Conference Speakers

	2009 Word By Word Speakers
	Tess Gerritsen is one of the hottest authors in the world of crime fiction, with each book clocking international bestseller status. She’s also an M.D., a mom, a musician, and charming person. Tess presents the keynote talk at the Famous Authors dinner on Friday evening, May 1. Afterward, she’s agreed to hang around and autograph books. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. Her first novels were romantic suspense because, she says, she noticed the nurses were all reading romance. She also wrote a screenplay, Adrift, which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson. Tess's first medical thriller, Harvest (1996), marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her suspense novels since then include The Apprentice, Body Double, The Mephisto Club, and The Bone Garden. Her latest, The Keepsake, made both the NY Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She was recently featured in both Writer’s Digest and The Writer. She has now retired from medicine to write full time.
	Robyn Conley, OWFI’s popular Book Doctor, speaks and writes about writing, editing, and marketing what you write. Her latest book is Beyond the Branches: Writing and Scrapping Your Complete Family Tree. Other writing books are Be Your Own Book Doctor, which gives a checklist of editing tips for writers, and What Really Matters to Me, a journal that helps people discover their goals, and then offers practical tips to make those dreams come true. Robyn offers a pre-conference workshop on “Self-Editing without Self-Destructing,” and in a later will unravel the mystery of point of view.
	Gretchen Craig is the author of award-winning novels Always and Forever and Ever My Love. Both books are historicals with romance elements set among the Cajuns, Creoles, and slaves of antebellum Louisiana. Gretchen has recently completed her first contemporary novel, Dark Games, which explores the minds of psychopaths. Gretchen will speak on the eleven traits of psychopathy and how to use those traits to create memorable, credible villains, whether they are killers or simply toxic mothers-in-law. Her other presentation covers the all-important first five pages of your manuscript.
	Bestselling thriller author Jordan Dane will define what sets apart the thriller novel from other genres. She’ll share practical tips on plotting and pacing the thriller to keep the reader turning the pages and provide her favorite crime fiction research/resource online links. She’ll also share her path to publication with Avon HarperCollins. Avon/Harpercollins launched Jordan Dane’s debut suspense novels in a back to back publishing event in spring 2008 after the 3-book series sold in auction. Jordan's gritty plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense pacing to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag—romantic suspense that "crosses over into plain thriller country." Jordan has received awards in 33 national writing competitions, including Best Book of 2008 in Mass-Market by Publishers Weekly. Formerly an energy sales manager in the oil and gas industry, she now is following her passion to write full time. Jordan and her husband share their residence with two cats of highborn lineage and the sweet memory of an impossible to forget canine. Visit her website at www.jordandane.com.
	Veteran freelance writer Sandra Dark has covered a wide range of topics for national and regional publications, including Prevention, Nation’s Business, Working Woman, Writer’s Digest, Kiwanis, Oklahoma Today, and dozens more. She has been a feature writer and columnist for three national gardening magazines. She contributed a chapter to Robert W. Bly’s popular book, Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, and was anthologized in the Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Garden Writers Association.
	Sally Dennison is founder and publisher of Council Oak Books, a trade publisher based in Tulsa. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tulsa in Modern Letters and she is the author of Alternative Literary Publishing: Five Modern Histories, published by the University of Iowa Press. Dr. Dennison started Council Oak Books to provide a publishing venue from the American heartland and to discover materials that might be overlooked by the publishing establishment and to publish them worldwide. Council Oak publishes mostly nonfiction and is known for the aesthetic and literary quality of its publications.
	Elaine P. English is an attorney and literary agent in Washington, D.C. She focuses her legal practice on literary, media and entertainment matters, which she means that she regularly advises authors on matters involving contracts, copyright, trademark, libel, privacy and other publishing-related issues. Since 2001, she has also represented authors of commercial fiction (romance, women’s fiction, mysteries and thrillers) as a literary agent. For further information, see her website at www.elaineenglish.com. Elaine will speak on legal issues for writers, and also take appointments.
	Josh Getzler, an agent with Writers House, holds an MBA and once owned a minor league baseball team. He is particularly into foreign and historical thrillers and mysteries. “Send me your ruthless doges and impious cardinals...and your farmhouse cozies! Give me atmosphere, let me learn something about another time or another place (or both), and kill off nasty Uncle Mortimer in the process--I'll be yours!” He considers middle grade and YA mystery or adventure series, but not so much fantasy, and no picture books. In nonfiction, he specializes in business/finance, history and sports.
	Gordon Greene Learn the pros and cons, dos and don'ts, ins and outs of writing and marketing producible plays. Your guide is an experienced playwright, actor, director and theater manager. Gordon Greene's first career was theater. He performed dozens of major roles in summer stock, Shakespearean repertory, resident professional companies and on two national tours—one with Ned Beatty and one with Morgan Freeman. As a college professor, he taught theater and directed many plays. Greene is the award-winning author of numerous essays, poems, short stories, articles, humorous pieces, five books and several plays. He was twice president of Oklahoma City Writers and is a past president and honorary life member of the Oklahoma Writers Federation. His newest drama, The Scopes Monkey Trial, was recently produced in California and is in line for additional productions in 2009.
