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| Harriette Austin Writers Conference July 18-19, 2008 University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Athens, Georgia Click here for directions Is your manuscript being evaluated at the conference? Click here to see the time and place of your appointment (this schedule will also be part of your conference packet). | Each person attending the Harriette Austin Writers Conference receives Continuing Education Units. . This is our fifteenth year of helping new writers write better, and helping good writers get published. Spend a weekend with us to improve your writing, learn about the latest publishing trends, and meet professional agents and authors. |
Meet our sponsors! If you would like to become a sponsor of the Harriette Austin Writers Conference, please email adminhawc2008@gmail.com
Success stories of the Harriette Austin Writers Conference (Click on book covers for purchase information)  | Beverly Connor (conference co-founder) beverlyconnor.net Beverly met her agent at the third Harriette Austin Writers Conference. She is the author of the Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery series (Dressed to Die, Skeleton Crew, Airtight Case, and others) and the Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation series (Dead Guilty, Dead Secret, Dead Past, and, in 2008, Dead Hunt). Before she began her writing career, Beverly Connor worked in the Southeastern US as an archeologist. She weaves her professional experiences as an archeologist and her knowledge of the South into interlinked stories of the past and present in both her series of the mysteries. Several of the Diane Fallon forensic investigation series were in the Top 10 on the Independent Mystery Booksellers bestseller lists. She won the 2004 Career Achievement Award in Suspense from the Romantic Times BOOKClub magazine. Connor's books are available through all major bookstores in North America and have been translated into Dutch and German for European distribution.
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 | John DeDakis, CNN Senior Copy Editor--The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer www.johndedakis.com "I attended the Harriette Austin Writers Conference for several years -- at least five. The HAWC has a special place in my heart because it was there where I honed my writing, marketing, and networking skills; it was there where I made many wonderful writer friends; and it was there where I met my agent, Barbara Casey, who landed me my first publishing contract. My mystery/suspense novel FAST TRACK was published in hardcover in 2005 and paperback in 2007. I'll always be grateful for the powerful role the HAWC played in my writing life." | | | |  | Jackie Miles www.jlmiles.com "I got published by being at the HAWC. I believe it was the year 2000. I met Ron Pitkin and he heard the opening line to my manuscript Roseflower Creek. Said he liked it and to send the entire manuscript to him. He phoned me about ten days after receiving it to tell me that he was bringing it out in hardcover and "bumping back" his memoir on Dale Earnhardt (who'd just been tragically killed) to make Roseflower Creek the lead book in their catalogue for the fall of 2001." Jackie Miles will be presenting at the 2008 conference. See more about Jackie on our 2008 Presenters page. | | | |  | Bobby Nash (attended 2003 - 2007) www.bobbynash.com "I came to the conference after learning about it in Harriette's creative writing class at UGA. The biggest boost I personally received from my visits to the conference were in meeting some truly wonderful and talented people, many of whom I still speak with regularly. Oh, and learning what those little yellow numbered markers meant at a crime scene at the first conference I attended was a revelation." Bobby Nash will be presenting at the 2008 conference. See more about Bobby on our 2008 Presenters page. |
 | Dac Crossley daccrossley.typepad.com Dac Crossley, a great friend of the Harriette Austin Writers Conference, began writing fiction after he retired from the University of Georgia in 1998, inspired by South Texas stories of Rangers and bandits, slow trains and fast horses, gunfights and getaways. Guns Across the Rio is his first novel. | | | |  | Paige Mercer Cummings www.southernscribes.us "I've attended thirteen of the fourteen Harriette Austin Writers Conferences, and have been lucky enough to help backscenes at most. The contacts a writer makes at this conference are wonderful. From the opportunities to practice your "30-Second Push" to sharing a lunch with an agent or editor!! It's all good!" Paige Mercer Cummings was nominated Georgia Author of the Year Award by the Georgia Writers Association. | | | |  | Susan L. Womble (attended 2003) susan.womble.googlepages.com/home "The conference really opened my eyes to the world of publishing. I was
amazed at how much I learned from the editors, agents, break out sessions and yes even the rejected manuscript...When I got back home, I was so inspired that I sat down and wrote another book. After countless edits and publishing waits, that book, "Newt's World: Beginnings " was published mid May 2008. It is my first published work." | | | |  | Rhett Devane www.rhettdevane.com "It really helps to get encouragement from others who have been out there slugging away for some time, facing rejection letters, etc....This business is so competitive, and I am just now learning a little about promotion and marketing. Being published is only the start." See more about Rhett on our 2007 Authors and Experts page. Her latest short story, "The War of the Gardenias," is available here. |
 | Jim Murdock
www.jimmurdock.com
"I have attended the Harriette Austin Writer's Conference numerous times
and have found that they always have interesting, informative and inspiring
classes about writing in all of its' many facets. I have never been disappointed.
