education

2018 Authors Conference: Jessica Morrell

Author and writing instructor, Jessica Morrell, will be speaking at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Jessica Morrell Author Photo Jessica Morrell will be speaking on developing a character arc for your story and novel.

Jessica is a long-time favorite speaker and teacher on writing fiction, and an accomplished author. Her books, Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us, A (sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected, Between the Lines, Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction, and Writing Out the Storm continue to be textbooks for writers determined to improve their writing and get published.

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

Register today to learn from Jessica Morrell 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.

Novelist Deborah Kennedy at Forest Grove Library Saturday Feb 17

The Forest Grove City will be presenting a free morning writer’s workshop from 10:15am to noon, Saturday, February 17, 2018, with novelist Deborah Kennedy, author of Tornado Weather.

The topic for this free workshop is “The Writer’s Craft: Keys to Unlocking the Interconnected Narrative.”

While the event is free, you are encouraged to sign up by calling the Forest Grove City Library at 503-992-3247.

The library is located at 2114 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove, OR 97116.

2018 Authors Conference: Editor Holly Lorincz

Editor Holly Lorincz will be speaking at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Holly Lorincz editor Holly’s specialty is in developmental editing, fiction and non-fiction, as well as collaborative writing. She will be speaking about the publishing industry and preparing a manuscript for submission.

Holly Lorincz is an author of fiction and non-fiction and owner of Lorincz Literary Services, a literary editing agency. She worked for many years as a collaborative literary agent for MacGregor Literary. She is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and on the faculty for the Profitable Authors Institute and The Blackbird Studio for writers in Portland, Oregon.

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

Register today to learn from Holly Lorincz on professional writing at the 2018 Authors Conference in January as space is limited.

About Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference

2018 Authors Conference: Special Optional Sessions

In addition to our top notch speakers on writing, editing, poetry, and publishing at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon, you will have the opportunity to work directly with the faculty privately or in small groups for an additional fee. Registration for these optional consultations will be the morning of the event.

15 minute professional consultations:
- Jessica Morrell on a single sample of a memoir or fiction piece.
- Holly Lorincz to talk through a story idea, plot points, and non-fiction scope and sequence.
Cost: $10 paid in advance.

Small group session for practicing pitching (45 min) with Kristin Thiel. Cost: $5 paid in advance.

These sessions are in addition to the workshops and presentations by our group of extraordinary professional editors, writers, poets, and speakers including Paulann Petersen, Deborah Reed, Chip MacGregor, Holly Lorincz, Kristin Thiel, MaryJane Nordgren, and Jessica Morrell.

About Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference

2018 Author Conference: Poet Paulann Petersen

A special afternoon session at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon, will be presented by Paulann Petersen.

Paulann Peterson Author Photo Paulann Petersen is an award-winning poet and former Oregon State Poet Laureate. She is a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and author of several books of poetry including The Wild Awake, Blood-Silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, Kindle, The Voluptuary, and Understory. She has also published five chapbooks and her work has been published in many anthologies, magazines, and websites.

Paulann teaches poetry workshops for colleges, libraries, and writer’s conferences, and serves on the National Advisory Board for Friends of William Stafford. She will be presenting an afternoon poetry workshop to help you not only improve your poetry but also move toward publishing your work.

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

Register today to learn from Paulann Petersen on professional poetry writing at the 2018 Authors Conference in January as space is limited.

About Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference

2018 Authors Conference: Keynote Deborah Reed

The keynote speaker at the 2018 Authors Conference on January 27, 2018, in Forest Grove, Oregon, will be Deborah Reed, author of the novels The Days When Birds Come Back, Olivay, Things We Set on Fire, Carry Yourself Back to Me, A Small Fortune, and its sequel, Fortune’s Deadly Descent.

Deborah Reed Author Photo Deborah is frequently featured in Poets & Writers, and holds a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing (fiction) from Pacific University. She is also the co-director of the Black Forest Writing Seminars at the University of Freiburg in Germany. She lives in Manzanita, Oregon.

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

Register today to learn from Deborah Reed on professional writing at the 2018 Authors Conference in January as space is limited.

About Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference

Scrivener Basics Workshop Starts September 21, 2017

Writers in the Grove, a Forest Grove community creative writing group, presents a 4-week workshop for writers called “Scrivener Basics Workshop.” It runs for 4 week and begins on Thursday, September 21, 2017, from 6:30 – 9:00 PM at the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Dream of writing your memoirs? A novel? That story that’s been nagging you for years?

Scrivener example from Autostraddle

Scrivener is a “complete writing studio” to help you from idea to final draft. It holds all your ideas, research, and writing in one place, keeping you focused and on track to publishing. It is the affordable writer’s tool that inspires and helps you write that book.

This 4-week workshop covers the basics of Scrivener including imports, organization and layout of your writing, keeping on task, research, and the basics you need to know.

Scrivener offers a free trial version. You will need to download and install the program prior to the first night of class. Prior publishing experience not required. Familiarity with computers is essential.

Normally these courses are well over $200. As a fundraiser for the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center, the instructor is making this 4-week course available for only $100 with the proceeds benefiting the center.

Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress has been using and teaching workshops and classes on Scrivener for over seven years. Her workshops are educational as well as entertaining. Lorelle has published several books prior to using Scrivener, and many since discovering the writing software program, and it changed her life and her writing. Lorelle has been teaching web publishing, social media, WordPress, and blogging for almost thirty years. Lorelle has also published many tutorials on Scrivener on this site for members and fans of Writers in the Grove and NaNoWriMo.

