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Our fully accessible, free, virtual Writing Conference is this weekend!! Below is some more information about what to expect from each talk on Day 3 (March 17).
Presentations will be available indefinitely on YouTube but presenters are only available this weekend on YouTube and Discord to chat! On average, these videos run 25-35 minutes; you'll have roughly 15 minutes between each video to take care of necessities and chat.
Sunday, March 17
7am Eastern (11am UTC)
Abigail Wild — TikTok Marketing 101
Readers love to feel a connection with the authors they read, or might read in the future, and TikTok is the perfect place for that. Short-form video is a wonderful way to draw out emotion and have people fall in love with your spirit. If people love you, they will be drawn to your books. Here, you'll learn some of the best practices authors can utilize when approaching TikTok’s #booktok and #authortok. You will learn how to bring your shining personality to the forefront while navigating algorithms and steering clear of pitfalls that bring drama to doorsteps.
8am Eastern (12pm UTC)
Casie Bazay — Writing for Teens
In this deep explanation of YA, Casie discusses the ins and outs of writing for teen readers including age category vs. genre, point of view (this month's topic!), choosing an appropriate YA protagonist, dialogue, voice, tone, how to handle difficult subjects, and what not to do when writing for teens.
9am Eastern (1pm UTC)
Patti Procopi — Telling Your Story
Everyone has a story to tell. This presentation explores the various ways to tell your story, who you're writing for, and why. We'll also talk about how to fictionalize your story as a novel!
10am Eastern (2pm UTC)
EL Johnson — Murder Mystery: how to write a whodunit
This talk dives into how to craft a murder mystery by breaking down the elements with a simple whodunit example. EL shares some easy resources to guide you through mystery situations like cozy short stories, plus tips on structuring for a longer mystery novel, particularly for historical settings.
11am Eastern (3pm UTC)
Sally Lotz — Author Bios
Your author bio acts as your literary resume. It provides editors and agents a glimpse into your professional journey and personality. In Author Bios, you will learn what to include, what to leave out and how to make your bio shine, even when you don’t think you have enough. Here we’ll discuss how to highlight your experiences without overwhelming, as well as how not to undersell yourself. You’ll receive practical strategies to help you construct and create your author bio and avoid the pitfalls many writers make.
12pm-1pm Eastern (4pm UTC)
BREAK with optional write-in in Discord
1pm Eastern (5pm UTC)
Penni Askew — Find the Manual to Your Brain:
work with your brain to optimize outflow
In “Find the Manual to Your Brain,” you'll learn about different ways to approach their workday, ideas gleaned from Penni's years of experience guiding now-grown neurodivergent offspring. The ideas and tools presented are meant to help you find what works best for you. This presentation shows that all brains/ways of thinking deserve respect and includes ideas to help you optimize your workflow, plus reinforcement that it’s okay to ignore or stop things that don’t work for you.
2pm Eastern (6pm UTC)
Eva Langston — Beta Readers and Using Feedback
In this presentation, Eva explains the benefits and drawbacks of beta readers, including when to start soliciting feedback, where, and from whom; how to receive, process, and use feedback; differences between alpha readers, and beta readers, sensitivity readers, and critique partners: what are they, and where to find them; and best practices.
3pm Eastern (7pm UTC)
Olivia Bedford — Self-Revising Strategies
This talk helps you navigate the self-revising process in the stage before you search for an editor. Olivia explains the difference between revision and editing (and why authors need both), the importance of feedback, strategies for developmental revisions: reverse outlining, book mapping, and the three C’s of analysis (cause/effect, conflict, change); strategies for line editing: finding overused words, passive voice, and vague descriptions; and strategies for copy editing: reading aloud or text-to-speech, backwards review, and techy tools. This talk also provides a brief overview of the benefits of feedback, writing groups, beta readers, and freelance editors.
4pm Eastern (8pm UTC)
Tiffany Chacon — Plotting Techniques for
Plotters, Pantsers, and Plantsers
Whether you meticulously plot every detail, dive into writing with spontaneity, or blend both approaches, this course offers valuable insights and tools to enhance your storytelling. The class emphasizes flexibility and creativity, encouraging novelists to discover and refine their unique writing process. By the end of the course, you will have gained not only a deeper understanding of different plotting techniques but also practical skills to apply to your current and future projects, ensuring your storytelling is both compelling and well-structured.
5pm-6pm Eastern (9pm UTC)
BREAK with optional write-in in Discord
6pm Eastern (10pm UTC)
Natalie Silver — Transferrable Skills in Writing & Editing
This presentation provide insights on how you can use both writing and editing skills throughout your writing process. Natalie shares ideas of when to wear your editing and writing hats and why it’s important to sharpen your skills in both areas to improve your practice and portfolio.
7pm Eastern (11pm UTC)
Dayna Reidenouer — For Love or Money
Romance is the best-selling category in publishing, but that doesn’t mean individual authors are raking in money hand over fist. Dayna provides a reality check, looking at the history of self-publishing, the costs of publishing, how income is derived, and obstacles and phenomena that impact authors' careers.
8pm Eastern (12am UTC)
Dana Hawkins — Finding a Spark: Believable Romance
Dana explains the top ten ways to create realistic romance: making it more than physical, setting achievable goals, exploring conflicting feelings, and incorporating fights, exes, dual POV, tropes, flaws, entertaining occupations... and sex!
9pm Eastern (1am UTC)
Julian Winters — Journey to Publication
Not every path to publication has to mirror the ones we see and hear about through media or the internet. Sometimes, you travel a road that looks quite different from your future colleagues. Join award-winning author Julian Winters as he walks you down his path: from a reluctant reader to fanfic writer to publishing his first three novels through a small, independent press before signing with a literary agent and being published by two Big 4 publishers. He’ll talk about finding the right publisher for the readers he wanted to reach, the struggles and triumphs, and why it’s important to tell the stories you truly believe in.
On a personal note, I want to emphasize how inspired and grateful I am for the support and assistance of every presenter in this conference. Each one donated their time to provide this amazing learning opportunity for you. Their gift means the world to me. This conference would not be possible without them or the support of our incredible staff: S.E. Reed, Lindsey Odorizzi, Jake Reilly, and Sarah Perchikoff.
Come chat with me in Discord!
About the author: Theresa is a co-founder of The Writer's Workout, a crime/thriller/horror writer, and a freelance developmental editor at Premier Literary Services. Her works are published in various magazine and journals under a pseudonym.