I have found the manuscript evaluations very helpful, and the chance to meet
editors, publishers and agents is unmatched."
Jim Murdock's first novel, The Blankenschipf Curse, was published in April
and is available at Books Galore in Watkinsville, Brat's Bargain Books on the
east side of Athens and the Jackson Street Book Store downtown. It's also
available through the web site above. He is currently working on a second
novel entitled Moochie's Place. |
 | Susan Mayer Davis Attended 2003- "I’ve attended 4 times. The first time (2003), I was unprepared for what to expect, but the conference encouraged me to have something ready for evaluation for the next year. That is when I started my manuscript. In 2004, I won “Second Place With Honors” for my manuscript evaluation of The Table. In 2005, I attended but did not submit. I was encouraged by Lucy Rosenthal to try writing short stories for the discipline of cutting down the number of words in my stories. This was a great suggestion. Even though I haven’t completed or sold my novel manuscript yet, I have sold two short stories to the Cup of Comfort anthology series, to be published in August and September of this year. Dr. Charles Connor was very encouraging, and I’m forever grateful to him. I plan to attend again this year and to bring friends!"
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 | Sharron Martin www.sharronmartin.net "I have attended the HAWC several times, the last being in 2005. I like this conference because, in the past, it has seemed to cater to the mystery writer. So many useful topics are covered: there's everything from writing tips to forensic information to "how to get published" tips. And they always have a good slate of experts attending. It's a good place to network and to just meet nice people who are interested in the same things you are. One year I showed up with a broken, right wrist. I could neither write longhand nor type. The sympathy I received from my fellow writers was not only sincere, some viewed my situation with horror. Needless to say, their sympathy was appreciated." |
 | Todd Sentell Attended 2002-2003 www.kunati.com I was so excited to attend the conference for two years ... I was finally mingling with real live published writers, editors, and literary agents who solved the mysteries of publishing for me in sessions, over lunch, and later, over a lot of drinks! I learned so much ... and became even more motivated to write well and publish. And I did get published. But what I really learned at the HAWC was to never give up on the literary life because there are publishing professionals out there who'll never give up one you if you keep working hard ... respect them, too ... and keep writing well. |
 | Suzanne Williams (writing as Suzanne Adair) Attended 1997-2001 www.suzanneadair.com "The forensics tracks (forensic anthropology, forensic entymology, etc.) and CSI tracks were excellent." |
 | Hawk MacKinney (attended 2000 and following) www.hawkmackinney.net "HAWC presenters represented all aspects of publishing/marketing trends/expectations, the changes within the Business of Publishing. Plus, the professionals were available to the attendee(s) for Q&A sessions." |
 | Dagmar Marshall (attended 2000-2004) "I've attended HAWC for the past four (or five) years and there's no question that attending the Conference was the reason my novel was published in November, 2005. The networking situation is the whole secret! Thank goodness you good people are pulling it back together. It was the best of the best and that has been attested to many times." Dagmar Marshall passed away on March 20, 2007. She was a great friend of the conference and to many in the northeast Georgia writing community. She will be sorely missed. Her obituary is here. |
If you would like to share your publishing success with visitors to this site, please send an email to adminhawc2008@gmail.com with your name, the years you attended the conference, and a short (25 words or less) statement about how the conference helped you get published; please include your web or email address, and a link to where your books can be purchased. Tables are available at our booksigning for a small fee; see Booksigning for more information.
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