the muse & the marketplace 2009

event workshops

sunday "hour of power"

Sunday, April 26th, 2009, from 4:15pm to 5:15pm

Note: There is no need to pre-register for these large-group seminars. You can decide which seminar you’d like to attend the day of the conference. Descriptions will be included in the program as a reminder. Feel free to attend more than one, but please be courteous when entering and exiting the rooms when sessions are already in progress.

Option 1: From Rejected Manuscript to New York Times Bestseller

Leader: Lisa Genova

Lisa Genova's first novel, Still Alice, debuted in January at #5 on the New York Times Bestseller list. This time last year, she was selling the self-published version of the book out of the trunk of her car. Lisa will talk about her inspirational journey and share some of the insights she learned along the way.

Option 2: Publishing Meltdown: Why it can work for you, where we might be in a year, and why it really isn't a meltdown.

Sorche Fairbank-- Agent, Fairbank Literary Representation

Since establishing Fairbank Literary Representation in 2002, Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank has had the pleasure of working with a dynamic and varied list, representing best-selling authors, Edgar recipients, award-winning journalists, and of course one of her favorite kinds of client -- the first-time author. Her tastes in novels tend toward literary fiction, international voices and women's voices, and the mystery/suspense genre. For full bio, click here.

You've likely heard all sorts of terrible news of the hundreds of layoffs in publishing, imprints and houses closing, book review sections getting the axe, bookstores shuttering. Is now any time to be pitching your book? Is this the end of publishing? And if not, where might we be a year from now? Sit tight for one lit agent's view of why this might be better for us all in the end, and how writers can make the best of the year ahead.

Option 3: Jumpstart Your Writing

Leader: Stace Budzko

What better way to end the day than by producing new work to take home with you? One of Grub Street's award-winning instructors will provide unique and inspiring prompts that get you brainstorming ideas for new stories and writing new scenes. The focus will be on creating memorable characters and settings, inventing plots and improving dialogue. Open to fiction and non-fiction writers.

Option 4: Good Men Uncovered and In-Process

Leader: Tom Matlack

"Good Men Uncovered and In-Process" Tom Matlack, co-editor of More Than A Few Good Men, talks about how he got the likes of Matt Weiner, Terry Real, Steve Almond, and Charlie LeDuff involved in his project and why he is so fascinated by men of all kinds telling the stories about turning points in their lives.

He describes writing the proposal, getting a top agent (Ike Williams), and launching the popular website while searching for great writers and unique "as told" stories like Julio Mendina, the South Bronx drug lord who spent 15 years in Sing Sing before emerging a changed man.

He will also talk about why manhood in memoir is, in his view, so important and so ignored, why volumes like The Bastard In the House are really the Oprah view on men rather than men's view of themselves and, finally, why at this historic moment men are desperate to talk about what it means to be a good father, husband, partner, and man.

Option 5: The ABCs (Art, Craft & Business) Of Memoir Writing

Leader: Emily Franklin and Ethan Gilsdorf

Want to combine travel, memoir and some quirky interest, passion or quest? Do you want to write the next Eat, Pray, Love (and not A Million Little Pieces )? In this jam-packed Hour of Power seminar, Emily Franklin (Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, 102 New Recipes ~ A Memoir of Tasting, Testing, and Discovery in the Kitchen) and Ethan Gilsdorf (Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: One Man's Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms) will discuss all kinds of memoirs: family, parenting, food, travel, and personal journey. They'll take you though turning articles into a full-fledged book idea, finding narrative, and pitching the proposal. The session will also cover questions such "Is it OK to make stuff up" and "Is my life fascinating enough?" to "How do I find the heart of an interesting story?" and "What sells?" This seminar will leave ample time for Q&A.

More options will be added as the conference approaches.