How to use this Page

All right — *deep breath* — here we go!

Live events are in green, and will be featured right here on the main site. Forum events are in blue, and they take place in the forum.

Many of our faculty have offered prizes, which you can enter to win by commenting on specific posts, so be sure to hang around for the duration of the conference.

Write On Con 2012 Schedule of Events:
*all times EDT

Monday, August 13:

• Ninja Agent officially opens in forum.
• Call for entries for Gennifer Albin’s Building Better Sentences workshop (submit the first 100 words – call for 100 entries, Genn will randomly pick 10 to crit) FORUM event.
• Call for query pitches for literary agent Peter Knapp’s forum event.
• Call for PB queries for Emma Walton-Hamilton’s forum event.

Look for a post on Sunday will specific times for when these submissions open on Monday morning.

Tuesday, August 14:
6:00 AM: Welcome Keynote by literary agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and the cast and crew at New Leaf Literary

7:00 AM: How to Get Started With Social Media: DON’T Do All The Things! by Soho Teen publicist Meredith Barnes

8:00 AM: Choosing the Right Critique Partners by bestselling author Leigh Bardugo

8:30 AM: Picture Book Query Critiques by bestselling author Emma Walton-Hamilton – FORUM EVENT

9:00 AM: Interview with literary agent Daniel Lazar

10:00 AM: Live pitching event with literary agent Peter Knapp – FORUM EVENT

11:00 AM: Revision Toolbox by the YA Muses
–Call for social media questions for Pam van Hylckama Vlieg’s FORUM EVENT on Wed.

12:00 PM: Corey Rosen-Schwartz and Tiffany Strelitz-Haber discuss picture book writing
–12:15 PM: LIVE FORUM EVENT: Corey and Tiffany critique PB stanzas

12:30 PM: Middle Grade Rules by author Shelley Moore Thomas

1:00 PM: Hooks and Killer First Lines by author Lissa Price

2:00 PM: Author Denise Jaden and literary agent Michelle Humphrey talk about the agent/author relationship. LIVE EVENT

3:00 PM: Tips for Starting a New Project by bestselling author Marissa Meyer

3:30 PM: What is Voice, and How do I Get it? by author Jennifer Nelson

4:00 PM: LIVE EVENT with editor Liesa Abrams and literary agent Jen Rofe

–Call for questions/twitter-style pitches for the Entangled editors in FORUM

5:00 PM: World-building in Science Fiction and Fantasy by author Mindee Arnett

5:30 PM: The Importance of Craft by editor Molly O’Neill

9:00 PM: Live Panel of Professionals – literary agents Mollie Glick, Cheryl Pientka, and Emily Keyes, and editor Sarah Barley

Wednesday, August 15:
6:00 AM: Plotting with 3×5 cards by author Kimberley Griffiths Little

7:00 AM: Knowing When Your MS is Ready to Query by literary agent Lara Perkins

8:00 AM: Authors Lenore Appelhans and Phoebe North discuss Reading like a Book Blogger

9:00 AM: Being Orphaned by author Joy Preble

9:30 AM: Building Characters into Real People by author Frank Cole

10:00 AM: All Your Publishing Questions… Answered! by editors Molly O’Neill and Martha Mihalick, and literary agent Holly Root

11:00 AM: Blogging Basics by literary agent Pam van Hylckama Vlieg
–11:15 AM LIVE FOR

So I bet you thought we’d forgotten all about Write On Con 2012. You would be wrong. Here we are, gearing up our inboxes for emails galore, charging our video camera batteries for vlogs, and purchasing upgrades for our amazing forums.

Write On Con 2012 will take place on Tuesday, August 14 and Wednesday, August 15.

That’s right! A two-day, focused con that is going to be focused on the theme “Back to Basics.”

We’re going to have new faculty, new agents, new events, and more fun than ever! So mark your calendars and join us in August for our third go-round!

Also, if you’re an author, agent, editor, or illustrator and you want to participate in the amazingness that is WOC 2012, we’re taking proposals here. Please do not email us your ideas. Use the form. Thanks!

Tabs will be updated over the next couple of months, and we’ll have a countdown widget soon too. Hope you’re as excited as we are!

