Friday Speak Out!: A Worthwhile Conference

By GP Gottlieb

I just returned from Left Coast Crime, a conference for mystery lovers. Of the 550 or so participants, there were about 70 authors, and the rest are readers looking for books to read. Guess who’s got 3 published mysteries (and a 4th launch coming this summer)?

Soon after I got to the hotel, I ran into Ann, a fellow Rocky Mountain Sister in Crime. I love her series about a doctor balancing work and family (loosely based on Ann’s life, except for the crime).

My conference plan is always to meet as many people as possible, have as many good conversations as I can manage, and leave the hotel at least once a day. We lucked out with sunny weather the whole time and the city was cleaner than when I last visited, but what did San Francisco do with all the street people?

I brought postcards with one of my excellent recipes on one side and my books and contact info on the other. I also brought wrapped chocolates and candy because it’s nice to offer something sweet to everyone. I set out some of that candy during author-speed-dating, where I spoke to about 15 tables of 8-10 people about my latest culinary mystery (Charred, Book #3 in the Whipped & Sipped Mystery series).

I will admit that after describing the book 10 times, I zipped through my allotted two minutes in less than 30 seconds. I’d stand up and say, “Hi, I wrote a Chicago based culinary mystery in which some people get killed and everyone else eats breakfast and lunch. Here’s some candy. Hope you get a chance to try my recipe.”

They’d laugh, probably relieved. I’d pass out the other author’s bookmarks, sit down, and listen to her speak. When it was over, I went to my room and read. Then I attended panels like Writing Historical Mysteries and Crime in the Great Outdoors. All four days, I ran into Ann from Colorado.

There were 4 panels each day, plus famous author interviews and readings (One played Tartini’s Devil’s Trill on the violin – his book had the same title). I make quicker decisions about reading a book after hearing an author read (or perform) than I do when listening to an author blab about his/her book.

I loved getting to moderate a panel on Global Mysteries and sitting on a panel about Mystery Categories, although whenever I was the last to answer a question about why my book is a cozy, or what differentiates cozy from traditional mystery, I’d forget the question, say whatever sprang to mind, and inadvertently get a laugh. Oops.

I came away with a long list of books to download, but my favorite part of the weekend was hanging out with Ann, who also ended up being on my flight to Denver. We ate together before the flight. Even though the conference is about books, for me the most important part is the people.

* * *

Photo credit: David Gottlieb 

G.P. Gottlieb loves her family, books, music, and dessert. Her three culinary mysteries (Battered, Smothered, and Charred) were re-issued by Anamcara Press this year (Pounded, Book 4 in the Whipped & Sipped series, will launch this summer). She has interviewed over 275 authors for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, has published stories and essays in a variety of journals, blogs, and anthologies, and her latest story will appear in the 2nd Rocky Mountain Sisters in Crime Mystery Merge. To connect, read her book reviews and essays, or see her stunning photos of roasted vegetables, visit G.P. Gottlieb on Facebook, Instagram, Substack, or GPGottlieb.Com.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Interview with Frances Figart - WOW! Q4 Creative Nonfiction Essay Runner Up

Frances Figart (Fié-gert), a runner up in the Q4 2025 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest for Safeway,joins us today to tell us about shifting gears with her writing and what she's learned from other writers.

Frances grew up in east Kentucky and lived in both Canada and Costa Rica before settling near Asheville, North Carolina, in tiny Flag Pond, Tennessee. She edits Smokies Life Journal and directs the team of writers, editors, graphic designers, illustrators, and videographers creating a books, periodicals, podcasts, and videos produced by Smokies Life, a nonprofit partner organization supporting Great Smoky Mountains National Park since 1953. In 2020, Frances launched Word from the Smokies, an educational column that now appears weekly in several regional news outlets in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Her creative spirit has yielded three books for young readers: Camilla and the Caterpillars, Mabel Meets a Black Bear, and A Search for Safe Passage, each of which addresses a current conservation need in east Tennessee and western North Carolina, which share the country’s most visited national park. She manages the Steve Kemp Writers Residency. Though she has always worked as a writer and editor, she only began to explore creative writing for an adult audience in 2023 after hosting the first Tremont Writers Conference, an annual program she co-founded in the Smokies.

