Conference schedule (PDF)

Download the 2010 Conference Press Kit with speaker bios, headshots, and schedule!

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Featured Speakers

Carol Burbank, Ph.D.: Tackling the Big Project

Sometimes sustaining our creative, physical and intellectual energy through a large project can be difficult. This presentation will offer exercises to open up the possibilities of working in the moment, so you can make progress towards a book-length manuscript. Whether your goal is to produce and publish a manuscript of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or non-fiction, this workshop will give you tools to build a more effective writing process and keep going, despite distractions and setbacks.

Carol Burbank is a published poet, playwright, and scholar whose expertise as a writing coach and dissertation mentor is at the heart of her trademarked Story-weaving approach to breaking through creative blocks, healing from past traumas, and moving forward to manifest dream projects in a healthy way. She has taught writing at the university level as well as in workshops, including IWWG's annual conference and privately. Her full-length publications include a scholarly dissertation focusing on social change, and she has recently completed a creative non-fiction manuscript about ecological healing currently under consideration with publishers.

Mindie Burgoyne: Viral Networking for Writers

Mindie Burgoyne will speak on the successful use of Internet "social networking" techniques to market your work. Viral Networking for Writers covers the basics of social media, what it is, its impact and its potential for having information go "viral." The session also covers specifics on how to use social media to create viral distribution of informationspecifically in the literary world, and how to leverage your social media network to create a buzz about your book, writing or writing service. The "big 5" social media networks -- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and blogging -- are briefly covered in this session. Additionally, information on success writers have achieved through using social networks will also be covered.

Mindie has written three books and scores of published articles and music compositions. In 2007 she served as an advisor to National Geographic Television Network for an episode of Is It Real? The episode was based on an article she wrote about a haunted house in Snow Hill, MD. Her writing has been published in Music News, Metropolitan Magazine, Coastal Living, the Daily Times, the Star Democrat, the Worcester County Messenger, the Somerset Herald, and Clever Magazine. She has discussed her writing appearing on local television and radio and Internet radio stations. Mindie continues to write on destination marketing, travel, and spirituality. Haunted Eastern Shore: Ghostly Tales from East of the Chesapeake was released October 1, 2009 featuring legendary historic sites on Maryland's Eastern Shore known to be haunted. Her next book will be entitled Thin Places: Celtic Doorways to the Otherworld which will focus on mystical sites in Ireland.

Austin S. Camacho: Writing Mysteries: The How-to-do-it on Whodunits

Like any genre, mystery writing has specific rules and conventions. In this class Camacho will give you a clear path to follow so that you can leave the clues, let your detective detect, keep the readers guessing, and bring it all to a satisfying finish.

Austin S. Camacho is the author of the Hannibal Jones Mystery Series (The Troubleshooter, Blood and Bone, Collateral Damage, Damaged Goods, and Russian Roulette) and the Stark and O'Brien adventure series (The Payback Assignment and The Orion Assignment). He is also a public affairs specialist for the Department of Defense.

By day he handles media relations and writes articles for military newspapers and magazines. He is also teaches writing classes at Anne Arundel Community College and is deeply involved with the writing culture. He is a past president of the Maryland Writers' Association and is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Private Eye Writers of America, American Independent Writers, and the Virginia Writers Club. Camacho has settled in Springfield, Virginia with his wife Denise and Princess the wonder cat.

Jim Doran: WordPress: a Look into the Most Popular Publishing Software on the Web

Publishers are looking for new writers with a platform -- and writers must work harder than ever to get published. The Internet offers access to many millions of readers. Learn how to use WordPress to meet your goals as a writer and build your own platform. Jim will discuss the basics of the world's most popular blogging software: where to get it, how to use it, building your own social network, hosting and domain name registration, optimizing your site for search engines, and more.

Barbara Esstman: Pacing: Making Storylines Move

Writers have to know what to keep and what to throw out in order to produce books that clip along and keep readers with them. Find out how to cut or condense backstory, write strong scenes and ditch pseudo-scenes, write descriptions that count, and make your writing do double or triple duty at any given moment. Esstman also discuss tight language, plot threading and other tricks of the trade that will help your book maintain its proper speed.

