DFW Writers' Workshop

It was a night for num­bers during the March 3 busi­ness mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop. The 2010 Workshop and Con­fe­rence bud­get were dis­cus­sed with both sho­wing in the black. Five new books were dona­ted to the Trophy Room, brin­ging the num­ber of tra­di­tio­nally published books writ­ten by DFWWW mem­bers to 296. Three new mem­bers joi­ned the group.

In other news, Gin­nie Bivona has an essay in the recently relea­sed work Hear Us Roar. A. Lee Mar­ti­nez dis­pla­yed a copy of his upco­ming book Divine Mis­for­tune. Vir­gi­nia Traweek’s alma mater selec­ted her to pro­duce a pro­mo­tio­nal maga­zine tit­led Peer Pers­pec­ti­ves.

Finally, volun­teer sign-up for the DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence begins next week. Pat Haul­dren and Carolyn William­son are loo­king for volun­teers for the regis­tra­tion table and class moni­tors respectively.

It was a slow news night during the February 24 mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop.

Geor­gette Rad­ford, Com­mu­nity Rela­tions Mana­ger of the Hurst Bar­nes & Noble books­tore, stop­ped in for a visit. Geor­gette is an hono­red friend of the Workshop and always willing to sche­dule our authors for book sig­nings. Ever­yone was happy to see her.

Spea­king of book sig­nings, Mary Mal­colm will hold one this Satur­day, February 27 at 2 p.m. at the Hurst Bar­nes & Noble for her romance Diner Girl. Mike McMu­llen recei­ved a request for the full manusc­ript of his children’s book The Adven­ture of Grant Gala­pa­gos, Boy Adven­tu­rer. Anne Perry has been com­mis­sio­ned to write an as-of-yet unna­med play to cele­brate the Town of Eliot, Maine’s 200th anniversary.

The February 17 mee­ting of the Workshop saw a stan­ding room only crowd as seven visi­tors joi­ned the already large crowd of regu­lar members.

Pat Haul­dren announ­ced the Fort Worth Exa­mi­ner recog­ni­zed her for having the most online hits to her artic­les. Rose­mary Clement-Moore dis­pla­yed the Bri­tish edi­tion of her novel The Splen­dor Falls, or ‘spen­dour’ as the Brits spell it. Kyle White unvei­led the cover art­work for his upco­ming novel, Attack of the Crys­tal Spi­ders.

 Mem­bers were remin­ded of a series of Bylaws chan­ges that will require a vote during the March busi­ness mee­ting. Also, Pre­si­dent Rus­sell Con­nor announ­ced a spe­cial event to pro­mote the Workshop on March 6 at the Hurst Bar­nes & Noble books­tore. Star­ting at 1 p.m., DFWWW authors will read sam­ples of their work to a certain-to-be-enthralled public.

The 2010 DFW Wri­ters Con­fe­rence has sold out two months in advance of the event. In res­ponse to this overwhel­ming demand, the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop has deci­ded to open regis­tra­tion early for the next ins­tall­ment, which takes place Feb. 26 & 27, 2011 at the Ame­ri­can Air­li­nes Trai­ning and Con­ven­tion Cen­ter in Fort Worth.

We’re moving up to a big­ger venue so we can accom­mo­date higher atten­dance. The AATCC is a fan­tas­tic faci­lity, com­plete with a tavern, fit­ness cen­ter, lounge and hotel rooms all right there in the cen­ter. For more details, check out its web site.

Plan­ning for 2011 is already well under­way. We’ll have more than 10 lite­rary agents, a great key­note and an impres­sive lineup of spea­kers once again! In the mean­time, if you want to reserve your space and get to the front of the line for a con­sul­ta­tion with an agent, you can regis­ter now.

It’s offi­cial. The 2010 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence has sold out. The res­ponse to the event has been overwhel­ming, as regis­tra­tions pou­red in during the last few weeks. This inc­lu­des space for ven­dors, which also sold out.

Mis­sed the exci­te­ment? The next DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence will be held February 26 –27, 2011. More to come later on that event.

