Tag: 2016

BWA Conference

2016 Broadleaf Writers Conference Schedule Now Available!

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The 2016 Schedule for the Broadleaf Writers Conference is now available*! Click the link for a downloadable version, or scroll below to see it now!

Saturday, September 24th

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Welcome and Introduction

9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Writing With Confidence

Keynote Address, Paul Jenkins

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

The Southern Voice: Writing Southern Fiction

Panelists: Patti Callahan Henry, Joshilyn Jackson, Brian Panowich

Moderator: George Weinstein

 

The Butler Didn’t Do It: Keeping the Mystery in Your Work

Panelists: Shelli Johannes-Wells, Grant Jerkins, Romily Bernard

Moderator: TBD

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

A Panel of Panels: The Comic Book Writer

Panelists: Paul Jenkins, Clay McLeod Chapman, James A. Moore

Moderator: Bill Blume

 

Kill Your Darlings, Over and Again: Editing Your Work

Panelists: Jessica Handler, Joshilyn Jackson, David L. Robbins, Colleen Oakley

Moderator: George Weinstein

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

You Just Don’t Understand Me!: Writing for Teens and Children

Panelists: Romily Bernard, Shelli Johannes Wells, Clay McLeod Chapman

Moderator: Bill Blume

 

Marketing in a Digital Age: Marketing and Branding on Social Media

Panelists: Clifford Brooks III, Nicki Salcedo, Kate Sweeney

Moderator: TBD

3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

First Pages Critique

Panelists: Kristy Hunter, Kaylee Davis, Kimiko Nakamura, David L. Robbins

Moderator: Zachary Steele

 

Sunday, September 25th

9:00 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.

Welcome Back

9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Life, the Universe, and Everything: The Elements of World Building

Panelists: Paul Jenkins, Patti Callahan Henry, James A. Moore, Brian Panowich

Moderator: Bill Blume

10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Driving a Stake Through Clichés: Writing Original Fantasy and Horror

Panelists: James A. Moore, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Clay McLeod Chapman

Moderator: TBD

 

You Could Say That: Choosing the Right Word

Panelists: Clifford Brooks III, David L. Robbins, Kate Sweeney

Moderator: Ed Hall

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Make ‘em Laugh: Injecting Humor In Your Work

Panelists: Patti Callahan Henry, Nicki Salcedo, Jessica Handler

Moderator: TBD

 

Putting Them Through Hell: Pushing Your Characters to the Brink

Panelists: Colleen Oakley, David L. Robbins, Grant Jerkins

Moderator: TBD

1:00p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Lunch

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

You Don’t Say…: Writing Believable Characters and Dialogue

Panelists: Nicki Salcedo, Brian Panowich, Grant Jerkins

Moderator: David L. Robbins

 

Sad Hours Seem Long: Writing Grief and Loss for Everyone

Panelists: Jessica Handler, Kate Sweeney, Colleen Oakley

Moderator: TBD

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

The Elevator Pitch: The 60-second Pitch

Panelists: Kristy Hunter, Kaylee Davis, Kimiko Nakamura,

Moderator: Zachary Steele

4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Clifford Brooks III, The Fifth Movement &

Closing Remarks

*schedule subject to change

Partners

Featured Partner: The Writer’s High

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The Writers HighOne of the fundamental tenets of the Broadleaf Writers Association is that through community, writers gain not only in talent but in strength and confidence. As a unit, we can achieve more, we can assist one another in the dreams birthed the first day we created worlds. Our region is deep in organizations dedicated to writers, and we believe it is necessary to partner with and promote them all. The broader the community, the greater we can assist our writers. So, today we launch a feature promoting each of our partners. Please, follow the links, see what these groups are doing. Perhaps they speak to you. Perhaps they speak to a writer you know. Perhaps you will share the word, help us in our efforts to build the biggest, most diverse community of writers in existence.

Today, we spotlight The Writer’s High, a fantastic writer’s retreat, run by the incomparable (and super awesome!) Mari Ann Stefanelli Perusek.

Picture yourself nestled in the gorgeous North Georgia mountains, with cool breezes caressing your summer-weary skin, lodging in a beautiful resort, doing what you love––writing, refilling your creative well. Tantalizing, isn’t it? Now, add in a NYT best-selling author, two award-winning authors, and an extraordinary poet who share their writing secrets with you. Can you imagine? They’re with you ALL weekend. You’ll attend their workshops, eat delicious meals together, and enjoy relaxed conversations. Can you see yourself? Now, add in a sprinkling of fellow writers from all levels and backgrounds who are eager to learn, to experience, and to meet other writers. Your newest best friend might be the writer sitting next to you. It’s all at The Writer’s High Retreat, waiting for you. No competition. No comparisons. You need this. Your writing deserves this. Registration has been extended to September 1st. http://www.thewritershighretreat.com/

Featuring Joshilyn Jackson, Charles Clifford Brooks III, Jessica Handler, and Michael Morris, this retreat should be at the top of every writer’s wish list. Register now!

