writing conferences

Linda (L.V.) Ditchkus has written her whole life. But until eight years ago, her writing was either technical, scholarly, or in travel magazines. In 2015, she jumped into novel writing with both feet. After drafting her first chapter, which only amounted to a few hundred words, she realized she had plenty to learn. So she found a network of writing friends—many through RMFW—who gave her writing tips and pointed her toward writing resources like how-to books and classes. She’s grateful for her fantastic writing pals. Being a judge for the 2022 Self Published Science Fiction Competition and a 2023 youth writing competition has deepened her understanding of what makes books and stories stand out. Since her Sasquatch Series won First Place in the Colorado Authors League 2021 Book Awards for Sci-Fi and her short story was included in the last RMFW’s anthology (Bizarre Bazaar), Linda plans to stop calling herself a debut author. In addition to marketing the Sasquatch Series, she’s recently released the first book in her new series about two time-traveling women from the distant future working desperately to repopulate the world with men.Terrorist factions, a nefarious artificial intelligence, and their own government fight against them. While they struggle to save the unborn babies, the laws of time and space have their own imperatives, and saving everyone they love may be beyond their reach. When Linda’s not writing, she leads adventure travel trips for the Colorado Mountain Club and travels with her husband. She’s been to more than 100 countries and hiked or climbed in many of those. Linda and her husband live selfish lives (without plants or pets) above 7,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies.

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Paul Martz has been writing science fiction short stories for five years, though his love for sci fi began decades earlier. When he was six, he saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen, which lead him to a collection of Arthur C. Clarke’s short stories--and a lifelong insatiable appetite for mind-bending sci fi. 

But his hobbies and interests extend far beyond the science fiction galaxy. He has authored books on programming and holds a data encryption patent. Like all true nerds, he runs his own web server. He recently learned to read braille and can solve a tactile Rubik’s Cube. He has traveled the world to view multiple total solar eclipses. He has a life-long interest in music. He has ripped his entire vinyl collection to MP3, recorded his own original digital compositions, and played drums since childhood. Currently, he’s teaching himself to play piano. Paul has been published in Uncharted Magazine. He lives in Erie Colorado with his wife and loyal cat.

Short stories included in FINGERS CROSSED, NO BRAKES:

Where the River Ends by J. Warren Weaver

Beyond Carbon by Rachel Delaney Craft

The Tamarisk Hunter  by Paolo Bacigalupi

Our Sprinkler System by Lesley L. Smith

Rightsizing by Jeff Jaskot

Attack of the Third Planet by Collin Irish

Iphus by Laurel McHargue

Visited by a Crane by Rick Ginsberg

Sticka by Natasha Watts

The Cistern by Mark Stevens

Stokes the Happy by Cepa Onion

We’ll Always Have Peaches by Ryanne Glenn

A Blip in Time by Pat Stoltey

More about Paul Martz:

https://paulmartz.com/blog/ 

More about Linda Ditchkus:

https://www.lvditchkus.com/

Drum sound by Holy Ghost Party:

https://freesound.org/people/HolyGhostParty/sounds/71133/

Intro Music by Moby Gratis:

https://mobygratis.com/

Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs:

https://danosongs.com/

Linda (L.V.) Ditchkus has written her whole life. But until eight years ago, her writing was either technical, scholarly, or in travel magazines. In 2015, she jumped into novel writing with both feet. After drafting her first chapter, which only amounted to a few hundred words, she realized she had plenty to learn. So she found a network of writing friends—many through RMFW—who gave her writing tips and pointed her toward writing resources like how-to books and classes. She’s grateful for her fantastic writing pals. Being a judge for the 2022 Self Published Science Fiction Competition and a 2023 youth writing competition has deepened her understanding of what makes books and stories stand out. Since her Sasquatch Series won First Place in the Colorado Authors League 2021 Book Awards for Sci-Fi and her short story was included in the last RMFW’s anthology (Bizarre Bazaar), Linda plans to stop calling herself a debut author. In addition to marketing the Sasquatch Series, she’s recently released the first book in her new series about two time-traveling women from the distant future working desperately to repopulate the world with men.Terrorist factions, a nefarious artificial intelligence, and their own government fight against them. While they struggle to save the unborn babies, the laws of time and space have their own imperatives, and saving everyone they love may be beyond their reach. When Linda’s not writing, she leads adventure travel trips for the Colorado Mountain Club and travels with her husband. She’s been to more than 100 countries and hiked or climbed in many of those. Linda and her husband live selfish lives (without plants or pets) above 7,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies.

