If you’re looking for a great one-day writer’s conference in the Cleveland area, then consider the Skyline Writers Conference on Saturday, August 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hines Hill Conference Center in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I’ll be speaking on this topic: Live Out Your Dream: How to Succeed As a Freelancer.

Hope to see you there!

I’d never heard of a reader’s circle before, but I’ve just learned that it is a “book club where people attend with whatever they’re reading. The only structure is if participants decide to have an ‘optional book.’ Otherwise, people just bring their own books, articles, magazines, and conversation goes from there.

The idea is to loosen the usual format so participants can select their own reading and attend if they’re still in the middle of a book. Conversation inevitably covers the books brought and many other subjects as well.”

It’s an interesting concept and there is a web site dedicated to helping people find book groups where the reading circle concept can be employed and where people can also learn ways in which to start a book group if one isn’t available in the area. For a small fee, authors can put information about their books in front of readers who visit the Reader’s Circle web site.

I’m definitely all for a site that encourages more reading! I have just started to look around the site and I encourage everyone else to take a look, too.

Exciting news! A play that I’ve written, titled Freedom’s Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad, will be performed at the French Creek Reservation of the Lorain County Metro Parks and directed by TrueNorth Cultural Arts.

Freedom’s Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad is a play of hope and freedom. In the days leading up to the Civil War, helping slaves escape to freedom became increasingly dangerous – especially in Northern Ohio. Only the bravest of conductors on the Underground Railroad continued defying federal orders to stop helping slaves – and Robbins and Eliza Burrell of Sheffield Village, Ohio were two of those daring conductors who refused to stop.

Federal marshals raided their home countless times, yet they were never caught. No one knows how they evaded detection – but Freedom’s Light: a Stop Along the Underground Railroad suggests one possible way as it shares the story of Nellie as she courageously flees slavery so that her baby could live in freedom.

The play will be held from May 1 through 17th, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances starting at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday performances starting at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online. Or, call 1-800-LCM-PARK.

Hope to see you there!

I just took a really fun quiz at a friend’s web site to discover what kind of flower I’d be, if I were indeed a flower.

This means that I am a “health conscious person, both your health and the health of others. You know all about the health benefits and dangers of the world around you.”

If you click on the floral photo, you’ll be taken to the site where you can take the quiz. Have fun!

Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation on “Nonfiction: Banquet of Opportunities.” You were a great group of people and I appreciated all of your excellent questions and your passion for writing.

As I told you at the end of my presentation, feel free to contact me with your writing questions, any time.

Thanks again!

I will be facilitating two new classes for the Writers Online Workshops by Writer’s Digest, starting tomorrow. One is called Marketing Your Magazine Articles and the other is called Accelerated Fundamentals of Nonfiction Writing. It’s still not too late to sign up!

Today, I received my two-volume contributor copy of Encyclopedia of the Jazz Age: From the End of World War I to the Great Crash, published by Sharpe Reference, Inc. I wrote the entries on the Black Sox Scandal; George Herman “Babe” Ruth; and Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball’s first commissioner.

The cover is beautiful and I look forward to reading other entries in this set!

I love spring — and, even better, summer! — and March is where we’ll turn the corner . . .

As I’d mentioned earlier this month, I’ll be speaking at the 17th Annual Western Reserve Spring Writers Conference; my topic is “Nonfiction: A Banquet of Opportunity.”

My goal is to provide information about a wide variety of nonfiction opportunities, ranging from writing a book to contributing to one; writing for magazines and newspapers; creating entries for encyclopedias; copywriting for advertisements and on the Internet; and so on and so forth.

When you attend writer’s conferences, what makes a presentation a helpful, positive experience? Do handouts, for example, make a significant difference? Extended time for Q & A? Also let me know what you perceive as a negative when attending a presentation at a writer’s conference.

Thanks!

I recommend that you add this site to your list of places to check for freelance work. I always check out the “telecommute” option of JournalismJobs.com.

The website lists the following as companies and/or organizations that have used JournalismJobs.com to find their writers: ESPN, Time Inc., MSNBC, USA Today, Dallas Morning News, C-Span, PBS, Fox News Channel, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Geographic Magazine, G+J USA Publishing, Boston Globe, New York Times, Reuters, Financial Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times, Dow Jones, NPR, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Business Week, Red Herring, Business 2.0, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, America Online, Men’s Health, Wired, Mother Jones, Cosmopolitan, U.S. News & World Report, Reader’s Digest, ABCNews.com, TheStreet.com, Discovery Channel, Boston Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, PR agencies, trade associations, journalism schools, and newsletter groups.

If you find work from JournalismJobs.com, I’d love to hear about it. What other freelance job sites do you use?