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The Gathering of the Writers

28th annual Flathead River Writers’ Conference offers insight into publishing industry, writing process

By Molly Priddy
Stock photo.

Writing a book is a labor of love for many authors, living for years with characters and plotlines in their heads and trying to get it to play out perfectly on the page.

And while the writing of the book is a necessity in order to publish a book, it’s also just the first step in those ideas making their way into the world.

It’s an accomplishment to finish a book, and once it’s achieved, it’s time to find an agent who wants to sell it to a publisher, who should promote and sell it. Breaking into the industry is often an Everest-level task for most writers, but it’s one that can be softened with friends and contacts.

That’s where the Authors of the Flathead come in. The longtime writers’ group has been meeting for almost 30 years to help one another hone their respective crafts. And for 28 years, they’ve met once a year for a conference, which started as a writing workshop and has grown into so much more.

The Flathead River Writers’ Conference takes place Sept. 22-23 at Flathead Valley Community College, where attendees will hear from published authors Dennis Foley, Deborah LeBlanc and William Bernhardt, as well as others in the industry, including Marcia Markland, an editor with Thomas Dunne Books and St. Martin’s Press; Natalie Grazian, an associate agent with Martin Literary and Media Management; and Jeffrey Yamaguchi, a publicist and senior director of marketing at Blackstone Audio.

“There’s this whole business side to books that people may not know,” Christine Hensleigh, vice president of Authors of the Flathead, said. “There’s a difference between liking to write and making it to the finish line with a book. The industry is a dynamic, huge industry, and these conferences keep you in touch with it in Montana.”

There are only 100 spots available at the conference, and as of last week, about two-thirds had been filled. Keeping attendance limited to 100 people gives the conference and its workshops and presentations a more intimate feel. It also gives attendees the chance for more access to knowledgeable industry insiders, Hensleigh said.

The first day includes sessions on writing memoirs, the path to publishing, digital platforms, design, manuscripts, and a following social event. The second day offers presentations on digital author platforms, plotting and outlining in fiction, finding a literary agent, paranormal romance, fundamentals of fiction, and panel critiques.

“This really is a unique experience to brush elbows with industry insiders,” Hensleigh said. “Other conferences you go to, it’s thousands of people. This is a different kind of conference.”

When it first started, the conference was an intensive five-day writing workshop, with three days of writing at Grouse Mountain Lodge and then two days of workshopping the writing with other writers.

Then it started to grow, adding on aspects about the publishing industry. Now, it acts as a local peephole into a global industry, connecting local writers with editors, agents, and publicists they might not otherwise meet.

There’s talk of reincorporating the writing-intensive portion of the weekend, Hensleigh said, but with so many people it would make it difficult to give everyone the attention they deserve. Still, the idea of breaking it down by genre and into smaller groups is a potential way to figure that out, she said.

Essentially, Authors of the Flathead would like to do whatever it can to help out another scribe, she said. Writing is a solitary endeavor by its nature, and writers need to get together to share and commiserate and get better at what they love.

“If you’re a writer, you need to get with your kin, so to speak,” Hensleigh said.

Authors of the Flathead meet as a group weekly. For more information on meet-ups and the conference, visit www.authorsoftheflathead.org.