Guild honors young writers at Dec. 3 holiday gathering

Join a celebration honoring award-winning young writers at the St. Louis Writers Guild’s annual holiday gathering from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Dec. 3, at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd., Kirkwood, MO  63122.

Find out how these fourth- through eighth-graders created stories that all began with the same sentence: “It came from the fog….” Judging was based on originality, cohesiveness, spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

It’s free to attend. All are encouraged to bring a dish for a potluck luncheon that will follow readings by the contest winners.

Learn more about the St. Louis Writers Guild at www.stlwritersguild.org.

Workshop Nov. 5 on “Pictures, Speaking: Photographs as Story Prompts”

As writers, sometimes our well of ideas seems to go dry and we need fresh inspiration for new stories, but the solution may be as easy as flipping through your own photo albums. Join short story writer, Angela Mitchell, as she talks about the art of using personal memory (or someone else’s memory) as a springboard for your own, original short stories.

Bring paper and pen (or a laptop) and be prepared to churn out story starts and character descriptions, as well as identifying the essential conflict in your narrative, during this fun and interactive workshop. Held from 10 a.m. to noon, Nov. 5, at Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd., Kirkwood, Mo., the workshop is free to St. Louis Writers Guild members; $5 for nonmembers.

Angela Mitchell's stories have appeared in literary journals and magazines, including Colorado Review, New South, Carve, Midwestern Gothic, and others. Her story, “Animal Lovers,” was the winner of the 2009 Nelligan Prize from Colorado Review; it was given special mention in The Pushcart Prize XXXV, and listed as one of thirty “Distinguished Stories” in the inaugural issue of New Stories from the Midwest. In 2011, the Riverfront Times honored her as a MasterMind recipient for her work in the literary arts.

Recently, she attended the Sewanee Writers’ Conference as a Tennessee Williams Scholar. Angela holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, as well as an M.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Arkansas, and a B.A. in English from the University of New Orleans. She is the current director of the St. Louis Writers Workshop. 

Learn more about the St. Louis Writers Guild at www.stlwritersguild.org.

Mystical stories wanted!

Check out the submission guidelines for a St. Louis-based esoteric online journal, MYSTIC ILLUMINATIONS, which features fiction, nonfiction and poetry about "exploring the magic through words."  Issue Three is a special all-poetry edition.

MYSTIC ILLUMINATIONS is published by Mystic Salon, which welcomes you on a journey into magical, mystical and earth-based spiritual practices. 

Win 2 VIP tickets/hotel for Penned Con!

NOTE: The St. Louis Writers Guild was one of the sponsors of this year's Penned Con!

http://bit.ly/PennedCon2017

Penned Con is giving away TWO (2) VIP Tickets to the 2017 event along with TWO (2) nights stay at the hotel where Penned Con is hosted. There will be ONE (1) winner of this awesome package and we will announce them on October 28th 2016.

To participate you must LIKE, SHARE & TAG at least FIVE (5) friends in the ORIGINAL POST on the Penned Con St. Louis Facebook page.

This is a $500 value and includes:

• Two-night stay at the St. Louis City Center Hotel (9/29/17 & 9/30/17)
• Two (2) Day Book Signing
• Grab & Go Lunch for both days for two (2) people
• Two (2) 2017 Penned Con T-Shirts
• One (1) hour exclusive early signing access
• Private Author / VIP Pajama Party
• Casino Awards Night & Penned Con Playing Chips
• Keynote Speakers
• Workshops
• Panels
• DJ Party

*The winner will be responsible for all travel expenses to and from the event and be required to provide the hotel with a credit card for any incidentals.

**You must be at least 21 years of age to participate.

http://bit.ly/PennedCon2017

Here’s more about Penned Con:

This convention brings authors and readers together each year for a full two-day event that will create great memories and opportunities to meet all of your fangirl/fanboy needs. Penned Con is designed to give readers plenty of time to hang out with your favorite authors in a laid back setting, an opportunity to learn from bestselling authors, discover new to you books, and to have FUN!

Penned Con is not your “normal” convention. Here’s a taste of what you will experience when you attend:

• 2 Keynote Speakers
• 2 full days of book signings
• 2 days of Panels with the authors
• Workshops led by industry professionals
• Author/Reader Games
• Free Swag Table
• DJ Party
• Charity Raffles and Silent Auction
• Casino night themed Awards Celebration and more!

