Saturday Sessions at the library: 9:15-3:00

9:00 a.m. Library opens. Book table set-up.

9:15 a.m. Registration begins. Mingling and socializing.

9:55 a.m. Welcome and announcements

10:00 a.m. Clarissa Willis: Treating Your Writing as a Business.
Treating your writing as a business is essential in today's competitive literary landscape. Many authors approach writing as a passion project, but to succeed, whether in indie publishing or traditional publishing, it is crucial to adopt a professional mindset. This means understanding that writing is not just about creativity; it also involves strategy, marketing, and financial management. By viewing your writing as a business, you can better navigate the complexities of a rapidly evolving industry and position yourself for long-term success.

10:55 a.m. Ten-minute break

11:05 a.m. Mary Coley: Building Suspense in Fiction
At the bottom of every story ever told, whether romance, mystery, adventure, horror, humor, dystopian, science fiction, fantasy or any other, is a mystery, and suspense is what carries every mystery. Suspense keeps your reader reading. In this session, Mary will provide tips that will help you build suspense throughout your novel.

12:00. p.m. Break for lunch

1:30 p.m. Max McCoy: Follow the Wild Trail.
Award-winning author Max McCoy will show you how to find your own way to your true writing self as you explore the natural world. Writing about nature isn't just about capturing in words beautiful landscapes; done mindfully, it's a journey of self-discovery in which you can weave a cultural and personal history together to create something uniquely yours. McCoy is the author of more than 20 books, including Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River, published by the University Press of Kansas.

2:25 p.m. Ten-minute break

2:35 p.m. Terry McDermid: What Does Writing Success Look Like to You?
An interactive talk about finding each person's writing path. While comparing to others has some value, we each need our own definition of success. We'll look at where we've been, where we are now, and where we might want to go.

3:30 p.m. Farewell