Workshop Speakers, Class Info, and Bios for the 2018 conference
Proceeds go toward scholarships with the Centralia College Foundation and toward the continuation of the conference.
This year, along with a few of the perennial favorites, we have many new presenters. Scroll down on this page to read the presenter bios and about their workshops.
We hope to see you there!
Conference Workshop Schedule
8:00a – 8:30a Lobby Check-In/Registration
8:30a – 9:15a Auditorium
Introduction/ Keynote Address: Simon Wood – The 21st Century Author
WORKSHOP I 9:30a – 10:45a
Room 107 Business: Art of Submitting – Midge Raymond
In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to find the right agent/editor for your book; what agents/editors expect from author submissions; how to craft a good query letter; and what to expect as a writer during this process.
Room 108 Genre: Fantasy and Sci-fi – Lindsay Schopfer
Learn how you can write and promote a speculative fiction novel which both dedicated fans and casual readers will enjoy.
Room 110 Writing: Dreams as Inspiration to Write – Heather Dawn
We will cover how to remember dreams, keeping a dream journal, how to incubate a dream, and techniques on how writers can use dreams in their writing.
Room 111 Craft: Plot Thickeners, Part I – Simon Wood
This workshop will cover fast and effective techniques for plotting a novel from beginning to end. Don’t run out of ideas or pad out your novel again. The presentation includes the famous color-coded plotting spreadsheet.
WORKSHOP II 11:00a – 12:15p
Room 107 Writing: Great Dialogue – Midge Raymond
Come and study examples of good dialogue and discuss how and why these work, and we’ll go over tips for how to write engaging conversations, with writing exercises that will reinforce the major tenets of effective dialogue.
Room 108 Genre: Plotting the Picture Book – Clare Meeker
Learn how to create a strong plot using a 3-problem approach to story structure that will hook your reader from the first word to the last.
Room 110 Business: Choose Your Own Adventure – Traci Hilton
You are in charge of what happens to your story! From formats to platforms, from advertising to social media, the choices are almost unlimited.
Room 111 Craft: Plot Thickeners, Part II – Simon Wood
Part two of Simon’s two-part presentation! Part one presented at the 930a discussion.
12:15p – 1:15p Lobby LUNCH Pick-Up – then choose to join a panel discussion.
PANELS 12:30p – 1:15p
Room 107 Panel: Craft (bring your lunch with you)
TENSION AND THE SPARK – Using action to light up your story and drive it forward
Moderator: Amy Flugel
Panelists: Jordan Hartt, Bill Ransom, Midge Raymond
Room 110 Panel: Marketing (bring your lunch with you)
THE BEST OF MARKETING, THE WORST OF MARKETING
Moderator: Jennifer Vandenberg
Panelists: Kyle Pratt, Lindsay Schopfer, Simon Wood
See page 7 of the program for more information on the panels and presenters.
WORKSHOP III 1:30p – 2:45p
Room 107 Writing: Navigating the High Stakes Seas of Writing Contests – Midge Raymond
This workshop is for all writers, emerging and published, who have wondered what goes on behind the scenes of writing contests, from literary magazines to small presses.
Room 108 Genre: Flash Fiction – Jordan Hartt
This short course will be an introductory presentation of sensory detail, character, and plot.
Room 110 Business: Building a Freelance Writing Career – Andrea Culletto
In this presentation, discuss how to build a freelance writing career on a foundation of local publications.
Room 111 Craft: Collaborative Writing – Bill Ransom
As co-author of three novels with Frank Herbert, we’ll discuss the art of working with other authors.
WORKSHOP IV 3:00p – 4:15p
Room 107 Business: How to Sell Your 1st 50 books – Veronica Noize
This info-packed class will show you how to sell your first 50 books fast by revealing three great strategies, including the nitty-gritty details.
Room 108 Genre: Killer Suspense – Simon Wood
Simon outlines the key differences between suspense and mystery and discusses the techniques for building suspense and creating thrills.
Room 110 Writing: Writing for Self-exploration – Andrea Culletto
In this workshop we will explore various ways writing can be used for self-exploration, personal discovery, identity formation and therapeutic release.
Room 111 Craft: Revision – Bill Ransom (Bring a draft manuscript!)
We’ll identify strengths and weaknesses in language and explore opportunities for figurative language that enhances sensory effects.
4:15p – 4:30p Lobby Final Words
Speakers for the 2018 conference
This year the keynote speaker will be the USA Today bestselling author of The One That Got Away, Simon Wood. His latest thriller is Saving Grace. Simon has built a reputation for concocting wild and dangerous thrillers that would have given Hitchcock nightmares. His writing takes an even darker and stranger turn as Simon Janus, his horror fiction identity.
Simon holds both British and American private pilot licenses; he has worked as a petrochemical engineer, racecar driver, and private investigator. It’s not surprising he sees the world a little differently.
Originally from England, he lives in Northern California with his wife, Julie, and a menagerie of rescued animals.
You can learn more about our keynote speaker at http://simonwood.net/
Jordan Hartt is new to the Southwest Washington Writers Conference. He is an avid reader, a writer, a writing teacher, and a writing-retreat leader. In his workshop, he will discuss the growing flash fiction market and genre.
Jordan facilitates the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, the YAWP Series, Centrum’s High School Writers’ Conference, and Centrum’s Writing Studios, as well as annual private writing retreats in Jamaica, Uganda, New Zealand, and other places.
Participants in Hartt’s writing programs have published in thousands of literary magazines, over two hundred books on nationally ranked presses, and been featured in the Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.