WOW: Congratulations on being a runner up in the Q4 2025 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest for Safeway. It was a very interesting connection of your present and your past with a link to the natural world. Do you feel your beautiful surroundings influence your writing?

Frances: I work in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and live in a rural area with lots of protected, roadless land nearby. I suspect that my personal creative writing is indeed influenced by the creativity that comes from living and working in a natural setting. I can compose to the sound of water trickling into koi ponds, walk a trail by a small creek, or enjoy time in the middle of a stone circle that’s been erected on my property. I’m convinced that I wouldn’t have enough energy and inspiration left over from my fulltime job to work on my personal writing if it weren’t for having time immersed in the natural world. It’s restorative, regenerative, and healing in a way that nothing manmade can match.

At the same time, because roads are often our means of traveling through otherwise forested areas, there is much sadness that occurs in this day and age because of the wildlife mortality associated with roads. This topic of road ecology is one I’ve written articles about as well as the children’s book “A Search for Safe Passage.”

WOW: Your writing takes so many forms but recently you've tackled creative nonfiction. What influenced you to write for a new audience? 

Frances: I’ve always been a writer and editor, and in my 30s my focus settled in the realm of ecology. My column “Word from the Smokies,” now bylined mostly by my talented staff writer Holly Kays, and my children’s books such as “Mabel Meets a Black Bear” and “Camilla and the Caterpillars” educate young people and their families about the need to protect wildlife. I have a compilation of essays entitled “Word from the Smokies” on deck to come out next year.

I’m not sure I’ve yet found the audience for the personal writing I’ve begun to work on over the past few years. I do it for myself, for the process, for the flow and stillness of mind that comes when I’m writing. I see it as a spiritual practice. I want to undergo a transformation, a shift in perspective, a new way of seeing that comes with an expanded view—and create that experience for others. I’m drawn to doing this through speculative fiction as well as creative nonfiction. The topics can range from childhood friendship to cultural reconciliation to loss of parents or partners, but I often seek to address a personal experience that I haven’t yet fully unpacked, and the writing allows me to lean into that place of resistance and explore it more deeply. 

WOW: Aside from writing, you've taken on a new project for writers. Can you tell us a little about the Tremont Writers Conference?

Frances: There is an excellent outdoor writer named Ron Ellis, who wrote “Cogan’s Woods” and “Yonder: Tales from an Outdoor Life.” Ron has a cabin in the Smokies and is involved with the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. He studied under Rick Bass at an intensive Writers Boot Camp and approached Tremont a few years ago suggesting that a writers conference in the Smokies could be a worthy undertaking. Tremont is a nonprofit park partner, and so is my organization Smokies Life, which has been assisting the nation’s most visited national park since 1953. My CEO asked me to partner with Tremont to create a conference.

My co-founder and co-organizer would be a field program director named Jeremy Lloyd. I’d met Jeremy before, but we really didn’t know each other and, frankly, I didn’t feel we had much in common. When we sat down to plan what the conference would look like, something he said reminded me of a line from my all-time favorite singer–songwriter: “When you know even for a moment that it’s your time, then you can walk with the power of a thousand generations.” When I said this, an expression of amazement came over Jeremy’s face. “Oh my God,” he gushed, “Bruce Cockburn is my favorite musician of all time too!" Bonding over our love for the Canadian Bob Dylan, we were off to the races.

We’ve created an intense, intensive, immersive experience that happens for 25 or so writers every October deep in the heart of a beautiful national park. Our author workshop leaders have included Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Richard Powers, poets Frank X Walker and Maurice Manning, and this year our nonfiction cohort was led by the incredibly talented multi-genre writer Crystal Wilkinson. These leaders and our participants say this is the most fulfilling writers conference they have ever attended. Our submissions window opens this month at writers.gsmit.org.

WOW: That sounds like an amazing opportunity to learn from fellow writers. As a writer, do you think your craft improves from your spending time with other writers? 