Internationally published and nationally awarded author Barbara Esstman is the coeditor of A More Perfect Union: Stories and Poems about the Modern Wedding (St. Martin's Press). She is also the author of two novels adapted for television by Hallmark Productions. She teaches creative writing and creative nonfiction at universities and The Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD. Her website is www.barbaraesstman.com.

Tonya Evans: Legal Matters That Matter to Writers

Professor Tonya M. Evans, intellectual property and literary law expert and award-winning author of a series of legal reference guides for writers, will present a lively and engaging presentation on some of the most common and pressing legal issues and hot topics facing writers and other creative people in the twenty-first century. Topics sure to be covered include how copyright is created and protected, what is considered a fair use in print and on the Internet, what can and cannot be copyrighted, how legally to refer to real people, places, and events in one's own work, the real deal about the myth of the Poor Man's copyright, and the critical timing of when to register your work with the Copyright Office. Plus, Professor Evans will field audience questions and sign copies of her books during the event, including Literary Law Guide for Authors, Copyright Companion for Writers, and Contracts Companion for Writers. Visit her online at www.legalwritepublications.com and ipprof.blogspot.com.

Tonya M. Evans, is Assistant Professor of Law at Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg campus) and an attorney specializing in the areas of entertainment law (literary, music, and film) and intellectual property (copyright and trademark). She is a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing and intellectual property law issues. She is a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Sports, Entertainment and Art Law Committee, and has served as an adjunct professor of copyright, publishing and licensing at York College of Pennsylvania. Known affectionately as "Lawyer by Day, Poet by Night," she is also a performance poet and writer, and the author of numerous books, including Contracts Companion for Writers, Copyright Companion for Writers, Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark, and Contracts in Plain Language, Seasons of Her, and SHINE! Her short story, "Not Tonight," appears in an anthology titled Proverbs for the People (Kensington). Tonya attended Northwestern University on a four-year tennis scholarship, and thereafter she competed on the women's professional tennis circuit and played most notably in the US Open, Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, and Lipton in 1993. Thereafter, she attended Howard University School of Law on an academic scholarship, served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal, and graduated with honors.

Kathleen Hellen: From Fringe to Fine Paper: Strategies for the Chapbook

This hour-long workshop will focus on the selection, sequencing and collective shape a group of "finished" poems might take as a publishable chapbook-length collections. Publishing opportunities, including contests, will be shared.

A contributing editor for The Baltimore Review, Kathleen Hellen's work has appeared in Barrow Street, The Cortlandt Review, the Hollins Critic, Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, Salamander, Southern Poetry Review, and Subtropics, among others. Forthcoming from Finishing Line Press is her chapbook, The Girl Who Loved Mothra. Awards include the Washington Square Review, James Still, and Thomas Merton poetry prizes, as well as individual artist grants from the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore. Other awards include: finalist in the Autumn House Competition; the Kore Press First Book Competition, and the Slappering Hol Press Poetry Chapbook Contest; finalist in the Marlboro Prize in Poetry; semi-finalist in the St. Lawrence Book Award, the Many Mountains Moving flash fiction contest, the National Literary Awards and the Nimrod/Hardman Award: The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry; and honorable mention in the Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Contest.

Elizabeth Henley: Strategies for Cultivating the Habit of Writing

Elizabeth has been teaching writing at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies for 25 years. She taught for 12 years in the MFA Illustration Program at The School of Visual Arts and was a Poet-in-Residence/Teacher of Writing with Columbia University's Teachers College Writing Project in the mid-late 1980's, working in NYC public schools K-6th grades and master teaching. Professor Henley has had poems published in small press magazines and currently is at work on an anthology, a book on writing, and a collection of memoir stories. She divides her time between New York City and Maryland, where she lives with her daughter, and teaches poetry and memoir to seniors in a variety of venues.

Frank S. Joseph: Make $400,000 a Year Working From Home

Caught your interest? Well, your results may vary, but you are not likely to starve in a garret if you can write direct marketing copy. Award Winning Direct Marketing Consultant and MWA Novel Contest Finalist Frank Joseph shares secrets of "DM," points out pitfalls, and reveals why he stopped calling it "junk mail."

Frank is an award-winning direct marketing copywriter and consultant; retired publisher; and former Washington Post and Associated Press journalist. To Love Mercy, the first novel in his "Chicago Trilogy," won second place (Mainstream) in the 2002 MWA novel contest; it was published in 2006 by Mid Atlantic Highlands. He recently completed the draft of To Walk Humbly, the second novel in the "Chicago Trilogy."

