Roundup 2010
Sept. 17-18, 2010
Hampton Inn & Suites,
307 North Admiral Byrd Road,
Salt Lake City, Utah
PLEASE NOTE: The Hilton was unwilling to accommodate a part of our agenda which has forced us to move Roundup to the adjacent Hampton Inn Center about a block away from the Hilton. This is an upgrade from the previous venue. Some members may have already booked their rooms at the Hilton. They can keep their reservation for the normal Hilton rate or they can move their reservation to the Hampton at $79.00 per night plus tax (see the registration form).
Below are bios of this year's presenters:
John Gilstrap A little bit about my background... I've always been a closet-writer. As a kid, I lived for the opportunity to write short stories. I was the editor of my high school newspaper for a while (the Valor Dictus, Robinson High School, class of 1975), until I quit ("You can't fire me! I quit!") over a lofty First Amendment issue that seemed very important at the time. My goal, in fact, was to become a journalist in the vein of Woodward or Bernstein. Okay, I confess, I wanted to be Woodward; Robert Redford played him in the movie, and chicks really dug Robert Redford. I graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1979, and armed with a degree in American history, I couldn't find a job. I ended up settling for a position with a little-noticed trade journal serving the construction industry. They called me the managing editor and they paid me food stamp wages. I hated it. About this time, I joined the Burke Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia, if only to find relief from the boredom of my job. Running about a thousand calls my first year with the department, I was hooked, and the volunteer fire service became an important part of my life for the next 15 years. In the early eighties, hating my job, I went the way of all frustrated liberal arts undergrads—back to graduate school. Earning a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, I started down a whole new road. For the next decade and a half, I became an expert (don't you hate that word?) on explosives safety and hazardous waste. Meanwhile, I kept writing. I didn't tell anyone, of course, because, well, you just don't share artistic dreams with fellow +B16engineers. They look at you funny. My first novel, Nathan's Run, was in fact my fourth novel, and when it sold, it sold big. At a time in my life when things were going well—I was president of my own consulting firm—things were suddenly going very well. Warner Bros. bought the movie rights to Nathan's Run two days after the first book rights were sold, and as of this date, the novel has been translated and published in one form or another in over 20 countries. With Nathan's Run in the can, as it were, I thought I might finally be on to something, but I didn't quit my "day job" until after I sold the book and movie rights to my second novel, At All Costs. I figured that while one-in-a-row might be luck, two-in-a-row was a trend. So, I started writing full-time. And I continue to write. In 2006, Six Minutes to Freedom was published to considerable acclaim. My first (and probably last) foray into book-length non-fiction, SixMin tells the story of Kurt Muse, the only civilian of record ever rescued by the super-secret Delta Force. Thanks to Kurt's cooperation (he is co-author), I gained access to people and places that lifelong civilians like me should never see. The heroic warriors I met during that research turned out to be nothing like their movie stereotypes. These were not only gentlemen, but gentle men, who remained free of the kind of boasting and self-aggrandizement that I was expecting. They were supreme professionals, and very nice guys. And through them I got the idea for my new series character, Jonathan Grave. He's former Delta, released from the Army under circumstances that will be revealed over time, and now he's a freelance hostage rescue specialist. He's the finest friend you could ever have, and the worst enemy. No Mercy, the first entry in the series, hit the shelves in June of 2009, with Hostage Zero following a year later. If fans like him, and if they enjoy his adventures, there'll be many more to come. |
Katie Grimm Katie Grimm is the best kind of literary agent you could have: an impassioned reader who knows her way around story, character, and what makes a book stick with you. An agent at Don Congdon Associates with a background working in libraries, Katie spent time poring over the books that made it to the shelves and now is one of the savvy people who get them there.Literary and commercial Fiction, historical, middle grade, young adult, up-market women’s fiction, mysteries & thrillers, novels with some fantastical or futuristic elements, children’s and short story collections. |
Blair Hewes Blair Hewes is a member of the AAR and serves on the Program Committee. She is also a member of SCBWI. She has a BA in American Literature from Middlebury College. She looks for literary and commercial fiction as a well as narrative non-fiction for children and adults. For middle-graders, young adults, and even adults, she believes it is important to provide books for both the reader actively looking to expand his or her mind and the one who simply wants to be caught up in a good story. When both aims are accomplished in one book it is truly exciting. She is also interested in non-fiction books on pop-culture, historical figures, lifestyle, and women’s issues. She is not interested in political thrillers, or medical thrillers.
