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Writer’s in the Grove Monday Workshop Venue Change

It’s Memorial Day Weekend and the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center will be closed. We will be heading to the farm on Monday!

Susan Schmidlin has invited us out to Schmidlin Farm, a black Angus ranch near Vernonia. Bring pens and paper, laptops, whatever, and join us for this fun morning, and possibly the day.

There will be carpool available at the Center, leaving by 8:20AM on Monday. The rest of us will meet at Schmidlin Farm by 9AM.

Please bring a potluck meal to share with everyone as we will have lunch following the morning workshop. Please label the food as to vegetarian, meat, dairy, or gluten.

The Schmidlin’s have invited us to tour the ranch and get some close up time with the cattle. Those willing to pull weeds, bring appropriate attire and kneeling pads and join us in her huge garden. She brings in fruits and vegetables all summer long to our writing group, and this is one of the ways we can pay back.

See you, Monday, at the farm!

New Prompt-a-Month Series Announced

Starting in June, Writers in the Grove members will be challenge to submit a piece for our new prompt-a-month series on this website.

Like our workshop prompts, we love the creativity of our writers. We are eager to show off their talents each month with their own unique take on the prompt-of-the-month for the website.

Here is how it works:

Before the first of each month we will announce a prompt for that month.
Writers in the Grove members only may submit one submission each per month.
Submissions are accepted by our submission form or email to Lorelle, Susan, or Ann Farley, or delivered in person, printed on white paper in a clean font suitable for scanning.
The deadline is the first of the next month.
Submissions accepted will be published throughout that month.
The copyright of the submitted work is retained by the author, and a submission gives us permission to publish it on our website here.
Edit your work well, and consider having other members review it before submission. Submit your best work. We have the right to refuse to publish a submission. The rules of our workshops hold for these submissions as well.

Members are welcome to share their work in our workshops before submission.

We’re excited about this new opportunity for our members to strut their stuff and to help build some publishing credits. Be ready for some brilliant work. We’re love showing off our members’ talents.

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.

Art of the Story Festival in Washington County

The 12th Annual Storytelling Festival, The Art of the Story, is in Washington County, Oregon, this year from April 2-9, 2016. Hosted by the Washington County Library System, the Art of the Story features five professional storytellers at various functions during the week, and also hosts a Story Slam Contest and other events.

All events are free. The schedule details are available on their site, and here is a summary.

Saturday, April 2 – Beaverton Library 7-8:30PM – Story Slam Contest (Adults)
Monday, April 4 – West Slope Library 6:30PM – Tom Swearingen – “It Happened Out West”
Tuesday, April 5 – Hillsboro Library 7PM – Tom Swearingen – “Horsin’ Around” (Adults)
Wednesday, April 6 – Multiple events
- Forest Grove Library 7PM – Patrick Ball – “The Fine Beauty of the Island” (Adults)
- Sherwood Library 7PM – Kevin Kling – “Chicken Soup for the Chicken” (Adults)
Thursday, April 7 – Multiple events
- Banks Library/City Hall 7PM – Kevin Kling – “Holiday Inn”
- Tualatin Library 7PM – Val Mallinson – “My 15 Minutes of Fame” and Amy Theberge “Amy Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next” (Adult programs)
Friday, April 8 – Multiple events
- Cedar Mill Library 7PM – Patrick Ball – “The Wit and Wonder of Irish Storytelling”
- North Plains Library 7PM – Kevin Kling – “Walkin’ Shoes” (Adults)
Saturday, April 9 – Multiple events
- Aloha Library 11AM – Amy Theberge – “Amy Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and VAl Mallinson – “Daring Dachshund Adventure Tales!” (Adult programs)
- Garden Home Library (THPRD Garden Home Recreation Center” 7-9pm – Finale Concert featuring the Story Slam Contest Winner and featured storytellers from the week’s events.

For the writer, the art of storytelling is part of our craft. We highly recommend this annual event. People come from around the state and country to participate and attend this spectacular storytelling event featuring world-class award-winning storytellers.

If there is one event you cannot miss, it is the finale on Saturday evening, April 9. It is the best of the best and we will work with Writer’s in the Grove members to carpool to the event.

January 18 Writers in the Grove Meeting

The Forest Grove Senior and Community Center will be closed on January 18 for Martin Luther King Day. Paula and Parks Adams have again offered their home in downtown Forest Grove for the 9AM meeting.

While they traditionally serve snacks and have food for lunch afterwards, please bring a small potluck or snack to add to the mix.

We usually do something special on these workshop events, including multiple prompts, so expect to really sharpen up your creative writing skills in January!

If you require the address and directions, please use our contact form.

Flea Market and Book Sale at Forest Grove Senior and Community Center

The re-opening of the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center Flea Market is Saturday, October 10, 2015, coinciding with the Writers in the Grove Annual Book Sale and Fundraiser, also for the Center.

From 9am – 4pm there will be a variety of booths in the Center featuring our book sale, handmade crafts, antique collectibles, jewelry, and a mini quilt show. The Gift Shop will be having a clearance sale and there will be drawings for prizes and food carts outside for some fun bites to eat.

The next scheduled dates are November 14 and December 12, 2015. If you live in Washington County, Oregon, or in the surrounding areas, this is a great event to catch up on your holiday shopping lists.

See you there!

Labor Day 2015 At Parks and Paula

On Labor Day, September 7, 2015, the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center will be closed for the holiday. We will be meeting at Paul and Parks in downtown Forest Grove. The address and directions will be available at the next meetings.

