OUR NEXT CONFERENCE WILL TAKE PLACE ON JULY 23rd, 2011. 
AGAIN AT SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL IN SAN ANSELMO.

As of August 2010, we are accepting requests from speakers for our 2011 conference.  We are looking for speakers in a variety of genres and professions.  Submit requests to verna@capitolcityyoungwriters.org for consideration.

Capitol City Young Writers Conference
(open for adults who sponsor a child's registration)

July 17, 2010

9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL

1500 Butterfield Road  •  San Anselmo, CA 94960  •  415.258.1900 

Special Registration Details:  As an adult, you can sponsor a child to attend the conference at no cost by paying their conference registration of $100.  For your sponsorship, you are able to attend the conference for free (which includes lunch). It's like a 2-for-1 deal and you are helping out a young writer who cannot afford the conference otherwise.  See registration details below.   

Registration Details:  Youth Registration - $100 for the conference.  Includes lunch and a book.  See registration details below.   

 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:  James Redford and Peter S. Beagle
SPECIAL GUEST: Jane Friedman, Writer's Digest

Schedule and registration details noted below, past speaker bio's and their workshop descriptions.
More workshop descriptions coming soon. 

PETER S. BEAGLE is author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He won early recognition from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a high school senior for a poem; the award was accompanied by a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a degree in Creative Writing. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time. Peter also wrote a teleplay the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the screenplay for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi-animated version of The Lord of the Rings, the film which first inspired a teenaged Peter Jackson to read J.R.R. Tolkien. But in the mid-'90s he returned to prose fiction of all lengths, and in 2005, he finally published a coda to The Last Unicorn, a novelette entitled "Two Hearts," as well as beginning work on a full-novel sequel. In 2006, "Two Hearts" won the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and in 2007, it won the Nebula Award in the same category. The story was also nominated as a short fiction finalist for the World Fantasy Award. In 2006, Beagle won the Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction and Fantasy. In 2007, Beagle won the inaugural WSFA Small Press Award for "El Regalo," published in The Line Between (Tachyon Publications).

PETER BEREN is a literary agent and a publishing consultant to authors, self-publishers and independent publishers.  Formerly Vice-President, Publishing at Palace Press International, Publisher of Sierra Club Books and Publisher of VIA Books, he has more than 30 years experience in the publishing industry. The author or co-author of six books, including The Writers Legal Companion and California the Beautiful, he started his career in publishing as a founding staff member of the Boston Phoenix, a lifestyle news weekly .  Peter's consulting clients have included: Nolo Press), Shambhala Publications, Patients Beyond Borders, The School for Self-Healing and Tarcher/Penguin. He served as Marketing Advisor to MILIA: The New Media Publishing Market held annually in Cannes and his literary agency clients include such authors as Brian Froud (Abrams), Laurence Boldt (Penguin), Randi Gunther (New Harbinger) and Don Elium (Ten Speed/Random House).

WORKSHOP: What Literary Agents Do
More than deal makers, literary agents serve as first line editors for publishing houses and their author clients. In addition, they also function in the roles of personal coach, scout, career manager and producer. Peter Beren with his 30 years of experience in the industry, takes us through the many roles literary agents play in the publishing process, and explains why they are important resources for both publishers and authors.

DAVID CORBETT is the author of four critically acclaimed novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, and named both one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington Post and a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book), and Do They Know I’m Running? published in March 2010 to widespread praise. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, and his story “Pretty Little Parasite” was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2009. David has also contributed a chapter to the world’s first serial audio thriller, The Chopin Manuscript—which won an Audie Award for Best Audio Book of 2008—and to its follow-up, The Copper Bracelet. He has taught at UCLA Extension, Book Passage, Wordstock, and the East of Eden Writers Conference. For more about David, go to www.davidcorbett.com.

WORKSHOP: The Facts of (the Writing) Life
Writing what you know requires that you know something worth writing about. Just as inspiration rewards hard work, the imagination relies on experience. Although some great writers never ventured far from their home ground — Flannery O'Connor, for example — most have made a point of launching off into the world in search of adventure as they conceived it. In his talk, David Corbett will discuss how to mold the facts of one's life into the subject of one's art.

