LJWC Update

My class schedule at the La Jolla Writers Conference on November 5 – 7 has changed a bit.  One class has moved from Saturday to Sunday, and I am now giving a keynote speech and another workshop.

Here’s the amended (and final) version:

Friday, November 5
2:00 – 3:50
New Roles for Writers:  Keeping Current in the Digital Age — The extreme changes wrought by digital technology across all media have finally begun to wreak havoc across the publishing landscape. A writer’s options and obligations are both transforming and expanding. The traditional models still exist, but they are starting to be but one voice among many clamoring for attention. Writers who cling to traditional publishing models as the way things have to be are tantamount to polar bears stranded on ice floes created by global warming. Denial is limiting and even destructive.  This interactive lecture will examine current publishing trends and options, skills writers will need to develop in the digital age, and directions publishing may take in the next few years. Where will you be when the dust settles?

Saturday, November 6
8:00 AM – 8:50 AM
Arm’s Reach: What You Should Have On Hand to Lead a Writing Life — This class will not discuss art and craft, but will focus on the practical aspects of living life as a professional writer. What tools should you have on hand? What methods for organizing should you use? How do you deal with taxes and deductibles? What resources should be immediately available to you? Ideally you should be able to sit at your desk and have most of the tools necessary to live as a writer in arm’s reach.

9:00 AM – 10:50 AM (ADDED)
The Writer as Performer — The book may be over when you type “the end,” but your job  as a professional writer has only just begun. Our media-saturated world is crowded with entertainment clamoring for attention. Like it or not, one of your jobs as a professional writer nowadays is to direct some of that attention toward you and, by extension, your work. We’ll discuss avenues and techniques for presenting yourself and your work, including readings, interviews, teaching, public speaking, online presence, and more.

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM (ADDED)
Keynote Address:  “Myopia”

Sunday, November 7
9:00 AM – 10:50 AM
Soliloquies and Self Indulgence — It’s been said that writing fiction isn’t really all that hard:  you simply list what happens. If you believe that fiction is about only its events and not also about the beauty of the words themselves, then this class isn’t for you. We will look at meter, image fusion and juxtaposition, “pure” narrative, indirect discourse, and other techniques and choices used by writers such as Cormac McCarthy, Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, Shirley Jackson, and others to create prose that is as musical and poetic as it is functional. Feel free to bring your own examples!

11:00 AM – 11:50 AM (MOVED FROM SATURDAY)
Writing After Work:  Balancing a Job and a Career — Many writers think they can kiss their day job goodbye after that first sale. The real world often begs to differ. Learning how to balance a day job and a writing career is necessary before your first sales, but it may be necessary for a while afterward, too. This class will look at ways to budget time, scheduling, and dealing with some of the conflicts that arise between job and writing career.