Attend a full day writing workshop with NYT bestselling author Robert Dugoni

Presented by Southern Oregon Willamette Writers

Don’t miss this acclaimed national seminar on fiction writing

Gain a nuts & bolts approach to writing the novel, from initial idea to final edit, from master writer and teacher Robert Dugoni. An engaging presenter and storyteller, Dugoni was the keynote speaker at the 2011 Willamette Writer’s Conference. Dugoni comes to Medford, Oregon, on Mar. 5 to give a one-day writing workshop that focuses on:

• Story structure and development, including outlining
• Maintaining and increasing suspense
• Creating memorable characters, including dialogue techniques
• Self-editing methods
• Pitfalls to avoid that result in rejection or reader disappointment
• Support to remove any obstacles in the path to publication
• The writer’s life, including overcoming writer s block
• Lecture, in-class writing, examples of Bob’s & other best-sellers

This workshop is for all writers who want to improve their writing and storytelling, from beginners to published novelists. Applicable to memoirists, too.

Details

• When: Saturday, March 3, 9 am to 4 pm (book signing 4:15)
• Where: RCC/SOU Higher Education Center, Room 112R, 101 S Bartlett, Medford, OR (8th & Bartlett)
• Cost: $70 (Special: $60 for WW members, $35-students)
• Register: email soww77@gmail.com

About Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni is the author of Murder One, voted one of the best thrillers of 2011 by The Library Journal, and more novels in the critically acclaimed David Sloane series, as well as thrillers including Bodily Harm and The NYT bestseller, The Jury Master. The Providence Journal called him “the undisputed king of the legal thriller.” He lives in the Pacific Northwest and teaches the craft of writing throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Learn more at: www.robertdugoni.com

For 14 years, Louis Leal, a volunteer at the Jack London State Park, has studied London’s life and art and shared his insights with the millions of visitors to The Jack London State Historic Park Wolf outside of Glen Ellen, California, less than two hours north of San Francisco.

Watch this Authors Road Interview: Jack London, Novelist, Short Story and Nonfiction Writer

About Authors Road

The Authors Road is a journey of discovery. We are writers, artists, parents, travelers and documentarians, and along with our dog, Ella, a truck named “Rocinante Tres” (after Don Quixote’s horse and John Steinbeck’s camper-truck), and an RV named “Hardscribble House II” (after the home of an old friend, writer Hugh Mulligan), we are on the road. We are doing this because we are avid readers and writers, love to travel, and are curious about the dynamic changes in today’s writing and publishing scene. And we are doing this to honor one of America’s greatest natural resources — its writers. Learn more at www.authorsroad.com

Hello Eugene Poets, My name is C. Steven Blue and I am a local Eugene Poet.

I am working with the Eugene Public Library to coordinate 2 poetry events this year:

1. One for the summer reading series at the Eugene Public Library
2. One for the Eugene 150th Birthday Celebration in September, leading up to Eugene’s 150th Birthday on October 17th

I am seeking local Eugene poets to be involved in these 2 events.

The Summer Reading Series

The first event, The Summer Reading Series, will take place on 2 consecutive Saturdays, July 14 and July 21, 2012, from 1-5 p.m. The first Saturday will be a poetry workshop, and the second Saturday will be a reading day to showcase local poets.

This event will be open to the general public. We can probably expect about 30 people for the workshop. I am looking to put together a panel (maybe of 4 poets) to help run this event.

Eugene 150th Birthday Celebration

For the Eugene 150th Birthday Celebration event, we have 3 hours on one day, Saturday, September 29, from 2-5 p.m. This event will also be open to the general public.

This will be a reading event of poetry with a theme of Eugene (such as its history, culture, politics, nature, etc.). I am looking to put together a panel to select the works and poets to read at this event. Also, I am considering a limited edition chapbook of the Eugene-themed poetry, to be given to recipients, the groups involved and the library.

Panel members will receive an honorarium for their participation. Participants at the Eugene 150th Birthday Celebration will receive the chapbook with the Eugene-themed poems. The library has suggested that participating poets could add their books to the library collection. We are also working on some other surprises.

Eugene Poets: Contact Steven to participate

I believe there are plenty of local poets out there who would love an opportunity like this to read their work and maybe have it published and/or read and available in the library.

If you would like to participate in or attend any of these events, please contact me, preferably by email, as soon as possible, so I can put together the panels and get rolling on these exciting events.

