You must be registered for the Saturday conference to register for any Sunday workshop.

Each Sunday workshop below is*:
$75 through March 25, 2005;
$80 beginning March 26, 2005;
$85 beginning April 11, 2005.

* Please note: there is no charge for the iUniverse workshop.

Registration & continental breakfast courtesy of iUniverse, Inc.

Session A:
From Good Queries to Great Ones - Making Queries Sing

If your queries aren't netting assignments, you may not be writing them right. Pitching story ideas isn't as straightforward as it sounds. In this 3-hour workshop, Diane Benson Harrington, who teaches query writing online, will use before-and-after queries to show the difference between bad and good, and good and great. Emphasis will be on how to focus ideas, target markets and make those queries sing. Please submit sample queries in advance for critiques the whole class will learn from: e-mail one of your own query letters (with "ASJA" in the subject line) to DianeBH_-_AT_-_sbcglobal.net by April 1st. Harrington, a former newspaper and magazine editor, has been freelancing since 1989. She's also a columnist for RealtyTimes.com and managing editor of FreelanceSuccess.com.

Session B
Essays Three Ways

Essays can take on various forms. This workshop will explore three types: humor, opinion and the universal truth. We will write from prompts and then read and analyze in a supportive atmosphere! Please come prepared with paper and writing utensil and leave laptops at home, as they can be quite noisy and distracting. Session leader Beth Levine, ASJA, has published essays in such magazines and newspapers as Redbook, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, The Chicago Tribune and Newsday, among others. You can learn more about her at www.bethlevine.net. Sandi Kahn Shelton is the author of three books of humor and essays: You Might As Well Laugh… Because Crying Only Smears Your Mascara, Sleeping Through the Night… and Other Lies and Preschool Confidential. She also wrote a humor column for The New Haven Register for ten years and "The Wit's End" column for Working Mother for eight years. Her first novel, What Comes After Crazy, is out from Shaye Areheart Books, a division of Crown, in March.

Session C
The Secrets of Successful Book Proposals

Transform your book idea into a proposal no agent or editor can resist! This half-day workshop - designed for veteran nonfiction writers as well as first-timers - offers insider advice from literary agent Michael Carlisle of InkWell Management; Margot Schupf, Executive Editor, Lifestyle Books at Rodale; and publicist Annie Jennings, of Annie Jennings PR. The session includes a talk on the anatomy of a book proposal by ASJA member Sarah Wernick, co-author of the bestselling Strong Women Stay Young and other books. Participants will have ample opportunity to ask questions. Bonus: Submit an excerpt from your proposal for feedback from the experts. For more information, plus a list of resources that provide a head start, see http://www.asja.org/wc/2005/bookprop.php.

Session D
Finding and Working With Agents

Dr. Alma Bond, ASJA member, hosts six agents who will extend a helping hand to writers who wish to rise in the ranks of book publications. Topics to be discussed include: advice and tips on breaking into books, how to develop winning proposals and projects, finding an agent, how to present yourself for success with agents, developing a good relationship with your agent, how to avoid the pitfalls, how to know when it's time to seek other representation, and how authors can build their own platforms. Each agent will share his or her own area of expertise. Their presentations will be followed by revolving round-table discussions allowing writers to seek advice about their own careers from three of the agents in attendance. Panelists include: Adam Chromy, Artists and Artisans; Esmond Harmsworth, Zachary Shuster Agency; Regina Ryan, Regina Ryan Publishing Enterprises; Jessica Papin, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management; Stephanie von Hirschberg, Stephanie von Hirschberg Literary Agency LLC, Nancy Hertz, Crow's Nest Literary Agency. Moderator Alma Bond is the author of 11 books, including Who Killed Virginia Woolf? A Psychobiography.

Bonus Session:
Self-Publishing and Print-on-Demand: Last Choice or True Alternative? An iUniverse Workshop

(This panel will be offered twice, from 9:00-12:00 and from 1:00-4:00.)

Susan Driscoll and Diane Gedymin, who between them have more than fifty years of book publishing experience, discuss the differences between traditional publishing, supported self-publishing and self-publishing on your own. With a no-nonsense approach, they also reveal the realities of book distribution and store placement and how best to reach your target audience. Learn about the latest technology and services available to authors and how to get your book into the marketplace-quickly, inexpensively and professionally. Driscoll is the CEO of iUniverse, a leading self-publishing service provider; formerly, she was a senior manager for the academic divisions of HarperCollins, Holtzbrinck and Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Gedymin is Editorial Director of iUniverse and was formerly a literary agent affiliated with Carlisle & Company, Publishing Director of HarperSanFrancisco and Senior Editor at The Putnam Berkley Group.

Session E
Software for Writers

Do you run your business? Or does your business run you? This panel features ASJA's resident experts on getting more work done with the technology you already own (and lowering stress, too).

Jan Jasper, author of Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information, and Technology and nationally-known workflow expert, will share her secrets for setting up your personal office for maximum productivity. She'll reveal techniques for dealing with paper rapidly, organizing computer files efficiently, finding things instantly and getting a handle on the tsunami of information that hits you every day. She'll also discuss the pros and cons of using act! or Microsoft Outlook for contact and information management.

Sheryl Canter, contributing editor to PC Magazine will show you how to achieve stress-free productivity by taking a clear, systematic approach to the tasks that clutter your to-do list and complicate your work life. She'll also demonstrate software that she's developed to improve the way you organize your daily tasks and help you get more done.

Bill Dyszel, author of Palmpilot for Dummies and Microsoft Outlook for Dummies will teach a quick start course on Info Select, a program that many ASJA members call a life-changing product. You'll learn to capture information and find it again in an instant, whether it comes from email, the web, your desk or a phone call.

Session F
Internet Technology for the Competitive Edge

We are now a society of connected technology. Don't get left behind! This workshop focuses on ways for writers to benefit by staying connected. Websites to connect both readers and publishers to your work; Networking hardware and easy ways to connect computers; and Mobile technology for connecting on the road. Lacking an expensive technical staff to build websites, set up networks, and generally manage the technology, most writers must depend on themselves. In this 3-hour workshop you will learn how to buy and use your own domain name, build a useful website, and get it on the Internet, for cheap (or free!). You'll also get the basics for creating a home network, learn about wired and wireless options while on the road, and even connect to your home computer while traveling. We'll also be recommending and showing some great products for professional writers.

Presented by Bill Pfleging, formerly Lycos Network Director of Community, technology columnist, computer consultant and co-author of The Geek Gap (coming in Fall 2005); and Bruce Miller, ASJA, 12-year contributing editor to Puget Sound Computer User, computer consultant, ASJA's Webmaster and database programmer, and author of www.MobileWriter.com.

Conference attendees are on their own for lunch, but all are invited to get energized before afternoon sessions with Joan Price, author of The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book: 300+ Quick & Easy Exercises You Can Do Whenever You Want. Joan will lead a lively, sweat-free, rhythmic stretch break.