2010 Workshops: Partial list of speakers and preliminary titles for workshops. Please keep checking back as we add to the list and finalize arrangements.
ALBERT BELL: BEYOND
POV: GETTING INTO YOUR CHARACTER’S HEAD
Albert Bell will take you to a new frontier in the vast dimensions of point-of-view as we know it. His workshop will explore first versus third person and related devices that have been hashed over time and again. How do you take a character you have created and get inside his or her psyche.... Really inside, to know him or her as well as you know yourself.
www.albertbell.com
MELITA GARDNER: RHYME IS NOT THE ONLY POETRY
Calling all poets, philosophers of verse, and anyone who has ever strung together words into a few stanzas of connected or disconnected thought. If your first response is, “I’m not a poet,” think again. Poems are many things—ballads, beats, free verse, sonnets, odes, limericks, haiku, runes, lyrics, prayers, hymns, lullabies, raps, and more. Don’t miss this group participation workshop. Bring one to three of your poems (any style) to share with Melita and others attending. This workshop on poetry will make the spirits of Lord Byron, Emily and Anne Bronte, Walt Whitman, and Allen Ginsberg smile.
RANDY RAWLS: WRITING TO AVOID REJECTION
Randy Rawls will be giving out advice, tips, and maybe some personal anecdotes on avoiding rejection as a writer. As an added twist, he has offered to critique the first 10 pages of five manuscripts on a first come, first served basis. Interested writers should send 10 pages (only 10, please), double spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt font (black, of course), and with one inch margins all around. Send your pages as an attachment to
RandyRawls@att.net. Please put “Emerald Coast Writers Conference Manuscript Critique” in the subject line, so he will know why you are emailing him. The deadline for submitting your work is March 15. For more information, see
Randy’s Rules.
VINCENT O’NEIL: DIRECTING THE ENSEMBLE CAST IN YOUR HEAD: TECHNIQUES FROM THE STAGE AND SCREEN THAT CAN HELP YOUR WRITING
This 2005 winner of the St. Martin’s Press "Malice Domestic" Award packs more than a long title into his workshop on tools from the stage and screen that you can use in your writing. No matter what your specialty (novels, non-fiction, movie or TV scripts, or audience-clapping, critic-smiling,
curtain-drawing plays for on or off Broadway) Vinny will demonstrate how you can apply the techniques of directors, actors, playwrights, and screenwriters to your own project.
www.vincenthoneil.com
BARBARA
DESHONG: HOW TO WRITE SO THAT YOUR WORK STANDS OUT
Barbara
DeShong, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice and consulting, primarily as a keynote speaker. According to her, the blend of doing psychotherapy and writing humorous fiction as a perfect fit, since she loves stories and is constitutionally incapable of staying out of other people’s business. Dr. DeShong is on the web as
www.Mysteryshrink.com, a site she developed as a way to “pay it forward” by sharing what’s she’s learned through clinical practice and study. Her workshop will focus on how to “wow” your reader right off the bat and keep her turning the pages to find out what happens next. Dr. DeShong will discuss the Essential Questions a writer needs to ask in the development of every scene—from opening sentence to cliffhanger. Learn how to draw in your reader and keep her excited about the story until the last sentence.
ELIZABETH
SINCAIR: FIRST CHAPTERS: LEARNING THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF YOUR BOOK’S ALL-IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION TO AN EDITOR
Elizabeth Sinclair is an admitted addict . . . to writing and are we ever glad she can’t kick the habit. If you are drawn to words, such as “longing,” heart-rending,” “escalating danger,” “charming twist,” “enchanted tale,” and “Disneyland-type magic,” this is a workshop you won’t want to miss. Elizabeth will fill your head with information on opening hooks, introduction to the main characters, inciting incidents, chapter one and the important elements to include, and more.
www.elizabethsinclair.com
VICKI
HINZE: SHIFTING GEARS AND TAKING RISKS
Best-selling author Vicki Hinze started out writing romantic suspense, but shifted gears to become one of the first authors to write military romantic suspense, military romantic intrigue, and military romantic thrillers, efforts for which she has been credited with a Career Achievement Award. Recently, she has shifted focus to Christian fiction. She’s a trail-blazer who isn’t afraid to take risks. Her workshops are always packed with people ready to take copious notes and she’s ready to fill those pages with vital information, as well as answer your questions.
