Writing Workshop

Left Coast Crime is pleased to announce a Writing Workshop on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, the day before the convention begins, at the convention hotel: Westin Denver Downtown, 1670 Lawrence Street.

You can register for the full day including both workshops or choose just the morning or afternoon session.

Single session: $52.80 (Denver’s altitude)
Both sessions: $100.00 (altitude of Kenosha Pass)

Online Writing Workshop Registration

Note: Online registration closes at 4:00 PM on Monday, March 10, 2025. Onsite registration will be available as well. Email Registrar Stan Ulrich with any questions.

Z.S. Diamante: Using Social Media To Promote Your Books

Whether you’re a debut author trying to come out the gates swinging, or you have a great backlist to offer readers, the time to start selling books via social media is now. Come learn the ins and outs of different social media platforms and how to sell loads of books! Join award-winning author Z.S. Diamanti in this hands-on and interactive workshop where we’ll develop a plan and strategy for your social media presence that not only gets you in front of new users, but helps you sell books.

Z.S. Diamanti is the award-winning author of the Stone & Sky series, an epic fantasy adventure, and Guard in the Garden, the first book in the Fables of Finlestia cozy fantasy series. He went to college forever and has far too many pieces of paper on his wall. He is a USAF veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and worked in ministry for over 10 years before pursuing creative endeavors full-time. He and his wife live in Colorado with their four children, where they enjoy hikes, camping, and tabletop games.
Z.S. Diamante’s Website

David Heska Wanbli Weiden: Compelling Conversations, Great Stories: Strategies and Techniques for Dialogue and Plot

Improving your dialogue is the quickest and easiest way to take your writing to the next level. In this seminar, we’ll examine techniques used by writers and playwrights for crafting effective dialogue. We’ll examine the purpose of dialogue; using conflict and tension in speech; the use of subtext, action, and emotion beats; and strategies for using internal monologue in dialogue scenes. We’ll also examine plot and narrative structure, and techniques for creating compelling storylines from screenwriters, authors, and literary theorists.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is the author of the national bestseller Winter Counts (Ecco, 2020), which won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel (and numerous other awards) and was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The novel is included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 best mystery and thriller novels of all time. Weiden is also the author of short stories and nonfiction. He’s the series editor of Native Edge, an imprint of the University of New Mexico Press specializing in Indigenous literature. Weiden received the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship and is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Ucross, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, Sewanee, and Tin House. He was the Indigenous Visiting Artist in Residence at Brown University in spring 2024. Weiden received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s professor of English and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University and also serves on the faculty of the Cedar Crest Pan-European MFA Program. He lives in New York and Colorado with his family.
David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s Website