How Script Writing Can Help Your Novel Writing

 with

Danna Wilberg

Novelist & Film/TV Producer

 

Dänna Wilberg is a local award-winning short film maker, who produced and hosted two local TV programs in Sacramento, California, PARANORMAL CONNECTION and STORY CONNECTION for fifteen years. Dänna has three published romantic suspense novels, “The Red Chair”, “The Grey Door” “The Black Dress” featuring Psychotherapist Grace Simms, and has been published in four anthologies, one in London. Her current works in progress include a paranormal suspense series based on her short film, “Borrowed Time”, featuring intuitive Suzanne Cash, and a feature film script about “Undue Influence”, based on the true story of Phillip Suttles, a war hero who fell victim to the very people who were appointed by the court to protect him from grifters.

www.dannawilberg.com

First Friday Network Meeting, February 1, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Managing the Many Steps Toward Publication

with

Wes Turner

Editor, Novelist & Short Story Author

First Friday Network Meeting, January 4, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Got a great idea and want to see it in a book but don’t know what’s involved in getting it there?  This presentation will touch on the relevant steps required before seeing your idea shared with the world at large. There are numerous tasks required to complete the process—several of which can be done by the author, but a few requiring a level of expertise most authors don’t have.  Therefore, you, as author, need to decide what you can afford the time to do yourself, and what you should pay someone else to do.  (And even if you are an expert, a second set of eyes is always helpful.)

Different levels of editing are needed at different points. For example, an artistic ability is needed with graphics rather than words. Tedious jobs should be handed off to someone with an eye for detail. Though all functions are needed to achieve a creation of which the author can be proud, the distribution of tasks is up to you. Understanding what is involved will make the journey more predictable for you.

Westley Turner spent his early home years with “a pair of school teachers.”  His first career focused on math and computer science.  He later turned toward more creative pursuits when he became an editor: of stories, books, encyclopedias, endeavors that led him into investigation of the printed word. Learning by doing, he formatted and laid out a non-fiction book whose first run sold out the weekend it was released. Now branching out into audio books, Westley says that he will never run out of challenges, wanting to learn how to do it all himself.

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Tips on Writing, Publishing & Widening Your Audience

with

Carolyn Grellas

9-Time Pushcart Prize Nominee & Author of 14 Books & Chapbooks

First Friday Network Meeting, December 7, 2018
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas’ work has appeared in many publications and anthologies. She is a nine-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a six-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012 her chapbook, Before I Go to Sleep won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest. In 2018 her poem A Mall in California took 2^nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize.

Author of numerous chapbooks and full-length poetry collections, Carol also edits The Orchards Poetry Journal and serves as a member of the Sacramento Poetry Center Board of Directors and the Saratoga Author’s Hall of Fame. From her varied experience, Carol has amassed a lot of information on writing, publishing, and widening one’s audience.

Among her recent books and chapbooks: In the Making of Goodbyes, Clare Songbird Publishing House (2018); An Ode to Hope in the Midst of Pandemonium, Main Street Rag (2018); and Things I Can’t Remember to Forget, Prolific Press (2017). She has more collections due out in 2019.

Her recent awards include:  Best of the Net Nominations, “After the Miscarriage,” Chantarelle’s Notebook 2018; and Pushcart Prize Nominations “Confessions at Midnight,” Clare Songbird Publishing House 2018, and “Motherless,” Sheila-Na-Gig 2016.

According to family lore, Carol is a direct descendant of Robert Louis Stevenson!

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

An Inside Look at How a Book Deal Really Works

with

Dierdre Wolownick & Jennifer Chen Tran

Author (Dierdre) & Bradford Literary Agency (Jen)

First Friday Network Meeting, November 2, 2018
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Member Dierdre Wolownick met and pitched a book concept to an agent she met at a California Writers Club meeting a few years ago. That agent was Jen Chen Tran. Now Dierdre’s book is about to come out. On November 2, Dierdre and Jen will discuss their journey together from pitch to book deal to manuscript preparation to promo – and steps in between.

 Jennifer Chen Tran is an agent at Bradford Literary, joining in September 2017. She represents both fiction and non-fiction. Originally from New York, Jennifer is a lifelong reader and experienced member of the publishing industry. Prior to joining Bradford Literary, she was an Associate Agent at Fuse Literary and served as Counsel at The New Press. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Northeastern School of Law in Boston, MA, and a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jennifer understands the importance of negotiation in securing rights on behalf of her authors. She counsels her clients on how to expand their platforms, improve on craft, and works collaboratively with her clients throughout the editorial and publication process. Her ultimate goal is to work in concert with authors to shape books that will have a positive social impact on the world—books that also inform and entertain. Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences, including the San Francisco Writers Conference.

 Dierdre Wolownick grew up in New York City and has lived and worked in many parts of the world. A teacher since 1971 (now retired), she’s taught five foreign languages on three continents. Her writing has appeared in books, magazines and journals world-wide, and has won awards. In 1993 she created an independent publishing company which produced several award-winners and international sellers. A musician all her life, Dierdre founded and conducted the West Sacramento Community Orchestra, and has played in orchestras in New York and California, either as principal (flute) or as solo or duet performer (piano). At the age of 55, Dierdre began long-distance running (marathons and half-marathons), and at 58, she began rock climbing. In 2017, at age 66, she became the oldest woman to climb Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan. She continues to be a motivational speaker and a performing musician. Her latest book, the inspirational memoir The Sharp End of Life; a Mother’s Story, will be released by Mountaineers Books in May 2019. Check out Dierdre at http://dierdrew.us,   https://www.facebook.com/DierdreWolownick/, and (Instagram): @DierdreWolownick.

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Five Tips to Improve Writing
for Both Fiction and Non-Fiction

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.