Category Archives: Guest Speakers

Publish or Perish, or just Put your words out there?

Publish or Perish is a common phrase in British academia. If you don’t publish papers you’ll never advance your career. Guessing that we’re more interested in just putting our words out there, even if we never achieve that great writing career, Sheila offered a few ways we might use to let others see our words. You can find her presentation online at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pdf (pdf file) or https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pptx (powerpoint presentation file).

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What Novelists can Learn from the Movies—presentation by Cindy Brown, 2023 02 19

Cindy’s presentation can be found on our website at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/What-Novelists-Can-Learn-from-the-Movies-4.pdf : Please don’t share the link.

She gave us a very clear explanation (with examples) of the 3-act plot structure, which, apparently, dates from the time of Aristotle. If it’s lasted this long, as a way of telling stories, there’s got to be something to it!

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How to Grow Your Book – Presentation by Sheila Deeth, 20221120

Go to https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GROW-YOUR-OWN-BOOK.pptx for Sheila’s Powerpoint presentation on self-publishing with amazon kdp, or read on for notes from her talk.

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Natalie Dale, Medicine in Writing

Dr. Natalie Dale, a former neurologist and author of a two-volume book series, A Writer’s Guide to
Medicine
, presented her talk from the library meeting room and screen-shared her presentation for library and Zoom participants. Natalie’s notes can be found online by clicking here: https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Code-Blue-Handout.pdf

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Writing Advice from Steven Campbell, author of Hard Luck Hank, May 2022

Steven’s conversation touched on many writing topics, so I’ve tried to collect things under headings for you. Please let me know if I’ve missed any favorite nuggets from what he had to say.

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