Saturday, May 1, 2010, Breckenridge, CO - I'm off to Colorado again, this time for the Writing Away Retreat. Many talented authors are coming to work on their manuscripts and I'm looking forward to being part of their success. The retreat boosts an eighty-five percent success rate of attending authors getting agented. I heard it was full, but then someone canceled so there might still be a chance to get in.

Thursday, April 1, 2010, Colorado Springs, CO - I'm looking forward to my time in Colorado coming up the end of this month when I speak at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. My good friend Jodi Thomas is a keynote speaker. I'm excited for her because Jodi is up for yet another national award (a RITA) for her latest book The Lone Texan. This conference is always a winner. Can't wait.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010, Boston, MA - The luck o' the Irish to you. I was in Boston this month during the heavy rain, which is now continuing. Just in case you're wondering why it takes both the luck and the tenacity of the Irish to break into publishing, check out my Business of Writing column for the most recent Pikes Peak Writer Newsmagazine (Pg 4) titled, "Why Does This Take So Long?" I also offer some prep for success tips you can be doing while you're being patiently persistent. After all, that's what a good Irishman would do, eh?

Monday, March 1, 2010, Raleigh, NC - While it seems the economy is still shakey, I'm predicting GOOD NEWS for the future of publishing in my "Market News" column for the  America Christian Fiction Writers e-zine "Afictionado." I also include marketing tips for writers in this column each month. Check it out!

Monday, February 1, 2010, Breckenridge, CO - Am loving the idea of spending a week in Breckenridge at this lovely bed and breakfast working with writers and a New York agent and editor. Very kewl. More details are on my Appearances page.

Friday, January 1, 2010, Colorado Springs, CO - I'm doing a half-day workshop on how to talk about your work to an agent or editor as a pre-conference workshop for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in April. Plus several other workshops during the conference. Love Colorado. Can't wait. (There's more on my Appearances page.)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009, Raleigh, NC - 

 Tuesday, November 2, 2009, Wilmington, NC -  Saturday, November 21st, I'll be speaking during the three day North Carolina Writers' Network Fall Conference in Wilmington. The title of my workshop is "Learn to Talk About Your Book to an Editor or Agent." This is THE critical skill writers need to move from pre-published to published and it's so different from writing that most authors get paralyzed. I have a simple, three-step formula for any book, fiction or non-fiction, and once you see it, you'll be able to pitch for the rest of your career. Plus, I teach you how to manage fear so you can succeed. So come hang out with me at Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington this month!

Tuesday, October 14, 2009, Red River, NM - October seems to be the month I travel to work with other writers. I just got back from working with Act IV, a very small but very intense workshop in Santa Barbara, California. Now I'm headed off to New Mexico to the Red River Writers Retreat led by two award winning novelists, Jodi Thomas and Dusty Richards. This is another intense group and we plan to work the weekend away.

Friday, September 18, 2009, Denver, CO - I'm at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference this week hanging out with my friend and keynote speaker Debbie Macomber. Lots of fun!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009, Wrightsville Beach, NC - I am officially on the slate of speakers for the North Carolina Writers' Network Fall Conference 2009 in Wilmington this November 20-22. The title of my workshop is "Learn to Talk About Your Book to an Editor or Agent." This is THE critical skill writers need to move from pre-published to published and it's so different from writing that most authors get paralyzed. I have a simple, three-step formula for any book, fiction or non-fiction, and once you see it, you'll be able to pitch for the rest of your career. Plus, I teach you how to manage fear so you can succeed. So come hang out with me at Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington this fall!

Monday, May 11, 2009, Colorado Springs, CO - I am floored by the Pikes Peak Writers for the way they have honored me in the May/June conference issue of their NewsMagazine.

One thing I'd like to mention is how important it is for a writer to be able to talk about their work to people they don't know. It's one of the most challenging skills writers develop, partly because it is viewed as so different than actually writing the book.

In all honesty, most people would be served to be able to talk about their work (to "pitch") in a quick and easily understood way to people they don't know. I've done workshops for professionals who are not writers to do just that using these same tools and formulas I teach in my workshop.

