Workshops and Seminars
Promotion needs Presentation; tips to handle with ease that launch, writers’ festival or media interview – and boost book sales!
Ruth Bonetti
You’ve written the book, it’s edited and polished, and now you hold in your hands your wonderful creation. But how to tell the world about it, so they will rush to buy? Ruth Bonetti gives practical advice to turn even the most shy person (as she was!) into a poised speaker who can interest, convince and inspire potential readers. Topics include how to warm up and project your voice; curb the collywobbles of nerves; how to think fast on your feet and handle curly Q and A questions; and to read that excerpt with clarity and confidence.
Using Rhyme, Rhythm and Repetition in Picture Books
Renee Bennett
Nothing makes ones skin crawl more than reading predictable, clichéd rhyme, rhythm or repetition. Some even suggest that publishers don’t like it at all! And yet some of Australia’s most loved and successful picture books by authors such as Mem Fox and Pamela Allen are full of it. If we can learn to hang our words perfectly on the hooks of rhyme, rhythm and repetition, children will want to read it and publishers will want to publish it!
Poetry Workshop
Janette Fernando
In this workshop we will look at what makes a good poem, with examples, before having a go at writing your own poem.
Keeping God in the Writing Journey
Jo-Anne Berthelsen
Where is God for you in your writing journey? Are you experiencing challenges to your faith as you encounter difficulties and delays with getting published? Have you perhaps discovered how authors can continue to keep God at the centre of their writing rather than focus on themselves? Whichever of these questions you relate to, you are welcome at this workshop! Together we will look at ways to stay God-focused and spiritually strong during the long writing process.
Getting in their Good Books: how you can be the answer to a (magazine) editor’s prayers!
Janet Camilleri
Getting in their Good Books will give you a sneak peek into the editor’s mind so you will know what NOT to do. Discover some of the things that you can do to win over your editor so that your queries and submissions are welcomed, not a nuisance or burden. Workshop leader Janet Camilleri has the advantage of not just being a published writer of over 50 magazine articles, she has also been the editor of Footprints magazine for nearly 14 years. With Janet’s top tips, learn how you can be the answer to an editor’s prayers!
Finding the Inspiration to Write
Rosie Boom
“Opportunities (and creative ideas!) swarm around us, thicker than gnats at sundown. Every day we walk through a cloud of them.” Van Dyke
If this is so, why do we ever suffer from writer’s block? If creative ideas swarm around us, how do we recognize them? How do we go about translating them into inspiring, encouraging words on our blank page? Learn the art of recognizing those special moments, and then using them to God’s glory.
Preparing To Write That Novel
Mary Hawkins
Have you been like too many people I have met over the years who wistfully and often shyly admit they would like to write a novel too “some day.” Then they confess they don’t know if they ever should or could because they don’t know how to go about doing it or even where to start. This workshop would address the basics for you to consider and the skills that are needed to be developed so you too can not only dream about it but work hard towards one day becoming a published fiction author.
How to Get Media Attention For Your Book in a Saturated Market
Laura O'Connell
You’re holding your published book, but that’s not the end of the journey. This workshop will show you how to tap into the media so that you can help them to help you promote your work. Get interviews with journalists, radio and television; and book signings you never thought you could.
Writing Devotionals
Ray Hawkins
Spiritual snacks tied us over between our spiritual feasts.
Devotional writing provides spiritually nutritious food for God’s people.
They provide brief, intimate moments refreshing the faith, hope, love.
Ray is willing to show you how to prepare such Devotional snacks.
Researching for historical fiction or faction
Carol Preston
Researching for historical fiction is nearly as much fun as the writing of it. There are so many resources available, many on-line. You become a detective, searching out the facts of family history, the development of towns and cities, events that shaped the people who lived before us. There are many places you can go to in Australia where the images and structures still survive to give you a sense of the wonderful and challenging stories that occurred in another time. Once you start on this journey there is only one thing that stands in the way of recreating history in story form, and that is the addiction to the research. Filling in the dots and using your imagination to give historical figures character as well as all the human experiences of love, suffering, success, failure, mystery and faith, is an exciting journey of learning and creativity. Whether you are part way there or just at the beginning of this journey you’ll enjoy this workshop and perhaps find yourself with a grand new challenge.
Considering the Market
Meredith Resce
What is happening in the market? Will your idea fit into what is selling at the moment? What is the best format to publish in? How important is design in meeting the needs of my target market? How can I find out more about my specific genre? What activities can help to build a network that will be helpful to you in the future?
These questions will be discussed, and time for other questions will be allowed.
Meredith Resce is not only an author of 14 titles - 1 self-help, 8 period drama romance, 1 contemporary drama, 1 faction, 1 time-travel adventure and
1 period murder mystery - She has also self-published, and self-distributed as well as having been accepted by two traditional publishers, and has worked with two separate distribution companies. Her experience has been developed over a fourteen year period, and has seen over 45,000 units be sold into the market.