WRITING LIFE: Fledgling Ideas to Bestseller Lists

 

UCWN is excited to bring our membership a new format for our first regular meeting of 2018. We have brought together four local writers at different stages of their careers with a wealth of knowledge to share about books, writing, editing, getting published and beyond.Our evening will consist of networking, dinner and a moderated panel discussion. We welcome your questions for our esteemed panel when you book your tickets, just add it to the comment section. See the full bios of our wonderful and accomplished panelists below.

Martha Frankel, executive director of Woodstock Bookfest, counts writing as the only real job she’s ever had, other than a brief stint as a clown at a gas station. However, she was so good at that, even her mother didn’t recognize her. Martha’s writing career started at the original Details magazine with her column on plastic surgery, called “Knifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” She went on to write book reviews, essays and celebrity profiles for other magazines, such as Movieline, Cosmopolitan and Redbook.
 Her memoir, Hats & Eyeglasses, chronicling her family’s lifelong love affair with gambling and her own later addiction to online gambling, was published in 2008 (Tarcher/Penguin Group). Martha has contributed essays to several anthologies, the latest being My Body, My Words, edited by Amye Archer and Loren Kleinman, Big Table Publishing, March 2018.
 She finds friendship and laughter in all sorts of places, including her radio show, Woodstock Booktalk, heard every Sunday morning on Woodstock’s WDST 100.1, and online anytime, at Woodstock Booktalk. Also available on iTunes.
 Martha writes, teaches and lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, artist Steve Heller.

Lorraine Salmon is a locally known commodity – healthcare, real estate, college advancement … and now, a writer.  Lorraine represents the “new writer” – following a calling Lorraine felt long ago, starting at age 50, Lorraine has written her first memoir, a love story and a calling to live your life by the moment and not by your next accomplishment. Compiling almost 300 advance readers and counting, Lorraine shows us how a first encounter at the WBF, a lucky seat in a writers’ workshop and committing to “whatever it takes” has brought her to the cusp of publishing her first book. 

Writer Kitty Sheehan edits manuscripts and essays for writers of all genres. Kitty is also a copywriter and social media editor for several brands. She founded and directs the Dartbrook Writers Retreat. For several years, she has served as editorial director for the annual Woodstock Bookfest in Woodstock, NY, and is a regular workshop teacher at the event.A former elementary teacher, corporate trainer, consignment store owner and graphic designer, Kitty is a native Iowan and graduate of the University of Iowa. She now calls the Hudson Valley home, and is a past contributor to Hudson Valley magazine.Kitty’s essay, “The Measure of a Girl” appears in My Body, My Words, Big Table Publishing, March 2018, and her essay, “Irish Wake-up Call” is part of Shades of Blue, Seal Press, 2015.Visit her website at kittysheehan.com and find her on Twitter at @KittyASheehan.

 

Abigail Thomas, the daughter of renowned science writer Lewis Thomas (The Lives of a Cell), is the mother of four children and the grandmother of twelve. Her academic education stopped when, pregnant with her oldest daughter, she was asked to leave Bryn Mawr during her first year. She’s lived most of her life on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and was for a time a book editor and for another time a book agent. Then she started writing for publication. Her first three books “Getting Over Tom,” “An Actual Life,” and “Herb’s Pajamas” were works of fiction. Her memoir, “A Three Dog Life,” was named one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. It won the 2006 Inspirational Memoir Award given by Books for A Better Life. She is also author of “Safekeeping,” a memoir, and “Thinking About Memoir.”  Her most recent book is “What Comes Next and How to Like It” was a New York Times Bestseller.