Ball State University students (majoring in English) will work as interns at this year’s conference. Here’s the new generation of interns (we call them MWW Ninjas) who will assist the literary agents and work as social media tutors helping attendees at Midwest Writers Workshop 2017. Introducing …
2017 Agent Assistants
Six interns (with on-site coordinator Sarah Hollowell) will work as assistants to the agents. Before the conference, they will communicate with you to schedule pitches, and during the conference, they’ll keep time and make sure things run smoothly. If you signed up to pitch, you will receive an email with a Google Doc with the agents’ schedules.
Sarah Hollowell is a writer of YA, speculative fiction, and essays. She’ll read almost anything, but YA dominates her bookshelves and Kindlespace. She’s super into cats and the apocalypse. Her essays have been published on The Butter, The Gloss, Fantasy Literature, and Women Write About Comics. Her fiction will soon appear in Fireside Fiction. This is her fifth year helping at the Midwest Writers Workshop. http://sarahhollowell.com/
Charlie Cain is a Senior at Ball State university pursuing a degree in English with concentrations in creative writing and rhetoric. His work reflects his passions for History, Architecture, Language, and Art. As an intern at the Indiana Writers Center, he organizes a community of writers and helps students young and old find their own style. After he graduates Charlie hopes to pursue either an M.F.A in creative writing or a degree in law. http://cwcain.weebly.com
Tynan Drake is a senior Creative Writing major at Ball State University. He has a passion for fantasy, horror, and psychological writing and the exploration of the unique aspects of various cultures and beliefs both in the real world and in the ways they can be represented in the many worlds of fiction. He hopes to one day publish novels that use the exciting elements of fantasy, horror, and even romance to bring to readers’ attention the real world problems that are often overlooked or under represented. He hopes that his writing will help readers to harbor new understanding and empathy for the situations they read about and encourage them to not only learn more, but to take action in making the world around them a better place to live in. In his final year at Ball State he will be focusing his studies on the world of publishing and will be working to help produce the Digital Literature Review. www.wherebedragons.blog
Amber Haynes is a senior at Ball State University pursuing a degree in English. She is nearing the end of her journey at Ball State and is excited to see where her passions lead her in the world of literature. She enjoys reading the newest YA novel and spending time with her daughter. Her favorite books have strong female characters that are making their place in the world. https://amberhaynes.wordpress.com
Abby Hoops is a senior at Ball State University pursing a degree in Creative Writing with a double minor in Digital Publishing and Professional Writing and Emerging Media. As a passionate bookworm and writer herself, she aspires to help others reach their goals and dreams of publishing their own books as a future editor. When Abby is not reading the latest sci-fi, romance novel or attempting to finish her own novel, she can usually be found wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket with her dogs to cuddle with. This July 2017 Abby will officially graduate from Ball State University. She has gotten into the New York Arts Program that will be sending her to New York City this upcoming fall for internships. www.hoops4books.com or hoops431.egsnider.com
Kristen Parks is a senior at Ball State University with a Major in English Creative Writing and Spanish Linguistics. Kristen is an avid reader and spends as much time as she can with her nose in a book. She thinks that words, language, and reading are so important, and that creative writing makes for a more creative mind. When she’s not obsessing over the latest YA books, she can be found listening to 80’s music or watching Spanish television shows. Next semester she will be working as a teacher’s assistant for an advanced creative writing course. https://kris10parks13.wixsite.com/kristenparks
Matthew Swain is a poet from Columbia City, Indiana. His work has been published in Ball State’s literary magazine, The Broken Plate. He currently studies Creative Writing, Professional Writing, and Literature at Ball State, where he also serves as vice president for the campus poetry organization, Poetic Summit. When he’s not writing, he’s likely reading Ross Gay and Matt Hart, or soliciting his friends for new work to read. His other interests include cooking, intersectional feminism, and punk rock. swainmatthewscott.weebly.com
2017 Social Media Tutors
Three interns ( with on-site coordinator Jackson Elfin) will work as social media tutors. You can schedule a 45-minute session (on Friday or Saturday) to discuss both the “how” and “why” of social media: for example, how to start a blog, or for the more advanced, how to increase the readership of your blog, as well as why you should use social media as a writer. If you’d like to sign up for one of these free sessions, you will get an email from MWW Director Jama Bigger explaining how to start that process.
Jackson Eflin graduated from Ball State with an degree in Creative Writing and is trying to support his community in any way he can while assisting a teacher at an afterschool program for at-risk elementary students. He’s usually in the middle of four or five different speculative fiction books and was published in No Horns on these Helmets, an anthology of Viking Fiction, in May 2015. http://jacksoneflin.blogspot.com/
Randi Flick is a senior English/Creative Writing major at Ball State University. She is minoring in Professional Writing/Literature and has participated in an immersive learning project called the Book Arts Collaborative (www.bookartscollab.com). Her interests include expatriated literature, poetry, video games, YouTube web series, and the human experience. She is currently writing the script for a video game being developed by the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder at Ball State University and hopes to continue writing video game scripts in the future. http://theliteralrandi.weebly.com/
Makayla Smart is a senior at Ball State University pursuing a degree in English Studies with minors in Creative Writing and Literature. Her favorite genres to write are poetry and creative non-fiction. When she isn’t watching Game of Thrones, Makayla can be found sitting on her couch revising poems or reading a book. During her last semester of college this fall, Makayla will be taking Jacket Copy Creative, where she will have the opportunity to learn more about event promotion and marketing campaigns, as well as helping manage the Ball State English Department’s digital community. https://makaylasmartblog.wordpress.com/