	Carol Hamilton is a former Poet Laureate of Oklahoma and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize five times. Her thirteenth book, a new poetry chapbook titled Contrapuntal is from Finishing Line Press in 2009. She has won a Southwest Book Award, an Oklahoma Book Award, Cherubim and Pegasus Awards from OWFI, Chiron Review Chapbook Award, David Ray Poetry Prize, the Byline Literary Awards for both short story and poetry, and the Warren Keith Poetry Prize.
	Matt Koumalats Discover new and exciting ways to market your work. Learn how to create video trailers, websites, blogs and other fun ways to bring attention to your books. Matt Koumalats has been a video producer and marketer for news organizations and industry associations. He is the executive producer for Reader Hook Productions, a group that creates and markets video trailers for authors. Reader Hook Productions is a New Covey Award winner for its work in the video trailer field. They can be contacted at www.readerhook.com.
	A retired Air Force Colonel, Merline Lovelace served at bases all over the world, including tours in Taiwan, Vietnam, and at the Pentagon. Since turning her hand to writing, she's produced more than seventy action-packed novels, many of which have made USA Today and Waldenbooks bestseller lists. Over ten million copies of her works are in print in 30 countries. Named Oklahoma=s Writer of the Year and the Oklahoma Female Veteran of the Year, Merline is also a recipient of Romance Writers of America=s prestigious Rita Award. She’ll offer advice on writing romantic suspense.
	Dr. Mark McCoy is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science at the University of Central Oklahoma. He’s a past Deputy Inspector with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and worked as a police officer for the city of Tulsa. Dr. McCoy has specialized in computer crimes and the forensic examination of digital evidence and was the first supervisor of the OSBI Computer Crime Unit. He led the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that investigated cases of child sexual exploitation and child pornography on the Internet. He will speak on “Digital Forensics for Writers.”
Romney Nesbitt Jackie King	Romney Nesbitt and Jackie King will partner for a session on “Voice, Intuition and Truth in Writing.” Romney is a writer, creativity coach, public school art teacher and ordained minister. She teaches writing classes for Tulsa Community College, writes an advice column for Art Focus Oklahoma magazine, and is the author of Secrets from a Creativity Coach. Jackie’s voice comes from her love of writing fiction. She applied her fictional voice to true life stories for her book Devoted to Cooking. She’s a co-author of the Foxy Hen novella series, and Deadly Niche Press recently accepted her mystery, The Inconvenient Corpse.
	Pat O’Connell is an independent business writer, consultant and trainer for high-tech industries. She has written hundreds of books, white papers, articles and brochures for clients, in addition to producing videos and games and other deliverables. Her non-fiction book, What Part of Menopause Don’t You Understand? was published by Enchanted Forest Media, and she has written two techno-thrillers. O’Connell is also a character in two of Clive Cussler’s best-selling thrillers, Flood Tide and Atlantis Found. She’ll teach the Saturday lunch workshop on “scene and sequel” novel structure techniques developed by Oklahoma’s own Dwight Swain, and a later session on writing for business.
	Dian Curtis Regan is the author of more than 50 books for young readers, ranging from picture books to young adult novels. Titles include Peek-a-Boo Zoo, The World According to Kaley, and the "long-awaited" sequel to the best-selling Princess Nevermore: Cam's Quest. New picture books in spring 2009 are Barnyard Slam and Monster Baby. View more books at www.diancurtisregan.com. Dian will talk on the hot genres for kids’ books and writing for 21st century, tech-savvy young readers.
	A perennial figure at OWFI, Charles W. Sasser has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist/photographer since 1979. He is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets). He is author of more than 50 published books and 3,000 magazine articles and short stories. At various times, he has solo-canoed the Yukon; sailed the Caribbean, motorbiked across the continent; raced camels in Egypt; floated the Amazon River; dived for pirate treasure; ridden horses across Alaska, and run with the bulls in Spain.In 1986, he was a finalist to fly into space with NASA's Journalist-in-Space project. In 2001, he set a world's record by making the first transcontinental flight in an ultralite Powered Parachute aircraft.
	Ken Sherman is the president of Ken Sherman and Associates, a Beverly Hills-based literary agency. An agent for more than twenty years, Ken represents screen, television and book writers, and also sells film and television rights to books plus life rights. A few of his clients include John Updike, David Guterson, Tawni O'Dell (whose first novel, Back Roads, became an international best seller and Oprah Book Club selection), and Anne Perry. Ken will speak on writing for film and television and also take appointments.
