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• Abby Saul & Tina P. Schwartz - Agent Hunting 101

  • When
    April 26, 2018
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL

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  Abby Saul, Tina Schwartz:   Agent Hunting 101
  

         
  

  Two of OCWW’s most popular agents conduct a workshop on how to woo and win the right agent for your work. Abby Saul specializes in literary and commercial fiction, while Tina Schwartz’s focus includes YA, women’s literature, and non-fiction. They will describe today’s market and talk about the qualities of a query letter and opening chapter that grab a busy agent’s attention. Both Abby Saul and Tina Schwartz will accept 1 page query letters to critique for $15; they're also inviting submission of query letters for inclusion in the handouts.Tina will accept the first ten pages of your manuscript for critique. Please see manuscript guidelines for details. 

  Tina P. Schwartz is a writer of ten traditionally published books. She is a graduate from Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing Communication with an Advertising emphasis. After spending many years in advertising, Schwartz gave up a career in media sales to pursue her true passion of selling manuscripts when she opened The Purcell Agency, LLC in July of 2012. She enjoys spending time with family, playing games and sports. She is a huge movie lover and a self-proclaimed tomboy. You can find out more about her at www.tinaPschwartz.com or www.ThePurcellAgency.com. 
  

  Agent Abby Saul founded The Lark Group after a decade in publishing at John Wiley & Sons, Sourcebooks, and Browne & Miller Literary Associates. She’s worked with and edited bestselling and award-winning authors as well as major brands. Abby also has helped to establish ebook standards, led company-wide forums to explore new digital possibilities for books, and created and managed numerous digital initiatives.
  

  As an agent, Abby is looking for great and engrossing adult commercial and literary fiction. A magna cum laude graduate of Wellesley College, Abby spends her weekends—when she’s not reading—cooking and hiking with her husband. 
  

  9-9:30 AM registration and socializing
  

  9:30-12 PM program

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• Jac Jemc — Haunting as Narrative Driver and Resonance Builder - Evening Event

  • When
    May 03, 2018
  •  
    6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL

  Register

  Jac Jemc

  Haunting as Narrative Driver and Resonance Builder - Special Evening Event

  From the absences of Sappho to the ghosts of Henry James to the longing-fueled chases driving Laura van den Berg's stories, the idea of haunting presents itself in many forms throughout literature. In this session we'll explore haunting as narrative driver and resonance builder by reading examples of different modes of haunting and appropriating their forms. Whether you're interested in building a traditional ghost story, a tale of unrequited love or lingering grief, or playing with erasures of source materials, this course can help anyone looking for ways of building theme and image-based collateral in a variety of genres. Jac will accept manuscripts for critique. Please see manuscript guidelines for details.

  Jac Jemc lives in Chicago. Her novel The Grip of It is forthcoming from FSG Originals (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) in August 2017.  Jemc is also the author of My Only Wife (Dzanc Books), From the absences of Sappho to the ghosts of Henry James to the longing-fueled chases driving named a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and winner of the Paula Anderson Book Award;  A Different Bed Every Time (Dzanc Books), named one of Amazon's Best Story Collections of 2014; and a chapbook of stories, These Strangers She'd Invited In (Greying Ghost Press).  

  Jac's nonfiction has been featured on the long list for Best American Essays and her story "Women in Wells" was featured in the 2010 Best of the Web anthology. Jac received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has completed residencies at the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Hald: The Danish Center for Writers and Translators, Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, Thicket, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Professional Development Grants, and was named as one of 25 Writers to Watch by the Guild Literary Complex and one of New City's Lit 50 in Chicago. She's taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Notre Dame, Northeastern Illinois University, Loyola University Chicago, Lake Forest College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Story Studio Chicago, and The Loft Literary Center. She currently serves as a web nonfiction editor for Hobart.
  

  6:00-6:30 Registration and Socializing

  6:30-8:30 Program

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• Sarah Terez Rosenblum - Writing Sex - Off-Site Evening Event

  • When
    May 10, 2018
  •  
    6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Wilmette Community Recreation Center - 3000 Glenview Road, Wilmette, IL

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  Sarah Terez Rosenblum - Writing Sex - Special Off-Site Evening Event 

  

  Good writing is like good sex. It takes practice. And writing about sex? That takes practice too!