PATRICIA V. DAVIS’ aim is to leave her spot of the world just a little bit better than it was before she got there. She focuses on that through her writing, teaching, philanthropic work, and the promoting of other people who she believes have that same goal.  She wrote the award-winning Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, with the hope that it would encourage young women not to make the same mistakes she made. Adelphi University adopted it as a reader for its Gender Studies program, Main Independent Journal called it “delicious”, The Greek Star called it “an inspiring, great read”, and the Orange County Register called her a “Renaissance woman”. As founder and editor-in-chief of the non-partisan Harlots' Sauce Radio  e-magazine and podcast, she loves encouraging new writers and interviewing other “Renaissance people”, such as Neal deGrasse Tyson, Scott James, Jane Friedman, and more. Patricia’s essays, opinion articles, political/social satire, and celebrity interviews have appeared in various newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally. Holding a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and Education, she has taught, spoken, read, and conducted seminars extensively in various venues and schools throughout the US and overseas.

WORKSHOP: The Challenging Art of Satire
In literature, satire is the use of wit, especially irony, to shed light on an unseen truth. In other words, it’s being funny to make a point, and while it’s one of the most difficult literary devices to master, done correctly, it can be make very vivid social commentary. Think “The Daily Show”, or “The Colbert Report”.  In this session, Patricia V. Davis reads examples from a number of satirical works and discusses with the class the approach to satire used in each. We then do some writing exercises to practice our own technique. 

VERNA DREISBACH is the founder and president of Capitol City Young Writers, an organization that began because of her own daughter’s passion and love of writing.  Verna is the editor to the Seal Press anthology, Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horse in their Lives.  Her writing has been featured in books, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers.  Through her agency, Dreisbach Literary Management, Verna represents both fiction and non-fiction authors.  She is the co-founder of The Writers Police Academy, with author Lee Lofland, offering writers the opportunity to learn hands-on police techniques to better their fiction writing.  She teaches through the University of California Davis Extension, serves on the education committee to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s For Art’s Sake Initiative, is part of Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Leadership program for the class of 2010 and has been chosen for Leadership California’s class of 2011. 

 WORKSHOP: Cross-Genre Writing (with Bob Yehling) 
How do we weave poetry into fiction? Or art into non-fiction? How do we turn our stories into interactive experiences between print and online? Or write a novel that has elements of journalism, music, art and journaling in it? Cross-genre (or hybrid) writing is an increasingly popular form of writing that works well with today’s multi-platform publishing options – and with the demands of readers to see original presentations and greater expositions of the narrator’s or characters’ inner and outer worlds. We will share basic strategies for writers who find it hard to stick with one genre, or want to write books that reach the increasingly multi-dimensional reader.

JANE FRIEDMAN is the publisher and editorial director of the Writer’s Digest community at F+W Media in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she oversees Writer’s Digest magazine, Writer’s Digest Books, and the Writer’s Market series—as well as related online media, education, events, and competitions. She functions as strategic leader for the business, and is on a passionate mission to develop the best content and experiences for writers from all walks of life.  If you’re not familiar with Writer’s Digest, since 1920 it has been dedicated to serving writers by providing helpful and authoritative reference guides and services—including the No. 1 magazine for writers, Writer’s Digest, as well as the best-selling annual guide Writer’s Market.  Jane is the author of the Beginning Writer’s Answer Book, keeps a blog on the industry at There Are No Rules, and serves on the advisory board of Digital Book World. She earned her BFA in creative writing from the University of Evansville (Indiana), and she also has an MA in English from Xavier University (Cincinnati).

LEAH GARCHIK lives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district with her husband. She has two grown sons for whom she has baked many cakes. She learned how to knit and everything else useful in her native Brooklyn. She has been writing a daily column in the San Francisco Chronicle since 1984; the National Society of Newspaper Columnists named it “Best Items Column in the Country” in 1992, and in 1998, 2000 and 2004, the San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club named her Favorite Columnist, and a Chronicle Readers' Poll named her Best Gossip. She also reviews books for the Chronicle, does freelance magazine features, wrote the text for San Francisco; The City's Sights and Secrets, a Chronicle book, and Real Life Romance, a collection of quotes from the Overheard portion of her column. She is a panelist on the KALW audience-participation quiz show, "Minds Over Matter" and former bell-ringer in a German polka band. Her garden is overgrown, but she is a tall person, so she doesn't have the heart to prune. She prefers bittersweet to milk chocolate.

  WORKSHOP: How I Stopped Answering the Phone for My Boss: A Career in Journalism, as Journalism Melts
San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Leah Garchik, describes the fun and agony of the best job in town.

