Writing Seminar @ Beautiful Deep Creek Lake

Lauren Carr’s Book Writing and Publishing Seminar Make That Dream of Becoming an Author a Reality Lauren Carr Best-Selling Mystery Author & Publisher Are you working on a book? Or have you written a book but don’t know if it is quite ready to be published? Is your book ready to be published, but you have no idea what to do now? Do you self-publish? Maybe you want to approach the New York publishers? How do you do that? Do you even want to? How do I get reviewers?” Writers have a lot of questions, especially nowadays since the gate keepers of publishing have gone by the wayside to open the doors for writers to make their books available to readers. Best-selling author and publisher Lauren Carr, who has penned six critically-acclaimed books, has made it her mission to answer those questions for you, plus more in this 2-day writing and publishing seminar. Book Writing & Publishing Workshop: Saturday, April 13 & 14, 9-12, 1-4. Book Writers Workshop: (Saturday, April 13): Are you suffering from the Good-Parent Syndrome? From addressing obstacles like time management to overcoming writers block, the first day of this seminar will focus on teaching budding authors what makes a good book, as well as how to avoid the ten-plus most common mistakes, which can prevent their books from being a success. Note: Grammar and Punctuation are not on the list of most common mistakes. Book Publishing Workshop: (Sunday, April 14): Did you know that a six-figure advance is not necessarily a good thing? Lauren will start the publishing workshop by defining the details of the most common terms in publishing, followed by explaining the various different forms of publishing. There are pros and cons to each one. Lauren will also outline the steps of what goes into publishing a book from editing to layout design to proofing, and releasing it to the public. The Book Publishing Workshop will also instruct students on how to successfully use online resources in order to publish their book after writing it and use the online media to promote it worldwide. It will be informative for writers planning to either self or traditionally publish.Lauren Carr is also the best-selling mystery author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. On Amazon, she has been consistently listed in the top one-hundred authors in sales for her mysteries. It’s Murder, My Son, Old Loves Die Hard, and Shades of Murder, have all been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. It’s Murder, My Son and Old Loves Die Hard have both made number one status on Amazon in the category of cozy mysteries. Blast from the Past is the fourth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series. The next installment in the Mac Faraday series will be released in October of this year.   Released September 2012, Dead on Ice introduces a new series entitled Lovers in Crime, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates. The second installment in the Lovers in Crime series will be out in 2013.   The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.   Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.   She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.   Visit Lauren’s websites and blog at: E-Mail: writerlaurencarr@gmail.com Website:  http://acornbookservices.com/ http://mysterylady.net/ Blog: Literary Wealth:  http://literarywealth.wordpress.com/     Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/lauren.carr.984991 Gnarly’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GnarlyofMacFaradayMysteries Lovers in Crime Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/LoversInCrimeMysteries?ref=ts&fref=ts Acorn Book Services Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AcornBookServices?ref=hl   Twitter: @TheMysteryLadie   Event Info Saturday, April 13 & Sunday, April 14, 2013 9:00 am-12 Noon, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm Garrett College 687 Mosser Road McHenry, MD 21541 Cost MD SR $99.00 GC $109.00 OOC $110.00 OOS $111.00

Garrett College Garrett College is offering a variety of non-credit courses at the Northern Outreach Center in Grantsville, Maryland. Whatever your interests, talents, or age, there is a special place for you with Garrett College. You can enroll in most of our courses regardless of your past education. Whether you want to upgrade basic skills, job skills, or continue professional education, we have courses for you. Soon you will discover a stimulating learning opportunity in a small, close-knit, educationally supportive environment.   For more information or to register, please contact Terry Beachy at 301-895-4700 or terry.beachy@garrettcollege.edu. Northern Outreach Center hours: Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM Evenings and Saturdays by appointment Continuing Education and Workforce Development at main campus: 301-387-3069 http://www.garrettcollege.edu/coned/

Science Fiction Writing Workshop August 2013 in Baltimore Area

One of the Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe brought a Maryland-based writing workshop to my attention. It is an annual event called Shore Leave, a fan run Science Fiction convention. Scenes from my favorite comedy The Big Bang Theory with the male cast dressed as favorite Star Trek characters filled my head. But the writer was quick to tell me she attends the convention for its writing workshops.

The convention runs over a long weekend in August in the Baltimore area. It is readily accessible by car to those living anywhere from Richmond, VA to New York City to Pittsburgh, PA.

