If you need a speaker on short notice, Lynn can speak to your group about any of the following subjects. Presentations tailored specifically for your group can also be prepared with more lead time.
How to Become a Professional Writer: Making a
Living Doing What You Love
40-50 minutes
This is a perfect presentation for
writers' conferences. Based on the A Professional Writer's Ladder
to Success series of e-books, it walks the audience through planning
for, establishing, and marketing a successful writing business. The
focus is definitely on the business side of being a writer. Audience
participation is encouraged at several points during the presentation, and
handouts that allow attendees to take notes are provided.
Writing Your Life Story: Why And How You
Should Do It
30 minutes
In this very popular presentation, Lynn explains why
everybody has a story. She covers techniques for jogging your memory
and tips on organizing your memories and writing the story. For
those who want to publish their stories, she details publishing options,
the steps to getting published, and marketing your published book.
Visual illustrations of her points make this a delightful and
well-received talk for community groups, history buffs, veterans' groups and retirement
homes.
Effective Media Relations
It's No Great Mystery
3-hour interactive workshop
This workshop covers why an organization seeks media coverage, avoiding
pitfalls of media relations, targeting your audience, compiling your media
list, and the customary elements of and formats for media releases.
It it intended for non-profit groups who will be handling their own
publicity without help from a professional, and includes exercises at the
end of the workshop that allow attendees to practice what they've learned.
Building And Sustaining Your Non-Profit's
Board
Selecting and Motivating The Members Needed To Grow Your Organization
30-45 minutes
Lynn uses her experience in serving on a variety of non-profit boards of
directors to explain how to choose the right board members for achieving
your organization's goals. She also gives you tips on how to keep
those people motivated and involved.
Blazing Your Own Trail: The Dream of Starting
Your Own Business
45-50 minutes
In today's world of downsizing corporations, this has proven to be a
popular workshop at conferences for those interested in becoming
professional entrepreneurs. Using her own experience in starting
Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc. in Duval County, Florida, Lynn explains
the steps that need to be taken when one starts a business. Ideal for corporations preparing for a round of
downsizings, as an option for their employees to consider, and for
companies involved in counseling displaced workers.
Editing For Continuity: Preserving the
Characters, Locations and Realities In Your Book
50-60 minutes
This workshop was designed for writers, and its
length is perfect for an hour-long workshop at a conference. In it,
Lynn explains how a professional editor creates worksheets to track
continuity, and how authors can reduce the rewriting work needed on their
books by employing a similar technique. Using examples from books
such as Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Frank Herbert's Dune,
and her own ghostwritten books, each technique is illustrated.
Preparing For Your Second Career:
Planning Your Work Experience to Maximize Self-Employment Options
40-50 minutes
This presentation is intended for an audience of college seniors who are
interested in pursuing writing careers. It helps them plan their
careers for one day being self-employed. Experience gained in the
workplace can be invaluable as an entrepreneur. But students often
don't understand the importance of the groundwork that must be done and
the experience that must be gained to prepare them for entering the
self-employed world. The importance of building work skills and
networking through professional organizations is discussed, the options
for self-employment explored, and the importance of solid financial
planning stressed.
Beyond The Writing Contract: Protecting Your Writing
Business From The Unscrupulous
One Writer's Horror Stories, and Strategies For
Keeping It From Happening To YOU!
30-40 minutes
Another workshop for writers, this one is specifically targeted to those
who are doing ghostwriting, freelancing or contract writing. Using
examples from her own experiences in ghostwriting a book, editing for an
author, and writing articles for a startup magazine, Lynn explains the
warning signs that a client may be a bad risk. Techniques for
avoiding such clients and protecting yourself are also detailed.
Telling Someone Else's Story: Maintaining Your
Source's Voice, Without Losing Yours
30 minutes, interactive
This presentation covers a ghostwriter's techniques for telling someone
else's story. Research tactics, documentation tips, organizing the
story, and writing the book are all covered. A speech appropriate both for writers' groups and for those
interested in how writers work.
Working With A Freelance Editor: Whys And Hows
20-30 minutes
Another workshop for writers, in this one Lynn explains why it's important
to have a manuscript professionally edited before marketing it to agents
or publishers. She goes on to describe how to find the right editor
for your work, what you should expect to pay for editing, and techniques
for successfully working with your selected editor to get your manuscript
into the best possible shape and improve your chances of a sale.
Perfect for local writers' group meetings.
Click here to contact Lynn about presenting any of these workshops, or creating one especially for your group!
Lynn's Bio:
Lynn Maria Thompson
is a professional writer, editor and speaker. After working many years in
the corporate world and winning awards for some of her writing there, she
founded Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc. in 2003 and serves as the
company's president. She has written articles for magazines including
Art Calendar, Jacksonville
Homebuyer, North
Florida Doctor, Jax Islander, Mature Matters, PULSE and Home
& Garden Improvement Guide. One of them won the 2006-2007
POW! Award for Best Article, another won a first-place
2005 POW! Award for Published Article, and two were recognized with PULSE
Awards.
A past editor of The Florida Palm magazine for
Florida Writers Association, Lynn has also edited POW! The Magazine,
has ghostwritten two books, and writes promotional material for a wide
variety of companies and non-profit groups. Authors for whom she has
edited books have become published, and have even won awards for their
books. Her second ghostwritten book, Just A Dumb Kid From Nowhere,
is now available online and in bookstores. She is currently working
on a series of e-books for other aspiring writers entitled A
Professional Writer's Ladder to Success.
Lynn has written and edited newsletters for groups such
as Beaches Women's Partnership, RecycleFlorida Today, Young Executives In Support of the Symphony, and
both the Atlanta and Jax Beaches Gator Clubs. While working for a major
corporation, she founded and produced a quarterly newsletter, Phone
Book Roundup, that was a finalist for Keep Florida Beautiful’s Media
Award.
When she’s not writing or editing, Lynn stays active with the
Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Beaches Women’s Partnership, and the Jax
Beaches Gator Club, as well as singing soprano in the choir at Riverside
Presbyterian Church. She has also served on boards for Young
Executives In Support of the Symphony, the Atlanta Gator Club,
RecycleFlorida Today, and Keep Florida Beautiful. For more information, visit her website at
www.thompsonwriting.com.
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© 2007, Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc.