A Writer’s Place Blog
Plan Your Writer’s Website
Sign up by April 15 and get a free ($50 value) critique of your website, or another site from which you’d like to use elements.
WORKSHOP AGENDA:
Hour 1
We’ll talk about domain registration and web hosting. By the time you leave, you’ll know not only what these terms mean, you’ll also have a list of reliable companies to choose from. You’ll also learn how to install WordPress on your website.
I’ll provide access to short videos refreshing your memory about how to do these steps after you go home.
Hour 2
We’ll talk about headers, columns, and navigation. Fonts and images. “Above the fold” and “below the fold.” We’ll look at some sample websites and explore the world of free and premium themes.
Then we’ll create a preliminary sketch of your site. We’ll have colored pencils and paper site elements — columns, images, text, fonts — to push around. What do you want your home page to look like? Inner pages?
It’s not about polished art, and you probably won’t have time to produce a finished web design. But you’ll learn about the elements, think creatively about what’s possible, get feedback, and maybe get the germ of an idea that will lead to something great. At the very least, you’ll come away with a hand-to-eye understanding of what’s involved in web design so that you’re in a better position to make decisions.
Break
Hour 3
We’ll put away the colored pencils and talk about site organization. What kind of content works for fiction vs. nonfiction. How to organize your site to speak to one audience, along with some options for expanding into different kinds of writing or different audiences.
We’ll talk about the difference between posts and pages, and between categories and tags. We’ll talk about navigation and how to use WordPress menus.
We’ll also talk about plugins for social media.
Hour 4
The last hour will focus on writing. Specifically, writing for the web: what makes it different from the other kinds of writing you do; how to talk to the search engine robots; to blog or not to blog.
We’ll end the day with a generous block of time for questions, and we’ll give each person the chance to talk about the challenges of creating a website.
It doesn’t take a year to create a website; you can get it online in an afternoon. Then begins the process of making it better and better.
Let’s all work together to get your website off the “someday list” and onto “tomorrow afternoon.”
Cancellation Policy: All cancellations are subject to a $35 cancellation fee. Cancellations received SEVEN (7) DAYS before the program date are refundable. Sending in this form or signing up at the website indicates that you have read and understand the cancellation policy.
Sign up now via PayPal:
Member ($60):
Non-Member ($1o0):
If you would prefer to pay by check, please print and mail this Registration Form.
For information, contact Jan Bear.
Epublishing Conference
The New Publishing World: Everything You Need To Know From E to Z
START TIME: Mar 24 2012 – 09:00 AM
Portland Airport Sheraton
Take Advantage of New Technology & The Digital Revolution!
March 24/25, 9:00AM to 5PM at the Airport Sheraton – 8235 NE Airport Way
Saturday, March 24
· Understanding Terminology and Finding Resources
· Amazon.com, CreateSpace & Kindle Direct presentation and display
· Tablet/eReader display and chance for hands-on examination
· Presentation/Training about The Importance of eBook Formatting & How To Build a Better eBook
· Uploading: Understanding the various “eTailers”
· Hospitality Room – Meal and beverages in the evening
Sunday, March 25
· Nonfiction eBook Marketing/Promoting
· Fiction eBook Marketing/Promoting
· Author Websites
· Social Media
· Running Your Own E-Publishing Company
· Ask The Experts – Q&A at End of Day
For more complete details, presenter names, and the time schedule, please CLICK HERE.
Cancellation Policy: All cancellations are subject to a $50 cancellation fee. Cancellations received SEVEN (7) DAYS before the program date are refundable. Sending in this form or signing up at the website indicates that you have read and understand the cancellation policy.
To register, print and mail the Registration Form.
You can also sign up via PayPal:
Registration for 2-day ePublishing workshop ($189):
Jump Start
Monday, June 18, 2012, 6:30-9:00pm
Jump Start is a free meeting for all interested writers, members and non-members. The program will feature a published author reading and talking about his writing life, break-out groups for topics such as craft building needs, and a menu for possible future workshops. In addition, time will allow for genre discussion groups and the possibility of forming critique groups for specific genres.
Jump Start will be held at TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont St. Portland, OR 97215.
