CWA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The international Cat Writers' Association Inc. will hold its 16th Annual Conference in White Plains, NY. The fun will begin on November 19 and end on November 21. The conference is open to anyone interested in pet writing and will feature two days of professional seminars with nationally known speakers. The annual CWA Awards Banquet features 21 special awards for writing and graphic arts totaling $10,000.

The conference is our once-a-year time to get together to learn, network, be recognized, be inspired and celebrate with our peers, editors and agents and our sponsors.

NOTE: Additional information will be added, as available.

• Conference Hotel
• Transportation
• Editor/Agent Appointments
• CWA Seminars & Conference Schedule
• Speakers
• TNT - Door Prize and Conference Folder Stuffing Party
• Pet Book Autograph Party
• Conference Registration | PayPal Payment to come!
• Conference Sponsors

CONFERENCE HOTEL

Crowne Plaza White Plains Hotel
66 Hale Avenue
White Plains, New York 10601
914-682-0050 or 800-227-6963
www.crowneplaza.com/whiteplainsny
(Enter group code IWA)

ROOM RATE: CWA has reserved a block of rooms for CWA Conference attendees at a special rate of $119 (single/double) plus tax per night. Ask for the International Cat Writers Association room rate. Make reservations by October 29, after which rates go up. (No pets allowed, other than service animals).

TRANSPORTATION

Hotel will provide free shuttle to and from the train and Westchester County Airport, and to and from the Westchester Cat Show (www.westchester-feline.org) every hour from 8 am to 6 pm during the cat show on Saturday and Sunday.

Return to top

EDITOR/AGENT APPOINTMENTS

Full Conference registration required.

One-on-one 15-minute appointments are made on first-come, first-serve basis. Editors/agents are still being confirmed. For more information, contact the CWA appointment coordinator Heike Hagenguth at worddesign@usa.net

Return to top

PET BOOK AUTOGRAPH PARTY

PET BOOK SALE!
Sponsored by Westchester Feline Club
FULL REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR PARTICIPATION

The CWA hosts a PET BOOK AUTOGRAPH PARTY on Saturday, November 21 at the Westchester County Center during the Cat Show-open to the public--just in time for holiday gift buying!

Pet titles preferred, but any subject welcome. Our host bookstore will order books or you may bring them yourself. CWA volunteers will staff and sell books during the signing.

Lyn T. Garson, CVT coordinates this effort, so watch for details about deadlines and other required information on our web site and in the Fall MEOW newsletter.

Return to top

TNT--DOOR PRIZE & CONFERENCE FOLDER STUFFING PARTY

Thursday November 19, 7:00 pm

Start your conference experience off right with an informal networking event. Includes a light meal and a "sneak peak" at all the goodies--all "Kittens" (new attendees) are especially welcome at this get-to-know-you event!

Return to top

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Friday, November 20
Saturday, November 21
More Speakers/Topics to Come

The Art of Interviewing
Arden Moore, radio host, editor, author

Successful Pitches to Editors
Sharon Sakson, TV writer/producer & author

Children's Book Panel
Linda Kay Hardie, Barbara Stretton, Anne Rockwell, other authors TBA

Media Training
Lea-Ann Germinder, public relations expert

Lying Our Way to the Truth: Fiction, Nonfiction, & Memoir
Linda Kay Hardie, author

Animal-Assisted Therapy
David Frei, "Voice of Westminster" & therapy dog handler

Rights and Content Fights
ASJA board member & author Minda Zetlin

Building a Website on a Shoestring
Bill Pfleging, computer/technology expert & author

The Story Behind the Pet Food Recall
Marion Nestle, author

Essaying Your Opinion
Marion Lane, writer, editor, essayist

Getting Socially Connected
Bill Pfleging, computer/technology expert & author

Writing Your Mystery
Clea Simon, author of two mystery series

Breaking Into Other Genres
Patricia Fry, writer/editor/author & president of SPAWN

Vet/Industry Panel: Consumer Guide To Saving Money Without Compromising Pet Health.
Panelists TBA

Selling Content in the 21st Century
An agent, a book editor and a magazine or webzine editor discuss their insights into new ways authors can sell content in the future.
Moderated by Beth Adelman, publishing professional, editor, & author

Editor Panel: How to Make the Editor Your Friend, Not Your Foe
Panelists TBA

Return to top

SPEAKERS

FRIDAY DINNER SPEAKER
November 20

Kevin T. Fitzgerald, DVM, PhD
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Practitioners

Kevin Fitzgerald grew up in Denver and graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder where he also received his masters and doctorate degrees in endocrinology. In 1983 he received a DVM from Colorado State University.