I will provide a link at the bottom of this post to the Shore Leave web site. I don’t find the site very helpful in providing information for writers about the writing workshop schedule. I have pasted what information is there below:

Shore Leave 35 will include:

Writing Workshops: Learn how to improve your writing from some of your favorite writers.   Past panels have included writing about the non-fictional part of Trek; How to express point  of view in your story; The trials and tribulations of being a writer and more.

Joining us this summer for Shore Leave 35 will be Media Guests William Shatner, Amanda Tapping and Julie Caitlin Brown.  Note: William Shatner will be appearing on Saturday, August 3, only. More Information is available.

Also joining us are Author Guests:Rigel Ailur, Russ Colchamiro, Greg Cox, Ann C. Crispin, Mary Louise Davie, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Dave Galanter, Allyn Gibson, Phil Giunta, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Jim Johnson, William Leisner, David Mack, James Mascia, Kelly Meding, Susan Olesen, Scott Pearson, Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Aaron Rosenberg, Lawrence M. Schoen, Peter Wacks, David Mark Weber, Howard Weinstein, andSteven H. Wilson.

Science Guests:Paul Abell, Lucy Albert, David Batchelor, Wayne Bird, Kirk Borne, Caroline Cox, Jerry Feldman, Larry Hubble, Yoji Kondo, Eric Schulman, Stephanie J. Slater, Timothy F. Slater, andRay Villard.

And Special GuestsTye Bourdony andT.A. Chafin.

Shore Leave web site: http://www.shore-leave.com/

Registration form: http://www.shore-leave.com/registration/

Hotel info for the convention: http://www.shore-leave.com/hotel/

Let’s Party at a Writers Conference!

The Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Conference is coming to Maryland in the fall of 2013. Why don’t we all go and have a party while we learn to write better? Sounds like fun to me.

Several links below will tell you more about it.

Registration form: http://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com/?page_id=2

FAQ: http://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com/?page_id=319

Schedule

3 Day Conference

Friday, September 13, 2013 Registration begins at 8:00 am Early registration ends November 30, 2012

FRIDAY

8:00 am to 5:00 pm – Registration 11:00 am to 11:30 am – Welcome presentation 11:30am to 4:30pm – Writers Roundtable 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm panels 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Agent Meetings 2:00 pm – Panels 3:00 pm – Panels 4:00 pm – Panels 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm – Book signing by all Friday authors 6:00 pm – Buffet dinner – opening ceremonies & keynote talk

SATURDAY

7:00 am to 9:00 am – continental breakfast 9:00 am – Panels 10:00 am – Panels 10:30 am to 12:00 pm – Writers Roundtable 11:00 am – Panels Noon – lunch / special guest interview 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm panels 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Writers Roundtable [1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Agent Meetings] 2:00 pm – Panels 3:00 pm – Panels 4:00 pm – Panels 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm – Book signing by all Saturday authors 6:00 pm – Banquet dinner – Keynote talk

SUNDAY

9:00 am to 10:30am – Buffet Breakfast (w/omelet chef) – special guest interview 11:00 am – Panels Noon – Panels

Attending Authors

Ann Arbaugh Bob Bailey Austin S. Camacho Lauren Carr DB Corey Jeffrey Deaver Christina Freeburn John Gilstrap Tracee L. Garner Christopher Golden Cherley Grogg Trice Hickman Norwood Holland Deliah Lawrence Larry Mathews Amy McCorkle Cynthia McDonald Larry Mild Rosemary Mild Juli Monroe Robin Murphy Penny Clover Peterson Ramona Rene B. Swangin Webster

Attending Agents

We have already confirmed the following agents will be attending the 2013 conference. Check them out and don’t forget to sign up to pitch your work to one of them!

Emily Gref – Lowenstein Associates

Emily Gref is an associate agent and subsidiary rights manager at Lowenstein Associates. Prior to Lowenstein Associates, she worked at the Strand Bookstore (and later at Shakespeare & Co.), and interned at Serendipity Literary Agency, Donald Maass Literary Agency, Penguin Young Readers’ Online Marketing, Tor Books, and Arthur A. Levine Books.

In fiction Emily is particularly looking for speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy for middle grade, young adult, and adult. She has a special weakness for historical fantasy, steampunk, and unique fairy tale retellings. In any novel she is hoping to find a strong voice, stellar world-building, surprising twists, and main characters that represent diverse experiences.

