Write-by-the-Lake

Write-by-the-Lake Writers Workshop and Retreat will be held June 15-19, 2009, at the Pyle Center, Madison, WI.

Schedule
Core classroom hours: 9:30 am-12:30 pm each day. Monday: optional 4-5 pm mini-class; 4 pm Social Hour/Welcome. Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday optional mini-classes 2-3 pm. An optional open-mike night for poetry and fiction participants Wednesday.

Available Sessions
Nonfiction:
1. Creative nonfiction manuscript makeover/for book, memoir, essay, column writers
Fiction:
2. Fiction techniques: dialogue, description, and exposition
3. Writing your first novel
4. How to write compelling fiction/for beginning short story and novel writers
5. Write mysteries, play jazz
6. The building blocks of children's literature
7. Character and subtext: the vital engine of fiction and drama
8. I can't put it down! Pacing: the tools for creating a page-turning novel
9. Revising the novel: building scene with subtext and symbol/advanced
Poetry:
10. The primal impulse: singing with the inner voice/for new and intermediate poets
11. Fueling the fire of revision—a poetry workshop/advanced
Screenwriting:
12. W.R.A.P. Your screenplay/Write, Revise, Adapt & Pitch

Fee
Program fee includes instruction, continental breakfast each day, one social hour program, and guest speaker events. Lodging is on your own. $325 by May 18; $355 after May 18 (Fee includes mini-classes and reception.)

For more information, click here.

Perry's New Book

Many of you already know, but Mike Perry's new book "COOP: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting" (in bookstores April 21) is currently available for pre-order here. Book tour information (they're putting Mike on the road pretty steady) is also now available at the SneezingCow website.

In other sideways news, Mike has finished a new song and you can have a listen here.

Power of the Pen Conference

The 5th annual Power of the Pen Writer’s Conference will be held Saturday, March 21 and Saturday, March 28, 2009, at the Fox Valley Technical College, Neenah Regional Center, 2320 Industrial Drive, Neenah, WI.

Workshops include:
Awaken The Writer In You
Create & Sell Dynamic Non-Fiction
Creative Play: Fun Ways to Unleash Your Muse
Living the Writer’s Life
Microfiction: Introduction
Post-apocalyptic Fiction
Self Publishing Made Easy
Successful Novel Writing Strategies
A Writing “Time-Out” for Women

For a complete list of workshops, times and dates, click here.

The fee for each class is $14.66; $4.95 for those 62 & older. You can't beat this price!

Register for classes online at www.fvtc.edu or in person.

Questions: Please contact Lisa Bell – belll@fvtc.edu or (920) 720-6820

Author Visit - Jennifer Chiaverini

Novelist Jennifer Chiaverini returns to Oshkosh for a book talk on her latest release, The Lost Quilter, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the lower level of the Oshkosh Public Library.

Chiaverini is a New York Times best-selling author of the Elm Creek Quilt Series.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, phone the library at 236-5205. Books will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Apple Blossom Books.

Neenah Library events

Here’s who’s coming to the Neenah Public Library as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival:

Thursday, April 16, 10 a.m.: Fox Cities Reads Michael Perry!
Perry is the author of Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time and Truck: A Love Story. Books will be available for purchase at the library courtesy of Conkey’s Book Store. Perry and his band, The Long Beds, will perform FREE at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton on Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m. Tickets required for the concert – available at the library. Tickets are limited and available on a first come, first served, basis.

Friday, April 17, 2 p.m.: Mary Relindes Ellis, author of Turtle Warrior. Books will be available for purchase at the library courtesy of Conkey’s Book Store.

Saturday, April 18, 10 a.m.: Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz, authors and filmmakers of Fill’er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations. The authors will be selling copies of their books following the program.

Saturday, April 18, 1:45 p.m.: A. Manette Ansay: Good Things I Wish for You (Plus a Few Things I Don’t): Advice for the New and Emerging Writer. Ansay is author of the Oprah Book Club selection, Vinegar Hill, and several other novels and collection of short stories. Ansay’s books will be available for purchase at the library courtesy of Conkey’s Book Store.

Saturday, April 18, 3 p.m.: So How Do I Get Published Anyway? Panel presentation for aspiring writers.

Sunday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.: Phil Gulley and Porch Talk. Gulley is the author of the Harmony series and Front Porch Tales. Quaker minister and Emmy-award winning host of Porch Talk, Gulley is the voice of small-town American life. Books will be available for purchase at the library. Don’t miss brunch with Phil Gulley on Sunday, April 19, 10 a.m. at Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton. For brunch ticket information, see www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org.