6:00 PM

Tex Thompson will be joining us to cover The Seven Deadly First-Page Sins!

There's no one right way to begin your story—but there are plenty of wrong ones. In this class, she'll take you on a cautionary tour through the pits of page-one hell, complete with agent pet peeves, reader turn-offs, and "thanks but no thanks" editorial dealbreakers. Don't let your manuscript suffer in form-rejection torment: let Tex guide you through the slush-pile inferno and lead your story toward the light!

Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a literary locksmith, egregiously enthusiastic educator, and professional ruckus-raiser. She is the author of Children of the Drought, an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris, as well as 'chief instigator' of WORD – Writers Organizations 'Round Dallas. Now she's blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and conventions around the country—as an endlessly energetic, catastrophically cheerful one-woman stampede.

Tex Thompson will bring us Editing Like a Boss

At last! After all those hundreds of hours spent slaving away at the keyboard, your first draft is finally done. Now you can sit back and bask in the glory of your beautiful, shining . . . unpublishable mess.

Never fear! This fast-and-furious revisionary rumble will fire you up to pummel your plot, pulverize your prose, and kill your darlings with bloodthirsty red-penthusiasm.

Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a literary locksmith, egregiously enthusiastic educator, and professional ruckus-raiser. She is the author of Children of the Drought, an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris, as well as 'chief instigator' of WORD – Writers Organizations 'Round Dallas. Now she's blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and conventions around the country—as an endlessly energetic, catastrophically cheerful one-woman stampede.

David Corbly will enlighten us about Your Recipe for Website Success

There are dozens of things you need to do to create an author website that's pleasant for humans to navigate, but that also has the main ingredients search engines look for to decide how high to rank you in the zero sum game of search engine rankings. Spoiler alert: most author websites are never going to rank on the first screenful of search engine results unless people are looking specifically for you or the title of your work. But that doesn't mean you should just give up! We'll focus on the things that you can easily do yourself-both on your website and offsite—without having to hire a high-priced website professional.

David had a 30+ year career managing all aspects of technology at major university libraries in Oklahoma and Iowa before "retiring" young to start another career using those skills to help creators and small businesses get found online by building websites optimized for search engines. He has a special place in his heart for writers and illustrators because he aspires to join your ranks someday as a published author, with a focus on books for young children, and because he knows you all can't afford high-priced website designers. You can find out more about his family-owned business at: https://opendoorcreations.com

Want to have a web/SEO pro critique your website & help you make it better? Sign up for a 15-min session with David Corbly of OpenDoorCreations.com on Friday night or Saturday afternoon. Email DianaWest22 "at" Hotmail "dot" com to reserve your spot.

Slots are 15 minutes. Diana will assign you a specific time and send you a short Google Form to add your website so David can have a look at it ahead of time.

JC Fields will tell us about Artificial Intelligence for Authors: Tools, Tactics, and Ethical Considerations

What IS Artificial Intelligence—really? JC Fields takes us on a deep dive into Artificial Intelligence, including hype VS reality, types of AI, useful tools for authors, and the challenges of ethically using these powerful tools.

J.C. Fields is a multi-award-winning and Amazon best-selling author. Many of his 13 published novels have been awarded numerous gold, silver and bronze medals in the Reader's Favorite International Book Awards contest.

Over the past several years, many of his numerous short stories have been featured on the YouTube Podcast Fear From the Heartland, a part of the Chilling Tales for Dark Night network.

In August 2024, J.C., signed a publishing contract with Vinci Books. Vinci Books is a world-class publisher created to offer independent authors the best of self-published and traditional publishing. Currently, one of his novels is under review by Wind Dancer Films for a possible TV or movie project. He lives with his wife, Connie, in Southwest Missouri.

Duke Pennell, author, editor, publisher, etc. will tell you Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Self-Publishing!

What does it take to self-publish your book? We'll go through all the steps from having an idea about a book to write and holding the finished product in your hands.