Berta Treitl – Grosevenor Agency

Berta Treitl is an attorney and literary agent. Berta is selectively building her nonfiction list in three areas: science and technology; current events, law and politics, biography, business and marketing; and art, design, cooking, health, and lifestyle.

In fiction, she’s interested in historical and high-quality mysteries. Berta focuses on projects that present a counterintuitive or fresh viewpoint and that feature unusual communities, travel and foreign locales, and female main characters.

Before joining the Grosvenor Literary Agency, Berta worked at a respected New York agency and in private legal practice. She is a member of the New York Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts.

C3 Anthology

Acorn Book Services has graciously offered to publish an anthology for the C3 Conference in 2013.

Please pay close attention to their submission guidelines below:

Word Count: Maximum 7,500 words.

Genre: Any of those genre accepted at C3

Limit: One short story per author, who must be registered and attending the C3 conference.

Limited to twenty-five stories accepted for publication so be sure and get registered today so your story can be part of the anthology!

Please include author photo, bio, website, and other information to accompany short story in the anthology.

Short stories accepted for the anthology must be edited, and will be edited and proofed by Acorn Book Services. By submitting a short story, the author agrees to giving Acorn Book Services rights of usage of the short story in the Anthology to be published in print and e-book form (at the cost of Acorn Book Services). The printed format will be given to attendees of the C3 conference. This anthology will serve as a promotional tool for the authors, who will retain all ownership rights to their story.

After the conference, Acorn Book Services will then release the anthology in e-book form on Amazon. In this e-book format, in exchange for use of their short story, the author will receive further promotion as the e-book will also include the author’s bio and links to their website and places where their books can be purchased.

All of this is at no cost to the author, other than the cost of attending the C3 conference. All proceeds from the sale of the e-book version will be retained by Acorn Book Services to help offset production cost of the anthology.

Deadline to submit: March 1, 2013.

For more information or to submit your story contact Acorn Book Services at writerlaurencarr@gmail.com

From Dream to Reality

Dates don’t stick in my brain. That’s why I always disliked history classes. The tests seemed to focus on memorization of lots of dates. I was at an instant disadvantage. I would have preferred that the instructors focused on the lessons we can learn from history. If that had been the case, I likely would have majored in history. I love to learn. I hate memorization.

But I digress.

I was saying dates don’t stick in my brain. I can’t remember when I first decided that I would start a writers group. If I were to guess, I would say it was two years ago. About that time, I started attending writing workshops by mystery author Lauren Carr, hosted by different local libraries. In fact, it happened after the first Carr workshop, but before the second. At the second workshop is where I asked for anyone interested to give me his or her contact information.

It took a bit of time to find a meeting place. I had a list of 25 names. I had no idea how many would actually show up. Rose Harris, owner of a local coffee-house in historic Williamsport, MD, was willing to let the group use her back room free of charge two times per month. The local library also had a meeting room, but it was in high demand. The writers group may have to compete for meeting dates. That was no good. Plus, the library felt sterile. The vibe at the Desert Rose Cafe was nurturing, creative, friendly. As an added bonus, “the eats” were good and inexpensive.

It was the vibe that made the decision for me.

Over time the group whittled down to a dozen, then ten regulars. The group was very diverse, from writing styles to personalities to topical interests. Yet we jelled. We shared work by reading aloud. We criticized (in a constructive way) and guided each other in developing our craft. We encouraged and inspired each other.

The restaurant hosted a writing contest, posting short works from the group in the dining room, asking diners to read and vote on a winner.

We all were winners, because, after the contest, we decided to put together the Anthology. We had faith we could create a collection of short works, edit them, compile them, then publish them in a period of about six months.

With the professional assistance  and coaching of Acorn Book Services in Harpers Ferry, WV, by December, 2012, the humble writers group–Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe–released its first e-book. The members range in age from 30 to 80-plus and live in a three state area.

One member with Asperger’s Syndrome remarked that the release date of the e-book was one of the greatest days in his life. During the course of writing for the Anthology, he made a decision to move out of his parents’ home and into his own apartment, so he could enroll in college. He is currently working on a solo writing project.

