Storytelling Week Starts April 1, 2017

The Art of the Story: 13th Annual Storytelling Festival presented by the Washington County Cooperative Library Services begins April 1, 2017, and runs through April 8.

If you haven’t done this before, it is a must-see, must-listen event. The storytelling is spectacular, and you are guaranteed tears and cheers by these outstanding storytellers.

The festival this year features four professional storytellers from the Pacific Northwest, and four Story Slam contestants. They include:

Admission to all events are free. The festival performances are designed for adults, though there are several shows that welcome children.

The schedule is:

  • Saturday, April 1 – Beaverton Library: 7 – 9 p.m. – 12375 SW Fifth St, Beaverton, OR 97005 – Story Slam Contest (Adult program) – David Alexander, Brian Belefant, Maura Doherty and Janis Collins
  • Sunday, April 2 – Hillsboro Brookwood Library: 2 p.m. – 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy, Hillsboro, OR 97124-5327 – Norm Brecke: The Lighter Side of Lincoln (Adult program)
  • Monday, April 3 – Tigard Library: 7 p.m. – 13500 SW Hall Blvd, Tigard, OR 97223-8111 – Norm Brecke: The Rough Edge of the Ocean (Adult program)
  • Monday, April 3 – Walters Cultural Arts Center: 7 p.m. – Co-hosted by Hillsboro Library – 527 East Main St, Hillsboro 97123 – Brianna Barrett: True Love and Other Noncommunicable Diseases (Adult program)
  • Tuesday, April 4 – Cedar Mill Library: 6:30 p.m. – 12505 NW Cornell Rd, Suite 13, Portland, OR 97229-5688 – Norm Brecke: Spaghetti Squids & Zombie Arms (Adult program & ages 6+)
  • Tuesday, April 4 – Forest Grove Library: 6:30 p.m. – 2114 Pacific Ave, Forest Grove, OR 97116-2497 – Brianna Barrett: Can My Imaginary Friends Come Too? (Adult program)
  • Wednesday, April 5 – Elsie Stuhr Center: 2 p.m. – Co-hosted by Beaverton Library – 5550 SW Hall Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005 – Norm Brecke: Sweethearts, Swings and Misses (Adult program)
  • Wednesday, April 5 – Sherwood Library: 7 p.m. – at Sherwood Center for the Arts – 22689 SW Pine St, Sherwood, OR 97140 – Kevin Locke: Story of Standing Rock (Adult program)
  • Thursday, April 6 – Banks Library: 7 p.m. – at Banks City Hall – 13690 NW Main St, Banks, OR 97106 – Ingrid Nixon: Starry, Starry Night (Adult program & ages 12+)
  • Thursday, April 6 – Garden Home Library: 7 p.m. – Co-hosted by West Slope Library at THPRD Garden Home Rec Center – 7475 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR 97223 – Kevin Locke: Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) (Adult program)
  • Friday, April 7 – North Plains Library: 6:30 p.m. – at North Plains Elementary – 32030 NW North Ave, North Plains, OR 97133 – Kevin Locke: Love Stories (Adult program & ages 6+)
  • Friday, April 7 – Aloha Library: 7 p.m. – 17455 SW Farmington Rd, Ste. 26A, Aloha, OR 97078 – Ingrid Nixon: Adventure Calls! (Adult program & ages 6+)
  • Saturday, April 8 – Garden Home Library: 1 – 2:30 p.m. – at THPRD Garden Home Rec Center – 7475 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR 97223 – Indigenous Flute Workshop with Kevin Locke* – *Advance Registration Required – spaced is limited – contact the Garden Home Library. – (Adult program & ages 10+)
  • Saturday, April 8 – Festival Finale – Showcase Concert – Arts & Communication Magnet Academy auditorium – 11375 SW Center St, Beaverton, OR 97005 – Reception: 6:15 – 6:45 p.m. – Complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres. – Showcase Concert: 7 – 9 p.m. – (Adult program & ages 12+) – Story Slam Contest: Winner – Brianna Barrett: Fixated – Norm Brecke: I am a Singing Cowboy…Really? – Ingrid Nixon: Never a Dull Moment – Kevin Locke: Hoop of Life

Many Writers in the Grove members carpool to these various events, so check with each other to determine who will drive.

Writing Workshop with Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita April 6 in Beaverton

Poetry is not the domain of just a few.
It’s as natural and accessible as heartbeat and breath. Writing poetry requires nothing more than a love of words and a willingness to let your pen move across a page, following language wherever it takes you.

Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, will be presenting a writing workshop on Thursday, April 6th, 2017, from 6 to 8:30 pm, at the Beaverton Library.

The workshop, “Anyone’s Domain: A Writing Workshop,” is devoted to generating new poems using innovative springboards that include notable poems and “an exhilarating plunge into language.”

The event is limited to 30 people, and open to all levels of experience from beginners to experts.

To register for this free event, sign up at the Beaverton Library.

Prompt: Shoes

The prompt this week is to write a story based on shoes and it has two parts.

  •   Write a story based on shoes and what they tell you. You can consider shoes you own or have owned, or shoes you may notice others around you wearing.
  • Next take that first story and rewrite from another point of view. It can be from the shoe’s point of view or from someone watching the character in the original story.

 

Prompt-a-Month: Just Desserts

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

Just Desserts

The deadline for submissions is 5/1/2017. Submissions will be published during the next 30 days.

