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Author Alia Volz used to think personal writing had to begin with questions and end with answers—not unlike the essays we were taught to write in high school and college. Her breakthrough came with the realization that the most interesting moments in memoir happen when questions lead not to answers, but to more questions. Memories change and become unreliable. The book starts out investigating one thing, then shifts as the narrator’s worldview crumbles and new questions arise. Uncertainty becomes a plot device. This craft talk will explore relentless self-interrogation as the driving force behind contemporary personal essays and memoir. Volz will share discuss practical tools, tips, and techniques for getting the most out of questions that refuse to be answered.

We’ll learn how to structure personal essay and memoir like a classic whodunit, using the core mystery and shape of popular crime fiction to make personal writing more exciting.

She will deconstruct her award-winning essay “Snakebit” (The Best American Essays 2017) to show us how an evolving series of questions–and relentless interrogation–produces a winning plot. We will also discuss how to apply this technique to book-length memoir.

To register for this event click HERE to go to Eventbrite and register for the meeting – registration closes at 11:30 pm the night before the event. Reminders with the meeting link and agenda/handout links are sent to registrants 24 hours before the meeting; 12 hours before the meeting and one hour before the meeting.

About Alia Volz

Alia Volz is the author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020). Her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Salon, Guernica, The Threepenny Review, and many other publications. Her unusual family story has been featured on Snap Judgment, Criminal and NPR’s Fresh Air.

You can find her on her website at https://aliavolz.com/ and on social media at:

https://www.instagram.com/aliavolzzz/
https://twitter.com/aliavolz
https://www.facebook.com/alia.volz

The heart of every story is the characters. No matter what type of fiction you’re writing – crime fiction, romance, women’s fiction, or mainstream novels – the best plots flow from the characters. Even in a mystery or a thriller, where the plot is critical to the success of the story, the characters are the key. When someone tells you about a book they read, they don’t say “it’s about a bomb … .” They say “it’s about a guy who … .” And when readers fall for series, they remember the characters as much as the individual plots – sometimes more. This program will look at a few ways to dive into your characters, and discover what makes them tick. Writing exercises and a handout will be provided.

What you will learn:

• You will learn several methods for creating coherent, consistent, credible story people.
• You will learn how to think about the essential characteristics of a good character,
• how to identify critical character traits, and
• how to use such things as physical characteristics, social standing, personality traits and personality classification systems, and your own experience to deepen the people on the page.

About the speaker

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, set in NW Montana. Leslie is the winner of three Agatha Awards—2013 Best First Novel for DEATH AL DENTE, the first Food Lovers’ Village mystery; 2011 Best Nonfiction, and 2018 Best Short Story, for “All God’s Sparrows,” her first historical fiction. Her work has also won or been nominated for Derringer, Anthony, and Macavity awards. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives and cooks in NW Montana.

She can be found at her website www.LeslieBudewitz.com and her Facebook Author’s page at www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitzAuthor

Register for this online event HERE.

By Susan Baker

As a writer, there are so many obstacles that can get in your way. It can be challenging to carve out quiet time to sit at your desk and compose your thoughts.  Maybe you don’t even have a desk or a computer of your own, so you find yourself clearing off a space at the family kitchen table to lay out your papers, trying to remember where you left off.   

What if you could buy that laptop, a desk of your own, art supplies, or have the funds to promote your work in a bigger and better way?  Or, what might happen if you could travel to a destination of your choice for a week or longer to simply focus on creating and writing?  Seems like an impossible dream? Then read on.

Dr. Christina Gessler is an example of someone who has and continues to do exactly that.  Dr. Gessler funded her college education and graduate studies with the assistance of funds provided through scholarships, fellowships, and grants. While earning her PhD in American Women’s History, such funding also allowed her to travel to New England where she lived on an island while immersing herself in reading the diaries left behind by 19^th century farm women from the area!  She continues to win funding for her writing goals today.

She will be the featured guest speaker at the Writers of Kern Monthly Meeting on Saturday, August 15^th, 2020.  This event will be open to the public and will be presented entirely online and without charge.

Her presentation, Funds for writers: how to apply for grants, residencies, scholarships, and fellowships will provide writers and artist/illustrators of all genres with a wealth of information about how they can discover and access money to fund their endeavors.  Not only is she successful at obtaining funding, she is also familiar with the other side of the table having been a professional education grant reviewer for the government.

As a participant attending this event, you will learn:

• About the four different kinds of funding
• How to discover current “open calls” for funding opportunities
• How to know the right funding source for you and your work
• How to craft a funding application letter (not as hard as you think)
• How scholarships, residencies, fellowships, and grants can help you reach your writing goals
• How persistence can pay off

You can register for this free online event by going to Eventbrite, click HERE.

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Christina Gessler attended college on a writing scholarship—at a school she picked because it was beside the sea and allowed pets (her roommate was a dog named Riley who was BFFs with Ratty, the rodent roommate of the neighbor next door). She went on to graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College and The American University, where she earned a PhD in American Women’s history. She did odd jobs that probably weren’t supposed to be odd (she was a nanny for a newscaster, sold nautical antiques, and was an assistant for a Grammy-winner) and funded her educational and writing pursuits with scholarships, grants and fellowships (which allowed her to do things like travel New England reading the diaries left behind by 19th century New England farm women; and live for a time on an island). She’s worked at museums, as a college professor, and reviewing education grants for the government. She currently lives near the sea with her dog Daisy, where she writes stories for children (pre-published) and poetry (published). She’s still fortunate to win fellowships and grants to further her writing goals. You can find her carting home stacks of books from the library, or walking at the beach.

You can follow Christina Gessler on her Facebook page by clicking HERE.

Some of her poetry can be found HERE and her photography HERE.