++

Paul Martz has been writing science fiction short stories for five years, though his love for sci fi began decades earlier. When he was six, he saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen, which lead him to a collection of Arthur C. Clarke’s short stories--and a lifelong insatiable appetite for mind-bending sci fi. 

But his hobbies and interests extend far beyond the science fiction galaxy. He has authored books on programming and holds a data encryption patent. Like all true nerds, he runs his own web server. He recently learned to read braille and can solve a tactile Rubik’s Cube. He has traveled the world to view multiple total solar eclipses. He has a life-long interest in music. He has ripped his entire vinyl collection to MP3, recorded his own original digital compositions, and played drums since childhood. Currently, he’s teaching himself to play piano. Paul has been published in Uncharted Magazine. He lives in Erie Colorado with his wife and loyal cat.

Short stories included in FINGERS CROSSED, NO BRAKES:

Where the River Ends by J. Warren Weaver

Beyond Carbon by Rachel Delaney Craft

The Tamarisk Hunter  by Paolo Bacigalupi

Our Sprinkler System by Lesley L. Smith

Rightsizing by Jeff Jaskot

Attack of the Third Planet by Collin Irish

Iphus by Laurel McHargue

Visited by a Crane by Rick Ginsberg

Sticka by Natasha Watts

The Cistern by Mark Stevens

Stokes the Happy by Cepa Onion

We’ll Always Have Peaches by Ryanne Glenn

A Blip in Time by Pat Stoltey

More about Paul Martz:

https://paulmartz.com/blog/ 

More about Linda Ditchkus:

https://www.lvditchkus.com/

Drum sound by Holy Ghost Party:

https://freesound.org/people/HolyGhostParty/sounds/71133/

Intro Music by Moby Gratis:

https://mobygratis.com/

Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs:

https://danosongs.com/

Kevin Wolf’s debut novel, The Homeplace was the winner of the 2015 Tony Hillerman Award. The novel was a nominee for the 2016 Strand Critics Award for Debut Mystery. His Paranormal Western series Brokeheart (2017)and A Town Called Vengeance (2018) are published by North Star Editions. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and 1950's Western movies. He lives in Estes Park, Colorado with his wife. Rocky Mountain National Park is his backyard.

Kevin's latest novel, The Bootheel, just launched in September after sitting in a drawer for eight years.  On the podcast, we also talk about the Colarado Gold Conference this year and about a Dec. 2 holiday season event to help RMFW sell their books at Bookies bookstore in Denver.

Kevin's website:

https://www.kevinwolfstoryteller.com/

Scroll down here for details on Dec. 2 event:

https://rmfw.org/learn/

Intro Music by Moby Gratis:

https://mobygratis.com/

Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs:

https://danosongs.com/

Kevin Wolf’s debut novel, The Homeplace was the winner of the 2015 Tony Hillerman Award. The novel was a nominee for the 2016 Strand Critics Award for Debut Mystery. His Paranormal Western series Brokeheart (2017)and A Town Called Vengeance (2018) are published by North Star Editions. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and 1950's Western movies. He lives in Estes Park, Colorado with his wife. Rocky Mountain National Park is his backyard.

Kevin's latest novel, The Bootheel, just launched in September after sitting in a drawer for eight years.  On the podcast, we also talk about the Colarado Gold Conference this year and about a Dec. 2 holiday season event to help RMFW sell their books at Bookies bookstore in Denver.

Kevin's website:

https://www.kevinwolfstoryteller.com/

Scroll down here for details on Dec. 2 event:

https://rmfw.org/learn/

Intro Music by Moby Gratis:

https://mobygratis.com/

Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs:

https://danosongs.com/

#JustineCiolacu #Interviews #booktube

 Justine Ciolacu joins the podcast!  This conversation is about two things: Justine getting back into writing, and finishing the story she was working on. This is the conversation about that journey, characters connecting to people, and her writing group, and the big goal of doing a writing conference there. Justine is an awesome individual, and this is a fun chat. Take a listen.

Justine Ciolacu

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Are you ready to venture into the crazy world that is being involved in cons? Writing cons, comic cons, gaming cons... whatever it is, there are some things that you need to know. You need to "people" and "network" and be an "expert" in your field. It is exhausting, but also super rewarding. Hear from our experience and wisdom when doing a con, and some things to prepare for. And yes, you probably should dress up!

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Having just been to a writing conference ad looking at four more in the next four weeks I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about the benefits and value of writing conferences. Today I'm chatting to Susan McVey about her experiences as a writer attending them and I give my perspective on attending as a speaker. 

In this episode, we talk about how to find writing conferences, what types of things each conference might have, how much they cost, and more! There are so many writer conferences, that we limited this episode to the East in the US!

Come have a drink & listen!