The Press Club of Dallas is offering a half-day workshop called Becoming the Ultimate Freelancer.   This might be a fabulous way to spend part of your weekend if you're partial to journalistic endeavors.

Details are below, but catch member Harry Hall on Wednesday if you want a first hand account.  He's been before and and he'll be going again.  Remember - the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

When:  Saturday, March 2, 2013 from 8:30-12:30.

Where:  SMU, Umphrey Lee Center / 2nd Floor, 3300 Dyer Street

Cost:  $30 for non-members.

More info on the presenters and ticket sales can be found here: http://pressclubdallas.com/becoming-the-ultimate-freelancer-workshop-march-2nd/

 

I finally had to admit I had a roach problem after they stopped respecting the time-share agreement.

You know what I mean: You turn on the kitchen light, the tiny saloon piano stops for a sec, and then they go right back to doing jelly shots and playing poker in the toaster crumbs.

So I did the usual stuff.  Cleaned up real good, got careful with the trash, sprayed behind the appliances.  Then one night when I had some friends over for dinner, one of the little bastards fell out of a cabinet and right into the soup.

Yeah.

I got educated, got equipped, and then I got revenge.

It took two of us to pull the fridge out from the wall, revealing the hideous Blattodean¹ ur²-source underneath.  I spent about an hour mopping up six years' worth of furry ectoplasm, MIA cat toys, and the lone moldering Cheeto.  Then I sprinkled borax over the floor and caulked up the crevices, which was the best part (because I was all, "hey, this is like frosting a cake!" and they were all, "for the love of God, Montresor³!")  The last roach I saw was fleeing to Italy, carrying his father on his back.

By this point, you're probably thinking, "Dang, Tex - I came here to check out the writer's workshop, not to hear about your horrific affinity for literary allusions and squalor."  So here's what I got.

You work hard on your manuscript.  When you print it and re-read it and red-pen it, you can squash any number of scurrying typos and six-legged plot-holes.

But if you've done all that and you're still racking up rejections or watching your sales figures flatline, then you might need to take a deeper look at things.  This is where critique partners come in useful.  Capable as you are, sometimes you do need a battle buddy to help you pull the fridge out and see where your problems are coming from.

It's not easy.  In fact, it is embarrassing as hell.  But there is a real security in knowing that when a dinner guest doesn't finish her first course, it's because she didn't happen to care for fish-stick bisque, and not because of what she found floating in it.

-Tex Thompson, DFWWW member since 2012

Footnotes (just in case and just for fun)

1 Cockroaches are categorized in the insect order Blattodea.  Derived from the Greek word for cockroaches, “blatta”.

2 –ur has Germanic origins and can be used in a combing form to mean “earliest, original”.

3 Montresor was the narratator in Edgar Allen Poe’s work, The Cask of Amontillado.  In the work, Montresor tells about his deadly revenge on a friend who offended him…and it ain't pretty.

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garibaldi/2950742137/

Markus Zusak, bestselling author of The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger, almost slipped past our radar.  He's sneaking into town for the Highland Park Literary Festival – and that’s no small feat considering the steroidal pond he has to hop over on his way from Sydney, Australia.

The festival itself is put on predominately for Highland Park high schoolers.  If you're one of those, you're a lucky duck.  The workshops and supporting presenter list is fantastic.

For the rest of us who bid farewell to our teenage years a while ago, we can still catch Markus’s keynote speech during the Thursday night event.  It’s open to the public, and it’s free.  Who doesn’t like to hear that?

The details are as follows:

Thursday, February 21, 2013

6:30 p.m.: Sales of books authored by Markus Zusak and workshop presenters

7:00 p.m.: Keynote Speaker - Markus Zusak

Highland Park High School large auditorium.  (MAP)

Here's an opportunity to build that writing resume.  A chance to pad those few lines which you're allowed inside the query letter.  A possible occasion to gloat.

The Columbus Creative Cooperative is offering a novel competition.  Dust off those finished manuscripts.  Even the one you're currently querying is fair game.  Have it reviewed by Harvey Klinger's team of judges and see how you stack up against other unpublished novelogists.

It's $40 to enter with a grand prize of a publishing contract with Columbus Press  or a $1,000 cash.  The runner-up will receive a free publishing consultation to help improve the manuscript.

They're only accept 200 submission to the contest, and we say those odds aren't too shabby.

Make sure to click the picture to enter before January 31st.

DFW Writers’ Workshop 2013 Conference

May 4-5 in Hurst, Texas

Editors, agents, and best-selling authors draw hundreds of attendees.

The Dallas Fort-Worth Writers’ Workshop will host its sixth annual DFW Writers’ Conference on May 4-5 at the Hurst Convention Center. Over 18 agents and editors will be in attendance and a free pitch session is included in the price of admission. (Extra pitches are available for a low fee.)

This year, the conference will feature three prominent authors as its keynote speakers:

• Deborah Crombie – New York Times bestselling author of the Duncan Kinkaid/Gemma James mystery series, including her recently released, NO MARK UPON HER.

• Mike Capuzzo – Pulitzer Prize nominee and New York Times bestselling nonfiction author of THE MURDER ROOM and CLOSE TO SHORE.

• David Corbett – Author of contemporary fiction and the non-fiction writing book, THE ART OF CHARACTER.

In addition to more than 50 informative classes and workshops on the craft and business of writing, the conference will once again host panels such as the “Query Letter Gong Show,” which features agents who decide to request queries or give them a loud gong.

“Our conference theme this year is ‘No Word Wasted,’” says Katy Roberts, Director of the 2013 DFWWW conference. “Our group gives feedback for your best possible writing … to make every word count. We hope writers will take advantage of the resources and networking opportunities at our conference!”

Early bird discount registration for the conference ends February 4^th.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK THE WEBSITE CONFERENCE TAB OR CONFERENCE PHOTO.