By Allison Wallace
The 2024 Willamette Writers Conference begins this weekend, and the big question is–what to do? What to attend?
The conference is soon upon us–it’s not too late to get your ticket for three days of creativity and connection! A lot is happening on the final day of the conference, especially at 10:30AM, so there are some tough choices ahead for your workshop attendance. As the weekend winds down, cement all your experiences with the final Keynote by Jess Walters–and leave invigorated to tackle the rest of the year.
Sunday, August 4th:
Start your Sunday bright, early, and centered with Yoga at 7AM with Megan Rose. Stretching and taking breaks are important for any kind of desk work, and writing is no exception. Open to any level of experience.
More Workshops:
Start the day off right with learning about the fastest growing part of the book market: audiobooks. Attend Audiobooks 101 at 9AM, where audiobook J.S. Arquin will share how to reach the listening-readers with all of the diverse audio formats available.
Also at 9AM, build your year-around writing community at Beta Reader Connections. Whether you are looking for first-readers, or you want to talk about the craft and be inspired by the critiquing process, Beta Reading offers something to all attendees who bring a short description of their book.
No matter what publishing path you choose, you too can see your book on a store shelf! Connect with experienced professionals like editor and bookstore owner Holly Lorincz of Cloud And Leaf Bookstore, author and bookseller Michael Keefe, and thirty-year Powell’s veteran Doug Chase. They’ll tell you all you need to know at Get Booked: Working with Bookstores as an Author at 9AM.
If you’re a beginning writer working on your first book, the whole process can feel very lonely. At 9AM, meet author Libby Gill, Daniel Nieh, and Megan Lally at Your First Book: Mistakes and Successes as they talk about the ups and downs of completing their first books. Why not learn from each other’s failures as well as our successes? Your fellow authors at #wilwrite24 have been there!
Mid-Morning Decisions:
Has the conference motivated you to publish your short works? Then stop by the Magazine Markets Workshop online with Author Kerrie Flanagan at 10:30AM. She wrote the Writer’s Digest Guide to Magazine Article Writing after all! The magazine industry is undergoing a lot of change these days, so bring your questions so this talk can help you navigate it!
If you love games and have enough ideas to fill a harddrive or tabletop, or if you’re just curious about this dynamic narrative form, Tina Connolly and Monte Linn will be teaching Press Start: Writing for Video Games at 10:30AM. They will cover the evolution of the genre, details on the craft, and how to get started!
For visual learners, attend Story Maps: A Visual Tool for Storytelling at 10:30AM taught by Author and Illustrator Brian A. Parker, co-owner of Believe in Wonder Publishing. Getting the words out of your brain and on the paper can take so many different forms–why not switch up your creative process by using different skills? Maybe you already think visually and you want some extra ideas for diagrams! Explore uncharted territory in your story!
Take a break for more coffee and then head straight to the dark side. Do your schemes need more scoundrels? Could your means be more monstrous? Authors like Kristin Cast, Emmeline Duncan, and Jessie Kwak will discuss the creation of vivid villains and accomplished antagonists at Good Bad Guy: Writing Compelling Villains, also at 10:30AM.
Final Keynote!
Last, but certainly not least at #wilwrite24, enjoy a mid-morning Goodbye Brunch at 11:30AM with award-winning author and keynote speaker Jess Walter. In his long and storied career, Jess has been a reporter and essayist with stories in venues like Harper’s, Esquire, and Tin House; and he’s been a teacher of creative writing at the University of Iowa, Eastern Washington, Pacific University, and Pacific Lutheran. He is currently the author of eight books and two short story collections. Get inspired to stay writing until we meet again at #wilwrite25!