Upcoming events

Ooh, stay tuned!

My online novel writing class Mailstrom Writing Clinic is offered continuously in ten-week cycles. For the next class, I’m going to experiment with offering the class to women only. Check out this page for information.

Past events

1-2 p.m., Aug. 21, 2021: “Wedging Your Foot in the Door of Freelance Journalism,” online presentation for the California Writers Club, Sacramento Branch. Writing a novel is time-consuming. It’s great to have a “palate cleanser” of writing an article that gives immediate gratification (yes, publication, and payment) and builds platform for your novel. For example, if your novel is set in 16th century Portugal, it might help to publish an article about Portuguese history to start building platform for querying your book.  We will learn:

-how to pitch magazines and newspapers.
-how to interview subjects.
-how to write for this market (style differences from novel writing).
-how to share the work upon publication.
-how to generate ideas for the next article.

For more, visit https://www.cwcsacramentowriters.org/2021/wedge-your-foot-in-the-door-of-freelance-journalism/.

2:45-3:45 p.m. CT June 26, 2021, “Break It Down: Staying Motivated for the Long Haul,” a presentation about persevering to complete your novel. This is through the Historical Novels Society conference, a week-long virtual conference. Early bird registration is Feb. 15 through March 15. Details here:
Historical Novel Society – North America – “The” Conference for Historical Fiction (hns-conference.com)

11:30-12:30 p.m. CT June 27, 2021: “Hyping History: Strategies for Getting Young Readers Hooked on the Genre,” a panel as my alter ego Lynn Carthage, along with other YA authors Susanne Dunlap, Malayna Evans, and Colleen Gleason. This is through the Historical Novels Society conference, a week-long virtual conference. Early bird registration is Feb. 15 through March 15. Details here:
Historical Novel Society – North America – “The” Conference for Historical Fiction (hns-conference.com)

I’m a co-director of Open Page Writers, a “mostly monthly” Second Saturdays online author series. Our 2020 lineup is just spectacular, with presenters Elizabeth Rosner, Dorothy Lazard, Vanitha Sankaran, Alex Giardino, Indigo Moor, Tim Seibles, Stacey Lee, Diana Gabaldon, Deb Filler, Kristy Lin Billuni, Gillian Bagwell, Piper Huguley, Scott James, Kalia Kliban, and perhaps others! My co-directors Indigo Moor and Sally Kaplan look forward to returning to a live weekend conference format whenever the pandemic permits. In the meantime, we will see you each month online! Our first OPW presentation was in November 2020 with Gina Mulligan. Visit us at www.openpagewriters and follow us on Facebook! Our presentations are always low price or free. EDITED TO ADD: Alas, we had to close our doors but are proud of what we accomplished during the pandemic year and beyond!

Oct. 2-4, 2020. Gold Rush Writers Conference online. Thanking our speakers Indigo Moor, Vanitha Sankaran, Sands Hall, and Jordan Rosenfeld. At the online conference, we announced formation of Open Page Writers, with me, Indigo Moor, and Sally Kaplan as co-directors, and our adoption of an online series we’d be presenting as that entity until the pandemic permitted a live conference as Open Page Writers.

1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020: Historical fiction writing workshop. My online workshop focuses on historical fiction but can be applied to other genres. This is associated with the Stories on Stage Sacramento Zoom that takes place the night before, but you do not need to participate in the Zoom to take the class. This event will be ticketed: visit the Stories on Stage website for details and registration.
https://www.storiesonstagesacramento.org

5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. Dramatic reading with Stories on Stage Sacramento. This incredible series pairs actors with authors for a dramatic reading; I’m so excited to be chosen for this thrilling opportunity to see an actor perform a novel excerpt (as of this writing, I’m not sure if this will be a Murderer’s Maid reading or a Witch’s Trinity reading). This usually takes place in a live theater venue; now it’s online. This event will be ticketed: visit the Stories on Stage website for details and registration.
https://www.storiesonstagesacramento.org

Note: this conference was never held due to Covid-19
May 1-3, 2020: Gold Rush Writers Conference, Mokelumne Hill, CA. I’ll be team-teaching a novel critique workshop with Antoinette May. This is my second year as co-director of the conference founded by Antoinette May. Our keynote speakers this year are Sands Hall and C.W. Gortner.

