The following schedule is subject to change.
8:30 a.m.
Gathering at the Frankfort Country Club
Check in at the registration desk, set up your table in the conference bookstore, grab a cup of coffee, and chat with your fellow writers.
9:00 a.m.
Welcome and General Session #1
Emcee Ginny Smith will welcome all attendees to BWC's second Conference of Writers.
"Make Your Author emPact: Sell More Books, Increase Your Reach & Achieve Your Why" by Stephanie Feger
There are countless ways to share a message, but you have chosen a book as the tool to share yours for a reason. Do you know your why? And better question, did you know that having clarity on your why will direct how you should spend your energy, time and resources marketing it? Stephanie Feger, chief strategist of the emPower PR Group, will identify the secret sauce to market a book. Whether you have written your book, aspire to write a book, or have a business that a book could support, Stephanie will help you tuning out the noise of marketing options that make you feel like you are running on a hamster wheel with no true end in sight and become laser focused on the emPactful marketing strategies that will help you achieve your why!
Stephanie Feger is offering complementary 15-minute strategy chats with authors who are attending the Conference of Writers. Schedule your 15 minutes using this link. During your timeslot, Stephanie will offer you personalized marketing recommendations and/or answer any questions you may have.
10:00 a.m.
General Session #2
"The Truth About My Old Kentucky Home" by Frank X Walker
Frank X Walker will discuss and read from his new book project on the Civil War, which explores the role of United States Colored Troops, their families and the legal and extralegal resistance to the end of enslavement in Kentucky. This exciting new collection of Historical Poetry mixes contemporary new forms like contrapuntal, hinge, mashup, golden shovel, and telegrams with a sermon in the form of a heroic crown of sonnets, ghazal, epistle, haibuns, persona, ekphrastic, abecedarian, and more.
11:00 a.m
Break - Bookstore Open
Browse the conference bookstore for books by our presenters and other conference attendees. Then find a quiet corner and write something!
11:30 a.m.
Breakout Session #1
How Speculative Fiction Can Help Writers of All Genres Improve Their Craft by Stephen Zimmer
You may not write speculative fiction. You may not read speculative fiction. At least, not just yet! Key elements and tools for writing speculative fiction can be highly useful to writers of all genres when it comes to improving their craft. In this session, I will demonstrate how you can make use of essential tools and approaches employed by fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other writers of speculative fiction to help your stories live, breathe, and connect with readers better than they ever did before!
Breakout Session #2
"Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining a Series" - Learn from veteran children's author Debbie Dadey her five steps to build a world worthy of a series. Debbie has 14 series under her belt with sales of over 45 million.
12:30 p.m.
Lunch
Lunch will be served in the main conference room and is included in the conference fee
1:30 p.m.
Breakout Session #3
"Breaking Writers Block" - by Stephen M. Vest
Have you ever sat down to write but nothing came out? Stalled on a project halfway through? Stared at a blinking cursor, fingers poised over the keyboard (or pen poised over a blank page) waiting for inspiration that never struck? If you’re a writer, chances are you have experienced writers’ block, or will at some point in your career. In this session Stephen M. Vest will present proven strategies and tools to overcome writers’ block, renew your motivation, and get your writing back on track
Breakout Session #4
"Jazz Up Your Writing – Metaphor and Simile Workshop" by Richard Taylor
What do daisies, dandelions, buckeyes and couch potatoes have in common? They are analogies, comparisons, metaphors, two dissimilar things that share traits. We all learned in high school the difference between similes and metaphors. Richard will demonstrate how to jazz up your poetry or prose by strategically using these literary elements.
2:30 p.m.
Break - Bookstore Open
Snacks will be served. Grab a cookie and shop in the conference bookstore!
2:45 p.m.
General Session #3 - A Panel of Professionals
Back by popular demand - A panel of local professionals will answer your questions about various aspects of the publishing business. This years participants will be Stephanie Feger, Chris Helvey, Chanda Veno, Shannon McRoberts, Debra Ison, Doris Settles, Richard Taylor, and Stephen Zimmer
4:00 p.m.
End of Conference