LORI
STRONGIN: QUERY LETTER BOOTCAMP
Join Lori Strongin’s bootcamp and you will “graduate” with a lot more than basic training. Known as the Query Goddess, Lori will take you on a journey we hope will carry you to your destination in the land of publication. She will guide writers through the query process, explaining the nuts and bolts of this essential document, how to find and research potential agents/editors/publishers, and what information should and should not be included in the letter. Lay your questions, random thoughts, incomprehensible rejection experiences, urban myths, and mind-boggling confusion before the oracle of the Query Goddess and learn what she has to say. www.loristrongin.com
SARA DUBOSE: ANATOMY OF A NOVEL
Sara DuBose practices surgery, but this author and motivational speaker isn’t interested in carving up human bodies. She specializes in the craft of writing and how all the parts in your body of work contribute and articulate with the whole. Speaking in the jargon of health care for novels, Sara will help you examine writing from head to toe, discovering the body’s many secrets for building a successful novel. Join her for a different take on dissection as you explore these skeletal wonders and then watch in amazement as dry bones come to life.
www.saradubose.com
KATHY CARMICHAEL: TITLE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Whatever her topic, get ready to catch the comedy in this workshop. Kathy Carmichael is an award-winning author of comedic mysteries and romantic comedies whose 2009 release, Hot Flash, was named as one of the Top 10 Romance Fiction titles for 2009 by the American Library Association's Booklist magazine. Her most recent release is DIARY OF A CONFESSIONS QUEEN, a comedic mystery. She is a vibrant speaker who interacts with the workshop attendees to answer questions, elaborate on topics, and generally enthuse everyone with an urge to fire up their laptops and start
writing. www.kathycarmichael.com
Albert Bell will take you to a new frontier in the vast dimensions of point-of-view as we know it. His workshop will explore first versus third person and related devices that have been hashed over time and again. How do you take a character you have created and get inside his or her psyche.... Really inside, to know him or her as well as you know yourself.
Calling all poets, philosophers of verse, and anyone who has ever strung together words into a few stanzas of connected or disconnected thought. If your first response is, “I’m not a poet,” think again. Poems are many things—ballads, beats, free verse, sonnets, odes, limericks, haiku, runes, lyrics, prayers, hymns, lullabies, raps, and more. Don’t miss this group participation workshop. Bring one to three of your poems (any style) to share with Melita and others attending. This workshop on poetry will make the spirits of Lord Byron, Emily and Anne Bronte, Walt Whitman, and Allen Ginsberg smile. 
Randy Rawls will be giving out advice, tips, and maybe some personal anecdotes on avoiding rejection as a writer. As an added twist, he has offered to critique the first 10 pages of five manuscripts on a first come, first served basis. Interested writers should send 10 pages (only 10, please), double spaced, Times New Roman 12 pt font (black, of course), and with one inch margins all around. Send your pages as an attachment to
This 2005 winner of the St. Martin’s Press "Malice Domestic" Award packs more than a long title into his workshop on tools from the stage and screen that you can use in your writing. No matter what your specialty (novels, non-fiction, movie or TV scripts, or audience-clapping, critic-smiling,
Barbara
DeShong, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice and consulting, primarily as a keynote speaker. According to her, the blend of doing psychotherapy and writing humorous fiction as a perfect fit, since she loves stories and is constitutionally incapable of staying out of other people’s business. Dr. DeShong is on the web as
Elizabeth Sinclair is an admitted addict . . . to writing and are we ever glad she can’t kick the habit. If you are drawn to words, such as “longing,” heart-rending,” “escalating danger,” “charming twist,” “enchanted tale,” and “Disneyland-type magic,” this is a workshop you won’t want to miss. Elizabeth will fill your head with information on opening hooks, introduction to the main characters, inciting incidents, chapter one and the important elements to include, and more.
Best-selling author Vicki Hinze started out writing romantic suspense, but shifted gears to become one of the first authors to write military romantic suspense, military romantic intrigue, and military romantic thrillers, efforts for which she has been credited with a Career Achievement Award. Recently, she has shifted focus to Christian fiction. She’s a trail-blazer who isn’t afraid to take risks. Her workshops are always packed with people ready to take copious notes and she’s ready to fill those pages with vital information, as well as answer your questions. 
Join Lori Strongin’s bootcamp and you will “graduate” with a lot more than basic training. Known as the Query Goddess, Lori will take you on a journey we hope will carry you to your destination in the land of publication. She will guide writers through the query process, explaining the nuts and bolts of this essential document, how to find and research potential agents/editors/publishers, and what information should and should not be included in the letter. Lay your questions, random thoughts, incomprehensible rejection experiences, urban myths, and mind-boggling confusion before the oracle of the Query Goddess and learn what she has to say.
Sara DuBose practices surgery, but this author and motivational speaker isn’t interested in carving up human bodies. She specializes in the craft of writing and how all the parts in your body of work contribute and articulate with the whole. Speaking in the jargon of health care for novels, Sara will help you examine writing from head to toe, discovering the body’s many secrets for building a successful novel. Join her for a different take on dissection as you explore these skeletal wonders and then watch in amazement as dry bones come to life.
Whatever her topic, get ready to catch the comedy in this workshop. Kathy Carmichael is an award-winning author of comedic mysteries and romantic comedies whose 2009 release, Hot Flash, was named as one of the Top 10 Romance Fiction titles for 2009 by the American Library Association's Booklist magazine. Her most recent release is DIARY OF A CONFESSIONS QUEEN, a comedic mystery. She is a vibrant speaker who interacts with the workshop attendees to answer questions, elaborate on topics, and generally enthuse everyone with an urge to fire up their laptops and start
writing.