OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
Wannabe (Better) Writers: Personal Memoir Writing Teleconference Training Course
Karen
Mains tested this teleconference training last year and found it such a
joyful enterprise and so profitable for the six writers (with various
publishing experiences), who met via phone for one hour twice a month,
that she is offering it as a major outreach for eight months, from Feb.
14 through Oct. 28, with a break in August.
You
must register and set up your payment schedule by January 15, since you
need to e-mail some work to Karen by the first teleconference call
February 14, 2010.
We are told by distance-learning
advisors that no one is doing this kind of long-term mentoring—but this
eight-month learning curve is deliberately schemed to be long enough to
give adult learners time to integrate what they are learning into their
writing attempts. (We have also been told that the fee schedule is so
low that we are “practically giving away” this coaching!—but we want to
make it possible for all in this economically difficult time.) We have
room for 12 participants.
Karen has written some 24 books
(several of which were best-sellers), has a background in radio and
television broadcasting, has been part of publishing teams, has taken
journalism assignments around the world, is a national-prize-winning
author, and is now exploring the science of Internet publishing.
The course's curriculum is below.
Writing Personal Memoirs: A Curriculum for Wannabe (Better) Writers
The telementoring cycle begins February 14, 2010 and continues through October 28, with a break over August.
Writers
will meet via teleconference calls on the second and fourth Thursday of
each month at 7:00 p.m., Central Standard Time. The conference phone
number will be given to those who register.
A limited number of registrants will be allowed to join this cycle of writer mentoring.
Pre-teleconference work:
1.
Registrants must submit a personal writing history, name and contact
information by e-mail for all the group to peruse. Please paginate.
2.
Registrants must submit a short personal essay on “What Is the Scary
Thing Under My Bed?” One or two pages in length is fine.
3.
Registrants must begin thinking about two articles in the personal
memoir form that they will want to craft to the submission level and
report to Karen via e-mail the chosen topics.
During these eight months, Karen will walk Wannabe (Better) Writers through the
principles
of writing personal memoirs—this is a form that Karen’s writing has
taken in many of her articles, blogs, e-newsletters, and in some of her
24 published books.
The GOAL of This Telementoring Process
…is
to provide you with a safe place to become introduced to the concept of
writing from your own life and to demystify some of the mythology that
surrounds being a writer. Karen will not promise to get you published,
but she (and your group) will walk you through the process that will
make your work the best that it can be. The advantage of working with a
professional, published, best-selling and award-winning author simply
means that Karen knows and understands what keeps Wannabe Writers from
expressing what it is in their hearts they want to write.
Karen will provide:
1. A teleconference session twice a month, one hour each, for eight months.
2. Feedback on all submitted articles.
3. Teaching on personal memoir writing.
4. An introduction to the basics of the craft of writing.
5. An introduction to the basics of the trade of writing.
6. An introduction to writer’s conferences.
7. A query letter, writer’s resume and book proposal.
8. A manuscript-editing service (for an extra fee; this is optional).
9. Lots of encouragement!
First Conference Call: Getting Acquainted: Writing Histories
Philip Lopate’s The Art of the Personal Essay
Second Conference Call: Getting Words on Paper: Writing the Natural Way
Third Conference Call: Writer’s Tools: Start With the Local Library
Fourth Conference Call: Periodicals for Writers and Writers’ Conferences
Fifth Conference Call: The Lead Paragraph
Sixth Conference Call: Writer’s Block (The Writer’s Ego: Part One)
Seventh Conference Call: The Interview Process: Interviewing and Being Interviewed
Eighth Conference Call: Writer’s Manuscript-Review Group
Ninth Conference Call: Internet Writing: E-newsletters, Blogging, Etc.
Tenth Conference Call: Editors and Contracts and Income Reporting
Eleventh Conference Call: Submission Process: Where and How and Manuscript Format
Twelfth Conference Call: Query Letters, Writer’s Resume, Book Proposals
Thirteenth Conference Call: Marketing Yourself and Your Stuff
Fourteenth Conference Call: Inspiration and the Writer’s Life
Fifteenth Conference Call: The Writer’s Ego: Part 2
Sixteenth Conference Call: Comments and Observations
Seventeenth Conference Call: Wrapping It All Up
Fee:
The
fee is $40 a month ($20 for each conference call, including manuscript
evaluation) or $320 for the 8 months (16 sessions) of coaching.
You
can pay $40 at the beginning of each month or you can pay $320 in one
lump sum. Checks can be made out to Karen Mains and mailed to Box 30,
Wheaton, IL 60187.
Editorial services (optional) are additional but reasonable. They are as follows:
For
one short article under 5 pages, $20. For a piece 10-12 pages long,
$40. Longer works will be negotiated with the in-house editor.
.
