Speakers Archives - Mountain Valley Writers

Speaker Spotlight for #MVWC 2017 – Cheryl Wray has the Query Secrets

KathrynLang March 17, 2017 No Comments

Do queries put you in a quandary? Cheryl Wray has the tools to set things right.

The Mountain Valley Writers Conference will feature speakers and presentations that will help provide the tools to writers that are working in the industry or those writers that are seeking to build their own platform for writing success.

Speaker Highlight

Cheryl Wray

Cheryl Wray is a reporter wit Al.com, a freelance magazine writer, and an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Alabama. She’s had more than 2000 articles published in a variety of magazines through the years, and is the author of two books on the article publishing process. Her book, Writing for Magazines (McGraw-Hill), was a featured selection of the Writers Digest Book Club and her most recent writing guide, Writing Feature Articles (Vision Press) is used in college courses across the country. She is currently working on a book on Type-1 diabetes featuring profIles of celebrities and everyday heroes. She’s also the co-founder of the popular Southern Christian Writers Conference.

Cheryl joins the Mountain Valley Writers Conference to share the secrets for crafting a query letter that grabs the attention of the editor and lands you the gig!

Craft a Query Letter that Sells

Expect to walk away with a query or query outline

More about the Speaker

Favorite book: I’m an avid reader and could list probably 50 for you, but the one I come back to over and over is To Kill a Mockingbird. I love all things Southern, and the story’s morality and the characters can’t be beat (My almost 13-year-old daughter is named Scout. So, yep, my husband and I both love that book). I’m also a Harry Potter nerd, and love those books!

Favorite Quote: Again, my “favorites” change all the time according to what’s going on my life. But I love quotes from writers, from the Bible, from books, from songs even. Right now in my mind I have the verse from Esther that says, “Perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (4:14). A recent favorite is “Nevertheless, she persisted.” Both of those say a lot to me about taking advantage of our opportunities, believing in God’s plan for our lives, and also sticking to your dreams even when perhaps we are pushed down by our doubts or other people or whatever.

Want people to know about me: I love to encourage aspiring writers. I love to take the mystery out of the writing and marketing process. It takes diligence, yes, but it’s not brain surgery. You can do it!

Random fun facts: Have three daughters McKenna, Delaney, and Scout and am a brand-new grandmother with granddaughter Ramsey Cate. (Three of them have birthdays in the same week…the last week of March.) I love sweet tea, sports of all kinds, Star Wars, road trips, and bubble baths. (Sounds like a personals ad. ) I was born in Texas, the child of two writers, so it’s in my blood.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Facebook: Cheryl Sloan Wray
Twitter: @cwray_sports

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Speaker Spotlight for #MVWC 2017 – Jonathan Trip Builds Community

KathrynLang March 10, 2017 No Comments

Speaker Highlight

Jonathan Tripp

Jonathan Tripp opens his home to you as host of Jonathan Trip Live. He creates an atmosphere of comfort with simple steps – like the “mug shot” of the day and other little invites to bring you into the conversation.

A background in management services and non-profit organizations has helped Jonathan become a proven leader ready (and willing) to create actionable social media strategies that will deepen connections with your target audience and grow the engagement that supports your brand and business.

The ever changing technology of the internet creates new opportunities and doors for moving forward. Jonathan is focused on this evolving world and helping you find your way through it. His Show, Jonathan Trip Live, focuses on social media, business and marketing topics, and developing a strong network.

Jonathan joins the Mountain Valley Writers Conference to share his tips for connecting, engaging, and growing community.

Want to create breakthroughs on demand? Say yes! Your actions are fueled by your beliefs whether positive or negative. Denise’s presentation will show you how to interrupt worn out, ineffective beliefs and replace them with powerful, effective beliefs to achieve your goals. In a fusion of comedy and science, you will hear and see how quickly you can make this can happen in any area of your life.

Building a Community

Take away Top Point:
Why community growth is more than just posts & links!