Frances: Absolutely. In addition to reading others’ work, physically being around other writers gives us encouragement to keep going and helps us hone our craft. Sharing about process, about literary choices, about what we have learned from others—all of this helps us to more clearly see why we write and to understand that there is no one way to do it. You are always going to read your own writing from the maker’s perspective, which may not be anything close to what others receive when they read it. So getting another writer’s take on your piece is an amazing gift.

We all share the same struggle: to find ways to put our story on the page so that it unfolds for the reader in a way that will give them the experience we want them to have, so that they get that same chill of insight that caused us to sit down and pen the tale in the first place. It is extremely heartening to see my colleagues' smiles of understanding when we compare notes on the compulsion, burden, and reward of our creative endeavors.

WOW: Have you gotten any advice from the many writers and other creative people you work with that you could share with the WOW community? 

Frances: Since 2023, when we started Tremont Writers Conference, and since I began attending North Carolina Writers Network events, I’ve learned so many great tips. Memoirist Jennifer McGaha says not to think about audience at all until after your first draft is vomited out. When she wants to emulate the style of another writer, Crystal Wilkinson types out forty pages of their work to feel what it’s like from the driver’s seat. Self-taught Southern fiction giant David Joy says if you are using too many adverbs, it’s because you haven’t chosen the strongest verb. Appalachian fiction award winner Karen Spears Zacharias, who discovered writing as a way to process losing her father in the Vietnam war, develops works in which places are characters just a strong as her human ones.

WOW: What about you personally, what are your tips for us?

Frances: As someone who never got an MFA, I’ve found the book “Beginnings, Middles and Ends” by sci-fi genius Nancy Kress profoundly instructive. Ronald Verlin Cassill published “Writing Fiction” the year before I was born, listing four timeless stylistic modalities: narrative summary, description, scene, and half-scene. Canadian Nicole Breit has a great online course called “Spark Your Story Lab” in which she teaches the power of channeling your writing into new unfamiliar structures as an approach to tough material. One form I’ve been practicing lately is the 100-word essay. It’s like a meditation and a good way to learn what all can be left out, which ironically can increase impact.

Go to conferences, take online classes, find a group of writers to workshop with, and learn all you can from those who have been able to turn their craft into a money-making endeavor. 

But, in the end, listen to your own intuition and instinct. This commitment to writing is, ultimately, about your own compulsion to tell story, your own voice, your own process. No one else can tell you how to write what will be meaningful to you. Someone may tell you that your story would work better if told from a different point of view, but you may have written it from this character’s perspective because that was the way it meant the most to you. Be cautious about changing your work to conform to someone else’s standards. Write for yourself!

WOW: Thank for advice that is so simple and true and also so difficult at times. Write for yourself. I think we need that on t-shirts.

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Leave a Comment Contestant interview, Frances Figart, Jodi M. Webb, WOW! Q4 2025 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest, writers conferences

Who Should Go to Writer's Conferences?

All writers should go to at least one Writer's Conference. Most conferences have something for everyone, even readers and spouses. There are classes and workshops for the novelist, the short story writer, the article writer, and the poet.

Writer's conferences are all about networking and support. There you will meet people who will become your lifelong friends and people who know people. The comradeship is above anything you can imagine. With the internet and social media so accessible, writing isn't as much of a solo activity as it once was, but still meeting people face-to-face tops an online group.

Agents, editors, well-known authors, publishers, experts in various fields and instructors all give of their valuable time to make the experiences memorable and useful. Each will give you special attention when you contact them again. Personally, at this last conference, I received a request from two agents and an editor on my work. The first conference I attended I did not receive any requests, but it was still the most wonderful experience. I met Sue Grafton and many other authors. I went a little crazy with the getting the autographed books at that conference; I don't know if I will ever get the time to read them all.

The accommodations, the food and the entertainment are lively and enjoyable.  The people are friendly. Even if you are bashful, all it takes to make a friend is a smile. Many of the conference attendees are old hands and they'll guide you along.

