“An interview with writer and teacher Sara Bednark. We discuss how she, as a teacher, finds ways to encourage people to write and grow in their craft and helps them embrace their unedited self. We also talk about what it means to do the verb so you can be the noun.
Check out the interview on the Writer’s in the Wilderness Podcast Interview here.
If you’re looking to break through a block, need content to work into a project, or want to explore your writing voice, please join me Saturday, 8/1, 6:00pm at Bold Coffee & Books. This generative session is designed for writers of all levels looking to be inspired in a safe and supportive atmosphere. Carefully designed prompts to trigger free, uninhibited writing, followed by optional share time, then repeat.
For more information about this free event visit.
NEW! Children’s book “The Most Excellent Adventures of Bang and Clang” by Hector M Rodriguez- Where mistakes become lessons, brothers become heroes, and young readers discover that growing up is the greatest adventure of all, releases July 17th, 2026.
In the heart of Whispering Woods, two raccoon brothers are learning what it means to grow up— one mistake, one adventure, and one hard-won lesson at a time. The Most Excellent Adventures of Bang and Clang is a twelve-story collection combining the timeless charm of Frog and Toad with the moral depth of classic fables. Perfect for chapter book readers ages 5-11, each story stands alone while building toward a rich narrative about community, growth, and character.
Clang, the thoughtful older brother with a silver eye patch, balances Bang’s impulsive nature (and kinked tail that matches his personality). Together, they’re the perfect comic duo and teaching team, learning through authentic mistakes in Whispering Woods—a living community where individual choices ripple outward. Recurring characters like wise Elder Badger, little Magnolia, and friend Petunia create a world children want to return to again and again. Each tale tackles one fundamental value through real dilemmas with genuine consequences:
The Cookie Jar Mystery begins with temptation and a broken promise, teaching trustworthiness when the brothers must choose between hiding the truth or facing it.
By The Winter Pantry, stakes intensify. With 116 acorns stored for winter and a starving mouse family begging for help, the brothers risk their own survival by sharing 35 acorns—sparking a community-wide movement of generosity.
In The Burning Forest, three-year-old Magnolia is trapped in her home during a wildfire. Despite Elder Badger’s warning “”Don’t try to be heroes,”” the brothers are the only ones who can save her. The breathless rescue—racing through flames, escaping in a rolling log—shows that real bravery includes being terrified the entire time.
The final story, The Ancient Oak, reveals how the massive tree providing all the forest’s water connects everything. When the brothers carelessly damage its sacred carvings, they learn that reverence—respect for what sustains us—makes every other virtue meaningful.
What make this series special is the layered storytelling: five-year-olds enjoy humor and action; ten-year-olds appreciate moral complexity; parents value character education seamlessly woven into compelling narratives. The stories reflect real consequences: When the brothers sneak out at night, they face two weeks of restrictions and must apologize to everyone. When they’re rude at the festival, they spend hours repairing what they broke—both the centerpiece and the relationships. Each story in intertwined and builds growth: Each story references previous adventures. The Helping Paws Brigade formed after a storm becomes how they serve their community throughout the series. Children see how one good choice creates opportunities for more.
Each story reflects emotional authenticity: Bang says “”being honest feels better than any cookie could taste”” only after readers watch him struggle with that choice. Fear after bravery, doubt after generosity—these brothers feel real. Children aren’t looking for perfect role models—they’re looking for characters who mess up, struggle, learn, and try again. Clang and Bang model something essential: how to make things right. As they reflect at series’ end: “”It all connects. It always did. We just had to learn to see it.””
This matters because many Families are hungry for stories that bring them together—tales that spark conversations about character and community. The Most Excellent Adventures of Bang and Clang offer something rare: stories children ask to hear again, parents feel good about reading, and teachers confidently use in character education. These stories trust young readers to understand nuance, wrestle with difficult choices, and recognize themselves in two raccoon brothers learning—just like them—how to be good.
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After marinating for 30 years my fantasy novel, The Labyrinth of Melusine, has emerged into the world. It’s a reimagining of a 15th century faery tale: the story of the guardian of a sacred well, who dares to fashion the life she most desires. She marries a human, creates a castle, and a life of abundance. But her children, unschooled in the world of faery, through fear and ignorance, imperil all she has so carefully manifested. A tale of love, betrayal, resilience and self-acceptance mined from the deep reservoirs of myth and magic demanding a labyrinthine journey through the Tarot.
