When I was invited to speak at the White Mountains Writers Conference in Show Low, AZ. on July 31, 2026, I had so much fun talking with writers, authors and other speakers! I had good information to share at the conference. That’s fact.
Shown left to right: Jacque Hillman, vice president of Arizona Professional Writers, www.hillhelengrouppublishers.com; Eva Eldridge, www.3sides2authorservices.com; Kathleen Osborne, president of Arizona Professional Writers, www.kathleen-osborne.com; Beth A. Freely, romance and historical fiction author on Amazon; James A. Owen, founder, Coppervale Press, publisher of two dozen StarChild comics, the MythWorld series of novels, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica and more, jamesowen.com.
For an hour I shared stories of our HillHelen Group authors’ successes — and failures — and talked about the characters and conflict we meet everyday; that as along as these writers can tell a story and fill it with depth, they can write a book others will want to read.
What I also stressed to them is that they have to believe in their book because it’s their child. Once they have finished the manuscript, that’s just the beginning. No one can sell that book better than they can. They are about to become lifelong entrepreneurs with a product on their shelves — their published book. And the more they write, the more they will sell.
I wish I’d had two hours. It made me realize that I should be teaching a class. And that segues back to my life’s story when I began as a high school English teacher with mostly advanced classes and a course in creative writing. The more we travel the roads of life, we often find the influences of our beginnings.
Jacque Hillman is the senior editor and CEO of HillHelen Group Publishers, where her role is editing, interviewing, ghostwriting and designing for print, broadcast and online. She also creates marketing strategies for clients nationwide. Jacque is the owner/designer of Reconfigured Art Jewelry, profiled in PBS “Tennessee Crossroads.” Hillman is vice president of Arizona Professional Writers, a member of the Historical Novel Society, National Federation of Press Women and Phoenix Business and Professional Women. She is a Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy alumnus, class of 2010-2011, selected by then-Governor Phil Bredesen for a year's study of influential economic factors in the Delta. Jacque is a past state president for Business and Professional Women of Tennessee and now serves as 2026 vice president of BPW/TN. She is co-founder of the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail promoting women's history, a NFPW national award-winning website. She was chosen for the 2014 Sterling Award: 20 Most Influential Women in West Tennessee. Hillman now lives in Apache Junction, Arizona and is president of Mesa Art League in Mesa, AZ. HillHelen Group LLC is registered in Tennessee and Arizona.
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