Photo Series: 2008 WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat and Seton Hill Residency

Almost There Panel at WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat and Conference from L to R: Heidi Ruby Miller, J. A. Konrath, Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary Agency, Jason Jack Miller, and K. J. Howe

We had a full schedule of workshops and panels at the Seton Hill WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat and Conference, as well as thesis readings and graduation for the WPF Graduate Residency, which was running concurrently.

I moderated the "Almost There" panel about those of us in the middle stages of the novel publishing process: after the classes have been taken, the books have been written, and the queries sent out, how do you keep you keep up your momentum?

Here are a few other photos from the residency and retreat.

WPF attendees at Red Star

WPF attendees at Red Star

WPF mentor Timons Esaias at Adrienne Kapp's thesis defense

WPF graduate Adrienne Kapp at her thesis defense

Seton Hill WPF graduate luncheon

Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction graduate luncheon



Seton Hill University, Heidi Ruby Miller, Writing Popular Fiction, In Your Write Mind, SHU, WPF, writing retreat, writing, authors, Seton Hill Writers

Photo Series: 2008 WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat - The Booksigning

Heidi Ruby Miller and J.A. Konrath

On Friday night we had a mass signing for participating authors of the Seton Hill WPF In Your Write Mind Conference and Retreat at the Greensburg Barnes and Noble. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review did an article about the signing.

Penny Dawn, Alayne Adams, and Shelley Adina

W. H. Horner and Gary Frank

Sally Bosco, Maria V. Snyder, and Melanie Card

Lawrence C. Connolly, Lee Allen Howard, and Chun Lee

Matt and Natalie Duvall

Jennifer Brisendine

Ed Kellerman and Marge Burke

Carmine Coco DeYoung and Tim Waggoner





Seton Hill University, Heidi Ruby Miller, In Your Write Mind Conference, WPF, SHU, book signing, Writing Popular Fiction, writing, authors, Seton Hill Writers

Photo Series: 2008 WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat

Heidi Ruby Miller and Michael A. Arnzen

I finally have a bit of time to post some photos from the 2008 WPF In Your Write Mind Retreat sponsored by the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction Alumni.

Here is the first evening.

Karen Lynn Williams and Leslie Davis Guccione

Chris and Ron Edison and Timons Esaias

Heidi Ruby Miller, Ginjer Buchanan, Kelly, and Maria V. Snyder

Lawrence C. Connolly and Melanie Card

Maria V. Snyder, Jason Jack Miller, and Michael Mehalek

Penny Dawn and Albert Wendland

Natalie Duvall and Marge Burke

Michael Mehalek and Sabrina Naples

Albert Wendland and Judy Fleming


In Your Write Mind Retreat, Heidi Ruby Miller, WPF, Seton Hill University, Writing Popular Fiction, Jason Jack Miller, SHU, writing, authors, Seton Hill Writers

PATHS TO PUBLICATION - LAWRENCE C. CONNOLLY

Veins by Lawrence C. Connolly

I started out as a reader, and I’m still convinced that reading is the best way for a writer to begin. If a person doesn’t like reading the stuff, why bother writing it?

I read everything I could get my hands on: classic and contemporary sf novels, anthologies, and (most importantly) the magazines.

When I got the notion to try writing for the magazines, I sat down and dissected some of my favorite stories, noting everything from placement of exposition and dialogue to the length of paragraphs and use of punctuation. Then I went to work, following Heinlein’s three step approach to writing success: I finished everything I wrote, submitted everything I finished, and kept submitting everything until it sold.

I made my first sale to Amazing Stories and followed it up with three more to the same editor before moving on to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone Magazines, Year’s Best Horror, and lots of others.

A Hollywood production company optioned one of my stories a few years later. Three more options followed. I began thinking seriously about writing a novel, but it would be many years and over 50 story sales before I got around to finishing Veins.

I sent Veins to the agent who had been handling my film rights. A few days later, I mentioned the novel in a letter to Will Horner at Fantasist Enterprises. Will had purchased a story from me for one of his anthologies, and he wanted to hear more about the book. He got in touch with my agent, and shortly thereafter we had an agreement.

Veins has just been released in a beautiful trade paperback, with cover and illustrations by Star E. Olson.

