The events are scheduled for May 3 at 6:00pm until May 5 at 9:00pm (MDT) in Colorado Springs. Further details are at this link: http://sangriasummit.com/sangria-summit-workshop-may-3-5th-2013-in-colorado-springs.

Sangria Summit members may attend this workshop for FREE. Visit this link: http://sangriasummit.com/benefits-of-sangria-summit-membership for information on Sangria Summit membership.

Master of Ceremonies: Randy Brown (Charlie Sherpa)

Saturday // DAY ONE  at Mandatory Fun (9 AM until 5 PM)

Nate Brookshire: Our Book/Our Journey

Mark Coker: Keynote speaker during lunch

Randy Brown: Magazines, Journals and Anthologies

Panel Number One: PTSD and TBI

Panel Number Two: Traditional Publishing vs e-Publishing

Sunday // DAY TWO at Mandatory Fun  (9 AM until 5 PM)

Shelly Goodman Wright: Utilizing a writing critique group

Lola Spitfire and Friends: Promote Yourself!

Karen Linamen: How to write a self-help book

MaryAnn Karinch: Keynote speaker during lunch

Panel Number Three: Write about the Military without Ending your Professional Military Career

Panel Number Four: Ten Markets for Selling your Military Writing

This is a preliminary agenda.

This membership entitles a person to FREE admission to the May 2013 workshop and the October 2013 conference.

The Sangria Summit membership also provides a 5 percent discount at both Dragons And Dragoons and Mandatory Fun for all of 2013.

To obtain a Sangria Summit membership call Mandatory Fun during their normal business hours. They will process your order by phone.

  Call  (719) 576-0545

The company publishes Lanterloon, an eclectic lifestyle, technology, and military blog; has a physical storefront called “Dragons and Dragoons” located in Colorado Springs; and conducts “Sangria Summit”-brand workshops and conferences for military writers.

Randy “Sherpa” Brown has written the Red Bull Rising blog since December 2009, when he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan with the Iowa National Guard’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division. He originally wrote under a pseudonym of “Charlie Sherpa,” in part to avoid conflicts between his military and civilian roles. In his military career, Brown reported “lessons-learned” to internal military audiences. Brown is now retired from the military.

In his civilian career, Brown is a freelance magazine writer and editor with specialties in architecture, history, and technology. Much of his work involves community-building and “how-to” journalism.

“With Sangria Summit events, our purpose is to provide both aspiring and established military writers the inspiration, motivation, and tools they need to succeed,” says James Burns, co-founder of Victor Ian LLC. “In the Red Bull Rising blog, we saw a potential partner given its past ‘writing about military writing,’ as well as the author’s digging in and finding out what veterans, service personnel, and mil-families are doing and thinking.”

The inaugural Sangria Summit conference was held in Denver, September 2012. Tentative plans have been announced for other Sangria Summit events in Colorado Springs, Colo., in May 2013 and October 2013. The May event is most likely going to be a writers’ workshop, and the October event a larger-scale conference.

Brown says the sponsorship will allow him to build on the blog’s long-standing mission: “To remember, support, and celebrate citizen-soldiers past and present, as well as their families.”

“Documenting and sharing one’s military experiences—whether for yourself, your family, or a wider audience—has always been part of the Red Bull Rising mission,” he says. “This new relationship will allow me to expand the blog’s coverage, and to make it more concrete: How to improve yourself as a military writer, or find new markets or styles in which to work.”

According to a new “Sponsors” page on the Red Bull Rising blog, “Sponsored posts will always be clearly identified. Sponsors do not have editorial input toward or review of Red Bull Rising content prior to publication.

• For a “Lanterloon” Facebook page, click here.
• For a “Dragons and Dragoons” Facebook page, click here.
• For a “Sangria Summit” Facebook page, click here.

This post was originally published in Red Bull Rising.

This might feel a little bit like posting one of those haul videos to the Internet, but Sherpa returned from last week’s Sangria Summit: A Military Writers’ Conference in Denver, Colo. with a rucksack heavy with books, a notebook full of ideas, and a pocket stuffed with names, numbers, and email addresses of new collaborators.

It was a top-shelf affair, conducted at Denver’s Marriott City Center, with speakers and panels providing insights on researching, writing, publishing, and marketing military non-fiction and fiction. The inaugural session proved an intimate affair—about 50 authors, writers, journalists, agents, and others—ranging from as far away as British Columbia and the Empire State, to as near as already-in-the-neighborhood. There are, after all, plenty of military installations in central Colorado.

Read more at Sherpa’s blog.

Besides the presentations, there were many new professional relationships that formed, and are developing online via social media sites. This was what we hoped would happen. The annual Summit is not just about learning about the craft of writing and promoting a book, but also bringing together people to share ideas, stories, and fostering encouragement. We think we did that.

Bar none, the two venues, the Denver Marriott City Center and the Denver Press Club, provided exceptional services, and we wish to thank the staffs of those to establishments for their support.

Now, we are moving ahead for the Second Annual Sangria Summit scheduled for May 4-5, 2013, in Denver. The annual event will take place each May with workshops in other parts of the country. We already have commitments from presenters, and we’ll provide more information at a later date.

Again, thanks to all who were at our inaugural event.

West Point graduate and former Green Beret Bob Mayer will lead several sessions designed specifically for the action-adventure genre

Mayer has published more than 50 books. They have hit the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and numerous other bestseller lists. His book, “The Jefferson Allegiance,” was released independently and reached No. 2 overall in sales on Nook.

Mayer entered West Point and volunteered and passed selection for the Special Forces as a Green Beret. Mayer’s obsession with mythology and his vast knowledge of Special Forces, mixed with his strong desire to learn from history, is the foundation for his science fiction series “Atlantis,” “Area 51” and “Psychic Warrior.” Mayer is a master at blending elements of truth into all of his thrillers, leaving the reader questioning what is real and what isn’t. Mayer’s military background, coupled with his deep desire to understand the past and how it affects our future, gives his writing a rich flavor not to be missed.

For an aspiring author to write their wartime memoir, novel or a history/biography, Mayer will teach active-duty service members and veterans how to take their unique military background and translate it into a book.

The writers’ conference is scheduled for Sept. 12-14, 2012 in Denver at the Marriott City Center. This intensive conference brings combat veterans, journalists, historians, accomplished authors, aspiring writers of the military genre and book agents together to learn from each other and connect with like-minded people.

Join the the Sangria Summit: A Military Writers’ Conference in Denver from Sept. 12-14, 2012, and learn from one of the techno-thriller authors on the circuit today.

To register, visit http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1057963