Our librarian Christine set up the zoom and room, and we had 19 members in total at October’s meeting – 6 in person and 13 online. Sheila started the meeting by reminding in-person attendees to face the microphone when speaking and avoid talking among themselves. Online attendees were reminded to switch on captions and use speaker view, especially to watch our speaker, David Porter, during his talk. David asked if the talk was being recorded, but we can’t record without setting it up before the meeting, and letting everyone know. Maybe it’s something we should think about doing more often—what do you think?
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes, Oct 15, 2023Category Archives: Writing
Fulfilling That Writing Commitment: David Porter, Oct 15, 2023
David Porter started writing bad poetry at age 12 and soon progressed to good. In 1968 he was at PSU and was already being published. In the ’70s and ’80s he wrote freelance articles, poems, and short stories, getting published in the Oregon magazine and NW magazine (inside the Oregonian). Meanwhile he wrote grant proposals, newsletters, presentations, etc for nonprofits for 40 years. He’s even written Beaver Board Historical Markers! Plus many book reviews.
Continue reading Fulfilling That Writing Commitment: David Porter, Oct 15, 2023Write, Edit, and Stop: presentation by Sheila Deeth, August 2023
WRITE
Different people, different ways to write:
- Writing as a race: Go from start to finish without rereading, editing, critiquing, complaining, or stopping – e.g. NaNoWriMo in November
- Writing as mountain-climbing: Plan your route. Write/climb your route. Set up waypoints. Then climb a better route in your next draft.
- Writing as sewing: Write some, reread and edit what you wrote, then write some more… backstitching over your text to make a solid seam.
- Do what works for you!
You too can write a novel, graphic novel, comic, memoir, mini-book, … talk with Joshua Williamson
Joshua Williamson is the author of 150 graphic novels! He works for DC Comics and Marvel, and is paid to write monthly short books (like magazines) which, when the story’s done, get compiled together into complete graphic novels. Mostly these are YA, but he’s written other non-DC books (e.g. Nailbiter) which might be aimed at a somewhat older audience.
Continue reading You too can write a novel, graphic novel, comic, memoir, mini-book, … talk with Joshua WilliamsonThe World Abounds in Prompts: Using Prompts to Stimulate and Deepen Your Writing by Ruth Leibowitz
Ruth loves writing prompts. She facilitates and attends several writing groups that use them, and she is a member of our group. As she pointed out, we use monthly writing prompts for our ezines. For herself, Ruth writes poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction.
Continue reading The World Abounds in Prompts: Using Prompts to Stimulate and Deepen Your Writing by Ruth LeibowitzWhat 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!
Continue reading What Novelists can Learn from the Movies—presentation by Cindy Brown, 2023 02 19Minutes 2023 01 15
Nearly twenty people, evenly split between online and inperson, joined us for Maryka Biaggio’s presentation on description and dialog today. Unfortunately, several had to leave after the talk, but we still enjoyed a lively and helpful discussion during the critique, plus a rapid writing exercise where we looked at the difference between 3-sentence and 4-sentence structure (lacking the time for a full three or four acts!).
Continue reading Minutes 2023 01 15Detail and Dialogue, from talk by Maryka Biaggio, Jan 2023
Maryka Biaggio
If you missed Maryka’s talk from three years ago, I strongly suggest you look it up on our website (just type “Maryka” into the search on the left hand side of your screen).
Continue reading Detail and Dialogue, from talk by Maryka Biaggio, Jan 2023Writers’ Mill Minutes 20220918
Writers’ Mill Minutes, September 18, 2022
Cedar Mill Library, Beaverton and online Zoom—First Hybrid Meeting!
Eleven participants attended online, and seven were present in the library meeting room, for a total of 18. Jim Elstad led the meeting in Sheila Deeth’s absence. Angela Mollet managed the technology from the library, with assistance from Matthew McAyeal and Robin Layne.
Continue reading Writers’ Mill Minutes 20220918How to Write a Novel, with Elisabeth Christison
Ms. Elisabeth Christison, award winning author of The Blameless (https://www.amazon.com/Blameless-S-Christison/dp/1951565606/).
Continue reading How to Write a Novel, with Elisabeth Christison