but this isn't for us"? Your first sentence, 100 words, query and sample chapters sell you and your work. Jan will reveal and discuss some of the correspondence (slightly altered to protect the guilty) she has received as an acquisitions editor.
	Bonnie Hearn Hill is the author of six international thrillers from MIRA Books, as well as four young adult novels, several ghostwritten books and four nonfiction titles. A writing instructor and mentor, she is the co-author of Digital Ink: Writing Killer Fiction in the e-Book Age. She worked as a newspaper editor for 22 years, a job that, along with her natural nosiness, increased her interest in contemporary culture. Prior to her new Star Crossed series from Running Press/Perseus Books, she wrote six thrillers for MIRA Books, as well as numerous short stories, nonfiction books and articles. An interest in astrology along with her close friendship with Cosmo Magazine astrologer Hazel Dixon-Cooper inspired the Star Crossed series: Aries Rising, Taurus Eyes, and Gemini Night. A national conference speaker, Bonnie founded The Tuesdays, a bonded and successful writing workshop in Fresno, California, and she also teaches an occasional online class. On Fridays she meets with her private critique group (humorous astrology author Hazel Dixon-Cooper, prescriptive nonfiction writer Dennis C. Lewis, and musician/thriller novelist Christopher Allen Poe). What happens in those groups ranges from spontaneous applause to "getting filleted," as Bonnie's students and colleagues call it. www.bonniehhill.com Workshop 7: "Keep Them In Suspense: The Craft of Crime Fiction" Workshop 14: PANEL "Publishing in the Digital Age" From red herrings to secret motives, crime fiction is a craft as well as an art. Learn the techniques of hooking your reader, building suspense, pacing chapters and resolving internal as well as external conflict.
	Arthur Kerns joined the FBI with a career in counterintelligence and counterterrorism. On retirement, he became a consultant with the Director of Central Intelligence and the Department of State. His lengthy assignments took him to over sixty-five countries. He earned a degree in International Relations from St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia and received an MBA from New York University. He spent a year studying Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. A past president of the Arizona chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, he is married with two sons. His award-winning short stories have been published in a number of anthologies. In addition to an espionage thriller set on the French Riviera, he has completed a mystery based on the unsolved 1929 murder of an FBI agent in Phoenix. Both are represented by Elizabeth Kracht of Kimberly Cameron & Associates. www.arthurkerns.com Workshop 5: "FBI, CIA and State Department: Know the differences" Why do the FBI, CIA and State Department always seem to be at odds? The corporate cultures of these agencies are different, yet in many respects are very much alike. They have their separate origins and each attracts and develops people with a particular mindset. Professional clashes with members of the other groups becomes understandable when we get to know the world of the individual FBI, CIA, and State Department employee. Writers of suspense thrillers must have an elemental grasp of these differences if they desire believable characters. This session--through historical reference, real life examples, and Kerns' personal experience--will help writers not only create believable characters, but also pen accurate dynamics between the agencies. Writers will gain a fundamental understanding of the function of each agency/department.
	Barbara McNichol specializes in expert editing of articles, nonfiction books, and marketing materials. Books she's edited have appeared on New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She creates two ezines Word Tripper of the Week and Add Power to Your Pen—as well as a blog nonfictionbookeditor.com—all dedicated to help authors improve EVERYTHING they write. Her local Wordshops are getting rave reviews for being easy-going, and educational. Be sure to check out her word choice guide, Word Trippers: The Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters. www.wordtrippers.com Workshop 11: "Whack Wordiness: Get Rid of Wasted Words and Make Your Writing More Compelling" Don't let wordiness undermine everything you write—from articles and book chapters to website copy and blog posts. Join in this fun, interactive session and learn how to whack extraneous words and phrases, craft strong, persuasive prose that's devoid of clutter, add "muscle" to your writing by taking out the "fluff," and revise and edit your work. Sharpen your pencil and be prepared to "make every word work like a galley slave."
	Kris Neri writes the Samantha Brennan and Annabelle Haggerty paranormal mystery/urban fantasy series, High Crimes on the Magical Plane and Magical Alienation, featuring a fake psychic who teams up with the Celtic goddess/FBI agent. She also writes the Tracy Eaton mystery series, Revenge of the Gypsy Queen, Dem Bones' Revenge and Revenge for Old Times' Sake, featuring the daughter of eccentric Hollywood stars. Her novels have been short-listed for the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and International Book Awards, as well as garnering three Lefty Award nominations for Best Humorous Mystery. She has won two Derringer Awards and is also a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee for her short fiction. Kris teaches writing online for the prestigious Writers' Program of the UCLA Extension School, and with her husband, owns The Well Red Coyote bookstore in Sedona, AZ. www.krisneri.com Workshop 15: "Do you Woo-Woo? Writing Successful Paranormal Fiction" The popularity of paranormal cross-genre fiction for both adults and teens continues to soar, but the competition for publication in this super-hot field has never been so intense. In addition to presenting the general principles that govern all forms of fantasy fiction, including the mistakes that can doom a manuscript's chances, paranormal and mystery author Kris Neri will share what it takes to snag a publication slot in each of the most popular forms of cross-category paranormal fiction, including magical realism, urban fantasy, humorous urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. She'll also discuss the Young Adult paranormal market, sharing which teen fiction areas offers the best publication opportunities. She'll share what editors and readers expect in each of these categories.