More about the Speaker

Favorite Book:
The Poetry of Robert Frost

Favorite Quote:
The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived.

One thing:
My love for people and coffee are only outweighed by my love for my wife and family.

Random Fun Fact:
I love acquiring coffee mugs, especially from my listeners.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Website: jonathantripp.com
Instagram: @jontripp
Community: jonathantripp.com/group
Start-Up: vitmug.com

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Tell Your Story – #MVWC Speaker Spotlight with Lawayne Orlando Childrey

KathrynLang February 21, 2017 No Comments

Speaker Highlight

Lawayne Orlando Childrey

Lawayne Orlando Childrey is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. His autobiography, Peeling Back the Layers: A Story of Trauma, Grace and Triumph, was selected as one of the top six autobiographies of 2015 by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. In this book Childrey demonstrates how he endured some of the most horrific trauma imaginable, including childhood sexual abuse, depression, a crack cocaine addiction and an HIV diagnosis. He finally found fulfillment through his faith in God’s grace. Reviewers have called Peeling Back the Layers: A Story of Trauma, Grace and Triumph a masterpiece…so personal, so inspiring, so intimate.

Childrey is also the co-author of Self-Publishing & Selling Your Book, a step-by-step manual that explains the entire process from start to successful finish.

In addition, Childrey is also a recipient of the national Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalistic Excellence. He has won numerous Mississippi Associated Press awards for his reporting with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, a statewide affiliate of National Public Radio. In 2014 the Alabama Community College System selected Childrey as its most outstanding alumnus in the institution’s 50-year history. The ACCS awarded a $5,000 scholarship in Childrey’s name to a deserving Alabama high school senior. During the same year, Childrey was named alumnus of the year for Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee where he serves on the executive committee of the Nashville Regional HIV Planning Council. He is also an executive board member of The Excell Group, a mentoring program for at risk youth in Pembroke, Illinois.

Childrey is currently in demand as a speaker, inspiring many different kinds of audiences with his incredible story.

He also works as a freelance journalist, national voice over artist and HIV/AIDS advocate.

Lawayne joins the faculty for #MVWC 2017 as an advocate for telling your story. He will facilitate a workshop highlighting the importance of autobiographical storytelling during the 2017 Mountain Valley Writers Conference.

Balancing the Truth of Your Heart with the Exposure to the World

Everyone has a story to tell and a lesson to teach.

From a legacy perspective, we tell our stories for ourselves and as a gift to future generations. This presentation highlights some of the many ways telling those stories, both good and bad benefit us all. It also demonstrates how difficulties arise not because we have a story, perhaps a very sad or painful story, but because we become attached to our stories and make them an essential part of our very selves. Telling our stories is not an end in itself, but an attempt to release ourselves from them, to evolve and grow beyond them. We tell our stories to transform ourselves; to learn about our history and tell our experiences to transcend them. During this presentation we will learn to use our stories to make a difference in the world; to broaden our perspective to see further than normal; to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned or enslaved us; to live more of our spiritual and earthly potential.

Everyone has a story to tell and a lesson to teach.

More about the Speaker

Favorite book: Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris. This is the first book that I actually saw myself on the pages. I felt like Harris was telling my story and I read it in a day.

Favorite quote: To Thine Own Self Be True
When I was a kid growing up my mom would drill this in my head. However, it wasn’t until I became an adult that I began to fully appreciate its meaning. “Thanks mom and William Shakespeare, I get it.”

