Retreat to Bunker Hill and Surrender to Your Passion for Creativity, October 4-6

Accord to ancient Spartan law, there motto was, "No retreat, no surrender!"

So, why am I suggesting writers and other creative types retreat and surrender?

Well, what better time than the glorious fall weather in Southern Missouri to go on a weekend retreat and surrender to your passion for creativity?

That's what I'll be doing October 4-6 at the third annual Missouri State Teachers Association Creative Retreat for writers and photographers.

The retreat will be at the scenic Bunker Hill Retreat Center in Mountain View, Missouri, and I am  excited to be a faculty member for the retreat.

Here's a synopsis of the topics included during the retreat:

Writing: Donna Volkenannt, will present "Think outside the book: writing short stories and personal essays." During workshops participants will be guided through writing exercises to get their creative juices flowing and keep them motivated to continue.

Publishing: Lou Turner will present "Let the adventure begin!" She will share her step-by-step plan to get writers from their first word to their book signing.

Photography: Angie Carmack will encourage photographers to "explore your passion for photography." Workshops will be for both beginners, mid-level, and advanced photographers.

Gates open Friday at 1 p.m. to check in and enjoy leisure activities. From 5-7 there will be a "Make and Take" class for card making with Daphney Partridge. The meet and greet begins at 7 p.m. on Friday followed by meeting with faculty for overview and assignments.

Weekend fees ($215 for MSTA members and $250 for non-members) include workshop fee and Friday lodging, three meals on Saturday, Saturday lodging, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. You do not have to belong to MSTA to attend.

According to the welcome letter I received from MSTA's Sarah Kohnle, during the weekend retreat, writers and photographers can "unplug from the outside world, soak up inspiration, and create."

If you would like to sign up or for more information, e-mail Sarah Kohnle at skohnle @ msta.org (Remove spaces in Sarah's e-mail address when writing to her.)

Or, e-mail me at dvolkenannt @ charter.net (without spaces) and I will send you a PDF file of the retreat brochure, which includes what participants need to bring with them to the retreat.





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































 

Interview (Part I) with Louella Turner, CEO of High Hill Press

I'm pleased to welcome Louella Turner, CEO and Publisher of High Hill Press to Donna's Book Pub.

Full disclosure: Lou is one of my dearest friends. She and I met about twenty years ago at a critique group and have been friends ever since. She not only is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer, for the past three years she and her husband Brian have operated High Hill press, a small publishing company dedicated to publishing well written books that otherwise might not have gotten noticed.

In Part I of our interview, Lou discusses how she got started in the publishing business, the mission of High Hill, what types of books she publishes, and the services her publishing company provides. My questions are in black, and Lou's responses are in blue.

You and your husband Bryan are CEOs and publishers of High Hill Press, a small press. Can you share with us a bit about your background and what inspired you to begin High Hill Press? My background is all over the place. I enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist, art teacher, and a Tea Room and shop owner. Then in 1992 I retired to write, and in 2008, my husband and I formed High Hill Press. After attending a writer's conference, I realized there was a need for something in between NY, and the Print on Demand publishers that were popping up like mushrooms. A good friend of mine published a beautiful book with Publish American and was very disappointed. On the way home from the conference I talked to my husband about starting a retirement business and that's what we did.

What are the goals and mission of High Hill Press? We want to publish as many great books as we can. New York overlooks so many wonderful stories and writers because their goal is simply to make money. Our goal is to hopefully break even, which gives us a great advantage over NY. We can take our time with an author that might need a little direction. We also look at the author too. I've recently had a query from a woman who grew up on a river boat. How neat. Her story needs a little tweaking, but I think working with her will be wonderful. We've also got a client that was a famous country western singer. He wants to tell the story of his younger years, NY is only interested in his music years. So we're doing one book for him, and hopefully NY will do the other.

Do you specialize in any area of publishing, or are you open to all types of submissions? We'll take a look at any genre. The only requirement is that it be written well.

What are your criteria for submissions? Query letter? Synopsis? Proposal? Personal pitch? Word of Mouth? We try not to advertise too much but we're still getting an average of 80 contacts a month. We ask that they send the first and last chapter of a novel, a short story or two of a collection, a chapter and further chapter outlines of a nonfiction. And we want a bio of the author. If it looks like something we want, we ask for the entire manuscript and then we do what I refer to as the long and windy phone call. I won't work with someone I don't feel comfortable with, and that phone call tells me alot.

What services do you provide that sets High Hill Press apart from most other small presses? A High Hill book will stay in print as long as the author wants it to. And while we're working with the author, we try to use as much input from them as we can with title, layout, and cover designs. Lately I've also been working on making our layouts prettier than the average perfect bound book. I'm paying attention to fonts and chapter headings. Most small press just do a simple layout, we're trying to make ours special.

Tune in Wednesday for Part II of the interview, when Lou will discuss her process for accepting manuscripts and what authors can expect after they sign with High Hill. She will also announce a giveaway of a book by one of her authors.

