9 - 10:15 a.m. - Jump Start Your Writing

Successful writers write despite angst, distractions, and writer's block. Learn how to improve productivity, smash writer's block, and become motivated with or without deadlines. You'll learn tips on how to get over the fear of writing and how to tap into your own unique creative process.

Moderator:

Scott Hays, M.A.
A freelance writer for more than 15 years, Hays has written for TV Guide, Men's Health, Los Angeles Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Men's Fitness, Ad Age, Vista, and Media magazine. He also has authored/co-authored nonfiction books for major publishing houses, including Warner Books and Barron's. Hays teaches at UCI extension, Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College, and Saddleback College.

Panelists:

Dennis Palumbo, M.A., MFT, is a writer and licensed psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles, specializing in creative issues, mid-life and career transition. His latest book is Writing From the Inside Out. He contributes articles and reviews to a variety of magazines and journals, and has been a columnist for both the Los Angeles Times and EMMY magazine. His current column, "The Writer's Life," appears monthly in Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America.

Susan Perry, ASJA, is a social psychologist and the author of the bestseller Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity. She has published hundreds of articles, essays, and reviews; poetry; five other nonfiction books; and the forthcoming Loving in Flow. She teaches writing for Writers Digest Online Workshops and various university extension departments.

Andrew Winer, M.F.A., nearly completed a degree in Computer Engineering at UCLA before entering that university's art school and earning a B.A. in Fine Arts. He went on to earn an M.F.A. in painting at Cal Arts. In 1996, he was accepted to the University of California at Irvine's M.F.A. Program in Fiction. During his time there, he wrote the book that would become The Color Midnight Made, and co-wrote an original screenplay titled Honky! that sold to New Regency and Fox.

9 - 10:15 a.m - Narrative Techniques for Fiction and Nonfiction

Although imagination is a necessary ingredient, some of the best fiction comes from writing what you know. Find out how seasoned writers use their personal histories in creating their work, and learn the secrets of distilling and objectifying experiences into believable fiction.

Moderator:

Sandra Gurvis, ASJA. The author of eight nonfiction books and a novel of the Vietnam protest movement, The Pipe Dreamers. She is working on a nonfiction follow-up about the '60s for the University Press of Mississippi and considering another novel loosely based upon her personal experiences.

Panelists:

April Smith has written and produced dramatic series for television, including Cagney and Lacey and Chicago Hope, as well as seven movies of the week, including TV adaptations of The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three and Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue. She has received three Emmy Award nominations and two Writer's Guild Award nominations. Her first novel, North of Montana, an FBI thriller, was followed by Be the One, a novel of suspense about the only female baseball scout in the major leagues. The sequel to North of Montana, which features the return of Special Agent Ana Grey, is scheduled for spring, 2003.

Deanne Stillman started writing for the underground press before it became alternative. She is the author of the Los Angeles Times literary nonfiction bestseller, Twentynine Palms: A True Story of Murder, Marines, and the Mojave named one of the Best Books of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review. She has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Salon, Slate, the Village Voice, The Nation, Tin House, GQ, and Playboy. She is a former columnist for Buzz Magazine and the Village Voice.

Mary Rakow has a Masters Degree in Theological Studies from Harvard University Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Theology from Boston College. She is a native Californian and currently lives with her husband and children in Los Angeles. The Memory Room is her first novel.

Susan Straight has published five novels, including I Been In Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All The Pots, which was named one of the best novels of 1992 by both USA Today and Publisher's Weekly, as well as named a Notable Book by the New York Times, and Highwire Moon, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the Commonwealth of California Gold Medal for Fiction. Highwire Moon was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, and was named one of the year's best novels by The San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post.

9 - 10:15 a.m. - Getting the Skinny on Health, Fitness and Medical Writing.

Moderator:

Kathy Sena, ASJA; United Parenting Publications (children's health columnist), Los Angeles Times, Shape, New York Times Syndicate, more.

Panelists:

Christina Elston, author of Safe and Secure: The Loving Parent's Guide to Child Safety and The 24-Hour Pediatrician; former editor, L.A. Parent, United Parenting Publications.

Lou Schuler, fitness director of Men's Health magazine, which has a circulation of 1.6 million in the U.S. and a worldwide circulation of 3.6 million in 22 editions serving 30 countries. He is author of The Testosterone Advantage Plan and has written or edited five other fitness books, including The Men's Health Belly-Off Program.

