Episodes
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Chicago Writes, March 2024: A Conversation with Jill Christman and Gary D. Wilson
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
On this episode of Chicago Writes, our remaining Book of the Year authors, Prof. Jill Christman and Gary D. Wilson discuss their award-winning books and offer advice they give their writing students.
Gary D. Wilson is a critically acclaimed novelist and writer of narrative short story fiction. His latest Book of the Year winning collection is For Those Who Favor Fire. Gary's latest novel, The Narrow Window, will be released in March 2024 by Roundfire Books, an imprint of Collective Ink. His website is www.garydwilson.com
Jill Christman's Book of the Year is titled, If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays, a lyrical, sometimes blushing, sometimes shocking, and eminently insightful memoir. Her website is jillchristman.com
Additional Links:
Jill Christman is a producer for the podcast Indelible: Campus Sexual Violence.
Writing by hand may increase brain connectivity more than typing on a keyboard, by Deborah Pirchner, February 16, 2024. Cognitive Science, Neuroimaging.
The Books of Lorrie Moore at Amazon.
The Chicago Writer Association is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Visit chicagowrites.org.
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Book of the year Winners, Rita Woods and Lois Hoitenga Roelofs
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Lois Hoitenga Roelofs is one of CWAs Book of the Year winners for her moving memory, Marv in Charge: A story of Bold Love and courage, from Deep River books. An uncommonly candid book on death, dying and faith. Her website is loisroelofs.com
Rita Woods Latest novel, The Last Dreamwalker, was just named one of the Chicago Writers Association’s Book of the Year. This sumptuous mystery is destined to take its place among the very best set along the coast of South Carolina. It has the drama and deep hues of Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides, while exploring the tumultuous mystery as a daughter unravels her late mother’s life, reminiscent of Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees. Her website is ritawoodswrites.com.
The Chicago Writers Association is a 501c3 charitable organization. Like us on Facebook. Visit chicagowrites.org.
Monday Jan 01, 2024
A Band of Authors: Mark Hutson, Rick Kaempfer and a Scam Alert
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Happy New Year! In our season 3 opener: An author scam alert, plus a conversation with one of last Year's Book of the Year award winning author Mark Hutson of the critically acclaimed "So Costly a Sacrifice," available on Amazon. Plus, a bit of WC Turck's conversation with Rick Kaempfer, author of the runaway bestseller "The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever," available on Amazon and Eckhartz Press.com.
Catch the full conversations at the Playtime Playcast with host WC Turck here.
Unlock a wealth of author and writer resources by visiting chicagowrites.org.
The Chicago Writers Association is a charitable 501(c) 3 organization.
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Thursday Nov 30, 2023
An Award-Winning Author on Book Marketing Platforms and Strategies
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Do you think of Book marketing as confusing and complex? You are hardly alone! Long time friend of the podcast and one of the most proactive authors for marketing, David W. Berner’s success doesn’t just happen but requires a bit of work and effort from the author. After speaking with Mike O’Malley from LitNuts last month, host WC Turck thought it would offer keen insights by prying open David’s bag of tricks and promotional secrets (and maybe a few scars and open wounds!).
The website is davidwberner.com
Chick out David's Substack page The Abundance.
The Chicago Writers Association is a 501c3 charitable organization. Visit chicagowrites.org
From everyone here at CWA, we wish you a warm and happy Holiday season and a very Merry Christmas.
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Book Marketing on a Budget: A conversation with LitNuts cofounder Mike O’Mary
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Mike O'Mary knows book marketing. As an Indie publisher he produced several NYT bestsellers, including Dina Kucera's Everything I Never Wanted to Be-A Memoir of Alcoholism and Addiction, Faith and Family, Hope and Humor. Together with his daughter, Kathleen Meyer, they began an online newsletter featuring only indie authors and publishers with some 13,000 subscribers. LitNuts.com features a unique and affordable platform to get your book in front of readers. Mike also offers advice and hard-learned lessons on creating a marketing strategy for Indie authors!
Links to all of our CWA programs, events, and resources are at Chicago Writes.org. Join today!
The Chicago Writers Association is a 501(c)3 charity, open to writers anywhere in the world. Unlock a wealth of writing resources at Chicago Writes.org
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Chicago Writes October 2023: Ana Castillo and Michael Finney
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Professor Ana Castillo is an author, poet and visual artist. Her latest critically acclaimed book is a thought-provoking collection of short stories transcending demographics titled Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home, published by Harper Collins. Available at Amazon and all fine bookstores. Her website is anacastillo.net.
Plus, Micheal Finney, business strategy consultant focused on media and message, talks sound scaping for ebooks and his new book, How to Create a Small Business Content Marketing Strategy in 10 Steps- A branding workbook for beginners. The website is michael-finney.com.
