The Storymaker Writers' Conference

The LDStorymaker Writers' Conference is coming in a week! I'm not sure if you've had the privilege to attend one of these before, but the lineup this year is exciting.

Timothy Travaglini, Senior Editor at G.P. Putnam's Sons (a division of Penguin Group, USA) is the Keynote Speaker. He has worked at Henry Holt, Scholastic, Walker & Company (to name just a few of the publishers).

In addition to Mr. Travaglini, Jamie Weiss Chilton will also be in attendance. She is an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc. Ms. Chilton represents children's books, teen novels, picture books, amongst other genres. Her most specific interests include literary fiction with intense emotional content. She too worked at Henry Holt, amongst other companies such as Bantam Delacorte Dell and Knoft & Crown Books.

The beauty of attending conferences such as these is that in addition to workshops presented by published authors with an expert eye of what constitutes an excellent book, you also meet national individuals who work to make literature a fine experience. For example, Mr. Travaglini and Ms. Chilton will have private appointments with writers attending the conference.

Here are just some of the topics being addressed in this year's conference:

"Getting Out of the Slush Pile," by Mr. Travaglini

"Writing in Spite of a Busy Life," by Rachel Ann Nunes

"Writing a Synopsis," by Josi Kilpack

"Writing about Real Issues for Children & Youth," by Tamra Norton

"The Middle Grade Writer: Character, Voice & Audience," by Lael Littke

"10 Things That Get You Noticed/What LDS Publishers are Looking For," by Kirk Shaw (of Covenant)

""Your First Novel: Step by Step Basics," by Heather Moore & Julie Wright

"Creating Your Inner Writing Team," by Carroll Morris

"The Editing Process," by Lisa Mangum (of Deseret Book)

"Non-fiction - Finding Your Niche," Shirley Bahlmann & Jaime Theler

A Publishers Panel

General Session Speaker, Chris Crowe

And all this in just the first day's line-up! Day two of the conference contains even more, including the Whitney Awards Gala. You may check to see if tickets are still available by visiting the LDStorymakers website. But if not, make sure to mark your calendar in January 2009 to purchase tickets for the 2009 LDStorymakers conference. It will be well worth your time!

(Did I mention a writer's best friend, an Alphasmart Neo, is being given as the grand prize to the First Chapter contest winner?)