Colonygram: Winter 2013 by Olivia Croom

Vol. 28 No. 1 Winter 2013

How the Oregon Book Club Was Born ne of the beauties of the way our founders have run the

OOregon Writers Colony is that they always made room for

new ideas. Chance conversations became workshops. Coffee with a friend became a contest. A writing group meeting became the Colonyhouse itself. At the OWC you could think up anything and just do it. There’s always been a spirit of yes to the Oregon Writers Colony, and it was in this spirit that we launched the Oregon Book Club. The idea started simple—we wanted to create a new membership bonus for our members who contribute more than the standard membership amount. We thought of something writers like—books—combined it with our mission, and came up with an idea. The Oregon Book Club, a new membership level where we send a book a season to higher paying members. The books would be written by Oregon authors, newly published, and would be dominated by work from small houses, helping fulfill our mission to support writers at all stages of their development. Something strange happened, though, once we launched our new membership perk. We realized our small idea was actually a big one. Since we began the Oregon Book Club we’ve gotten amazing responses about the program. It’s filling a gap—a way for local authors to compete with the publicity machines of big New York houses and 99-cent books on Amazon. We’ve gotten submissions from authors, accolades from the community, and interest from funders. Our inaugural book club choice is by an Oregon author, published by an Oregon publisher, and set in Oregon. Dan DeWeese teaches 5th grade basketball at Buckman Elementary and English at Portland State University. You won’t find Dan on Facebook, trying to be the loudest self-promoter. You won’t find him engaging audiences at the Schnitzer. You might not even find his book at a bookstore. But you’ll find Dan’s work here. And it’s really good.

In This Issue Oregon Book Club . . . . 1 From the Executive Director . . . . 2 Sylvia Beach Conference . . . . 3

Workshops . . . . 4–6 Colonyhouse Happenings . . . . 6 Poetry Prize Winners . . . . 7

We have plans to expand the Oregon Book Club in 2013. We have a fantastic coordinator, the former bookseller and author Alexis Smith. Amber Keller, the Author Coordinator for Wordstock, will also be lending us a hand. We’ll be talking to bookstores about carrying Oregon Book Club books, granting organizations about funding publicity for local authors, and our non-profit partners about growing visibility for the program. We’re excited about this nascent idea and hope you’ll sign up as an Oregon Book Club member. It’s all in the organic spirit of our founders—saying yes and watching things grow.

Sign Up Members can add the Oregon Book Club to their memberships on our website at www.oregonwriterscolony. org/membership. Receive four books over the course of a year for $59.

Letter from the Executive Director Things have gotten a little weird at the Oregon Writers Colony. We have some of the same amazing workshop instructors: Jan Bear will be offering an Internet Marketing for Writers class in January, and Lori Lake will be teaching a craft class in March. But we also have new people: Lidia Yuknavitch is our featured speaker at the Sylvia Beach Conference. She’s an award-winning author with burning prose who regularly appears in bookstores in a swimsuit. In March, Joshua Mohr will be coming to town to teach a workshop on using characters to drive plot. Mr. Mohr’s novel Some Things that Meant t he World to Me was an Editor’s Choice on the New York Times bestseller list. He also happens to be a tattooed San Franciscan who writes characters with names like No Eyebrows. But then, maybe things have always been different at the Oregon Writers Colony. After all, what other literary organization owns a Steiner cabin on the Oregon Coast with roots for door handles? We hope you’ll attend some of the workshops and conferences this winter by both our regular and new workshop leaders. There’s something crackling in the air around the OWC—come catch some of that energy and channel it into your writing. We also hope you’ll let us know what you think of this unique design for the Colonygram, illustrated by zine publisher Asher Craw, designed by book design master’s student Olivia Croom, and edited by Erica Steckl. In an effort to welcome younger members to the OWC, we’ve decided to experiment with the look and feel of the newsletter. It’s definitely something to store in the archives. A thousand words a day,

James Bernard Frost

Mission Statement Oregon Writers Colony offers support to writers in all stages of their writing careers, from novices to published authors.