Random Fun Fact: I got to hang out and shoot hoops with the world famous Harlem Globetrotters when I was 10 years old.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Video: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365762197/
Website: www.lawaynechildrey.com
Facebook: Lawayne Orlando Childrey and Lawayne Childrey, Author,
Twitter: @LChildrey
Instagram: lawaynechildrey

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Elevating Mind Power – Denise Oatley Hall in the Spotlight for #MVWC

KathrynLang February 14, 2017 No Comments

Speaker Highlight

Denise Oatley Hall

Denise Oatley Hall here. The first thing you should know about me, is I am a combination of artist, scientist, goofball and dreamer. When I was a kid, we lived on a lake. I wanted to build a submarine (no kidding) and paint it with wild colors before I launched it. In junior high, I found out I could make people laugh. (Much to the dismay of my teachers.) No surprise then that I became a professional clown and a children’s entertainer for many years. I am also passionate about going for the gusto in life and helping other people to do the same. Becoming a hypnotist gave me understanding and powerful tools to not only help people create lasting change but also experience belly- busting laughter. These days, I use most of these experiences (no pies in the face) to create one-of-a-kind keynote presentations, shows, retreats and write. Life is good. Oh, and my favorite food is a hot dog.

Denise lives in sunny Safety Harbor, Florida with her dog Sophie.

Denise joins the Mountain Valley Writers Conference to share her secrets of mind power and how to make the most of your subconscious to reach your defined success.

Power Up Your Mind

Take away:
Boost confidence and belief in self and goals
Breakthrough negative thinking and reset mind
Increase confidence in self and goals

More about the Speaker

Favorite book: I don’t know how anyone can have one favorite book. But I love Little Women. I read it yearly and love it dearly.

Favorite Quote: Favorite quote? I have so many…but here is one I am fond of. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old but building the new.” Socrates

One thing I want people to know about me. I am extremely playful and I love to make other people laugh.

Random fun facts: My friends call me Pioneer Woman – ask me why.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Website: Denis Oatley Hall
Facebook: ChoosePassion

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Make Money Writing – Cindy M Jones in the Speaker Spotlight for #MVWC

KathrynLang February 13, 2017 1 Comment

Speaker Highlight

Cindy M. Jones

Cindy M. Jones is a writer and consultant specializing in content provision, social media management and marketing for real estate, tourism, and author promotion. Her mission is guiding writers in discovering their goals and unique voice while giving them the tools they need to succeed.

She has appeared in publications such as; The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, The Christian Post, The Writer’s Den, Inspire a Fire, Birmingham Magazine, Birmingham Parent, Birmingham Business Journal and RootsRated. She has founded and facilitated creative writing groups throughout Alabama and Mississippi for all ages.

Cindy enjoys discovering treasures along the Alabama Coastline with her one true love, Bryan, and spending time with their three grown children.

You can make money writing, and Cindy joins the Mountain Valley Writers Conference with the task of providing the tools for creating a living wage providing content. She will challenge attendees to take their words to the next level. Whether you are a blogger, a novelist, or a non-fiction specialist, developing new income avenues and learning new paths to make money writing will give your a stronger foundation for the journey

Top Points:
You’ll learn how to:
Develop a content provision niche
Find new material
Approach potential clients
Market and brand yourself while staying organized.

More about the Speaker

Favorite book: The Bible, I just can’t seem to put it down.

Favorite Quotes: “Start where you are, do what you can, use what you have.” ~ Arthur Ashe

“Don’t despise the day of small beginnings.” ~ Zech 4:10

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Random Fun Fact: Inspired by an mysterious encounter nearly 30 years ago, I’m a tea fanatic and owl trinket collector.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

website: Cindy M Jones
Facebook: CindyJonesWrites
Twitter: @ceajones
Pinterest: Cindy M. Jones
Instagram: Cindy M. Jones

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Speaker Spotlight with Williesha Morris at the Mountain Valley Writers Conference

KathrynLang February 10, 2017 No Comments

Speaker Highlight

Williesha Morris

With a journalism degree under her belt, Williesha Morris embraces emerging technology and focuses on freelance writing and blogging for both offline and online publications. Her blog, My Freelance Life, was awarded as one of the top blogs for writers in 2015 by The Write Life.com. She’s written for the Huffington Post, XO Jane, Brazen Careerist, Al.com and Birmingham Magazine.