10:30 - 11:45 a.m. - Secrets of Freelance Success: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started

Three prose pros reach into their bag of magic tricks for the answers to such questions as how do you work with difficult editors? What are the alternatives to query letters? And how can you keep from drowning in paperwork?

Moderator/panelist:

Scott S. Smith, ASJA, has had nearly 800 articles and interviews published, specializing in business. He is contributing editor for California CEO and does interviews for United Airlines' Hemispheres and American Airlines' American Way. His book, The Soul of Your Pet: Evidence for the Survival of Animals After Death, has been an online bestseller for four years.

Panelists:

Julie Bawden Davis, ASJA, has over 800 articles, primarily about gardening and family issues, in magazines such as Orange Coast and Ladies' Home Journal. She has columns in the Orange County Register and San Francisco Chronicle, and her work is distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Her second book, Houseplants and Indoor Gardening, was just published.

Maury Breecher, ASJA, has over 1000 publications, principally about health, in many places, including WebMD and Reader's Digest. His work is also syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and New America/Times of London. His most recent of three co-authored books is The New Charleston Program: The Permanent Weight-Control Solution. He has a Master's degree in public health and a Ph.D. in mass communication.

10:30 - 11:45 a.m. - Finding Your Niche: Writing for Specialty Markets

Whether it's a magazine devoted to one subject or just a department in a general interest publication, niche writing is often an excellent way for writers to break into the magazine market. This panel explores the needs of the specialty market -- including the often-overlooked trade publications.

Moderator:

Journalist Roberta G. Wax, ASJA, has written for a variety of general interest and trade publications, including the Los Angeles Times, EMMY Magazine, Animation, Los Angeles Magazine, United Parenting Publications, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, UCLA Magazine, Somerset Studios, Belle Armoire and others. As a reporter with United Press International she covered everything from sports, entertainment and politics to murder, mayhem and natural disasters. She also teaches news writing and feature writing at UCLA.

Panelists:

Beverly Gray, ASJA, has been a professor, screenwriter and freelance writer. She worked with filmmaker Roger Corman at his New World Pictures doing everything from writing and editing to casting and production. She has collaborated with directors Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme and Paul Bartel, was involved with the writing of the cult classic, Death Race 2000, and was story editor and creative executive for some 170 low-budget features. She has covered theatre and entertainment for Performing Arts Magazine, Theatre Crafts, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Jewish Journal, etc. Gray is the author of Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking, and is working on a biography of Ron Howard scheduled to be published in March 2003.

Henry Fenwick is the editor of Desert Magazine in Palm Springs. He has worked as an editor at Playboy, the BBC and Modern Maturity and jokes that the way his career is moving, his last assignment may be "Pearly Gates."

Victoria von Biel, executive editor of Bon Appetit Magazine. Von Biel handles everything from determining story ideas and assigning writers, to tasting recipes in the magazine's test kitchens. Prior to Bon Appetit, she worked at Vanity Fair and Parenting. She has a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a Masters in English literature from the University of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Todd Raphael, online manager of Workforce.com, the Web site for Workforce Magazine, a monthly publication for human resources professionals.

10:30 - 11:45 - Attracting A Literary Agent

Sure, every agent has quirks, foibles, subconscious predilections and book-topic biases when sifting through manuscripts. But are there some universal handholds an author can use when trying to net that elusive creature, the literary agent? And what are the odds of landing a book deal once you acquire an agent? How long should it take your agent to procure a book deal? Which is more marketable these days, fiction or nonfiction? How do you know if your agent is actually shopping your manuscript or using pages from it to light the hibachi? The panel slides these burning questions and more under the microscope.

Moderator:

Christopher Bahnsen has five years in television broadcasting and six years as a freelance writer in Southern California and northwest Ohio. Publication credits include LATimes.com, OC Weekly, Just Jazz Guitar Magazine, DigitalCity.com, The Local Concierge, OCNow.com, and Current Magazine, among others. He is currently working on an autobiographical novel about illicit survival tactics in Newport Beach.

Panelists:

BJ Robbins is a literary agent in Los Angeles.