The Oregon Writers Colony would like to thank the following people and organizations for their support:

Sylvia Beach Spring Conference April 19th-21st, 2013 Sylvia Beach Hotel, Newport, OR With Award-Winning Author Lidia Yuknavitch and Donadio & Olson Agent Carrie Howland

ide words and waves at our 26th Annual Spring Conference, which features author-led workshops on voice and on-the-body writing, and a chance to pitch your manuscript to an agent. Your weekend includes fantastic meals, the inspirational ambience of the Sylvia Beach Hotel, and workshops and lectures by two rising literary stars.

Lidia Yuknavitch is the author of the memoir The Chronology of Water and the novel Dora: A Headcase as well as three books of short stories and a critical book on war and narrative. Her work has appeared in The Sun, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, The Rumpus, BOMB, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of an Oregon Book Award, a Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Award, and grants from Poets and Writers, Literary Arts Inc., and Oregon Literary Arts. She lives and teaches in Oregon and is the creator of chiasmus press.

Carrie Howland is a literary agent at Donadio & Olson, where she represents literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. Carrie is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives and writes for its newsletter. She speaks at various writing conferences throughout the year and also volunteers annually as a judge for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Carrie holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Albion College. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Sign Up Online or mail-in registration forms, the schedule for the weekend, as well as information about cost, can be accessed on our website at www.oregonwriterscolony.org. Conference rates vary based on room choice. Individual, couple, and shared accommodations are available. Sylvia Beach rooms all have a literary theme; to view your choices, visit the hotel website at www.sylviabeachhotel.com. Off-site registration for the conference will be made available once the hotel has been filled.

Workshop: Internet Marketing for Writers January 26th, 2013 10am-5pm, Writer’s Dojo SESSION 1: 10am-1pm Planning Your Writer’s Website If you’re an author, you need a website. But it’s a daunting task, and it’s hard to know where to start. Get answers to important questions such as: • How do I choose a domain name I can live with for the long haul? • How can I choose a design that will connect with my audience? • How can I organize information so that readers will stay beyond that critical first five seconds? • How can I talk to the search engines so that they’ll send traffic my way? • How do I write so that web readers stick around? Jan Bear helps authors rule the age of digital publishing. New media, new ways of communicating, and new marketing methods make it possible to get your book into the hands of your ideal audience. She explores authors’ strategies and opportunities in the wake of the digital publishing revolution. Visit her website at MarketYourBookBlog.com.

SESSION 2: 2pm-5pm Blogs and Social Media for Writers You probably use social media. Maybe you’ve started a blog. But how do you turn it into a tool? How do you use it for good—that is, the good of your art? This course will delve into a variety of social media, and discuss best practices for using each one to manage your “brand” and market your work, without selling yourself out (or selling yourself short). We’ll discuss: • To blog or not to blog? Whether or not you should keep your own space on the blogosophere, and how often you should tend it. • The Little Bear Rule of Facebook. How much is “just right”? • Toot toot! Why you should toot your own horn, and how to do it gracefully. • Getting raw, but not bloody. How to find the line between seeming real and oversharing. • Kick it off! Using Kickstarter for passion and profit.

Sarah Gilbert spent years writing and launching blogs for first-of-their-kind social media companies, including a three-year stint with AOL. She has been published in Oregon Humanities magazine, the Water~Stone Review, and elsewhere. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and received a ‘Notable’ in Best American Essays 2012 for her piece “Veteran’s Day.” She is editor-in-chief of Stealing Time, a print literary magazine for parents.

Cost Single session: $70 for members and $110* for non-members; Two sessions: $125 for members and $165* for non-members *Non-member prices include a one-year OWC membership.

Creating Dynamic Characters with Lori Lake March 9th, 2013 10:00am-5:00pm, Tabor Space Characters are at the heart of all compelling fiction. Whether you’re writing commercial fiction or the Great American Novel, the techniques of character development and characterization are critical to your success. But how do we bring these imaginary creations to life on the page? We’ll explore how the best characters are expressed and revealed, and the approaches you can use to help you deepen and expand your leads, antagonists, and secondary characters through a series of writing exercises and discussion. Bring along the story people you are currently working on—or come prepared to envision and develop new ones. Lori Lake is the author of two short story collections and ten novels, including four books in The Gun Series and two in the recently launched Public Eye Mystery Series. Her crime fiction stories have been featured in anthologies such as “Silence of the Loons,” “Once Upon A Crime,” “Women of the Mean Streets,” and “Writes of Spring.” Lori taught fiction writing at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis for seven years, and has presented workshops and classes at numerous conferences and writers’ gatherings. Cost Members: $95; Non-members: $135* *Non-member price includes a one-year membership to the Oregon Writers Colony

Using Character to Drive Plot with Joshua Mohr March 22nd, 2013 1:00-4:00pm, Writers Dojo

Sign Up Online and mail-in registration forms are available on o u r w e b s i t e a t w w w. oregonwriterscolony.org. Attendees should bring a brown bag lunch.

