After establishing herself in the film industry as a freelance creature effects artist, where her efforts contributed to the Oscar-nominated Raptors for Lost World and the Emmy-award winning corpses for The Stand, one might think her current writing would tilt toward horror or fantasy. But it is the human encounters that inspire her more. Out of respect, Lynette refuses to tell exactly which celebrities she has merged into her characters’ personalities, though readers may be assured that for better and worse, her own experiences are ever-present in her upmarket fiction represented by Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management.

Now living in the Midwest with her husband and three boys, Lynette commutes to Hollywood once or twice a year, and keeps the Fed Ex drivers amused with packages full of weird creature parts. She enjoys gardening, petting donkeys,  recording amateur baseball stats, and guilt-free writing.

Photo © Victor Nguyen

Rhoda Belleza, Associate Editor at Paper Lantern Lit, received her BA in English and Communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Post-graduation, she wandered up and down the West Coast, stopping in almost every city along the way. Fortunately, none of them fit quite right.

She finally found a home in Brooklyn – where she lives, breathes, and eats fiction. Before becoming an assistant editor at Paper Lantern Lit, she was a copywriter, barista, shuttle driver, and writing instructor. She loves to feel the seasons change and is currently in a co-dependent relationship with her bicycle.

The Backspace Agent-Author Seminar November 1 & 2 at the Radisson Martinique in NYC was a great success!

Nearly everyone who registered for the seminar was able to make it into the city despite travel cancellations and delays in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Backspace would like to thank the faculty members who attended, as well as those who participated from home by conference call (including those without power!), our hardworking volunteers, and most of all, the fabulous, resourceful writers who made it all possible!

From attendees:

“Thank you for running a smooth event and for being so accessible for the last few months.  Even with the storm, I was pleased with the seminar and grateful to be a part of it.  I learned an incredible amount.”

“Great job on yesterday’s arrangements with the phone conferences. I called in to morning and afternoon sessions and they both went without a glitch.The agents were very patient and helpful, as were the other participants.”

“I am writing to offer you my sincerest thanks for the fabulous event that you pulled off, post-Sandy. This event has been a great experience for me in spite of the schedule changes. I have not only learned a lot and developed more conviction in my work, but also gained more personal confidence!”

“Thank you so very much for putting together and keeping afloat a major conference with excellent agents and writers in a turbulent couple of days when transportation was disrupted. What an extraordinary conference you managed to bring off despite the dislocations of Sandy. Brilliant use of iPhones to reach agents not there, high diplomatic skills in evidence to calm authors and agents, while organizing tables and events.”

Read more about Backspace and Sandy:

Backspace and Sandy by agent Emily Keyes

The Human Side of the Publishing Industry by Gabriela Pereira

And on Twitter:

Jason Allen Ashlock @jasonashlock
So impressed with @bksp_org team and @KarenDionne for somehow pulling off the Backspace conference today in NYC. Impressive turnout too

Gabriela Pereira @DIYMFA
Thank you @KarenDionne and @CGbackspace for a wonderful #writing conference in NYC despite the hurricane. ow.ly/f1Ql0 You rock!

Roseanne Wells @RivetingRosie
Big #ff to Karen Dionne and @bksp_org for holding the conference in Midtown and getting back to business.

Roseanne Wells @RivetingRosie
Thanks so much to @bksp_org for a wonderful conference amidst this chaos. Wonderful people,  organizers and authors alike.

Evan Gregory @EvanJGregory
Also, thanks to everyone at @bksp_org for everything. You guys have been doing amazing under really trying circumstances.

Julie Britt @JulieBritt
Backspace Agent-Author Seminar was great. Thanks to all the #agents who showed up or called in. @bksp_org

Julie Hutchings @HutchingsJulie
@KarenDionne Wanted to thank you for making #BKSP such an amazing experience in light of the circumstances. Pricelessly helpful.

Most recently MacKenzie was in marketing at Touchstone Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. There she worked closely with the advertising, publicity and sales departments.  This experience has allowed her to bring a deep and multi-dimensional expertise to her role as a literary agent.  Her intimate understanding of all aspects of publishing has led to a very hands-on approach to her clients’ careers–throughout the various stages of the publishing process.

MacKenzie worked at Trident Media Group after college as an assistant to agents Kimberly Whalen and Scott Miller. This experienced allowed her to see what a difference powerful and successful agents at a dynamic agency like Trident could make in a writer’s life.  She left to experience life inside a major publisher’s marketing machine and it was a very eye-opening and extremely valuable part of her publishing education. She is delighted to have returned to Trident as an agent and feels she is now prepared to help guide her clients through all aspects of the publishing process.

She loves a good story well-told and is particularly interested in Women’s Fiction.  As a new agent, she is actively building her client list and is discovering new talent, as well as helping established authors increase their readership and build their careers. 