Chicago Writes in the official podcast of the Chicago Writers Association. Visit chicagowrites.org. Subscribe to this podcast.
Chicago Writers Association is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Join today, and like our community of writers, authors, poets and publishers on Facebook to unlock a wealth of writing resources and connections.
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Chicago Writes Compelling Sex Scenes and Publishing Cocktails
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Writing compelling Sex Scenes for novelists, with author, screenwriter and Producer Dorothy Mackevich Marks. Her latest book is Les Beaux Châteaux which tells the story of father and son antique dealers amid the twilight of a romanticized legacy French culture. Visit www.dorothymackevichmarks.com. You can also keep up to date on facebook.com, at DorothyMackevichMarks
Also, in this episode of Chicago Writes, Publishing Cocktails, a meet-up for writers with Javier Ramirez from Exile in Bookville, exileinbookville.com, and author Keir Graff, keirgraff.com.
Find Les Beaux Châteaux by Dorothy Machevich Marks on Amazon
Exile in Bookville is in the historic Fine Arts Building. 410 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 210 in Chicago’s Loop. Call Exile in Bookville, (312) 753-3154
Instagram: @exileinbookville
Twitter: @BookvillExiles
Facebook: @exileinbookville
Visit chicagowrites.org
Monday Jul 31, 2023
CNN’s Nora Neus on Writing Oral History
Monday Jul 31, 2023
Monday Jul 31, 2023
Nora Neus is an Emmy-nominated journalist and author. Neus field-produced Anderson Cooper’s CNN coverage of the 2017 white supremacist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. Before joining CNN, she worked as a local news reporter and fill-in anchor for the CNN affiliate in Charlottesville. Nora also co-authored Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria, available at Amazon.
Her latest book 24 hours in Charlottesville: An Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy is available at Amazon. Her website is noraneus.com
Brought to you exclusively by the Chicago Writers Association. CWA is a 501c3 not-for-profit charity. Visit us at chicagowrites.org
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Funny Business: Writing Humor and more with Author Maggie Smith
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Maggie Smith founded ArtSource, a leading art consulting company. In 2017 she switched gears to pursue a dream to be a full-time writer. Her debut novel Truth and Other Lies is about truth and coming clean to yourself and about truth and honesty. It is about perseverance and second chances. Maggie is the host of the podcast Hear Us Roar for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, IHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. She is a frequent blogger on the topic of writing, including a recent piece title Funny Business: Incorporating Humor Into Your Novel. Her website is maggiesmithwriter.com
Read the full piece, Funny Business: Incorporating Humor Into Your Novel, at maggiesmithwriter.com
Links to the Chicago Writers Association are at chicagowrites.org
Our theme song, Midnight Ride from the album Snoviđenja is courtesy of Dino Olovcic and is available on Spotify.
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Writing Fiction for Young Adults with Kristin Oakley
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Kristin Oakley’s latest young adult novel is “The Devil Particle”. Kristin teaches writing workshops, has critiqued manuscripts through the University of Wisconsin‘s -Madison Division of Continuing Studies, and has helped writers hone their agent pitches at the Division’s Writers’ Institute. She is also the author of The Award-winning Leo Townsend Series, as well as blogs from writing to home schooling.
Her website is Kristin Oakley.net
The Devil Particle Release Party!Wednesday, June 7th, 6:00 p.m.Mystery to Me Bookstore, 1863 Monroe St., Madison, WI
Tickets are free but space is limited. Can't make it in person? The event will also be livestreamed www.crowdcast.io/e/devil-particle/register
Top 5 Tips for Writing Compelling Young Adult Fiction by Jessica Clausen at writersedit.com
Two resources about writing young adult fiction:
www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/how-to-write-a-young-adult-novel
www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-ya-fiction
A great, concise article on the 12 Types of Characters can be found at blog.reedsy.com/types-of-characters/
Submissions for The Chicago Writers Association's 13th annual Book of the Year Contest is currently open!
See the guidelines on the entry form via the link in the notes below and be sure your book is submitted to the correct category.
Entries will be accepted until August 1, 2023. Entries postmarked after midnight on August 1, 2023 cannot be accepted.
For details and entry form visit chicagowrites.org/book_of_the_year
Look for details about the 8th Annual First Chapter Contest coming soon in the summer of 2023. Polish, polish, polish and be ready to submit that winning first chapter. It could land you a once in a lifetime full scholarship to attend either the All-Genre Novel-In-Progress (NIP) Bookcamp & Writing Retreat on June 18-24, 2023 or the Speculative Fiction NIP Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, on August 13-19, 2023, at the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin. visit novelbookcamp.org, and chicagowrites.org and click on the Contest tab for details
The Chicago Writers Association is a 501c3 charitable organization, become a member today by visiting chicagowrites.org
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