She frequently speaks at writers conferences and events. Member: AAR · SCBWI |
Derk Koldewyn Derk Koldewyn learned to read early and hasn't stopped. After college, where he majored in English, he managed a national chain bookstore and eventually landed at Deseret Book, where for several years he was the Office Services manager. Last year he finally made the switch to publishing division, where he is now an editorial assistant.
Deseret Book publishes LDS non-fiction: doctrinal works, compliations of conferences and symposia (mainly the BYU Women's Conference and Sperry Symposium), cookbooks, teaching helps, and self-help; and LDS fiction: adult, YA, and children's picture books. We also produce abridged books and talks on CD. Recent titles include Hearing the Voice of the Lord by Elder Gerald Lund, Mormon Scientist, the biography of Henry Eyring by his grandson, Henry J. Eyring, and Golf: Lessons I Learned While Looking for My Ball, by John Bytheway. Shadow Mountain, our national market imprint, publishes values-based fiction and non-fiction. Recent titles include: What's the Big Deal About Pornography, The Wednesday Letters (a New York Times bestseller), and the Fablehaven YA fantasy series (also a New York Times Bestselling series). |
Kirk L. Shaw Kirk L. Shaw is senior editor for Covenant Communications. He has also done work for Boston publisher David R. Godine, Northwestern University Press, and the scientific journal Western North American Naturalist. During his career, he has produced and edited fiction (in many genres), memoirs, historical, art, gardening, gift, technical, scientific, creative nonfiction, and doctrinal books. He enjoys writing short stories and especially relishes reading speculative fiction, historical novels, New England poetry, young adult, post-apocalyptic, and dystopia novels. He is looking for good suspense, historical, romance, adventure, and other fiction and is also looking for good gift book and inspirational/doctrinal nonfiction that would suit an LDS audience. |
Anita StansfieldAnita Stansfield has been the reigning queen of LDS romantic fiction for more than a decade, although her general market releases have been among her readers favorites. Her work has shattered the stereotypes of romance novels with her trademark ability to combine great storytelling with intense psychological depth as she focuses on the emotional struggles of the human experience. Her novels cover a huge spectrum, from the eighteenth century to the present, from heart warming to heart stopping. Hundreds of thousands of readers agree: Anita Stansfield's characters and the lives they lead are not easy to forget. |
WiDo PublishingWe are a new company, but our design and editing team have many years of combined experience. Located in Salt Lake City, our people are excited by great writing, good books, and appealing design. WiDo Publishing is a small, independent publishing house established for the purpose of finding promising authors with compelling stories to tell and bringing their works to the public. We want to find, publish and promote books that have the potential to become modern classics, that merit promotion beyond the intial two years. There are ten new titles currently in the works for 2010 and 2011. |
Shanna Beaman Shanna Beaman is a success mentor, teaching all aspects of goal setting, and the creator of the web-based Goals Mentor program. She is currently writing a book about goals and how to fit goal setting into busy schedules. She is the creator of two blogs and writes small posts in each frequently. Shanna knows the power of setting goals and in following your dreams. She has encouraged others to follow their dreams by motivating and inspiring them. Shanna’s passion is sharing her knowledge and experiences with others, helping them turn their dreams into reality by reaching higher, setting goals, and taking action to achieve what many people only wish for. |
Cherie Call Cherie Call was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona and has been writing music since her early teens. She has released seven full length albums of her original songs. Her latest album, "Grace", was released in October of 2009. Some highlights of Cherie's performing life include playing "in the round" at Nashville's famous Bluebird Cafe, being a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Newfolk songwriting competition, and opening for bluegrass legend Tim O'Brien at the University of Utah. Cherie's songs have been included on several albums produced for the Especially for Youth summer programs, and also on the soundtracks to many independent films, including God's Army, Charly, and the Banff Award winning film, "True Fans". Cherie currently hosts a podcast on yldsr.com called "The New Music Show", where she interviews other musicians about their latest work. Cherie currently lives in Utah with her husband and two daughters. |
Carolyn Campbell Carolyn Campbell is a reporter for the LA Bureau of People Magazine. She is also the author of three nationally-published books and 800 magazine articles, in publications such as Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, Family Circle, Writer's Digest and Guideposts. She was named Writer of The Year by the League of Utah Writers in 1997. |