Bring a copy of a story or collection of stories you’ve written in a word processing program like Microsoft Word on your computer or a flash drive. We will be learning how to import into Scrivener.

You will need to bring your laptop, power cord, mouse (with extra batteries), and something to write on and take notes. You will log into the free WIFI at the Center so ensure you know how to do this before you arrive, or arrive early to get help getting online. It is highly recommended that you bring a water bottle, too. There is plenty of free parking at the center.

There is limited space for this special event so register now to guarantee a seat.

More information, contact the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center.

Register in person or by check or phone with the Forest Grove Community Center: 503-357-2021.

Image Credit: Autostraddle

Website Building WordPress Workshop September 11 – October 2, 2017

Register Now

If you are a writer, poet, novelist, or have a small business, a website is required today. This course takes you step-by-step through the process of setting up your own site, helping you learn how to create content and share it through social media from your site for free. Courses like held in Portland normally cost over $400. This is a rare opportunity to learn how to blog and build your own website right here in Washington County, and know that the proceeds go to a good cause.

Register in person with check or credit card, or by phone with the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center at 503-357-2021.

Writers in the Grove, Forest Grove community creative writing group, presents a 4-week workshop, called “Website Building WordPress Workshop,” beginning September 11, 2017. It runs for four consecutive Mondays from 6:30 – 9:00 PM at the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center in Forest Grove, Oregon.

The course is taught by WordPress instructor, Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress. She has taught WordPress, blogging and social media from the beginning to college level since 2003, and is the long time senior editor of the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress users.

The four-week workshop is only $125 per person, a savings of almost 75% off the normal course fee.

The workshop on WordPress covers the basics on WordPress features, content management, social media integration, blogging, and design and layout with veteran WordPress trainer and instructor. It is ideal for writers and authors, small business, genealogists, and those who wish to share their thoughts and skills with the world.

Prior web publishing experience not required. Familiarity with web browsers (Firefox and Chrome only) and email is highly recommended.

There is limited space for this special event so register now to guarantee a seat.

You do NOT need a WordPress site. You will set one up on the first day of the course. If you have one, you will learn how to fix it up and improve your web publishing and WordPress skills.

More information, contact the Forest Grove Community and Senior Center.

Register in person or by check or phone with the Forest Grove Community Center: 503-357-2021.

Writing Tips: Don’t Write Chronologically

In an article on Writer’s Digest called “10 Tips for Writing” by Chuck Sambuchino, he offers two good tips we writers need to remember:

Don’t write linearly: Don’t set out to write something from beginning to end. A story is meant to be read from front to back, but not necessarily created that way. If you have an idea for writing the sixth chapter first, then start there. The epilogue can even be the first thing you put down on paper, then work your way back. Scattered chapters will eventually be filled in, and it will force you to look at the story from different angles, which may present different ideas or new approaches. You’d be surprised how well this works when a whole book starts coming together…

Ask for (and take lots of) punishment: It is well worth finding yourself a professional writer or editor and asking/paying them to look at your work. Tell them to give you highly critical feedback with no sugarcoating. Let them go so far as to be cruel too, just so you really get the point. There is a lot of rejection and criticism involved in the publishing industry. Getting accustomed to it sooner than later is advantageous. If you want to be serious about your writing, then you’ll need to know everything wrong with your writing. Accepting and understanding the harsh realities of your shortcomings is a most important step to getting better.

The first point is very important. Write what you know about what you want to say, then go back and fill in the rest of the story. Editing is part of the craft of writing, so let the story unfold as it comes into your mind, not on some chronological journey.

While Writers in the Grove doesn’t offer the harsh feedback noted in this article, such feedback maybe given one-on-one or in other groups designed for such feedback, focused on publishing. We also recommend the Willamette Writers Conference and their various groups and meetups. They offer a wide range of critique and feedback opportunities.

Willamette Writers Conference Early Bird Prices End May 31

If you are a writer in the Portland area, or anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest, put the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon, August 12-14, 2016, on your schedule and register now for the early bird ticket prices.

The Willamette Writers Association is a non-profit, educational organization actively involved in helping writers get published, turn scripts into movies and television shows, and improve their writing overall. They offer a wide range of educational programs, meetups, and programs for youth and adult all year long, but the annual conference is a must attend event.

Held at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel this year, the schedule is filled with fantastic writing techniques and learning opportunities. Register early and plan out which workshops you will attend, including the exceptional pre-conference workshops and classes.

If you are interested in a manuscript critique, they are offering those for a fee, and we recommend you take time to read through “On the Right Track with Advance Manuscript Critiques” to help you prepare for the critique.

Want to pitch your story? Your novel, memoir, script? Pitching events are held during the event as well as at special times, and cost $25 each. Register early for the opportunity to do multiple pitches with various publishers and editors. Read “Pitching with Confidence – Marvin Baker’s Story” for an example of how to pitch your story well, and what might happen. Many authors have sold their books and movie rights at the Willamette Writers Conference over the years.

Early bird registration tickets range from $229 for one day to $449 for the entire event, good until May 31. After that, the prices increase, so hurry.

If enough Writers in the Grove members are considering going, we’ll get a room to share for the weekend. Carpooling is also available. Let us know during our workshops or contact us if you are interested in going so we can make arrangements for transportation and possible lodging.