Ignite Your Writing Life

[ conference flyer | registration | volunteer signup | agent pitch signup | presenter bios ]

SPECIAL FOR CWC-MEMBERS: $99

Join us for a daylong conference covering fiction and nonfiction writing, with three literary agents available for five-minute pitches. Morning coffee and rolls are included, along with a bag lunch, in the registration. Vegetarian and gluten-free options will be available.

Registration

To register, you must complete the registration form and provide the payment.  You may fill out the form below or download the registration form and mail with a check (payable to CWC-Marin) to: Diane Vickers, 124 Tiburon Blvd., San Rafael, CA 94901. You may also pay by credit card or PayPal via the PayPal button. (Cancellation policy: Requests for refunds must be made 14 days before the conference.)

Volunteer

We’re seeking volunteers to help set up the room, distribute materials, as well as snacks, and meals, and stay until at least 5 pm for final clean-up. In exchange for half-off admission to the Writer’s Life conference, volunteers must agree to arrive at 830 am on April 2, 2017, and stay until at least 5 pm for final clean-up. Fill the form out below and/or contact Susanna Solomon.

Presenter Biographies

CONSTANCE HALE is a San Francisco–based journalist and the author of three books on language and literary style, including Sin and Syntax. She has been called “Marion the Librarian on a Harley, or E. B. White on acid.” Her profiles, essays, and articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Afar, and Honolulu. In 2016, she published a book on the evolution of hula, The Natives Are Restless, and a children’s book, ‘Iwalani‘s Tree.

The Seven Stages of Manuscript Grief

Constance Hale reveals the arduous process she goes through with each manuscript, and how she manages to push through to the final draft. In a talk that is funny, honest, inspiring, and also practical, she also shares tips on how to keep going and how to keep making your writing better.

LINDA WATANABE MCFERRIN is a widely published poet, travel writer, and novelist. She is the author of two poetry collections and a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Namako:  Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New York Public Library. In addition to that novel, she has written the short-story collection The Hand of Buddha, co-edited twelve anthologies, and written a zombie novel, Dead Love, which was a 2009 Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Novel. In addition to editing nine books on travel, Linda has judged the San Francisco Literary Awards, the Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence, and the Kiriyama Prize. She is the founder of Left Coast Writers® and has led workshops in Japan, Indonesia, Greece, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Central America, Spain as well as the United States.

Writing about Places Real and Imagined

Ever wonder how to write that first travel story, set your novel in the perfect location, create a world from scratch?  In this introductory workshop you’ll find out how to write about places, real and imagined, in a way that will take your reader there. Whether it’s the professional travel essay or long or short fiction, you’ll learn how to quickly transport people to your chosen realms, and you’ll leave with a formula for capturing them in a way that will captivate editors and readers and maybe even win a few awards.

KRISSA LAGOS began her publishing career at Seal Press, a feminist nonfiction press based in Berkeley, CA. She then moved on to freelance editing, where she truly found her calling. Specializing in developmental editing, she has worked on every type of book under the sun, including fiction, memoir, business, spirituality, self-help, and more. She has also worked with the hybrid press She Writes Press as an editor since its founding in 2012. She lives in San Francisco.

MARY C. MOORE has been a literary agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates since 2013. She represents both adult and young adult fiction. She prefers clients who are online savvy and who have more than one full-length book project in their drawer. For more information on what she represents visit her site, marycmoore.com and the agency site, kimberleycameron.com.