James Dashner James Dashner is the author of The Maze Runner, selected a Best YA Book of 2009 by Kirkus, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Indigo, Hudson Booksellers, and others. It has also been selected to many state reading lists and sold rights in over a dozen foreign languages. The sequel, The Scorch Trials, comes out October 12th. James is also the author of The 13th Reality and The Jimmy Fincher Saga. |
Anna del C. Dye Anna del C. Dye was born in Valparaiso, Chile, amongst some of the world’s most famous beaches. After meeting Rodney, a native of Idaho, in her hometown, Anna traveled to Utah on Christmas Eve and married him two weeks later. Their love story, Why Him? was published by Covenant in the book entitled Tender Mercies. Anna and Rodney reside in Taylorsville, Utah and are the parents of three princes and a princess. The author works with the community and had been able to collect more than 400 books that she distributed at: Legacy Hills Care Center’s library. American Preparatory Academy, Bennion Elementary, and Majestic Elementary in Utah. Anna is an accomplished, multi-award winning author. One of her short stories entitled Amerine—Fairy Princess won an award in the Oquirrh Writers contest. The first book in her new YA Romance Series entitled "A Kingdom By The Sea" also won an award. Anna’s works also include The Silent Warrior Trilogy, the beginning saga of her YA Elf Series. She is fluent in Spanish and English. For more information contact Anna at www.annadelc.com. |
Mike Eldredge I began my writing career while still in the Navy, publishing my first article “The Other Side of the Island; USS Utah at Pearl Harbor,” in the prestigious Naval publication, United States Naval Institute Proceedings in December, 1976. The following year I published another article, “A Battleship for Utah; Naval Tradition under Governor Spry,” in the Utah Historical Quarterly in the Summer Issue of 1977. I continued writing while in law school, first with the Journal of Legal Studies which I was invited to join in 1978 because of my writing background. My first effort was “Administrative Relief from Zoning Ordinances,” that was published in the Summary of Utah Law: Land Use, Zoning and Eminent Domain, a book published by the BYU Journal of Legal Studies in 1979. I was promoted to editor in 1979, and we produced a second book entitled Summary of Utah Family Law published by the Journal of Legal Studies in 1980. I was also editor on the ABA/LSD Tenth Circuit Newsletter and editor of The Clark Memorandum, a BYU Alumni Magazine, in which I authored “Franklin S. Richards: Attorney In Crisis,” in the April, 1980 issue. After a six year hiatus while I was building my law practice, I again returned to publishing, this time in a two part series “Automating a Law Office with PCs,” published in October and December of 1986 in the Utah Lawyer Alert (predecessor to the Utah Bar Journal). I have published four books to date: Shades of Gray: Memoirs of a Prussian Saint on the Eastern Front, which I coauthored with Arthur O. Naujoks Jr., My Life and the Winter Games: A Volunteer’s Story and Walker’s Promise, a novel set in Kamas, Utah in 1942, all of which were awarded the League of Utah Writers Quill Award. Ahriman’s Light is my fourth book, an historical novel dealing with the Spear of Destiny, and its return to Austria in the winter of 1946. It won the 2006 Hollywood Book Festival “Unpublished Manuscript” category. The Hollywood Book Festival gives awards for manuscripts best suited for screenplays. In 1992 I founded Mill Creek Press with the intention of taking my love of books to the next level, publishing. In 2003 I altered the business model of Mill Creek Press to focus on Print on Demand and Print Quantity Needed technology. Although still in its infancy, this technology is showing promising signs of gaining a foothold in the Utah and Western United States markets. |
Sara Fitzgerald Sara Fitzgerald is a best selling author for Champagne Books. She has four published novels. She was named Writer of the Year 2006 by the League of Utah Writers. She taught creative writing for over five years through Granite School District. She has had several articles, short stories and poems published. CREATING TIME TO WRITEWhile Sara was teaching creative writing the number one excuse for not writing her students gave her was lack of time. She has dealt with this same issue herself over the years between working full-time jobs and teaching her classes. She struggled with this issue having book contracts and writing while getting her master degree in social work at the same time. However, the biggest challenge to her writing time was having a child with autism. Sara’s time was filled with numerous interventions for her daughter. In fact so much of her time was consumed with helping her daughter that she gave up writing altogether. However, writing has always been a huge passion for Sara and she decided she had to learn new ways for finding time to pursue it. She wants to share these secrets with you. Also you will do an interactive activity to find out where your time goes. |
