OWC News | Page 2 | Oregon Writers Colony

Best-Selling Author Robert Dugoni to Lead One-Day Workshop

April 2, 2018 By Jan Bear

Best-selling and award-winning mystery writer Robert Dugoni will lead a one-day workshop Saturday, May 5, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The workshop happens at the Hayden Island Club House at Jantzen Beach.

The cost of $125 includes beverages and snacks.

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and #1 Amazon Best Selling Author of The Tracy Crosswhite series, My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, and The Trapped Girl.

Close to Home was released Sept. 5, 2017, as a #1 Amazon bestseller. The Crosswhite Series has sold more than 2 million books worldwide and My Sister’s Grave has been optioned for television series development. He is also the author of the best-selling David Sloane series—The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction, as well as the stand-alone novels The 7th Canon and The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and several short stories.

He received the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel written by an author living in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for the International Thriller Writers Award for best novel and a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best novel. His David Sloane novels have twice been nominated for the Harper Lee Award for legal fiction. His books are sold in more than 25 countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages, including French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Follow him on Twitter, @robertdugoni, and on Facebook.

Scholarship Available for 31st Annual Conference at Sylvia Beach Hotel

February 12, 2018 By Jan Bear

UPDATE: The deadline is past for the 2018 scholarship.

OWC is pleased to announce two scholarships for the 31st Annual Conference at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, Oregon, April 13-15, 2018. These scholarships are made available by the M. K. Wren Estate fund and by anonymous donors.

2018 M.K. Wren Scholarship
2018 Demarginalizing Voices Scholarship

These scholarships will cover the registration fee for the 2018 OWC Annual Conference at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, Oregon. This includes all workshop sessions along with room and board at the Hotel; accommodations may be in a shared room. We will celebrate the winners online via our website, Facebook and Twitter, with photos and a bio of the winners.

Please apply byMarch 10, 2018.

Applicants do not need to be current OWC members, but scholarship winners, if not currently members, will need to join OWC for a $30 annual fee. Depending on where winners are coming from, we may be able to help facilitate carpool transportation, but this is not guaranteed at this time. We expect to announce winners mid-March.

Questions? Please send them to Conference Programming Chair Haley Isleib at owcwriterswrite@gmail.com.

Apply today!

Marlene Howard to Lead Letter-Writing Workshop

January 5, 2018 By Jan Bear

Letter writing

Marlene Howard will lead a weekend workshop at the Colonyhouse the weekend of Feb. 24-25, 2018.

We live in an era of abundant communications, but the personal letter is more powerful than ever in making and building relationships.

Workshop participants will discuss the art of sending and receiving personal letters, and Marlene will lead a study and discussion of epistolary novels.

Two attendance plans are offered:

1. $100 per person. Double occupancy at the Colonyhouse. Price includes Saturday and Sunday breakfasts and lunches and a shared potluck dinner on Saturday night.

2. $60 per person. Saturday only. Price includes all-day workshop and Saturday lunch. Arrive at 9 a.m. for coffee and conversation. The workshop will begin at 10 a.m. and end about 4 p.m.

Any questions contact Marlene.

Sign up for the Letter Writing Workshop

Souper Weekend at Colonyhouse with Maggie Stuckey

November 17, 2017 By Jan Bear

Maggie Stuckey If you don’t have a great proposal, it doesn’t matter how good your book is.

Maggie Stuckey, Portland author, ghostwriter, book doctor, and consulting editor, unwraps the mystery of book proposals in a weekend workshop at OWC’s Colonyhouse in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, Friday through Sunday, January 26-28, 2018.

Drawing on her 30-plus years with mainstream publishers, Maggie explains why the proposal is so critical and what makes a good one, describes what editors look for and how decisions are made, and presents the individual elements in detail, item by item. You’ll receive lots of handouts, with examples and resources, and unlimited opportunity to ask questions.

On Saturday, participants will enjoy a lunch of homemade soup, drawn from Maggie’s book Soup Night. The workshop concludes with afternoon tea, inspired by Maggie’s book Country Tea Parties.

Participants may choose between the full weekend for $150 and the Saturday workshop for $80.

To sign up for the workshop, fill out the form below or download the registration form and send it with your check to Oregon Writers Colony, PO Box 15200, Portland, OR 97293.

Two-for-One Winter Conference: Fearless Writing and Book Blast-Off

November 15, 2017 By Jan Bear

Two workshops in one day will focus on Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower in the morning and Book Blast-Off with Susan Kelly in the afternoon.

Bill Kenower is well known for his Author magazine interviews, his daily blogs on writing for PNWA, and his craft books, of which the latest is Fearless Writing. Whether you’re a fledgling writer or a veteran with years of experience, fearlessness– that elusive blend of self-acceptance, confidence, and curiosity–is the defining quality of those who find fulfillment and success. Truly fearless authors banish writer’s blocks with ease, receive critiques gracefully, and infuse their passion for the craft into every word they write.

Susan Kelly is a computer nerd, editor, and bestselling fiction author. Those two attributes are not unrelated. In this workshop, she is going to show you some of the cost-effective strategies she used online to launch and build her author career. You will learn practical ways to garner reviews, sell books, and grow your reader list . . . all without leaving your home office!

The conference happens from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, in Portland. The cost is $60.