Category Archives: Guest Speakers
Emergency Preparedness from Ria’s talk, August 18th 2019
Emergency Preparedness from Ria’s talk, August 18th
Ria has taken the 1st Aid/CPR/AED course eleven times, recently completed the 1st Aid/CPR course for pets (offered by Dove Lewis Pet Hospital), taken “Active Shooter” training, and served on the Building Security Board at work for 15 years. Continue reading Emergency Preparedness from Ria’s talk, August 18th 2019
ProWritingAid from Jim’s talk, Aug 18th 2019
Notes on ProWritingAid from James Elstad’s talk, August 18th
Jim is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, and is using ProWritingAid to help with his fourth novel. You can find him at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6491416.James_R_Elstad or look for his books at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=james+elstad&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss Pick up spare copies of notes from his talk at our next meeting if you missed it! Continue reading ProWritingAid from Jim’s talk, Aug 18th 2019
Itty Bitty Writing Space, anthologies, queries, promotion: Jason Brick July 2019
How Jason Brick Got Started:
He is a martial artist and ended up writing a piece for a premier martial arts magazine. Admittedly, he will write for anyone within pretty much any venue, but Jason has a special enthusiasm and natural affinity for martial arts, since he himself is a martial arts specialist and he has two sons who are also involved in martial arts. He told me prior to the start of our meeting that he traveled to Malaysia in 2016 to write a piece for a travel magazine, but also so he and his sons would have the unique opportunity of visiting a country with a completely different lifestyle and culture very different from living here in the United States. He said it was an amazing experience for him and his sons, one which he will always treasure, plus he got paid to be there! Continue reading Itty Bitty Writing Space, anthologies, queries, promotion: Jason Brick July 2019
Writing, Marketing and Publishing a Mystery: Mollie Hunt July 2019
Mollie Hunt is an accomplished writer and has been showered with accolades, which include: For Cat’s Paw (third in her mystery series featuring Lynley Cannon) finalist for the 2016 Mystery & Mayhem Book Award; fifth in the series, Cat Café won the World’s Best Cat Litter-Ary Award in 2019. Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, Willamette Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and NIWA. She is a native Oregonian and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and several cats. Like her Cozy Cat Mystery heroine, Lynley Cannon, she volunteers at a cat shelter.
Part 1: Writing a Mystery
First decide whether or not you are going to write a stand-alone mystery or a series. Questions you need to ask yourself: Continue reading Writing, Marketing and Publishing a Mystery: Mollie Hunt July 2019
Notes on Editing from Donna Reynolds’ talk, 201906
Notes on Editing, from Donna Reynolds’ talk
Part 1: How to Edit
How old were you the first time you spotted a typo in the newspaper? Donna was eight, and was startled to realize that adults can make mistakes. But we all make mistakes, and we all need to edit. Continue reading Notes on Editing from Donna Reynolds’ talk, 201906
Inspiration with Carolyn Martin, April 2019
Carolyn Martin should need no introduction; but for anyone who’s not been to one of Carolyn’s Writers’ Mill workshops before, she’s a Portland poet with an absolutely beautiful website (just follow the link in her name), and some equally beautiful books of poetry, including a Penchant for Masquerades, which has only just come out. Continue reading Inspiration with Carolyn Martin, April 2019
Don’t miss Words, Words, Words with Carolyn Martin, April 28th
Words, Words, Words
Welcome to another lively, interactive workshop with poet Carolyn Martin. In this class, we’ll “steal” words from famous writers like Mary Oliver, Shakespeare, John Donne, and Ellen Bass and play with a Word-of-the Day list that may spruce up your writing in the future. Come prepared to have fun, write, and share your creativity with your colleagues.
– Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D.
“All my life I have tried to find the truth and make it beautiful.” – Sting
How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019
How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019
Some of use have used Weebly, some WordPress, some Blogger, some Wix, some googlesites… Zita recommended Weebly; it may not be the most robust, but it’s easy and it keeps up with the times—use of images, handheld devices to read webpages etc. She followed up her recommendation with an excellent demonstration of what it has to offer. Here is my attempt at interpreting her instructions, for anyone wanting to “try this at home.” Continue reading How to make a website in a hour: notes from Zita Podany’s talk, March 17th 2019
Narrative Voice – from Sheila Deeth’s talk, Feb 2019
Why does Voice matter?
- There’s a significant reader commitment when they “buy” your book – 12-24 hours of reading aloud, 6-12 hours spent silently in company of this voice
- There’s a significant author commitment too – lots more hours than that writing in this voice, so you’d better enjoy it
- Reader/author contract – you will make it worth the reader’s time (they’re paying you in time and money)
- Reader expectations –
- If it’s a legal contract, should be written in legaleze, but equally…
- The tale of a sweet old lady in small-town America probably shouldn’t devolve into pages of swearing
- A hard-bitten ex-marine story shouldn’t devolve into delicately phrased romantic pillow-talk
- And what about memoir? And what about when it’s not memoir and the comments say,“So sorry this happened to you…”
- How do we avoid being identified with first person narrator, vs.
- how do we prove we have the right to tell the tale? (Try, “I have some experiences in common with this character, but she isn’t me…”?)
Continue reading Narrative Voice – from Sheila Deeth’s talk, Feb 2019