KANSAS CITY IN 2006

Our conference was held at the lovely Comfort Inn & Suites in downtown Kansas City MO. On Friday before the conference, the early-bird attendees took a tour of the Hallmark Center and enjoyed tracing the history of the famous card company and learning how the artists and the writers create the cards. It was a nostalgic experience to see the products of long ago and to watch how cards are manufactured on one of the machines in the center. We even watched a movie of the history of Hallmark in a very nice theatre on the premises. That evening we enjoyed conversation and dinner while getting to know each other at a popular K.C. steakhouse. On Saturday morning, CEO Rebecca Buckley opened the conference, welcomed the attendees, and introduced the first workshop leaders, David Rosenberg and Caryn Bruer, who stood in for Claudette Milner, who couldn’t make it to the conference. After which Mr. Rosenberg returned to present his scheduled workshop, “Creative Writing: Motivation, Inspiration, Soaring!" President Caryn Bruer returned to the podium to talk about “Writing Is Serious Business: Get Published! Sell books!” The conference's first of two keynote speakers was Ean de L’Autin, a native Louisianan, currently residing in Texas because of the damage done to his property in New Orleans during Katrina. Ean’s “journey has led him to the discovery that writing real life experience in fiction while using the art of myth and metaphor can be an extraordinary manner in which to share life lessons and specific perceptions.” At the lunch break, Rolland Love, a published author from Kansas City, conducted a tour of the Lewis & Clark Historic Park at Kaw Point and we journeyed across the river after our picnic lunch and walked the ground where Lewis & Clark set up up their encampment. A beautiful park, by the way, and one in which Roland has been instrumental in forming. He also traveled the river on an excursion that followed the route of the Lewis & Clark party, and lived just as they did, off the land and the river. The afternoon session began with a welcome by Caryn Bruer who talked about WOW and introduced the second keynote speaker – Mark Wirtz, a renowned musician, songwriter, record producer, stand-up comedian, who is also a multi-published author. Following Mr. Wirtz was Rebecca Buckley conducting a workshop on “Freelance Writing for Magazines” during which the attendees were asked to write a query letter to a magazine editor. The members acted as editors, critiquing the queries. Ina Goodling then stepped up to the dais with “Rhyming Reasons”, being a talented young poet and delighting the attendees with her knowledge of poetry and reading samples of her own work. Caryn Bruer announced the winning entries for the short story and poetry contests, three winners in each category. The conference was indeed a splendid event in that it induced much discussion about the topics at hand, attendees shared personal writing experiences, as well as, writers formed relationships with one another, and will most likely network for life in some instances . . . it was all good. Later that evening, dinner was served in the conference room and David Rosenberg produced an after-dinner skit with actor volunteers to demonstrate adapting a book chapter to a scene in a film. It was a fun-filled day as well as an educational experience. And for some it didn’t end there, for off they traipsed to a local comedy club and then to a famous KC jazz joint till the wee hours. On Sunday morning the general meeting was held - annual meeting of WOW members only, and the conference ended at that point. For those who weren’t leaving right away, it was off to the Crown Center for a Sushi lunch and shopping. Take a look at the photos.