Willamette Writers Announcements  
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Conference Offers Track on Self-Publishing
Member News, Member Books, Literary Events
Conference Update, FilmLab Update
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  Conference Offers New Track  on Self-Publishing

To assist our members who are new to self-publishing and the world of promoting self-published books, the Willamette Writers conference has added a new track that features workshops on preparing an ebook for publication and how to self promote.

William Hertling William Hertling offers a class on Every Trick in the Book for Omptimizing Your Presense on Amazon. Whether traditionally or indie published, all authors need to master the art of building a platform and marketing their work on Amazon.com. Attendees will learn how to optimize their presence and sales on Amazon by using the primary outlets Amazon provides for authors and complementing with their own mailing list and website. Amazon's Author Central, Kindle Digital Publishing, and
Recommendation Engine will be covered, along with strategies for reviews, pricing, and targeted advertising.

Jason Brick Jason Brick hosts a workshop on Build Your Writing Platform in Twelve Months. Success as a writer increasingly relies on a writer's skill at self promotion, a skill many excellent writers have never had a chance to learn. Participants will leave this workshop with a personalized "10,000-foot view" plan for establishing or expanding their writing brand in one year's time. Topics include: How to set and achieve longterm writing goals, three-pronged strategy for building a platform and brand, and month-by-month planning for each of the three prongs.

Cherie Lasota Cheri Lasota offers a workshop on Design Your EBook: Create a Reader's Dream. Learn basic and more advanced design techniques for making your novel unique, interactive, and beautiful. We'll cover several types of software and answer your most pressing questions on ebook design.

To learn more about our great line up of workshops, visit the conference website.




Vancouver Writer's Critique Group

 

All Genres Welcome

 

Monday, June 10 from 1pm to 3pm

 

Vancouver Community Library (main branch)

4th floor Skamania Room

email goldbeckjm@comcast.net for info

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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A CRITIQUE GROUP?

We are three PDX writers of fiction that meet twice a month to give each other critical feedback in a supportive atmosphere. Our practice is to circulate our writing to each other a few days before we meet. After a potluck in one of our homes, we focus on sharing our comments and suggestions for later revisions as well as discussions of substantive issues (e.g. POV, dialogue, scene, character) that arise out of our work. Another writer or two who have works in progress would be welcome.

We meet on Tuesday evenings (6-9).

If you are interested in checking out our group, please contact:   annferguson4@comcast.net  with a brief description of what you are working on at the moment.

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Michael Matthews' book Getting There: A Gulf Islands Adventure won a silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

 

Literary Events Logo


For May we have two dynamic women reading at In Other Words.

Come join in the fun at 7 p.m. on May 21st.

Heidi Schuler is a local up and coming poet currently in the Pacific MFA program who also has just been named the winner of the $5000 Rattle Poetry Prize (one of three Portland poets in the top 11).

Stephanie Lenox returns to us with her shiny new book Congress of Strange People and will share her work about the marvelous characters she has found in the Guinness Book of World Records. And as always, prompts, cookies and open mic.

Heidi lives in Portland, Oregon, and attends Pacific University's MFA program in Poetry with a sanctioned diversion in Playwriting. Her first chapbook "Other Heroes" contains her Pushcart nominated poem "The Trials of a Teenage Transvestite's Single Mother" which won the Rattle Magazine Poetry Prize in 2012. Copies of "Other Heroes" are available for free as part of Heidi's exploration in the experience of gifting art, through her website: heidishuler.com


Stephanie Lenox's poetry chapbook, The Heart That Lies Outside the Body, won the Slapering Hol Chapbook Contest and was published in 2007. Her full-length collection,Congress of Strange People, was published in 2012. She teaches creative writing at Willamette University and is cofounder of the online literary journal, Blood Orange Review.

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Comics - Songwriting - Memoir - Publishing - Fiction - Poetry --Playwriting -- Hemingway!

Compose Creative Writing Conference
Saturday, June 1st
at Clackamas Community College, Oregon City

It's free, but you must register before workshops fill up.
Registration begins May 15.