Feb. 1, 2020: Sierra Writers Conference, Sierra College, Grass Valley, CA. I’ll be presenting on historical fiction and also doing an end-of-day critique group for those who sign up. There are workshops galore, and the keynote speakers are Pam Houston and Grant Faulkner of Nanowrimo fame.

May 3-5, 2019: Gold Rush Writers Conference, Mokelumne Hill, CA. I’ll be team-teaching a novel critique workshop with Antoinette May and presenting on “Poetry Games for Poets and Non-Poets” at this 14th annual conference. This year for the first time I am co-director of the conference founded by Antoinette May, along with Sally Kaplan and Kathie Isaac-Luke. Our keynote speakers are Kathleen Kent and Joe Quirk.

April 27, 2019: Folsom Public Library Author Expo, 11-3. At noon, I’ll be with fellow historical novelists Anna-Marie McLemore, Gina Mulligan, Kathy Boyd-Fellure, Gini Grossenbacher, Mark Wiederanders, and moderator Marcia Calvin, on a panel called “The path to publication.” Folsom, CA. Free.

1:30-3 p.m., Nov. 3, 2018: Writing workshop at the Placerville Library, sponsored by Nanowrimo. Come with a notebook, prepared to do some writing games and get a start on Nanowrimo. Placerville, CA. Free.

5-6 p.m. Nov. 1, 2018: Nanowrimo kick-off at the El Dorado Hills Library, presenting on how to make the most of the month of writing! El Dorado Hills, CA. Free event.

11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018: Presentation at the Writers Digest Conference, Pasadena, CA. Presenting on “Delving into the Past.” Research can be fascinating, but can also lead to distraction and becoming overwhelmed by details. In this workshop, historical novelist Erika Mailman talks about how to sort the wheat from the chaff and create an outline that focuses on a strong story, augmented by the historical background. Come prepared to wrestle an idea into submission and build a loose outline for a novel.  http://novel.writersdigestconference.com/

10-noon, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018: Presentation to Gold Country Writers. Free event open to the public. Held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 1279 High St., Auburn, CA (park behind the church and enter via back door–sounds illicit, doesn’t it?) www.goldcountrywriters.com

7-9 p.m., Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. Presentation to Sacramento Suburban Writers Club. Free event open to the public. Held at Crossroads Community Fellowship Church in the meeting hall, 5501 Dewey Drive, Carmichael, CA. Presenting on “Historical Fiction: How Not to Get Bogged Down in Research.” www.sactowriters.org

7 p.m., June 7, 2018: Presentation at the Fall River Public Library, 104 N. Main St., Fall River, Massachusetts. Free. I’ll present on Lizzie Borden, Bridget Sullivan and my novel. Pretty excited to do an event in the city where the murders took place; this knowledgeable crowd will keep me on my toes. http://fallriverlibrary.org/

9-11 a.m., June 1, 2018: Presentation to the California Writers Club on how to balance social media time with writing time, Coco’s Restaurant, 7887 Madison Blvd (at Sunrise Boulevard)., Citrus Heights, CA. Free event and open to public; attendees buy their own breakfast. http://www.cwcsacramentowriters.org/monthly-meetings/

May 4-6, 2018: Gold Rush Writers Conference, Mokelumne Hill, CA. I’ll be presenting on theme in the novel and moderating a panel on publishing. This weekend-long event is stocked with workshops, wonderful food, friendly writers. If you can’t spend the entire weekend ($195), you can come up for the dinner and keynote speech by Booker Award finalist Karen Joy Fowler, $35. You can also dip into individual presentations for $35 each.

