In this episode Mark interviews Emily Goodwin. Emily is the Vice President Public Affairs for Author Services, Inc. based in Los Angeles, California. She has been involved with book publishing since 2007, including the international Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contests. She is the producer for the Writers of the Future annual Achievement Awards as well as the online writing workshop.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update that include some mistakes he made in the recent release of his novel Fear and Longing in Los Angeles as well as a word from this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Emily and Mark talk about:

• The blind-judged free to enter contest that Writers of the Future operations for beginning writers
• How stories can be read by NYT Bestselling science-fiction and fantasy writers like David Farland, Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, and a dozen others
• The four quarters of the contest, and the fact that authors can enter each quarter
• Winners for each quarterly contest who get flown in to spend a week long boot-camp in a hotel just off Hollywood Boulevard with the esteemed bestselling sci-fi and fantasy judges
• The way that Illustrators and Writers collaborate and the amazing "art reveal" experience that happens when the artists, who have been working on pieces to match each story, reveal their work for the first time
• Some of the details of the workshops and lectures they participate in during the weekly boot-camp, including the "24 hour story" challenge
• Getting to learn from authors like Larry Niven, Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
• The gala book launch event for the Writers and Illustrators of the Future anthology that usually involves signing upwards of 500 to 600 copies of the book
• The follow-up media support offered to authors once they return to their respective homes
• The incredible networking that happens at the annual event, between the writers and illustrators and the attending judges and presenters and workshop leaders
• How the annual event was affected in 2020 because of the global pandemic
• The purpose of the contest to help new writers and illustrators with a bit of a boost and kick-start to their career based on their talent
• The free online WOTF workshops that are available for anyone to participate in which are led by Dave Farland, Tim Powers, and Orson Scott Card
• And more...

Links of Interest

• Writers of the Future
  • Writer Contest
  • Illustrator Contest
  • Free Online Workshop
  • Writer Judges
  • Illustrator Judges
• Black History Month Organizations & Resources
• Findaway Voices
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
• Wide for the Win
• Wide Writer Survey
• Wide for the Win Submission Form
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

Emily Goodwin is the Vice President Public Affairs for Author Services, Inc. based in Los Angeles, California. She has been involved with book publishing since 2007, including the international Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contests. She is the producer for the Writers of the Future annual Achievement Awards as well as the online writing workshop. She has been active with the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards as a judge. She is involved in community activities in the greater Los Angeles area and has been Vice President Community Outreach for the Hollywood Christmas Parade since 2014. Emily has also been an Honorary Commander for the US Air Force since 2018 and as of 2020, the US Space Force.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0