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White County Creative Writers' 6th Annual Conference
was held on September 1, 2001. Over 65 people participated in the conference, which featured four speakers and 5 writing contests.
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MARA LEVERITT
| Mara Leveritt |
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Mara Leveritt was born in Chicago and raised in
Denver, but has lived in Arkansas for the past 30 years. She worked at the Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette before
becoming a weekly columnist and senior editor at the Arkansas Times. In 1996, she left full-time newspaper work to write "The
Boys on the Tracks," which was published by St. Martin's Press in 1999. Kirkus called the book " a wrecking-ball tale of tragedy,
malfeasance, and machine politics," and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said it "lures you in and holds you hostage until the
end." In 2000, "The Boys on the Tracks" was awarded the Booker Worthen Prize by the Central Arkansas Library System. Leveritt,
who remains a contributing editor to the Arkansas Times, is presently at work on a new book that explores a triple murder
in West Memphis.
Mara will speak to us on "Taking Your Work to the Vet". When a lawyer reviews a non-fiction book,
the process is called vetting. It's an old word, based on the old-world practice of having a veterinarian look over an animal
before it was taken home. Modern-day publishers do that, too, because they don't want to buy a work that's likely to succumb
to a lawsuit. For writers of serious non-fiction, this means that no book is complete until it has been thoroughly vetted.
Mara will tell about this crucial part of the non-fiction writing process - and what writers need to know to withstand it.
More on Mara Leveritt? Click here!
Mara's presentation is sponsored in part by Searcy Farm Supply, 1701 East Line Road, Searcy, AR.
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MICHAEL REISIG
| Michael Reisig |
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Born in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1948, Michael is the first
son of a military family. He graduated high school in Tampa, Florida and attended St.Petersburg Jr. College. After college,
he relocated to the Florida Keys, established a commercial diving business, and traveled extensively thoughout the southern
hemisphere- diving, treasure hunting, adventuring, and writing of his travels. He presently resides in the Ouachita Mountains
of Arkansas,is the "Ouachita Outdoors" editor and staff writer for the Mena Star, and continues to pen his novels.
Michael
Reisig is the author of a travel guide, three novels, and an author/publisher self-help book. He has been featured in Writer's
Digest, Southern Living, and in numerous newspapers around the country. Michael's works have been optioned for motion pictures,
sold for overseas publication and e-book production, and produced on audiocasette. His books are in the top 10% of sales with
both Amazon.com and Books In Motion Audiobooks. A journalist for the Lancaster Newspaper Group, he has received top honors
for his sports/outdoors and humor columns at the annual Arkansas Press Association Awards.
Michael's presentation
will be "The Myths, the Truths, and The Lies About Publishing and Marketing Books" - a condensed version of his latest book,
"The Fledgling Author's Handbook". He presents to us the concepts, resources, and tricks of the trade which he feels are necessary
to the survival and success of the author who is considering that step into the book market.
for more info on Michael Reisig - click here
Lodging for M. Reisig furnished by Hampton Inn, 3204 East Race Street, Searcy, AR.
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Gina Wilkins
Gina Wilkins has written 63 books and 5 novellas for Harlequin and Silhouette Romances. She is a four time winner of the
Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and a previous winner of the Best Series Author Award by
the reviewers of Romantic Times magazine. Her books have been on the Waldenbooks, B.Dalton, and USA Today bestseller lists.
Gina's books have been published in 20 languages and are sold in more than 100 countries. She is currently working on her
first mainstream romantic suspense proposal and is under contract for several more books for Silhouette. Some of her earlier
work is published under the pseudonym of Gina Ferris.
Gina will speak to us on "Romancing the Reader".
It is an overview of the romance industry, with advice for being published in popular fiction markets. As a member of a national
organization for published writers, she manages to keep abreast of the industry news and will offer advice applicable to all
genres.
Interview with Gina Wilkins...
Gina Wilkins' presentation is sponsored in part by Paul's Paint Shop, Velvet Ridge, AR.
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Dr. Johnny Wink
Dr. Wink obtained his B.A. at the University of Southern Mississippi, and his M.A. and PhD. from the University of Arkansas
at Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is currently Professor of English at Ouachita Baptist University.
For many years,
Dr. Wink's passion has been reading, writing, memorizing, thinking about, and talking about poetry. He has published one
volume of poetry, "Haunting the Winerunner" through August House Press and has had roughly fifty poems appear in
such publications as "The Christian Science Monitor", "The Plains Poetry Journal", "The Kentucky
Review", "Moondance", "The Kansas Quarterly", and "Christianity in Literature".
For twenty years, Dr. Wink has presented lectures on the topic of poetry. He has addressed various branches of the Poets'
Roundtable of Arkansas, sundry Arkansas Arts Councils, and a good many elementary, jr. high, and high school classes. Dr.
Wink believes poetry gets a bad press in our culture; therefore, through his work he strives to reverse that trend.
Dr. Wink's presentation will be "Growing into Poetry", a title he derives from something once said by M.L.Rosenthal.
He will deal with how people with poetic gifts mature into artists, and how particular poems evolve from whatever their beginnings
into what they become in the fullness of their own time.
Dr. Johnny Wink's OBU Website
First Security Bank, 314 North Spring Street, Searcy, AR has sponsored Dr. Wink.
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We wish to gratefully acknowledge the following sponsors from Searcy, AR for their generous assistance in bringing this program
to you:
555 Auto Supply, White County Auto Supply (NAPA), Classic Colors Autobody, Corner Pawn Shop, Larry's Paint and Body, Scott
Smith General Dentistry, Los Montanos Mexican Restaurant.
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