Two events this month to amp up your writing

The Florida Writers Association is about Writers Helping Writers, and the Florida Writers Foundation is about promoting literacy. Both organizations have worthy goals, and both are about helping others.

Even when we encounter obstacles.

Some last-minute changes in the lineup of the Florida Writers Foundation’s October 18 Celebrity Workshop have created a chance for readers and writers to hear one of Florida’s finest, brightest (and most cat-loving) mystery writers talk about the topic he knows best. We announced this news a week ago, but the information bears repeating.

Vic DiGenti (also writing as Parker Francis) is the author of the Windrusher series and the Quint Mitchell Mysteries, which include the award-winning Matanzas Bay and soon-to-be-released Bring Down the Furies. He’ll spend the day with a group of lucky writers focusing on techniques to create suspense—a useful topic since virtually all genres, from memoir to mainstream fiction, need some kind of suspense to keep readers engaged.

As writing coach Jamie Morris phrased it, this is one of the “door closes, window opens” opportunities. Vic’s workshop will cover much the same ground that of the originally scheduled speaker, R.J. Ellory, who had to withdraw from participation.

This annual event is a fundraiser for the Florida Writers Foundation (FWF), a charitable organization that promotes literacy. FWF is a sister organization to the Florida Writers Association (FWA), which will hold its annual conference in the same hotel October 19-21.

Celebrity Workshop

• When: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., October 18, 2012
• Where: Orlando Marriott Lake Mary hotel, 1501 International Parkway, Lake Mary, FL 32746
• Registration/additional information: visit FloridaWritersFoundation.org

Florida Writers Annual Conference

• When: October 19 – 21, 2012
• Where: Orlando Marriott Lake Mary hotel, 1501 International Parkway, Lake Mary, FL 32746
• Registration/additional information: visit FloridaWriters.net

Have you registered yet? What are you looking for in your workshops and conferences? And—here’s a biggie—do you have a cat (just kidding)?

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