K.C. Grant K.C. Grant was born in rural Idaho, but has made Utah her home for most of her life. After serving an LDS Spanish-speaking mission to Anaheim, California, USA, she returned and continued her studies at Weber State University, participating in a study abroad program that allowed her to study at the Centro Mexicano Internacional in Michoacan, Mexico. She has been a freelance writer for eight years. Much of her work appears in family-oriented magazines such as LDSLiving, Latter-Day Woman, Back Home, Parents & Kids, and Natural Life. She is currently the president of the Bountiful chapter of the League of Utah Writers and is a member of the Association for Mormon Letters and LDSStorymakers. Though raising her children is still her most important task, she combines it with the demanding job of working out the numerous plots she has for future novels. She and her husband of sixteen years, Todd, love to travel and scout out new settings for books. While ancient Mexico was the setting for her first published novel, Abish: Daughter of God, which was released by Covenant in 2010 and its sequel, Their Mothers Knew, due out January 2011--modern Mexico was perfect for her suspense novel titled, Venom, also to be released 2011. Kim and her husband recently returned from Vancouver, which has provided quite nicely for her latest project, a sequel to her suspense novel. Other future publications will include a short story, "A White Christmas," to be published in Covenant's seasonal compilation by various LDS authors. |
Kathryn Jenkins With thirty-six years of professional experience in corporate and internal communications, public relations, media relations, marketing communications, and publications management, Kathryn B. Jenkins currently serves as the managing editor at Covenant Communications. Prior to her current position, she was press secretary for a U.S. Congressman; vice-president of Aspen West Publishing Company; manager of strategic communications for software manufacturer Novell, Inc.; director of public relations at Westminster College, a private college in Salt Lake City; and held communications management positions at a variety of national and international corporations. She also served as editor at an array of companies and for a variety of publications, including BYU Today, the Ensign, Well Magazine, Mountainwest Magazine, and The Herbalist. Former president-elect of the Association of Utah Publishers, she was also on the board of directors of the Mental Health Association of Utah County and the Constitutional Principles Policy Council. She has held membership in the Consortium of Utah Women in Higher Education, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the International Association of Business Communicators, the National Association of Earth Science Editors, and the National Association of State Poetry Societies. She was president-elect of the Republican Women of Utah County and was actively involved in political campaigns at the state and national level. She is the author or co-author of more than seven dozen published books, most of them in the health and wellness field, and wrote an award-winning book-length poetry manuscript recognized by the governor of Utah. A former member of Sigma Delta Chi, she was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America. Her interests include reading, writing, cooking, traveling, and doing family history. She has met five presidents of the United States, sailed up the Nile River, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, eaten tempura in Tokyo, and received a dozen long-stemmed red roses from a stranger on the street in Athens. |
Clint Johnson Clint Johnson is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction, and technical work. His first nationally published novel, Green Dragon Codex released in June, 2009. He is both an Active member of SFWA and a Published and Listed member of SCBWI. Currently, he works as a Writing Advisor at Salt Lake Community College where he works with students of all natures and at all levels of writing experience and English acquisition. In the last four years he has conducted over 3,700 individual tutorial sessions. His past writing experience includes professional technical writing for Atlantic Marketing in San Diego, work on an academic editing staff, and freelance editing. He is also the recipient of many League of Utah Writers’ awards including 2007 First Place Young Adult Novel and 2006 First Place Novel. He is a frequent conference speaker, school visitor, and workshop instructor. For more information about Clint and his writing see: www.ClintJohnsonWrites.com. TRIPLE-DUTY WRITING: HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR STORY'S POTENTIAL IN EVERY PARAGRAPH AND PAGEWhat exactly is writing a story? What happens on the page between page one and fifty or five hundred? The answer to this question is the three great narrative actions that are story. Learn what they are and how to use all three simultaneously to make a story your reader can't put down. Come prepared to write and discuss. A hands on narrative workshop for fiction and non-fiction writers alike. |