Gary Lester: World Creation

This talk will enhance author awareness of the importance of setting in storytelling. MWA Baltimore Chapter Vice President and author Gary L. Lester will guide attendees in the importance of using myths, legends, and even religious observances in creating worlds. An instructional reading list will be provided.

Gary L. Lester is the Creative Director of Greyrock Publishing, LLC. His first novel, Ursula the Yellow, won first place in the Fantasy category in the 2003 MWA Novel contest. His short story, "The Last Drummer" appears in the MWA Anthology, New Lines from the Old Line State. He currently serves as Vice President for the Maryland Writers' Association's Baltimore Chapter and on the board of MWA Books.

John E. McIntyre: Working Without a Net: The New Age of Journalism

John E. McIntyre, released from the surly bonds of employment, is a veteran editor and teacher. He worked for nearly 23 years at The Baltimore Sun, for 14 of those years as head of its copy desk. He has taught copy editing at Loyola of Maryland since 1995. He was the second president of the American Copy Editors Society, serving two terms, and he has been a consultant on writing and editing at publications in the United States and Canada. His blog, You Don't Say, is essential reading for copyeditors and the writers who love them.

Yvonne Medley: Finding Your Character's Voice and Vibe

Yvonne J. Medley is a features writer and photographer, currently concentrating on her novel, God in Wingtip Shoes, and screenplay, titled Sandwiched. She has worked on staff at The Washington Times and freelanced for several publications, such as The Washington Post, People Magazine, Gospel Today Magazine, A Time to Love Magazine and other national and local publications. Medley garnered recognition for controversial pieces on racism and the church, and the psychology of sexually abusive clergy. Her work was cited in online encyclopedias and Wikipedia.

Medley travels the country interviewing and writing about intriguing personalities as well as everyday heroes, proving that everyone has a riveting and beneficial story to tell. One only needs to make a quality effort to unearth it. She conducts her Life Journeys Writing Workshops, designed to empower and encourage incarcerated men and women as well as youth and adults within the general population. Some of these workshops are supported by the Maryland Humanities Council's One Maryland: One Book program. Medley is the founder of The Life Journeys Writers Club, serving writers in Southern Maryland and meets at the La Plata Branch Library. She also teaches Civics and writing to ESL (English as a Second Language) and ABE (Adult Basic Education) adult learners. Medley is a Point of Change Jail & Street Ministry, Inc. volunteer, dedicated to uplift and impact the lives of incarcerated men and women, their families, and provide aftercare support and life skills training. Medley will conduct an upcoming Life Journeys Writing Workshop for the Big Read, featuring Ray Bradury's science fiction masterpiece Fahrenheit 451. The workshop, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Charles County Public Library, takes place Saturday, February 27, 2010 from 1-4 p.m. Medley is a wife and mother of four, and lives in Waldorf, Maryland.

Jen Michalski: Story Sophistication

Most journal editors are swamped with submissions, and in many cases a writer has only a few opportunities to capture and keep his or her attention. Author of two story collections and journal editor (jmww) Jen Michalski discusses three ways to take your stories to the next level and catch an editor's eye in the process. She focuses on the beginning (the opening sentence), the middle (how to "sophisticate" your prose by avoiding amateur word choices), and the end (the types of endings editors love and hate).

Jen Michalski lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a BA in English in 1994 and received her MS in Professional Writing from Towson University in 1999. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in over 40 publications, including McSweeney's, Failbetter, storySouth, Hobart, The Summerset Review, Word Riot, Pindeldyboz, Avatar Review , Gargoyle , The Pedestal, The Potomac Review, and others. Her collection of short stories, Close Encounters, is available from So New Media, Amazon, Target.com, and local bookstores. She is also the editor in chief of the literary magazine jmww.

Lalita Noronha: Getting the Setting

Setting is everything in which scenes take place. It's emotional atmosphere, not just our relation to time, place, or weather. Setting is fluid; it propels, it's how a story is born. This workshop will offer strategies for how to set a story and carry it forward using your imagination, symbols, rhythm, and choice of words. Short writing exercises, word prompts, props and interactive discussion will help you move toward a finished piece of writing.

