CNN - John DeDakis in Saratoga Springs March 26th Workshop

WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
For Aspiring &/or Struggling Writers

Your Leader: John DeDakis
CNN Senior Copy Editor
“The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”
Author, “Fast Track,” “Bluff” (Mystery-Suspense)

9am to 4:15pm, Saturday, March 26, 2011
Caffe Lena
47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

9-10am: "From Journalist to Novelist (Or How I Learned to Start Making it Up)."
Think you're too busy to write a novel? Veteran CNN editor John DeDakis traces the arc of his 40-year career -- from getting tear gassed covering an anti-Vietnam War riot on the University of Wisconsin campus in 1970 to his current job as a Senior Copy Editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" in Washington, D.C. and how it all led to a parallel career as a published novelist, manuscript editor, and speaker.

10:15am-11:15am: How to Write a Novel
A practical 15-point plan that takes you from the mere germ of an idea all the way through the creative process, with an eye on getting a finished book into the hands of potential fans. We'll discuss how to transform the nub of an idea into a book-length project, populated with interesting characters, a twisty-turny plot, snappy dialogue, and an interesting setting. We'll also look at strategies for finding an agent and marketing the finished product.

1-3pm: Buffing and Polishing
You've finally finished your manuscript and now you're ready to tell Oprah all about it. Not so fast. The best writing is REwriting. In this writing lab, you'll learn practical ways to put your writing on a flab-burning diet so that your copy is tight, trim and hot -- and all without even having to step onto a treadmill. A big chunk of this is a writing lab, so be sure to bring a pen and paper.

3:15-4:15pm: Getting an Agent...and Getting Noticed
Writing's the easy part. The hard part is stepping out of your solitary comfort zone and trying to convince someone else that they should read your book. In this session you'll learn how to attract an agent and how to market yourself using strategies that are tailored to your personality.

$85 for all day (includes complimentary copy of “Fast Track”)
or:
$25 for each session
payment also available through Caffe Lena online – check the web site
Make checks payable to Nancy Denofio, 6 Ridge Ct., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-581-7341

Please see Caffe Lena information posted on their web site.
Thanks, Nancy

JOHN DEDAKIS of CNN - SENIOR EDITOR for WOLF BLITZER

On MARCH 26th John DeDakis - Senior Editor for Wolf Blitzer and Author of FAST TRACK and BLUFF will be giving a workshop for writers and aspiring writers at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs NY - Phila Street.

Caffe Lena is the oldest Caffe in the United States, where Bob Dylan held his guitar before his career took off and played. Nothing has changed, his paintings and pictures still hang on the walls. Graffiti on the bathroom doors, great coffee and home made Cho. Chip Cookies. But best of all, the best of Art, Writing, and Entertainment in Saratoga Springs.

John DeDakis will be leading an all day workshop. A total of two in the morning, and two in the afternoon. More information will follow. You can contact me, to reserve a seat a words444@nycap.rr.com and I will give you my information and you can pay by check or money order. Or you can purchase your tickets through Caffe Lena, which will be up on their site tomorrow, February 1st. They have a ticketron which they deal with.

All day - including FOUR workshops is $85.00
One Workshop is $25.00

Please check Caffe Lena or contact me for reservations, the Caffe hold approimately eighty people. John has drawn huge crowds, and we are honored to have him with us, here in Saratoga Springs. Thanks, Nancy

Saratoga Springs NY

UPCOMING THIS WINTER 2011


Two individual workshops - One will be on Poetic Memoir given at two places to be announced when dates are made available
One will be a weekly workshop on Poetic Memoir to be announced when dates and place is made public.

Another workshop for those who are interested in Author Presentation is now in the process of setting dates and time. Please stay in contact with this blog spot for more information, coming soon.