Williesha built a success blog and will bring some of her experiences in the journey to you. Her session: Freelance, Blogging, and Money – Oh, My will provide the tools for developing an income with words.

More about the Speaker

Favorite Book: March trilogy by John Lewis because it presented in a beautiful form what the civil rights movement looked like from the inside.

Favorite Quote:”Sometimes we expect more from others, because we would be willing to do that much for them.” – Unknown – Reminds me that sometimes my heart can be too big, but I’d rather err on the side of love.

One thing you want people to know about you: Spent a summer in Australia and interned for the Olympic Committee in Sydney.

Random fun fact: Superhero shows are my weakness.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Websites:
My Freelance Life
Nerdy Thirty Something

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Mountain Valley Writers Conference – Speaker Spotlight – Natalie Cone

KathrynLang February 6, 2017 No Comments

Writers Conference Speaker Highlight

Natalie Cone

Natalie Cone is the wife of a handyman, the mother of two boys, a nature enthusiast, and a professional writer from Birmingham, Alabama. If she’s not blogging about the mishaps of motherhood or pecking away at her first fiction novel, she can be found in a field of flowers at springtime.

Natalie is the winner of both the 2013 AND the 2015 SELTI Short Story Contests. Her ability to capture the heart of a location allows her to create strong tourism fiction that is more than just a story in a place.

She will be sharing her expertise on how to turn the focus of a location into an income at the 2017 Mountain Valley Writers Conference.

Tourism Fiction

More about the Speaker

My favorite book is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I was first introduced to the story through the film adaptation in 1993, also titled The Secret Garden. It sparked my obsession with skeleton keys and finding secret doors and hidden passages. It’s a story that marked my childhood and inspired the most magical pretend play with my little sister.
Favorite Quote: “Don’t fight it. Write it.” – Kris Cone (my husband). I repeat this in my head every time I am overthinking an aspect of my writing or am overwhelmed by my inner critic

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Blog: www.nataliecone.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NatalieWrites

Twitter @nataliecone

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Mitzi Eaker at the Mountain Valley Writers Conference

KathrynLang January 31, 2017 No Comments

Welcome to the Mountain Valley Writers Conference Speaker list for March 2017. This writing conference focuses on working writers and writers who want to work. Each speaker has been chosen because of a passion to help others find the way that will work for them.

Speaker Highlight

Mitzi Eaker

Mitzi Eaker is the Chief Creative Ofﬁcer for Mitzi Jane Media. For the past 5 years, Mitzi has assisted organizations and businesses with marketing strategy, project management and digital media training. She has worked with a variety of clients from small businesses owners to community action groups to church ministries.

Mitzi’s passion is in helping women creatives and entrepreneurs create sustainable businesses through Mastermind groups, coaching and courses. These online tools give women the individual and group support they need to create and customize their business and marketing plans to ﬁt their lifestyle and resources.

Mitzi’s 20 year background in ministry, publishing and digital marketing gives her a unique perspective and network that she brings to her clients and courses. However, her greatest accomplishment, success has yet to be determined, is her family, husband Shane and two boys Evan and Isaac.

She is the Author of Missions Moments: Foundational Messages and Activities for Children and Missions Moments 2: 52 Easy-to-Use Missional Messages and Activities for Today’s Family. Her family is currently working on a family road-trip and camping guide.

Mitzi will be joining the Mountain Valley Writers Conference as a workshop leader. Her session will help you develop a digital plan to move you forward in your writing success.

Learn the 5 steps to creating a simple and successful marketing plan.
Create and take home your customer persona for your target market.
Clarify and deﬁne your brand image.

More about the Speaker

Favorite book: Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers – It beautifully and emotionally tells the story of forgiveness and grace.

Favorite quote: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Antoine de SaintExupery, People can do so much more when the motivation comes from a vision from within that is encouraged and supported from others.

One thing you want people to know about you: I love helping women use their gifts and talents to provide for their families and fulﬁll their purpose.

