Each November, Willamette Writers hosts an Author Cohort to support writers taking on the National Novel Writing Month challenge. The Cohort includes several virtual workshops, twice-weekly write-ins, and accountability meetings. This is my third year participating, and I can't wait to meet all the lovely, daring writers taking the challenge this year! Our first workshop is October 23rd, so it's not too late to sign up!
Oregon Literary Arts is hosting their annual Portland Book Festival the first weekend in November! I'll be there to enjoy the festivities and meet up with all my favorite PDX writing friendos!
The Soma Games Writing Retreat is for established or aspiring authors who are interested in exploring the exciting world of writing for video games. Taught by award-winning pros amidst the natural beauty of Oregon’s wine country, you’ll come away with an enriching introduction to this growing sector. With a combination of group and individual sessions, assignments, and feedback specific to your projects, this two-day retreat will help you learn to start your writing career with the help of seasoned professionals. I'll be attending thanks to a full scholarship from Willamette Writers!
After being told by numerous Speculative Writer folk that I needed to attend, I'm finally making the trek up to Norwescon in 2023! Norwescon is the Pacific Northwest’s premier science fiction and fantasy convention, and one of the largest entirely volunteer-operated regional conventions in the United States. While maintaining a primarily literary focus, Norwescon is large enough to provide a venue for many of the other aspects of science fiction and fantasy and the interests of its fans such as comics, costuming, art, gaming, science, technology, and much, much more.
Terroir Creative Writing Festival celebrates writers, writing, and publishing! After a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Terroir is back and in person in 2023. With a mix of local and regional writers speaking, giving workshops on craft, and reading their own work, the festival is open to anyone from 7th grade through adults of all ages. One aim of the festival is to build a stronger literary community in our area by encouraging and spotlighting local writers while also making connections with the writing and publishing community beyond Yamhill County, but you don’t have to be a writer to attend. Anyone interested in writing, reading, and the literary life will find something to enjoy. I'll be there along with a couple members of my critique groups to absorb as much as possible from a full day of awesome speakers!
Established in 2020 and hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell, Story Hour brings you one of the oldest forms of entertainment in human history: sitting around the cave in the flickering firelight, telling lies. Two writers, thirty minutes each, sharing stories that span the range of science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, weird, and beyond. Every Wednesday, 7 PM PST. Check the calendar for upcoming authors at storyhour2020.com I'll be reading with Lora Gray on Wednesday May 17th. I can't wait to see you all there!
I'm proud to announce that I'll be volunteering at this year's Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon! As a year-round volunteer, I'll be helping in the background this year to keep the weekend running smoothly. I'll be around so come say hi! About the conference: DREAM BIG this August 2-6, 2023 at the 54th annual Willamette Writers Conference! Join us to find your writing community, develop your craft and expand your career -- both in-person and online this year. At the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Portland and at your own computer screen, you'll find workshops, keynotes, critiques and pitches, all aimed at helping you take that next step in your writing life. Critiques and pitches are online, August 2-3, and the workshops, keynotes, and events are August 4-6, in-person and online. But that's not all! There are evening events (Pitch for the Prize! The Writer's Fair! The Launch…
This year, I'm excited to announce that I'm a panelist at Norwescon 46! What's Norwescon, you ask? Well... From the Norwescon website: Norwescon is the Pacific Northwest’s premier science fiction and fantasy convention, and one of the largest entirely volunteer-operated regional conventions in the United States. While maintaining a primarily literary focus, Norwescon is large enough to provide a venue for many of the other aspects of science fiction and fantasy and the interests of its fans such as comics, costuming, art, gaming, science, technology, and much, much more. I'll share details about my schedule once I have them, but until then, get your membership and book your hotel! It's gonna be an awesome Easter weekend!
From the Viable Paradise website: "Viable Paradise is a unique one-week residential workshop in writing and selling commercial science fiction and fantasy. The workshop is intimate, intense, and features extensive time spent with best-selling and award-winning authors and professional editors currently working in the field. VP concentrates on the art of writing fiction people want to read, and this concentration is reflected in post-workshop professional sales by our alumni. With over twenty-five years of experience, our students have gone on to be nominated for and win Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards, and to reach the New York Times Best Seller list. Viable Paradise encourages an informal and supportive workshop atmosphere. During the week, instructors and students interact in one-on-one discussions, group critiques, lectures, and free-flowing Q&As. The emphasis at first is on critiquing the students’ submitted manuscripts; later, the emphasis shifts to new material produced during the week. Even when not actively…