Presenting a Writing Workshop
Award-Winning Author, Jan Sikes loves to share the knowledge she’s gained over the years in the form of Writing Workshops.
LET’S WRITE A STORY!
A Workshop designed for children ages 8 – 13
Overview:
This is a writing workshop designed to ignite creativity by exploring what makes up a story, plot, character development, showing – not telling, resolution or endings, and editing.
Audience: Ages 8 – 13
Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to create a story idea, learn how to outline and develop the plot of the story as well as create believable characters and edit their work.
Handouts and PowerPoint Presentations accompany this workshop.
This is a “hands-on” workshop presented in three parts. The first segment covers the basics of developing a story idea. It explains the differences between story vs. plot and explores what fiction and nonfiction mean. Character development and Point of View are also covered in Part 1.
The second segment of the workshop covers outlining, plotting, dialogue and resolution.
Part three of this workshop reviews Parts 1 and 2 and delves into editing and publishing.
The goal of this workshop is to encourage children to write by providing tools and mentoring. Each child will have completed a short story by the end of this comprehensive workshop.
Charge: $250 plus travel expenses, if any. **Negotiable depending on circumstances**
**Note: This workshop cannot be completed in one session. It is suggested that at least two to three hours are devoted to each segment of the workshop making it a total of 6 – 9 hours.
Author reserves the right to display and sell her award-winning books.
LIVE INTERVIEWS
(How To get them and what to do afterward)
Photo taken from WFAA Good Morning Texas Interview
MARKETING 101
This session is a comprehensive look at live interviews and the many reasons an author should not only never refuse one, but actively seek them out. I use the three E’s to show what an author can gain from a live interview:
Exposure, Expansion, and Experience
Audience: Adult
Participants in the workshop will learn how to write professional Press Releases as well as who to send them to after they are written.
They will also learn how to prepare for a live interview and if it is a TV interview, what NOT to wear.
The goal of this workshop is to empower individuals with knowledge of how to write Press Releases and get results from sending them to media. It also provides solid guidance on live interviewing.
Handouts accompanying this workshop are: How To dress and prepare for a live TV interview Two sample Press Releases. This workshop can be presented in one hour. Cost: $175.00 plus travel expenses if any. **Negotiable depending on circumstances** Author reserves the right to display and sell her award-winning books, Flowers and Stone, The Convict and the Rose, Home At Last, ‘Til Death Do Us Part and Discovery.
MARKETING 101
FOR AUTHORS
Photo taken from WFAA Good Morning Texas Interview
This workshop is divided into three segments:
- Marketing Basics
- Expanding Marketing Basics
- Thinking Outside the box
The purpose of the workshop is to help new authors step into the role of marketing and give seasoned authors new ideas on how to approach marketing.
Audience: All Ages
In Part 1, Marketing Basics, we explore the bare-bones basics of marketing yourself and your books. We will cover the topics of:
- Author Platform and Branding
- Social Media
- Blog
- Amazon Author Central
- Organizations such as book clubs
The purpose of this workshop is to establish the basics of marketing that each author must implement in order to market themselves and their books.
In Part 2, Expanding Marketing Basics, I dive a little deeper into the world of marketing by talking about the following:
- Email Lists – How to compile and what to do with them
- Press Releases – Who can create one and where to send
- Book Trailers
- Giveaways
- Book Clubs
The purpose of this segment is to explore beyond the basics and add to the previous segment of the workshop. There are two Handouts that accompany this segment of the Marketing 101 Workshop.
In Part 3, Thinking Outside the Box, I show how authors can get creative with marketing. I also explain in depth how the mailing tool, MailChimp, works.
I give examples of how some other authors have stepped outside the box such as with creative blogs and dressing in costumes for public appearances.
The purpose of this segment of the workshop is to encourage authors to get creative! The sky is the limit.
Cost: $150 Plus travel expenses if any. **Negotiable** Note: This workshop takes three hours to present, or it can be broken down into three – one-hour segments. Author reserves the right to display and sell her award-winning books.
EDITING 101
Photo taken from WFAA Good Morning Texas Interview
This workshop is designed to help new authors prepare their manuscripts for publishing as well as to give seasoned authors a refresher in editing.
Audience: All Ages
Participants in this workshop will learn various methods of editing and how to avoid common pitfalls. We will explore POV mistakes and how to spot them, how to write different forms of dialogue, and avoid simple misapplied and misspelled words.
This workshop will give authors tools to make their writing cleaner, more readable and help them avoid common mistakes that can kill a good story.
A PowerPoint presentation and Handouts accompany this workshop.
Cost: $175.00 plus travel expenses if any. **Negotiable** This workshop can be presented in one hour. Author reserves the right to display and sell her award-winning books.
HOW MANY WAYS CAN YOU SAY _____?
This workshop consists of an engaging look at techniques to prevent our writing from becoming mundane. Using the same phrases and descriptions are ruts we all fall into.
Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to do hands-on exercises. The material will be presented in a fun and upbeat manner using a PowerPoint Presentation, the Emotion Thesaurus, Emotional Beats, and Strong Verb Strong Voice as well as other reference material.
“He walked.” Really? Do you know there are over 115 ways to describe the way a person walks? Why should you limit yourself to using the same words over and over? The same is true with voice descriptions and many other modes of communication we must rely on in telling a story.
In this presentation, we will explore the different descriptive words that can take the place of the ordinary. This brings your writing up to a new level of excitement both for you, the author, as well as the reader.
I will have several handouts for authors to use as reference material. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, Emotional Beats, and Strong Verb Strong Voice will be referred to frequently during this presentation as well as other resources authors may find helpful.
A PowerPoint presentation will be used in conjunction with printed material