Speaker's Bureau
CBW has talented writers that offer glimpses into the writing world. 

Bradley offers three presentations.

Sherlock Homes as Science Fiction
In the late Victorian era, the techniques Doyle’s detective used in his stories didn’t exist. Join Retired Army pathologist and crime writer Bradley Harper for a whirlwind review of the history of forensic science and how the Great Detective inspired the world’s first crime lab. The Game’s afoot!

The Hero’s Journey and Jack the Ripper
In 2019, Bradley Harper’s debut novel, A Knife in the Fog, was an Edgar’s Finalist, won Killer Nashville’s silver Falchion Award as Best Mystery, and became a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle estate. Join Dr. Harper as he explains his use of the Hero’s Journey to craft his award-winning novel, now being developed for a possible movie adaptation.

Why I put a book down: BEST CURRV
In 2020, Brad Harper was one of seven Edgar for Best Novel judges. During that year, he was assigned 165 books to evaluate. Later, while a student in a master's program in Creative Writing, he formalized the most common reasons he’d put a book down before completing it. Let him share these common errors so your reader reads to the end.

JT Hine translated his first book in 1962. He grew up in Italy and considers Rome his hometown. After a 24-year naval career, he spent ten years at the University of Virginia as Administrator of the Physics Department then Director of Housing (Management Services). He left the University in 2000 with a PhD to focus full-time on translating and writing.
His fiction includes coming-of-age crime novels featuring female heroes. Non-fiction includes self-help booklets for freelancers and career-changers. HIs past work has appeared in newspapers and magazines with a combined print circulation of more than 6 million.

JT offers two presentations.

How to figure out what to charge.
Leaning on the principles outlined I Am Worth It! How to set your price and other advice for freelancers, JT will describe a clean way to make sure you are always charging enough for your work. While applicable to all forms of business, the presentation will focus on language work (writing, editing, translation, interpreting, etc.). The first half will be exposition, and the second half will be a free-ranging conversation with and among the participants. The focus will be on the business, not the writing.

What makes a writer? Everything, every day!
Using both his seven decades as a word worker and wisdom from other writers (Anaïs Nin, Elizabeth George, Virginia Woolf, Lee Child, Samuel Clemens, etc.), JT will facilitate a discussion about how one "becomes" a writer and personal strategies for continued growth. Especially aimed at people who feel stuck or who don't consider themselves writers, yet. If you come away with at least one new way of looking at your world, the event will be a success!

Tim offers two presentations.
The Five Basic Steps for Writing a Mystery Novel
&
Write What You Know or Is it Write What You’ve Learned

Tim Holland is the author of the critically acclaimed Sidney Lake Lowcountry Mysteries (four volumes so far) and the stand-alone mystery/thriller What the Mirror Doesn’t See. His short stories have received both Keating and Golden Nib awards. IN addition to being a member of the Virginia Writers/Chesapeake Bay Writers, he is also a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Bronte Society of Haworth, Yorkshire, England. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, he has been in more than sixty countries, and given speeches in twenty-two states and ten international locations on topics mostly related to the world of global finance, a topic on which he has written for a wide variety of magazines including: The World of Banking, Cashflow, and The Magazine of Bank Administration.

Sarah offers four presentations

Dialogue for Dummies
Novel to Screenplay
Memorable Characters
Winning Fiction Contests

Sarah Collins Honenberger, an award-winning novelist, finds inspiration in ordinary people who overcome extraordinary challenges. Her third novel, CATCHER, CAUGHT is a Pen Faulkner Foundation selection for its Writers in Schools program, a 21st century re-telling of JD Salinger’s THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Poetry and short stories are her reward for long days of creating and editing the novels.

Telling Your Story

Patti Procopi firmly believes that everyone has a story to tell and she will give you some ideas on how to tell yours. She will walk you through the various methods and the audience can follow along with the power point presentation. The easiest way to start is with a question and answer books - 52 questions to tell the story of your life - that you can create for your children or grandchildren. But maybe you want to dig deeper and write a memoir. Procopi will explain the various types of memoirs and how to drill down to the story you most want to tell. The final option is to take the stories from your life and fictionalize them in novel form. There will be time at the end to ask questions and to discuss the ideas presented.

Aviation pioneer and author Mary Shipko entertains guests with amazing stories of women pilots. Mary started flying in high school in 1964, she was hired as one of the first women airline pilots in 1976. Many of the women she talks about in her presentation she personally knows. Current opportunities for those wishing to become airline pilots are also discussed. This Free presentation has 30 slides and runs around 40 minutes. Mary has three books, her memoir, Aviatrix, her children's book, Daring Mary Aviation Pioneer and The First Women Pilots and How They Changed the Airlines. contact Mary for references or to book a free presentation email maryshipko@gmail.com

Sally offers three presentations

AHA Moments
An interactive workshop to introduce you to the power of haiku.

Adventure Inspires
From Seattle to Sitka in pictures and poetry. It all began the day we bought a small trawler and named her Haiku. Four books later….

East Africa
A Journey to Tanzania in Pictures, Poetry and Prose. Author Sally Stiles takes you on an insider’s tour of East Africa and describes how living in a distant land inspired her—and transformed her writing.

Sally Stiles has called four continents, six countries, nine states, and a small trawler home. She worked for fourteen years in NYC, first as an editor and writer for national magazines and, later, as an advertising executive. She has published eight books and over a hundred magazine articles in publications as diverse as Flying Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and The Louisville Review.