Sincerely Nancy Duci Denofio
contact me with comments and I will answer your questions ASAP

PUBLISH YOUR BOOK for both Experienced and Aspiring Authors

DON ODOM Workshop Presenter and Publisher, DYSTENIUM LLC - Publishing for The Third Millennium, New York, N.Y.

Don Odom has been a publisher of quality books and periodicals for more than 25 years. Before founding DYSTENIUM LLC in 2010, he was Executive Editor at Oxford University Press USA

WORKSHOP

Planning your publishing project to ensure success -

* Ten key questions you should ask yourself
* The project checklist you must have
* Measures of success

Changing role of authors and publishers in the Digital age -

* Authors as publishers
* Publishers as content brokers
* Implications for your book or writing project

Marketing your book - low cost, high impact strategies -

* Innocative Internet driven marketing approaches
* Web 2.0 interactivity
* The role, structure and applicability of "Social Networking
* E-main best practices

Caveat scriptor - beware!

* Should I self publish?
* Three questions you should ask yourself
* How to spot a vanity or pay to publish press publishing scam a mile away

Innovative, new technologies in publishing -

* Offset or digital printing?
* print then distribute or distribute then print?
* the rise of the digital book reader
* implications for your book or writing project

Finding a publisher -

* Strategies
* Expectations
* What really happens when your query letter or book proposal is reviewed by an editiorial committee?

WORKSHOP TO BE HELD - WHERE? Saratoga Springs NY, Caffe Lena
WHEN? December 11th, 2010
TIME? 11 am - 2 pm

Caffe Lena can be found on the net at CaffeLena.com
Any questions about this workshop can be directed to Carol Graser of Caffe Lena or myself at words444@nycap.rr.com

WOMEN WRITERS & ARTISTS MATRIX

WOMEN WRITERS & ARTISTS MATRIX

Proudly presents our second seasonal
WWAM Weekend

Friday, November 5th in the Ballroom of The Inn at Saratoga**
All Day Saturday, November 6th & Sunday, November 7th
at Skidmore College*
Three Day Gathering - $145.00
Friday only - $30.00

Featuring
Amejo Amyot - "Altars To Creative Spirits"
Marilyn Day - "The Art of Letting Go - Letting Your Creativity Loose"
Nancy Denofio - "Painting With Poetry - Poetry and Art blending your vision" into writing. (For all writers - poets - artists - non writers)
Dorothy Randall Gray - "A Sense of Time & Place"
Fireside Dinner - "Conversation & Creativity"
Art & Writing Workshops

Saturday Matrix Marketplace
WWAM Drum Jam
Free Handmade Gifts

Dear Creative Woman,

It is Autumn and we are gathering again in this season of color and change.
It is a time that calls you to look at changes within, and the colors with which you move through the world.

It is Autumn and we are gathering again in this season of introspection and contemplation.
It is a time of cool days and warm thoughts. A time to harvest the fruits of your labor, to plant the seeds of creative hopes and dreams you'd like to manifest in seasons to come.

Come gather with us. Bring your writings, pads, pencils, and promises made to your creative spirit. Bring pigments and paintings, photos and pregnant projects waiting to be born. Bring your clay, collages and collected stories, fragmented and unfinished works, weavings of fiber and paper and lives.

Come and discover the art in words, the words in art, and the art you have made of your life.
Come share, collaborate, learn and be inspired in a space of visual voices and written canvases, inclusion and acceptance, consciousness and creativity.

Come and connect over a fireside dinner.
Gather at round tables in intimate groups and share your writing work and artwork, stimulating conversation, and exchange ideas.

Bring books, artwork, CDs, jewelry, etc to sell at our Matrix Marketplace.
Bring drums, instruments and voices to celebrate yourself.

We listened to you and expanded our writing and art workshops.
Saturday and Sunday sessions are now 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

We arranged to have 10 rooms set aside at The Inn at Saratoga to accommodate out-of-towners. These room are being made available at the phenomenal price of $99.00 per night, Friday and Saturday at The Inn at Saratoga for women attending our gathering.