If you would like to attend and are new to the group, please comment below or use our contact form and we will email you directions.

Seeds of…Volume II: Anthology of Pacific Northwest Writers

SEEDS OF…Volume II: Anthology of Pacific NW Writers (Volume 2) is the latest collection of writers from Writers in the Grove and community writers from around the Pacific Northwest published by Tawk Press.

Complied, edited, and published by Writer’s in the Grove leader, MaryJane Nordgren, the anthology features a wide but cohesive collection of stories, poems, and prose that will delight you and keep you reading page after page, even out loud to friends, family, and strangers on the bus.

The publisher’s description on Amazon describes the book best:

This second collection of essays, stories and poems by writers from Oregon and Washington varies in outlook and philosophy, in form and style as widely as does the Pacific Northwest community.

Diana Lubarsky leads off “Coping” with a hilarious crisis in the lives of her characters from Dante’s Angels. Mark Thalman reminds of the fragility of the line between life and death. Ross Hall, Lois Akerson and Bunny Hansen grow from loss. In a letter to Dorothy, Fred Melden contemplates where we are after life’s experiences. Joe Schrader follows poachers from Minnesota who are little better off hunting in Oregon. Mitch Metcalf engulfs us in a disaster in the North Sea. “Relating” brings Roger Ritchey, Rebecca Robinson, Hannah Kolehmainen and Matthew Hampton in touch with Nature. Beverly Walker and G.A. Meyerink rely on love of animals to bring out the best in people. Charles Pritchard, Joan Graves and Everett Goodwin define self in relationship with another. Joan Ritchey is reminded of generations of love by the family mantle clock. Bill Stafford’s humor wrings joy from plays on words beginning with ‘O.’ In “Finding Self,” Jessica Morrell’s planned escape to Nature becomes a lesson in tolerance and the joy in giving. Nel Rand, near the end of life, returns to what has mattered most. Paula Adams’ fearful tadpoles ponder one of their own who reaches beyond the known.

Rosemary Lombard, Barbara Schultz and Susan Munger reach into foreign settings. Karen Hessen, Eva Foster, Sarah Hampton and Gerlinde Schrader grow from difficult childhood challenges. Julie Caulfield and her brother’s inability to swallow at the dictate of their father brings challenges to their mother. Sandra Mason’s heart is beside the Pacific, but her roots are deep in the Midwest in “Remembering.” Susan Schmidlin wrestles with the hitches in farm maintenance. Susan Field and Muriel Marble remember life changing in a hurricane and a war. In “Reflecting,” Marilyn Schmidlin leans on and learns from a strong tree of life. Phil Pochurek and Wafford Tornieri explore humanness in the cycles of season and the moon. Alisa Hampton and M.J. Nordgren ponder the interconnectedness of seen and unseen.

These thirty-nine authors scatter wild and domestic seed abroad into the far-flung, fertile soil of imagination. But uniting them all is the love of the strength, beauty and challenge of Pacific Northwest area of the country.

Seeds of…Volume II is available in print on Amazon.com as a paperback.

Scrivener Basics Workshop July 23, 2015

Lorelle VanFossen is presenting an informal free workshop on Scrivener Basics in her home north of North Plains, Oregon, at 6:30PM on Thursday July 23. For directions, use the comments below, the contact form, or get them at the next Writer’s in the Grove weekly workshops. Carpooling from Forest Grove Senior and Community Center maybe available.

She has already released an ongoing Scrivener series of tutorials, videos, and guides to help you learn more about how Scrivener works. These are the workshop notes as well.

The workshop will cover:

Introduction to Scrivener
Explain and demonstrate why to use Scrivener for writing
How to create a simple project in Scrivener
Working with documents and research
How to import your writing and writing material into Scrivener
Basic tips on how to organize your writing and research in Scrivener

We will go slow as we can but it will help if you watch a few of the videos and read the referenced articles in What is Scrivener, Scrivener: Bootcamp, and Scrivener: Organize Your Writing and Thinking. The latter article will help you get your head around the difference between working with a word processor and Scrivener.

You will be required to bring your laptop with Scrivener installed. If you do not have it, go to Literature and Latte to get Scrivener as a free trial or paid downloadable (or order CD) version. The laptop does not have to be wifi enabled but it helps. You will also need a mouse (trackpad is painful but works), power cords for the laptop, and extra batteries for the mouse.

If you would like to bring food, drinks, and snacks to share, that would be appreciated. We will snack and work as there is much to cover.

To speed up the process, please bring a COPY file of a writing project you are working on (one or more files), pictures, scanned images or documents, and other digital research material you are using for your writing project.

This is a one time event. A follow-up event may be possible, or a class series at the Senior Center this fall if the demand is high enough.

Inspiration: Life Observed Through the Radio

From the prompt on where do you go for inspiration.

The volume of the street notched up the decibels, radios drowning out traffic noises, voices lowered for a moment, ears tuned in, heads tilted toward the nearest plastic speaker box.

Top of the hour. I glanced at my watch to confirm, quickening my pace. I was still two blocks from my destination and now late.

The ability to tell time by the top of the hour started long before I came to the unholy land called Israel. For me, it was natural, keeping me in touch with the world around me as I traveled through its vastness. But never had I been around an entire culture obsessed with the news on the hour.

They had to be. Each 5 minute news summary dictated where you did your shopping, how you commuted back home, and where to avoid as you traveled through town and country as terrorism dictated our paths. (more…)