Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Best-selling novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard says she is looking forward to visiting Puerto Vallarta because she has heard it is a "place that can make writers dream."

Mitchard will be encouraging those dreams as keynote speaker at the Puerto Vallarta Writers' Conference in February where talks, seminars, and workshops will focus on how to keep writing short.

"It's my belief that we make our writing lean, short, clear, and correct because writing is a performing art, a dance that isn't complete until the readers take our hand," she said. "It's not something we do 'for ourselves.' If you want to do something for yourself, work on your abs. It's easier."

Mitchard, a long-time journalist and essayist, comes to Puerto Vallarta with impressive credentials. She is the author of 19 books, the most prominent being The Deep End of the Ocean. It was named by USA Today as one of the most influential books of the past 25 years (second to the Harry Potter series) and was chosen as the first novel in Oprah's Book Club.

For those who haven't read the novel, it's about a family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, only to return to real mother's doorstep nine years later to ask if he can mow the lawn.

As a hint of the advice she is going to offer, Mitchard says: "Never say that you don't have time to write. I have nine children, two grown, but one only six. I moved only two months ago, taking my family cross country from Wisconsin to Massachusetts. Priests say the mass every day, even in a hotel room. You write every day, even if you have to do it in the airport."

On a personal note she says she is looking forward to visiting Vallarta because her two adopted daughters are of Mexican heritage. Her friend Jodi Mikkelson "has opened her home to me and made this journey possible and I look forward to my days there as time to spend close to the warm sea."

The conference will be held February 24-26 at Biblioteca Los Mangos at Avenida Francisco Villa 1001. Registration is $110 U.S. or 1,500 pesos until February 1st and after that, it is $125 U.S. or 1,800 pesos.

Seating is limited so early registration is recommended. To register, go to the web page puerto-vallarta-writers-group.com. For more information email langton64a(at)aol.com.

Those living in Puerto Vallarta can make payments at the Saturday writers' group meetings at Bibiloteca Los Mangos. Others can pay by direct deposit or PayPal but be aware that using PayPal will cost an additional $5.

Those wishing to attend only the keynote speaker presentation can pay 200 pesos at the door. A book festival and sale by local authors will be held on the biblioteca grounds on the Sunday afternoon of the conference.