WWotR Chapter – Willamette Writers on the River in Corvallis

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-Benton County. 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 Online: Tiffany Pitts on Humor

Willamette Writers on the River Chapter Logo
April 27 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Sharpen Your Wit: Building Story With Humor

Lighten up your evening with Sharpen Your Wit: Building Story With Humor presented by author Tiffany Pitts. Pitts will discuss different ways humor can be used to deepen storytelling. She will break down comedic timing and how it is used to build or relieve tension within scenes, creating interest and gripping the reader. She will also look at ways it can be used to develop characters from one-dimensional names into complex heroes and villains. Participants should be prepared to take part in a short (3 sentence) writing exercise.

About the author:

Tiffany Pitts is an award-winning author of speculative fiction. She’s also a freelance travel writer focusing on the strangest places she can get her family to visit. As a native of the Pacific Northwest, she enjoys dogs, rain, and beer. In her downtime, she’s the thumbs behind the Vacuum Cleaner Defense League, a German shepherd-led coalition for the eradication of vacuum cleaners (and sometimes brooms). She can be found online at the following: Website: www.tiffanypitts.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/tiffanypittsauthor Twitter: @snickerpants IG: @tiffany.pitts Buy Links: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GI3DRT8 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GLZ0OAS

Details for joining online

You can join us on your phone or on your computer. You do not need to have video, but it is helpful if you do. Log in a little early – sometimes it takes a second to load the online meeting on Zoom. You can click the link below on your computer or your smartphone to join. It will open an application: https://zoom.us/j/995654281 You can also phone call in to this number, and enter the meeting ID (you do not have a participant ID): Phone number: 253 215 8782 US US Meeting ID: 995 654 281

New to Zoom?

If you are new to Zoom you can go to a test meeting at https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115002262083-Joining-a-Test-Meeting.

Find out more »

About the Meetings

Willamette Writers on the River offers monthly meetings normally held on the fourth Monday of each month at the First Presbyterian Church (Allison Room) in Corvallis. No meeting in August when we head to Portland for the Willamette Writers Conference. No meeting in December due to proximity of holidays.

In March, June, and September, we use our meetings for open mic readings.

Meeting Time

6:30-8-30 p.m., Fourth Monday of each month

Meeting Location

First Presbyterian Church in Corvallis—114 SW 8th Street

Use the parking lot entrance at 9th & Monroe as other doors are locked. We will be in the Allison Room. Watch for the sign in the hall to point you in the right direction.

Our programs are not endorsed or sponsored by First Presbyterian Church.

Meeting Format

Open-Mic Readings in March, June, and September  give writers the opportunity to test their work on an audience of their peers. The readings are free and open to the public.

Meeting Format:

  • 6:15-6:30 — Sign-up for a 7 minute slot.
  • 6:30-8:30 — News and Announcements followed by Readings

Programmed Meetings in which WWotR presents a speaker/workshop/panel discussion to help writers learn more about writing.

Meeting Format:

  • 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 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. Fees for Nonmembers to attend programmed meetings (suggested donation):

  • Nonmember guests of members pay $5.
  • Nonmember full-time students with student ID pay $5.
  • All other nonmembers pay $10.

Thank you for your support!

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?

Please contact us for scheduling and details. 

The Chapter Co-Chairs

The Willamette Writers on the River Chapter is run by two co-chairs who together create a program to fit the needs and interests of the Willamette Writers members around  Corvallis.

Maren Bradley Anderson

Maren Bradley Anderson is a writer, teacher, and alpaca rancher in Oregon. She teaches English at Western Oregon University. She fills her days caring for alpacas, playing with her kids, and reading books that make her laugh. She has written two plays for the Apple Box Children’s Theater, and her writing has appeared in The Timberline Review and Alpacas Magazine. Her novels Fuzzy Logic and Closing the Store are available online and through your local bookstore—just ask them to order them for you.

Visit Maren’s website, and follow her on Facebook @MarenBradleyAnderson, and on Twitter @marenster.

Rachel Barton

Rachel Barton, poet, writing coach, and editor, has been published in print or online in Cloudbank, Hubbub, Oregon English Journal, VoiceCatcher, Plum Tree Tavern, and more. She has taught poetry workshops independently and at Linn-Benton Community College, the Northwest Poets Concord, Willamette Writers on the River, and the Oregon Poetry Association Conference. She is editor of Willawaw Journal, an online journal for poetry and art, and is a memberof the editorial collective for the woman’s journal, Calyx. She facilitates a couple of longstanding critique groups and is co-chair for Writers on the River, the Corvallis Chapter. Barton just released a chapbook, Out of the Woods. Her chapbook, Happiness Comes, is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press (Chicago). To learn more, go to RachelBartonWriter.com.

Connect with the Chapter

Volunteer with the Chapter

Are you a local writer and want to be more involved with the Mid-Valley Chapter? Volunteer!

How would you like to be involved? Get in touch and let us know how you’d like help.

Click here for other volunteer opportunities at Willamette Writers.

2019 Year-at-a- Glance

January 28th

Louise Cary Barden

Writing to Sell:  Commercial Non-Fiction

February 17th, 2-4

Kim Stafford

Newport Public Library

February 25th

Maren Anderson

Alternate Writing Tools

March 25th

OPEN MIC

April 22nd

Terri Thomas

Reading your work as performance

May 11th

Write Here Write Now with Eric Witchey

Join us at our writing conference

May 18th

Stafford/Sears Memorial Rdg.

Co-sponsored by WWotR and Library

May 27th

Phillip Kenney

The Writer’s Crucible

June 24th

OPEN MIC

July 22nd

Hazel Denhart

The Grammar of Story

August

Willamette Writer’s Conference

September 23rd

OPEN MIC

October 28th

Brenna Crotty (Calyx)

Notes from the Editor

November 25th

John S. Williams

December (no meeting)