How Fiction & Creative Nonfiction

Can Influence & Improve Your Work

 

with

Valerie Fioravanti

Writing Instructor & Coach

Stretching is good for muscles, and it’s good for writers, too. Writing in a different genre can supply a greater awareness of language, purpose, and perspective, qualities which can then inform and influence your current form.

About the speaker:

Valerie Fioravanti is the author of the linked collection of Brooklyn stories Garbage Night at the Opera from BkMk Press, which won the Chandra Prize for Short Fiction. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in many literary journals, including North American Review, Cimarron Review, and Hunger Mountain. Her work has garnered eight Pushcart Prize nominations and a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy. A New York City native, she lives in Sacramento, where she teaches workshops and coaches writers privately.

 

Writers Network Meeting, September 6, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Writing What You Know

– A Writer With Ink in His Veins –

 

with

Andy Furillo

Author, Crime Reporter, Newsman

Andy Furillo has always been a writer with name recognition, first as a journalist, then as the author of a book about his famous father, sportscaster and writer Bud Furillo, published in 2016 by The Santa Monica Press.  Andy now writes crime fiction set in Sacramento.  He shares his observations of a writer’s life in and out of the public’s eye.

About the speaker:

Andy Furillo grew up the son of a newspaperman and became one as well.  He spent most of his career at the Sacramento Bee, winning several national journalism awards.  His first book chronicled his father Bud Furillo’s career as a renowned sportswriter and radio and television broadcaster.  Andy self-published his first crime fiction novel in 2018.

 

 

First Friday Network Meeting, August 2, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Power Launch Your Book on Facebook

 

with

Christine Villa

Publishing Services Consultant, Author and Poet

Are you worried that you don’t have the budget to throw a big book launch party? Or, are you anxious about how many people will show up on your book launch? No need to fret or frown! You don’t have to spend a fortune or leave the comfort of your own home to get people excited about your book. I will give you some tips and guidelines to host a successful virtual book launch party on Facebook.

About the speaker:

Christine “Chrissi” L. Villa, founder of Purple Cotton Candy Arts, started a small business to explore her own creativity in arts and crafts and is subsequently expanding into publishing children’s picture books. Christine has published nine book titles since 2014, two of which won first place in the 2018 and 2019 Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) Book Awards Competition.

Christine is also an award-winning tanka and haiku poet published in respected online and print journals. Her collection of Japanese short-form poetry is entitled The Bluebird’s Cry. She is the founding editor of Frameless Sky—the first DVD haiku and tanka video journal that is a collaboration of art, poetry, and music.

 

First Friday Network Meeting, July 5, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

Beyond Social Media —

Marketing with Free Fiction Sites

with

Brittany Lord

Author of books, short stories, and comics

 

When many authors think of marketing their book, they think of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But what if you’re not confident using these sites? Is there anything else you can do? Maybe there’s a way where you can use more of your writing to sell yourself? Well I’m here to tell you there is. Come learn how to use free fiction sites like Wattpad, Deviantart, and Fanfiction.net to find readers.

About the speaker:

Brittany “Tealya” Lord has been writing stories since she was two years old and has worked hard to perfect the art of storytelling. She is an active participant in the July Flash Fiction Month annual event and has received several awards for her flash fiction.  Her first book, Kithryn Mythrin, is available through Smashwords.com. You can also view some of her work at https://www.deviantart.com/tealya

 

First Friday Network Meeting, June 7, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

A Real Winner of a Bad First Sentence

with

Jim Guigli

Author and Annual Judge, Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

 

Jim Guigli began writing with single sentence entries for the 2005-2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. From thousands, one of Jim’s 63 entries was selected as the Grand Prize winner. It was about a beautiful, mysterious woman visiting the small office of an impoverished private detective, Bart Lasiter. Benefits from winning the Contest included world-wide notice, print, radio, and TV interviews.

Though the Contest is about writing a bad opening sentence to a non-existent novel, people kept asking, “What about the rest of the book? What happens to Bart Lasiter?”  After hearing those questions too many times, Jim took that one sentence and created the Old Town Sacramento fictional world of Bart Lasiter, and Lasiter Investigations. Since then, Jim has published a Kindle novelette, Bad News for a Ghost, and written unpublished short stories and a novel. Many of these stories have won awards.

In this presentation, Jim will reveal the secrets to winning the Contest. Jim will read examples of winning sentences, and use the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest as an example of the value in writing and perfecting one sentence at a time, whether bad or good.

 

First Friday Network Meeting, May 3, 2019
9-11 AM Coco’s, 7887 Madison Avenue, Citrus Heights
Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.