NW Book Festival
Saturday, July 28, 2012, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
4th Annual NW Book Festival
OWC has reserved two spaces for our members at this book festival. If you have a book or books for sale send an e-mail to Marlene Howard marlenehow@comcast.net to claim your spot at our tables. Details will be sent out to interested members toward the end of April.
Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR (corner of SW Morrison and SW Sixth Avenue)
Mentor Heather Sharfeddin
START TIME: Apr 27 2012 – 6:00 PM
Colonyhouse, Rockaway Beach
Novelist Heather Sharfeddin will be offering private one-on-one mentoring for novel writers as part of our Mentor in the House weekend program. Both beginning and advanced writers should consider this unique opportunity to work closely with an accomplished fiction writer.
From April 27th @ 6 PM to April 29th @ 3 PM, Mrs. Sharfeddin will live and write at the Colonyhouse, a historic log cabin on the Oregon Coast at Rockaway Beach, and will be available for personally tailored hour-long consultations with each retreat participant. In addition to plenty of time to write over the weekend, an optional Saturday night sharing allows participants to workshop their writing in a relaxed atmosphere with the mentor and other retreat-goers.
The cost of the retreat is $150 for members, and $190 for non-members (includes a one-year Oregon Writers Colony membership). This price includes shared lodging at the Colonyhouse. Participants are expected to provide their own food and bedding. A communal meal may be arranged with the consent of the mentor.
Heather Sharfeddin is the author of four novels set in the modern rural West. Her debut novel, Blackbelly, received the Erick Hoffer Book Award and the San Francisco Book Festival Award. Her third novel, Windless Summer, received the New York Book Festival Award. Her stories are acclaimed by the Chicago Tribune, San Diego Times, Washington Post, Boston Tribune, Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, among many others. Her articles and poetry are published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Art.
Cancellation Policy: All cancellations are subject to a $50 cancellation fee. Cancellations received SEVEN (7) DAYS before the program date are refundable. Sending in this form or signing up at the website indicates that you have read and understand the cancellation policy.
Sign up now via PayPal:
Member ($150):
Non-Member ($190):
If you would prefer to pay by check, please print and mail the Mentor in the House Registration Form.
For information, contact James Bernard Frost.
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest
For the Short Story Contest, click here.
For a printable flyer and entry form for both contests, click here.
Contest deadline: August 15, 2012
Poetry awards
- First prize: $100
- Second prize: $50
- Third prize: $25
- First, Second and Third prize poems will be published in the Colonygram. All winners will be listed inside the Colonygram and on the OWC website.
- Winners are invited to read their winning entry at the awards ceremony.
Poetry contest rules
- Up to three poems per entry, any form or style, original and unpublished.
- Fee per entry: $10 (OWC members), $15 (non-members).
- No author name on poems. This is an anonymous contest.
- Multiple entries are permitted.
- One entry (up to three poems) per submission packet.
Include in Poetry submission packet:
- Two copies of each poem. (Please keep originals; entries will not be returned.)
- One business envelope with the following inside:
- Check for entry fee
- 3×5 card (no odd-sized cards, please) with:
- Your name, address, phone, and email;
- Poem titles;
- How you heard about this contest (online, word-of-mouth, etc.);
- OWC Member or non-member status;
- SASP (self-addressed stamped postcard for notice of receipt and your peace of mind).
Mailing address for Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest:
OWC Contest
Judith Massee
3415 S.E. Steele Street
Portland, OR 97202-4161
You may also pay your entry fee in advance by PayPal:
Members: $10
Non-members: $15
Direct inquiries to Judith by email.
Contest judges:
 |
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest Final Judge: Sue Parman Sue Parman is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. Since moving to Oregon in 2009 she has received over ten writing awards, including four first-place awards from the Oregon State Poetry Association and Oregon Writers Colony and two Kay Snow Awards from Willamette Writers. Her play Queen Victoria’s Secret (published in Voice Catcher and nominated for the Pushcart Prize) was performed in Portland’s Fertile Ground New Play Festival in 2011 and at Powell’s Bookstore and the Portland Central Library in 2012. In 2012 her play The Gorilla in Beowulf was produced by Portland Theatre Works as part of their fund-raiser, For Better or for Verse. Her poems have appeared in Faultlines, Cloudbank, Verseweavers, Slant, The Hiram Poetry Review, The Elephant-Ear, The Blue Mouse, and the Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal. Her chapbook The Thin Monster House will be published by Finishing Line Press in June 2012. |
2011 Contest Winners Announced
Celebrity judges, author Robin Cody, and poet Barbara Davis Kroon announced the winners of the Oregon Writers Colony annual writing contests in October. OWC received more than one hundred entries from all over the United States, and even one from Australia.