So far, I've only attended two writing conferences, one very large one and one small one. They both held special interests for me. Writing conferences are invaluable to your career and your life as a writer. Shaw 

Guides lists many of the conferences, but keep an eye out for local ones that may not be listed there.

The only complaint I have about the conferences I've attended is too much to do and too little time. 

Source:

Photograph http://www.diypublicart.org/

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6 comments attendance, Cher'ley Grogg, large conferences, local, personal experience, Shaw, small conferences, writers conferences, Writing'

Writers' Conference Anxiety

This weekend, I am going to a one-day SCBWI-IL workshop in Chicago called Prairie Writers' Day. Is it a good idea to travel to a writing conference on Friday the 13th? Let's hope so! But even it if was a different date with no superstitions, I would still have "writers' conference anxiety!"

I shouldn't have this problem--I've planned and taken part in writers' conferences before. I even wrote an article for WOW! about how to be prepared for a writing conference and get the most bang out of your buck. But I still seem to suffer from anxiety before every writers' conference.

Here's why I think this happens to me: 1. I'm too busy to properly prepare myself for the conference. So, I don't know the speakers, schedule, or venue as well as I should. 2. And this is the biggie. . .I worry about what I will do if I meet an editor/agent in the bathroom or at lunch or in the hallway. It's almost like meeting a celebrity, especially since this person, if she likes your work, has the potential to change your life.

So, while I am sitting in the workshops and lectures, dutifully taking notes, I am trying to come up with some sort of brilliant thing to say to this person, so that I do not sound desperate or pushy or weird. But I want to be confident and funny and leave an impression. Believe me, all the worry, anxiety, and half-eaten lunches have still not created a witty opening line. Usually, I say something like: "I really enjoyed your talk."

And she says, "Thanks."

That's it--that's it. Then another person at the lunch table will say something about one of their clients or the latest award-winning book or even the editor's favorite TV show, and the editor will eventually ask the writer, "So, what do you write?" If that could only be me. . .

When I follow with my query letter after the conference, I will write something personal about the talk or the lunch table (even though I'm sure I made no impression). Hopefully, my work can stand alone as it should!

So, I am telling myself this time, I am going to this conference, leaving on Friday the 13th of all days, with a new attitude. I am going to have fun with my writing critique group members, celebrate and talk about writing, and soak up as much information and inspiration as I can. If I meet a speaker in the hallway or in the bathroom, I am not going to worry about being witty or wise or standing out in the crowd. (I am also NOT going to picture the person in his or her underwear as is the common advice for people who suffer from anxiety when giving speeches.) I am just going to say the first thing that comes out of my mouth--just like I would say to anyone I meet while waiting in one of the longest bathroom lines ever when you are at a children's writers' conference. (For those of you who don't know--at least 95% women, at least.)

I really, really am.
(I'll let you know how it goes.)

Happy Writing!
Margo Dill
http://margodill.com/blog/
"Read These Books and Use Them"

photo by rhcrayon www.flickr.com

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1 comment Inspiration, Margo Dill, writers conferences

The 2009 Muse Online Writers Conference

By Jill Earl

I’m finally coming down from my annual Muse high. This year, from October 12th to October 18th, I attended the Muse Online Writers Conference, an annual event packed with more than enough activities to satisfy any writer. The first Muse Conference came on the scene back in 2006, when co-founders Lea Schizas and Carolyn Howard Johnson saw an opportunity to create a conference where writers from around the world could attend, without the limits of money or distance. And best of all, everything is FREE!

I first started attending the Muse three years ago, and have seen it grow better each year. I’m consistently amazed at the quality of the conference, how Lea manages to line up an excellent roster of presenters, putting together a vast array of workshops and chats, pretty much accomplishing everything by herself. Her dedication is awe-inspiring.

I continue to register for the Muse each year because it’s a great way to experiment with various forms of writing. Right now, I’m focusing primarily with nonfiction, so I signed up for workshops in pet writing, personal essays and writing for trade magazines. The beauty of this conference, however, is that you don’t have to limit yourself only to the sessions you’ve signed up for. Because everything’s online, you’re free to pop into any workshop or chat that piques your interest, whether that’s children’s writing, writing press releases, setting up your website or preparing your headshot.

