Can you be in Austin on Saturday, April 22?

SEMINAR: We're planning a writer's seminar in palatial Tuscan Hall featuring Chris Maddock, the rarely seen teacher of Advanced Wordsmithing, and Jeff Sexton, the instructor of that always sold-out curriculum, How to Write Powerfully and Clearly. Also joining us will be David Freeman, teacher of Beyond Structure, L.A.'s most popular screenwriting and fiction workshop. (It would be worth ten times the price of this conference just to hear David Freeman talk about character diamonds. We're going to hear him for 2 full hours, PLUS he's staying for the party. Woo-hoo!) I was also able to convince Ray Bard – America's most successful publisher of business books – to give you some fast track insights into publishing your own first book. This is going to be one incredible day.

Lunch and Dinner will be provided.

I can't promise you any instructors beyond those four and me, but I do plan to ask my multimillion bestselling book-friends Keith Miller and Russell Friedman if they might grant us a few words of instruction and encouragement as well.

Considering that he recently bought the house directly across the street from the entrance to the Academy, I'm fairly certain I can get Wizard Acadgrad Michael Drew to give us some tips about what it takes to make a serious run at the bestseller lists. Michael is the young miracle worker who helped Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg put their first Wizard Academy Press hardback, Call to Action,on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Michael worked with me on my bestselling Wizard of Ads trilogy back when he was barely 20 years old.

PARTY: The principal reason for this writer's seminar and party is to celebrate the release of a fat new book from Wizard Academy Press called People Stories: Inside the Outside. Each of the contributing authors is being granted a full-tuition scholarship to the event, but the rest of us are going to have to pay $350 each. (AcadGrads get 50 percent off, as always.)

Each attendee will be given a first-edition copy of People Stories: Inside the Outside, allowing them to get the signatures of each of the contributing authors on their respective pages. Pretty cool, huh? The authors will be easy to spot because they'll be wearing special name badges with their page numbers prominently emblazed.

The seminar is going to be unforgettable. The party is going to be front-page news. Seating is limited to only 200 (and 143 of those precious seats are reserved for the contributing authors.) I'd register quickly if I were you. There will be no free passes given other than the ones extended to the contributing authors.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Want to get in on the next big Wizard Academy Press project? Poor Writer's Almanac will be a priceless compendium of methods, tips and secrets from hundreds of authors whose lives spanned hundreds of years. Our plan is to publish it in hardback since we believe it will become a highly regarded reference book in literary circles around the world. (I know that last part sounded like bigtalk, but I sincerely believe it's what's going to happen.) We've collected some truly amazing stuff for the guts of this book and we're soliciting submissions from AcadGrads and Monday Memo readers as well. Dr. Kevin Ryan, are you reading this?

If you have a writing method, tip or secret that might be valuable to other writers, send it to JeffSexton@WizardofAds.com. Short is good. The fewer the words, the better, but make it as long as it needs to be. If your submission is included in Poor Writer's Almanac, your name will be published beneath the tip. No other compensation is offered. Please don't send quotes from any source other than yourself. We're looking for your own tips in your own words. If selected for inclusion, your name will appear among the great ones.

Submissions deadline is March 17, 2006, at midnight Central Time. Multiple submissions are encouraged.

Ciao for Niao,

Roy H. Williams