2025 Cleveland Rocks Writing Conference

Elevate your fiction writing at this FREE annual conference hosted by Great Lakes Fiction Writers! Join us for a day packed with insights, inspiration, and networking to help you grow your craft.

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE HERE

Elevate your fiction writing at this FREE annual conference for fiction writers of all levels and genres, hosted by Great Lakes Fiction Writers! Join us for a day packed with insights, inspiration, and networking opportunities to help you grow your craft.

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Great Lakes Fiction Writers (GLFW) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1986 by a passionate group of writers dedicated to providing support and encouragement. We welcome fiction writers of all genres and experience levels. As a GLFW member, you’ll have access to our friendly critique group, be featured in our newsletter and on social media, participate in community anthology projects, and enjoy many other resources. Beyond our annual conference, we host monthly guest speaker meetings, a fall retreat for getaways and writing, and a festive holiday gathering. Whether you're just starting out or are a seasoned author, we invite you to explore our community. For more information about GLFW or to learn how to join, please visit our website. www.greatlakesfictionwriters.com

CONFERENCE AGENDA

ALL DAY / MAC'S BACKS BOOKS 
Meeting Room A/B/C
Browse and buy books by today's presenters and GLFW authors. Mac's also has a selection of writing books to inspire and guide your writing practice.

9:00 - 9:45 AM / CHECK-IN, LIGHT BREAKFAST, NETWORKING
Writers' Center main room
For anyone interested in having their work read anonymously at the One Page Critique Panel at 2:15 PM: Drop off FOUR COPIES of the first page OR inciting event of your work-in-progress (fiction only) at check-in before noon. Your work should be double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with Title, Genre, and "First Page" or "Inciting Event" written at the top of the page. Do NOT include your name anywhere on the page. We'll randomly select pages and read them aloud starting at 2:15 PM. Each panelist will raise a hand at the point where they would stop reading and then comment on what stopped them. One Page Critique writers will remain anonymous.

9:45 - 10:00 AM / WELCOME & CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
Meeting Room A/B/C 
Barbara Howard, President, Great Lakes Fiction Writers

10:00 - 11:00 AM / SPEAKER
Meeting Room A/B/C
Julie Hatcher, “Outlining: An Author's Power Tool: Move Your Story from Concept to Completion in 28 Days”

* How to create & use an outline for novel writing.
* How to stay on track by planning ahead & get that novel written!
* How to enhance storytelling with detail elements & subplots.

11:00 - 11:15 AM / MORNING BREAK

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM / SPEAKER
Meeting Room A/B/C
Joelle Reizes, "Starting a Writing Career After Age 40 (Building a Writing Habit)"

* Honestly examine the pros and cons of starting writing as a mature writer.
* Learn to identify barriers to creating a writing habit.
* Develop strategies to overcome those barriers.

12:15 - 1:15 PM / LUNCH BREAK, BOOK SALE & AUTHOR SIGNINGS
You may bring lunch and eat it in the Writers' Center. You may also picnic outdoors or in your car. Local restaurant map available at check-in table.

Book sales courtesy of Mac's Backs Books of Cleveland Heights.

1:15 - 2:00 PM / BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Choose one:

1. Networking
Writers' Center main room and Writers' Center meeting room.
Participants are encouraged to adjourn to the Writers' Center main room seating area and also visit GLFW's author tables in the Writers' Center meeting room to mix and mingle.

2. One Page Critique Panel: Writer’s choice of First Page or Inciting Event
Meeting Room A/B/C
We'll randomly select anonymous one pages of work-in-progress and read them aloud. Your one page may be your first page OR the inciting event. Each panelist will raise a hand at the point where they would stop reading and then comment on what stopped them. Writers will remain anonymous.

How to submit your one page: Before noon, drop off at the check-in table four copies of the first page OR inciting event of your work-in-progress (fiction only). DO NOT include your name anywhere on the page. Your work should be double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with Title, Genre, and "First Page" or "Inciting Event" written at the top of the page.

2:00 - 3:00 PM / SPEAKER
Meeting Room A/B/C
Lynda Rees, "THE BUSINESS END OF PUBLISHING, For Authors and Creative Business Owners"

* Become the CEO of your business.
* Be taken seriously by the industry.
* Stay out of trouble with the IRS.

3:00 - 3:15 / AFTERNOON BREAK

3:15 - 4:15 PM / SPEAKER
Meeting Room A/B/C
Krista Hammonds, "Threading Meaning"

* Learn how to dismantle the objective correlative technique.
* Gain the tools to deconstruct the canon your work lands in.
* Receive a framework for use when writing forward.

4:15 - 4:30 PM / WRAP-UP
Meeting Room A/B/C

PRESENTERS

Krista Hammonds (Iris Matthews) writes historical romance novels and contemporary romance short stories. She has an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a BA in history from the University of Mount Union. She serves as an accountability coordinator for the Great Lakes Fiction Writers to help other authors stick to their writing goals. In April 2025 she is scheduled to present at the Popular Culture Association National Conference in New Orleans. She lives in Ohio with her partner, two children and mini Aussie-doodle rescue puppy. When she isn't writing you can find her in the garden or traveling in a class-B motorhome.

Julie Hatcher is an award-winning and bestselling author of mystery and romantic suspense. She has published more than sixty novels under multiple pen names since her debut in 2013. Writing as Julie Anne Lindsey, Hatcher has earned many accolades for her work, including the 2020 National Readers’ Choice Award for Romance Adventure and the 2019 Daphne du Maurier Award for Mystery/Suspense, among others. When Julie's not creating new worlds or fostering the epic love of fictional characters, she can be found in Kent, Ohio, enjoying her blessed Midwestern life. And probably plotting murder with her shamelessly enabling friends. Today she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.

Lynda Rees -- This multi-award-winning, multi-genre author brings you the best in history, mystery and suspense with a dash of romance. The free-spirited world-traveler’s diverse background and previous corporate career in marketing and global transportation, bring a rare perspective to her writing. Appalachian-born coal miner’s daughter, Lynda Rees, is part Cherokee. Her love affair with books, mystery, and American history stem from being immersed in the Mob’s reign when Northern Kentucky prospered as a mecca for gambling and sin. Lynda is published in historical and contemporary romance and mystery/suspense, middle-grade mystery, children’s books, and nonfiction. She has received accolades from Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Reader's Choice, Imaginarium, RWA, RITA, and PFTH. Lynda Rees, The Murder Guru © Love is a dangerous mystery. Enjoy the ride! ©

Joelle Reizes (J.D. Blackrose) is the author of the Summoner’s Mark series which includes Demon Kissed, Fae Crossed, Hell Bound, Samhain’s Bargain, Wish Magic, and Pinky Promise, through Bell Bridge Books. She’s published The Soul Wars, The Devil’s Been Busy, and the Zombie Cosmetologist novellas through Falstaff Books and is contracted for a new horror novel through Falstaff’s horror imprint, Falstaff Dread. She’s published short stories such as “The Space Ark,” in HOZ Journal of Speculative Fiction, “Welcome, Death,” in the Jewish Book of Horror, “Don’t Fool an Earth Witch,” in Mother’s Revenge, “The Book Burning,” in Curiosities, and “Poisoned by Sugar,” in Witches, Warriors, and Wise Women. “The Ghost Train,” was published by Third Flatiron in their Spring 2019 Anthology and Best of 2019 Anthology.