Willamette Writers Chapters are local writing communities where writers improve their craft and acquire the career skills required in today’s publishing world.
Willamette Writers Chapters are local writing communities where writers improve their craft and acquire the career skills required in today’s publishing world. They also provide opportunities for local writers to hone their leadership, presentation, and teaching skills.
Willamette Writers on the River serves writers in Corvallis, Albany, and Linn and Benton Counties. We welcome members from other chapters and all writers aged 18 and older (unless otherwise stated).
Read on to learn about our chapter, and join our mailing list to keep in touch.
Become a Willamette Writers Member today to enjoy membership benefits such as free meetings for all WW chapters and reduced conference registration fees.
Upcoming Meeting
Corvallis: NaNoWriMo Prep with Maren Anderson
Willamette Writers on the River Presents:
Outlines and Structure for NaNoWriMo with Maren Anderson
NaNoWriMo is a month of organized wildness when writers try to write 50K in 30 days. Maren Anderson has “won” NaNo many times, and has designed and come by a variety of tools to help you succeed. She presents one of these in this workshop: the dreaded outline as a tool for creativity and to "unblock" a writer. Join us at 6:30PM, in-person, in the Oak Room of the Corvallis Community Center, 2601 NW Tyler Ave, Corvallis, Oregon.About Maren Bradley Anderson:
Maren Bradley Anderson is a writer, teacher, and alpaca rancher in Oregon. She is the Editor-in-Chief of The Timberline Review, the Managing Editor of PURE Insights, and writes plays for kids and adults. Her writing has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Alpacas Magazine, Flyfishing and Tying Journal, and The Timberline Review. Her novels include Sparks, a paranormal romance, and Fuzzy Logic, an alpaca ranch romance. You can find her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MarenBradleyAnderson), Twitter and Instagram (@marenster), or her website http://www.marens.com.
We are happy to be meeting back in person from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on Monday, October 24, 2022. We will be in the Oak Room of the Corvallis Community Center, 2601 NW Tyler Ave, Corvallis, Oregon. Hope to see you there.
About your chapter meetings
Willamette Writers meetings are open to all writers, 18 and up. Young writers are encouraged to join our Young Willamette Writers meetings. Guests are welcome to make a donation to help support the cost of the meeting (we believe in paying our speakers for their time and skills). This meeting is run by volunteers. We look forward to seeing you there! MASKING: Willamette Writers continues to require mask-wearing at our in-person, indoor meetings. If you are unable to mask, we invite you to join us at one of our online Chapter Meetings. Here is a link to our policies. Find out more »About the Meetings
Willamette Writers on the River presents speakers or short workshops on writing related topics six months out of the year. We also host open mic readings three times each year. We do not meet in July, August, and December. We encourage people to attend the Willamette Writers Conference during our summer break.
Meeting Time
6:30-8-30 PM on the fourth Monday of each month.
Meeting Location
We meet in Corvallis. Some meetings may be online or offer an online alternative. Please see our events calendar for up-to-date information on location.
Meeting Format
Format for meetings with a speaker/workshop/panel discussion:
- 6:30-6:45 – Networking & social time
- 6:45-8:15 – WWotR News and Announcements followed by the Program
- 8:15-8:30 – Q & A, Networking, and Speaker’s Book Sales
Meeting Format for Open Mics:
- 6:30-6:45 — Sign-up to read. Networking and social time.
- 6:45-8:30 — News and Announcements followed by Readings
Meeting Cost
Monthly meetings at all the chapters are free for members of Willamette Writers. The three open mic readings are free and open to the public. Guests are asked to consider donating $5 to help support our programming. Click here to support Willamette Writers.
The Chapter Co-Chairs
The Willamette Writers on the River Chapter is run by co-chairs who create a program to fit the needs and interests of the Willamette Writers members around Corvallis.
Nancy Ballard
Nancy Ballard is the author of the Under Carico’s Moons series of science fiction cowboy stories, writing as Nan C Ballard. She has written and edited environmental assessment reports, written an arts column for a small town paper, and collaborated on adaptations of plays for community theater. Her poetry has been published in the online Willawaw Journal and the anthology Mount Shasta Reflections. Her short fiction A Tree on the Bluff won third place in the (very locally) prestigious Scott Valley, CA, Libraries Annual Writing Contest in 2013. Nancy has been the Willamette Writers on the River-Corvallis Chapter co-chair since January, 2020, and co-hosts the Tuesday and Saturday Willamette Writers Coffee at Your Kitchen Table online conversations. She belongs to a science fiction/fantasy critique group. She does quick pen-and-colored-pencil doodles to practice mindfulness. Her current just-for-fun project with her husband is to visit interesting places in every county in Oregon. You can find her at nancballardwriter.blogspot.com or @NanCBallard on Twitter and Instagram.
Jennifer D. Munro
Jennifer D. Munro is an avid but inept birdwatcher and knitter. She volunteers at a wildlife rescue center, where she wrangles ducklings and spreadsheets. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a Top Ten Finalist in the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Competition, and winner of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists blog contest (in the “blogs nobody reads” category). Her prose has appeared in numerous publications, including Salon; Alaska Airlines Beyond; Literary Mama; Ninth Letter; North American Review; Gulf Coast; Boulevard; Best American Erotica; Full Grown People; Zyzzyva; andThe Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty and Body Image. She once sold the world’s known supply of miso in one day to an end-of-the-world cult but is now much more content with her work as a freelance copyeditor (a cat-approved work-from-home career). www.JenniferDMunro.
Connect with the Chapter
- Join our meetings and workshops if you’re a writing enthusiasts from the Corvallis area, if you happen to be in the area, or if you are interested in a specific topic/speaker.
- Follow Willamette Writers on Twitter, and on Facebook where you can subscribe to our events.
- Join us on MeetUp to receive meeting updates
- Join our chapter’s mailing list to receive updates by email.
- Contact us if you have a specific inquiry or something you’d like to share with the chapter co-chairs.
All writers welcome. Join us!
Volunteer with the Chapter
Are you a local writer and want to be more involved with the Corvallis Chapter? Volunteer!
How would you like to be involved? Get in touch and let us know how you’d like help.
Would you like to be a speaker?
We are always looking for new speakers from around the region and around the country. Do you have a topic of interest to present to writers in our region? Contact us