DEBORAH GRABIEN was deeply involved in the Bay Area music scene from the end of the Haight-Ashbury heyday until the mid-1970s. Most of her friends have been trying to get her to write about those years—fictionalized, of course!—and, now that she's comfortable with it, she's doing just that, with the multi-book story of the JP Kinkaid mystery novels. After publishing four novels between 1989 and 1993, she then published the five novels of her Haunted Ballads series, brought out by St. Martins Minotaur between 2003 and 2007. Still Life With Devils, a stand-alone thriller about a serial killer who may not be human, was released by Drollerie Press in December 2007. Deborah’s latest novel, Dark’s Tale, a story for Young Adults about a house cat abandoned in San Francisco Golden Gate Park, was released in March of this year. These days, in between cat rescues, cookery, and working for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project, Deborah can be found playing one of eleven guitars, or writing fiction that deals with music, insofar as multiple sclerosis—she was diagnosed in 2002—will allow. For more about Deborah, visit her website at deborahgrabien.com.

WORKSHOP: What Happens Next
What Happens Next? Why the emotional truth of your story (or being in service to your story) may hurt you sometimes, yet will keep your readers involved because they care.

SETH HARWOOD graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2002, and teaches writing and literature at Stanford University and the City College of San Francisco. In 2005, Seth started writing Jack Wakes Up. After almost 9 months of working on the novel, July 2006, the “Jack Palms Crime Podcast Series” was born. As Jack Wakes Up was followed by A Long Way From Disney, Jack Palms II: This is Life, and Jack Palms III: Czechmate, his podcast audience grew into a sizeable world-wide following, as covered by the San Francisco Chronicle here. When Breakneck Books published Jack Wakes Up in March 2008, Seth's online audience jumped all over amazon.com and bought enough copies to raise the book to #1 in Crime/Mystery and #45 overall in books. Jack Wakes Up was subsequently purchased by Three Rivers Press and was re-released on May 5th 2009—‘Cinco de Harwood’. It received rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Michael Connelly, and was featured in the New York Times Book Review. Seth talks about how he sold Jake Wakes Up by giving it away in free podcasts at his website’s home page. Seth’s short stories have been published in various online and print journals, and his story “White” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Seth’s latest novel, Young Junius, is coming out in the fall.

Workshop: Making Free Serialized Audiobooks: How I Built My Audience
In this workshop, we’ll look at the current publishing landscape and the ways you can use the web and new technology to bring your writing to eager readers, thereby generating an audience even before your work sees print.

PAUL R. KAUFMAN is a George Foster Peabody Award-winner for documentary film, “The Public Mind,” series with Bill Moyers, and co-author with Daniel Goleman of the internationally published The Creative Spirit (Dutton/Penguin), a Quality Paperback Book Club Main Selection and Book-of-the-Month Club Selection.  He is a first-prize winner at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, and has been awarded a Cine Golden Eagle for television production, including vignettes with Academy Award-winner and legendary animator Chuck Jones.  Paul’s programs have been praised by The New York Times as "an example of creativity at work" and by The Washington Post as “thought-provoking and delightful.” Paul’s “Creativity in Service” videos are powerful fund-raising and volunteer enlistment tools for a variety of worthy causes, such as innovative inner-city education, efforts to reduce urban violence, women helping mothers facing cancer, volunteers aiding young people in foster care, and therapists providing pro-bono therapy to traumatized children. He has held Visiting Senior Research positions at Harvard University and Stanford University., and while with Stanford’s Program in Information Policy, he worked with the Executive Office of the President of the United States creating guidelines to protect public broadcasting from partisan political manipulation.

WORKSHOP: The Creative Spirit Meets the New Reality 
With the help of entertaining short video clips (animation, actors, musicians) we’ll discover together how the timeless essentials of the creative process are being affected by the new media culture’s style, economics and technology. The old world of stable institutions, yearly salaries, and nurturing apprenticeships is largely gone for the emerging creator. Your creative spirit could use a road map for the way ahead. Here’s a start!