Born in Bombay, India, Lalita Noronha has a Ph.D in Microbiology and is a research scientist, writer, poet, and teacher. Her literary prose and poetry has appeared in almost sixty literary journals and magazines, including The Baltimore Sun, Catholic Review, Catholic Digest, The Christian Science Monitor, Potomac Review, Gargoyle, and Urbanite. Her work has also been widely anthologized, most recently in New Lines from the Old Line State (MWA Books), Keeping Time: 150 Years of Journal Writing (Passager Books), and Get Well Wishes (Harper Collins). She has twice received the Maryland Literary Arts Award for Short Story, as well as a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award. She is the author of an award winning short story collection, Where Monsoons Cry (Black Words Press). Currently working on a novel, she is a fiction editor for The Baltimore Review, a science teacher at St. Paul's School for Girls, and a humanities course teacher (Glimpses of the Culture of India) based on her book Where Monsoons Cry. Her website is www.lalitanoronha.com.

Ally Peltier: Revisions: Polishing Your Work for Submission

Gone are the days when writers could expect substantial editorial support from their agents and editors. Most publishing professionals want clean, print-ready manuscripts. Every writer knows -- or soon learns -- that it takes multiple revisions to create a piece ready for publication. But where do you start? This talk will introduce you to the most common problems that plague written works and offer simple ways to identify and resolve them in your own novel, short story, or memoir. You'll receive tips on keeping readers' attention, polishing your manuscript at the technical level, properly formatting your submission, and getting objective feedback before you start sending your work out.

Ally E. Peltier is an editor, writer, and publishing consultant with a decade of experience working for individuals and publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sterling/Hearst Books, Kaplan Publishing, Chronicle Books, Rodale Inc., and more. Ally formerly acquired and edited books for Touchstone Fireside/Simon & Schuster. She speaks regularly for conferences, organizations, and as an adjunct instructor at both Anne Arundel and Howard County Community Colleges. Learn more at www.ambitiousenterprises.com.

Mary Jo Putney: Hot Vampires, Demonslayers, and Enchantresses: The Many Flavors of Paranormal Romance

Paranormal is still one of the hottest trends in the romance genre. A discussion of the roots of woo woo romance, the difference between fantasy romance and romance fantasy, and a discussion of the many kinds of fantasy and paranormal novels.

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney was born in upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure. Her entire writing career is an accidental byproduct of buying a computer for other purposes. Over the years, she had evolved from Jane Austen-ish Regency romances to historical romance, historical fantasy and young adult historical. Releases in 2010 include Never Less Than a Lady in May, the Chalice of Roses anthology in January, and the April reissue of One Perfect Rose.

Yasmin Shiraz: Writing for Young Adults

Yasmin Shiraz is the award winning, nationally acclaimed author of Retaliation and The Blueprint for My Girls empowerment series for teen girls: The Blueprint for My Girls (Simon & Schuster), The Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships and Intimacy and The Blueprint Guide to Motivation & Success are utilized as tools of guidance, inspiration, and empowerment. Her latest book, Retaliation, a novel about a community's response to violence, led Shiraz to partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs in creating violence prevention programs for youth and was honored by the American Library Association with being named to the 2009 Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers. Her Retaliation Violence Prevention initiative has been implemented in various violent prevention programs for middle school and high school students in Washington, DC, and Syracuse, NY. Recently, Shiraz founded Still Eye Rise Pictures, LLC and filmed her first documentary on girl violence, titled Can She Be Saved?, which won a 2009 Indie Award for Merit from the Indie Fest. Shiraz is a highly sought after radio & TV youth expert appearing on FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS news affiliates nationwide. Ebony, Essence, CosmoGirl!, and Teen People magazines have featured reviews of Shiraz's Blueprint books and/or have asked her to contribute to advice articles for teens.

Cindy Vallar: Opening Doors Into the Past

Born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Vallar spent her formative years reading books and writing poetry. While in college, she saw a movie based on the life of Jean Laffite, a gentleman pirate who helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Intrigued by the mysterious, she researched then started to write a novel about Laffite. Graduation, career, and marriage put that manuscript on a shelf where it remained until she began working as a school librarian for seriously emotionally challenged teenagers. She returned to writing to relieve the stress inherent in working in special education facilities. During a boring staff meeting, she wrote about a caped figure who crossed the Scottish Highlands during a fierce storm. After twelve years and numerous revisions, that kernel of an idea blossomed into her first published novel, The Scottish Thistle. Vallar is currently working to complete the pirate novel started many years ago while researching another novel set in the Dust Bowl of western Kansas or Texas during the Great Depression.

