Story Circle Network Conference

Next Friday, Stories from the Heart V (Fifth National Women’s Memoir Conference) starts. If you write memoir, have contemplated writing a story of your life, or wonder how you would go about writing such a story, this is the conference for you. I hope you’re signed up. If you are, come by and see me. You can catch me Friday the 5th. I along with other authors and presenters will be doing heart-to-heart coaching from 10 in the morning until noon. You can go online and see the subjects each coach will be covering. I will be available for questions on Blogging and Tweeting, Conducting in-person interviews, and Targeting your interview questions. Most of the coaches are already totally booked. Not mine. I think I should have come up with catchier topics, like how to snap a whip with one flick of the wrist.

Then, on Saturday, I’ll be moderating a panel on Getting Published. What that means is I’ll introduce five fabulous memoir authors who will talk about getting published, then I’ll sit back with my whip in case a fight breaks out. Kidding. There will be no fights; everyone fears my whip.

The most exciting news is that this week, I’m going to introduce you to four of the panelists on the Getting Published panel. Here’s the lineup:

Tuesday: Susan Tweit -- her memoir, Walking Nature Home, has been called "lovely, brave, inspiring" and "a must read." She's the author of eleven other books that draw on her life experiences in one way or another, along with hundreds of articles and essays for magazines and newspapers ranging from Fine Gardening and Popular Mechanics to Audubon and the Los Angeles Times.

Wednesday: Kendra Bonnett, one half of the Women's Memoirs team and is co-author of the new book teaching the Writing Alchemy method (available early 2010 and free with pre-conference workshop registration). When not writing, she teaches and coaches writers. As a marketing executive versed in new technology techniques, she also helps writers build successful marketing and publishing strategies.

Thursday: Laurie Wagner Buyer, author of four collections of poetry, Glass-eyed Paint in the Rain, Red Colt Canyon, Across the High Divide, and Infinite Possibilities: A Haiku Journal, a novel, Side Canyons, and a memoir, Spring's Edge: A Ranch Wife's Chronicles. Another memoir, When I Came West, is forthcoming in January 2010.

Friday: Matilda Butler, the other half of Women's Memoirs, is co-author of the collective memoir Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story, which received a 2008 IPPY national book award. She teaches and coaches writers and is co-author of the new book on Writing Alchemy (available early 2010 and included with pre-conference workshop registration).

This week will provide great opportunity for you to ask questions of some wonderful memoir writers or to read their posts and start thinking about whether you have a story inside to tell. So come back each day. Seriously, come back and visit. Don’t make me get out my whip.