We are happy to announce that you can save the date -- August 5-7, 2022 -- for the annual Willamette Writers Conference! If you're filling out your new calendar, pencil us in for a virtual and in-person conference. We can't wait to see you in 2022.
As a non-profit educational organization, Willamette Writers is committed to helping writers connect with their communities, develop their craft, and expand their career. Our chapter meetings are open to everyone! We are here to help you!
My willamette writers story: Holly Manno
“I’m a writer.” We all covet these words, and daily call them into being.
But how do we wind our way through the labyrinthine steps to become all we yearn to be? Write, we’re told. And write we do. With long days at the keyboard, or with pen and paper in hand, we find our solitary way. We hone our craft. We create. We give characters and stories, life. It can be a lonely pursuit. What do we do when we need an infusion of community and inspiration? That’s where Willamette Writers (WW) comes in.
We recently asked members to share how WW made a difference in their careers. Portland author Holly Manno, with five books and a poetry collection to her credit, recalls a transformational encounter.
Want to be more involved? Become a member!
A community of writers supporting and learning from each other. We strive to provide members with everything they need to thrive—community support, networking opportunities, continuing education, inspiration, publicity, and much more.
Here’s all you get for just $57 a year:
Willamette Writers Membership benefits:
Weekly Chapter Meetings: with talks and inspirational, educational presentations on the craft and business of writing from leaders in the writing world
Online Coffee Hours: socialize with other writers twice a week
The Write Place: weekly productivity meeting, an opportunity for mutual support and accountability towards achieving your writing goals
The Timberline Review literary journal: free submissions and discounted subscriptions or copies
WilWrite Conference: early registration and discount on our acclaimed yearly writers conference
Kay Snow Writing Awards: Discounted submissions to our writing contest
FilmLab Contest: discounted submissions to our filmmaking contest
Critique groups: We help connect members to critique groups for various genres.
Post your writing news free: on our website, in our weekly Dispatch email, in our quarterly Newsletter, and on our social media. We want to celebrate YOU!
Join today!
We’d love for you to be part of the community.
All Writers Welcome!
Members & Full-Time Students Attend for Free!
Online: Finding The Mystery In The Heart Of Your Novel with Kelly Garrett
Online: Coffee at your Kitchen Table
Online: The Write Place Productivity Meeting
Online: Coffee at your Kitchen Table
Online: Open Mic Night
Online: Brian W. Parker on Diversity in Sci-Fi & Fantasy World Building
Young Willamette Writers With Ryane Nicole Granados
Screenwriters Happy Hour
Your writing community NEWS
Member News: Journal Publication — The Floor Above
The Floor Above: The Writers’ Mill Journal Volume 9 was published on November 21. Robin Layne contributed 1 short fiction story, Losing Our Religion; 1 short memoir, Math Anxiety; and 2 poems, The Deserted House and From the Valley of the Smoke (which placed 3rd in a Writers’ Mill monthly contest in 2020). She was…
Member News: Writing Program — The Forge
The Forge is a 10-month online writing program starting in January of 2022. Here at the Forge, you bring the fire — your love of creative writing — and we help shape you into the writer you want to be: confident, keen, and committed to a writing community. Through bi-weekly meetings and individual mentorships, we’ll…
Member News: New Release — 25¢ a Cup
25¢ a Cup: Finding Paris in India by Brian Thomas released on November 7. Brian Thomas’ dream was to write and photograph in the bohemian Paris of the late 1920s, the city loved by Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and the photographer, Brassaï. While Paris had no place in 2020 for aspiring artists, Thomas had found…
Member News: New Release — Writer’s Guide to Medicine
Comas and blood loss and morgues, oh my! Hillsboro author Natalie Dale, MD, is pleased to announce that the first volume of her Writer’s Guide to Medicine series was published by Ranunculus Press on December 4th, 2021. Available in Kindle, Nook, and paperback. From injuring your character to depicting scenes set in the morgue, let…
Member News: New Release — Touch the Sky
Touch the Sky by Jean Rover was recently released. Something’s amiss in Oregon’s backcountry. A teacher spots a scruffy stranger loitering near the Forest Lake grade school, and there’s a young boy missing in a neighboring county. Then eight-year-old Cody Benson, on an outing with his grandfather in the Big Bat Wilderness area, vanishes. Ken…
Member News: Author Event — Nancy Lane at Eugene Public Library
Nancy Lane, author of Pretty Chrysanthemum and Other Stories, will present her book and insights into writing and finding a publisher at the in-person author talk on December 9, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Join Nancy in the Bascom-Tykeson Room on the library’s first floor. The library address and phone number are: 100 W. 10th Avenue,…
Member News: New Release — All That Crumbles
All That Crumbles: A Cascadian Earthquake Novel is One Second After, but without the gun violence. Earthquakes are the greatest ghost stories ever told. They are suddenly everywhere around us, unseen but for the destruction they cause. As a CERT volunteer, Bridget Good hopes this story inspires you to get 2-Weeks-Ready. There is a ghost…
Member News: New Release — Pearl Harbor’s Final Warning
Valarie J Anderson’s Pearl Harbor’s Final Warning published on August 29th. On 7 December 1941, Washington sent a message to its Pacific outposts about a potential Japanese attack. All but Pearl Harbor received it in time to prepare. New information from the archives of George Street, District Manager of RCA-Honolulu, exposes the fatal flaws that…
Member News: New Release — The Sagebrush Hotel Tontine
Member News: New Release — Oro de Tontos
Willamette Writers Member Tom Larsen’s Short story Oro de Tontos (Translation: “Fool’s Gold”), featuring Ecuadorian P.I. Wilson Salinas, appears in the November / December issue of “Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.” Tom is the 2020 Winner of the Black Orchid Novella Award, presented by the Nero Wolfe Society.
