Tucson Author Attends Writing Conference

At the 2011 Moonlight & Magnolias Conference, one of the most unique attendees was from Tucson, Arizona. Writer Michael Charton traveled from Tucson to attend the conference in Decatur, Georgia. Charton would be hard to miss, as he was one of three men who attended the conference. Women tend to greatly outnumber the men at this conference for romance writers.

Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) holds the Moonlight & Magnolias Conference annually. GRW, a chapter of Romance Writers of America, was founded in 1982. Several successful authors were speakers at this year’s conference, including Karen White, Leigh Michaels, and the keynote speaker, Eloisa James. Writers had the chance to hear these speakers, attend a number of workshops, and meet with agents and editors.

In addition to attending author presentations and pitching to an agent, Charton also presented his own workshop. “Public Speaking for Shy Writers” was the name of the workshop that Charton and Kelle Z. Riley presented together. Interestingly, Charton and Riley met each other for the first time at the conference. The two had become Facebook friends through a writers’ forum, but live in different states. Charton and Riley did some planning together online, but were unable to practice their presentation until they arrived at the Moonlight & Magnolias event.

When the presentation was completed, Charton received some questions from the audience about writing. Writers asked if they should self-publish, and how to write a pitch for an agent or editor. The most common questions were regarding social media, such as how much time writers should spend online to promote their work or connect with others. Charton commented, “I was also asked how social media should be used as a marketing tool.” He believes that Twitter is great to use. Charton recommends that Twitter be used “to comment on things other than writing.”

Charton only has one work published so far, but he is off to a good start. His book, Moriarty – The Life and Times of a Criminal Genius, is generating great reviews on Amazon.com. He already has a sequel planned, in which Moriarty’s wife will run the criminal empire.

Currently, Charton works at a full-time job, and writes only in his spare time. He enjoys writing very much and would like to continue to share his work with the public.


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