But first, a few pieces of information:

• The West Virginia Writers’ Workshop will be held July 18-21 on WVU’s downtown campus.

• The four-day event features small workshops in which participants discuss their creative work (poems, stories, novel excerpts, screenplays, memoirs, essays) with a writer of national reputation as well as their peers; craft lectures; readings; publishing panels; and—for the first time—an opportunity to pitch work to actual publishers. Seriously.

• Want to learn more? Follow the link

• Want to learn even more? Contact the Workshop’s director, Mark Brazaitis, or call him at 304-293-9707

And now to the list?.

Reason 5: Screenwriting. For the first time ever, the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop will offer a workshop in screenwriting. It will be led by Jeff Monahan, a successful screenwriter who has taught the secrets of his craft at NYU, Seton Hall, Carnegie Mellon and elsewhere.

Reason 4: Speed writing. Participants will learn how to write a novel in 100 days. Don’t blink or you might miss an entire chapter!

Reason 3: New books. Four of the workshop leaders have new books on the shelves (and sailing in Amazon boxes to readers across the country). Poets Sandra Meek (Road Scatter) and James Harms (Comet Scar) will be joined by fiction writers Elizabeth Graver (The End of the Point) and Mark Brazaitis (The Incurables: Stories). Between them, the four authors have won dozens of awards—a good percentage of which recognize their inspiring teaching. They are looking forward to sharing their word, and their writing wisdom, with Workshop participants.

Reason 2: A real, live publisher! PageSpring Publishers will be on hand to offer writers a chance to pitch their work. For more on PageSpring Publishers, which specializes in Young Adult and Women’s fiction, see their Web site. To register for a pitch session, see the WVWW’s registration form

Reason 1: Fun! The West Virginia Writers’ Workshop is always fun. Always. Guaranteed.