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From left: Melissa Mendelson, Mike Plested, David Silva
Join us for this inspiring show in which three writers explain how writing has changed their lives.
Melissa Mendelson is an author and poet. Her prose poetry collections include Silent Dreams and Tears of Sand. She appeared on "Homework," an ABC News program, in 2007 and in Cinematherapy, 2008. She was a news reporter for Long Island's Smithtown Messenger and wrote freelance for The Photo News. Her poetry has been published by The Outreach for Breast Health Foundation and appears in Names in a Jar: A Collection of Poetry by 100 Contemporary American Poets. Her short stories have been published by Bartleby Snopes Literary Magazine, The Subway Chronicles, and Literary Masters, Inc.
Michell Plested is an amateur writer with three completed books and a handful of short-stories to his credit. Two of the books, a YA adventure and an adult fantasy, are currently in front of publishers. Michell is the creator of the podcast "Get Published," featuring guest writers, editors and agents. He is currently doing final edits on a book that is rumored to be on next year's release schedule for a small press. You can read Michell's blog entries and book reviews and hear episodes of "Get Published" at MichellPlested.com .
David Wayne Silva is an eighty-year-old retired teacher and school administrator who spent 38 years working with teachers, children, and parents of all races and backgrounds. In that capacity, he found himself providing a good deal of family counseling. After the death of his wife, he met others who were seeking help and soon found himself facilitating a counseling group for widowers. The author of two nonfiction books and a collection of short stories, Silva encourages other seniors to write their own stories and memoirs. He now lectures senior citizen groups on living with the problems of aging. Suddenly, he says, life is once again an adventure, and aging is only a necessary annoyance.
Interviewees: Melissa Mendelson, Mike Plested, and David Silva
Host: Paula B.
Date: June 7, 2009
Running time: 37:01
File size: 18 megabytes
Rating: G
Melissa Mendelson's Web site: MelissaMendelson.com
Mike Plested's Web site: MichellPlested.com
David Silva's Web site: SeniorMomentsBooks.com
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From left: Kristin Nelson, Frances Julia Kemp, Del Landis.
Writers' conferences can be expensive. Are they worth it? Get the lowdown from an agent and two veteran conference attendees.
Kristin Nelson learned the ropes from another literary agent before opening her own Nelson Literary Agency. She has been a college English teacher, freelance writer, and corporate trainer. She studied creative writing with National Book Award Nominee Patricia Henley at Purdue University, where she earned her M.A. This experience made her particularly interested in representing fiction.
Frances Kemp's short story "Black Infinity" won the Australian Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Young Writer's Award; this year she placed third in The Writing Show's own First-Chapter-of-a-Novel Contest. Originally from Australia, she lives in Peoria, Illinois.
Del Landis has written five unpublished novels in the romantic suspense genre. Affaire de Coeur magazine published his short story, "Unasked Prayers." A career in aerospace engineering has allowed Del to travel and collect experiences to use in his fiction. He studies history and different cultures. His writing training is self-directed and includes conferences, workshops, and personal training by industry pros.
Please join agent Kristin Nelson, writers Frances Julia Kemp and Del Landis, and host Paula B. as they tour the conference landscape, including:
Interviewees: Kristin Nelson, Frances Julia Kemp, Del Landis
Host: Paula B.
Date: November 23, 2008
Running time: 01:09:35
File size: 33 megabytes
Rating: G
Kristin Nelson's Web site: NelsonAgency.com
Frances Julia Kemp's Web site: FJKLiterary.com
Mick Halpin returns with another great Irish crime fiction author interview!
Born in Sligo, Ireland, in 1969, Declan Burke is the author of The Big O (2007) and Eightball Boogie (2003). The Big O has just been published in the U.S. by Harcourt, with its sequel due in 2009. He blogs at Crime Always Pays, a site devoted to Irish crime fiction.
A freelance writer, Declan is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times, The Irish Times, The Sunday Business Post, and "The Last Word" programme on Today FM. He is married to Aileen; the couple has have a beautiful baby daughter, Lily. He lives in Wicklow, Ireland, and is not allowed to own a cat.
Please join guest host Mick Halpin and Declan Burke as they explore:
Interviewee: Declan Burke
Host: Mick Halpin
Date: October 26, 2008
Running time: 42:55
File size: 21 megabytes
Rating: G
Declan Burke's Web site: Crime Always Pays
This week's guest reminds us that you don't have to be able to see to write.