Thank you so much,

C. Steven Blue

Contact Steven

• Email: cstevenblue@hotmail.com
• Phone: (310) 413-6559
• Website: www.wordsongs.com

Photo: Erik Bishoff

Watch this Authors Road interview: Robert H. Hirst on Mark Twain, Novelist, Humorist and Journalist

More about Mark Twain:

To our knowledge, no author in history has managed to write and publish new, best sellers that span a career of nearly a century and a half. But Mark Twain has. His first short-story (1865), “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, is still read in schools today. And in 2010, the UC Berkeley Mark Twain Papers & Project published the first of three volumes of Twain’s critical edition autobiography – a monumental work that Twain embargoed from publishing for 100 years after his death. Granted, there have been several autobiographies published before this, but the materials those were drawn from were abridged and censored.

No one anticipated what would happen with this first volume. Initial plans were made for a print run of 2,000. Before a year was up over half-million copies were sold, and world demand was still going strong.

Watch this Authors Road interview: Robert H. Hirst on Mark Twain, Novelist, Humorist and Journalist

Next Meeting: Mar. 1, 2012

“Top 10 Success Strategies for Writing More & Selling More”

Presented by Sage Cohen

Successful writers accomplish what they set out to do by living and writing in alignment with their aspirations. While no two writers are striving for exactly the same results, we all have the opportunity to put solid systems, strategies and attitudes in place to keep us moving toward what we value most.

Sage Cohen, author of The Productive Writer: Tips & Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less & Creating Success, will share the top 10 ways to exponentially increase the results and rewards of your writing life. No matter what your genre, level of experience or time limitations, you can put these strategies into practice today to start writing more and selling more.

You’ll come away with ideas, inspiration, and a large packet of planning tools to help you make the most of your writing life today and tomorrow.

Sage Cohen is the author of The Productive Writer: Tips and Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less and Creating Success and Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry, both from Writer’s Digest Books, and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. Her most recent articles about the writing life appear in Writer’s Market 2012 and Poet’s Market 2012.

Visit Sage at pathofpossibility.com.

About Our Monthly Mid-Valley Chapter Meetings & Speaker Series

Meeting Date & Schedule

• First Thursday of the month (unless it conflicts with a holiday, usually Sept. and/or Jan.) from September-May (no meetings in the summer)
• 6:30-7:00 p.m., Social Time and Refreshments
• 7:00-7:15 p.m., News, Upcoming Events and Member Announcements
• 7:15-8:30 p.m., Speaker
• 8:30-9:00 p.m., Questions and Book Signing

Cost

Chapters meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and full-time college students, suggested $10 donation for non-members.

Meeting Location

Unless noted otherwise, all meetings are held at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97405 (Find it on Google Maps)

LIFELINES, Michele M. Graf’s Poetic Muselings anthology, has been nominated in several categories for the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. Additionally, Apollo’s Lyre, which has published many Eugene writers and whose poetry column Graf edits, is nominated in 3 categories, including Best Poetry ezine.

See the nominees and place your votes

To vote in this poll, visit each link and submit your vote. After you vote, you will receive an email with a confirmation link to click, which validates your vote. Nominees are listed alphabetically in each category. Michele and the rest of the Poetic Muselings appreciate your consideration for votes in the following categories:

• Anthology, LIFELINES – Place your vote »
• Book Cover, LIFELINES, Lin Neiswender – Place your vote »
• Poets, Poetic Muselings – Place your vote »
• Poetry ezine, Apollo’s Lyre – Place your vote »

About Poetic Muselings

The Poetic Muselings grew out of the Muse Online Writers Conference, which is nominated under Best Writers Workshops. Michele is the Head Moderator in charge of all behind-the-scenes support staff for this annual event.

Many other categories are being honored. Please check them out, including Apollo’s Lyre nominations for Fiction ezine and Jim Harrington for ezine editor.

A book event for Lifelines is planned in Eugene for Spring 2012, see the Poetic Muselings blog for updates. For poetry, creativity, collaborative writing, and much more, check out the Poetic Muselings blog at poetic-muselings.net.

Next Meeting: Feb. 2, 2012

“Literary Writers and Self-Publishing: The Final Frontier?”

Presented by Tina Boscha

Upon receiving the 2006 Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts, Tina Boscha learned that 2 out of every 3 Fellowship recipients went on to become successfully published writers. She thought that boded well for her and her novel, River in the Sea, until the point when it became clear that despite some close calls, her novel was not going to sell. Her agent urged her to put the manuscript aside and move on, but instead she chose to put the book out herself. (See this book review from Portland Book Review.)