A new addition to this year’s conference was pitch sessions with various publishers. Special workshops and chats were offered beforehand, so attendees could prepare their pitches and be ready to meet with presenters during the conference. Great opportunity for writers to acquire and improve pitching skills, and perhaps get an offer from a favorite publisher.

If attending the Muse Writers Conference sounds like a plan for next year, check out WOW!’s review of the event with Lea Schizas, which appeared in our September 2007 issue here: http://wow-womenonwriting.com/13-review.html

Also, keep an eye out for registration notices for the 2010 Conference, which should appear sometime next month.

The Muse Online Writers Conference. Consider adding it to your conference list next year, you’ll be glad you did!

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Leave a Comment Jill Earl, The Muse Online Writers Conference 2009, writers conferences

The Return of the Baltimore Writers Conference

By Jill Earl

What a difference a year makes. Exactly a year ago, my first post for ‘The Muffin’ was 'Notes from the Baltimore Writers Conference', my first experience at the annual event. This time around, I attended with a writing buddy, and had some writing experience under my belt. What would the day hold for me?

The conference opened with keynote speaker Larry Doyle, a former writer and producer for ‘The Simpsons’ for four years. Titled ‘How I Became A Salesman’, Mr. Doyle’s droll humor wove its way through his talk. For instance, his reason for becoming a writer was to avoid his father’s line of work of door-to-door sales. His choice of writing as a vocation didn't go over well. His observation: “Being a movie writer is 90% finding writing jobs---so you can say I’m a salesman in Hollywood. Dad would be proud.”

His first novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper , a homage to 80's teen comedies, is now available and will be released as a film next year, directed by Chris Columbus and starring Hayden Panettierre of the T.V. show ‘Heroes’. He fielded many questions from the eager audience, and at the end, left us with this last comment, “Most Hollywood writers are very well written, which is amazing considering the quality of work coming from there.” He’s currently not working on his next novel.

In my first session, ‘Taking The Freelance Plunge’, freelancers Cathy Alter and Geoff Brown tag-teamed to walk attendees through the process. Both made the move to freelancing for the freedom of creating their own schedules and doing work they wanted to do, missing the reliable biweekly check initially. Mr. Brown remarked, “Having a spouse with a paying job is important. Very important.” They continued with advice on effectively researching markets, starting with smaller magazines to build your portfolio, and looking into setting up your own blog. Their last bit of advice: “Read everything. Read, read, read!”

In the ‘Literary Journals & Magazines’ session with Gettysburg Review assistant editor Mark Drew and Gargoyle Magazine editor/publisher Richard Peabody, attendees learned to tailor their pieces to what lit mag editors are looking for. Among the sore points for both: inconsistent characters, long drawn-out plots, and not reading the magazine to get a feel for it. “We’re looking for any reason to reject your work.” To better your chances for acceptance, Mr. Drew suggested, “Know your characters so well that you take editors by surprise and hook them, and they’ll want to accept your work.”

“Wherever you are, use that opportunity to further your writing experience.” That statement opened the ‘Travel Writing’ session, led by L. Peat O’Neil, author of Travel Writing: See the World, Sell the Story. We jumped into defining the elements of a travel piece--title, lead/lede, the ‘where are we?’, ‘why are we there?’, theme, and ‘how’--adding facts, character development, and backstory to make an interesting piece. As a brainstorming exercise, Ms. O’Neil had us recall a travel experience, remembering specific details using our senses, then write down some ideas that could be the beginnings of our own travel pieces.


We moved on to areas to break into travel writing, such as small presses and journals, choosing your target market and carefully reading it to discover their style. Once established, she emphasized the need to be gutsy in marketing and selling yourself; developing contacts with editors and other writers; and suggested focusing on a region/area instead of a variety of places. Her takeaway at the end of the session: “Read widely of what was written by travel writers decades, even centuries past, get a fresh perspective on the genre.”

