Writing Advice

Turn Bad Writing Days into Good Ones

Turn Bad Writing Days into Good Ones

The November 7th meeting of Willamette Writers brought William Kenower, teacher of the Fearless Writing Series, to the Old Church to share his perspectives for building up a strong writing life while keeping the topics that interest and engage us forefront in our minds. One of the things I enjoyed so much about Kenower’s presentation…

C. Lill Ahrens’ Tighty Writey Game

C. Lill Ahrens Tightens Writing

by C. Lill Ahrens The old saying, “Can’t see the forest for the trees” can be a metaphor for wordy writing. Too many extra words obscure the view of your story. In contrast to “cutting,” (the deletion of an entire subplot, minor character, etc.), “tightening” is a delicate and complex process. Its goal is to…

Ellen Urbani’s Tips for a Successful Author Reading

Today, we’re bringing you a post from Ellen Urbani who was our closing keynote at the 2016 Willamette Writers Conference. In 2015, Ellen Urbani toured the South with her novel Landfall (Forest Avenue Press, 2015). The tour brought in overflow crowds and pushed Landfall up on the bestseller lists. Upon her return to Portland, Ellen had another successful book event for Landfall,…

Don’t Wait! This Year is the Perfect Time to Become a Mentor

Do you mentor someone? What benefits of mentoring do you most enjoy? Have you ever thought of working with a young person in this way? Today, we’re delighted to share a blog post by long time member Stephanie Raffelock drawing from her experience as a mentor in our Young Willamette Writers program.  Life blessed me with a…

Literary Agent DongWon Song on the A + B = Awesome Formula

DongWon Song at WilWrite Portland PDX Jan 2017 Photo Credit Gail Pasternack

Notes from Agent DongWon Song’s Talk at Willamette Writers Portland’s Monthly Meeting, January 03, 2017, by member Amy Foster Myer. Willamette Writers launched 2017 with an excellent presentation and Q&A session in Portland with local agent DongWon Song, who agents for Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. DongWon also participates in the publishing graduate program at PSU and…

Jane Friedman in the Digital Age

You’ve finished your book. It’s been a month, a year, a decade, but you’ve polished that baby, and now it sits gleaming on your desk begging to be shared with the world. What do you, author, do now? Send it to an agent? An editor? Self-publish? Serialize it? Make an audiobook? And how does one…