I'm pleased and proud to announce that I've been selected by the Southwest Washington Writers Conference to present my workshop — The Author Acts — at this year's event.
Check it out - Friday and Saturday, September 6-7, will be the 10th annual Southwest Washington Writers Conference at the Walton Science Center at Centralia College.
The entire conference boasts a stellar lineup, including a keynote address and workshop from Garth Stein, the internationally bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain.
The novel inspired a Young Reader edition as well as four children’s picture books. A 2019 motion picture film based on the book starred Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, and Kevin Costner as the voice of Enzo the golden retriever.
Besides his keynote “The World According to Garth,” he will also teach a workshop entitled: It’s All About the Rock.
My seminar — The Author Acts — urges fiction authors to approach their public readings as stage performances, and outlines the tools and skills actors use to prepare for theatre roles. We examine:
The Three Voices — Author, Narrator, Characters. Reading fiction to an audience requires mastery of the three voices in your work: you as the author, the narrator of the book, and the dialogue from each character.
The Reading as a Three-Act Play — Approach your reading like a theatre performance. Raise the curtain (Introduction), give the performance (The Reading), Bring down the curtain (Ending/Q&A)
On Preparation and Practice — Techniques and exercises to prepare for your Broadway opening.
The idea to develop the seminar came as I have attended dozens of live readings, some in which the author did not do their written work justice. As authors, we work to hone the craft of writing, but when reading, we need the skills of the actor. If we read blandly, cannot be heard or understood, or think that just being ourselves is enough, we fail to put our prose — no matter how brilliant — in its best light.
This seminar will be my first of this type, but I bring a bit of training and experience to the effort. Among my college majors I completed Theatre and Video Production, acted in over a dozen plays and videos, directed a half dozen and still give short seminars to my fellow historical reenactors. I'm excited by this opportunity and hope to expand and improve the seminar over time.
Hope to see you there!
Oh yeah, I'm also an author!
My first novel, Where You Will Die, is available now exclusively on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
"This philosophical mystery will captivate readers thanks to a winning cast and setting."- Kirkus Reviews
"Quirky, engaging whodunit." - Rick George, author of Sinister Refuge
"The story is beautifully written and is compelling and gratifying." - Alma Boucher for Readers' Favorite
Congratulations