To see the schedule and learn more, visit:
https://ccccreativewritingconference.wordpress.com/

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This summer Roosevelt students will be publishing a book that explores race, culture and identity. We hope students, parents and community members from various cultural communities will contribute to this book.

We invite you to contribute a poem, fictional or true story, drawing, song lyric or black and white photograph related to our theme.

(Please target narratives to be no more than 250 words. Short stories may be longer.)

Submit by June 14, 2013

Contact
romanrocha@ymail.com for submission details or visit this website for more information.



Pre-Production Begins on "Inspiration"

 By Ruth Witteried

 

 

FiLMLaB has begun pre-production on Barbara Thomas's winning short, INSPIRATION. Director Christopher Alley is working out the final script details with the writer and executive producers; scouting locations for the shoot, casting the roles and lining up a professional creChristopher Alleyw.

 

(Director Chris Alley on set) 

 

To give you a sense of scope, let's take a look at shooting day on the set of last year's winner,  ALIS VOLAT PROPRIIS.

 

 

 Alis Shoot First, there's the location. How many and what kinds of locations are required? Are they interior or exterior? Can space be borrowed, rented or otherwise utilized for the necessary hours to set up and film? Haley Isleib, our 2012 winner, happened to know someone with an empty house available to us for a full week, an unbelievably lucky circumstance. This allowed the set designer to work undisturbed on creating just the right tone and atmosphere necessary for the film.


(Production Designer Emily Wahl, Cinematographer Eric Macey and Randall Jahnson on set)

 

 

Alis Shoot How many actors are needed? Do you audition the roles in an all out casting call, or put the word out to a few select, known actors you can rely on? Will you need a script manager to track dialogue during the shoot and keep the actors and director on the same page? Who will do their make-up and wardrobe? Who will light them in a way that will support the character and the subtext the actor brings to the role?  Who will light the rooms to accentuate the mood the writer and director are trying to convey? Are there exterior light sources to be controlled?

 

 

 

Are there exterior sounds to be controlled; barking dogs, sirens, a frat party that will not shut down? Last year, we had people across the street restoring a classic car, which everyone knows Alis Sound you cannot do without a bitchin' back beat! But it was intruding on the interior set. Emissaries were sent with no result,  the men coming back empty handed until I went over with the lovely Brynn Baron to mount a major charm offensive. We asked about their car (my Dad had an old T-Bird!), their lovely garden (how do you keep those tropicals alive in this climate!) and, eventually, told them about our little project in the house across the street. That, coupled with some  donuts and soda from the cooler, gained their cooperation.

 

(Sound Mixer, Brian Mazzola)

And you wondered what producers did all day!

 

Still more needs to be considered. Who can man the cameras, act as cinematographer and assistant director? Are special licenses required to shut down a street so you can get that amazing shot? What kind of props are needed to fill out the set? Is there time to do an original musical score, or at least start it in pre-production, or do you try to secure copyrights to existing music, knowing it can take weeks?

 

Who will feed your cast and crew? How many meals are required is based largely on how long the shoot is. Are there dietary restrictions to consider?

 

And lastly, who will keep those camp chairs from blowin g away?

 

Alis Shoot Pre-production is a myriad of details that need to be worked out collaboratively long before the actors show up. It's similar to taking a family of sixteen camping. If all you do is pile everyone in the car and start driving, you are in for a miserable experience that no one will ever want to share with you. With proper planning and task assignment, however, it could be the highlight of your year. Those of us involved in FiLMLaB 's production are going to do everything we can to make this an amazing adventure for Barbara Thomas and a highlight of the 2013 Willamette Writers Conference. We hope you'll join us in our journey this year and in years to come.

 
(Ruth Witteried doing producer stuff with assistant camermen Roberto Gongora and Paulius Kontijevas)

 

 

Ruth Witteried is Film Coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference and Executive Producer of last year's winning short, "Alis Volat Propriis". She teaches Introduction to Screenwriting at Clark College in Vancouver, WA. You can follow her on Facebook at SitYourAssDown, or on Twitter @sityourassdown1.