Writers’ Day returns to Bay Path University

Date: 4/5/2018

LONGMEADOW – For the 17th time on April 15, writers from around the region will gather at Bay Path University for a day of instruction and networking.

This session will feature Karol Jackowski, Sophfronia Scott, Lisa Romeo, Suzanne Strempek Shea and Jonathan Green.

Novelist and journalist Strempek Shea’s goal when she was hired by the university years ago was to bring more literary events into the university’s calendar. Writers’ Day allows writers of various stages to learn from accomplished fiction and nonfiction writers from around the country.

“I love to get writer’s together,” Strempek Shea told Reminder Publications. She added, “It’s a nice day that is helpful to many people.

Sandy Abbott-Chmiel, the literary events coordinator at the university, explained the varied topics over the years have not centered just on the mechanics of getting a book published, but rather a wide array of issues.

Strempek Shea noted that in one previous Writers’ Day one speaker showed how a writer could post his or her manuscript as an e-book on Amazon.

A current theme is memoir writing, Strempek-Shea, said. “We get a lot of people now telling their own story.”

She said one of the “dirty little secrets” of writing is the amount of work now required to publicize and market a book, especially through the new publishing models such as print-on-demand and through online retailers.

“No one tells you about it,” Strempek Shea said. She readily admitted that she enjoys scheduling signings at bookshops and other marketing efforts.

Abbott-Chmiel added that marketing isn’t easy for many writers as they are many times introverts. Strempek Shea said writers must learn to talk about their work and one tip is to “always keep five copies of you book in the truck of your car” for an impromptu sale.

Publishing and writing is a changing world, Strempek Shea said, and these changes and trends are addressed by Writers’ Day.

The event will take place at the Philip H. Ryan Health center on the campus with registration and check-in beginning at 11:45 p.m.

There will be three sessions offered on April 15:
• Session One: “Immersion Starts with ‘I’” with Suzanne Strempek Shea and Jonathan Green, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

Strempek Shea and Green (“Murder in the High Himalaya”) discuss how to do research by immersing oneself into a community, family, subject’s life and daily work. This talk will look at how and why they’ve followed some of their most memorable subjects, what some of the challenges of the process are, and some basics like proposing the idea of sticking yourself to the backs of a subject’s shoes.

• Session Two: "Publishing: The Long and Short of It." with Lisa Romeo, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

Do you see yourself writing a book? Articles? Essays? Blog posts? Op-Ed pieces? All of them? In this session, explore the many options for publishing the story you want to tell. Romeo will share her own experience publishing short pieces on the way to writing “Starting with Goodbye: A Daughter’s Memoir of Love” after Loss, and offer advice on finding venues, submitting work, and transitioning back and forth from short to long.

• Session Three: “Spiritual Writing” with Karol Jackowski and Sophfronia Scott, 3:30 - 4:45 p.m.

Just what is spiritual writing? What riches might be found along the path to it? How much faith, if any, does one need in order to explore the “spiritual” in writing? MFA faculty members Jackowski, author of books including the bestselling “Ten Fun Things to Do Before You Die” and Scott, whose titles include the recent acclaimed memoir “This Child of Faith,” will join moderator and MFA Director Leanna James Blackwell in a lively discussion of those topics and more.

For additional information on cost and registration, go to https://www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/community-events/writers-day. Pre-registration is suggested.