Oh. My. Heck. You know you’re dying. You can’t take in the awesome fast enough. You’re color-coding your calendar for this live event, and that live chat, and that amazing vlog. It would be easier to clear all three days right now. *wink*

Without further adieu, we’re proud to present the schedule of events for WriteOnCon 2011, which takes place from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18.

You’ll also notice some items in red below. Those are times when the threads will open in the forums for the Live Forum Events. Submissions will open 24 hours in advance so participants can submit their queries or pitches for critique. Thus, WriteOnCon actually begins today!

WriteOnCon Schedule of Events:

*all times EDT, LIVE events are noted in blue and will take place here. Content will take place on the main WriteOnCon site.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Our Ninja Agent program officially opens in forum.

11:00 AM: Author Emma Walton Hamilton’s thread opens in the forum. Participants can post their questions for Emma, as well as picture book queries for critique. Entries capped at 50.

8:00 PM: Literary agent Jessica Sinsheimer’s thread opens in the forum. Participants can leave questions for her to answer.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011:

6:00 AM: Welcome Keynote by author Josh Berk – in a BATHROBE!
7:00 AM: Pacing in Contemporary YA by author Sara Zarr
7:30 AM: Call for questions for literary agent Steven Malk
8:00 AM: How to Write A Killer First Sentence by author Jodi Meadows
8:30 AM: Picture Book Queries by author Emma Walton Hamilton
9:00 AM: Myths and Misconceptions by literary agent Holly Root, and editors Molly O’Neill and Martha Mihalick
10:00 AM: Drawing From Memory by author Alan Silberberg
10:30 AM: Writing For Multiple Ages by author Shelley Moore Thomas
11:00 AM: Literary agents Carlie Webber and Christina Hogrebe’s thread opens in the forum. Participants can post their “Twitter pitch” (pitch in 140 characters or less) and first 100 words for critique/comment. Entries capped at 75.
11:00 AM: Live Forum Q&A and PB query critiques with author Emma Walton Hamilton
***This event takes places in our FORUM. Emma will be answering questions and offering advice on previously submitted PB queries HERE.
***

In case you missed our first epic annual conference last year, here’s a lineup of what went down on August 10–exactly one year ago. This gives you an idea of what to expect during WriteOnCon 2011, coming August 16 – 18, 2011.

All the content from last year is available here, and on our sidebar.

Welcome Keynote by author Josh Berk

Refining Your Craft with Each Book by author Janette Rallison

Give Yourself Permission by editor Molly O’Neill

Myths and Misconceptions by literary agent Holly Root, and editors Molly O’Neill and Martha Mihalick

Illustrating Children’s Books by author/illustrator J.H. Everett and studio, part one, two, and three.

Bringing the Funny by author Rachel Hawkins

Becoming a Career Author by literary agent Catherine Drayton

Writing Middle Grade by author Jon Lewis

Voice by literary agent Elana Roth

Live chat with literary agent Suzie Townsend

Writing a Query Letter by author Jodi Meadows

Joanna Volpe’s query critique

In Defense of a Less Than Huge Advance by literary agent Michelle Wolfson

Questions to Ask Yourself Before a Revision by editor Kendra Levin

Pie in the Face (how characters react to situations) by author Rosemary Clement-Moore

Panel of Professionals chat LIVE (Elana Roth, Kathleen Ortiz, Martha Mihalick, Paul Samuelson)

In an effort to derail some of the confusion before the conference starts, we’re opening this blog post for your questions. This will help Shannon, who mans our gmail account, as well as hopefully provide answers for a large group of people all at once.

Before you ask anything, you should check out our FAQ page and the following pages, which have been put up over the past couple of weeks:

How to Register for WriteOnCon – details here.
How the Live Events Work – details here.
Previous Faculty Announcements – here and here.
How the Live Forum Events Work – details here.
NEW! Query Ninja Program – details here.

So. What else are you wondering about?

How you can give back to the authors who donated their time? Buy their books.

How you can say thank you to all those who’ve spent countless hours organizing WOC? Donate as little as $5 here.

How you can show appreciation for the dozens of editors and agents who’ve freely given their time and expertise? Spread the word by installing our countdown widget, blogging about WriteOnCon, or tweeting about the conference, now and throughout the three-day extravaganza.

As if the previous faculty announcement wasn’t already cool enough, we have more! I don’t know how we’ll contain the awesome this year, so you’ll just have to absorb it all, okay? Okay. Here are some more of the wonderful faculty members who are donating their time to be here to make WOC the best conference around.