  Join novelist, teacher, and freelance writer Sarah Terez Rosenblum in a dynamic discussion about writing a literarily relevant sex scene. You'll get tips, guidelines, and a chance to read and share work.

  Sarah Terez Rosenblum’s debut novel, "Herself When She's Missing,” was called “poetic and heartrending" by Booklist. She writes for publications and sites including Salon, The Chicago Sun Times, XOJane, afterellen.com, Curve Magazine and Pop Matters. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as kill author and Underground Voices, and she was a 2011 recipient of Carve Magazine's Esoteric Fiction Award and the 2015 1st runner up for Midwestern Gothic's Lake Prize as well as a finalist for Washington Square Review’s 2016 Flash Fiction Award. In addition, she was shortlisted for Zoetrope All Story’s 2016 Short Fiction Contest, receiving an honorable mention. In 2014, she founded the Truth or Lie Live Lit Series. Sarah teaches Creative Writing at Story Studio, and The University of Chicago Graham school.

  Follow her on Twitter or on Facebook or visit www. sarahterezrosenblum.com

  6:00-6:30 Registration and Socialization

  6:30-8:30 Program

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• David W. Berner — Writing Great Beginnings

  • When
    May 17, 2018
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL

  Register

  David W. Berner — 

  Writing Great Beginnings
  

  Many of us can recite the most famous first lines of great literature, but how can we learn from the masters so that our own beginnings have lasting impressions? In this lecture and workshop, award-winning author, memoirist, and journalist David W Berner focuses on what makes a great beginning, how the first line could make or break a story, how introducing your main character right away can hook a reader, and how foreshadowing can keep a reader engaged. 

      Attendees are invited to submit their first paragraph beginnings in advance for possible inclusion in David’s discussion handout. Email your first paragraph by May 11 to rjames.author@gmail.com. You can also bring material to the session to be read aloud and shared with the group if time permits.

  9:00-9:30 Registration and Socializing

  9:30-12 Program

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• Keir Graff - Book Reviews and the Library Market

  • When
    May 24, 2018
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL

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  Keir Graff

  Book Reviews and the Library Market
  
  Keir Graff will speak to authors from his perspective,  both as an oft-reviewed author and as executive editor of Booklist, the American Library Association’s book-review journal for public libraries. In addition to sharing Booklist’s inner workings, he will discuss the business of book reviewing, the current publishing landscape, the importance of the library market, and dos and don’ts of submitting books for review.

  Keir Graff is the author of two middle-grade novels (including The Matchstick Castle), and four novels for adults (most recently the thriller The Price of Liberty), with two more books slated for publication in 2018. He is also coeditor of one short-fiction anthology, Montana Noir (2017), and is currently editing a second. Since 2011, he has been cohost of Publishing Cocktails, an occasional literary gathering in Chicago. By day, he is the executive editor of Booklist. You can find him on Twitter (@KeirGraff, @Booklist_Keir), Facebook (Keir.Graff.Author), and at www.keirgraff.com.
  

  9:00-9:30 Registration and Socializing

  9:30-12 Program

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• Kelly McNees- Writing Great Endings

  • When
    May 31, 2018
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL

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  Kelly McNees

  Writing Great Endings

  Endings are important. Some of the agents and editors and reviewers to whom you submit your book will decide whether or not to read it by first reading the opening and closing chapters. Do you know how to write a powerful ending? In this session, Kelly McNees returns to outline the elements of a great ending and discuss how we can implement these ideas in our own work. 

  
  

  Kelly O'Connor McNees began her editorial career at Harper Collins and the University of Michigan Press. She launched Word Bird Editorial Services in 2008, and has helped writers of all stripes—including a CIA agent, a musician, a New York City bartender, a newspaper columnist, a dentist, an organic farmer, an art house cinema owner, and many, many others—improve their writing and pursue their publication goals. Kelly is the author of Undiscovered Country (coming in 2018), The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, In Need of a Good Wife, and The Island of Doves. She is passionate about coaching writers and troubleshooting manuscripts to help them succeed. 

  
  

  Bonus Feature: We celebrate the end of our 2017-2018 program year with a member-participation session. The last 30 minutes of the session will be set aside for members to read aloud the last 100 words of their novels or short stories (published or work-in-progress) and hear feedback from Kelly and our colleagues. See https://ocwwinfo for details.
  

  
  

  9-9:30 AM registration and socializing
  9:30-12 PM program
  

  
  

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