Julie Castiglia is president of the Castiglia Literary Agency in Del Mar, California. She started out as a writer, published three books, and was a freelance editor and soon became an agent, establishing her own business in 1993. Her fiction and nonfiction sales have extended to film, audio, foreign, commercial and electronic rights. Her clients' books have won awards and appeared on best-seller lists. Julie has accepted as clients many first time authors, both fiction and nonfiction, launched their careers, and is now selling their third and fourth books.

Betsy Amster, president of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises in Los Angeles, opened her agency in 1992. A frequent instructor in UCLA Extension's Writers Program and at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Amster is a member of PEN Center USA West. Her clients include Southern California writers Mary Rakow (The Memory Room--Counterpoint), Frank Clifford (The Backbone Of The World: A Portrait of a Vanishing Way of Life Along the Continental Divide--Broadway), among others. The agency represents literary fiction, memoir and other forms of narrative nonfiction, books on social issues, psychology, self-help, popular culture, women's issues, health, parenting, cooking, and gardening.

Noon - 1:15 p.m. - LUNCH WITH JOSEPH WAMBAUGH

Keynote speaker:

Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Onion Field, The Blooding, The Choirboys, The New Centurions, and a number of other works, fiction and nonfiction. He has won a number of awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe award and the Rodolfo Walsh Prize for investigative journalism. Wambaugh transformed the sub-genre of the police novel into serious literature of a hard-boiled nature. His first four books and his work on the Police Story television series in the 1970s set standards of realism, dialogue, and character development for subsequent writers or turned them in new directions. His most recent work of nonfiction is Fire Lover (William Morrow, 2002).

He will be interviewed by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Southern California ASJA chapter president, columnist for OC Metro, freelancer for the Los Angeles Times and Poets & Writers, and editor of The ASJA Monthly. She is a writing instructor at UCI, and producer/host of KUCI's "Writers on Writing." (www.writersonwriting.com)

1:30pm-2:45pm. - Finding Your Voice in Fiction or Nonfiction

Establishing "voice" through your characters' dialogue or the book's narrative is one of the most important elements of writing. A writer's "voice" should be as original and as individual as fingerprints. Yet trying to find your own fiction "voice" that distinguishes your novel from others can launch writer's block for days. Four novelists will define the elusive, mysterious "voice" and describe how they developed and nurtured it in their books.

Moderator:

Author and journalist Jill Amadio, ASJA, has published six non-fiction books ranging from true crime and self-help to celebrity memoirs. Her latest is a biography, Gunther Rall: Luftwaffe Fighter Ace and NATO General. She is a monthly contributor to Entrepreneur magazine and Web sites. She has written for Conde Nast Publications and her syndicated column has been published in The Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, and 110 other newspapers.Amadio was an editor at The Bangkok Post, The Spanish-American Courier in Madrid, and worked at The Daily Mail in London. She is a member of The Authors Guild and Mystery Writers of America.

Panelists:

Martha C. Lawrence is the author of the mystery series featuring psychic private investigator Elizabeth Chase. Her astrologically themed novels--Murder In Scorpio, The Cold Heart Of Capricorn, Aquarius Descending, Pisces Rising, and Ashes Of Aries--have been nominated for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Nero, and Shamus awards. A former editor for Simon & Schuster and Harcourt Brace Publishers, she reviews fiction for The San Diego Union-Tribune and is a frequent contributor to San Diego Magazine.

Ron Carlson is the author of six books of fiction, most recently the story collection At the Jim Bridger. His stories have appeared in Esquire, Harpers', Gentlemen's Quarterly, The New Yorker, Tin House, among others and in dozens of anthologies including The Best American Short Stories, The O'Henry Prize Stories, and the Pushcart Prize Collection. His novel The Speed of Light will be published in 2003. Professor Carlson teaches English and Writing at Arizona State University.

Steve Lopez is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the author of three novels, the Sunday Macaroni Club, Third and Indiana, and In the Clear. He has been an editor-at-large for Time magazine and has written for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

1:30 - 2:45 p.m. - Writing the Personal Essay, Memoir & Creative Nonfiction

Panelists will explore the art and science of writing about personal opinions and experiences. They will also discuss favorite creative narrative techniques that can be used in essays and memoirs.