 100% of the profits from Penned Con go to Action for Autism a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization based in St. Louis who works to provide the therapies and schooling needs to local autistic children. Your attendance at Penned Con helps to change kids' lives.

Authors: Learn how to make the past relevant to today's readers

Ever wanted to try your hand at historical fiction but didn't know where to start? On Oct. 1, award-winning historical fiction author Nicole Evelina will show you it's not as intimidating as it may seem, even if you're not a fan of research (though it helps if you are). Held from 10 a.m. to noon at Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd., Kirkwood, Mo., her workshop is free to St. Louis Writers Guild members; $5 for nonmembers.

Nicole will cover research methods and sources, how research informs plot, how to handle characterization in other time periods, how to bring the past to life, mistakes to avoid, and more. Whether you're just dipping a toe in the historical waters or have already published in this genre, you're sure to learn something new.

A multi-award-winning historical fiction and romantic comedy writer, Nicole’s most recent novel, Madame Presidentess, is a historical novel about Victoria Woodhull, America's first female Presidential candidate. It won first place in the Women’s US History category of the 2015 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction.

                      

Her debut novel, Daughter of Destiny, the first book of an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of view, was named Book of the Year by Chanticleer Reviews, took the Grand Prize in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Women’s Fiction/Romance, won a Gold Medal in the fantasy category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and was short-listed for the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction. Been Searching for You, her contemporary romantic comedy, won the 2015 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Great Expectations and Golden Rose contests.

Nicole’s writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Independent Journal, Curve Magazine, and numerous historical publications. She is one of only six authors who completed a week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness.

Her website/blog is http://nicoleevelina.com, and she can be found on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. Her email address is nicole.evelina@att.net.

Learn more about the St. Louis Writers Guild at www.stlwritersguild.org.

SLWG authors speaking at ARCHON!

Next weekend — Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — several authors from the St. Louis Writers Guild will be speaking at ARCHON40 in Collinsville, IL. They include David Lucas, Brad R. Cook, Jennifer Stolzer, Judy Moresi, Kathleen Kayembe, Michael Long, Reggie Van Stockum, Ryan P. Freeman, Cole Gibsen, Debbie Manber Kupfer, George Sirois, and T.W. Fendley.

Check out the programming schedule here.

Join us for a fun and informative weekend!

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Local Authors and so much more at Penned Con

Local Authors and so much more at Penned Con

Brad R. Cook

PENNED CON 2016, is a book fair featuring over 150 authors from across the country and locally from Missouri and Illinois. The event takes place on September 23 and 24, 2016 and offers a chance to learn from industry leaders about how to publish, market and grow your brand, join us for our keynote speakers, join in with games hosted by authors, panels, a luau awards ceremony and more! Penned Con is all about charity too, 100% of their profits from the event go to Action for Autism based in St. Louis. Since starting Penned Con in 2014 they have donated over $21,000 to the Penned Con Scholarship Fund and helped 6 families in the St. Louis area with therapy services.

If you want to learn more about their charity work check out my earlier post about Penned Con. http://www.thewriterslens.com/2016/07/penned-con-bringing-authors-and-readers_13.html

This time I wanted to focus on the authors who will be at Penned Con. It’s one of the largest lists of authors from varying genres that I have ever seen. If you like books, or need a gift for the book lover in your life you won’t want to miss this event.

Here is a list of the 150 authors who will be attending.

Some of the local authors who will be there include:

Eric Asher

Nicole Evelina

Claudia Shelton

Maggie Adams

Mark Pannebecker

Alexis Kennedy

Amy Hale

David Lucas – panelist

And those are just the authors I know about, I’m sure there are more. For a complete list of authors and links to their books visit https://pennedcon.com/author-lineup/

There are more than just authors, Penned Con has panels as well.

St. Louis Writers Guild President David Lucas will be talking about Villains at 3pm on Friday, September 23.

For a complete list of panels visit https://pennedcon.com/panels/

For a complete schedule of events visit https://pennedcon.com/event-schedule/

Get tickets to Penned Con by visiting https://pennedcon.com/penned-con-tickets/

And you can ever register for up to four free two-day tickets to the event by using the QR code or link below.

I’ll be at the St. Louis Writers Guild table representing the organization which is a sponsor of the event. So stop by and say hi, and then check out all the great authors and support a great cause.

To learn more visit www.PennedCon.com