Hartt’s own writing has appeared in about forty literary magazines and journals. His collection of stories, “Leap,” appeared in 2015. He is currently at work on a new collection.
Andrea is also new to the Southwest Washington Writers Conference. She is a publisher and freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Mary Jane’s Farm magazine, Mamalode magazine, Black Hills Bride magazine, The La Crosse Tribune, Exceptional Homes, Driftless Notes, Klutch Chronicle, La Crosse Magazine, Coulee Region Women Magazine, ThurstonTalk.com, and Nisqually Valley News. Andrea is currently the publisher of LewisTalk.com and WhatcomTalk.com. She is also a regular contributor to LINK Magazine.
Andrea will be presenting the workshop, “Writing for Self-Exploration & Discovery.”
Learn more about Andrea at https://andreacullettoportfolio.wordpress.com/
Traci is the author of The Plain Jane Mysteries, The Mitzy Neuhaus Mysteries, and the Tillgiven Romantic Mysteries and is also new to our conference.
She has been indie publishing since 2010, and though she’s had offers from small and large presses, she hasn’t gone hybrid yet. She was the mystery/suspense category winner for the 2012 Christian Writers of the West Phoenix Rattler Contest, a finalist for Speculative Fiction in the same contest, and has a Drammy from the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. Traci is an active member of the ACFW and currently serves as secretary of the local ACFW chapter.
Traci will be presenting the workshop, “Choose your own Adventures in Publishing.”
She blogs at http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/
Clare is an award-winning author of 11 books and 30 magazine stories for children. Her most recent publishing credits include the 2016 Junior Library Guild Spring Selection Rhino Rescue! published by National Geographic Kids, Soccer Dreams: Playing The Seattle Sounders FC Way (licensed by Major League Soccer), and the Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book, Lootas Little Wave Eater published by Sasquatch Books. Her newest book, Growing Up Gorilla, is scheduled for publication in 2019.
Clare will be presenting the workshop, “Plotting the Picture Book: Exploring Story Structure.”
Learn more about Clare at https://www.claremeeker.com/
Veronika (Ronnie), known professionally as The Marketing Coach, has taught at every Southwest Washington Writers Conference because people want to attend her workshops.
She is the author of three books: How to Create a Killer Elevator Speech, The 30-Minute Networking Secret Toolkit, and Marketing Strategies that Really Work. A contributing columnist for local publications including the Vancouver Business Journal, she has also written more than 100 articles for The Home Business Journal, The CEO Refresher, and The Home Business Report, among other business and trade publications. She holds a BA in Communications from PSU and is a graduate of Coach U. She was an instructor for three years at the International Coach Academy and frequently speaks and teaches for many domestic and international organizations.
Veronica will be presenting the workshop, “How to sell your 1st 50 books.”
You can learn more about Veronica Noize at her website, http://www.veronikanoize.com/
Heather Dawn
Heather holds an MA in Consciousness Studies from John F. Kennedy University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the humanistic perspective from Saybrook University. She studied with some of the best-known dream scholars in the field of dream research. She has been a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams for years and won the Hartmann Student Research Honorable Mention Award from IASD in 2017 for her research on “The Dreams That Were Used as Legal Evidence in the 17th Century New England Witch Trials.” She teaches classes about dreams and conducts individual consultations near Seattle, Washington.
Heather will be presenting the workshop, “Dreams as Inspiration to Write.”
Lindsay is the author of The Adventures of Keltin Moore, a series of steampunk-flavored fantasy novels about a professional monster hunter. He also wrote the sci-fi survivalist novel Lost Under Two Moons and the fantasy short story collection, Magic, Mystery, and Mirth. His short fiction has appeared in Merely This and Nothing More: Poe Goes Punk from Writerpunk Press and Unnatural Dragons from Clockwork Dragon.
Lindsay’s workshops and seminars on the craft of writing have been featured in a variety of writing conferences across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Currently, he teaches creative writing for South Puget Sound Community College’s continuing education program. He is also a volunteer mentor for Educurious, a Gates Foundation-funded program designed to connect high school students with professional writers. He received his BA in Creative Writing from the Evergreen State College. Learn more about Lindsay at http://blog.lindsayschopfer.com/
Lindsay will be presenting the workshop, “Sci-fi for Mainstream Audience.”
Midge is the author of the novel My Last Continent and the award-winning short-story collection Forgetting English. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. Midge worked in publishing in New York before moving to Boston, where she taught communication writing at Boston University for six years. She has taught creative writing at Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Richard Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. She has also published two books for writers, Everyday Writing, and Everyday Book Marketing. Midge lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is co-founder of the boutique publisher Ashland Creek Press. Learn more about Midge at https://www.midgeraymond.com/
Midge will be presenting three workshops at the conference: “Say Anything: How to Write Great Dialogue,” “The Art of Submitting,” and “Navigating the High Stakes Seas of Writing Contests.”
Bill Ransom
Bill has published six novels, including several with Frank Herbert, six poetry collections, numerous short stories, and articles. He founded Centrum’s Port Townsend Writer’s Conference and was a pioneer in the Poetry-in-the-Schools project for the NEA in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Bill is the recipient of two NEA fellowships for poetry and fiction. He recently retired as Dean of Curriculum at The Evergreen State College and now lives and writes in Grayland on the Washington Coast.
Bill will be presenting two workshops at the conference: Revision, and Collaborative Writing.
Sponsors of the 2018 Southwest Washington Writers Conference
Thank you!
3718 Mahoney Dr, Centralia, WA 98531
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