New York Times Bestselling author Laura Day has spent nearly three decades helpingindividuals, organizations, and companies use their innate intuitive abilities to create profound
change. Newsweek Magazine calls her “The $10,000-a-Month Psychic” because “Whenbusiness people need a crystal ball, they turn to consultant Laura Day, the ‘intuitionist’.” The
Independent dubbed her “The Psychic of Wall Street”. “A” List Hollywood Stars and WallStreet executives all praise her abilities to hone in on future predictions with astounding accuracy
including the recent recession.

Laura’s work has helped demystify intuition and bring it into the mainstream, she demonstrateits practical, verifiable uses in the fields of business, science, medicine and personal growth. She
has trained thousands of people to use their brains, perceptions and “sixth sense” in effectiveways to realize their goals. Day is the author of six bestselling books including; Practical
Intuition, Practical Intuition in Love, Practical Intuition in Success, The Circle, Welcome toYour Crisis and her most recent book How to Rule the World from Your Couch which was just
released in paperback.

She has been featured in many publications including; Newsweek, New York Magazine, TheIndependent, Bottom Line, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and People magazines.

Day speaks regularly both here and abroad, and has appeared on numerous shows includingCNN, Fox News, Good Morning America, The View, Extra and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

For more information please visit: www.practicalintuition.com .

♥♥♥

David W. Berner will give the Keynote Address at our summer conference August 13th at The Lodge at Sea Island.  Over the years he has mastered the art of storytelling, both his own stories as well as the stories of others. He has told stories as a reporter for numerous radio stations including NPR and more recently for CBS in Chicago and the CBS Radio Network. He is a familiar face on the Chicago storytelling circuit regularly appearing to read his personal essays at events such as Story Club, Essay Fiesta, and This Much is True.

Berner has produced three recent audio documentaries: Bracelets of Grace: The Vietname War Story of Major Stanley Horne, Finding My Kerouac, and Pebble Beach Stories. His writing has appeared in PERIGEE, Tiny Lights Journal, Rivulets, Clef Notes, Shaking Like a Mountain, Travelgolf.com, Worldgolf.com, Golf Chicago Magazine, The Sun Newspapers, and Write City Magazine and a number of other publications both online and print.

Berner’s 2009 memoir Accidental Lessons has been called remarkable by readers, reviewers, and journalists. In this inspirational account of self-discovery, Berner takes his readers inside his own personal journey of taking a job in a public school in a tough, impoverished neighborhood outside Chicago and the invaluable lessons he learns from his students. Accidental Lessons was the 2011 recipient of the Dragonfly Book Award for Literature.

Berner is currently working in the Chicago area as a broadcaster, writer, and an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago. He is also Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida. His masterful talents will be on display in the August 2011 Scribbler’s Retreat Writers Conference during his keynote address, "The Radio Narrative: Telling Your Stories in Sound". 

Sandra Gurvis, author of fourteen books and hundreds of magazine articles, has left no word unturned. Her books have been featured on “Good Morning America,” “CBS Up to the Minute,” and “ABC World News Tonight.” Her first novel, The Pipe Dreamers (2001), relates to a major aspect of her work, the Vietnam protests and the 1960‘s.

As a freshman on another Ohio campus during the shootings at Kent State, Sandra Gurvis spent nearly twenty-five years researching the reasons behind the turmoil during the Vietnam era. This fictional exploration of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s is set in the small college town of Hampton, Ohio. It follows the life of Julia Brandon, an innocent sorority girl who becomes increasingly involved with the protest movement, which erupts in violence, death, destruction, and the journey for truth and acceptance fifteen years later.

Her recent nonfiction title, Where Have All the Flower Children Gone? (2006), brings to life the full spectrum of this colorful decade and it’s after effects as particularly relevant to today’s political situation. She has also written on this topic for the VVA Veteran, Ohio State Alumni Magazine, People, and many other publications. Her second novel, Country Club Wives, is a contemporary parable about women, money, and homeless animals begins with the assertion that, “Not many women can say they've been left for season tickets to seats on the 50-yard-line at Ohio State football games." By the end of the book, the fates of the four women the book surrounds have guided them away from appearance concerns, getting their kids into the right schools, and living in the most prestigious neighborhood possible to grappling with deeper issues.

Country Club Wives has recently been made available in ebook format. Other books of Sandra Gurvis include The Well-Traveled Dog, Managing the Telecommuting Employee, Paris Hilton: A Biography, Ohio Curiosities, Careers for Non-Conformists, America's Strangest Museums, and Day Trips from Columbus. In addition to her books, Sandra Gurvis has published short stories and essays in Country Living, Columbus Monthly, Mature American, Guide to Literary Agents, Times-Outlook, I Love Cats, Ohio Jewish Chronicle, and the anthology Cat’s Meow. Other credits include People, YM, Entertainment Weekly, Fiction Writer, Woman's World, Parenting, The World and I, Coast to Coast, USA Weekend, Chicago Tribune, as well as numerous trade and corporate publications. She has also created travel promotional materials and articles on various destinations.

She has mastered the art of surviving as a freelancer in a rocky economy and will be divulging her secrets at the Scribbler‘s Retreat Writers Conference this August!