However, with writers, at first they learn to talk about their book in an interesting way to editor and agents, but as their career progresses, they later use these same skills at book signings and media interviews. The cool thing is once you learn these tools, you have them for the rest of your career. In fact, the pros do this work on how to talk about a new book before they start writing it! So it's very smart of the Panhandle Professional Writers to care enough about their members to provide them tools to learn this critical skill.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, Canyon, TX -- I'm the "Academy Special Guest Speaker and nationally recognized consultant on marketing a manuscript" for the week-long Writing to $ell Conference, West Texas A&M University, June 8-12, 2009. (Ain't that kewl?) Attendees will spend their mornings with a nationally recognized best-selling author and afternoons with me working on the business end of writing. What's great for me is not only getting to help new and established authors with the business end of writing, including how to talk about their manuscript to people they don't know, and how to effectively promote themselves on a limited budget. But I get to hang out with my dear friend and mentor Jodi Thomas as well as my collegue and buddy Dusty Richards. Plus catch up with my other Texas friends. As I like to say, you don't go to Texas for the scenery -- (although West Texas can be spectacular - especially the Palo Duro Canyon) -- you go to Texas for the PEOPLE.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009, Greenville, NC -- I'm honored to be doing a four hour version of my workshop "The Writer's Toolbox" for the Greenville Scribes and Other Artists (GSOA). It's scheduled for on May 2, 2009 starting at 10 am at the Pitt Community College campus in Greenville, North Carolina. I'll add more information on my Appearances page as it becomes available.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I've been doing book reviews for the American Christian Fiction Writers group newsletter "Afictionado." This month's review is on Cursebreaker, a first novel by Nancy Wentz. I also got the opportunity to ask the best-selling Christian authors on the ACFW advisory board how important they feel it is to read in their genre and in general fiction as well. The advisory board pros answered in "Ask the Pros: Reading Other Authors?"

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I had coffee with local artist Kimberlee C. Maselli who is not only a painter, but has authored a book, Painting North Carolina: Impressions en Plein Air. Featuring a whopping twenty-eight North Carolina artists, this full color title is not only eye-candy, but it offers help with plein air painting (which is popular around here) in addition to information about the state and it's richness. Recommended!

Thursday, February 12, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I was honored to be a guest blogger on The Writer's Edge on the topic of shopping a book that's not finished without an agent. And yes, it can be done and is being done. Hope you check it out!

Monday, February 2, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I talked to some of the people who stopped in at the Raleigh Write 2 Publish and found out they just hate registering with a password for yet another website. So I took that away. You no longer have to register to see the articles, photos, or Keeping up with Linda. If you Sign Up, (with your name and e-mail only), I'll can make sure you're notified when my new articles are available. So that's a perk. But you don't have to.

Thank you to my dear fans who came and cheered (literally). That was fun. Also, there are photos from the event on the Raleigh Write 2 Publish website. Take a look!

Stacey Cochran and I are in talks about doing some more events, so stay tuned.

Monday, January 26, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I just found out more about Patty Hickman, the other panelist I'll be speaking with on the topic of "How to Publish and Market Your Book" at the Raleigh Write 2 Publish this coming Saturday, 6:30 pm at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh.

Patty is also a speaker and she writes Christian woman's fiction. In addition, I learned Stacey Cochran, besides being the local writing guru and a mystery author in his own right, is a professor at NC State.

Saturday, January 10, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I've just posted photos in my new photo gallery from the Write Brain workshop I did in August for the Pikes Peak Writers group in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Take a look. I'm glad to have you on board!

Monday, January 5, 2009, Raleigh, NC -- I realized I had not included in my list of articles my pieces published on other websites. I do a lot of how-to articles for writers groups and while those are usually reserved for members-only, some of the groups have decided to make a few of my articles available for public consumption. They did this because some of the pieces answer frequently addressed problems like how do to avoid getting conned by an unscrupulous agent. So I've added those links to the Articles page.

So now you can view all my available articles, including the ones published by other writers groups.

Friday, December 19, 2008, Raleigh, NC -- I am invited to be a panelist for the Raleigh Write 2 Publish discussion on Saturday January 31, 2009 at Quail Ridge Books. This panel is hosted by Stacey Cochran, our local writing guru. I'm honored to be working with Stacey and with Quail Ridge Books, who was named "Bookseller of the Year" by Publisher's Weekly. Check it out on my Appearances page!

Thursday, December 18, 2008, Raleigh, NC -- Right now the big news is I’m doing a full day fiction writing workshop in Colorado Springs as a prelude to their annual conference in April. On Thursday, April 23, those who sign up will get to work with me all day in a hands-on, interactive fiction workshop the day before the start of the annual conference. In this workshop aimed at intermediate fiction writers, I’ll be showing you the tools I’ve learned from New York Times best-selling authors that you can take advantage of to accelerate your process and tie up loose ends.

If you have a completed manuscript and you want to give it that extra boost to make yourself more competitive in this tough business, or you have a problem you don’t know how to solve and you’re looking for answers, this is the workshop for you. For a more detailed description of “Fleshing It Out – Take Your Novel to the Next Level with tools the Pros Use,” this hands-on, interactive intermediate fiction writing workshop, see my Appearances page.

So that's the news. And thank you for "Keeping Up With Linda."