By Donna Campbell Smith, Franklin County Arts Council
Franklin County Arts Council’s Writer’s Guild will sponsor their fifth annual writers’ day retreat on May 6, 2017. The retreat will be held at Rolling View Community building, a part of Falls Lake Recreational Park from 9am until 5pm. The day retreat open with coffee and donuts and a meet and greet. The day will include workshops, writing time, and readings all on the shore of the lake and surrounded by nature.
Diane Chamberlain will be the guest speaker. The title of her presentation is “How a Social Worker became a New York Times Best Selling Novelist in Only Thirty Years.” When asked what it takes to be a successful writer she says, “I believe that to be a successful novelist you need talent, perseverance and — unfortunately — luck.”
Chamberlain is a multi-time New York Times, USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of twenty-four novels published in more than twenty languages. Influenced by her former career as a social worker and psychotherapist, she writes suspenseful stories that touch both heart and mind. Relationships — between men and women, parents and children, sisters and brothers — are the primary focus of her books.
Her most recent release is The Silent Sister, the latest of her novels to be on the New York Times and the USA Today best seller list. The Stolen Marriage will be released October 3 of this year.
Deana Vassar, who is an Amherst Writers and Artists Facilitator and award-winning writer, will close the day with her presentation, “The Amherst Method, Creating a Safe Environment for the Writer.”
Deana has placed in various writing competitions including the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South’s literary contest, the Mash Stories flash fiction competition and was a semi-finalist in Sci-Fest LA in 2015. Deana says she believes that everyone has a story and should be able to tell it. She hopes to bring that spirit to her work as a facilitator for the Amherst Artist’s and Writer’s Method.
Fees to attend the retreat are $30 for FCAC members, $40 for non-members, or a $50 special which includes FCAC membership through November 2017. There is a $6 per car fee to enter the park. Participants should bring a bag lunch. Beverages will be provided.
For more information and to ask for a registration form email DonnaCampbellSmith@fcacarts.org.