Moderator:

Janine Latus, ASJA, has had essays published in Parents, Woman's Day and Adoptive Families. She also reads her essays on Public Radio International's Marketplace, and she has had stories published in More, Fitness, Family Money and many other publications and websites.

Panelists:

Teryl Zarnow writes with wit and warmth about family life in her weekly syndicated column for the Orange County Register. She has had articles published in Child, Redbook, Working Mother and Ladies Home Journal. She has written two books: Husband Is the Past Tense of Daddy - and Other Dispatches from the Frontlines of Motherhood, and The Mother Side of Midnight - Nocturnal Confessions of a Lunchbox Queen.

Kit Rachlis, editor in chief of Los Angeles Magazine, is a former Village Voice executive editor, LA Weekly editor in chief and senior projects editor at the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Magazine, the sophisticated and lively chronicle of Los Angeles culture and life-style, was the only city and regional magazine to be nominated for two 2002 National Magazine Awards.

Jim Morrison, ASJA, has been a freelance writer since 1990. His narrative nonfiction stories have appeared in Smithsonian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, This Old House, Family PC, Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, Southwest Spirit, the magazine of Southwest Airlines, and American Way, the magazine of American Airlines, among others.

1:30 - 2:45 p.m. - Writing for Parenting and Women's Magazines

Learn from top editors and a successful author how to make it in these popular and competitive markets. We'll discuss books, magazines and what it takes to find success in this field, even in a tough market.

Moderator:

Kathy Sena, ASJA. Please see her bio listed under "Getting the Skinny on Health, Fitness and Medical Writing."

Panelists:

Kathy Seal, ASJA, is coauthor of Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning (Henry Holt, 2001). She has published features and essays in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Jose Mercury News and has written for magazines including Family Circle, Omni, Parents, Parenting, Child, Lear's, and Southwest Spirit. One of her articles, The Trouble with Talent, now appears in two college anthologies of model writing.

Marilyn Martinez, acting regional editor for United Parenting Publications.

Cynthia Kirkeby, editor/founder, Classbrain.com, an educational Web site for parents, children and teachers.

3 - 4:15 p.m. - Writing a Book Proposal That Sells

What do publishers look for in a book proposal and what are the musts in writing one? Authors and a former acquiring editor with a major book publisher will detail their expertise and give tips in writing successful proposals --those that have garnered contracts.

Moderator:

Richard F.X. O'Connor, ASJA, has contributed articles to Field & Stream, USAir Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. He is the published author of seven books including the best selling How To Make Your Man More Sensitive (E.P. Dutton/ Fawcett) and Ident-A-Kid (S&S) and has appeared on Donahue, Good Morning America and Larry King. His self-published work is How to Market You and Your Book. Most recently he was Executive Editor of Renaissance Books/St. Martin's Press and is an editor-abridger of more than 100 audio books by such authors as Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Barbara DeAngelis, Dave Barry, Daniel Goleman and Umberto Eco among others. He is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and Santa Barbara City College, where he teaches a course on book proposals.

Panelists:

Jill Amadio, ASJA. Please see her bio listed under "Finding Your Voice in Fiction or Nonfiction."

Tina Tessina, Ph.D., MFT, ASJA, is the author of 10 books published in 14 languages. She has been excerpted and quoted in New Woman, Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal, Bottom Line Personal, Better Homes and Gardens, Time, Newsweek, Shape, First for Women, Women's World and many other periodicals. Dr. Tessina has been in private practice as a Licensed Psychotherapist since 1978, and she lectures and conducts workshops nationwide on all of her books, and has appeared on all major television and radio shows, including Donohue, Oprah, ABCnews and Larry King Live.

Marvin J. Wolf, ASJA, has written as a professional since 1965, and his byline has appeared in periodicals and bookstores in at least 132 nations. He is the author or co-author of a dozen books since 1983, has written about 20 book proposals and been consulted by other writers on dozens more. His most recent book is Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam, which he co-authored with Cao Ky Nguyen.

3 - 4:15 p.m. - Have Notebook, Will Travel

Travel writing is a craft and a passion. How to hone that craft and research the markets in the print media-magazines, newspapers, trade journals, publishers-and where to submit work to Internet markets will be the focus of this panel, along with how travel writing has been affected since September 11.

