This is the 34th year for the conference and the committee has learned to delve deeply into a presenter’s background. Agent appointments will be scheduled in advance.

“How do we select our speakers?” Miller asked. “We work on it all year. We meet monthly, trading ideas, studying publishing industry newsletters, making phone calls and checking references. Getting good presenters isn’t as easy as it seems. Often a great writer isn’t a great speaker. People may be dazzled by a famous author’s name, but they also want to learn how to improve their own manuscripts. They want to go home with lots of notes, critiques and ideas.”

To that end, conference participants have a wide selection of choices, some of them intensive sessions which have limited class sizes. Besides an intensive cookbook session, Dragonwagon, who’s authored 40 books, will offer a general writing class about writing style which she offers all over the country. For those who sign up early, professional editors are available to review writing samples ahead of time and provide guidance at the conference.

Midwest Writers Workshop

When: July 26-28

Where: Ball State University Alumni Center, 2800 W. Bethel Ave.

What: Sessions to include the following published authors

n Crescent Dragonwagon: writing the culinary memoir

n Michelle Medlock Adams: writing for children

n Steve Brewer: writing mysteries with humor

n Nicole Brown: poetry

n Dr. Dennis E. Hensley: reading and writing literary fiction