Tuesday, January 20
7 to 9 p.m.

Joline Gutierrez Krueger

Writing Darkly

If true crime -- or any crime, for that matter -- figures into your writing, then come learn about how to bring authenticity to your work. Participants will also discuss how to better present those scenes in which tragedy and loss, good and evil, guilty and not guilty, the gruesome and the drama of the dark.

Joline Gutierrez Krueger is one of four front-page columnists for the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico's largest and only statewide newspaper. She joined the staff just last February after The Albuquerque Tribune, where she had worked for 20 years, shut down. Her writing career has predominantly focused on criminal justice and crime, though she has also written about children, food and other things not so dismal. She is the winner of numerous journalism and writing awards from such prestigious entities as the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Best of Scripps, New Mexico Associated Press Managing Editors, New Mexico Press Association and New Mexico Press Women. She was also inducted in 2005 into the Scripps Howard Hall of Fame and is a fellow of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and the Casey Journalism Center..

Saturday, February 7
10:00 a.m. to noon

Lynn C. Miller

Taking a Page From History

Using archival materials––historical research, letters, biography, autobiography–– can deepen the context and provide structural support for your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Novelist Lynn C. Miller will talk about ways to use historical references to provide ballast for your work, referring to her own work in historical one person performances and her novel, The Fool's Journey (2002).

Lynn C. Miller is author of the novels The Fool’s Journey (2002) and Death of a Department Chair (2006) and co-editor of Voices Made Flesh: Performing Women’s Autobiography (2003). She conducts generative writing and critique groups in Albuquerque and frequently works as a guest artist at universities, art museums, and performance festivals. She taught writing and performance in higher education for thirty years, most recently at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a professor of theatre and women's studies. Visit www.lynncmiller.com for more information.

Tuesday, February 17
7 to 9 p.m.

Gene Grant &
David Richard Jones

The Theme's The Thing
Finding the Right Story
for Theater

In theater, the writer is King...or Queen. For novel writers, there's good news. Dialogue is the Crown Prince. But what's the best way for novice drama writers to approach the special needs of theater? Gene Grant, who recently won the Vortex Theater's "Electoral Dysfunctions," short play contest with his first play, and Vortex Theater founder (and current Chair of the Artistic Committee) David Richard Jones will take you through the steps for making the transition, with a special emphasis on finding the thematic hooks for your story that work for theater.

Gene Grant is co-host of New Mexico In Focus on KNME, a weekly columnist for the Albuquerque Journal, and writes the "ABQ On Film," column for Albuquerque, The Magazine. He also contributes to Variety on the New Mexico film industry. Grant recently won the Vortex Theater short play contest, "Electoral Dysfunctions," with his play, "Enter On The Execution," the story of a last minute visit to the men's room by President Elect Obama, just before he is to take the oath of office. While there, he meets an old black janitor, who has worked there since Johnson, who clues him in on what he can expect."

David Richard Jones: Founder, The Vortex Theatre, 1976. President of its Board of Directors 1976-78, 2005-07, currently Chair of the Artistic Committee. Director of nearly 60 productions of plays, operas, and musicals in English and Spanish at community, educational, and professional theatres. Repertory ranges from the Greeks and Shakespeare to the most current drama with a special fondness for Samuel Beckett. Author, "Great Directors at Work" (University of California, 1986) and editor of "New Mexico Plays" (UNM 1989). Professor of English at UNM and Department Chair, 2005-08.

Saturday, March 7
10:00 a.m. to noon

Shirley Raye Redmond

All I Need to Know About Writing, I Learned from Nellie Bly

This is a bit of a pep talking during which I'll share fascinating writing tidbits I've gleaned from this 19th century reporter's career, focusing on the importance of informing and inspiring one's readers-regardless of whether one writes fiction or nonfiction.

Shirley Raye Redmond has sold 17 books and over 450 magazine and newspaper articles. Shirley Raye, who has an M.A. in English from the University of Illinois, has taught a variety of writing and literature courses at various colleges and universities. She’s currently a part time instructor with the Institute for Children’s Literature and a former columnist for The Santa Fe New Mexican.

Her first book, Stone of the Sun, was a romantic suspense published by Avalon in 1991. Her first children’s book, Grampa and the Ghost (Avon's Camelot Books –1994) sold as a result of a meeting at SWW conference with the editor. The title also became a Weekly Reader Book.

Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President (Random House) has sold more than 155,000 copies and was a Children’s Book of the Month Club main selection. Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid (Random House-2003) has also sold more than 100,000. Pigeon Hero! (Simon and Schuster) won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Book Award in 2004. Patriots in Petticoats (Random House) was named one of the best children’s books of 2005 by Bank Street College of Education.

Saturday, March 7
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$20 for members
$30 for non members
No registration. Pay at the door.

Shirley Raye Redmond

SWW Workshop
Make More Money with Market Analy$i$--No Matter What You Write

I can't emphasize enough how important market analysis is-if you want to make money. For instance two of my Random House kids books, Lewis & Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President and Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid have both sold more than 150,000 copies each -- that's more than a quarter of a million books! In fact, in 2010, when my Houghton Mifflin deal goes through for The Dog That Dug For Dinosaurs, originally published by Simon & Schuster, I'll have more than 2 million books in print! It boggles my brain sometimes.

However, the workshop will also include info on making more money for those writing for magazines too. I believe in recycling what I've written so I can sell the same piece over and over again, making more money with little or no effort.