Dr. Fitzgerald has served as President of the Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society (DAVMS), as a member of the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, and since 1985 has been assistant professor adjunct at the University of Denver where he teaches Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine.

In 1998 he became board-certified in Canine and Feline Practice by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. Dr. Fitzgerald writes monthly columns for the American Kennel Club Gazette, American Kennel Club Family Dog magazine and Police Dog magazine. He also has written twenty-one book chapters in various veterinary texts ranging from small animal toxicology and emergency medicine to reptile medicine and surgery. In 1993 he received the "Up and Coming" veterinarian award from the Colorado Veterinary Medical Society and in 2006 he received Hill's Dog Food and Veterinary Specialists in Private Practice's "Spirit of Excellence" award for the outstanding specialist in private practice.

For four years he had a weekly radio spot, "Veterinary Corner," on Lewis and Floorwax's popular morning show. Since 2003 he has hosted a weekly television segment, "Animal House" on Denver's Channel 2 morning news, and since 1997 he has been one of the featured veterinarians on Animal Planet's Emergency Vets.

His hobbies include stand-up comedy, traveling and movies. He thinks none of us laugh enough.

SATURDAY LUNCH SPEAKER
November 21

Leslie A. Lyons, PhD
Associate Professor, University of California, Davis

Leslie Lyons was born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania, one hour south of Pittsburgh, in Uniontown. Dr. Lyons received her graduate degrees from The University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Human Genetics. Both her Masters and Doctorate degrees are in human genetics, specializing in both laboratory and data analysis of human disease gene mapping. In 1992, Dr. Lyons joined the National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity for her post-doctoral career in comparative genetics. While at the NCI, she helped organized the Feline Genome Project. Dr. Lyons developed a feline genetic mapping pedigree using natural mating and assisted reproductive techniques between domestic and Asian Leopard cats. These hybrid cats are known as Bengals by cat breeders. Dr. Lyons was promoted to Research Fellow at the NCI and expanded her interests by initiating population genetic and disease gene mapping projects for the domestic cat.

In the fall of 1999, Dr. Lyons joined the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, to further pursue disease gene mapping and genetic map construction in companion animals, including the cats, dogs, horses and primates. The laboratory's major focus is the genetics of the domestic cat, including disease, inherited traits, and population diversity. Dr. Lyons' research laboratory has had recent success with the identification of the gene causing Persian cat polycystic kidney disease, which is the most prevalent inherited disease in cats. The laboratory has also identified the mutations for Siamese, Burmese, albino, chocolate and cinnamon coat colors as well as the mutation causing cat blood group B. Each of these mutations can now be used as a genetic test in cats. The Lyons' laboratory has also led an international collaboration to develop a worldwide genetic panel for parentage and identification profiling in cats, which is even being used in forensic applications. Recent work has included the analysis of the origin of cat breeds and the sites of cat domestication which resulted in a documentary for National Geographic, an episode of Explorer call "The Science of Cats".

An avid sports fan, Leslie plays softball and basketball, has seen every major league baseball stadium in the US, is loyal to the Pittsburgh Pirates, skis, SCUBA dives, enjoys car racing, and is a rabid Steeler fan.

CWA SPEAKERS & MORE
Friday November 20 and Saturday November 21
Schedule TBA

The CWA reserves the right to make minor Scheduling changes and/or substitutions in topics or speakers

Wayne Barr, Acquisitions Editor Barron's Educational Series

Andrew DePrisco, Editorial Director/Acquisitions Editor BowTie Press

Mary Grangeia, Acquisitions, TFH Publications

Kate Epstein, Literary Agent, Epstein Literary Agency (Boston area)

Erin C. Niumata, F O L I O Literary Management, LLC (New York)

Children's Book Panel: Linda Kay Hardie, Barbara Stretton, Anne Rockwell, others TBA

Vet/Industry Panel: Consumer Guide To Saving Money Without Compromising Pet Health.

Editor Panel: How To Make the Editor Your Friend, Not Your Foe

Selling Content in the 21st Century. An agent, a book editor and a magazine or webzine editor discuss their insights into new ways authors can sell content in the future. Moderated by Beth Adelman, a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant and a publishing professional. She currently writes "The Cat Lady" column for the Sunday New York Post and is co-editor of the journal Animal Behavior Consulting: Theory and Practice. Beth has edited more than 100 books about companion animals, many of them award winners, and worked for many years as an acquisitions and development editor for Howell Book House and Dorling Kindersley. She is also the former editor in chief of Cats magazine and DogWorld and former managing editor of the AKC Gazette. Her book, Every Cat's Survival Guide to Living With a Neurotic Owner, is a multiple award winner.