Vallar's passion for research and a desire to make history more interesting inspires her to write historical novels intertwined with love stories. Amber Quill Press re-released The Scottish Thistle in November 2006. She writes a monthly maritime history column entitled "Pirates and Privateers" and reviews books for Historical Novels Review and Pirates and Privateers. She teaches online courses and in-person workshops on maritime piracy and Scottish history and culture. She is also a Content Editor for Pyrates Way Magazine, as well as a freelance editor. She writes an editing column for The Historical Novel Society's Solander magazine, of which she is an associate editor. Vallar holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Towson University and a Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland.

Marion Winik: The Ethics of Memoir

"I believe, and I understand others strongly disagree, that memoir allows the writer to work from memory instead of from a strict journalistic or historical standard. It is about impression and feeling, about individual recollection." That's James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces, the book that got everyone talking about the issue of truth in memoir. This session will help beginning memoirists discover their own positions on this controversial subject. To what extent does the fact-checking standard of journalism apply to us? Also critical is the question of how we treat other people -- our parents, our children, our friends and colleagues -- in our stories. Is it enough to cover our bases legally? How can we fairly and truthfully tell stories involving other people? This session offers guidelines for this tricky endeavor based on decades of experience in the trench.

Marion Winik is the author of eight books of creative nonfiction and poetry, most recently The Glen Rock Book of the Dead (Counterpoint, 2008.) Her other works include Telling (Random House, 1994), a best-selling collection of personal essays; First Comes Love (Random House, 1996), a memoir now in development for motion-picture release; The Lunch-Box Chronicles (Random House, 1998); Rules for the Unruly (Simon and Schuster, 2001) and Above Us Only Sky (Seal Press, 2005.) She is also the author of two books of poetry. Winik's essays and articles have been published in The New York Times Magazine, O, Salon, and Real Simple, among others. Her commentaries for All Things Considered are collected on NPR website. She writes the Answer Lady column for Ladies Home Journal, and reviews books for Newsday and The Los Angeles Times. Currently teaching writing at the University of Baltimore, Winik was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Non-Fiction and has been inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. She has appeared on the Today Show, Politically Incorrect, and Oprah.

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Book Agent Panel

Each of the four agents listed below will speak for about 10 minutes on a current topic of choice. Time will be available for Q&As.

Emmanuelle Alspaugh, Judith Ehrlich Literary Management, New York City

Emmanuelle Alspaugh joined Judith Ehrlich Literary in August 2008. Previously she was an agent at Wendy Sherman Associates and an editor at Fodor's, the travel division of Random House. She represents romance, women's fiction, and historical fiction, as well as select nonfiction categories, including memoir, psychology, and relationships. Her clients include Danielle Younge-Ullman (Falling Under), Alissa Johnson (McAlistair's Fortune), Jenny Brown (Lord Lightning), Marcella Burnard (Enemy Within), Adrienne Kane (Cooking and Screaming), and Andrea Richesin (Because I Love Her). She is particularly looking for historical and paranormal romance, edgy women's fiction, thrillers with a female protagonist, and YA. Emmanuelle was born in France and grew up in Eugene, Oregon, before settling in New York City to work in publishing. She enjoys developing long-term relationships with her clients, helping them to build strong and lasting literary careers.

Jason Allen Ashlock, Movable Type Literary Group

Jason Allen Ashlock is the Principal of Movable Type Literary Group, where he manages a diverse group of writers, including New York Times Notable Book authors, Pulitzer finalists, Best Essay writers, award-winning journalists, Oscar nominated screenwriters, comedians, memoirists and chefs. He has done graduate work in Religion in Memphis, TN and in American literature at Fordham University, while also working as a freelance editor for Oxford University Press and Fordham University Press. He is a contributing editor for Hampton Sheet magazine. His client roster is populated by primarily non-fiction writers whose areas of expertise are politics, history, celebrity, current affairs, and pop culture, and he continues to seek fiction writers who illuminate the American situation.