During her talk, Boscha will discuss her decision to self-publish, how she went about it, and what she believes is the future for literary writers in this transitioning and new era of publishing. She will also read briefly from her work.

Learn more at www.tinaboscha.com.

About Our Monthly Mid-Valley Chapter Meetings & Speaker Series

Meeting Date & Schedule

• First Thursday of the month (unless it conflicts with a holiday, usually Sept. and/or Jan.) from September-May (no meetings in the summer)
• 6:30-7:00 p.m., Social Time and Refreshments
• 7:00-7:15 p.m., News, Upcoming Events and Member Announcements
• 7:15-8:30 p.m., Speaker
• 8:30-9:00 p.m., Questions and Book Signing

Cost

Chapters meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and full-time college students, suggested $10 donation for non-members.

Meeting Location

Unless noted otherwise, all meetings are held at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97405 (Find it on Google Maps)

We’re ringing in 2012 with the first meeting of the year, tonight at Tsunami Books. Writer, speaker and editor Bill Kenower also joins us for a presentation: “The Three Arcs in Every Story”.

Full Meeting Details

Next meeting, Jan. 5: Bill Kenower presents “The Three Arcs in Every Story”

About Our Monthly Mid-Valley Chapter Meetings & Speaker Series

Meeting Date & Schedule

• First Thursday of the month (unless it conflicts with a holiday, usually Sept. and/or Jan.) from September-May (no meetings in the summer)
• 6:30-7:00 p.m., Social Time and Refreshments
• 7:00-7:15 p.m., News, Upcoming Events and Member Announcements
• 7:15-8:30 p.m., Speaker
• 8:30-9:00 p.m., Questions and Book Signing

Cost

Chapters meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and full-time college students, suggested $10 donation for non-members.

Meeting Location

Unless noted otherwise, all meetings are held at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette St., Eugene, OR 97405 (Find it on Google Maps)

The Young Writers Association (YWA) is taking submissions for its 2012 creative writing contest MANY VOICINGS: IN TRANSLATION. Many cultures and many voices make up our community, and our multi/trans-cultural traditions and languages are a rich creative source for writers.

Writing contest entry details

• Open to ages 5 and up (including adults) who are residents of Lane County
• Entries can be up to 600 words
• See www.ywalane.org for full contest guidelines or contact Louisa Lindsay-Sprouse at 541/485-2259 or ywalouisa@aol.com
• Get inspired: find writing samples and literary examples on www.ywalane.org
• Send submissions to YWA Contest, PO Box 51538, Eugene, OR 97405, or email ywalouisa@aol.com
• Postmark deadline: Feb. 1, 2012
• Winners will be notified by March 7, 2012

Prizes

Winners receive prizes from local businesses and a workshop with bilingual, award-winning author Gary Soto.

Winners also read at the YWA Glitterary Word Festival on April 28, 2012, held at the Eugene Public Library, and are published in YWA’s creative writing journal, UpStarts.

About Young Writers Association (YWA)

Since 1994, YWA has stirred up literary play in youth and community. A nonprofit organization, YWA provides Lane County elementary through high school students with interactive, literature-based experiences in workshops, publications, camps, classrooms, and in inter-generational settings. More information is available at www.ywalane.org.

Nan Phifer, author of Memoirs of the Soul: A Writing Guide, will lead you in identifying the experiences that compose your spiritual memoirs.

She’ll demonstrate a process that evokes spontaneous rough drafts and supportive responses. From Nan’s presentation you’ll gain a personal table of contents, learn a writing process that produces polished, profound memoirs, and write the opening pages of two chapters.

Nan is affiliated with the Oregon Writing Project at the University of Oregon, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She travels widely to lead workshops for religious organizations, academic conferences, writers’ groups, libraries, and interfaith assemblies. See her website at www.memoirworkshops.com.

Go

• Where: Shalom Prayer Center, Mt. Angel, OR, south of Portland
• When: Friday, January 20, 7 p.m. through Saturday, January 21, 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
• Information/reservations: Contact Christine Zollner, 503-845-6773
• Register by Jan. 19
• Cost: $125 ($25 deposit) includes Friday overnight accommodations, Friday dinner at 5:30 p.m. Check in at 4:00 p.m.
• Early registration special until January 6
• More info: See “Events” at the Shalom Prayer Center website