Give your writing a transformation with these AUTHORS:
Sarah Frances Hardy
JH Everett
Tammi Saur
Lauren Oliver
J.S. Lewis
Amy Dominy
Lisa Schroeder
Erik Wright
Tara Hudson
Tom Laveen
Suzanne Young
Jodi Meadows
Alan Silberberg
Katie McDee
Matt Myklusch
Corey Rosen Schwartz
The Class of 2k12

And the awesome doesn’t stop there. We’ve also got these LITERARY AGENTS to inspire you:
Ginger Clark
Jenny Bent
Jessica Sinsheimer
Diana Fox
Roseanne Wells
Steven Malk
Susie Townsend
Sara Crowe
Christina Hogrebe
Carlie Webber
Kate Testerman
Alyssa Eisner-Henkinen
Joan Paquette

AND editor Emily Meehan from Disney/Hyperion!

Whew. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t contain my excitement! Be sure to mark your calendars from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18 so you can spend some time with these amazing people.

The bio pages for the website are *thisclose* to being finished, so you’ll be able to read all about the people and what professionalism and expertise they bring to WriteOnCon.

Other posts you’ll need to be ready for WOC 2011:
How to Register for WriteOnCon – details here.
How the Live Events Work – details here.
Previous Faculty Announcements
How the Live Forum Events Work – details here.
NEW! Query Ninja Agent Program – details here.

Okay, we are SUPER excited to announce a new program for this year’s conference–one that we think will be one of the highlights for everyone.

NINJA AGENTS. That’s right. You know you want to see them all decked in black, with a mask and maybe some nunchucks. I mean, who doesn’t?

This program will take place in the forums–so you must be registered and using the forums to participate. If you haven’t already done that, go HERE.

Here’s what you’ll do:
1. Post your absolute best, polished query letter or writing sample in the appropriate critique threads in the forums. (Please look carefully and ask questions if you’re unsure about where to post, and make sure you follow all our forum guidelines)
2. Don your thick dragon skin, cross your fingers, and keep checking your forum posts, because our Ninja Agents will be sneaking around, leaving feedback on whatever strikes their fancy–which could very well be YOUR QUERY.
3. Pray you’ve perfected your work enough to generate a request. Some agents may be requesting from the posts they read.
4. Remember your manners. Please don’t engage in hurtful behavior toward an industry professional because of feedback they might leave on your query. Remember, publishing is SO SUBJECTIVE.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. All you have to do is use our forums the same way you should be using them anyway (because they’re AWESOME) and you could have a super-cool Ninja-Agent critique your work. And even if they don’t comment on your work (they promise they will try to comment/critique on as many as they can) you can learn SO much from the comments they leave for others.

So how do you know when to look for them?

Watch the @WriteOnCon twitter feed for when we tweet: “A Ninja Agent just entered the forums!” That’s how you’ll know exactly when they’re there. But really, the best part about the forum is that you can go read the feedback whenever your schedule allows.

What the Ninjas will do:
1. Each Ninja Agent will be in the forum for at least one hour (some have multiple slots). You won’t know who, and you won’t know when…that’s the beauty of a ninja. They strike when you’re least expecting it.
2. Ninja Agents have been encouraged to leave feedback—as detailed or as vague as they want—on as many queries as they can. They can also request from the queries they read.

We are announcing who the Ninja Agents are, but not when they’ll be Ninja-ing.

Our Ninjafied Nunchuckatorians are:
Michelle Wolfson, with Wolfson Literary
Natalie Fischer, with Bradford Literary
Michelle Andelman, with Regal Literary
Kathleen Ortiz, with Nancy Coffey Literary
Ammi-Joan Paquette, with Erin Murphy Literary
Jessica Sinsheimer, with Sarah Jane Freymann
Roseanne Wells, with Marianne Strong Literary
Joanna Volpe, with Nancy Coffey Literary
Mary Kole, with Andrea Brown Literary
Suzie Townsend, with FinePrint Literary
Carlie Webber, with the Jane Rotrosen Agency
Alyssa Eisner Henkin, with Trident Media
Marietta Zacker, with Nancy Gallt Literary

The Ninja-Agent Program is open for business starting on Monday, August 17, one day before the conference begins. That’s when we’ll open the main conference forums and let you start posting your work. This will give you time to get your writing in tip-top shape and in the forums before Tuesday, when our first Ninja will arrive.