KAY ANDREAS (KOSTOPOULOS) is an acting teacher and director for the Stanford University Drama Department.  She also teaches and directs projects at Stanford for the Graduate School of Business, Symbolic Systems, School of Medicine, and Continuing Studies Program. She is an MFA graduate of A.C.T., where she taught acting and directed student projects as a core faculty member of A.C.T.'s Advanced Training Program. Kay has appeared on many regional stages, including A.C.T., the California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, the Magic Theatre, and Stanford Summer Theatre. A San Francisco Bay Area based vocalist and percussionist, she has performed with guitarists, Lenny Carlson and Josh Workman; pianists Larry Vuckovich, Si Perkoff and Roscoe Gallo; bassists Bill Douglass and Barry Green, and percussionists Jimmy Robinson, Michael Pinkham, Oliver Brown, and Roberto Acevedo. She has also been a featured vocalist with David Hardiman's Big Band. Her group, Black Olive Jazz, has performed at concerts, nightclubs, wineries, and universities.

WORKSHOP: ‘CROW’ and the “Neutral Scene”
Kay will lead a short acting workshop, featuring  a "neutral scene" to illustrate the improvisational elements of CROW-- "character", "relationship", "objective" and "where". This exercise is especially useful for writers, as it enables them to do more specific and colorful character work.

MICHAEL KRASNY, Ph.D., is host of KQED's award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business, and technology. Before coming to KQED Public Radio in 1993, Dr. Krasny hosted Bay TV's Take Issue, a nightly news analysis show, programs for KQED Public Television, KRON television, and National Public Radio, and did news commentary for KTVU television. Since 1970, he has been a professor of English at San Francisco State University.  He is a widely published scholar and critic, as well as a former regular contributor to Mother Jones magazine and a fiction writer.  Dr. Krasny has interviewed many of the leading newsmakers and cultural icons of our time, including Saul Bellow, former President Jimmy Carter, Cesar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, Jane Goodall, Rosa Parks, Salman Rushdie, Carl Sagan, Susan Sontag, Gloria Steinem and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including The SY Agnon Gold Medal for Intellectual Distinction, The Eugene Block Award for Human Rights Journalism, The Inclusiveness in Media Award from The National Conference for Community and Justice, and a Koret Foundation Fellowship. He has also been named ‘Best Talk Show Host’ by Focus magazine, The San Francisco Publicity Club and Citysearch. His book, Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, was published in 2007.

WORKSHOP: Off Mike
Michael Krasny is host and senior editor of KQED-FM radio's award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program covering politics, culture, the arts, health, business and technology. Krasny has served as the host of Forum since 1993. He will discuss a career in radio and answer questions from his audience.

VICKI LARSON is the mom of two teenage boys who happened to grow a lot taller than she is, so, she’ a lot nicer to them, even when she’s fretting over missed curfews and driving skills. When she’s not doing that, she puts in long hours as the Lifestyles Editor at the Marin Independent Journal and as editor of the IJ’s alt weekly, Here.  A longtime journalist, she has worked for almost every newspaper in the Bay Area, (her favorite job was as editor of FastForward, an award-winning monthly newspaper for and by kids) and has freelanced for numerous publications and Web sites, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Hispanic magazine, NurseWeek, and Photo District News. She’s a regular contributor to Mommy Tracked: Managing the Chaos of Modern Motherhood; has an essay in “Knowing Pains: Women on Love, Sex and Work in Our 40s,” a fundraiser for breast cancer; and sometimes has something intelligent to say on her blog, the OMG Chronicles. Vicki is also working on a novel, (of course) as well as living out a childhood fantasy by being the lead singer in a chick band, Sounds Like China. Her biggest claim to fame, however, is having one of her jokes published on the same page as Jerry Seinfeld and Rodney Dangerfield in Jokes to Go.

WORKSHOP: Conducting a Dynamite Interview  
Larson with a long time career in journalism, talks about how to conduct a dynamic, intriguing interview, while at the same time keeping your interviewee relaxed and comfortable. 

GIL MANSERGH was featured in "Writers Digest Magazine" as a "Freelance Success," and has written over a thousand articles or columns for magazines, newspapers and websites and over 60 nonfiction books, manuals and curriculums, including a teen sex-education program for the YWCA, and multi-country cultural guides for international business travelers. A respected Psychological Educator, and 5-year director of the prestigious California Writers Club Conference at Asilomar, Gil is also a Book Doctor (independent story editor) who helps others make their books into bestsellers.  A film critic since 1995, Gil screens over 300 movies each year for his weekly newspaper columns, New York Times affiliated movie blog and “Cinema Toast” radio show on Santa Rosa’s KRSH-FM.  In 2007, he became the producer and host of the Sonoma County/NPR radio show "Word By Word: Conversations With Writers." Broadcast from KRCB-FM, Gil’s eclectic guest list includes award-winning writers Lisa See, Michael Chabon, Sarah Andrews, Eion Colfer, Matthew Pearl, Yiyun Lee, Margaret Cezair Thompson, Seth Harwood, Riane Eisler, Patricia V. Davis, Steve Hockensmith, Pamela Gray, and Ray Bradbury.