Bruce Atchison spent his formative years in the small Canadian city of Fort Saskatchewan. As a child, he was operated on for congenital cataracts and left with poor vision; in his teens, he got glaucoma.
In spite of his extremely limited vision, he has had articles published in such widely divergent publications as New Age Journal , Monitoring Times , Spilled Milk , Teak Roundup , West Word , Absolute Write , Upper Room , Miquelon Lake Summer Times , Dialogue , and The Blindman Valley Horizon .
Atchison's 2006 debut book, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) is a memoir of his up-close-and-personal discoveries about rabbits and their private lives. His latest book, Deliverance From Jericho: Six Years in a Blind School , is a memoir that takes the reader behind the impressive facades and manicured lawns of a once-proud institution.
Atchison lives in Radway, a hamlet located 95 kilometers northeast of Edmonton. He is currently working on a third book, How I Was Razed (and How I Found Authentic Christianity). He lives with his three opinionated house rabbits, Neutrino, Sierra, and Deborah.
Please join Bruce Atchison and host Paula B. as they discuss:
Interviewee : Bruce Atchison
Host : Paula B.
Date : August 3, 2008
Running time: 46:33
File size: 22 megabytes
Rating : G
Contact Bruce at : batchison@mcsnet.ca
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Ann Paden left; Jim Nevling
With this podcast, we launch our new makeover series. In this fascinating and fun hands-on set of programs, our editors will critique and help you polish your work while The Writing Show community looks on. Everyone wins: writers get professional advice and encouragement; the community gets to see how it’s done, one step at a time.
We start with writer Jim Nevling and the first chapter of his novel Burned . Editor Ann Paden critiques.
Jim Nevling was born near Pittsburgh and moved to California when he was sixteen. After his U.S. Army service in Okinawa during the Viet Nam conflict, he worked in electronics, logistics, and contracts for the U.S. Navy. Late in his career he began his novel, Burned , which he recently completed. “The story was always there; now all I had to do was learn to write," he says. "Like most writers, I’m still learning.”
Ann Paden is a writer and editor who worked as a manuscript editor for academic and commercial presses before becoming a feature writer for a national newspaper chain and later account manager for a Chicago-based advertising agency.
Since 1990 Ann has worked as an independent writer specializing in business histories and as-told-to biographies and as an editor specializing in manuscript analysis and critique.
Interviewees : Ann Paden and Jim Nevling
Host : Paula B.
Date : July 13, 2008
Running time: 01:10:33
File size: 34 megabytes
Rating : G
Need a writing coach to pump you up and get your creative juices flowing? Need a writing mentor who doesn’t speak from theory but decades of experience in the center of the publishing arena? Let me help you reach your writing dreams!
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Best always and stay positive,
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Michelle Rafter
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From left: Doreen Dvorin, Alan Eggleston, Bill Hinchberger (photo credit David Willard), David Howard, and Walter Glenn
Not shown: Joanne Mason and Kent Oswald
This show came about in an unconventional way. Journalist Michelle V. Rafter had posted an open question on business network LinkedIn: "For freelancers, reporters and other non-fiction types: how do you write short?"
The answers she got were so impressive that we thought, "This would make a great show!" And it does. Michelle's commentary and her responders' tips comprise this brief but pithy podcast full of great techniques for "writing short."
Michelle Vranizan Rafter is a Portland, Oregon, freelance writer covering technology, workplace issues, and business. Her current clients include Inc. magazine's tech Web site, IncTechnology.com; Workforce Management ; and Oregon Business . She's written for The Los Angeles Times , The Chicago Tribune , The Industry Standard , Internet World , and Reuters, and was previously a staff writer at The Orange County Register . Rafter started a blog called WordCount in September 2007 to dish about freelance writing in the 21st century.
The other participants are:
Interviewee : Michelle
Rafter
Host : Paula
B.
Date : June 1,
2008
Running time: 34:22
File
size: 17 megabytes
Rating : G
Michelle Rafter's Web
site : Word
Count
Doreen Dvorin's Web site : CreativeHotlist.com/DDvorin
Alan Eggleston's Web
site : E-Messenger-Consulting.com
Walter Glenn's Web
site : WalterGlenn.com
Bill Hinchberger's Web site : BrazilMax.com
David Howard's Web site : Consultiq
Joanne Mason's Web site : JoanneMason.com
Kent Oswald's Web site : WhinyDad.com
