2024 Convention

You are Invited

Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure

Kansas Writing Convention

October 4-6, 2024

Rock Springs Ranch

1168 KS-157 • Junction City, KS 66441

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Keynote Speaker: Jenn Bailey

Words Take Flight:

Choose Your Own Adventure

Jenn Bailey has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work received the American Library Association’s Schneider Family Honor Award in January, 2020, along with the Kansas Author’s Book Award in 2019. She has received the Candlewick Picture Book Scholarship and the Beyond Words award.

Jenn Bailey

ALA Schneider Family Award, 2024 ALA Theodor Geisel Honor Award,2024 ALA Schneider Family Honor Award, 2020 Junior Library Guild Gold Selections Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews Amazon Best Book / Top 20 Author KAC Best Children’s Book of the Year (2020, 2023)

Thank you to our 2024 Convention Sponsors

Kansas Authors Club - District 5

KMUW - Media Sponsor

Pen & Brush Press

Blue Cedar Press

Meadowlark Press & 105 Meadowlark Reader

2024 Convention Workshops

Using Description Effectively

Presented by Samantha L. Barrett

Description is one of the trickiest aspects of writing. How much is too much? How little is too little? How do you translate the crystal-clear idea in your head into something a reader will be able to understand just from a few words on the page? By understanding what type of description is called for in a situation, how to balance description in a well-rounded paragraph, and how to make appropriate word choices, any writer can learn to make their descriptions work for them. In this workshop, we’ll cover these strategies and how to implement them.

Samantha L. Barrett is the author of the speculative short story collection The Bus To Adventure City (Air & Nothingness Press). She is the Assistant Director of Adult Programs at Write Pittsburgh and has been an Adjunct Instructor of English at Carlow University. Samantha’s work has appeared in 20, The Chaffey Review, and 10/ten, and been anthologized in Polis, Cities of Dust Planes of Light, and Neverwas Earth. She lives near Wichita, Kansas, with her grumpy old cat and two insane Boston terriers.

Evolution of a Genre: Giving Voice to Your Stories Through Creative Nonfiction

Presented by Lindsey Bartlett

This presentation will explore using creative nonfiction as a way to give voice to the places, people, and events that have make you who you are. Bartlett will give a brief overview of the genre of creative nonfiction, how it continues to evolve, and how she is using the genre to tell her own stories. Additionally, she will look at how women writers are impacting the evolution of creative nonfiction.

Lindsey Bartlett teaches composition and literature at Emporia State University. An Emporian by choice, she lives in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, where she spends her days writing in various coffee shops, holed up at home with a good book, or driving the countryside for good photo opportunities. Bartlett has published one poetry collection, Vacant Childhood. Her writing and photography have appeared in The Milk House: A Rural Writing Collective, The Write Bridge, Flint Hills Review, and 105 Meadowlark Reader. Her essay, “Reframing My Rural Past” was recently nominated for “Best of the Net.”

Starting Your Story

Presented by Curtis Becker

Trying to start a new story, flash fiction, short story, or longer work is sometimes hard. Using several techniques including drawing cards, rolling dice, and working on "randomizer" sheets, participants will learn what to do when those characters, plots, or setting, just won't come. These can also be great as activities to practice writing and flex the creative muscle on a regular basis.

Curtis Becker teaches English at Washburn University. He has been published in anthologies, magazines, and his own books. He lives in Topeka, KS and is the editor of KAC's Writing from the Center magazine.

Dynamic Dialogue & The Short Play Format

Presented by Debra A. Cole

Writers know how crucial dialogue is to crafting an engaging story. Whether it’s a novel, short story, or prose, dialogue serves to move the story forward, reveal personalities and relationships, create tension, and create or resolve conflict. But with stage plays, dialogue is a critical device that helps shape the narrative. Join award winning Kansas playwright, Debra A. Cole, to harness the power of dialogue as she guides writers through the short play format. Each participant will leave this hands-on session with a 5-10 minute original play packed with dynamic dialogue.

Debra A. Cole is a playwright from Lawrence, Kansas. Her plays have been seen by audiences around the world. Debra was a selected playwright for the William Inge Theatre Festival - New Play Lab 2023. Debra’s 20-play collection titled "The Wrinkle Ranch and Other Short Plays About Growing Old" is available through Next Stage Press, as well as additional plays with Drama Notebook, Off The Walls Plays, and Heuer Publishing. Debra is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a member of Honor Roll!, an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40, and 2023-24 Kansas City Public Theatre's Playwright’s Roundtable cohort.

