Grand Hyatt Hotel
42nd and Grand Central Station, New York, NY
May 2-4, 2003

Conference 2003 Home Friday Members Meeting Saturday Panels Sunday Workshops Idea Marketplace Exhibitors

Sunday Workshops
May 4, 2003

(You must be registered for the Saturday conference to register for Sunday sessions.)

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9:00 - 12:00

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Workshop A: How to Write a Book Proposal That Sells Itself

A crash course for anyone who wants to develop and sell a nonfiction book. Whether you have an idea right now or you want to do your homework for the future, you'll learn how to transform a book concept into a proposal that grabs attention. Come prepared to think, to get feedback on your ideas, to hear about the latest trends that are exciting book editors today. After this three-hour session you'll have new confidence, enthusiasm, and skills to use for current book ideas and future book projects. Led by ASJA member Linda Konner, who has been in publishing for more than 25 years as an agent, author, editor, columnist, and lecturer. Konner has written eight books, including Why Can't a Man Be More Like a Cat? (Dell) and Your Perfect Weight (Rodale), which has sold almost half a million copies. Her firm, the Linda Konner Literary Agency, represents authors of adult nonfiction books.

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Workshop B: The Personal Touch: Writing Essays and Op-Ed Pieces

Want to turn your personal experiences into marketable essays or newspaper op-ed columns? Too many would-be writers worry that "nothing interesting ever happens to me," as if all editors want to buy is high drama and tragedy. But there is always a lively market for everyday experiences that are told cleverly and made to reveal universal truths, and always a place to sell personal opinion pieces sparked with wit or humor. Workshop leader Sally Stich, ASJA member, has published essays on everything from having ordinary kids in a gifted world to a contemplation of bookshelves. Her essays have appeared in Parents, Country Accents, New Choices, and The Denver Post, among other publications. She teaches a course in essay writing to graduate students at the University of Denver.

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1:00 - 4:00

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Workshop C: Writing Successful Article Queries to Magazines

Professional query letters make the difference between a good idea and a magazine assignment. Learn how to think like a buying editor, target your market, slant your idea -- and learn every other time-tested technique for getting that magazine assignment. Workshop leader and ASJA member Lisa Collier Cool literally wrote the book on the subject: How to Write Irresistible Query Letters (Writer's Digest Books). She is the author of four other books, and a contributor to national magazines including Good Housekeeping, Glamour, and Ladies' Home Journal. She has won ASJA's June Roth Award for excellence in health and medical writing, ASJA's Donald Robinson Award for excellence in investigative journalism, and ASJA's Outstanding Article Award, as well as the 1999 National Magazine Award for consumer service. She has taught writing at the Austin Writers Conference, the Cape Cod Writers Conference and elsewhere.

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Workshop D: Memoir and Autobiography: Capitalizing On Your Life Stories

Whether you want to write an essay about one meaningful life passage, an autobiographical magazine piece, or a book-length memoir, this workshop is for you. It will help you select stories worthy of being told, discover hidden memories and feelings, research the past through interviews and visits, find a structure that makes sense, translate feelings into words, and cope with the responses of those about whom you write and publish. Workshop leader is ASJA member Susan Tyler Hitchcock. Hitchcock has published six nonfiction books including her award-winning family memoir, Coming About: A Family Passage at Sea. Hitchcock also writes a regular column of personal essays for her regional magazine, Albemarle, in Virginia.