Partners

Featured Partner: The Southern Collective Experience

broadleafzach

One of the fundamental tenets of the Broadleaf Writers Association is that through community, writers gain not only in talent but in strength and confidence. As a unit, we can achieve more, we can assist one another in the dreams birthed the first day we created worlds. Our region is deep in organizations dedicated to writers, and we believe it is necessary to partner with and promote them all. The broader the community, the greater we can assist our writers. So, today we launch a feature promoting each of our partners. Please, follow the links, see what these groups are doing. Perhaps they speak to you. Perhaps they speak to a writer you know. Perhaps you will share the word, help us in our efforts to build the biggest, most diverse community of writers in existence.

Today, we begin with the Southern Collective Experience.

Southern Collective Experience

The Southern Collective Experience is an organization of the arts founded in 2010.   After its founder, Clifford Brooks’ first book of poetry, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, was published, he saw a need for increased professionalism and tight-knit feel of a family within, and around, those who shared a similar vision.  The Southern Collective Experience is a group of men and women who not only dream of being an artist, but have gained success in that endeavor.  They promote and provide personal support within their ranks to show through doing that not all of the Creative Ilk are incapable of sharing a stage.

The cardinal virtue of the Collective is to promote the arts, in all its forms, proving that integrity, high standards, and classical understanding of the past, present, and future of expression do exist.  Not only that, but they are thriving.  Innovative minds are able to balance their dreamscapes as well as their check books.

Every member holds their own responsibilities within the organization, while gaining enormous promotion for their own endeavors through social media, a magazine (The Blue Mountain Review), and an NPR radio show called Dante’s Old South.  You can find all of this and more by visiting their website, www.southerncollectiveexperince.com.

Of course, the presence of the word “Southern” isn’t meant to exclude any part of America, or the world for that matter.  Everyone is south of somewhere.  This has more to do with the couth, tact, and honor.  This is about laughter, relaxation, and mutual success while retaining absolute independence.  This is not a Utopian hope.  This is not a haughty construction of vowel and consonance sounds more akin to prayers than statements of facts.  It is what it is, and the SCE welcomes you to submit, inquire, and learn.

BWA Conference

Registration is now open!

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2016 BWA Conference

Registration for the 2016 Broadleaf Writers Conference is now open! To register, visit our event page. You can also include the purchase of an annual membership, which offers you an immediate discount on your registration!

For a current list of this year’s Speakers, click here!

We will be updating our conference page soon, with further details on scheduling one-on-one sessions with Literary Agents! If you haven’t done so yet, sign-up for our newsletter or visit us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates and news!

Writer's Night

Writer’s Night 2.0, featuring Colleen Oakley!

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Writer’s Night returns!

Our second installment on the Writer’s Night calendar is quickly approaching! This go around, we’ll be at Book Exchange in Marietta, Saturday April 30th from 5-7 p.m.! As before, there will be food, drinks, socializing and, of course, a featured speaker from this year’s conference! So, take some time away from writing, power down the laptop, steel yourself for some friendly conversation and spend some needed time with fellow writers!

For this Writer’s Night, we are pleased to announce our featured author will be Colleen Oakley!

Colleen Oakley
Colleen Oakley

One of Atlanta’s great new voices in fiction, Colleen Oakley’s debut novel Before I Go was a People Magazine Best New Book Pick in January 2015, an Us Weekly “Must” Pick, and a Publisher’s Lunch Buzz Book. Formerly the senior editor of Marie Claire and editor-in-chief of Women’s Health & Fitness, Colleen’s articles, essays, and interviews have been featured in The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, Redbook, Parade, and Martha Stewart Weddings. She is hard at work on her second novel, Close Enough to Touch, due out April 2017.

It is our hope to continue hosting Writer’s Night events throughout the year, leading to the First Annual BWA Conference in September. In addition to offering an event designed to create a community–one that encourages writers to join en masse to offer support, discuss ideas, projects, and life in general–we also want to keep solid attention on the many quality independent bookstores in the area. So, come out, have some fun, throw some support to Book Exchange, and help us build a writing community!

We have a great deal in works for this year and beyond. For the latest updates and news, please sign up for our newsletter, ‘like’ us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!