My last session, ‘Screenwriting’, led by screenplay consultant David Warfield, was mostly a Q&A time. He suggested that beginners look into screenwriting competitions as a resource to get the proverbial foot in the door, but making sure to do the necessary research because of the many scammers out there. Mr. Warfield added that learning how to craft good query letters is an important skill to develop, since few in the business accept unsolicited scripts. At the end, attendees received a handout with helpful resources.

Throughout the conference, I met fellow writers, made great connections, ate really good food and didn't buy out the bookstore---a first! We hit the wine and cheese gathering for last-minute networking and snacks for the road, then left.

With conference season officially over, the work of sorting through this last round of handouts and notes, and applying what was learned begins. Bring it on!

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Leave a Comment Jill Earl, writers conferences, writing

Celebrate Rockvile's Favorite Son at The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference

By Jill Earl

Last Saturday, I hopped a train to Rockville, Maryland, a short distance from Washington, D.C. for the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference (FSF) at Montgomery College. Now in its 13th year, this annual day-long event gathers area writers and readers together to listen to and learn from industry professionals, meet the FSF contest winners and celebrate the 112th birthday of Rockville’s favorite son, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Attendees began their morning with writing workshops such as poetry, novel structure, the author/editor relationship, screen adaptation and short story to get the writing flow going. Following welcome remarks, attention was turned to ‘Crime and Mystery--A New and Yet Familiar Genre’. Washington Post writer and columnist Michael Dirda moderated the lively discussion as panelists George Pelicanos, Laura Lippman, and 2008 FSF Literary Award recipient Elmore Leonard shared their experiences in this popular genre.

Emmy nominated for HBO’s The Wire, Mr. Pelicanos defined himself as a crime novelist interested in the ‘why’ rather than the ‘whodunit’ and “showing people the way things are” in his novels set around Washington, D.C. Former journalist and author of the Tess Monaghan mystery series, Ms. Lippman remarked that she “aspired to noir writing”, but “I’m not dark enough.” An acclaimed novelist and screenwriter, Mr. Leonard frankly declared, “I don’t care for cute, comfortable mysteries”, evident in works ranging from westerns to modern writings such as Get Shorty and Freaky Deaky, a favorite of Mr. Pelicanos.

The best advice to writers was offered by Ms. Lippman, “You have to grow a really thick skin and learn to get over bad reviews. If they say your work is bad, so what? Move on!”

Added to this year’s conference was the opportunity to pre-register for 20-minute manuscript consultations with editors from journals such as Narrative, The Gettysburg Review and Blackbird. All meetings were on a first-come, first-served basis.

After lunch we moved on to keynote speaker Susan Cheever, who led us through ‘The Mystery of Great Writing from 1850 to the Present’. Interspersed with tales from her early days of writing, Ms. Cheever spoke of her lifelong love and fascination for Louisa May Alcott’s writings, noted that there's more of a writers’ community today than there used to be and how “the writer’s nap is a very important part of a writer’s life”, a belief near and dear to my heart. At the end, she reminded attendees, “The only way to learn how to write is to read.”

During the awards ceremony, winners of both the high school and adult short story contests accepted their prizes and read excerpts from their works. And Elmore Leonard, winner of the 13th Annual FSF Literary Award (recognizing outstanding achievement in American literature), joined a most distinguished group of past recipients, including John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Norman Mailer and Edward Albee. Mr. Leonard continued to delight attendees with his wry humor as he read from one of his many novels. As an added surprise, his wife presented him with a candle-topped cupcake as attendees wished him a happy 83rd birthday.

The afternoon continued with a panel on wisdom from writers, editors and publicists; the Fitzgerald Haunts in Rockville Tour, including his and wife Zelda’s final resting place; and more writing workshops, among them memoir, short story, and personal essay.

I signed up for the personal essay workshop led by Kim Dana Kupperman, managing editor of The Gettysburg Review. Since we had limited time, we jumped into learning how to develop persona writing about first kisses from not only our own perspectives, but also from those of philosophers, thieves and martyrs. A fun way to end a rather relaxing day.

Reading, writing and learning from the best on a beautiful October day. What more could a writer want?

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2 comments F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Jill Earl, writers conferences, writing