Events.
Here's what I'm up to. Let's hook up.
OF KINGS, QUEENS AND COLONIES
November 16, 2021
Now at Amazon
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
A Study in Mystery (LLWRC 837)
Tuesday Nights (7 sessions)
Oct. 25 - Dec. 2, 2022
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Look behind the curtain of the formulaic, but eternally popular genre: the Mystery Story. Learn about the constructions, tropes, types and methods that make the modern whodunit. Designed for both writers and fans of the mystery genre, class will include assignments and activities on plot, character web, record keeping, suspense, tension and conflict. Refine your work as you're asked the questions: Did you hide the clue well enough? Does the audience care about the victim? Is the suspense tight enough? By the end of the course, if the crime is writing a mystery story, the "Whodunit" will be you!
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Horror Writing Bookcamp
(LLWRC 862)
Saturdays (3 sessions)
Oct. 29, Nov. 5 & 12, 2022
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Horror is more than a genre, it’s a physical sensation, the place where the unknown lurks, where nothing can be assumed, and anything can happen. Explore the nuances of creating levels of fear, and effective techniques that allow your writing to create a desired reaction – fear! dread! disgust! - from your readers. This intensive two week course of lecture presentation and workshop will give you an opportunity to write and present your work for critique and discussion (which isn’t as scary as it sounds!)
Hunter High School FBLA
Tuesday November 15, 2022
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Hunter Hight School
4200 South 5600 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84120
My annual panel visit to talk to future business leaders about running your own business. I've done that. am doing it. So why not me?
Utah Authors Day
Saturday December 3, 2022
1:00-4:00 p.m.
The Printed Garden
9445 South Union Square Unit A
Sandy, Utah 84070
Come visit me and support local writers and this very cool offiially recognied holiday?
APEX talk
Monday December 5, 2022
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Johnny Worthen and the Dalai Lama - A Dharmavinaya (Buddhism) approach to becoming a better writer.
Description: In this Apex session Johnny will present his well-loved and well-seasoned (yet still evolving) meditations and exercises to help you clear the chattering monkeys from your head (any kind of internal resistance) and help you find a writer's peace of mind. He will help you achieve a mental state where you can detach from anything that shackles your writing. He will help free you from yourself so you can achieve a state of transcendent well-writing. :
OF CIVILIZED, SAVED AND SAVAGES
Launch Day
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Rocky Mountain Chapter of MMA talk
Thursday, January 12, 2023
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Presentation: THE FACETED STORY
A presentation about those elements of narrative fiction that lend depth, value and resonance to writing. Every story has some, the best have many. We’ll learn how to identify which elements to include in your story. Subplots and multiple stories, arcs, settings, themes, novelties, information and more. A little foresight, a touch of research and a clear goal can nurture the muse to bring out the strength of the form. Writers will be challenged to expand their fiction into elements beyond mere story and character. Emphasis will be placed on theme as well as history, education and entertainment qualities. Examples and techniques will be offered to help shape niches and expand any story into new areas of interest.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Creative Writing 1 (LLWRC 780)
Tuesday Nights (6 sessions)
Jan. 17 - Feb. 21, 2023
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Creative Writing (LLWRC 780):Creative Writing (LLWRC 780): How do we tell stories? What do we include in writing, and what remains unsaid? Build your voice as we focus on a group of specific techniques for shaping and informing your creative skills, including character, plot, point of view, description, dialogue, and setting. In class, we will read short selections of writing to see what techniques we can beg, borrow, and steal from them. We will experiment with in-class writing exercises and read and discuss each other's work. Writing can be inventive, illogical, chaotic, unexpected, strange, and wonderful. In this class, we will practice seeing the world in new ways and then recreating that experience on the page.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Zen Lessons for Writers (LLWRC 873)
Three Saturdays
Feb. 11, 18 & 25, 2023
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Zen Lessons For Writers (LLWRC 873): Join a published author as he shares his discoveries in Eastern philosophy and their applications to the life of a writer. We will focus on overcoming writer's block, the nature of the Muse, and the nature of the work. This is a class about wellness and art, philosophy and creation, work, success, and existence. Sessions include directed mindfulness meditations, lectures on basic Buddhist concepts, and explorations of how these can be successfully applied to the author's journey. You will experience creative writing, discussions, homework, and camaraderie.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Yep, it's a zoom meeting class. Anyone can join, provided there's room, which is always pretty limited.
Creative Writing 2 (LLWRC 825)
Tuesday Nights (6 sessions)
Mar. 7 - Apr. 11, 2023
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Creative Writing 2 (LLWRC 825): Taught in a workshop format, this course will get your creative juices flowing as we expand on topics covered in Creative Writing: voice, tone, point of view and use of tense along with journeying into literary elements such as metaphor and simile, symbolism, structure, and others. This class is a fun way to build and develop the skills in an encouraging and supportive environment. Come prepared to read, write, and talk. This course is designed and required to be taken following Creative Writing (LLWRC 780).
Pike's Peak Writes Conference
Apr. 27-30, 2023
I'll be presenting again!
The History of Mystery
A literary survey of this most modern genre. Crime, class and creative license. how dreadful pulp became acclaimed literature and then the most popular genre in the world. Crime pays and entertains. How did we get here? What are the elements that define the current meta? A who dunnit and a how dunnit.
Writing to Theme
Raise your work to literary levels by consciously incorporating themes. Learn how to identify what you’re trying to say and actively nurture the subtler but greater questions you’re addressing. Enhance writing with symbols as signposts, layers of grays and depths of meaning. Give the literary critics something to enjoy, Class will study the therapeutic qualities of writing and ask the author to consciously incorporate ideas of theme into their work, exploring the human condition through parallel plots, symbols, conflict, and alternative points of view to address lingering questions and personal issues. From the lighthouse of intent, to hard questions, symbols, subplots and echoes, the class will encourage the writer to plumb the depths of meaning, bleed a little and create multiple strands of meaning in their work.
The Muddled Middle
It’s the hardest part. You know the beginning, it flowed like water, you know the end, it’ll be breathtaking, now you just have to write the connecting bit, the eighty percent between the two. No problem, but your Muse is on vacation, another project beckons and there’s little enthusiasm for the next chapter. Could this be writer’s block? This is the muddled middle. Class will explore this terrible phenomenon and offer concrete tools to overcome it and return the writer to the rails.
PreQuill
Virtual & one day event Apr. 29, 2023
(yes I have a conflict, but I'll be there virtually. I hope.
Quills
Aug. 10–13, 2023