Follow Jodi for more information at Facebook, Instagram, and Linktree.
We absolutely love celebrating our members’ accomplishments—big and small! Every milestone, breakthrough, publication, award, finished draft, or personal victory deserves recognition.
When you share your news, you’re not just celebrating your own success—you’re inspiring fellow authors, building connections, and reminding everyone that progress comes in many forms.
✨ Have something to celebrate? We’d love to help spread the word! Simply fill out our Member News Form, and we’ll share your exciting update with the community.
And don’t forget to check back often! You’ll discover what your fellow authors are accomplishing, celebrate their successes, and stay in the loop about exciting community news, upcoming events, and opportunities.
We can’t wait to celebrate with you! 💜
Just a 10-minute pitch –nervously anticipated–at the Willamette Writer’s Conference two summers ago turned out to be the catalyst for the publication of my book, 15 years in the making, on the neuroscience of the brain as it faces, or defies, death. The Brain at Twilight, The Neuroscience of Our Last Words and Moments was just a manuscript, but my first pitch with Natalie Kimber, a literary agent at The Rights Factory, sparked a journey that will end in just a few months when the book will be published by Columbia University Press.
Although I have been an ICU doctor for a long time, and compiled personal stories of my patients’ final moments, I was clueless about the publishing world. How remarkable to have the full and complete attention of a professional agent, with a world of expertise behind them, focusing just on you and your work. The message I’d like to give potential authors….pitch and query often and happily!! You’ll be giving someone a very personal opportunity to catch the excitement you have in your project and embark on the journey to publication that’s yours to capture!
Follow Tarvez at Website, Substack, Instagram, Linkedin & Youtube.
A book launch and an evening of poetry and reflections by several Corvallis poets is scheduled for Thursday, May 28, at the Corvallis Museum, 411 SW 2nd St, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. The reading begins at 6:30.
Everyone is invited to a celebratory poetry reading and book launch on Thursday, May 28, at 6 p.m. at the Corvallis Museum, 411 SW 2nd Street. The reading is free and open to the public. Join in celebrating the rich recent history of poetry and literary events in Corvallis, and the publication of Voices of the Valley: An Anthology of Corvallis Poets, edited by Steven Sher and the late Michael Spring, published by Flowstone Press. Many of the 32 poets featured in the anthology will read and pay homage to poets no longer with us. Among the poets featured are Charles Goodrich, Lex Runciman, and the late Peter Sears. “Voices of the Valley” a tribute, book launch, and poetry reading.
This event celebrates an era of poetry in Corvallis from the late 1980s to the early years of this century. The reading will be from Voices of the Valley: An Anthology of Corvallis Poets, which contains poems by 32 Corvallis poets. The poets featured in the anthology include honored teachers, editors and prize-winning poets. It was edited by Steven Sher and the late Michael Spring and published by Flowstone Press. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
Steven Sher writes, “In the last years of the millennium through the first years of the current century, Corvallis saw a ‘golden age’ of local poetry. It was a time when readings, slams and themed literary gatherings filled the calendar; when poetry groups and workshops, poetry outreach and poets-in-the-schools programs, publications, and packed venues flourished; when listening to poetry was like hearing the heartbeat of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.” The reading will “pay homage to these poets and their work and offer a tribute to those no longer with us”.
Poets featured in the anthology are Chris Anderson, Sara Backer, Barbara Baldwin, Rachel Barton, David Biespiel, Dorothy Black Crow, Richard Dankleff, Greg Darling, Be Davison Herrera, Eric Wayne Dickey, George Estreich, Linda Gelbrich, Charles Goodrich, Donna Henderson, Karen Holmberg, Steve Jones, Michael Malan, Jennifer Richter, Lex Runciman, Peter Sears, Matthew Shenoda, Steven Sher, Susan Spady, Michael Spring, Ann Staley, Clem Starck, Doug Stone, Anita Sullivan, Peggy Taylor, Linda Varsell Smith, Roger Weaver and Dale Willey.