Writing Resources from Willamette Writers
Writing Advice from Zoraida Córdova
by Mari Hotchkiss An unusual career path. As a young child in Ecuador, Zoraida Córdova grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories that were filled with magic and wonder. At six years old, she immigrated to the United States with…
Creating Characters
Happy Fall! Have you got your sweater? Your scarf? Your pumpkin-spiced whatever?Then sit down and talk with us about character. Hemingway said, “When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”…
How To Happily Write A Query Letter
We’re excited that Bill Kenower is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Bill is the author of Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion. In…
HOW TO WIN THE SUBMISSION WAITING GAME
We’re excited that Erick Mertz is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Erick is a Portland-based ghostwriter and fiction/memoir manuscript consultant. Over the last five years as a full-time freelancer he has written manuscripts for…
Experts Weigh In: 10 Crucial Screenwriting Mistakes
Experts Weigh In: 10 Crucial Screenwriting Mistakes Lee Jessup, a member of our screenwriting faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writer’s Conference and the author of Breaking In: Tales from the Screenwriting Trenches and Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide To A…
The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a Living by Sonia Simone
Written by SONIA SIMONE Reprinted with permission from Copyblogger. If you’re a writer, you might have heard this most of your life: People don’t make a living writing. You should find something practical to do with your life. Smart, capable writers grimly…
WW News
Author Cohorts
Join your author cohort this fall! Author cohorts will meet online for weekly write-ins, check-ins, and workshops during the month of November. After the cohort, you will be connected with a published mentor to help you continue along your author journey. Reserve your spot now – $99 for Willamette Writers members, and $199 for guests.…
Writing Advice from Zoraida Córdova
by Mari Hotchkiss An unusual career path. As a young child in Ecuador, Zoraida Córdova grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories that were filled with magic and wonder. At six years old, she immigrated to the United States with her mom and grandma, causing her to abandon her love of stories. “I stopped reading.…
Literary Agents at the 2020 Willamette Writers Conference Register now for our 2020 Conference, and meet these agents, along with other top notch industry professionals. You can register for a pitch or critique, and share your work with these pros. They are excited to hear from you. At the conference, you can join them in…
C.C. Humphreys, Best-Selling Author of Historical Fiction, Joins the Willamette Writers Conference
TV Development and Production with Grant Rosenberg
Willamette Writers Authors at the Portland Book Festival
We are proud to be supporting these Willamette Writers member authors at this year’s Portland Book Festival on November 9th! 9AM-9:30AM Dede Montgomery Sue Fagalde Lick Sharleen Nelson Tasche Laine 9:30AM-10AM Kerry Blaisdell Kay Jennings Phillip Kenney Deni Starr 10AM-11AM Paula Butterfield Charley Descoteaux Marilyn McDonald Holly Manno 11AM-12PM Mazarine Treyz Marilynne Eichinger Rick George Jo Sparkes 12PM-1PM Ruby Lee Cornelius Holly Manno Bob Ferguson Kim Hester 1PM-2PM Anne Hendren Jeff Stookey R. Gregory Noakes Heather Ames 2PM-3PM Dawn Prochovnic Julie Dawn…
FiLMLaBtv 2019 Writer’s Room The 2019 winning script is “Stripes,” written by Alexandra Keister. Keister, an executive assistant and screenwriter, has written two feature-length screenplays, both romantic comedies, and a handful of short screenplays that range from dark sci-fi to the classically uplifting my-dog-is-dead story. She graduated from Oregon State University in 2012 with a BA…
Willamette Writers Authors Sign Books at The Portland Book Festival
by Ari Mathae Willamette Writers, the Portland literary community, and book lovers near and far will meet again Saturday 10, 2018, for the largest celebration of books in the Pacific Northwest: The Portland Book Festival. The event starts at 9 A.M. at the Portland Art Museum and continues there and at other neighboring venues in the…