Writing Historically Accurate Fiction

Presented by Gretchen C. Eick

In this time of uncertainty what one can believe, how do we as writers write with accuracy about the past? What are the ways to get around the biases Artificial Intelligence builds into our online searches? How can we depict characters of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds with integrity? It need not be cumbersome but it must be intentional. This presentation will answer these questons.

A professional historican who continues to teach university-level history, Gretchen Eick is also a writer of 8 published books and one of Blue Cedar Press's editors for prose manuscripts. Her two academic histories won prizes and the first is cited in the Smithsonian's Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Dual Timeline: How-To and Why

Presented by Jillian Forsberg

Dual timeline novels continue to grow in popularity. But how do you effectively write two narratives in one work? And why would you want to in the first place? Learn how to create separate but compelling narratives that work to enhance one another including: connecting protagonists, illuminating the past through a present timeline, and navigating the narrative flow of different worlds in one novel.

Jillian Forsberg's debut novel, The Rhino Keeper, debuts October 22, 2024, from History Through Fiction. In addition to being the former editor of Wichita State's Fairmount Folio, Jillian's historical research has been published in academic journals. Her second novel is in the works. She lives in Wichita.

Fill Up Your Creative Well: A Fun Workshop

Presented by Holly Friesen

After five long years, it was a huge relief when my FIRST children’s book, Janey Olsen, Famous Artist of the Beach was finally self-published in 2022. Since winning the Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award and the “It Looks like a Million” Book Award that year I’ve come up with a fun workshop to inspire other writers.

If you are just beginning or continuing the writing journey, this workshop is for you! I will talk about how the inspiration and dialogue for the characters of the story came together because of the experiences in my own family life. You will have an opportunity to evaluate positive influences in your life that made an impact, and complete a simple writing exercise to get you inspired. I will also touch on how the illustrations were completed as well as the self-publishing experience I went through with handy tips for you. Along with this, there is a simple lesson I can give that will help you actually consider illustrating your OWN story even if you have had no drawing experience.

In 2022, Holly Catherine Friesen (HC Friesen) self-published her first children’s book for primary ages and up, called: Janey Olsen, Famous Artist of the Beach, with paintings done by 10-year-old Grace Baity and other students from the Joy of Drawing classes. The book won the 2022 Kansas Author’s Children’s Book Award and the 2022 Kansas Author’s illustration award, “It Looks Like a Million” Book award.

Holly lives with her husband and her cat named Prussia in Manhattan, Kansas where she continues her creative business, Creative Expressions by Holly. To order her children’s books, art prints, and cards, visit her website HCFriesen.com.

HCFriesen.com

Choose Your Own Adventure With Persona Poetry

Presented by Lisa M. Hase-Jackson

Choose your own writing adventure by delving into the art of persona poetry, a form of poetry in which the poet writes from the perspective of another person, character, or entity.

The workshop is open to individuals of all levels of experience with poetry, from beginners to experienced writers. Participants should have a curiosity for exploring different perspectives and a willingness to engage in creative experimentation.

Lisa M. Hase-Jackson is author of Insomnia in Another Town (Clemson University Press, 2014) selected by Clair Bateman as winner of the 2023 Converse MFA Alumni Book Prize, and Flint and Fire (The Word Works, 2019) which was selected by Pulitzer prize-winning poet Jericho Brown for the 2019 Hilary Tham Capital Collection Series. Her award-winning poems appear or are forthcoming in Chiron Review, Cimarron Review, The South Carolina Review, and Midwest Quarterly. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Lisa Hase-Jackson

Fuel Your Writing to New Heights With Ekphrasis

Presented by Janice Northerns

Whether you are new to ekphrasis (responding to visual art with descriptive writing) or an old hand at it, the practice can offer both a compass to guide your ideas, as well wings to elevate your writing to new heights. Janice Northerns will share several ekphrastic poems and offer tips to help you take ekphrastic writing to the next level. This session is geared toward prose writers as well as poets, and will include writing activities.

Janice Northerns is the author of Some Electric Hum, winner of the KAC Nelson Poetry Book Award, the KU Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award, and a WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Poetry. The author grew up on a farm in Texas and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas Tech University. After living 25 years in Liberal, Janice recently moved to Wichita, where she serves as co-vice president of KAC District 5. She is currently working on her second book, a hybrid collection of poetry and essays inspired by the life of Cynthia Ann Parker.

Collage and Creative Journaling

Presented by April S. Pameticky

This is purely a collage and creative journaling presentation. Prompts will be made available, along with a variety of arts materials in order for writers to sketch, doodle, color, and write their way to a more creative-state of mind. Some journals will be made available for writers to take, but participants are encouraged to bring their own preferred journal.