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.

Prompt – France With No Pants

The prompt this week came from an article in the March/April 2017 issue of Writer’s Digest: 20 Prompts To Banish The Blank Page by Bonnie Neubauer.

The prompt chosen was #17, “France With No Pants”:

You have just won a free two-day trip to France, but there’s a catch: You must leave immediately. There’s no time to go home and pack. All you can bring is what you are wearing and carrying with you today. You are given 15 minutes and $55 to spend at the airport store. What do you buy, if anything?

Tell the story of your adventure to the person sitting next to you on the return flight home. Start with: What a whirlwind …

Now really, what more needs to be said? Write it!

Prompt – Use The Bodily Senses (Sight, Sound, Taste, Smell, Touch) To Contribute To Your Writing Purpose.

The prompt was to set a scene as a writer for a particular purpose and use at least four of the bodily senses to contribute towards that purpose.

The prompt came from “Fire Ice” by Clive Cussler, with Paul Kemprecos:

After several minutes, during which the city lights faded to a glow, the car whipped down a darkened, garbage-strewn street into an alley not much wider that the vehicle. Austin’s companions hustled him from the taxi and stood him against a brick wall while they bound his hands behind his back with duct tape. Then they pushed him through a doorway along a dim hall and into the lobby of an old office building. Grime covered the marble floor. On one wall was a brass floor directory black with the patina of age. The smell of onions and the muffled cry of a baby indicated that the office building was being used for human habitation. Probably squatters, Austin surmised.
His escorts nudged Austin into an elevator and stood behind him. They were hulking men, as big or brawnier than Austin, who had never considered himself to be a pigmy. The space was cramped and Austin stood with his face pressed against the cold wrought iron of the ornate gate. He guessed that the elevator must date back to the time of the sultans. He tried not to think of frayed and neglected cables as the elevator slowly jerked and rattled up to the third and last floor. The elevator was more nerve-wracking than the speeding car. The elevator cracked to a stop, and one his escorts growled in his ear.
“Out!”
He stepped into a dark hallway. One man grabbed the back of Austin’s shirt in a bunch, used it to steer him forward and brake him to an abrupt stop. A door opened, and he was maneuvered inside. There was the odor of old paper and oil from long-ago business machines. He felt pressure upon his shoulders, then the edge of a chair bumped against the back of his knees. He sat down and squinted into the darkness. A spotlight flashed on, and Austin saw sunspots as the glare hit him in the face. He blinked like a suspect being given the third degree in on old gangster movie.

Set a scene for a particular purpose and use at least four of the bodily senses to contribute to your purpose.

The Body In The Bathtub

The following submission is by Writers in the Grove member Ann Farley for a suggested one line prompt: The body in the bathtub was not one she recognized.

The body in the bathtub was not one she recognized. Doris inched closer, clasped her hands behind her back so she wouldn’t touch anything, and leaned forward.
He was naked, all right. All the way to his toes.

Not bad looking. Give him a shave and comb that wavy dark hair and he would be a fine looking specimen. Well, his color could be better.

Doris straightened and shuffled back from the claw-foot tub. Better make a call or two. She tottered into the kitchen, lifted the yellowed handset, pressed at the buttons.

“911 dispatch. What’s your location?”

Doris stepped back in surprise. Lordy, that woman was loud, startling. Down-right rude, actually.

“I’m in my kitchen,” she snapped.

“Your location, ma’am. Where is your emergency?”

“Well, you see, I’m not sure it’s quite an emergency, really. It’s just –” Oh, how she wished everything wasn’t so automated.

“Ma’am, what is your location? Your address?”

“Oh,” Doris stammered, “Why, I’m out Mercer Road, just about two miles down from the high school. It’s the yellow house. Can’t miss it.”

Doris was still annoyed at her oldest boy, Marty, for picking such a bright, garish yellow. She had asked for a soft buttery color.

“I repeat, what is your emergency?”

“You see, I’ve been trying to tell you, I’m not sure it’s quite an em –”

“Ma’am, do you have a medical emergency? A fire? An intruder? This is 911 emergency dispatch.”

Doris sighed. “Oh, never mind. It’s hardly an emergency. I’m pretty sure he’s dead already.”

She hung the handset back on the wall unit.

That, thought Doris, didn’t go especially well.

Hands on her hip, she studied the clock above the sink, the one that made bird calls on the hour, a silly thing, but she rather liked it. A couple minutes after 10:00. She had less than an hour to get to May’s bridge luncheon at 11:00, and she still had a cake to frost. The undertaker, Samuel Walters, that’s who would help her. He did just fine when Harold passed a couple of years ago. Let him come and get another one.

Prompt-a-Month: Happiness

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

Happiness

The deadline for submissions is 4/1/2017. Submissions will be published during the next 30 days.

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.

Prompt – Use Metaphors And Similes To Describe An Experience

The prompt was to write using metaphors and similes to describe an experience without telling us what it is.

The prompt came from “Jitterbug Perfume” by Tom Robins:

Thus, even though his back now was turned to the allure of the morning star, even though a stout breeze flattened his beard against his Adam’s apple, even though his damp clothing clung to him like frost, he whistled from stump to rock as if he was a tea kettle leading the pack in the annual pot-and-open cross-country marathon.

Write using metaphors and similes to describe an experience (as in this example that this is a man on a walk) without telling us what it is.