Fun fact My favorite place in the world is on a ski boat soaring across beautiful Weiss Lake with the wind on my face and my family by my side. Heaven on earth.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Website: MitziJaneMedia.com

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Join Gary Gabelhouse at the Mountain Valley Writers Conference

KathrynLang January 24, 2017 No Comments

Speaker Highlight

Gary Gabelhouse

Gary Gabelhouse is a former military contractor, Methodist pastor, and honorary Shingon Buddhist priest. He was a direct student of the Maharishi Mahesh yogi and was also personally initiated into Buddhist Tantric practice by the 14th Dalai Lama.

He has studied religious ceremony on six of the seven continents, is a member of the Explorer’s Club (nominated by Sir Edmund Hillary) and had an interest in Christian sanctification as it correlates to Eastern religions while in seminary.

The works that he has pinned include seven novels (the second novel is being adapted into a feature film – REBORN) and a graphic novel. He has also produced an audio book.

As the CEO of a marketing-consulting firm, he has been involved in the launches of many entertainment and media products including Fox TV Network, Play Station, and X-Box.

You can find out more about Gary, his writings, and his journeys by visiting Gabelhouse.com

Gary will be leading a workshop on marketing. “Marketing 101 Primer” will help attendees lay out a marketing plan and help authors understand what they can expect and what is expected of them.

More about the Speaker

My favorite book is not a book but a series – Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien is simply a wizard, himself. He created, and continues to create, an entire world that is open to those who read his work.
A favorite quote is this: “The principal difference between an adventurer and a suicide is that the adventurer leaves himself a margin of escape (the narrower the margin the greater the adventure), a margin whose width and length may be determined by unknown factors but whose navigation is determined by the measure of the adventurer’s nerve and wits. It is exhilarating to live by one’s nerves or toward the summit of one’s wits.” – Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction
Interesting Fact: Gary holds advanced Dan ranking in Goju Ryu Karate and Daitoryu. His pilgrimages to the Shingon Buddist monasteries of Koyasan, Japan, and his initiation into Tibetan Buddhis Tantric practice, keep him in touch with the esoteric practices he writes about.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Website: www.gabelhouse.com

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10 Minute Novelist – Katharine Grubb – at the Mountain Valley Writers Conference

KathrynLang January 13, 2017 No Comments

Welcome to the Mountain Valley Writers Conference Speaker list for March 2017. This writers conference focuses on working writers and writers who want to work. Each speaker has been chosen because of a passion to help others find the way that will work for them.

Speaker Highlight

Katharine Grubb

Katharine Grubb is a homeschooling mother of five, a novelist, a baker of bread, a comedian wannabe, a former running coward, and the author of “Write a Novel in 10 Minutes a Day”. Besides pursuing her own fiction and nonfiction writing dreams, she also leads 10 Minute Novelist on Facebook – an international group for time-crunched writers that focuses on tips, encouragement, and community.

10 Minute Novelists was named by Writer’s Digest as a Top 101 Sites for Writers.

Katharine blogs at www.10minutenovelist.com. She and her family live in Massachusetts. Her next book is “When the Timer Dings: Time Management Strategies for the 10 Minute Novelist”.

Katharine will be joining the Mountain Valley Writers Conference as a session leader. She will be sharing her thoughts on how she has built up her online following and how you can make social media work for you.

More about the Speaker

My favorite book is Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen. I know it’s not an original choice, but it really is my favorite.
A favorite quote is this: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” Robert Frost.
I want people to know about me is that I’m pretty ordinary and I almost exclusively shop at thrift stores.
Random fun fact: I bake my own bread, five loaves at a time, at least once a week.

Where to Connect with the Speaker

Website: www.10minutenovelists.com
Pinterest: @10minutenovelis
Twitter: @10minNovelist
Instagram: 10minutenovelists
Links: 10 Minute Novelists Facebook Group

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Mountain Valley Writers Conference Tickets