WORKSHOP: Hitchcock's 13 Writing Secrets
Alfred Hitchcock co-wrote most of his fifty movies, and Gil Mansergh's entertaining and informative presentation uses film clips by the "Master of Suspense" to show how you too can: 1. Develop your own style (Young and Innocent),  2. Let your fears work for you (The Wrong Man) 3. Make the audience work with you (Notorious), 4.) Push the envelope (Psycho), 5.Create surprise (Sabotage), 6. Create suspense (The Birds) 7. Work to make it better (North By Northwest), plus 6 more super-secret secrets. 

NICK PETRULAKIS has been the manager of Books Inc. in Alameda for the last ten years. Books Inc. is the oldest independent book store chain on the west coast. Nick has been responsible for organizing author visits, children’s reading hours, and a monthly book club at this wonderful location of this marvelous book store chain. Nick is also an accomplished freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and periodicals throughout California.  His fun and popular blog can be found at: drinkswithnick.blogspot.com.

JAMES REDFORD (Keynote Speaker) is Founder of The James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness (JRI), a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the need for organ and tissue donation through film, educational outreach and the web. To meet this goal, James Redford produced The Kindness of Strangers, an award-winning HBO documentary film. Through JRI, James also produced Flow, a short drama targeted to high schools and community-based youth programs. As a liver transplant recipient, James continues to speak to young audiences about the miracle of organ donation. James is currently developing The Forgotten, a documentary about the Iroquois Confederacy and its impact upon the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers. He is also producing Mann V. Ford, an HBO documentary about the Ramapough Indians of New Jersey and their fight against the toxic legacy of the Ford Motor Corporation.  Other credits include adapting and directing Spin, starring Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Ruben Blades. Redford also wrote the original screenplays for Cowboy Up, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Darryl Hannah as well as Skinwalkers, a PBS/Mystery! film that was the highest rated PBS program of 2002. The Acting Thing, a comedic short written by James, was named best comedic short film at the Houston Film Festival. James also just completed writing and directing Bad Dad, a short comedy filmed in Marin County starring Jason Patric. Jamie holds a Bachelor's degree in creative writing and film from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Master's degree in literature from Northwestern University.  He lives in Marin County with his wife and two children. He enjoys playing Marin County's local music scene as a guitarist and songwriter with the Phat Barbees.

 KEYNOTE
Our craft ─ be it writing or screenwriting ─ can tend to make one self-absorbed, if we are not careful. The internet can also make it too easy sometimes to become a "star". This keynote by someone who has taken a personal hardship and turned it into a triumph reminds people that art with an eye to service can be better than art for fame's sake.

JEANNETTE SEARS, as a lyricist for “Jefferson Starship” from 1978 to 1984, wrote the words for many of the bands popular songs, including: “Save Your Love”, “Be My Lady”, the title track for “Winds of Change”, and more. These songs are featured on four of the band’s Gold and Platinum albums, including, “Freedom at Point Zero”, and “Nuclear Furniture”. A number of her songs were turned into some of the first MTV music videos. Many of Jeannette’s published songs reflect her concern about the future of the planet, and the effects of the United States’ foreign policy in Guatemala and El Salvador. Her song, “Guatemala” was turned into a powerful music video by Emmy award winning director, Ray Telles. The footage in the video shows actual scenes of a kidnapping by a death squad in Guatemala. The video was picked up by numerous organizations, including Amnesty International, and used to raise awareness about human rights abuses in Central America. A solo album by Pete Sears, “The Long Haul”, features a line-up of great musicians and lyrics by Jeannette Sears, including the song, “A Light Rain of Grace”. Jeannette has also just completed her first novel by the same name.  Written with warmth, pathos, and humor, it is the story of a female rock star who survives in the music industry for over twenty-five years, overcoming drug abuse and the long-term effects of child molestation. Jeannette and Pete live in San Rafael, where she is currently writing songs for the popular group, “MoonAlice”, who is opening for U2 at the Oakland Coliseum in June 2010.