We hope this program will benefit everyone, from tho

We told you we were gonna get your LIVE on this conference, and we’re not liars. In addition to our live chats (click here to get further details on how those work), we’ll be doing Live Forum Events as well.

Each of these events will take place in our forum—which is how you register for the conference. Click here to go to the forum to register, if you haven’t already.

Then, once you’re in the forum, you’re welcome to get your crazy on in the appropriate areas.

During our LIVE FORUM EVENTS, though, we encourage non-crazy behavior. We encourage reading and direction-following, so you can get the most out of the forum experiences.

Each Forum Event will have a specific topic or area, from an open Question & Answer session to posting pitches/query letters for a specified amount of time.

What you’ll do:
1. Check the schedule (full schedule coming soon!) for Live Forum Events and topics (topics coming soon!).
2. Prepare your query letters/pitches/questions. We encourage you to do this in advance for the forum events you wish to attend.
3. Check the appropriate thread in the forum for further details—read and follow them carefully so our forum moderators don’t have to delete your entry.
4. Remember your manners. Please don’t engage in hurtful behavior toward an industry professional because of feedback they might leave in the forum. Remember, publishing is SO SUBJECTIVE, and these agents are donating their time to give you their experience/expertise.

Please don’t worry if you won’t be around for the Live Forum Events. Reading the feedback/answers agents give to other people can be just like getting it yourself. All of our forum events will be in the forum for your viewing pleasure long after the conference is over.

Live Forum Events Schedule (subject to change):
• Tuesday, August 16, 7:30 AM (EDT): Literary agent Steven Malk wants your questions. Leave your questions for Mr. Malk to be answered in a blog post on Thursday evening.
• Tuesday, August 16, 11 AM (EDT): Live Picture Book forum event with bestselling author Emma Walton Hamilton
• Tuesday, August 16, 5 PM (EDT): Live Q&A with literary agent Jessica Sinsheimer
• Wednesday, August 17, 11 AM (EDT): Live forum event with literary agents Carlie Webber and Christina Hogrebe
• Thursday, August 18, 10 AM (EDT): Live 250-word pitch session with literary agent Alyssa Eisner-Henkin
• Thursday, August 18, 5 PM (EDT): Live forum event with literary agent Roseanne Wells

Questions? Leave them for us here!

How to Register for WriteOnCon – details here.
How the Live Events Work – details here.
Previous Faculty Announcements

Okay, so working behind the scenes on WriteOnCon is absolutely amazing—and it’s because of all the people. Today, we’re pleased to announce a partial list of our faculty. We’ve been working on the Faculty page here on the website like crazy, and we can’t wait to unveil it! (Soon, my pretties. Soon.)

Get your giddy-up on for these LITERARY AGENTS:

• Michael Bourret
• Jim McCarthy
• Michelle Andelman
• Mary Kole
• Holly Root
• Joanna Volpe
• Kathleen Ortiz
• Tina Wexler
• Natalie Fischer
• Michelle Wolfson
• Marietta Zacker
• Sara Megibow

Hold on to your hats (where did this Western theme come from? No idea.) for these EDITORS:

• Anica Rissi (Simon Pulse, Simon & Schuster)
• Liesa Abrams (Aladdin, Simon & Schuster)
• Annette Pollert (Simon Pulse, Simon & Schuster)
• Martha Mihalick (Greenwillow, HarperCollins)
• Molly O’Neill (Katherine Teagen, HarperCollins)
• Kendra Levin (Viking, Penguin)

Saddle yourselves up for some great fun with these AUTHORS:

• Josh Berk
• Sara Zarr
• Saundra Mitchell
• Scott Tracey
• Beth Revis
• Carrie Ryan
• Jessi Kirby
• Lindsey Leavitt
• Jay Asher
• Shelley Thomas Moore
• Emma Walton Hamilton
• Nova Ren Suma

Whew. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t contain my excitement! Be sure to mark your calendars from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18 so you can spend some time with these amazing people.

Additional faculty will be announced next week, followed closely by the schedule of events. Keep your eye on our site—heck, follow us and/or sign up for our newsletter!—so you don’t miss anything. (Newsletter sign-up widget right over there on the right. Same with the follow button.)

How to Register for WriteOnCon – details here.
How the Live Events Work – details here.

