WORKSHOPS
Ready to effectively use Facebook Ads to reach more readers and boost your book sales?
Join Misty, who has successfully run hundreds of profitable ad campaigns, as she shares the exact strategies she’s found most helpful in today’s book market. In this hands-on, accelerated class designed specifically for authors, you’ll master exactly how to leverage Facebook Ads to grow your author brand and sell more books.
Whether you’re brand new to Facebook advertising or looking to refine your skills, this practical, author-focused course equips you with actionable strategies to accelerate your results and maximize your ad budget.
If you’re a writer who doesn’t wrestle with doubt, one might wonder if you’re actually writing. The two are inseparable, it seems. How can we rewire our writer brains to convert those neuropathways of doubt into mental workout routines that help us fully step into the gifts God gave us while strengthening the muscles that need more development, so Doubt is hushed, and Determination speaks the loudest?
In this workshop, we’ll discover a variety of tools to help us focus and maintain discipline in our writing time and beyond. Every writer struggles with balancing the work/life/responsibilities in our daily life. We have a finite amount of time to write. So how can we maximize that time to boost our creativity and production? We’ll attack the issue from a variety of angles so you can develop methods that work best for you.
Has writing started to feel like a slog? Are you in need of some ideas to refresh your creativity and restore your joy for storytelling? Then this is the session for you! We’ll go through some writing-craft solutions for getting “unstuck” in the middle of a manuscript that’s dragging, but most of the session will focus on interactive activities and demonstrations to help you enjoy the writing process more and celebrate each other’s stories. Sound like a fun way to break up an afternoon of useful (but exhausting) information? That’s the whole point!
After you Write THE END – Tara Johnson
Your story isn’t really over when you type ‘The End’. The next step is the dreaded edit. This class will explore differences between editing houses, the differences between types of edits, how build the ideal working relationship with your editor, and tips for self-assessment to make the entire process a joy.
Disclaimer: The advice given in this workshop should not substitute for consulting an accounting professional in your state. State tax laws vary, and federal tax laws change without notice. The information given here will be current for the State of Minnesota and for Federal Tax Law as of July of 2026, but you should consult your own, local, licensed tax professional for your particular state of residence, circumstances, and tax year. Each writer’s situation is different, and should be discussed with a CPA/tax preparer. This workshop is for general knowledge purposes only.
Gone are the days of writers toiling away in solitude in their garrets, emerging only for the thirty city book tour. These days, authors are called upon to be in front of cameras and microphones as readers seek connection with the writers of their favorite stories. Rayna, a veteran of television production, will guide us through how to dress, how to sit, what to do with our hands, how to put the interviewer at ease, and how to sound like we know what we’re doing when it comes to TV, podcast, and video interviews.
Using Emotionally Preloaded Concepts to Set the Tone of your Scene: To craft a memorable story, authors can use setting, descriptive imagery, and even the weather to create the right atmosphere…and Christian writers have an edge. Many of readers’ “gut reactions” to words come from being created by a storytelling God who made us to hate the corrupting effects of the Fall and gave us a longing for everything to be restored. Together, we’ll look at examples of thematically preloaded concepts from the Bible helpful in supporting spiritual themes in your novel. We’ll also go over examples from classic novels that have done this well. Participants will walk away better able to express their spiritual theme without directly preaching by wielding a list of deeply resonant words, images, and metaphors that work together to create powerful stories that linger long after the last page.
At a loss to know when or how to start the process of launching a book? Looking for new avenues to share about your work with readers? Veteran author and publisher will give you a peek behind the curtain to see what has worked for her through the years. She’ll hit the high points, but we’ll also delve into the nooks and crannies of launch teams, publicists, swag, endorsements, and more.
Headhopping. In this class, we’ll delve into how to avoid headhopping, both the obvious and the subtle. As writers, our job is to immerse our reader into not just the setting of the story, but the characters themselves. Through dialogue, observation, internal thought, simile and metaphor, word usage, timing, and more, we’ll dive into the ins and outs of writing deep POV.
From cannons to swords, pistols to fisticuffs, writing a great fight scene can make your story come alive, get your reader squarely on the side of your protagonist, and teach both sides of the conflict some lessons. We’ll learn terminology, kinesthetics, and jargon to make our fight scenes pop. No more pulling the reader out of the story trying to envision the action. After this class, you’ll power through fight scenes like Rocky on his best day!
As writers, we think in words, but our readers are looking for more than that. From an author brand to visual in the form of graphics, reels, and videos, readers want to connect with authors in new and exciting (and sometimes terrifying) ways. In this workshop, we’ll learn by observing best practices followed by content creators on a variety of platforms, identifying the best way to reach our readers while not giving away our right to privacy.
This year, we’re trying something new. The last ‘workshop’ of the day will be a panel of speakers ready to answer your questions. Whether something that was talked about in a workshop that you would like more clarity on, or something you’ve always wanted to ask a veteran writer, this is the time!
