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The 40th Annual Western Reserve Writers' Conference

A day of writing information and inspiration!

Bonus for "early bird" registrants:

If you register for the conference before March 1, you can enter your name in the drawing for a free 15-minute editing session with editors Dayna Jackson or Eryka Parker. If your name is chosen, you will be contacted in early March.

AGENDA

9:00-9:30 AM / CHECK-IN, LIGHT BREAKFAST, COFFEE & TEA
Writers' Center

For anyone interested in having their work read anonymously at the First Page Critique Panel at 1:45 PM: Drop off FOUR COPIES of the first page of your work-in-progress (prose only, fiction or nonfiction) at the check-in table before noon. Your work must be double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with Title and Genre written at the top of the page. Do NOT include your name anywhere on the page. We'll randomly select first pages and read them aloud starting at 1:45 p.m. Each panelist will raise a hand at the point where they would stop reading and then comment on what stopped them. First Page Critique writers will remain anonymous.

9:30 AM / WELCOME & CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
Meeting Room A/B/C

Deanna R. Adams, Conference Coordinator
Laurie Kincer, William N. Skirball Writers' Center 

9:40-10:20 AM / KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Meeting Room A/B/C

The Long and Twisty Road: My Unconventional Journey to Publishing / Writer-in-Residence, justin a. reynolds

Join justin as he details his twisty, unconventional road to publishing and shares his strategies to building a full-time writing career. Enjoy an encouraging talk that highlights numerous ways to break into publishing and live the creative life you crave.

Note: Sessions with an asterisk (*) include a writing exercise.

10:30-11:30 AM / BREAKOUT SESSIONS

1. Inside the Industry: A Q&A with Veteran Independent Author and Publisher / J. Thorn.
Meeting Room A/B/C
Join seasoned independent author J. Thorn for an eye-opening look at the realities of self-publishing in today's digital marketplace. Whether you're just starting your writing journey or have a few books under your belt, this Q&A session will demystify the business side of indie publishing and equip you with practical strategies for building a sustainable career as an author.

*2. Using Loglines to Sharpen Your Novel / justin a. reynolds.
Writers’ Center Meeting Room
In this session, Justin will help you develop single-line, engaging loglines capturing the heart of your work in progress, or future work. Participate in an exercise designed to help strengthen your own understanding of your work and activate your plot's full potential.

*3. Finding Your Voice / Kim Wuescher.
Student Success Center
Your writing voice is unique, a combination of your personality, emotion and values. It’s that blend that makes us pick up a favorite author’s work regardless of his or her genre. How do you find your own writing voice? This session will include examples and writing exercises to make your voice authentic. Bring paper and pencil and/or your device of choice.

11:30-11:45 AM / BREAK & PREARRANGED EDITING SESSIONS

Individual, prearranged editing sessions with editors Dayna Jackson or Eryka Parker. (These sessions will be scheduled before the day of the conference. If you register in February, you can enter your name in the drawing for a free 15-minute editing session.) 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM / BREAKOUT SESSIONS

*1. The Art and Craft of Memoir Writing / Jill Grunenwald.
Meeting Room A/B/C
This introduction to memoir will guide aspiring writers through the genre, including answering common questions such as “What if I can’t remember everything?” and “How do I handle writing about real people?” A writing exercise will start you off to your finished memoir.

*2. Place-Based Storytelling /Charlotte Morgan.
Writers’ Center Meeting Room
Place-based storytelling can take many forms, so writers are often puzzled about how to use place, confusing it with setting. Learn how to incorporate place and use it as a character to evoke emotion, provide tension and create connections with readers. Writers will be provided with brief samples that use the craft of place as a character.

3. Blending Fact with Fiction / Deanna Adams.
Student Success Center
Historical fiction is a genre that combines historical time periods, events, and real people with fictional elements, such as characters, conflict, and storyline. You need to immerse yourself in the period, know the social customs and vocabulary, but also have a sense of how people truly lived in that time. Research is paramount, but how much is too much? Deanna will guide you on all of that.

12:45-1:45 PM / LUNCH BREAK, BOOK SALE & AUTHOR SIGNINGS
You may bring lunch and eat it in the Writers' Center. You may also picnic outdoors or in your car. Local restaurant map available at check-in table.

1:30-1:45 PM / PREARRANGED EDITING SESSIONS

Individual, prearranged editing sessions with editors Dayna Jackson or Eryka Parker.

1:45-2:45 PM / FIRST PAGE CRITIQUE PANEL 
Meeting Room A/B/C
Panelists justin a. reynolds, Deanna Adams, and Charlotte Morgan.

We'll randomly select anonymous first pages of work-in-progress and read them aloud. Each panelist will raise a hand at the point where they would stop reading and then comment on what stopped them. First Page Critique writers will remain anonymous.

For anyone interested in having their work read anonymously at the First Page Critique Panel at 1:45 PM: Drop off FOUR COPIES of the first page of your work-in-progress (prose only, fiction or nonfiction) at the check-in table before noon. Your work must be double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with Title and Genre written at the top of the page. Do NOT include your name anywhere on the page. 

2:45-3:00 PM / BREAK & PREARRANGED EDITING SESSIONS  

Individual, prearranged editing sessions with editors Dayna Jackson or Eryka Parker.