High Hill Press Website and Contest

I'm happy to announce my dear friend Louella (Lou) and her wonderful husband Bryan (Squeak) Turner have recently launched their High Hill Press website. They have been operating their publishing company for more than a year, but they've been so busy publishing books (almost 40 for more than 30 authors), Lou has just now got their website up and running.


Lou is not only a publisher and an editor, she is an award-winning writer who has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. (I tried to work a semicolon into that sentence, but I decided not to because everyone who knows Lou knows about her aversion to semicolons.)


Full disclosure: Lou and I have been friends for ages. We met at a critique group called Liars Ink more than 15 years ago and have belonged to about and/or started three other critique groups since then. Our latest group meets each Tuesday at the Rendezvous Cafe in O'Fallon, MO. We also are co-founders of Saturday Writers and have co-edited several issues of Cuivre River Anthology.


Over the years, Lou and I have driven to writing conferences before sunrise; we've sat in cold, hard chairs while listening to inspiring, educational (and a few not so much) speakers; and we've driven to our homes in the dark laughing so hard we had to pull of the road to find a bathroom. We've enjoyed lots of good times but also have been there for each other during the rough patches. That's why I am so thrilled all of her years of hard work, dedication, and generosity have finally paid off with High Hill Press.


To celebrate the launching of the High Hill Press website, Lou is sponsoring a "Write Us a Story Contest" using photos on the home page for inspiration. Deadline is Aug 15, and the full details are listed on the bottom of the Home page right beneath the graphic of the gunslinging cowboy. (Lou loves cowboys.)


While you're there, check out Lou's award-winning essay "My Unlikely Friend" about Jo, an unforgettable woman from Liars Ink who recently passed away in California.


Final Note: You'll be reading more about High Hill Press on Donna's Book Pub over the next few months. I will be reviewing books published by some of Lou's authors, including "Writing Fiction with Pat Carr" and "Writing the West with Dusty Richards."

So Congratulations, Lou and Squeak! Here's to many years of High Hill Press celebrating writers and their words!

More Success Stories

Here's an update to today's earlier post: Two more writing friends, both members of Saturday Writers, e-mailed me with some good news.

Barbara Hodges had her article, "I Can See Clearly Now," accepted for publication in the e-zine, You and Me Magazine. The article is about her reaction after being diagnosed with glaucoma. She wrote the piece ten years ago to help her adjust to the news. The article was hanging out on her disk. She tweeked the article here and there, sent in a query, and voila!, it was accepted. How's that for persistence?

Becky Povich's story submitted to Thin Threads has been chosen as one of the top 101 finalists. She should know if it's selected sometime next month! We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Congratulations, Barbara and Becky!

Literary Agent Nathan Bransford's Publishing Glossary

Forecast for St. Peters, MO: Chance of thunderstorms, high 80 degrees.

Last week, Curtis Brown Literary Agent Nathan Bransford posted a thoughtful glossary of book publishing terms (The photo of Nathan on the left is from his blog.)

Bransford's list starts with:

"Advance - The money a publisher pays an author to publish their book. This money is an advance against royalties. This means that the author does not receive additional money from the publisher until the book earns an amount of money equal to the advance (see "earn out"). As long as the book is published the author does not have to pay the advance back, even if the book does not earn out. Large advances are typically paid in installments, such as a portion on signing, a portion on delivery and acceptance, and a portion on publication. Advances range from $1 to $1,000,000 or more.

and wraps-up with:

"Wholesaler - Companies that get books to bookstores, libraries, etc. Unlike distributors, which fill orders for one or a few publishers, wholesalers fill orders for basically everything under the sun. Prominent wholesalers include Baker & Taylor and Ingram."

In the middle of it all he gives an example to a link of a good query letter. To read the complete glossary, visit Nathan Bransford's blog. I visit his blog several times a week because of all the helpful information he generously shares with writers. The glossary is just one gem you will discover on his "gold mine" of information site.

First Paragraphs, Opening Sentences and Hooks

Today's forecast for St. Peters: Overcast, chance for snow flurries. High 40 degrees.

If you've been following this week's posts, you know about literary agent, Nathan Bransford's, first paragraph contest. Although my paragraph wasn't selected as a winner, reading the finalists gave me insight into what captures the attention of an agent. To read the winners, hop on over to Nathan's blog, where Donald Draper, from the TV program Mad Men, introduces the finalists.
The generosity of publishing industry experts who are willing to share insider information is truly amazing. Another blog I recently discovered is The Book Deal, An Inside View of Publishing by Alan Rinzler's. Rinzler is a consulting editor. His "Ask the Editor" post on six tips on the power of opening sentences is --- well very powerful. The section on the Craft of Writing is a literary gold mine.

That's it for this week. I'll be back on Monday. Hope you have a pleasant weekend, and take time to write.