WORKSHOP: Songwriting for Social Change
Lyricist for the Jefferson Starship and more, Jeannette Sears talks about songwriting as a tool for social change and the logistics of writing lyrics. Then she works with attendees to help them create lyrics of their own.

HUNTINGTON SHARP is Senior Editor at Red Room which Publishers Weekly called “Facebook for authors.” Red Room provides everyone in the publishing ecosystem, including authors, journalists, and publishers, with an online home where they can promote their work to new readers, connect with colleagues, and express themselves. Redroom.com, which was launched to the public in January 2008, by CEO Ivory Madison, was built on a successful, trusted brand, The Red Room Writers Society, of which Huntington was a founding member. As senior editor of this noteworthy site, Huntington’s law degree only tangentially prepared him for his work, which includes: editing the “magazine” aspect of the website, featuring especially noteworthy writing and multimedia on the homepage and other feature pages, helping new and established authors, many of whom have little to no experience with the web, create their pages and do online things, such as blogging, for the first time, and advising authors about using the site and the Web for promotion and marketing. It’s hard to believe that this former Eagle Scout with a truly dogged commitment to le mot juste is only twenty-nine.

WORKSHOP: PERSISTENCE AND AUTHENTICITY: Notes on the Life Cycle of Your Writing Project
In his years working with writers and on his own writing, Huntington Sharp has discovered that a huge block to starting and completing projects is confusing the three separate phases: writing, editing, and marketing your work. In his workshop, you’ll learn what the three phases have in common and how to separate out each one so that you’re not afraid to start and not blocked from finishing.

RANSOM STEPHENS, Ph.D., is a professor of particle physics turned author and speaker. Ransom has worked on experiments at SLAC, Fermilab, Cornell and CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. During this time period, he discovered a new type of matter, and was on the team that discovered the top quark. During the tech boom that ended in 2001, he directed patent development for a wireless web startup and, a few years later, led an engineering commando team in conquering signal integrity issues in timing noise. Ransom now lives in Petaluma and makes his living writing novels, giving speeches, producing and hosting literary events, (such as San Francisco’s Litquake and Inside Story Time) and teaching writing seminars. But he still helps engineers solve problems. He is the author of over 200 articles on impossible subjects like quantum physics, the future of publishing, and parenting teenagers. His first novel, The God Patent, was called “a milestone not only for Ransom, but for the book industry as well, as it is the first debut novel to emerge from the new paradigm of online publishing.…an ambitious first novel that sings of the heart and the scientific method as two parts of the same song,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. For more information, visit www.TheGodPatent.com.  

WORKSHOP: The Miracle of The God Patent
Particle physicist and technologist turned novelist and public speaker, Ransom Stephens presents his new book, The God Patent. The discussion opens with the story and the characters, but then turns to the very remarkable and unusual way this book came to print. Ransom will share strategy and tactics, plus a few important secrets for how to succeed with your own story.

BOB YEHLING is the author of The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life, and Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write, which won the 2007 Independent Publishers Book Award., in addition to Full Flight, Shades of Green, Coyotes in Broad Daylight, The River-Fed Stone and the forthcoming novel, The Voice. He teaches fiction, poetry and non-fiction writing workshops at colleges, universities and writers conferences throughout the country. He is also a book and magazine editor, author’s consultant and three-time Boston Marathon participant. More about Bob can be found at: http://www.wordjourneys.com/

WORKSHOP: Cross-Genre Writing (with Verna Dreisbach) 
How do we weave poetry into fiction? Or art into non-fiction? How do we turn our stories into interactive experiences between print and online? Or write a novel that has elements of journalism, music, art and journaling in it? Cross-genre (or hybrid) writing is an increasingly popular form of writing that works well with today’s multi-platform publishing options – and with the demands of readers to see original presentations and greater expositions of the narrator’s or characters’ inner and outer worlds. We will share basic strategies for writers who find it hard to stick with one genre, or want to write books that reach the increasingly multi-dimensional reader. 
Bob will be unable to attend the conference and sends his apologies.