The Art of Interviewing: Next Question. When it comes to interviewing, cat got your tongue? Or did your subject hiss but not tell? This session spotlights ways to land an interview and get the most out of it. Presenter Arden Moore guides you to interviewing professionals, pet guardians and purr-sonalities in person, by phone and by email. You have questions? Arden has the answers. Veteran journalist Arden Moore's list of interviewees range from A-list celebrities to powerful politicians to champion athletes and yes, even a serial killer. Among her subjects: Betty White, Jennifer Aniston, Fred Willard, Tony Hawk and murderer Danny Rolling. She wears many "collars" in the pet world: radio show host, magazine editor, author, professional speaker and blogger. Learn more by visiting: www.ardenmoore.com

Lying Our Way to the Truth: Fiction, Nonfiction, & Memoir. What, exactly, is the truth? Frank Lloyd Wright said, "The truth is more important than the facts," and Tracy Chapman said, "In the fiction in the space between/Sometimes a lie is the best thing." Where is the line? It's an issue that's hit the best-seller lists and changed the way we think about memoirs, with some authors being caught passing off complete fiction as truth. Yet memoir is about telling a story. We'll take a look at how nonfiction techniques can be used in fiction, and how fiction techniques can legitimately be used in nonfiction. Linda Kay Weber-Hardie is the author of Louie Larkey and the Bad Dream Patrol, the story of teddy bears who chase away bad dreams. Her other writing projects have included an essay in the book Cat Women: Female Writers on Their Feline Friends, and pieces in such national magazines as Cat Fancy and Chile Pepper, and poetry published in literary magazines. Linda is in the master's program at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she is working toward an advanced degree in writing while teaching freshman English. A popular speaker at writers' conferences, she can also speak to other age groups, including adults, about how anyone can get started writing. Linda is a member of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Cat Writers Association, and Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, and has won numerous writing awards dating back to 1968. Linda is a graduate student, part-time college instructor, and freelance writer/editor in Reno. Learn more about Linda, her books and her presentations at www.louielarkey.com

Successful Pitches to Editors. As she tells the story of how she came to get six books published-four about pets-Sharon Sakson recounts her experiences with and advice on pitching pet stories to editors, as well as other ways she's been successful in writing about people and their pets. Sharon Sakson's most recent book is "Paws and Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs." She is a freelance writer/producer of television programs in New York, has been a field producer for NBC Sports, WNBC and ABC National News, and was an editor at The Wall Street Journal Newswires. She produced programs for Court TV, Food TV and local television stations in Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco. Sakson, who has a Master of Fine Arts in Writing degree from the New School for Social Research, is the author of two Bantam travel guides and has written more than 100 articles. She is a breeder of champion Whippets, Dachshunds and Brussels Griffons under her "Parisfield" kennel prefix as well as an accredited American Kennel Club dog show judge, judging most of the Hound Group and some Working breeds.

Tweet, Poke, and Post--Learn the New Way to More Publicity. Lea-Ann Germinder, APR, Fellow PRSA, is a nationally recognized expert in public relations. She has specialized in promoting pet health and pet products for the last eleven years, and is well-known for her creative ideas -- from "Pets Need Dental Care, Too!" to www.goodnewsforpets.com to her instrumental role in creating the CATalyst Council and its CATalyst Top Ten Cat-Friendly Cities initiative. Social media played a key role in this last campaign. Learn how you can use social media such as twitter, facebook and instant messaging combined with traditional media can create buzz for your latest publishing project. For more information, visit www.germinder.com.

Animal-Assisted Therapy. Presentation by Voice of Westminster and therapy dog handler David Frei. He has co-hosted USA Network's annual telecast of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for 19 years and serves as co-host on NBC of The National Dog Show, which airs on Thanksgiving Day. He is director of communications for Westminster Kennel Club and president of WKC's charity Angel On A Leash, which promotes the use of therapy dogs to enhance human health and quality of life.

Rights and Content Fights. Are you confused about contracts and rights? Not sure what changes to ask for, what rights you hold? Frightened by publishers' ever-growing demands? Join Minda Zetlin, board member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, for some straight talk about today's contracts. You will also learn about two recent lawsuit settlements that could put money in your pocket for books or articles you've already written. Bring questions, and, if you like, actual contracts to review. Minda Zetlin is a recognized expert in the fields of management, technology and international business. Her latest book is Telecommuting for Dummies. Topics covered include the following:

• First rights, FNASR, all rights, and WMFH (there is a difference)
• Digital rights and media "to-be-invented"
• Indemnity clauses
• Same-topic clauses
• The changing landscape of book contracts
• Registering copyright
• The writers' groups v. databases settlement (being reviewed by the Supreme Court)
• The Authors Guild/Google settlement

