
DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709240106

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   94 lines

AGENTS, AUTHORS, EDITORS TO MEET FOR HOW-TO ON WRITING, PUBLISHING

THE EXPERTS are coming to talk about writing and getting published.

If you're an aspiring writer or are trying to get your works published, then a two-day ``Writers Conference: Fantasies By the Bay'' will be just the thing for you.

The event, sponsored by the Chesapeake Romance Writers, will offer fledgling writers tips, conferences with editors and agents, workshops with published authors and book signings.

The event opens Oct. 4 with a special reception at the Norfolk Airport Hilton where writers, readers and book lovers can meet and greet various published authors, editors and literary agents.

The bulk of the conference will then swing over to Western Branch at the Russell Memorial Library for an intense day of workshops, conferences and book signings.

Virginia O'Keefe, conference coordinator and publicity chairman of the event, said this will be one of the biggest and most ambitious writers conferences ever held by the Chesapeake Romance Writers.

``We hold one every year, but we usually include one writer or maybe one agent, generally someone who is local,'' O'Keefe said. ``But this will be a first for us. We're bringing in two literary agents from New York, and then we're bringing in two editors who represent two well-known publishing houses: St. Martin's Press and Avon Books. We're all very excited about this.''

``I think the biggest attraction for this conference is the fact that everyone who signs up will get the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a New York literary agent and a big publishing house editor. ''

Editor and agent appointments will be available Oct. 4 at the Russell Library.

The conference will feature Glenda Howard, assistant editor at St. Martin's Press, and Cecilia Malkum Oh, assistant editor with Avon Books. Members will be able to hear them discuss today's current book market and what their respective publishing houses look for in a manuscript.

Besides editors, another necessary tool in helping get published is finding an effective literary agent. The help writers find ways to get published, the conference will fly in New York agents Ricia Mainhardt and Sue Yuen.

Mainhardt, who is looking for both new and established writers to represent, specializes in contemporary romance, fantasy, historical, multicultural, mystery, suspense and young adult works, as well as non-fiction. Yuen, with the Susan Herner Rights Agency, has been in publishing for 18 years. She specializes in commercial adult fiction.

If you're looking for ways to jazz up your writing or how to write in ways to attract the attention of editors, conference participants will be able to meet with three nationally published local writers, who will conduct workshops on the writing process.

Writers will be able to hear workshops by Felicia Mason, a two-time winner of Waldenbooks Best Selling Multicultural Title award whose book ``Body and Soul'' is up for a possible made-for-television movie; Elizabeth Ann Michaels, an award-winning author of 10 nationally published historical romances including her latest ``Scottish Magic;'' and Corinne Everett, author of ``Love Remember Me'' and other works.

O'Keefe said the CRW have been working on this event for about a year.

``And it's not the work of just one person,'' she said. ``We're a close group and all of our members have in some way or another helped and worked on making this conference a big success for us.''

O'Keefe also said that every member, in anticipation of meeting top agents and editors, have worked hard and diligently on their own works.

``This conference has been a huge incentive for our membership to get writing, improve writing and finish manuscripts,'' she said. ``We're getting ready. Our membership is interested in diverse book genres. We have people who write not only romance but mystery and suspense, fantasy, young adult and even men's fiction. And we feel this conference will reflect that diversity.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Felicia Mason

Elizabeth Ann Michaels

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: Writers Conference: Fantasies by the Bay, sponsored by the

Chesapeake Romance Writers.

When: Oct. 4 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Oct. 5 from 9:15 a.m. to

4:30 p.m.

Where: Friday's reception takes place at the Norfolk Airport

Hilton, 1500 N. Military Highway, Norfolk; and Saturday's

continental breakfast, workshops, lunch, meetings, conferences and

book signings will take place at the Russell Memorial Library, 2808