Short Story Fiction
1st place
Patricia Barnhart
Lakeview, Oregon
Coda
(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
Coda opens like “Lives of the Cowboys” with four horny wise-crackin’ pards playin’ poker in the bunkhouse, but in the morning, when they have work to do, four distinct and appealing characters emerge. They know their horses and they feel the landscape and they get under one another’s skins. The chase is dramatic, not gratuitous, and it leads to a smart twist at the end.
2nd place
Beth Navarro
Corvallis, Oregon
Loba
3rd place
Nancy K. Berry
Seaside, Oregon
Classified Miracle
First Honorable Mention
Kathleen Ewing
Prescott Valley, Arizona
Living Legend
Short Story Non-Fiction
1st place
Joanne Arledge
Yonkers, New York
The Birds
(Judge Robin Cody’s comment)
The Birds is a complete short story of the sudden shift in little sister’s view of herself in relation to three wild brothers in a broken family. Boy! This is narrative nonfiction at its best, with finely detailed scenes, a strong sense of place and a sharpshooting, immensely appealing narrator.
2nd place
Valerie Lake
Corvallis Oregon
The Man with No Legs
3rd place
Rick Lamplugh
Corvallis, Oregon
Slugging it Out in the Garden
First Honorable Mention
Samantha Ducloux Waltz
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Persuasion
Other Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical)
Linda Elin Hamner Philomath, Oregon O Christmas Tree…O Christmas Tree…
Judith Allen Manzanita, Oregon Boots
Rachael S. Neal Missoula, Montana Kind Eyes
Kate Gilbert Richmond, NSW, Australia Strong Lines
Dee Roy Albany, Oregon Different Kind of Snake
Sara Truitt Claremont California Daughter
Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest
1st Prize
Ada Molinoff
Salem, Oregon
Tethered
2nd Prize
Kathryn Graves-Messer
Keizer, Oregon
Steam
3rd Prize
Gail Black
Portland, Oregon
The Arleta Library
1st Honorable Mention
Jeffrey Jensen
Portland, Oregon
Orpheus The Haunt
2nd Honorable Mention
Kathryn Graves-Messer
Keizer, Oregon
At The Mouth of The Klamath River
3rd Honorable Mention
Gwendolyn Morgan
Willapa Bay
Ecotones
RaeAnn Proost Releases Stories
ReeAnn Proost has released a collaboration of stories titled, Just a Heartbeat Away: Reconciled to the Loss of our Children.
Fourteen parents celebrate the lives of their children, share their loss and unfathomable grief, provide unique insights, and offer up glimmers of inspiration and hope. To bare the heart is a painful and daunting task. The stories are fraught with memories, calamitous sadness, and hope. Here is advice and understanding, along with peace and comfort, for the mothers and fathers who sadly must follow in our footsteps. We work through our grief to find a new normal, and we know we are not alone.
The book contains a forward and afterward by Chaplain Joy LePage Smith, MA, and is available by emailing
heartbeat@bendbroadband.com, from Book Locker, or from your favorite bookstore.
Robyn Parnell’s Short Stories
Robyn Parnell’s story “Here is What” is published in the current issue of Bellevue Literary Review, 10th Anniversary Issue, v. 11 No. 2, Fall 2011, and her story “Modus Operandi” appears in Wild Violet’s “Passion” issue, v. X #1, Fall 2011.
Patricia Steele’s New Book
Patricia Steele, an OWC member living in Virginia, has published Mooning Over A Drug Card on Kindle. It can be purchased for $2.99. She has a blog at www.patriciasteele.blogspot.com . The blog helped her meet many of the Spanish members of her Silvan family. She just returned from interviewing 12 of them.