Saturday, April 28, 2018: Walnut Creek Library Association’s Wonderland Author’s Gala: Cocktail party and dinner with many authors. Tickets go on sale in March; visit http://www.wclibrary.org/gala/

Saturday, April 28, 2018: Two presentations at Butte College’s WordSpring Creative Writing Conference: “From Murder to Manuscript” and a presentation on writing young adult fiction. All day event in Oroville with many workshops includes light breakfast and buffet lunch, $75 ($45 for Butte College students). Space still available; visit https://buttewordspring.org/

5-10 p.m., Saturday, March 10, 2018: Authors on the Move event with the Sacramento Public Library. Visit with over 40 California authors and dine at a feast at the Hyatt Regency. Tickets for sale soon; visit http://saclibraryfoundation.org/authors-on-the-move/.

1-3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 16, 2018: Author panel for the Sierra Renaissance Society with Cindy Sample and Taylor Graham. Folsom Lake College’s El Dorado Center, 6699 Campus Drive in Placerville, Room C102. More details soon at http://srsedc.com/

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017: 3 p.m. bookreading and signing, Avid Reader Bookstore, 1945 Broadway, Sacramento, CA. Free.

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017: 6 p.m. Women in Horror panel at SF in SF, with Loren Rhoads, Dana Fredsti, and Erika Mailman. American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina St., San Francisco. Doors open at 6; event begins at 6:30. $10 (cash or Square) at the door benefits the American Bookbinders Museum, although no one turned away for lack of funds. Cash bar on donation basis also benefits the museum. Books will be for sale courtesy of Borderlands Books — please feel free to bring your own books from home to be signed; that is, if they were written by the authors who are presenting.

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017: 3 p.m. Murderer’s Maid reading and signing, Diesel Books, 5433 College Ave., Oakland. Free. There will be cupcakes with tiny hatchets burrowed into them: poor taste? But they will be delicious.

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017: 2 p.m. Murderer’s Maid reading and signing, Book Passage bookstore in the Ferry Building, #1 at the foot of Market Street, San Francisco. Free.

Friday, Oct. 27, 2017: 6-9 p.m. Book launch of the Murderer’s Maid at the Pardee Home Museum, 672 Eleventh St. in downtown Oakland. Event includes slideshow lecture about the Lizzie Borden B&B and the Pardee Home itself, setting of my other novel House of Bellaver, wine and light refreshments and a chance to explore the house which is reputed to be… wait for it…haunted. This event will be ticketed in advance, $10: purchase at
www.MurderersMaidatPardeeHome.brownpapertickets.com. Books will be sold on site courtesy of the Laurel Book Store.

Monday, Oct. 23, 2017: 6-9 p.m. EBUG Local Author Event, Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Drive., Oakland, CA. $10, ticketed event includes light appetizers and wine. Confirmed authors: Cara Black, Erika Mailman, Sylvia Brownrigg, Risa Nye and Ros McIntosh.

Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017: 5-6 p.m. InsideStorytime DELUGE, part of Litquake’s Lit Crawl, at Muddy Waters, 521 Valencia, between 16th and 17th streets, San Francisco (please note: there are two Muddy Waters, and this is not the one at 24th and Valencia. Says the witty organizer James Warner, “Statistically at least one of you will go there instead by mistake, and if the past is any guide there will be a socialist workers meeting and a philosophy seminar in process there… but no Crawl event.”) Litquake is San Francisco’s enormously awesome weeklong literary festival and the Lit Crawl moving from pub to pub just adds liquor to an already fun evening. “Get drunk on words!” Okay, Muddy Waters is a coffeehouse, not a pub, but you do what you have to do. Readers: Makram Abu-Shakra, Rajshree Chauhan, Rob Davidson, Erika Mailman, Rebecca Winterer, and curator Ransom Stephens.

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017: Why There Are Words reading series hosted by author Peg Alford Pursell. Held at Studio 333, 333 Caledonia St. in Sausalito with seven authors: William Brewer, Jacqueline Doyle, Erika Mailman, Brittany Perham, Elizabeth Rosner, and Mary Volmer. Doors open at 7pm; readings begin at 7:15. Entry fee is $10 at the door, though donations to WTAW, a 501(c)3 nonprofit independent publishing press, are always welcome. Books from all authors available for sale at the event (grab a copy of The Murderer’s Maid before it officially launches on Oct. 30! You’ll be an early adopter!).