Moderator:

Frances Halpern, ASJA, host of "Beyond Words" heard every Saturday at KCLU, a National Public Radio affiliate. Former Los Angeles Times columnist. Contributor to regional and national magazines and newspapers. Author of Writer's Guide to Publishing in the West.

Panelists:

Laura Kath, travel writing expert, author of regional history guides and the annual Fun With the Family series published by Globe Pequot Press.

David Lansing, contributing writer/editor to National Geographic Traveler, Sunset, Orange Coast, House Beautiful, Westways and others. Author of Escape to the American Desert published by Fodor's. His columns have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register.

Mike Stein, ASJA, writing consultant and author of several books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. His travel writing credits include Better Homes & Gardens, Westways, International Herald Tribune, inflight magazines and newspapers all over the country.

3 - 4:15 p.m. - Turning Ideas Into Stories and True Stories Into Articles and Books

Learn how to create books and articles from the raw material of real life -- your own or someone else's. This panel will help you learn how to see the story in an experience, a place, or an event. You will learn how to bolster your fiction with research and how to transform personal experience into a marketable piece.

Moderator:

Fawn Fitter, ASJA, is the co-author of Working In The Dark: Keeping Your Job While Dealing With Depression, which is drawn in part from her own experiences. A freelancer since her early 20s, she's written hundreds of articles for publications ranging from Cosmopolitan to Computerworld.

Panelists:

Edward Humes won a Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting in 1989 before leaving newspapers to write nonfiction books. His latest is Baby E.R., a medical thriller set in a neonatal intensive care unit. His other books include Mean Justice, Buried Secrets, Murderer With A Badge, Mississippi Mud, and No Matter How Loud I Shout, an award-winning exploration of the juvenile court system, currently being developed as a television series. Humes is writer-at-large for Los Angeles Magazine.

Robert Masello is a journalist, a TV writer, and the author of 14 books, both fiction and non-fiction. His most recent book, Writer Tells All: Insider Secrets To Getting Your Book Published, hit #5 on the Los Angeles Times paperback bestseller list. Masello's articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in prominent publications such as The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Redbook, Town and Country, TV Guide, and People. He is visiting lecturer in journalism at Claremont McKenna College.

Martin Smith is a veteran journalist, a four-time Pulitzer nominee, and senior editor of the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. He is also the author of four acclaimed suspense novels -- Time Release, Shadow Image, Straw Men, and the forthcoming Hyperlink. Currently, he's collaborating with journalist Patrick Kiger on a collection of essays about great moments in contemporary culture.

Craig Reem, executive editor at Churm Publishing Inc., Orange County's third-largest print publisher reaches more than 1.5 million readers each month with the biweekly OC METRO Magazine, a business lifestyle publication, and the monthly issues of OC Family, Inland Empire Family, OC Golf, LA Golf, San Diego County Golf and the newly launched Southern California Home and Outdoor Magazine.

4:15 - 5 p.m. - Reception for Joseph Wambaugh and all authors and book signings Room

A time for informal chat and socializing.

Registration Information

Register by September 5, 2002 for $135 (includes a $30 Early Bird Special discount--Code ASJA1). From September 6 through October 4, you can enroll for a price of $150 (code ASJA2). Fee for the conference at the door is $165.

To register, call Brad Riker at Student Services at 949-824-1010. You must refer to registration number 00199, and the course number, English 828.1. Have your credit card (Mastercard, Visa, American Express) handy.

ASJA members who volunteer may enroll for a reduced fee of $100 by first contacting Barbara DeMarco-Barrett at demarcobarrett@earthlink.net.

Lodging

Extended Stay America
4881 Birch Street
Newport Beach, CA 92660
800-398-7829
www.extendedstay.com

County Inn and Suites by Ayres
325 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 96262
800-322-9992
www.countrysuites.com

Marriott Suites
500 Bayview Circle
Newport Beach, CA 92660
800-228-9290
www.marriott.com

Most of these provide free shuttle buses to campus. They don't, unfortunately, offer any discounts for people coming to campus. But Extended Stay is quite affordable - about $79 a night. County Suites is affordable too, and provides a free continental breakfast. Marriott Suites is a bit more upscale.

Questions

For immediate answers to your questions, please email conference chair Barbara DeMarco-Barrett at writersonwriting@earthlink.net.