“Writers Helping Writers,” the October 3rd kickoff event of Lake Region Writers Network, drew more than 70 writers from Minnesota and North Dakota.
Provost Wasescha
Dr. Anna Wasescha, provost of M State, welcomed attendees to the college.
Hale meets attendees
Keynote speaker, Jocelyn Hale, executive director of The Loft Literary Center, encouraged writers to help each other and take advantage of networking opportunities across the state.
The conference featured distinguished panelists and published authors Mark Vinz, Athena Kildegaard, Tim Rundquist and Scott Stewart. They shared ideas – low tech and high tech – for networking.
Panel on Networking
Stewart
Over lunch, writers brainstormed ways to keep in touch and support each other in the writing endeavour. Ideas included online classes, list of writers in the region with photos and biographies, notice of contests, a question and answer feature on the blog, want ads, and an anthology.
Getting published is no easy task. Leon Ogroske, Editor of Writers’ Journal, took workshop participants through the nuts and bolts of preparing a manuscript for publishing.
Lein
Meanwhile, Dean Hulse, author of Westhope: Life of a Former Farm Boy, and Linda Lein, writer, instructor and publisher, led a workshop on the many routes to getting published.
More than 70 attendees
Writers came from twenty-seven locations across the region. The conference “network” came from Fergus Falls, Dalton, Underwood, Battle Lake, Clitherall, Vining, Ottertail, Henning, Ashby, Richville, Dent, Perham, Erhard, Sebeka, Park Rapids, Nevis, Vergas, Borup, Pequot Lakes, Alexandria, Morris, Dilworth, Moorhead, Marshall, West Fargo, Fargo and St. Paul.