Celebrity Saturday at AllWriters with Kelly Moran

From the desk of Kathie Giorgio, Director, AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop LLC:

CELEBRITY SATURDAY: KELLY MORAN

WAUKESHA – Do you love to write, or write of love? We have the celebrity lecturer for you! AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop welcomes special guest lecturer Kelly Moran with her workshop, FALLING FOR FICTION: A ROMANTIC VIEW.

This comprehensive workshop will traverse the different levels of writing from an in depth look at the elements of a good story, through avoiding pitfalls in your work, and on to the realms of pitches, editors and agents. The focus will primarily be on the romance genre, but writers of all styles and abilities will benefit. As an added bonus, Kelly will critique the beginning of your current work, up to five pages.

KELLY MORAN began her writing career in the Indie market, becoming the recipient of an Editor's Choice Award, a Finalist in the 2008 Best Book Awards, and a Finalist in the 2009 Indie Excellence Awards before moving into traditional publishing. She is the winner of the 2013 Catherine Award through RWA and just signed a two-book deal with Berkley (Penguin Group USA). Her books not only have honors from the top review sites, but from NY Times bestsellers as well. She is a respected reviewer and a Romance Writers of America member.

Celebrity Saturdays are a great chance to broaden your knowledge of what it takes to be successful and to learn from writers who are already knee deep in an author’s life. Kelly Moran’s workshop will be held on Saturday, February 1^st, 2014. This event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and costs $85, which includes a lunch catered by Waukesha’s own Café de Art.

AllWriters’ Workplace and Workshop offers on-site and online writing courses in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching, editing, and marketing services. A schedule of classes and registration is available online at www.AllWritersWorkshop.com or you can call 262-446-0284. AllWriters’ is located at 234 Brook Street, Unit 2, in historic downtown Waukesha.

Summer Hanford

AllWriters' Assistant

www.summerhanford.com 

Summer Hanford on Facebook 

234 Brook St., Unit 2
Waukesha WI 53188
Phone: 262-446-0284
www.allwritersworkshop.com
Please "like" Author Kathie Giorgio on Facebook, and follow KathieGiorgio on Twitter!

Wisconsin Author AJ Knauss supports OATH

AJ Knauss returns with a special request to support

Operation All the Way Home.

We first met AJ earlier this year when she came to share about her book Room Four. Read the post.

 Recently she sent this request:

Hi Lisa,

I have partnered with Operation All the Way Home to donate all my book proceeds until the end of my current army tour to their organization.  OATH is a group of high school students who are building an accessible home for SPC Jerral Hancock. On his birthday, he became paralyzed, burned and lost his left arm in Iraq.  He has two young kids and an indomitable spirit.

As a physician I know too well that the acute trauma care we provide is only a small part, the long road after is everything.  kids and Mr. Hancock are truly inspiring.

They are over halfway there in fundraising and I think they could get there so quickly if word spread.

Thank you again for your support of Wisconsin authors!

MAJ Anne Johnson MD

Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

author of ROOM FOUR, AJ Knauss

 

 

 

Mission Statement

    OATH is a grass-roots, community effort created and organized by the Pride of the Nation students of Lancaster High School.  
    The mission of Operation All The Way Home (OATH) is to assist veterans of the United States Armed Forces with the acquisition of housing, both permanent and transitional. OATH also assists veterans with other needs as they relate to assimilating into civilian life after completion of their service.
    OATH's current mission is to raise funds and break ground for construction of a new home for wounded warrior, Jerral Hancock, within one year. Committed to working from June 1, 2013 to June 1, 2014, the students have enlisted for a one-year "tour of duty" to make this happen.  


About the book:

It's just after Christmas and Alan Fries, hapless accountant, wonders why nurses with antler hats are hovering over him. He endures a three day coma stuck with only Jerry for company, an 87-year-old crank who died in the same room earlier but is waiting for someone to sign the death certificate. Jerry and Alan becomes dead flies on the wall of an aging Chicago hospital and observe the staff...the doctor who leaves his sperm sample in the work fridge, the veteran nurse putting the kibosh on an intern's crush, the holiday hamfork injuries and the various nutcases who file through the ER doors. When they uncover a billing scandal and the truth about the corrupt CEO who is bankrupting the hospital they get to work. But can they put the proof in front of the eyes of the living in time? Can they save the hospital before driving each other crazy? Will Alan get resuscitated and start the bucket list he never had? A grouchy, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming tale of how tough love shines through the crustiest exterior.