Brandi Bowles, Foundry Literary + Media, New York City

Brandi represents adult fiction in the areas of urban fantasy, women's fiction, literary fiction, romance, science fiction, and light-hearted southern fiction, as well as edgy young adult and boys middle grade novels. She also represents nonfiction in all categories.

She became an agent in 2007 after sharpening her skills as an acquiring editor at Random House. Trained as both an editor and agent, Brandi takes a hands on approach to her client's work, often assisting in both the developmental and editing stages. She has a special interest in quirky, edgy, and experimental book ideas, and many of her projects have followed suit, including The Burlesque Handbook, Every Rose Has Its Thorn (a rock-and-roll dating guide), American Gypsy (an outsider memoir), Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, and The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide.

Becca Stumpf, The Prospect Agency, Upper Montclair, NJ

Becca Stumpf joined Prospect Agency after working as an assistant at Writers House. She is looking for the next generation of adult, young adult and middle-grade literary and commercial fiction, and craves stories that balance drama, wit, and intrigue in equal parts. Becca also enjoys gritty, voice-driven urban fantasy/sci-fi with broad appeal, fast-paced mysteries with a literary bent, and romance novels that are wry, witty and dark with a paranormal twist (or just very smart and sexy). She has a weakness for anti-heroes, fringe-dwellers, and the occasional scoundrel . . . provided such characters are richly drawn and demonstrate some serious soul. Nonfiction interests include memoir, travel, and humor.

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Book Editor Panel

Each of the four editors listed below will speak for about 10 minutes on a current topic of choice. Time will be available for Q&As.

John David Kudrick, Freelance Editor

John David Kudrick is an editor and wordsmith who offers a full scope of services to authors, from manuscript evaluations and developmental editing to copyediting and book proposal development. With more than a decade of editorial/writing experience and a master's degree in writing, John David has been privileged to work with some of the finest publishers in the nation, including David C. Cook, NavPress, Realms Fiction, Marcher Lord Press, and Whitaker House, where, as senior editor, he worked on James Byron Huggins' Nightbringer, a book that Library Journal named one of its annual top five Christian novels. To date, John David has had the opportunity to serve as editor on 75 published titles, including both non-fiction and fiction.

Lauren Manoy, Freelance Editorial Services

Lauren Manoy has been a freelance editorial service provider for almost a decade. She works with traditional publishing houses, corporations, academic presses, and self-publishing individuals to edit, write, and design a variety of material. Her first book, Where to Park Your Broomstick (Simon and Schuster, 2002), won the Garden State Library Award for Best Nonfiction (teen category) and was a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Her essay "My Roaring Twenties" was included in the anthology Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers: The Best New Voices of 2006 (Random House, 2006).

Beth Rubin, Co-owner, OnTheWritePage

Beth Rubin is a prize-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. Her novel, Split Ends, won a first prize for mainstream fiction in 2001 (the first year of the MWA novel contest). In June 2009 she took 2nd place for creative nonfiction in MWA's short works contest. Beth is the author of Frommer's Washington, D.C. With Kids (all 10 editions), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. For Dummies, and Delaware Curiosities. Her features and essays appear in print and on the world wide web. Through On The Write Page she evaluates manuscripts, copy edits, collaborates, and coaches writers who want to bring their work up to industry standards. Beth is working on a second novel while her agent shops her memoir. She is accepting new clients at the web site: On The Write Page. She also edits fiction and non-fiction, and provides a full range of editorial services.

Meghan Stevenson, Associate Editor, Hudson Street Press, Penguin

Meghan came to Hudson Street Press/Plume after editing the New York Times bestselling book The Bro Code for Touchstone Fireside. As a self-proclaimed how-to junkie, she loves taking a "master's class" in all things (and categories) prescriptive, but is keenly interested in the areas of pop science and psychology, love/relationships and health/wellness. For narrative nonfiction, she is particularly drawn to unusual hooks, a sense of humor and fresh voices, as well as exposing hidden worlds and funky subcultures. For Hudson Street Press, Meghan has most recently published The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard and is excited about a savvy costcutting guide for Plume: Be CentsAble: How to Cut Your Household Budget in Half by Christy Pate and Kristin McKee due out in April.

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Questions about the conference? Contact conference@marylandwriters.org