Elana Johnson Elana Johnson’s debut novel, Control Issues, will be published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster) in Summer 2011. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for download. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog (with over 1300 followers) or her website. She also co-authors the Query Tracker blog, the League of Extraordinary Writers, and What Writers Read. Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary. |
Heather B. Moore—Precision Editing Group Heather B. Moore is the award-winning author of several historical novels which are set in Ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica. She is not old and doesn’t remember the time period, so Google has become a great friend. Although she has spent several years living in the Middle East, she prefers to forget the smells. Heather writes under the pen name H.B. Moore so that men will buy her books. She is also the author of one non-fiction book, which took her much too long to research and write, so she is back to novel writing (when she isn’t editing).Visit Heather’s website here: www.hbmoore.com Heather manages the editing company: www.PrecisionEditingGroup.com. She and her senior editors run a fun and informative editing/writing blog: http://writingonthewallblog.blogspot.com/ LIFE AFTER THE FIRST DRAFT: STEPS TO SELF-EDITINGFinishing the first draft of a manuscript is a major accomplishment, but it’s far from ready to submit. Editor/Author Heather Moore will take you through the necessary steps of self-editing and how to use critical feedback from alpha readers effectively. Whether you’re writing your first manuscript or your sixth, your next contract may depend on the quality of work you turn in. |
Marilyn Richardson SELF-PUBLISHING FOR DUMMIESMarilyn W. Richardson, a former dance educator, retired to Southern Utah 16 years ago with her husband, Jay. Looking for a new creative outlet, she chose writing, “and what a lot I had to learn.” Her greatest publishing success is selling a story to Spider Magazine and seeing it in print last October. (But I’ve yet to be paid.) Past President of the LUW and active with the Heritage Writers Guild in St George, Marilyn has self-published three books, We’ve Got to Do Something About Mother!, My First Car, and Stars Around the Sun, a Maid of Honor to Queen Elizabeth the First. “What I learned along the way was amazing. If I can help others avoid some of my mistakes, I’d like to do that. There are hundreds of on-line companies ready to publish your book but there a few basics you need to consider before signing on.” The workshop includes info on cost, how to get a great cover, paper weight, chipping, the clean cut, the professional look, free bookmarks, unexpected problems, testimonials. |
Anita Stansfield Anita Stansfield began writing at the age of sixteen, and her first novel was published sixteen years later. For more than a decade she has been the number-one best-selling author of women’s fiction in the LDS market, although men make up a significant percentage of her readers. Her work is best known for its inimitable ability to explore the human experience. Stansfield served as president of the Utah Valley Chapter of the League of Utah Writers in 1990, and was an active member for many years. She is a multiple winner of the Golden Quill from the League of Utah Writers, and she has also received many other awards, including a special award for pioneering new ground in LDS fiction, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Whitney Academy for LDS Literature. Her forty-eighth book was released in August, 2010. Anita is also the mother of five and she has two adorable grandsons. |
Patricia StevensonPatricia Stevenson is the vice president in charge of special projects for Gastronomy, Inc. the company which owns the prestigious Market Street Grill Restaurant in Salt Lake City. She was born and reared in the West and has been active in the business community for many years. She has also traveled extensively. Utilizing these experiences, she has been able to capture situations and locales of the adventures of Del Channing, the protagonist in her first novel, The Dilapidated Man. At the end of her talk, she plans to reveal a surprising secret that makes her work especially inspiring and underscores the theme of our presentation that "Anyone Can Write and Sell a Novel." |
Jill Vanderwood Jill Vanderwood is the 2008 Writer of the Year, 2010 Publication Chair and 2010 Writer of the Year Chair. She is the self published author of five children’s books, including the three time national book award winner, What’s It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids, by the Way They Live. Her fifth book, Drugs Make You Un-Smarter, will be published this fall. Jill has taught workshops on marketing and self publishing for the League of Utah Writers Round Up, as well as chapter meetings. She speaks to schools, reading her books, teaching writing assignments and teaching lessons on recycling and the problems with litter. In June, 2010, Jill was invited to California to participate in the documentary, Success Principals, along with prominent business leaders and health professionals. SELF PUBLISHING AND PROMOTING YOUR BOOKSome of the ideas that will be covered in my workshop:
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