Shirley Raye Redmond has sold 17 books and over 450 magazine and newspaper articles. Shirley Raye, who has an M.A. in English from the University of Illinois, has taught a variety of writing and literature courses at various colleges and universities. She’s currently a part time instructor with the Institute for Children’s Literature and a former columnist for The Santa Fe New Mexican.

Her first book, Stone of the Sun, was a romantic suspense published by Avalon in 1991. Her first children’s book, Grampa and the Ghost (Avon's Camelot Books –1994) sold as a result of a meeting at SWW conference with the editor. The title also became a Weekly Reader Book.

Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President (Random House) has sold more than 155,000 copies and was a Children’s Book of the Month Club main selection. Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid (Random House-2003) has also sold more than 100,000. Pigeon Hero! (Simon and Schuster) won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Book Award in 2004. Patriots in Petticoats (Random House) was named one of the best children’s books of 2005 by Bank Street College of Education.

Saturday, March 21
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
$65 + $10 lunch ($75) if register by Feb 1
$75 + $10 lunch ($85) if register by Feb 28
$85 + $10 lunch ($95) if register at the door

Kirt Hickman

SWW All-Day Workshop
Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness

With all the books, talks, classes, and workshops out there on self-editing, a writer can be quickly overwhelmed by all the advice. There's so much to edit for. How do you catch it all? How do you know when you've got it right? How do you even know where to start? In this class, Kirt Hickman will offer a practical approach to self-editing that covers everything from planning your novel, to first draft, through self-editing to final product. You'll also receive a set of presentation notes, including numerous examples, a self-editing checklist, and a list of recommended references--resources that you can take home and use to better your writing.

Topics to be covered:

World Building
Characaterization
Plot
First Draft
Research
Manuscript Organization
Chapter Breaks
Exposition
Scenes
Narrative Style
Dialog
Finishing Touches
The Role of Critiques

Kirt Hickman, author of the 2008 science-fiction conspiracy thriller Worlds Asunder, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1966. Kirt was a technical writer for fourteen years before branching into fiction. He has participated in discussion or critique panels for multiple SWW conferences and contributes a monthly column titled "Revising Fiction" to the SouthWest Sage. During his technical career, he made a living out of taking complex sets of requirements, or in this case advice, and boiling them down into simple, effective procedures. His methodical approach to self-editing has helped many make sense of the mass of writing advice available to the novice reader.

Tuesday, April 21
7 to 9 p.m.

Steve McKee, author

When Growth Stalls

Steve McKee knows that regardless of what’s going on outside of an enterprise, it’s what inside that counts. His new book, When Growth Stalls (Josey-Bass/Wiley) grew out of an eight-part series he wrote for BusinessWeek.com focusing on how and why companies lose their way and practical advice about how they can rekindle growth. Come hear Steve speak on how writing what you know can unexpectedly turn into a book.

Steve McKee is the president and co-founder of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, a full service advertising agency that has been recognized by the American Marketing Association with two Effie Awards, one of the industry’s highest honors. A marketing strategist for over 20 years, Steve has held executive positions at NW Ayer Advertising, Della Femina Travisano & Partners, Strascina & Partners, and Philips-Ramsey, a division of McCann-Erickson Worldwide. He has been a columnist for BusinessWeek.com since 2005.

Saturday, June 20
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
New Life Presbyterian Church
5540 Eubank NE

All prices include lunch
$59 register by May 1 (early bird special)
$69 register by May 31
$75 register at door

Jeanne Shannon
Constance Hester

SWW All-Day Poetry Workshop
Traveling the Highways and Byways of Poetry

Whether you want to write poems or would simply like to be able to read poetry with more pleasure and deeper understanding, this workshop is for you. We will look at the work of some well-known poets to see what they were trying to say, and what they did to make their poems speak to us How did they use the tools of poetry such as rhyme, meter, and imagery, and how can we use those in our own writing? Less famous poets have a lot to teach us as well, and we may be looking at work by some poets you’ve never heard of. We will try our hand at writing in familiar and not so familiar poetic forms. (We might even invent some new forms before the day is over.). We will spend some time writing in response to prompts designed to free our imagination and stimulate the flow of creativity. It will be a lighthearted and enjoyable journey down the freeways and back roads of poetry.

JEANNE SHANNON has been writing poetry since childhood. She has published three full-length collections of her poetry and ten chapbooks. Her work has appeared in numerous small-press and university publications in the United States, Canada, England and Japan. These include Blue Mesa Review, Quarter After Eight, Bardsong, Lilliput Review, and the UNM Press anthology titled In Company: New Mexico Poets After 1960. She founded Blackberry poetry magazine in the 1970s and currently is editor/publisher of The Wildflower Press, a small-press book publisher in Albuquerque. She holds a master’s degree in English/Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico.

CONSTANCE HESTER was employed for twenty years by Alameda County Superior Court, investigating Guardianships and Conservatorships. She never wrote a poem until she was fifty. She made up for lost time by reading dozens of poetry books by contemporary women poets (and some by men), attending poetry classes and workshops and writing, writing, writing. Many of her poems have been published in poetry journals and anthologies and in 2004 she published her first book, Call Me Myriad, published by The Wildflower Press. She is at work on a second book and recently had three poems published in a New Mexico Poetry Society Anthology which is just hot off the press. She helped found a critique and writing group called Fresh Ink in California 15 years ago and after moving to New Mexico after retirement, helped found a Fresh Ink, New Mexico. In the last few years Constance has taught several all-day workshops here in Albuquerque and taught a class on New Mexico poets at Oasis several years ago. She has been a member of Southwest Writers for about nine years.