Michelle St. Romain’s debut novel, Song of Belonging, will be released April 21, 2026 by She Writes Press with distribution to the trade by Simon and Schuster. For fans of Kate Morton, Amy Harmon, and Sally Page, Song of Belonging is a multi-generational novel with hints of magical realism, about a woman learning to find her place in an uncertain world as she unravels the stories of her grandmothers in a family lineage of light and dark.
In 1934, a child’s death tears open a family and shakes the small town of Richarme, Louisiana. Recalling her grandmother’s hidden gifts that had been shut down decades earlier, Grace Paschal begins writing to her deceased daughter as she navigates grief and guilt for Lily’s death, which will haunt their French community for generations.
In 2019, Alice, Grace’s great-granddaughter, awakens in her apartment in Berkeley and opens a jewelry box given to her decades earlier upon Grace’s death. When she explores its contents, the lines between past and present fade. As she works to meet the demands of her career, she battles increasing ancestral memories that mingle with experiences at work, causing her to question everything about the life she has chosen.
A haunting and magical story of a family with hidden gifts and secrets, the story follows Alice, a young journalist who begins having memories that are not her own and must find her place in a lineage of women healers who are protectors of the waters that surround their Louisiana home.
Michelle is a writer, poet and educator. She is the co-author with Alma Rosa Alvarez of two poetry collections, Promised Fruit and Water’s Edge. In addition to writing and teaching, she works in the nonprofit field raising funds and awareness for issues close to her heart. Song of Belonging began as an idea in her mind when she was seven years old and her great-grandmother gave her a green jewelry box when she died.
Michelle grew up in Louisiana surrounded by siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and the novel combines her love of the environment and the natural world with stories from her French Acadian heritage. She leads creative writing workshops and retreats and has taught English and creative writing to children and teens in California, Hawai’i, and Oregon. She holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University, New Orleans and an M.A. in English/ Creative Writing from California State University, Sacramento. Her work has been featured in the Poetry Phone Line Project of the Oregon Humanities, The Rapids literary magazine, The Stanford Challenge 2026 Anthology (Wild Poets Press), and on Jefferson Public Radio and Ashland Community Radio. Michelle was volunteer poetry reader in 2025 for The Timberline Review.
Michelle lives in Southern Oregon with her wife, two spaniels, and a wise, aging cat. They are enjoying watching their three creative young adults launch into the world.
Song of Belonging received three 5-star reviews from Readers Favorite and is available wherever books are sold. Books launch events are planned in Portland, Eugene, and Southern Oregon. Michelle will also be a panelist at the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley in late May and at the Northwest Book Fair and Media Fest in Vancouver, Washington in June.
View a full list of upcoming events with Michelle here.
Cleah Lucky proves to be even more overbearing in death than she was in life. Her estranged kids learn of the exhaustive list of requirements written into her will, starting with shared custody of her urn. Family is complicated. Cleah’s Bequest is a funny and surprisingly heartfelt story about the struggle for control. “Who knew Cleah Lucky could be even more overbearing in death than she was in life?
Three estranged siblings learn their mother has placed extensive and seemingly irrational requirements in her will as a condition of inheritance, starting with having to share custody of her urn. The list goes on with things like having to spend holidays together with a list of what to serve, what to wear, games to play, a song to listen to, on and on, with more surprises along the way. Can she even do that? Turns out she can, thanks to a legally airtight trust. Cleah has done her homework, to her kids’ dismay. It seems like she’s thought of everything, and it tests their resolve, their cooperation, and even their sanity.
Set in the Pacific Northwest, Cleah’s Bequest is an irreverent and unexpectedly heartwarming tale about what we owe the people who raised us and the price of getting what we think we deserve. Published by Unsolicited Press, this is Mari’s second novel.
Maryka Biaggio’s novel Margery and Me will be released April 21 by Regal House Publishing. Margery and Me, a historical novel based on the true story of the psychic who tangled with Harry Houdini, was a Publishers Weekly Editors’ pick.
It has been hailed by Valerie Martin as “a wry, lively, and wicked-good novel.” Victoria Kelly, author of Mrs. Houdini, called it “a spellbinding dive into the glittering yet shadowy world of 1920s spiritualism and the enigmatic life of Margery, the era’s most notorious psychic.”