We've even commissioned special handmade keepsakes to give you.
Now all we need is you. Please come and join us next month, and share this announcement with friends and kindred women. We sincerely hope to see you in November.

Creatively Yours,
Amejo Amyot
Dorothy Randall Gray

Please make checks payable to Beekman Artists Co-op and mail to 219 Woodlawn Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. For further info call 518.584.1036 or email WriteArtMatrix@aol.com

*Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs NY 12866
**The Inn at Saratoga, 231 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 12866, (518) 583-1890. www.theinnatsaratoga.com
Mention Women Writers & Artists Matrix and register by October 15th to get our special rate.

WWAM is an activist association of creative kindred women dedicated to shifting the paradigm through words and images. We embrace the vision of gathering together to build and share women’s wisdom through the arts. We believe in creating opportunities to connect in intimate atmospheres, to inspire ourselves and others, to discover the intersections between art and writing, and to use our skills to serve our communities.

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AMEJO AMYOT - "Altars to Creative Spirits"


We will make visible the often invisible creator energy and spirit that lives within all of us. In creating altars we will honor the many essences that are the inspirations of our artistic expression. Writing and making art are more than technique. To reach the depth of our passion, we must go inside and seek the gems that hide and wait. During this time of year, it is easier to access intuition. We will take advantage of the season to do this deep and creative work. Through guided meditation, intuition and assemblage, our altars are created to continuously air our passion. Materials will be provided but you may also bring objects that have emotional or spiritual significance to you - i.e. quotations, images, photos, shells, small rocks, jewelry, etc.


MARILYN ZEMBO DAY - The Art of Letting Go / Letting Your Creativity Loose
(Artist Trading Cards – Getting Your Work Out Into the World)

Before we can unleash our creativity, first we clear the way for our Muse to enter the work/playspace. Before Muse will enter, she requires our complete attention and her total freedom. Once she’s inspired us to play with words, paints, paper, music, or other media, there’s a final phase of Letting Go: releasing our work into a world where eyes might not see the work as we imagined it, ears may not hear the message sent. How, then, can we bear to send a single piece of our soul into the unknown?

We will create Artist Trading Cards, miniature works of art the size of baseball cards. ATCs originated in Switzerland in 1996. The first exhibit of 1,200 cards in May 1997 required that, should a person desire to “own” one of the ATCs, s/he had to bring a card to trade. Thus began a movement connecting artists around the world. Everyone will create at least two ATCs in this session and MUST trade (let go of) one of them. No prior visual art experience required – just playfulness and a willingness to Let Go / Let Muse.


NANCY DENOFIO - Poetry and Art

Only with our words and our art can we understand where our work is heading. With examples we are shown a path different from those you believed. The use of the visual for a poem can be the same as art, as the sky falls closer to the earth, or ice melts dripping ever so slowly into a bucket. The ebb and flow of words like the flow of a brush on canvas. Using words the way a photographer uses her camera. Drawing, writing, images on paper, potent evocative lines - how do they start? Where does inspiration come from? We will write and experience the impact of poetry, and plant seeds for possible collaborations as in broadsides - poems married to images. No poetic experience is necessary.

DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY - A Sense of Time & Place


Time. Place. Infinite aspects of your life. The tipping points, the pivotal places. Being in the right place at the right time. Being out of time or feeling out of place. Ancient times of ancestors, the "where were you when..." times. Those 'just in time' moments. Times you wished would never end. The places you lived, traveled to, visited, or ran away from.

How have outer travels shaped your inner being? How can you recapture forgotten places, and excavate experiences you thought were lost? How have these times and places changed, challenged or cherished you? How can they inform, inspire and excite your writing and your art?

We will use time travel, invented memory, evocative music, location literature, guided meditation and emotional archaeology. We will paint vivid verbal portraits and luscious literary landscapes, and take your creativity to the depths it deserves