JEROMIAH LANDON RUNNING WATER ZAJONC (Jeromy Zajonc) was born and raised in Northern California. Jeromy’s first job in film was fetching soft drinks for George Lucas. He has since worked on various feature films and hit television shows. Graduating from UCLA in 1999, he co-wrote, co-directed, produced, and acted in a UCLA Guerilla Theatre Play titled, "Bumbia", as a protest against the jailing of Mumia Abu Jamal. He has worked with many accomplished actors and filmmakers including Ed Harris, Vince Vaughn, Scott Rosenberg (“Con Air”), DJ Caruso, and Griffin Dunne.  He is the son of renowned helicopter stunt pilot, Robert “Bobby Z” Zajonc. Now a producing partner at Winston Movie, LLC., and Project Producer at California Film Institute,  Jeromy was instrumental in the launch of the Noah and Logan Millers' national bestselling memoir, Either You're In Or You're In the Way. He is currently leading the motion picture releasing team for "Touching Home" starring The Miller Brothers and Ed Harris, coming out April 29, 2010.

WORKSHOP: Are You In?
Dynamic publicist and producer of indy films, such as “Touching Home” which starred local filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller, and Hollywood greats Ed Harris and Robert Forster, Jeromy Zajonc gives an inspiring and candid talk about what it takes to be a success in the business of filmmaking.

  SCHEDULE

8:30-9:30        Registration

9:30AM           Opening

                      Keynote:  James Redford

10:00-11:00     Break-Out Sessions

                       1) Michael Krasny

                       2) Paul Kaufman

                       3) Leah Garchik 

                       4) Jeanette Sears 

11:10-12:10     Break-Out Sessions

                       5) Deborah Grabien

                       6) Kay Kostopoulos                  

                       7) David Corbett

                       8) Huntington Sharp

12:10-1:30       Lunch

                       Keynote: Peter S. Beagle

1:40-2:40         Break-Out Sessions

                       9) Jane Friedman      

                       10) Jeromiah Zajonc

                       11) Vicki Larson 

                       12) Ransom Stephens

2:50-3:50         Break-Out Sessions

                       13) Nick Petrulakis              

                       14) Patricia V. Davis

                       15) Peter Beren

4:00-5:00         Break-Out Sessions

                       16) Verna Dreisbach 

                       17) Seth Harwood

                       18) Gil Mansergh

5:00 – 5:30      Bookstore open for final purchases

REGISTRATION

Registration for this conference is open to youth in grades 6-12, seniors who JUST graduated from high school and adults who wish to sponsor a young writer.  Adults who want to attend with their own child are welcome to choose their child as their sponsored child. 

To register, please go online to the "Contact Us" tab and add in the name/s of the registered person/s and select "Conference" as the event/reference. 

For payment, you are welcome to pay with Paypal or by check/money order (details below). 

Registration

Attending Youth Attending Adult/Sponsor Sponsor Only

To pay with a check or money order, mail to the address below with the check made payable to Capitol City Young Writers.

Capitol City Young Writers
Conference Registration
PO Box 5379
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

If you have any questions, please email info@capitolcityyoungwriters.org.

ACCOMMODATIONS

If you happen to be traveling from out of town, the Larkspur Hotel in Mill Valley has a limited number of discounted hotel rooms available to CCYW Conference attendees.  Room rate is $149 per night. Reserve your room online now.   Individual call-in Reservations may be made directly with the hotel’s reservations department at 866-399-3379 - ask for the Capitol City Writers Room Block. The Check-in time is 3:00pm and check-out time is 12:00 noon. Hotel will accommodate any early arrivals on a space available basis. Reservations must be made by July 10th in order to receive the reduced rate.   

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

The following persons and/or organizations have donated $100 (or more) for scholarships for students who require financial assistance, or have provided services or food for this event. 

Thank you for supporting Capitol City Young Writers!

Hope Clark, Funds for Writers
Karen Clarkson Clay
Marlene Cullen
Patricia V. Davis, Harlots Sauce
Peggy Dover
Verna Dreisbach, Dreisbach Literary Management
Scott Evans
Catherine Fagiolo, Women's Choral Studio
Theodora Graves
Tanya Grove
Laurel Anne Hill
Gary Marsh, Marsh Marketing
Linda McCabe
Susan M. Osborn, NCPA
Charles Redner
Tracy K. Saville
Barry Schoenborn, Willow Valley Press
Susan Solomon
Michaela Spangenberg
Karin Stevens
Laura StClaire
Cherry Weiner, Literary Agent
Bob Yehling, Word Journeys
Rose Ross Zediker

If you would like to be a sponsor for this program, please contact founder and president Verna Dreisbach at verna@capitolcityyoungwriters.org.