Guest Speakers

Workshop Title: DO THE TWIST: HOW TO CREATE A GREAT ENDING

Learn how to organize a story where the reader gets that mind-shifting realization at the end that the solution to everything was right in front of them, but they never even saw it.

Mike Apodaca – Bio

Mike Apodaca was born and raised in Southern California with his mother, adopted father, and three brothers. In college, he felt there had to be an answer to the pain and suffering he saw in this world. He turned to his God where he found his answers and never turned back. He received a degree in preaching and, later, a masters in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He pastored a church for nine years and then moved to the High Desert where he helped start a church and then led a home church for a time. For the last seven years he‘s devoted himself to teaching high school boys about the faith.

Mike became a public-school teacher and molded the minds of over a thousand young people. Mike’s specialty was Gifted education. He taught classes at the state-wide CAG Conference and for UC Riverside. He also taught a class in teaching reading at Brandman University. 

After 30 years in education, Mike took his retirement. He’s been working with his young grandchildren in the age of COVID. He’s currently the Vice President of the High Desert branch of the California Writer’s Club where he runs their Zoom meetings, edits their newsletter, and sits on various committees. Mike‘s written seven books, four of which are self-published on Amazon. His stories have appeared in club anthologies and in The Literary Review.

Mike would tell you that his greatest treasure is his family: His loving wife, Debi, who’s shared their adventure for 38 years, his two children, and two grandchildren.

Mike can be reached at mrdaca.ma@gmail.com

Writing dialogue can be so much fun—and so much work. When it’s done correctly, it can individualize your characters and add a delightful layer to your stories. When it’s done incorrectly . . . well, let’s not go there.  Dialogue should sound as if the reader is actually listening to real people having real conversations. People speak in partial sentences and contractions. They break all the rules of proper grammar and sentence structure. They flavor their speech with regional dialects, acronyms, foreign words, and their own personal idioms.    My tips for writing incredible dialogue will help you master the art of writing believable, character-establishing dialogue that will take your story to the next level. 

BIOGRAPHY

Editor – Jenny Margotta is an author and professional editor. As an author her portfolio includes technical articles and in-house publications written during her years in the corporate world, as well as opinion pieces, award-winning short stories, two fantasy-adventure novels, and a poignant novel about the emotional journey of a woman suffering the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. As a professional editor, Jenny has edited over 140 full-length books and numerous short stories in a wide variety of genres. She has also formatted over 140 books and has designed more than 50 book covers.  She freelances for a Stories to Tell Books, a small publishing house on the East Coast, and works closely with the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club, as well as various independent authors across the country. She assists writers through every step of the writing process from a basic idea to putting words on a page to holding a printed book in their hands.

Public Speaker – Jenny Margotta began performing in public at the age of three. Over the years she has both acted and directed in several stage productions. She has sung in numerous choirs and ensembles, toured Europe with a musical group, and for many organizations and in clubs, both on her own and with instrumental backup.  She freely admits she seldom passes up an opportunity to take center stage and rarely if ever needs a microphone. She is articulate, well-spoken, and knows how to get a laugh—or a tear—from an audience. She has given presentations to Seniors With Inquiring Minds, California Retired Teachers, the Hesperia Public Library, the Wrightwood Historical Museum, the Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow Senior Citizens Center, the Ridgecrest Branch of the California Writers Club, numerous presentations for her own High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club, and has taught classes in various writing and editing techniques at the Federal Correctional Center and, through the Dorothy C. Blakely Memoir Project at the Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, California, and University Preparatory High School in Victorville, California. As an author her portfolio includes technical articles and in-house publications for the corporate world, opinion pieces, award-winning short stories, two fantasy-adventure novels, and a poignant novel about the emotional journey of a woman suffering the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. She is currently working on her next novel, Paisan, a World War II-era novel, an excerpt of which has already won an award. Her editing credits to date include editing over 140 full-length books, formatting over 100 books, and designing more than 50 book covers.  She is a freelance editor for Stories To Tell Books, a small publishing house on the East Coast, works closely with authors in the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club, and independent authors across the country.

Ms. Margotta can be contacted at jennymargotta@mail.com. 

Jim Grayson has stumbled through an adventurous life that has included flying airplanes and helicopters, teaching SCUBA diving, sailing, ski patrol and other pursuits designed to pry him off the couch. His professional law enforcement career began in the 1970s, where he served as patrol officer, sergeant, and patrol division commander. His police tenure emphasized de-escalation or calming the waters during potentially violent encounters. Jim’s law enforcement career was followed by 25 years in security consulting, including 5 years with UCLA’s Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center exploring crime prevention in schools and small retail establishments. Jim has enjoyed writing in various forms, including reports, poetry, short stories, magazine articles including Chicken Soup for the Soul. Thirteen years ago, his writing shifted to novels. To date, he has written 4 including Trailer Vamp – Love Bites which he self-published on Amazon and Kindle.