Here’s the synopsis from the back of the book:

Fleeing from what should have been a perfect crime, four crooks in a black Mustang race into the Pennsylvania highlands. On the backseat, a briefcase full of cash. On their tail, a tattooed madman who wants them dead.

The driver calls himself Axle. A local boy, he knows the landscape, the coal-hauling roads and steep trails that lead to the perfect hideout: the crater of an abandoned mine. But Axle fears the crater. Terrible things happened there. Things that he has spent years trying to forget.

Enter Kwetis, the nightflyer, a specter from Axle’s ancestral past. Part memory, part nightmare, Kwetis has planned a heist of his own. And soon Axle, his partners in crime, and their pursuer will learn that their arrival at the mine was foretold long ago . . . and that each of them is a piece of a plan devised by the spirits of the Earth.

Fantasist has some nice advance notices on Veins from Michael A. Arnzen, Gary A. Braunbeck, T.E.D. Klein, Robert Morrish, and Mary SanGiovanni at the novel’s official website:
www.VeinsTheNovel.com

You might also want to check out this live journal review of the Veins debut at Garden State Horror Writers.

~Lawrence C. Connolly
August 2008


Veins is available through most of the major chains, but Fantasist is giving a nice discount for direct orders through their website:
http://fantasistent.com/books/novels/VEINS/VEINS.php

Also available at the Fantasist website is a cool Veins T-shirt.

You can visit Lawrence online at www.LawrenceCConnolly.com and www.VeinsTheNovel.com.

He has a lot of stuff in the pipeline. Next up will be a new horror story entitled “Painkeeper,” due out in Cemetery Dance 59; a new ghost story entitled “Flames” in a new anthology from Ash-Tree Press, one of his favorite small-press publishers. The anthology will be called Shades of Darkness, and it is due to be released in October, in time for World Fantasy. Also due out in time for World Fantasy is a full-length CD of ambient music inspired by Veins. Fantasist Enterprises will be releasing that one, and you can hear one of the tracks at www.VeinsTheNovel.com. Toward the end of this year, look for “Reckoning” in Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry from Dark Hart Press and “Die Angel” in Darkness on the Edge: Tales Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen from PS Publishing.



PATHS TO PUBLICATION, Heidi Ruby Miller, Lawrence C. Connolly, Veins, Fantasist Enterprises, horror, illustrated novel, writing, author interviews, Seton Hill Writers

June 2008 Seton Hill WPF Grads Online

Here's where you can find some of the June 2008 Seton Hill WPF graduates:

#1: Adrea Peters has her Summer 2008 newsletter at Artists Looking Ahead. Her guest interview this time is writer and adventurer Kira Salak.

#2: Aubrey Curry has a new blog series about finding an agent.

#3: Emilie Bishop has a brand new website at http://emiliebishop.com/default.aspx.

#4: Monica Spence has a new blog at http://monicaspence.blogspot.com.


Heidi Ruby Miller, Adrea Peters, writing, Aubrey Curry, Monica Spence, Emilie Bishop, Seton Hill Writers, Seton Hill University

Mary SanGiovanni Interview

Derek Clendening interviews Seton Hill alum and my wonderful critique partner Mary SanGiovanni at Dark Scribe about Found You, her follow up to Bram Stoker Award-nominated debut novel, The Hollower.

Heidi Ruby Miller, Mary SanGiovanni, The Hollower, Found You, Dark Scribe, Derek Clendening, writing, author+interviews, Seton Hill Writers

2009 Pennwriters Conference Agent Update

So far, the following agents will be at the 2009 Pennwriters Conference held in Pittsburgh during the weekend of May 15-17:

Uwe Stender from TriadaUS Literary
Alyssa Eisner Henkin from Trident Media Group
Lucienne Diver from Spectrum Literary Agency
Paige Wheeler from Folio Literary Management

The keynote speakers are Lisa Scottoline and Seton Hill Writer Timons Esaias.


2009 Pennwriters Conference, Heidi Ruby Miller, Lisa Scottoline, Timons Esaias, Uwe Stender, Lucienne Diver, Paige Wheeler, writing, Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Pennwriters, Seton Hill Writers