We’re thri­lled to announce that the 2010 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence is about to sell out! The event faci­lity has a maxi­mum capa­city of 300 peo­ple, and as of 6:30 p.m. on Thurs­day, Feb. 11, we have only 12 spa­ces left. That means this is your last chance to regis­ter and request a one-on-one pitch ses­sion with a lite­rary agent! At the rate tic­kets are selling, we expect to sell out within the next few days.

The con­fe­rence fea­tu­res New York Times bes­tse­lling author Jodi Tho­mas as key­note spea­ker. There will be 10 lite­rary agents in atten­dance, and more than 40 clas­ses to choose from. It’s going to be a fan­tas­tic and memo­ra­ble event! Will you be there?

For more infor­ma­tion and to regis­ter, please visit the con­fe­rence web site.

All you proc­ras­ti­na­tors have been war­ned and it’s finally hap­pe­ned: there are less than 40 seats left at the 2010 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence. Once those are full, the Con­fe­rence will close regis­tra­tion. This is for real, since the Con­fe­rence Cen­ter limits the num­ber of peo­ple who can be inside the building.

Also, as of today, appoint­ments with lite­rary agents Joshua Bil­mes and Lucienne Diver are no lon­ger avai­la­ble. They are both full and are una­ble to accom­mo­date any more appoint­ment requests. With seve­ral of the other agents approaching a full sta­tus, it’s impor­tant to secure your spot today.

Exci­te­ment ran high at the February 3 busi­ness mee­ting. In recog­ni­tion of his years of ser­vice to the Workshop, Del Cain was gran­ted a life­time mem­bership. Del accep­ted the honor with his usual poet’s grace.

In other news, because of her steamy romance novels the Fort Worth Star-Telegram called Can­dace Havens a per­son to watch. Jason Myers’ was named as a fina­list in a com­pe­ti­tion called Genre Wars. His short story, tit­led “A Reply”, will be inc­lu­ded in an upco­ming antho­logy. Pat Haul­dren dis­pla­yed a published edi­tion of a book she cop­ye­di­ted for Cyber­wi­zard Pro­duc­tions. And DFWWW wel­co­med two new members.

Finally, as a tes­ta­ment to the power of social media, Twit­ter, Face­Book and blogs were abuzz this past wee­kend, and the 2010 DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence almost sold out. If you’ve been sit­ting on the fence, now is the time to regis­ter, before all of the seats are gone.

At 11:59 p.m. tonight, the regis­tra­tion price the DFW Wri­ters’ Con­fe­rence will inc­rease from $185 to $235! You can save your­self $50 by regis­te­ring today!

This year’s con­fe­rence will fea­ture New York Times bes­tse­lling author Jodi Tho­mas as key­note spea­ker. There will be 10 lite­rary agents atten­ding and 10-minute one-on-one pitch ses­sions are avai­la­ble. There will also be more than 40 brea­kout ses­sions on a wide range of wri­ting and publishing topics, by a terri­fic lineup of published authors and sub­ject mat­ter experts.

Regis­tra­tions are coming in fast, so if you want to get in in a pitch ses­sion, now is the time to regis­ter! Pitch ses­sions will be assig­ned on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The con­fe­rence will take place at the City of Gra­pe­vine Con­ven­tion Cen­ter on April 10 & 11.

More infor­ma­tion, and a link to regis­ter, can be found at www​.dfww​ri​ters​con​fe​rence​.org.

The Ruth Milli­can Cen­ter was pac­ked as 62 mem­bers and five visi­tors atten­ded the January 27 mee­ting of the DFW Wri­ters’ Workshop.

On Satur­day, January 30, the Hall­mark Chan­nel will replay Bound by a Sec­ret, a movie based on the novel Ida Mae Tut­wei­ler and the Tra­ve­ling Tea Party by Workshop mem­ber Gin­nie Siena Bivona. Begin­ning February 15, Can­dace Havens will teach her “Fast Draft and Revi­sion Hell” class online for the Orange County Chap­ter of the Romance Wri­ters of Ame­rica. Also in February, Stephen Man­ning will teach a class tit­led “Blog­ging with Word­press Deep Dive” through Texas Chris­tian University’s Exten­ded Edu­ca­tion program.

Finally, ever­yone was remin­ded that 2010 mem­bership dues should have been paid by January 1. In order to par­ti­ci­pate in the read-and-critique ses­sions, all outs­tan­ding dues must be paid.