June 2023 Writers Night: Panel of Experts

Join us for our June 6 Writers Night beginning at 6:00 p.m. at The Art Center in Grand Junction.

Panel of Experts: Get Your Questions Answered

Remember our first-ever Silent Auction and FUNdraiser in December 2022? We hosted a mini-panel of guests knowledgeable on a variety of topics related to writing, publishing, performing, and the business side of being an author/writer, but we had a strict time limit of 13 minutes.

We promised to bring back a panel this year with far more time to ask questions, and here we are!

For our June Writer’s Night, we have four (possibly five) panelists ready to interact with you on a variety of subjects related to writing. A panel is the most successful when audience participation is strong, so come down with a few questions and prepare to interact.

We’ll start the evening with introductions of each panelist and their area of expertise, and then open to questions and comments.

Panelists

Lisa Connors: poetry, how to find legitimate contests and publications to submit written pieces to, best way to track submissions

Marya Johnston: self-publishing, getting your indie book on indie bookstore shelves, working with bookstores on author events

Caleb Ferganchick: slam poetry, poetry in social justice movements, event organizing, self-publishing, leading workshops

Melody Jones: general social media questions, how best to use social media as a writer or author, how to manage multiple platforms and not lose your mind, why social media is not the Field of Dreams

Bio: Lisa Wence Connors

Lisa Wence Connors is retired US Army and a published poet. She has conducted workshops for the Salt Lake City Public Library System under the auspices of the Utah Arts and Humanities Commission. She has also conducted two iterations of the Discover Poetry Writing Workshop for the Grand Junction VA, and is the editor for High Desert Cadence: A Journal of Veteran Creative Writing.  

Bio: Caleb Ferganchick

Caleb Ferganchick is a rural, queer, slam poet-activist and author of The Secret of Sunflowers (2021) and Poetry Heels (2018). His work has been featured and published by Western Colorado Writer’s Forum (2021), South Broadway Ghost Society (2021, 2020), “Slam Ur Ex ((the podcast))” (2020), and the Colorado Mesa University Literary Review. He organizes the annual Slamming Bricks poetry slam competition in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots and serves as a board member for Western Colorado Writer’s Form and Mutual Aid Partners. A SUP river guide and speech and debate coach, Caleb also dreams of establishing a queer commune with a river otter rescue and falconry. He lives in Grand Junction, Colorado. To learn more, visit calebferganchick.com.

Bio: Marya Johnston

Marya is a second generation bookseller with 30 years experience. Out West Books has been in business for 10 years now.

Returning to the Western Slope of Colorado after 15 years living overseas, Marya decided that Grand Junction needed an Independent Bookstore that sold only NEW books. She was frustrated by the lack of availability of area interest and children’s titles to be found here, so she decided to fill that void. Marya’s family homesteaded in the Bookcliffs over 100 years ago (come in and see the enlarged historic family photos on the store walls) and she’s a native of Gunnison, CO. Western Colorado/Eastern Utah is in her blood. She returned to Colorado after living most recently in China.  She’s traveled all over the world, so she is pretty good with travel advice too.

Bio: Melody Jones

Melody Jones is a published writer and poet, speaker, coffee enthusiast, lover of beagles, and Colorado native. A Palisade girl, she returned to the western slope in February 2021 after 30 years in the Denver metro area. She became known as Social Media Melody, a social media consultant, manager, and trainer, when she noticed writers and authors were terrified of it, later founding the Colorado Women in Social Media collaborative group. She’s taught many workshops and presented at a variety of conferences including the Colorado Gold Conference and Lighthouse Writers. Melody is a former Vice President of the Denver Woman’s Press Club and current President of the WCWF. You can find her every Wednesday morning at Main Street Bagels where she hosts Writer Chicks Coffee Club.