Dude, the schedule for WriteOnCon 2011 is shaping up to be longer, better, and LIVER than ever! That’s right, we have live events scheduled throughout each day of the conference—not just in the evening!

I hope you’ve taken vacation from your day job from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18. If you haven’t—or you can’t—don’t worry! You can access all of our posts after the conference too.

Today, you’ll get the details for how the live events (NOT Forum Events–more coming on those soon!) will work.
1. About 30 minutes before a scheduled live event, a window will be posted in a blog post on the main WriteOnCon site.
2. You can log in, but it’s not required to participate or ask a question.
3. Each of the live chats has an assigned topic, and one of the WriteOnCon girls will be moderating.
4. Questions can be submitted any time once the live chat window opens.
5. Questions need to be asked ONLY ONCE. You won’t see your comment come through, but on our end, the comments are visible and we have behind-the-scenes WOC girls putting them on hold.
6. The moderator of the chat will put through as many questions as possible for the WriteOnCon faculty member(s) to answer. We really try to put forth the questions as fast as possible, from as many of you as possible.
7. Pitching/Querying is not appropriate for live chats.
8. If you cannot attend one of the live events, a transcript will be available afterward, in the same blog post as the live window.

That’s it! If you have questions about how the live events will work, leave them for us here.

Our schedule will be out in the next couple of weeks so you can start planning! It’s gonna rock your world. Meanwhile keeping watching the blog as we continue to detail how everything is going to work for this year’s conference.

How to Register for WriteOnCon – details here.

Okay, so registration is as easy as breathing. No lie. Since all the events of WriteOnCon are online—and they’re FREE—there is no “official” way to register.

How we count you as a registered participant of WriteOnCon is through the registration process for the forum.

It’s easy, painless, and fun! Especially since we have some major events planned to take place ONLY in the forum this year. So you’re definitely going to want to register and start participating in our forums.

Click here, and sign up.

You’ve just done two things:
1. Registered for WriteOnCon.
2. Changed your life. I’m not kidding. There will be a post very soon about our Live Forum Events and how they’ll work, but let me just say one word about the forum: Ninja.

Trust me when I say you’re going to want to have your best behavior on, your query letter polished, and your schedule from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18 cleared.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m fat.  Yep.  And I have green eyes (and hair, right now), and I’m tall, and have a tattoo.  These are all descriptors of me.  Our fearless leader, Angie Manfredi, opened the session much the same way (except she doesn’t have green hair).  For me, someone who’s been an on-again-off-again size activist for years, it was the perfect way to set the stage.  Angie’s unapologetic view of herself and her infectious energy created a few hours that went by far too quickly.  I would have happily spent all day.

She began talking a little about size acceptance (and by that we mean *any* size, not just large) and continued on to a full literature review.  Her list included titles that were (by her definition, and this author’s as well) actually positive, from authors who had good intentions but just missed the mark, and those titles that featured body issues but were sending problematic messages.  She also talked about adult titles with teen appeal, some recommended reading for adults and a few choice titles about disordered eating too.  I appreciated her list immensely (if you’ll pardon the pun).  She only included YA titles published in the last 5 years (acknowledging that there were other good older titles) so it was fresh.

Next Angie talked about other body positive movements going on around the country (and beyond), like Operation Beautiful and Delta Delta Delta’s Reflections Program.  She was covering for her co-presenter who had to back out last minute because of a family emergency.

Finally we all were gifted the opportunity to hear from an outstanding panel of YA authors who have all written about fat characters (of different sizes, ethnicity and genders!).  The panel featured Megan Frazer (Secrets of Truth and Beauty), Madeleine George (Looks), Susan Vaught (Big Fat Manifesto), and Allen Zadoff (Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have).  Each author spoke from the heart about their processes writing and getting the books published, as well as their own personal stories with body image issues. I can’t wait to get to reading!

The session also included time for questions and discussion, idea swapping, etc. I left with the coals of my size activism stoked into a raging fire.  Even though I’ve only been in my job for just over a year, I’m not sure why I haven’t done more public body positivity activism in my system.  I’ve tried to talk to my population about these issues in small groups or one-on-one, and tried to be a positive role model (who happens to be fat), but I will definitely change my excitement into action once I return home.  Thanks Angie, and the wonderful panel of authors, for the inspiration!