The Cat Writers’ Association is celebrating its 26th-annual conference and awards banquet at the APA Hotel Woodbridge, NJ, July 16th – 18th 2020 and we’re looking for industry leaders, motivators, and creative talents to help present dynamic and educational sessions.
We’re seeking proposals for sessions, workshops, and panels that will inspire, motivate and empower our attendees in various forms of written, visual, and audio media platforms to further all stages of their careers and business development. We will accept proposals of various types and topics, but the emphasis will be put on speakers who may have not spoken at a CWA conference before, or those with new content.
Examples of topics we would be looking for (but by no means limited to) include how to pitch agents and editors, making career moves that lead to increased income, publishing in all its aspects (print and e-books, magazines, online, etc.), grammar tips, editing skills, social media growth and development, tips on column, anthology, or fictional writing, and back-to-basics skill workshops.
We also welcome proposals on topics such as smartphone photography and videography, workshops on how to use photo editing and digital design programs for social media platforms, effective podcast or public speaking, using humor to educate, communicating with cat-speak and casual language, and more.
And while we are an organization devoted to sharing positive and relevant communications and information about anything cat-related to the general public, our sessions do not have to specifically pertain to cats. We will welcome a variety of sessions, some of them cat-centric in nature, but for the most part, sessions should be able to stand on their own, educating and informing in a general sense.
As a nonprofit organization, please note that we are unable to offer monetary compensation for travel or presenting. However, you will receive a complimentary ticket to the full conference venue as well as one-night hotel room accommodations at the host hotel, the APA Hotel Woodbridge in Iselin, NJ.
Click on the link below to complete our form, and we’ll get back to you ASAP. The deadline is January 31, 2020. Hoping for some fun, new, and creative ideas!
Ode: To SIMON’s DRINKING PROBLEM
It’s clear dear cat you’ve had a water drink
For it hangs thick and low from your thin chin
As a large drop through which light rays glisten
Then a flicker of your tongue’s tip quite pink
Comes with a sway of your tail, its kink
So noticed like that water drop again
(And you without a little silk napkin)
Your habit’s one endearingly distinct.
Plus your drinking problem leaves us no stink
Like old food stuff or hard liquor like gin
And into a bad thing you didn’t sink
You’ve committed naught resembling a sin
Habits can still be dropped in an eye’s blink
While having you near’s my mind’s medicine.
THAT BLACK CAT, SHE INVADED HIS DREAMS
(mostly a true story)
She laid by his bared feet
at the foot of his bed
though in his dream they’d meet
which they did in his head.
For this sleek black feline
she’d been in there before,
such she’d never decline
as that cat he’d adore.
A myth it couldn’t be
that her claws touched his toes,
as the dreaming did he
was about that she knows.
The dream she boldly caught
that night she did invade
was the dream she had sought,
the dream she’d long delayed.
Within, she placed her claws
upon his sleep-bound feet,
all performed with no flaws
then and there they did meet.
Though not feeling abused
by prickling on his toes,
he still looked down confused
at each of five toes, two rows.
Naught of her did he find
in his dream created
though back to wakened mind
he saw her and stated:
‘Mimi! It’s you—you rascal!’
yet he still adored her
while finding comical
her response, a smooth ‘murr’.
From the thick mattress down
she landed, without woes,
as he said, ‘You little clown—
you leave alone my toes.’
Thought she, ‘Again we’ll meet
as you dream fast asleep
when the toes on your feet
from my paws you can’t keep.’