	Michael Signorelli Michael Signorelli is an Assistant Editor at Harper Perennial, Harper paperbacks, and a pop-culture imprint at HarperCollins Publishers. His list ranges widely from poetry and stories to novels and memoirs, to graphic novels and design. In the main, he focuses on literary fiction for an 18 to 35-year-old audience. Authors on his list include Lilli Carré, Ethan Coen, Dennis Cooper, Hugo Hamilton, Barb Johnson, Richard Milward, John Niven, Tony O’Neill, Kevin Sampsell and others. Michael will take individual appointments.
	Lynn Wiese Sneyd is a literary publicist with LWS Literary Services in Tucson, AZ. She conducts national, regional, and local publicity and marketing campaigns for authors. Previously a community relations manager for Barnes & Noble, she is the author of Holistic Parenting: Raising Children to a New Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Well-Being and co-author of How Happy Families Happen and Healthy Solutions: A Guide to Simple Healing and Healthy Wisdom, the recipient of the 2007 Arizona Book Award. Lynn will speak on the how-to’s of book marketing and getting free publicity.
	Jan Stob is a senior acquisitions editor for fiction at Tyndale House Publishers. She has been in publishing for more than 10 years and in acquisitions at Tyndale for more than eight years. She has worked with authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins, Joel Rosenberg, Angela Hunt, as well as Oklahoma City's own Mel Odom and Rene Gutteridge. Jan will speak on writing inspirational fiction and will take appointments.
	A fifth generation Texan, Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. Her novels have earned a National Press Women's Novel of the Year, two RITAs from Romance Writers of America, and the National Readers’ Choice Award, among many other honors. Her newest mainstream novel, Twisted Creek, garnered rave reviews following its release April 1, 2008. The third novel in her historical, Whispering Mountain series is Tall, Dark and Texan.
	Denise Vitola has been a writer, editor and creative writing teacher for 30 years. She’s the author of eleven novels and her short stories have appeared in Amazing Stories Magazine and in the best selling fantasy anthology, Realms of Infamy. Her novel, Opalite Moon, was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award for Excellence in Science Fiction and her Ty Merrick Mystery Series was optioned by Universal Studios. Denise will speak about audio opportunities for writers and world-building for s-f and fantasy.
	Carolyn Wall is a two-time Creme de la Creme winner at OWFI, and will present the Friday lunch workshop on how to win contests. Carolyn is the author of the novel Sweeping Up Glass (Poisoned Pen Press limited edition August 2008 and available through Random House in 2009.) As a freelance writer, she served for over a decade as senior staff writer for Persimmon Hill magazine, and for eight years as fiction editor for ByLine. As an artist-in-residence, she has taught 4,000 children in Oklahoma, and conducts a prison-writer mentoring program.
	Elaine Warner has been a travel writer for almost 18 years. A chance comment (I ought to write an article....) led to her first published piece, which appeared in The Oklahoman. Since then she has written for the Edmond Sun, AAA Home and Away, Kansas Journey, New Mexico Journey, Texas Journey, Southern Traveler, Edmond Monthly, Nichols Hills News, Northwest Style, Norman Living, Oklahoma Living and Persimmon Hill. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and has received several awards at the Governor's Conference on Tourism.
	Anna Webman began at The Curtis Brown Agency in 2005 and has worked with a list of esteemed children’s authors and illustrators including Jane Yolen, Nikki Grimes, Gordon Korman, Karen Cushman, and S.E. Hinton. Anna represents a wide range of young adult, middle-grade, and picture-book authors and illustrators. She is always on the lookout for first-time authors and is particularly interested in stories with a unique voice. Her ideal book would be one that has a driving narrative, a memorable message, and beautiful language.
Judy Hilovsky Elizabeth Meares Louisa McCune-Elmore Jami Mattox	Three Oklahoma magazine editors will discuss Writing for Regional Magazines, including the focus and audience for their publications, their editorial needs, and how best to approach them with story ideas. • Judy Hilovsky, director of publications at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, has been in the publishing business for nearly three decades. Her background includes work on community newspapers, as well as monthly magazines. She edits Persimmon Hill magazine. • A mother of four, Elizabeth Meares is the editor-in-chief for Southwestern Publishing, which publishes Nichols Hills News, Edmond Monthly, Norman Living, NW Style and Downtown Monthly magazines, as well as two annual publications and a bi-monthly magazine in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Elizabeth’s career in publishing has spanned 16 years. • Louisa McCune-Elmore is editor in chief of Oklahoma Today. Before joining the magazine in November 1997, she worked at Worth, George, Harper’s Magazine, Mirabella, and New York, among others. Her articles also have appeared in major national magazines and she has guided Oklahoma Today to a long list of awards. • Jami Mattox is the associate editor of Oklahoma Magazine. Prior to her position with the magazine, Jami served as managing editor of a Tulsa area daily newspaper. She has received accolades from the Associated Press for her feature writing, and thinks everyone has an interesting story to tell.

OWFI Writers Conference 2009