First Place: 74 LITTLE ZEBRA by Terri Hardin Jackson

Second Place: 101 FLIGHT RISK by Bobbi Dempsey

Third Place: 91 STEALING HAPPY by Marianne Sheldon

Scholarships cover registration fees (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) and Lane Shefter Bishop’s evening logline workshop ($765 value). Travel, hotel, and incidental expenses are the responsibility of scholarship winners.

Honorable Mentions

Because the contest outcome was so very close, the following 2 authors have been awarded partial scholarships to the 2013 Backspace Writers conference.

Scholarships cover registration fees (Thursday and Friday only), and Lane Shefter Bishop’s evening logline workshop ($625 value). Travel, hotel, and incidental expenses are the responsibility of scholarship winners.

46 THE FUNERAL SINGER by Linda Acorn Budzinski

2 ALEX DAILY: SOMETIMES SUPERHERO by Ashley Keene 

Also receiving commendation from our judges are the following entries:

106 I AM NOT HER by Heather Pemberton
102 LOVE DEATH SEX BETRAYAL by Kate Kaiser
98 IN ALPHA’S WAY by Kimberly Lekman
95 FOSTER MOM by Alicia Bien
90 LICKING THE BONES by Anna-Christina De La Iglesia
89 ELEVEN STARS by Brooke Younker
85 THE INEVITABILITY OF RETURN by Jocosa Wade
82 THE DOLPHIN NEXUS by Jennye Kamin
81 THANK YOU LETTERS by Colleen Only
78 BECOMING by Karen Y. Bynum
76 DARK PENITENCE by Holly Montague
75 OZNOG: OCCUPY WALL STREET AND THE ODYSSEY OF AN OUTLAW PEN by Patrick M Arthur
73 MYTH MANOR by Kathryn Leonard-Peck
72 THE GOOD DEMON by Ryan Hill
63 MULESKINNER by Kim Van Sickler
62 FINDING LOSS AMIDST LOSS by Alphonsine Imaniraguha
61 A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO BOB by Elizabeth Stolar
56 FIRE AND BLOOD by Martine Svanevik
52 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF DARKNESS by Peter Hannah
50 THE DOORMAKER by Bailey Seybolt
40 WAVING BACKWARDS by Vickilynn Brunskill
39 BREEDING GROUNDS by Pamela Loring
37 MY HEART IS A WILDERNESS by Molly Gleeson
35 YOU WERE FOREVER by Kathleen Donohoe
33 SPRUNG by Heather Rawlings
30 SURGE by Kerri Sparks
29 THE DEVIL ON MY LEFT by Elizabeth O’Connor
28 LIAR’S POKER by Shaun Harris
20 NIGHT FALLS by Amanda Knoss
18 DEATH BY HIGH HEELS by Holly Dennler
15 ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL by Jenni Wiltz
14 A BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE LOST & FOUND by Malia Beine
10 THE ART OF BREAKING by Susan Crispell
8 BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Miranda Doerfler
5 WHAT STEPS WE CARRY by Brent van Staalduinen
1 FRAGILE LINE by Nicole Steinhaus

Previously, she was an intern at Don Congdon Associates, worked at a secondhand book store in Connecticut, and evaluated short story submissions for Tor.com under Liz Gorinsky and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

She graduated from Brown University in 2010. While there, she studied anthropology and archaeology, worked as a radio DJ, fenced on the varsity team, and helped design an experiment that she later performed in microgravity at NASA.

A lifelong fan of children’s books, she’s looking for middle grade and young adult novels in a range of genres, including fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction, romance, and contemporary, plus anything that bends the rules of genre. She is actively seeking books with underrepresented or minority characters.

She is also seeking fiction for adults, especially fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction, and literary women’s fiction.

In accordance with her college degree, she’s interested in informational, literary nonfiction, especially science or history written by experts for a general audience.

Lehto has been interviewed by CNN, the BBC, The New York Times, and Jay Leno, on a segment for Jay Leno’s Garage. Leno also wrote the foreword to Lehto’s book on the Chrysler Turbine Car. Lehto has appeared on Michigan Public Radio, Detroit Public Radio, numerous radio and television shows, and in countless magazines and newspapers. Books he has written have been reviewed favorably by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The Michigan Bar Journal, and others. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Michigan, where he has practiced in the field of automobile warranty law for more than 20 years.

He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. and is now the social media manager at CNET. He lives in Brooklyn.

Agent Kristin Nelson will tackle the the business and contract terms that allow or restrict writers from self publishing, and she’ll answer key questions:

–Should an author digitally publish?
–What are the pros and cons?
–Can an author who is traditionally published, digitally self-publish?
–What are the potential contract hurdles?
–Can an author partner with an agent to digitally publish?
–How is the agent role changing as the industry changes?
–What is Metadata and why is that your friend?

Twitter: @suddenlyjen