	Virginia Nosky is a novelist as well as a screenwriter and an award-winning poet. A 25 year resident of Arizona, she frequently sets her stories in Phoenix and the Southwest. She has worked in advertising and broadcasting. Virginia was a long-time docent at the Phoenix Art Museum, and she now serves on the Women's Board of the Arizona Kidney Foundation and on the foundation's Board of Trustees. She currently lives in Paradise Valley with her husband Richard and two new rescue dogs, a golden retriever Barkis and fox red Labrador, Peaches. www.virginianosky.com Workshop 12: "Fifty Shades of Hot" As the title of Virginia Nosky's workshop suggests, the intensity of love and sex scenes is all over the map. The writer's audience expects a certain amount of heat, from mild to blazing hot and many degrees in between. She delves into the biology and games of the man/woman attraction and its escalation, and looks at directions the writer can go to satisfy the reader's expectations and, not to forget, those of the characters in the story. Nosky also stresses that writing sweetly-warm to volcanic-hot romantic scenes is as much fun for the writer as it is for the reader and the characters involved in those Fifty Shades of Heat.
	Chris O'Byrne is the founder of Red Willow Publishing. Born on a farm in Minnesota, Chris did a stint in the Air Force and then received a degree in chemical engineering. He then got his teaching degree and helped start a charter school for the arts where he taught science and math. Eventually, entrepreneurship took hold and he started The Ebook Editor, which has converted hundreds of ebooks. He runs Red Willow Publishing, a niche non-fiction publisher, in addition to starting a book marketing school. He lives near Moscow, ID. www.redwillowpublishing.com Workshop 1: "Use Social Media to Sell Hundreds of Books" Learn from a real case study how to sell hundreds of books using a free promotion and social media. Workshop 17: "DIY: How to Convert Your Own e-Book" Learn step-by-step how to format a Word document to create your own e-book, along with other tools available to help the process.
	Christopher Allan Poe is an author and touring musician from Los Angeles, California. He writes paranormal fiction, with an emphasis in themes that shed light on social problems for women and children. His award-winning novel, The Portal, is now available on Black Opal Books. Workshop 9: "Things That Go Bump in the Night" An overview of how to incorporate paranormal elements into your characters to keep the reader turning pages. Don't forget the antagonists, especially supernatural ones. Workshop 14: PANEL "Publishing in the Digital Age"
	Denise Roessle is the author of Second-Chance Mother, a multi-generational memoir of adoption loss, reconnection, and redemption, set around her reunion with the son she gave up for adoption as a teen. Her 20+ years in marketing communications, along with frequent attendance at writers' conferences, prepared her for the most difficult task for many authors: book promotion. A professional member of SSA (and past president of the Santa Cruz Valley Chapter), National Association of Memoir Writers, and Story Circle Network, Denise's personal essays and short stories have garnered numerous awards. Learn more about her work at secondchancemother.com Workshop 13: "To Tell the Truth: Writing Memoir" Everyone has a story. Will yours interest readers, or validate and help those in similar situations? Where to begin and end? How do you decide what to leave in, what to leave out, and overcome the fears associated with writing your truth? What responsibilities and legalities will you face? Whether you're writing for publication or simply to record your life stories for future generations, this session will provide practical information, food for thought, and take-home exercises for getting started.
	Jo Russell - Writer, columnist, Sunday school teacher, and speaker Jo Russell keeps us laughing at every day challenges through her experiences as a single mom raising sons from diapers to adulthood. Jo reaches out to show others how to help themselves and to believe that with God, all things are possible. Jo is a retired reading teacher, who pursued a career in retail sales, learning much about the how-to and fix-it business. These skills are often needed by women who are trying to fix a toilet while the doorbell is ringing and one of the children smashes another's finger in the door. She has won several national writing contests for humor, including the Society of Southwestern Authors humor award. Her inspirational stories, devotionals, and humor have been in dozens of magazines including Open Windows and Arizona Highways. She is a contributing author in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Shaping the New You (December, 2010), and Heavenly Humor for the Dieter's Soul (October, 2011.) Jo lives is a small northeast Arizona town and loves it. Workshop 18: "Your Hot Button to God"
	Harvey Stanbrough is an award-winning, National Book Award nominated writer, editor and writing instructor who was born in New Mexico, seasoned in Texas, and baked in Arizona. He also owns and operates StoneThread Publishing, a no-fees, royalty paying ebook publisher. You can sign up for his blog, which most often contains writing instruction, at HarveyStanbrough.com. Visit StoneThread Publishing at StoneThreadPublishing.com. Harvey will present sessions on "Self-Editing for Writers" and "Narrative in Fiction: Whispers from the Background." Workshop 6: "Self-Editing for Writers" Includes a section on punctuation for writers (how the various marks of punctuation directly affect the reader) and a thorough, in-depth presentation regarding the errors I see most often in manuscripts I edit: includes erroneous use of quotation marks and single quotes, myths about punctuation and passive voice, paragraphing, erroneous word choices, etc. This one seminar will dramatically improve all of your writing. Includes a student handout and a free e-book, Self-Editing for Writers Workshop 16: "Narrative in Fiction: Whispers from the Background" Does your narrator get mouthy, overstep his bounds? Does he act on an urge to make social commentary that has nothing to do with the story line? Does he judge the character and comment on their morality or on the situations in which they find themselves? Does he go beyond his authority to comment on behalf of one or more characters? Does he wander off into "baggage narrative" that bogs down the current story line? Does he blur the line between narrative and a character's internal monologue or unspoken thoughts? Being a writer is difficult enough without putting up with a narrator like that. And what if your narrator is also a character? Is he different in the different roles? Come to this seminar and learn, for once and all, how to make your narrator understand his role, that you're the boss and he's the employee. Learn for one once and all how to make him sit down and shut up. Includes an explanation of point of view and a free e-book, Narrative in Fiction: Whispers in the Background.
Keynote Speakers • Faculty • Pitch Sessions