By Donna Campbell Smith, Franklin County Arts Council
Franklin County Arts Council’s Writer’s Guild looks forward to their Fall Writers Day Retreat on November 18, 2017. The retreat will be held at Rolling View Community building, a part of Falls Lake Recreational Park from 9am until 5pm.
The Writers Guild will welcome participants with coffee and donuts and a meet-and-greet on arrival. The day will include workshops, writing time, and readings all on the shore of the lake and surrounded by nature.
The event was originally scheduled in the spring but flooding at the park forced them to cancel. Fortunately, speakers Diane Chamberlain and Deana Vassar will still be free to speak at this new date.
The title of Chamberlain’s 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.
Fans can meet Chamberlain prior to the retreat on October 12, 2017 at 7pm. She will be at Page 158 Books in Wake Forest promoting her newest book The Stolen Marriage.
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 or $40 for non-members. There is a $7 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 Donna Campbell Smith. The Franklin County Arts Council’s Writers Guild is online at FCACarts.org.