Note: the following refers to our 2016 conference. We will update it for 2017 when our new program is available.
Now in its 30th year, WriteAngles is Western New England’s premier conference by writers, for writers. At this one-day gathering, you’ll mix with experienced writers and agents in panel discussions, face-to-face meetings, and in casual networking opportunities. The affordably priced conference fee includes a continental breakfast and a bountiful buffet lunch. The conference is held in Mount Holyoke College’s gracious Willits-Hallowell Center, which features plenty of free parking and handicap accessibility. The full conference schedule is given below. Please note that you do not need to choose in advance which panel you plan to attend in each session.
8:15 to 9:00 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 to 9:30 am – Morning Keynote Speaker: Lisa Papademetriou (Morrison Room)
NOTE: Individual agent meetings will run concurrently with the morning panels, 9:45 to 12:30, by pre-arranged appointment.
PANEL SESSION I – 9:45 to 11:00 am (Choose one)
Truth and Lies: Telling Our Stories in Memoir and Autobiographical Fiction (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Liz Bedell, Sally Bellerose, Melanie Brooks, Jennifer Eremeeva
How do you convey your truths in stories that draw upon, yet go beyond, the specificity of facts and dates? How reliable is memory, anyhow? How can writers transform their experience into and through fiction?
To Group or Not to Group, That Is the Question (Morrison Room)
Workshop leader: Linda McCullough Moore
At some point in the career of every writer a decision must be made regarding the best way to move toward completion and publication of a work in progress. This time together will provide an opportunity to decide if a manuscript group is the right move for you. Highly practical and very specific, this workshop will provide all the info needed to decide and move forward to a very fine finish.
Are You Ready? Submitting to Literary Journals (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Joan Axelrod-Contrada (moderator), D M Gordon, Naila Moreira, Vati Sreiberg
Perhaps you have a short story, poem, or essay that you’re dying to get published but have no idea where to send it. Join the club! Submitting to literary journals is a lot like dating. You need to find the right match, which can be a daunting process. Our panel of successfully published writers, as well as the editor of a local literary journal, will give you practical tips so you can find someone who’ll fall in love with your work.
PANEL SESSION II – 11:15 am to 12:30 pm (Choose one)
Writing for Children: The Craft of the Picture Book (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Diane deGroat, Samantha Hoffman (moderator), Susan Hood, Jackie Urbanovic
In this panel children’s book authors who also have experience with illustrating and editing will explore strategies for engaging children, and will touch on topics such as character, voice, and structure.
Secrets of the Plot Goddess: How Destiny Drives Your Story (Morrison Room)
Workshop leader: Lisa Papademetriou
A good plot is a difficult thing to construct. It should flow logically, yet contain plenty of surprises to delight the reader. It must spring from the character, yet change the character in ways he or she does not see coming. It is technical, yet it provides the meaning for every theme and symbol in a novel. If you struggle with plot, you are not alone. Lisa Papademetriou will show attendees how to understand plotting in terms of their protagonist, and how to build an arc that is both believable and surprising. Beginning with character, writers will explore the controlling belief, desire line, and personal flaws that will plunge their characters into the thick of conflict.
Reading Out Loud: Performance Skills for Writers (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Susan Daniels, Daisy Mathias, Ellen Meeropol
You have an opportunity to read your work and you’re scared, anxious, terrified. Come learn (and practice) how to choose material, prepare, and read so that your audience is spellbound.
12:30 to 1:30 pm – Buffet Luncheon
1:30 to 1:45 pm – Celebration of WriteAngles Community Grant (Morrison Room)
1:30 to 4:00 pm
AGAIN THIS YEAR – Legal Clinic
Sit down with Attorney Hun Ohm, a partner at the Northampton, Massachusetts, law firm Fierst, Kane & Bloomberg LLP, for a free, private 20-minute consult on your publishing, intellectual property, and/or merchandising and licensing legal issues. This clinic is designed to give WriteAngles attendees an opportunity to have general legal questions about the business answered. By appointment at the time of registration, concurrent with afternoon sessions.
Participants in the Legal Clinic will be requested to provide a brief description of their concern or questions prior to the conference so that our legal expert can better prepare. Confidential information need not, and should not, be included in this description. Further details for submission will be provided if you request the Legal Clinic during registration.
1:45 to 2:45 pm – Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Carole DeSanti (Morrison Room)
PANEL SESSION III – 3:00 to 4:15 pm (Choose one)
Put Down Your Garlic and Crucifix: How To Stop Warding Off Poems and Learn To Love Them (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Doug Anderson, D M Gordon, Patricia Lee Lewis (moderator)
Using enchanting and difficult poems, Doug Anderson, Diana Gordon, and Patricia Lee Lewis will reveal the secrets of how they learned to read poetry. Come discuss your own loves, frustrations, and revelations.
Agents Panel: Test Your Elevator Pitch (Morrison Room)
Panelists: Danielle Barthel, Kirsten Carleton, Jackie Lindert, Gina Panettieri, John Rudolph
This year’s panel is all about log lines. A log line is the one- or two-sentence description that boils down the main conflict in your story as succinctly as possible. (See examples.) We will ask you to send your log lines in advance of the conference. As many as possible will be read and discussed during the first half of the panel. The second half will be open question and answer.
4:15 to 4:30 pm – Wrap-up
Names will be drawn for attendance prizes; you must be present to win.