Writing in the Cloud: Building a website on a shoestring, and using free web 2.0 tools to write from anywhere. Having your own domain name and a professional website is no longer optional for working writers -- your competitors already have one. Being able to send a link to examples of your work online will help keep you current. In this session, we'll learn how to inexpensively buy your own domain name, build a cheap (or free!) website, and get your domain and website on the web. Also, the digital tools for writing while on the go are much more accessible than ever. We'll be discussing some great websites that provide tools for word processing, backups, and photo enhancement that are available from anywhere in the world on any Internet-connected computer. Presented by Bill Pfleging, technology columnist, computer consultant, co-author of The Geek Gap and former Lycos Networks Director of Community.

The Story Behind the Story. Author of Pet Food Politics, Marion Nestle tracks the tale of the massive 2007 pet food recall.

Essaying Your Opinion. Tips on writing and selling thought-provoking pieces, presented by Marion Lane, special-projects editor in the national program office of the ASPCA, and a co-author of "Heritage of Care."

Getting Socially Connected. Social networking is now a necessity for the working writer. It's no longer a matter of time before you'll need to use social networking. That was yesterday, and today you're expected to be connected. The number of social networking sites is huge - LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Ning, the list keeps growing. But one thing they all have in common is how they can connect YOU to your business colleagues and readers. In this session, we'll learn social network basics: how to set up a Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. page; best practices in using these for business; top 5 DON'TS with social networking. Also how to combine sites like Twitter with social network pages and even widgets to help build your business. Presented by Bill Pfleging, technology columnist, computer consultant, co-author of The Geek Gap and former Lycos Networks Director of Community.

It's not Web 2.0. It's not Web 3.0. It's simply life. We have more technology than ever before. We can reach more people than ever before, in shorter amounts of time. But that doesn?'t mean we should do it! You can have all the tools in the world it doesn't mean you know what to do with them! The beauty of social and viral technology is that it allows us to reach many, many people in nanoseconds. The danger of it? The exact same thing. The discussion includes social networking, viral marketing and all the fun ways to use them and perhaps most important why sometimes not using any of them is your best bet. You'll be shown how marketers, businesses, publicists, and everyday humans are:

• Using social media to spearhead new marketing campaigns and initiatives
• Realizing that just because it exists, doesn't mean you have to use it
• Getting smarter about social networking every day
• Learning that it's not about making something viral, but about making something good

Peter Shankman is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service. Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 100,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,200 queries from worldwide media each week. Peter is also the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog, which he launched as a website in 1995, (www.shankman.com) both comments on and generates news and conversation. He is the author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them. Born and raised in New York City, Peter still lives there with his two psychotic cats, Karma and NASA, who consistently deny his repeated requests to relinquish the couch.

It's a Mystery to Me: Writing Your Mystery. Outlining (or not), plotting, pacing, developing characters, researching, and more. Clea Simon is author of four Theda Krakow mysteries ("Mew is for Murder," "Cattery Row," "Cries and Whispers" and the new "Probable Claws") as well as the new Dulcie Schwartz series. As if two series' weren't enough, she's also a journalist, arts critic, online writing instructor, cat lover and epicurean human.

Breaking Into Other Genres. Presented by Patricia Fry, a freelance writer, author and editorial consultant. She's president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and has written 29 books, including The Right Way To Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, The Author's Repair Kit and her latest-Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats.

Return to top

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

2009 CWA CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

• Complete the form online, print, sign and mail the PDF registration form, along with your check or Money order for the proper amount in US Funds, payable to Cat Writers' Association Inc.
• SEPARATE PAPER FORMS for snail-mail registration must be completed for each registrant or guest, for badge information.
• FULL REGISTRATION includes seminars, banquets, receptions, Sat. breakfast & lunch, editor-agent appointments, & opportunity to sign books.
• YOU MAY NOT SPLIT/SHARE A FULL OR "SPECIAL" REGISTRATION.
• *EXHIBITOR or AWARDS SPECIAL registrations EXCLUDE editor/agent appointments & signing books.
• A LA CARTE selections are for those who have not purchased a FULL or SPECIAL registration. A LA CARTE MEALS must also register by November 7th deadline.
• SEMINAR-ONLY registration is available at the door, BUT extra conference materials (folios, programs, prizes) will only be distributed on an as-available basis.
• CONFIRMATION of your registration can be made ONLY if you provide a valid Email or SAE/postcard.
• MATERIALS will be distributed onsite.
• Registrations non-refundable
• QUESTIONS? cwaconfregistrarsam@gmail.com

FOR QUESTIONS, please email cwaconfregistrarsam@gmail.com

Return to top