The strong applause that introduced and closed the May 2011 Scribblers' Retreat Writers' Conference has become Scribblers' mantra and inspiration in continuing to promote the "writing side" of literacy. The conference, which is the first of three that will be held this year, took place May 12-14 in the oceanfront Solarium room at the King and Prince hotel.

The conference began with such captivating speakers as Denise Tompkins, Ricki Schultz, Chuck Barrett, Pat Bertram and June Hall McCash, and came to a close with Jane Wood, Dr. Anya Silver, Victor DeGenti and keynote speaker, Phillip Margolin. Speakers enlightened attendants with topics that ranged from effective query letter writing, creating life-like characters, and improving narrative drive, to online presence-building, teaching storytelling skills in classrooms and even the enchanted craft of poetry writing.

Phillip Margolin, whose 15 novels have all appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, provided attendants with everything they needed to find "spare time" and use it to complete their novel.

The fascinating topics covered by each of the writers left all attendants eager for the August 2011 conference. The May conference ended Saturday evening with an exciting announcement: beginning August 11-13, 2011, Scribblers' will continue to promote the literary arts and literacy at their new host venue, The Lodge of Sea Island!

Scribblers' thanks all of our contributing sponsors who make it possible for our organization to provide sponsorships to students. We also recognize all the teachers, students, writers, and speakers who attended the conference allowing us to continue to promote the "writing side" of literacy in a most practical way.

Join us in welcoming the incomparable Phillip Margolin, a consistent New York Times bestselling author (all 15 of his novels have been on the NY Times bestseller list) who has gone from teaching Jr. High in the South Bronx to practicing criminal defense law for 25 years to being praised as one of the greatest mystery writers of our time.  Regarding his best-selling book Fugitive:

"Entertaining… a plot set on full boil… All will enjoy following the resourceful Amanda as she puts the puzzle pieces together."— Publishers Weekly

Phil is currently finishing up his wildly popular Washington trilogy, which began with Executive Privilege in which Dana Cutler and Brad Miller exposed the President's role in a series of murders then followed Brad and Dana as they saved the life of a Justice while foiling a plot by a rogue CIA group to fix a case in the Supreme Court in Supreme Justice.  Soon to be released Capitol Murder, which takes place in the Senate. Margolin captivates and excites readers with his suave expertise in drafting a criminal mystery that has one's attention riveted from the very first scene.

We are delighted to announce the quintessential June Hall McCash, who will be speaking at our May 2011 conference. She is the author of three very popular and informative coastal histories: The Jekyll Island Club, The Jekyll Island Cottage Colony and Jekyll Island’s Early Years, and now she presents a historical novel, beautifully written,  Almost to Eden. This work combines the historical drama of real events and people as it expertly intertwines them with a memorable character, Maggie O’Brien. Maggie’s life takes her to Jekyll Island after arriving in New York City in 1911. Readers are mesmerized as they experience with Maggie, the sights and sounds of the times at the historic Jekyll Island Club.

#1 New York Times bestselling author, Diana Gabaldon, has captured the hearts millions with her critically acclaimed novels. The adventure began in 1991 with The Outlander and has continued through five more New York Times-bestselling novels--Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes- -and presently has some seventeen million copies sold worldwide.

An Echo in the Bone, released September 2009, is the seventh--but NOT the last!--novel in the series. The series, published in 24 countries and 21 languages. She has also written a graphic novel titled The Exile (set within the Outlander universe and featuring the main characters from Outlander), to be published by Ballantine in fall of 2010.

Adam Davies, former Random House editor and author of three novels: The Frog King, soon to be a major motion picture with Bret Easton Ellis writing the screenplay, Goodbye Lemon, a family drama; and Mine All Mine, which was purchased for film with the author to write the screenplay, will be giving the Keynote address at our November conference. Please check out the entire line-up for this fabulous conference by going to the Schedule tab above. Register now as seating is limited!

New York Times best-selling author Haywood Smith shares how a Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher ended up writing six award-winning, critically acclaimed historical romance novels about strong women, men who are men, accurate history, and happy endings. "I did everything wrong, and still got published." Then, when she found out her husband of thirty years was engaged to a stripper and spent all their money, she switched to writing Hell Hath No Fury humorous women's fiction novels that consistently make the top 50 for New York Times and USA Today's best seller lists. "I couldn't make up the things that have happened to me, so the true story of my life and career is stand-up comedy."  Join the fun by registering for our August conference and learn how Haywood took lemons and made lemonade - all the way to the New York Times Bestseller List!

Critically acclaimed author (Random House/Macmillan), Jonathan Rabb, speaks at our August conference.  Jonathan is completing a trilogy worthy of an epic screenplay, ala Doctor Zhivago, or Casablanca.  His second in the series: "Shadow and Light", reviewed by Wendy Smith of the Washington Post: "Rabb writes so well and the mood he creates is so haunting..." and quoting from The New York Times:  "Rabb describes the last gasp pleasure-seeking of a city whose citizens sense they are on the verge of catastrophe..".  Rabb on his own work:  "...but I've come to discover that place is as much a living, breathing thing as are the people that inhabit it".  Come hear this talented writer as he is sure to enthrall and inspire us all!