Mother, wife, teacher, poet. April Pameticky shares time between roles as public school educator and peer facilitator within the creative community of artists and writers in Kansas. She launched the Wichita Broadside Project and currently serves as editor of Voices of Kansas, an online poetry journal focused on the youth of Kansas. Her own work can be seen in various places–follow her journey on Instagram @aprilinwichita .

The Real Deal: Creating Convincing Kansans in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Presented by Robert Rebein

What are the elements that make characters from Kansas believable on the page? What are some things to avoid so that your characters do not become caricatures? How can we use significant detail to convince readers of our characters’ authenticity without overloading readers with “local color”? What role does dialogue play in this? To what extent does the job of creating convincing Kansans overlap with the larger job of recreating Kansas itself as a vivid, complex, and compelling locale for a story? This will be a hands-on workshop, so be ready to create and share as well as learn.

Robert Rebein is the author of the novel The Last Rancher (Meadowlark, 2024) a family saga set on a cattle ranch in western Kansas, as well as two award-winning memoirs, Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City (Swallow, 2013) and Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home (U P Kansas, 2017). He is a graduate of the University of Kansas (BA) and Washington University in St. Louis (MFA), among other institutions. He grew up in Dodge City, where his family has farmed and ranched since the 1920s. He directs the creative writing program at Indiana University in Indianapolis.

Breakthrough Storytelling

Presented by Dakotah Sanders & Danielle Ramirez

To liberate others with our writing we must immerse ourselves in the raw emotions of the past and transfer those emotions from our souls onto the paper, no stone unturned, no feeling unfelt. Breakthrough Storytelling, by Dakotah Sanders and Danielle Ramirez, will give writers a real-life example of a narrative that pushes the boundaries of memoir. It will empower participants through a memorable journaling experience that will “breakthrough” the boundaries of their current writing practice. With combined decades of experiences in mental health, nonprofit, and publishing - the presenters will bridge a unique intersection between writing, mental health and authentic storytelling.

Dakotah Sanders is a person in long term recovery. He scores a 9/10 on the Adverse Childhood Experience Test. His life experiences led him to his purpose of advocacy and peer mentorship. He is the first-time author of the newly released memoir: ENDURE.

Danielle Ramirez has a lifetime of dealing with adversity through reading, writing, and community connection. As the founder of Quiet Storm she released Being Wichita Women, a powerful collection of 30 women exploring trauma, adversity, resilience, and healing. Over 800 copies have been sold and it received a WBJ ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ award.

Writing Home: A Writing Workshop for Prose and Poetry

Presented by Julie A. Sellers

This dynamic and interactive writing workshop will allow participants to explore home as both a location and a sentiment through guided writing prompts for several simple poetic forms, short fiction, personal essay/memoir, and letter-writing. These purposeful yet broad prompts lend themselves to probing the richness of the many facets of home. Geared towards both experienced writers and those looking to explore written expression for the first time, participants will have the opportunity to share their written production from the workshop if they wish to do so.

Julie A. Sellers is the author of the 2023 High Plains Book Award Finalist novel Ann of Sunflower Lane (Meadowlark Press, 2022) and Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, 2021). She was the Kansas Authors Club’s Prose Writer of the Year (2020, 2022, 2023), and the Kansas Voices Contest Overall Winner in Poetry (2022) and Prose (2017, 2019). Julie’s creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as Flint Hills Review, 105 Meadowlark Reader, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Kansas City Voices, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place.

Blogging 101 - Soar to New Heights With A Personal Blog

Presented by Cat Webling

Blogging is a powerful tool for modern writers and businesses of all stripes. These expressive platforms are a great way to get your words, ideas, and brand in front of the right audience. With the right tools and time, blogging can be done for little or no money, making it an excellent option for new writers and businesses looking to get their foot in the door.

Cat Webling is an actress and author based in Kansas. She loves everything mad and macabre, philosophical and silly, so that's exactly what she writes! Scifi, fantasy, and poetry are her main stays when she's not writing about literature, theater, gaming, freelancing, or fan culture. She currently has a novel, a couple of short story collections, and several poetry collections under her belt.

Cat works as an editor for SUPERJUMP Magazine, is an active member of the Kansas Authors Club, and daylights as a freelance writer, editor, and digital marketer. She writes from her home, which she shares with her loving partner, adorable son, and several very cute cats.

The Pitfalls and Pleasures of Creative Collaboration

Panel Moderated by KAC President Anne Spry

How many of us have ghostwritten a book, collaborated with an illustrator, or written a book with a co-author? These panel members will share their collaboration experiences, offer tips, and point out potential pitfalls in your relationships with fellow collaborators.

Panel members: Thea Rademacher, Barbara Waterman-Peters, Ann Anderson and Ruth Maus.