An administrator in the local library system called me a couple of days ago to express her surprise and joy that Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe had achieved its goal. She offered to help arrange publicity for the book through the local newspaper. In turn, I offered to promote the library workshops as wellsprings of creativity. Without the library’s workshop, the Anthology would never have been written.

An idea led to a call to action and resulted in the creation and e-printing of a publication. A young man’s life changed. Others came to see that setting a goal and working on it faithfully yielded results. Several are working on new solo projects.

Dreams do come true.

Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, An Anthology, available from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble

Here

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Desert-Cafe–Anthology-ebook/dp/B00ARYTOYC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357500066&sr=1-1&keywords=writers+of+the+desert+rose+cafe

or here

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/writers-of-the-desert-rose-cafe-an-anthology-fay-moore/1114018983

When Procrastinating Made Me a Super Star!

Rarasaur is a charming blogger, full of enthusiasm and charisma. (www.rarasaur.wordpress.com) She nominated moi for an award about a month ago before a bunch of craziness took me out of circulation for a bit. When I mentioned the award before Christmas, it was the Blogger of the Year Award. However, Rarasaur has had a change of heart regarding BOTY, and re-issued her awards as

I promised to fulfill the requirements for the award after the end of the world as Mayan enthusiasts predicted. Oops. The Big Pffffft didn’t happen and neither did my promised 12/22/20012 response to Rarasaur’s nomination.

Today I discovered the change in her decision about which award she was bestowing. So procrastination paid off this one and only time. I like the new award better, Rarasaur. It’s prettier, shinier, more sparkly. Woo hoo! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for nominating me.

So here’s my fulfillment of the obligations.

1. I love a white Christmas, so I got my wish this year!

2. I am a birding enthusiast. I like feeding them, watching them, creating habitat for them, documenting sightings of them.

3. A favorite waterfowl watching site is Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. Every year on Thanksgiving week, the park opens remote areas that are normally inaccessible to tourists. One can roam and see migrating waterfowl and wild ponies all in the same place. It is glorious to see hundreds of snow geese bobbing in inlets with all manner of ducks, swans, gulls, terns and other wild geese.

4. My recurring nightmare is being drowned at sea. Or eaten at sea. Or both.

5. I decorated a Christmas tree this year for the first time in many years. Often we travel at Christmas, but not this year. In fact, this year Christmas is getting spread out over several days. So between getting snow, having a tree, and loving on family and friends, I am really enjoying Christmas this year!

I am nominating the following blogs of writers who help other writers as my Superstars:

M. S. Fowle  at http://msfowle.wordpress.com  cover design

E-BookBuilders at http://www.e-bookbuilders.com/ ideas galore

Karen Gadient http://karengadient.com/ cover design and more

C. J. Gorden http://cjgorden.wordpress.com/resources/  list of resources

Paige Nolley http://paigenolley.wordpress.com/ the bare naked truth of the writer’s path

The following entity is not a blog, but an honorable mention:

Kickstarter www.kickstarter.com uses cash to support creativity

SHINE ON, YOU TWINKLY PEOPLE!

Short Story from Hurricane Sandy

The televisions are blaring in both the bedroom and kitchen with non-stop weather reports as Hurricane Sandy closes the gap between riding north on the Gulf Stream and slamming ashore at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. Outside the kitchen window, wind is howling and rain is pelting the house. Dark clouds obscure nature’s light.

The missus surveys the collection of flashlights, candles, oil lamps, hand-cranked L.E.D. lanterns, matches and other emergency notions lined up neatly on the linen-cloaked dining room table. She is drying her hands after scouring the bathtub, then filling it with water. The water can be used to drink, to flush toilets, to water dogs or wash dishes if the power goes out, taking the well pump with it. In the kitchen, a pot of boiling water cooks spaghetti noodles. Garlic Texas toast browns in the oven. A freshly made pan of homemade sauce steams beside the spaghetti pot. The kitchen timer buzzes, calling the missus to attention.

She spears a noodle with a fork, runs it under cold water to cool, and pops it in her mouth. Perfect al dente. She turns off the oven and pulls the cookie sheet holding the savory bread from the rack, setting it on the countertop to cool. The noodles are draining in the colander when she calls her husband. It’s meal time.

He stands from a reclining position in his easy chair. She sets plates beside the stove and fetches grated parmesan cheese from the refrigerator.

Pop. Blink. Flicker. Whoosh. Out go the lights. It’s not the candlelight dinner she imagined.