On Aug. 22, the St. Louis Writers Guild will host a variety of authors discussing the future of publishing at an online daylong conference.
The event is free to SLWG Members, though registration is required, and $20 for nonmembers, including access to recordings of the four workshops. Sign up for the Publishing Evolution using
Eventbrite on stlwritersguild.org
9-10:45 a.m. panel: “Write, Publish, Promote & Profit in the Digital Age”
with Nicole Evelina, Vivian Gibson, Esme Symes-Smith, and LaShaunda Hoffman, moderated by Marie Chewe-Elliott
Learn tips, strategies and tools on writing and promoting your book from award-winning authors who are achieving success in the publishing evolution.
11a.m.-12p.m.: “Empowering Your Writing: Using Conscious Language for Inclusiveness and Representation” with Crystal Shelley
Words have the power to do good: to uplift, to inspire, and to validate. Words also have the power to do harm: to hurt, to marginalize, and to erase. In this session, we'll discuss how we can wield words for good by using conscious language, balancing writer intent with reader impact, and incorporating diversity into our stories.
12-1 p.m. break – Grab lunch and get back to your computer!
1-2 p.m. “Art for Cause: Writing for Advocacy, Healing & CommUNITY Building” with Marie Chewe-Elliott, Antoinette Crayton and Kate Moore-Freeman
What role can writers and artists play during times of crisis, conflict and chaos in our community? Join this discussion on opportunities to use your work to make a difference and be the change you want to see. In cooperation with the North County Writing and Arts Network.
2-3 p.m. “Locksmithing for Writers” with Arianne “Tex” Thompson
If you need that break-in scene to read just right - and if you'd like some first-hand experience to help you write it - then step right up! This introductory course includes essential vocabulary and hands-on lockpicking practice with a variety of antique and modern locks, along with little-known hints and facts guaranteed to inspire your next ingenious plot twist. Limber up your fingers and get ready to write some wrongs!
About the speakers:
Marie Chewe-Elliott is a writer, speaker, and poet in north St. Louis County. She is the author of four books and co-founder of North County Writing & Arts Network. Her poems have been published in The St. Louis Anthology, SO Magazine, UMSL's Litmag, and among winning selections in the 2019 Arts Rolla Writing Competition and Arts in Transit's 2019 Metro Lines Contest. Marie's love of words guided her to a career of more than 30 years in various facets of communications, including newspaper reporter, nonprofit and government communications, and adjunct lecturer. She earned degrees from the University of Mississippi and Webster University. Connect with Marie at myelliott61@gmail.com, https://www.mariecheweelliott.com/ on Facebook, or IG.
Esme Symes-Smith grew up in the South West of England, then earned their degree in Literature and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University in Wales. After graduating, they moved across the world to be with their wife in St. Louis. They have freelanced as a ghost-writer, managed a frozen-yogurt shop, and are now focused on writing the queer kidlit they craved as a kid. They are represented by Megan Manzano of D4EO Literary and can be found at @EsmeSymesSmith on Twitter. http://esymessmith.com/
Vivian Gibson is a native St. Louisian who grew up in Mill Creek Valley, a neighborhood razed in 1959 to build a highway. Her family, friends, church community, and neighbors were all displaced by this act of “urban renewal.” In her moving memoir, Gibson recreates the everyday lived experiences of her large family, including her seven siblings, her crafty college-educated mother, who moved to St. Louis as part of the Great Migration, and her at-times forbidding father, who worked two jobs to keep them all warm and fed. With an eye for telling detail, she sketches scenes populated by her friends, shop owners, teachers, and others who made Mill Creek into a warm, tight-knit, African-American community, and reflects upon what it means that Mill Creek was destroyed in the name of racism disguised as “progress.” http://vivian-gibson.com
LaShaunda Hoffman turned her love for books into an award-winning online magazine for readers and writers of multi-cultural literature, Shades Of Romance – SORMAG. Her mission in life is to help promote writers by introducing them to readers. Born and raised in St. Louis, LaShaunda started her adventure in life by joining the United States Navy. She served her country for six years and returned to her hometown. She began to work for the U.S. government. LaShaunda is currently working on a Christian romance and is on the hunt for a literary agent. She hopes to one day introduce her books to readers.
Nicole Evelina is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and women’s fiction whose six books have won more than 40 awards, including four Book of the Year designations. Nicole was named Missouri’s Top Independent Author by Library Journal and Biblioboard as the winner of the Missouri Indie Author Project in 2018 and has been awarded the North Street Book Prize and the Sarton Women’s Book Award. One of her books,
Madame Presidentess, was previously optioned for film. She is represented by Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary. http://nicoleevelina.com
Crystal Shelley is a freelance copy editor, proofreader, and sensitivity reader who works with self-publishing fiction authors. She also practices as a licensed clinical social worker. She unites her love of language and social justice by providing editorial services with a focus on representation and conscious language. Visit her website at Rabbit with a Red Pen to read more tips on writing and editing or to connect with her on social media.
Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a licensed locksmith, egregiously enthusiastic editor, and professional ruckus-raiser. She is the author of Children of the Drought, an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris, as well as an instructor for Writing Workshops Dallas and ‘chief instigator’ of WORD – Writers Organizations ‘Round Dallas. Now she’s blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and conventions around the country – as an endlessly energetic, catastrophically cheerful one-woman stampede. Find her online at thetexfiles.com and wordwriters.org!
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