ISBN: 978-1477572436
$11.95 Print
$3.79 E-book

Connect with AJ:

Amazon Author Page
Website

 

Greg Peck with updated book Death Beyond the Willows

Death Beyond the Willows by Greg Peck

 

 “Greg Peck’s work is a breath of fresh air,” says Ben Logan, author of the popular Wisconsin book The Land Remembers.

 

Death Beyond the Willows is a true story of rural history surrounding the shocking 1927 tragedy in Portage, Wisconsin that befell a couple from Dane County on their wedding day. It’s a story about the family farm and how we’re losing that part of our heritage. It’s a story about an old Chevy in the days when highways still offered primitive transportation. It’s a story about spirituality and a clash of religions that divided the two families—with dramatic and surprising twists. And it’s a story that emphasizes how every person, every life, holds a library of stories.

 

This newly released edition includes fresh graphics designed to enhance readership.

The Pirkl family tree will help readers follow who’s who among the many relatives.

Maps pinpoint clusters of key locations.

A new cover is tastefully designed.

An Afterword tells how the book inspired bus tours of key sites and of stunning coincidental stories that emerged and brought this rich history full circle.

 

Peck spent years researching this tragedy, which inspired the late Zona Gale, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and native of Portage, to write a fictional short story, “Bridal Pond.” The book weaves the true, full story, and the writers spent months working on and publishing this update.

 

To purchase: Greg will ship a signed copy for $20. It would make a good Christmas gift. Please pass the word! Send checks to him.

 

Greg Peck

1421 Eastwood Ave.

Janesville, WI 53545

 

Also available as a paperback on Amazon

Rattlesnake Valley Publishing

ISBN-13: 978-0983060147

$15.26

 

About the author:

 

Greg Peck is Opinion page editor of The Gazette in Janesville, Wis. He graduated from Marshall High School in Marshall, Wis., in 1975. A 1979 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, he has worked and written for Wisconsin newspapers the past 34 years. He has won a variety of journalism and nonfiction awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Inland Press Association and the Wisconsin Writers Association. He serves on the board of directors of the WWA.

 

 

 

Upcoming Writers and Readers Events in Wisconsin

The Southeastern Festival of Books date has moved to Fall, UW - Waukesha
September 20-21
Featuring Kathy Giorgio
free

Wisconsin Writers Association annual Fall Conference and Jade Ring Contest Banquet, Wisconsin Rapids
September 27-29
Featuring Terry Whalin
Complete Tix: $90 for non-members

Sterling North Book Festival, Edgerton
September 28
free

Washington Island Literary Festival
October 4-5
Featuring NPR guests
Tix: $75

Wisconsin Book Festival, Madison
October 17-20

Book review, literary panache: Pepperland, by Barry Wightman

Pepperland by Barry Wightman

Running Meter Press

c. April 2013

$9.99 eBook; $19.99 Print

Genre: historical fiction

 

I am in a strange place as I read Pepperland. I am transported to a vague recollection of my father coming home to announce the assignation of President Kennedy, of wearing granny dresses and wire rims in grade school during the hippy movement, of wondering what Kent State was about, of seeing welcome banners in the neighborhood when a son returned from Viet Nam and the resulting devastation, and of being in college and watching the movie Billy Jack and wondering what I could protest when the world was trying to put the seventies behind it and going corporate.

 

Set in the late sixties, Pepperland revolves around  Martin, “Pepper,” Porter, a man who wanted “to bang on the drum all day,” as the song says, instead of using his considerable talent and college degree in computer programming to bring in the big bucks of corporate America, possibly losing his soul in the process. Instead, he explores a relationship with a woman he met at school in Ann Arbor, “Fights the good fight and makes a difference,” as one of his professors challenges, by putting together a rock band and fighting to be heard. Avoiding entropy is a theme as the reader follows Pepper while he finds his lost love in a Playboy club, works through the childhood death of a younger brother, and records his music.

