7:00

8:30

Manuscript Raps:
Poetry, Fiction, Juvenile

1. (Fri.) Opening Session 
Be Brave:  Write What You Believe. 
Michael Smerconish is a radio host, columnist for Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer, and author of Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11, Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism True Stories that Should be Fiction and Murdered by Mumia. 

2. (Sat.) Creative Nonfiction
Focusing on exploring purpose in creative nonfiction. 
Ann E. Michael is the author of three poetry chapbooks and an essayist for literary journals, radio, and newspapers.  She studied poetry and creative non fiction at Goddard College, where she earned her MFA. 

3. (Sat.) Breaking Writer’s Block
Be odd.  Write first.  Think later.
Lorraine Ranalli, veteran Philadelphia radio and TV personality, published author and corporate communication specialist, presents her five-step method for breaking writer’s block and effectively communicating with ink.
www.LorraineRanalli.com 

4. (Sun.) Research for Writers
Find factual, appropriate, current information to support your writing. 
Sandi Thompson has worked for 37 years in the Temple University Libraries system. Her career in reference has emphasized the importance between people and information. 

5.  (Sun.) Flash Fiction
It’s for the fearless. No wishy-washiness. Micro. Sudden. Flash. Fiction. 
Randall Brown has an MFA in Fiction Writing, is an editor with the flash journal Smokelong Quarterly, and teaches writing at Saint Joseph’s University.  www.randalldouglasbrown.blogspot.com

6. Short Story:  Literary
    (workshop leader change from print-brochure)
Story versus anecdote; development of empathetic arc; dialogue.
Kathleen Volk Miller is co-editor of the Painted Bride Quarterly. She has fiction, personal essays, and articles in numerous publications, most recently, The Smart Set. She teaches at Drexel University.

7. Short Story:  Contemporary
Writing short stories and short-shorts.
William Kulik’s books include The Voice of Robert Desnos: Selected Poems (Sheep Meadow, 2005), The Selected Poems of Max Jacob (Oberlin, 1999) and Nowhere Fast: Fifty-Five Prose Poems. 

8. Magazine Writing
Sharpen fuzzy ideas into marketable stories and assess appropriate publications. 
Laurence Roy Stains is the director of the magazine sequence in the Department of Journalism at Temple University. A former editor at Philadelphia Magazine, he continues to write for a variety of national magazines.

9. Poetry I
Learn new strategies for creating, shaping, and revising your poems.
Barbara Daniels’ book of poems, Rose Fever, is available from WordTech Press.  She received two Individual Artist Fellowships from New Jersey and completed an MFA in poetry at Vermont College. 

11. Memoir
Your life stories—write them well.
Oana Nechita has been writing and publishing memoirs for twelve years.  She is the founder of Bucks Biographer, LLC and received her MA from Yale University. 

12. Techniques for Creativity
Exercises to jump start creativity and keep writer’s block at bay.
Bonnie Neubauer is the author of Write-Brain Workbook, the forthcoming follow-up, Take Ten, the creator of "Story Spinner," a writing exercise generator, and the leader of fun writing workshops. 

13. Juvenile
Write for the right children’s market. 
Ferida Wolff is the author of seventeen books for children and two for adults.  Her stories and essays appear in Chicken Soup Books, newspapers, magazines and online. www.feridawolff.com 

14. Novel:  Character and Dialogue
Putting just the right words in your fictional character’s mouth.
Bill Kent is the author of seven novels and two nonfiction books, and his  writing has appeared in more than 40 national and regional publications, including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine.  He has taught writing at Penn, Temple and Rutgers. 

15. Novel:  Theme and Plot
These topics comprise voice, character, context, setting, structure and more.
Gregory Frost is the author of acclaimed novels, Shadowbridge, Fitcher’s Brides and Lyrec; and a fiction collection, Attack of the Jazz Giants & Other Stories.  He is the fiction workshop director at Swarthmore College.

16. Nonfiction Book
Writing and selling nonfiction—from the proposal to the promotion.
Ellie Slott Fisher is a longtime journalist and magazine freelancer, and the author of Mom, There’s a Man in the Kitchen and He’s Wearing Your Robe, and Dating for Dads. 

17. Poetry II
What the unsaid says: an investigation of mystery and tone.
Kate Northrop’s second collection Things Are Disappearing Here was the finalist for the James Laughlin Award.  She is Associate Professor of Creative Writing/English at West Chester University.
 
 

   These words are from the PWC bylaws at it’s founding in 1949—retained today—when from 150 to 200 conferees gather annually to experience the intensity of a full-three days of learning about and talking about writing. PWC has been called “the conference with the most learning-hours per dollar,” and credited with  “having true workshops—not just lectures or book talks.”

   To get the most out of attending a writers’ conference, the effective conferee carefully reads the directions for signing up for workshops, for submitting manuscripts, for attending food functions, for talking with an agent or editor, and for following the general guidelines of conferee participation.

   Arrive prepared. Don’t forget paper and pencils for taking notes. (Sorry, laptops are not permitted as the clicking annoys others; nor are tape-recorders permitted as this infringes on the workshop leaders’ rights to their presentations.) At Friday 8:30 a.m. sign-in, conferees  receive a Conferee Packet with helpful information about pertinent writing-related information. The packet folder has space for additional handouts from leaders. However, don’t bring additional manuscripts for leaders to look at—they’ve been promised that won’t happen.

    Because two subjects are so popular, conferees must choose between  two novel or two short story  workshops in duplicate time slots. Without that division, leaders would have an unreasonable load of manuscripts to critique. Nevertheless, throughout the  scheduling there are ample workshops to schedule a fiction or nonfiction “track.”

   A conferee lounge is available for meeting other conferees, where one is free to join any group. There are sample magazines and publishers’ guidelines to take home. Conferees may put a limited number of small flyers about their work on the tables, but arrangements with the Book Fair and city tax codes prohibit sales. 

   PWC has a large number of returning-conferees, who say the craft, business, and other applications learned are invaluable, but especially value the interaction with other writers and the inspirational high the workshops and general conference atmosphere create. Conferees, workshop leaders, board members—at PWC, the attitude is  “Speak to anyone as you would have them speak to you, and do it first.”

   The PWC is operated by a volunteer Board of Directors, comprising up to thirty-five elected members, representing a broad range of writing categories. Just as some former conferees have come back to serve as workshop leaders, many of the board members, too, are former conferees. The focus and spirit remain the same—help from professional leaders,  and inspiration that spurs writers to attain their goals.