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Location
Midwest Writing Center
Bucktown Center (3rd floor)
225 E. 2nd St.
Davenport, Iowa 52801
563-324-1410

10:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Set Down Your Story: Writing as Healing with Joanne Wiklund

1:15 – 3:00 p.m. How to Publicize Yourself and Your Work with Kim Becwar

3:15 – 5:00 p.m. Writing for Young Adults: The Ultimate Challenge with Jon Ripslinger

Whether your bent is literary journalism, memoir, journaling, food or travel narrative, this creative nonfiction workshop will provide an interactive opportunity to work with others in crafting the techniques of fiction and nonfiction and to explore this flexible and boundless genre.

Set Down Your Story: Writing as Healing

Tired of carrying a story around inside your head and heart? Do you have a story that needs to be told? Join us as we attempt to discover the best wya to recall, capture and tell our stories. Setting it down may help in healing a hurt, closing a door on the past or making room for another story.

Getting the words down on paper is only half the battle for writers aspiring for professional success. Writers need to get their name and work out there, develop a following, and become known to both readers and other professionals in the business. Kim Becwar brings her experience in both self-publishing and traditional publishing to writers looking for publicity help. She's the co-owner of Visionary Publishing Services which offices out of Davenport and West Union, Iowa. This company handles both editing and publicity services for writers. In this workshop, she'll be sharing her tips for getting "known" and suggestions on how to hit the publicity trail with minimal financial investment. She'll also help writers explore publicity opportunities in their own backyard.

This presentation will include a discussion of such topics as Finding Teen Markets and Agents, Researching the Teen Scene, Getting Your Novel Started, Writing the Query Letter, and Answering Questions You Always Wanted to Ask a Published Author, such as: How long does it take to write a novel? How long does it take for a book to be published? How much money do you make? How do you get paid? How do you name your characters?

As examples, the author will feature materials from his published works and from a novel in progress titled Trapped.

Cost
Early bird registration (until March 22): $20 per workshop; $60 for all four workshops
After March 22: $25 per workshop; $75 for all four workshops

Extra goodies
With your registration, you’ll receive light refreshments, free parking and a great learning experience.

Proceeds from this seminar will support the David R. Collins Writers' Conference in June.

Dr. Robin Throne's poetry and creative non-fiction have appeared in Sylvan Echo, The Daily Palette, Slipshot: A Journal of Literary Art, North Coast Review, Gypsy Cab, poetry motel, Mankato Poetry Review, Iowa Woman, Minnesota River Review, Minnesota Women's Press, Minnesota Literature, the Corresponder, Connections adn The Muse. She holds a master's degree in English/creative writing and a doctorate in educational research, and teaches writing and research at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Joanne Wiklund a journalist for more than 30 years, has edited two weekly newspapers and has been a correspondent, reporter and librarian for daily newspapers, including The Nashville Banner, Nashville, TN and The Dispatch, Moline, IL She published a bimonthly magazine, ³The Great River Eagle,² about the Mississippi River from 1993-1995, and is presently a columnist for The Dispatch.
Her poetry has received awards in local competitions, as well as being published online. Joanne has taught a Fall writing class, the ³Do It! Write!² series she developed at the River Valley District Library in her hometown of Port Byron, IL, for the past seven years.
Joanne also does public speaking, and has given presentations in Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and Illinois. She makes her home in the Northwestern corner of Illinois near the Great Mississippi River.

Kimberly Becwar is co-owner of Visionary Publishing Services which handles publicity for clients who either traditionally publish or self-publish. Kimberly is a published author in many genres including cookbooks, romance novels, a children's book, poetry, newspaper articles, and also writes plays. Her website is neiwritersretreat.tripod.com/kimberly becwar

Jon Ripslinger is a Jon Ripslinger is a retired English teacher who taught English in public school systems for thirty-five years, the last thirty-three years at Davenport West High School, Davenport, Iowa. He has published over sixty short stories in men's, women's, and religious magazines. Harcourt published his first young adult novel titled Triangle. Roaring Brook Press published his second YA titled How I Fell in Love & Learned to Shoot Free Throws. Llewellyn World Wide published his third and fourth novels: Derailed and Last Kiss.
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