Author: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen is a pioneering XR Innovator and WordPress leader, tech educator, keynote speaker, and producer bridging virtual reality and digital innovation. Co-founder of Educators in VR, founding WordPress community member, and passionate advocate for emerging technologies and human rights. Expert in immersive education, VR/XR event production, UX, and digital transformation.

2018 Authors Conference: Thank Yous

2018 Authors Conference - Food Donations and Preparations for Lunch - Lorelle VanFossenOur first conference, the 2018 Authors Conference, on January 27, 2018, was a resounding success in so many ways, it’s hard to know where to start first. First are the thank yous.

Thank you to all the Writers in the Grove members and their families who gave up so much time, energy, feet, and backs to help us make this possible. It is amazing how much can be done with so many eager volunteers. We actually had the Center cleaned up and restored to normal in less than 45 minutes after the end of the event, which is saying plenty!

Thank you to the speakers who shared their powerful perspective on the publishing industry in workshops and open panel discussions. Chip MacGregor, Holly Lorincz, Kristin Thiel, Deborah Reed, MaryJane Nordgren, and Jessica Morrell helped many many find their footing in this new technological world of publishing and push their story ideas and characters even further. Paulann Petersen again swept away cobwebs and restraints to help writers tap into their muse to find the words to share their thoughts, dreams, and stories through the magic of her inspiration.

Thank you to the participants. Your ticket donation helped us raise about $3,000 for the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center to keep their ongoing projects and outreach programs vital, supporting our community. The feedback was amazing. Everyone was so appreciative to have such an exceptional program and group of speakers in Forest Grove. They soaked it up and are eager to get to work writing.

2018 Authors Conference - Food Donations for Lunch - Lorelle VanFossenTo the donors who gave so much to help us feed and keep our participants happy, we are so grateful.

  • Raeann Johnston and FGSCC
  • Bill Stafford
  • BJ’s Coffee
  • Chuck Pritchard and family
  • Diana Lubarsky
  • Diversity
  • Elmer’s
  • Fred Meyer, Cornelius
  • Godfather’s Pizza
  • Jan Spoelstra /Carolyn Bradley
  • Jennings-McCall
  • King’s Head
  • Lela Baskins
  • Lorelle Van Fossen
  • M.J. Nordgren
  • Maridon’s
  • Parks and Paula Adams
  • Prime Time
  • Safeway
  • Schmidlin Angus Farm
  • Susan Field
  • Urban Decanter
  • Walmart
  • Yellow Llama

To the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center, we are beyond grateful for your continued support and encouragement of Writers in the Grove, our activities, and now our special events. The work the staff and volunteers of the Center provide to the community continues to amaze. The senior and community services, affordable meals, Meals on Wheels, bread-baking services, outreach programs, and other social services makes the Center an invaluable resource for our community.

To Lorelle VanFossen for helping with the logistical arrangements of the event, we are very thankful. She kept everyone and everything on time, on track, and mischief managed throughout the entire process.

To Susan Field, our amazing promoter. The event was featured in newspapers, newsletters, posters, signs, and everywhere around Washington County, even in the local utility bill. The success of the sold out program is thanks to her incredible determination to spread the word in spite of life getting in the way. Thank you so much for everything you do for us.

To Diana Lubarsky, our cheerleader, we thank you. Thank you for helping us keep our heads together with your strong leadership qualities. You keep us smiling in spite of ourselves.

To MaryJane Nordgren, our fearless leader, we are eternally grateful. You had a vision for this group from the very beginning. Your determination to provide a safe and supportive environment for creative writers in Forest Grove, outlets for their work through public readings and collaborative published works, and educational opportunities for writers is a testimony to your faith as well as your legacy. You’ve changed this community, added value, and lifted us all up to be better, as people as well as writers. Thank you for believing and trusting us.

I know we’ve forgotten some people to thank. Know that you are not forgotten in our hearts. We could not have done this without you.

Thank YOU!

Prompt-a-Month: Metals

Writers in the Grove Prompt-a-Month badge.The February prompt-a-month for our Writers in the Grove members is:

Iron sharpens iron.

Writers in the Grove members may hand in their submissions during the workshops or use our members only submission form. Check out the guidelines and instructions for submissions in the announcement.

Simple Pleasures

The following was inspired by the prompt, Lonely Monsters, and is by Writers in the Grove member, Kirsten Baggins.

The ice cream drips down onto the pavement, but he doesn’t seem to mind as he laps at the scoops, a big happy smile on his face as he looks up at the sky, smiling at the sun I’ve had to teach him not to stare at it specifically, but he stills likes to look up and bask in its warmth. Heat seems so foreign to him, what with him being so cold and undead.

With his free hand, he picks me up and places me on his shoulder, careful not to make me spill my own treat, before we head down the city sidewalk. On a nearby corner, a man is strumming away at his guitar for tips, and my friend approaches, bobbing his head cheerfully to the tune-music always gets his attention, and he’ll follow it wherever it goes. The guitarist freezes upon seeing his audience, stopping his playing with fear, only for my friend to say, “Play.”

“What do we say?” I ask.

“Please.”

The guitarist nervously continues, while I fish out some bills for my friend to put in the guitar case. He makes a happy sound when he does, saying to the performer, ‘Music good.’ The man merely gives a nervous smile and nods in agreement, and I smile to him as he keeps playing, and we move down the sidewalk.

As we continue down the street, I ask from my perch, “Do you want to go to the bookstore?”