 

Set in “Tracks” the story unfolds like an LP. It reads almost like a memoir, or an epitaph of changing times, making me wonder if we let go of that era a little too quickly. Like Harold Crick’s watch in Stranger Than Fiction, Pepper’s guitar pick sends subtle messages, reminding Pepper to follow the dream. I am a step out of place, as I laughed at Tony Orlando, but for those who appreciate the music and musicians of the sixties, Pepperland will play like a much-enjoyed echo of an era that isn’t lost, just resting at the back of the mind.

 

 

Garden Memoir sure to enchant

 

Garden Truths From My Family’s Stories

By Chris Eirschele

c. 2013

36-page book with eight chapters, photographs

 

“The innate ability to grow plants is a gift from my parents; this is their story; what I did with it is mine.”

 

Garden Truths is a charming story of family, legacy, gifts, secrets and joy, through it all, growing things. Eirschele’s memoir will touch readers who have fond memories of their parents.

 

Eirschele’s dad loved to grow flowers from bulbs and perennials, and especially loved to share them. Some of the authors’ family and friends shared their memories of the precious gift.

 

Throughout the book, Eirschele has photographs of her own plants, plants that illustrate the chapters. She also takes care to include instructions for the growth, nurture, and storage of the plants she talks about.

 

From lilies to sweet Williams to her mother’s indoor potted citrus trees (an orangery), exotic plants, and fruit and vegetable hints, Eirschele’s gentle memoir is sure to enchant.

 

 

About the Author:

Chris Eirschele is a freelance garden writer whose current work is found on www.BucketTripper.com. Chris' inspiration comes from plants grown, gardens explored and garden paths traveled. Her articles have been read in such far ranging publications as Ohio Gardener, Greenhouse Grower and Milwaukee Magazine. Her muse resides at her blog, www.StayGardening.com.

She is a past Master Gardener with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee County Extension and as member of the Southeast Wisconsin Master Gardeners and was horticulturally educated at Milwaukee Area Technical College. A native of Wisconsin, Chris now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

She has maintained a membership with the Garden Writers Association since 2006. Chris' past memberships include the Perennial Plant Association and the Daylily Society of SouthEast Wisconsin.

New Book! WWA's Jeanette Michalets, author of The Ten Cent Cafe

Jeanette Michalets's first novel, The Ten Cent Café, 

has arrived

Historical/mainstream fiction, set in Wisconsin.
It is available through Amazon, through her website, and at Books and Company in Oconomowoc

$3.99 Kindle
$10.44 Paper

In a charming café in a small Wisconsin city—where everything on the menu costs a mere dime—Henry Durant’s sinister history collides with his promising present in a way that will affect generations to come.

Starting in the early part of the twentieth century, the novel reveals the lives of four generations of Durant men. Patriarch Henry is a French-Canadian entrepreneur determined to create a new life for his large family in his adopted hometown. His son, George, a self-proclaimed ladies’ man, seeks love and adventure in 1920s Hollywood and the world of silent movies. Aaron, George’s son, is a tormented individual who longs to be a successful writer. His aspirations bring him into conflict with his father and eventually lead him on a downward spiral. In the end, it is Aaron’s son, Paul, who must overcome the anger and sense of abandonment he feels toward his father in order to find love and realize his own aspirations—dreams that bring him full circle—back to the little city where his ancestors once dwelled.

The Ten Cent Café is a timeless tale of love and loss, of ambitions realized and others abandoned, but above all, it is a story about the familial threads that bind a family together and sometimes break it apart.

The Ten Cent Cafe was recognized in the Wisconsin Writers Association’s annual contest in 2011.

Join Michaelets and friends at her book launch/signing party on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Vino Etcetera in Oconomowoc. 

About the Author:

JEANETTE MICHALETS is the author of two nonfiction books and has published in numerous magazines, including Ancestry. She enjoys freelancing for the local newspaper and has been recognized for her essays. The Ten Cent Cafe was honored in 2011 by the Wisconsin Writers Association in its Jade Ring First Chapter Contest.

 

Michalets lives in Wisconsin with her husband and two dogs. In her free time, she volunteers for local historical preservation groups. She is at work on another novel.

 

Visit Jeanette's website