I’m the president of the Popular Fiction Association of Idaho, Inc., which almost sounds impressive until you find out that it’s a teeny, tiny non-profit corporation that was created in 2004 as a layer of legal protection for a half dozen people who wanted to put on a mystery literature conference, specifically, Murder in the Grove, in Boise, Idaho.
Honestly, planning and executing a conference (complete with 25+ speakers, industry professionals, a massive group booksigning, a manuscript contest and a day-long master class) is a lot of work for 6-8 people. We didn’t do a full conference this year, just two days of master class with kick-ass teachers, Bob Mayer and Margie Lawson.
The master class weekend concluded yesterday and I’m waiting another day before I start going through the feedback forms, because I thought the teachers were wonderful, the information was incredibly useful and the organizers (the people I work with, not me) dedicated, professional and amazing.
Both Bob (http://www.bobmayer.org) and Margie Lawson (www.margielawson.com) teach more advanced classes both in-person and online. Bob has instructional books published (his Novel Writer’s Toolkit is technically out of print, but he has copies available through his website), while Margie offers her work as lecture packets through her website. I wish she would publish them as books, but that’s because I’m lazy and I don’t want to go to the trouble of binding them myself.
I highly recommend both of these writing instructors. They rock.
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