Reading is a great joy for my friend – he can’t quite do it himself yet, so in my teaching him to talk, I teach him to read as well. He’s yet to meet a book he doesn’t like: Fairy tales, short stories, poems, any genre, all of them he’s loved very, very much

At my questioning, he nods and makes another happy noise, telling me, “Yes, friend.”

Prompt-a-Month: The Relationship

Writers in the Grove Prompt-a-Month badge.The February 2018 prompt-a-month for our Writers in the Grove members is:

Describe what your favorite chair looks like – without ever using the word chair.

Writers in the Grove members may hand in their submissions during the workshops or use our members only submission form. Check out the guidelines and instructions for submissions in the announcement.

2018 Authors Conference: Donors

Thank you so much to everyone and all the companies who donated to help make the 2018 Authors Conference a success.

  • Raeann Johnston and Forest Grove Senior and Community Center
  • Parks and Paula Adams
  • Lela Baskins
  • Susan Field
  • Diana Lubarsky
  • M.J. Nordgren
  • Jan Spoelstra /Carolyn Bradley
  • Bill Stafford
  • Lorelle VanFossen
  • BJ’s Coffee
  • Diversity
  • Elmer’s
  • Fred Meyer, Cornelius
  • Godfather’s Pizza
  • Jennings-McCall
  • King’s Head
  • Maridon’s
  • Prime Time
  • Safeway
  • Schmidlin Angus Farm
  • Jan Spoelstra /Carolyn Bradley
  • Urban Decanter
  • Yellow Llama
  • Walmart

Donations include food, snacks, drinks, gift certificates, volunteer sweat and tears, and an amazing level of community support and encouragement.

Thank you to all! We couldn’t have done it without you.

Prompt: Lonely Monsters

The prompt this week came from Kirsten Baggins:

Monsters are inherently lonely characters, often seeking out some form of friendship, only to be rejected, mostly on the basis on their appearance. It’s the part about them that touches our hearts, and makes us feel for them, seeing them without a companion, and with that, I ask this: If you were friends with a monster, what would you do with them? How would you spend your day with them? It could be any monster of your choosing-the monster in your closet or beneath your bed, a werewolf, a vampire, a reanimated corpse, a mummy, a ghost, anything at all! Just what would you do with your monstrous friend?

2018 Authors Conference: Chip MacGregor

Foot steps on leaves and announces Writers in the Grove 2018 Author Conference.

Chip MacGregor - Literary AgentChip MacGregor, founder of MacGregor Literary, an author agency, will be speaking at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon.

MacGregor’s work as an author agent and representative helps authors in the memoir, spirituality, self-help, Christian, true crime, romance, and literary fiction genres publish their books and negotiate movie and television projects. His company represents a wide range of authors including an astronaut.

Chip MacGregor will be presenting workshops throughout the day on Querying and Finding an Agent, Writing a Proposal, and Creating a Pitch, and participating in the afternoon panel session where you can ask questions of our speakers.

He joins a group of extraordinary professional editors, writers, and poets in our first writer’s conference. Other speakers include Paulann Petersen, Deborah Reed, MaryJane Nordgren, Holly Lorincz, Kristin Thiel, and Jessica Morrell.

Register today to learn from Chip MacGregor on professional editing and writing at the 2018 Authors Conference in January as space is limited.

About Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference

This is a fundraiser for the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center, a non-profit community center and the host of Writers in the Grove weekly meetings. The Center provides free and low cost meals through their dining services and Meals On Wheels outreach program, as well as a wide range of educational, recreational, wellness, and community events and educational opportunities.

Writers in the Grove is a free weekly workshop for those wishing to develop their creative writing skills. The group meets Mondays at the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center on Mondays from 9-11am, and on the second Saturday of the month at the Forest Grove Public Library from 10:30-noon. Writers in the Grove supports the freedom of expression and creative writing spirit in Forest Grove, Oregon, and around the world.

A Justification for Writers

The following is by Writers in the Grove member Gretchen Keefer, and is based upon the prompt, “Writing in another’s skin.”

Recently a writer colleague commented on her experience describing her novel to an agent. As she listed the difficulties her black heroine faced, the agent stopped her and asked, “Have you had a black person read this?” (For “read” see “approve”.) Apparently this agent felt a white woman could not write about a black woman. Can she?

Whatever my characters may look like physically, one or another of them is expressing my point of view, my opinions, and my philosophy. That is what I know and that is why I am writing. There is something that needs to be said and I feel prompted to say it, however I can.

Most of my characters are women, of course. I haven’t assigned them a color or ethnicity (except maybe in fantasy stories). It helps that my stories are short and often the events depicted are more important that any physical description of the characters. I think actors of any ethnicity could portray my characters.

I admit I do not know about prejudice or abuse first hand. I have never personally lived through a fire, earthquake or other natural disaster that destroys all my worldly possessions. I haven’t had an amputation or been raped. Does that mean I cannot write about these types of experiences? There is a wealth of information available to provide background color while focusing on resilience, forgiveness, redemption, family unity, courage and love.

In my collage literature classes we were taught that “great” or “good” literature that stood the test of time was written around universal themes – themes that appealed to a majority of people across cultures. That is why these pieces are still read and studied long after the authors are dead. Shakespeare borrowed many stories from the Italian Renaissance, yet his plays are translated and performed around the world. So what if Olivier played Othello in black makeup? Were there any classical black actors in Britain in the 1950’s? Denzel Washington, a black actor, played the (Italian) duke in a recent film version of As You Like It, with no comments about looking different from the other actors.

The play (or other story) is the thing to capture the mind (paraphrasing Hamlet). The story is what counts, not what color the characters may be.

So I say to my colleague, and to all writers, “You go girl!”

Write what you need to write, however it works out.