PPWC 2026 -Day Two - Afternoon

Jonny Worthen captivating his audience

After a fun Saturday lunch speech by keynote author Pippa Grant, we headed into the afternoon of day two of the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. 

I was the moderator for Rock Your Reader Magnet, presented by Debbie Maxwell Allen. She began with a definition. A reader magnet is a free digital item given to readers in exchange for their email. Of what use is a reader's email? It's the number one way to drive sales to your books. The magnet gives a free taste of what you have to offer.

The magnet can be a variety of things, from a free short story set in your fictional world, to a character's letters, journal entries, or tweets. Recipes printable as a pdf, A side story that's not fleshed out in the novel. Debbie gave us the specific how-to info for how to make this happen.

I was on a kick with Business of Writing workshops. I went to Best Practices: Author Bios & Photos with Chris Mandeville. I've written a ton of bios for myself. I haven't been completely satisfied with any. Chris presented a system to ensure your bio isn't boring or stodgy, yet conveys your personality honestly. Even your author photo should convey a sense of who you are.

The last session I attended on Saturday was Deeper Reading for Deeper Writing. Johnny Worthen reminded me why I was an English Literature major in college. The all-too-short hour was a graduate-level class on literary analysis. Johnny stated that reading is not a passive act. Human minds are meaning-making machines.

You just had to be there, so I won't say anything more. People didn't want to leave at the end of the hour.

We had a gap between the last session and the banquet. Plenty of time for hallway conversations, and working on the puzzle in Zeb's Lounge.

The keynote dinner speaker was Reavis Z. Wortham. The Western author entertained with stories of his writer's journey. The audience was in stitches. And in horrified sympathy as he described losing his entire first novel manuscript to a computer fail. Reavis is a great speaker. He inspired us to be persistent.

My husband came to the hotel for Bar Con. We hung out with my critique group. Then it was time to head for home, way too late. Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, I was determined to arrive at the conference bright and early Sunday morning.

---