3:00-4:00 PM / BREAKOUT SESSIONS

*1. Training AI to Become Your Publishing Assistant / Eryka Parker.
Meeting Room A/B/C
Discover how to leverage Artificial Intelligence tools to streamline your publishing journey and boost productivity. Learn how to train AI to assist with essential tasks such as creating sticky marketing copy, creating a publishing strategy, analyzing market trends, and even generating creative writing prompts to assist with those edge-of-your-seat plot twists.

2. Writing Children's Picture Books / Quartez Harris.
Writers' Center Meeting Room
Writing children's literature requires careful attention and leaps of imagination. In this craft workshop, we will explore the magic of language, surprising word choices, and how to tighten sentences to make them sing in the hearts and minds of children.

*3. Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist! A Poetry Workshop / Patrick Culliton.
Student Success Center
The goal of this workshop is to generate new poems or the beginnings of new poems while leaving attendees confident that writer’s block doesn’t exist. This workshop will challenge the idea of “writer’s block” through collaboration with other humans (bring a friend!) or other texts (books, manuals, spam emails). Attendees will generate new poems or the beginnings of new poems.

4:00-4:15 PM / PREARRANGED EDITING SESSIONS

Individual, prearranged editing sessions with editors Dayna Jackson or Eryka Parker.

4:00-4:30 PM / DOOR PRIZES, BOOK SALE & AUTHOR SIGNINGS

TODAY’S PRESENTERS

Deanna R. Adams is an award-winning writer, speaker, and instructor. She is far too interested in books of all genres to stick to just one and so she writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction books include several rock history books, a memoir collection, and a book for aspiring writers, The Writer’s GPS: Guide to Writing & Selling Your Book. Her young adult crossover novel, The Truth about Justyce, debuted #1 on Amazon’s New Releases in 2020. Her latest novel is A Place We Belong, a historical novel.

Patrick Culliton is the author of the full-length book Sam's Teeth (Subito Press) and the chapbook Hornet Homily (Octopus Books). His poems have appeared in Court Green, Cutbank, Gordon Square Review, Indiana Review, and elsewhere. He was the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and serves as the Marketing & Public Relations Manager for Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library.

Jill Grunenwald is the bestselling author of Reading Behind Bars: A True Story of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian (Skyhorse, 2019), which was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Awards and In the Margins Social Justice and Advocacy Book Award. Other writing has appeared in Cleveland Magazine. 

Quartez Harris is a poet, teacher, and author. He was a Baldwin House fellow and named Ohio Poet of the Year for his book, We Made It to School Alive, and his poetry has garnered numerous accolades. He spent many years as a second-grade teacher in the Cleveland public school system and currently spends his time writing and teaching poetry workshops. He is the author of the recently published Go Tell It, a lyrical picture book biography that chronicles James Baldwin's childhood.

After nearly a decade in professional theater, Dayna Jackson began her career in editing in 2017, bringing her passion for storytelling into the world of the written word. Dayna edits a wide range of fiction works, though she has a special place in her heart for all things fantasy. Her focus is copyediting (e.g., grammar, hyphenation, spelling, punctuation, and formatting). She received her BA in English from Truman State University and a certificate of editing from the University of Chicago.

Charlotte Morgan is a writer, journalist, and educator. She teaches non-fiction writing and English Composition, creates community journalism curricula, and contributes to place-based projects such as Cleveland Stories, Neighborhood Voices, and Mantles and Makers. Her forthcoming memoir, Glenville: My Side of Paradise, explores her connection to her Cleveland neighborhood.

Eryka Parker is a book coach, writing instructor, and developmental editor at Legacy Book Coaching & Consulting. With nearly 20 years of experience as a publishing consultant, Eryka serves on several boards and programming committees for writer groups and conferences. Eryka is also an award-winning contemporary romance author, using the pen name Zariah L. Banks.

justin a. reynolds, Cuyahoga County Public Library's 2025 Writer in Residence, has always wanted to be a writer. Opposite of Always, his debut YA novel, was an Indies Introduce Top Ten Debut, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2019, translated in 19 languages, is being developed for film by Paramount Players, and was recently adapted into a popular Webtoon. His second YA novel, Early Departures, published to critical acclaim and was a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2020. His Marvel graphic novel debut featuring Brooklyn’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales: Shock Waves, was an ABA Indie Bestseller. justin is also the co-founder of the CLE Reads Book Festival, a Cleveland Book Festival for middle-grade and young adult readers and writers.

J. Thorn has published more than two million words and has sold over 200,000 books worldwide since 2009. He has been an official member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers, and is currently a member of the Horror Writers Association. He is co-founder of the Writers, Ink podcast and has interviewed some of today’s most successful authors. He is currently teaching entrepreneurship at John Carroll University.

Kim Wuescher, writing as Mae McGraw, recently published Bitter Medicine, a historical mystery set in 1865 and the first in a Katie Harris series. Recently retired after years of teaching English at a local public school, Mae is happy to have more time now to write and attend conferences, serve as president to the Northeast Ohio chapter of Sisters in Crime, and participate in several book clubs. She lives with her husband in Medina, Ohio, and has two grown children.