The best plots aren’t controlled by an authorial presence but spring from the characters themselves. The writer is behind both, but by training ourselves to think our protagonists are sovereign beings, we become better prepared to traverse what I call “plarachterization”—the intersection between plot and characterization. This seminar for both fiction and non-fiction writers will be geared around character decision making, the causality between plot points, and how to keep a reader flipping pages. We’ll also explore specific tactics for constructing a present action and how to fold in backstory. We will do in-class exercises that emphasize the necessary “trial and error” it takes for an author to familiarize herself with her players and their plights. Joshua Mohr is the author of three novels, most recently “Damascus,” which The New York Times called “Beat-poet cool.” He’s also written “Some Things that Meant the World to Me,” one of O Magazine’s Top 10 reads of 2009 and a San Francisco Chronicle best-seller, as well as “Termite Parade,” an Editors’ Choice on The New York Times Best Seller List. His new novel, “Fight Song,” will be published February 2013. Cost Members: $70; Non-members: $110* *Non-member price includes a one-year membership to the Oregon Writers Colony

Mentor in the House Weekend with Jen Violi March 22nd-March 24th, 2013 Colonyhouse, Rockaway Beach, OR Author and book coach Jen Violi will be offering private one-on-one editorial consultations as part of our Mentor in the House weekend program, with a focus on young adult fiction. Writers seeking a professional eye on their YA projects should consider this unique opportunity to work closely with an accomplished fiction writer and coach. For the weekend, Ms. Violi will live and write at the Colonyhouse, and will be available for personally tailored hour-long consultations with each retreat participant. In addition to plenty of writing time, an optional Saturday night sharing allows participants to workshop their writing in a relaxed atmosphere with the mentor and other retreat-goers. Jen Violi is the author of Putting Makeup on Dead People. She also wrangles manuscripts and mentors writers, helping them to bring forth the books they were meant to write. Cost $150: Members; $190: Non-members* *Non-member price includes a one-year OWC membership.

Sign Up Online and mail-in registrations are available on our website at www.oregonwriterscolony.org. 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.

Colonyhouse News

inter and early Spring is a wonderful time to go to the

WColonyhouse. Stormy weather is the perfect time to hunker

by the fireplace and write—or you might catch that magical February week of clear skies and empty beaches. We have openings for a variety of options for both guided and private writing retreats. Mentor in the House weekends allow you to write under the guidance of a mentor, while Writers Week is a time for individuals to write in the presence of other writers at low cost. We also have many open dates in which to plan a private retreat for yourself or your writing group. Marlene Howard coordinates the Colonyhouse, and is available for inquires at marlenehow@comcast.net.

Member News

Ted Magnuson’s novel was published in October by Cascade Saga Press. The Bouchard Legacy is a coming of age story set in St. Louis, MO in the 1960s and ’70s.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz’s story, “Christmas Magic,” was included in the paperback edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Gift of Christmas.

Sue Parman’s short story, “The Spirit Bird,” was published in The Grove Review (Vol. 3, No. 2).

Carolyn J. Rose has published Sea of Regret, the sequel to her suspense novel An Uncertain Refuge, which takes place at a wildlife rehabilitation center on the Oregon Coast.

Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Prize Winners

First Place Winner

Third Place Winner

Familiar Skeletons

Miasma

In the way of hermit crabs, my Emily has just changed shells again—she took up the hollow of Thoreau who had died

November’s wind blows at the gate Mid-morning Math, she clumps in late. Her mother’s heels with pointy toes. Snot glissading from her nose.

She taps her old shell with claw and antenna—does not take a step without touching the conch that held her for so long.

No socks to bundle blue-tinged skin. Mud-splattered knees, scab-covered shins. Ripped fingernails engulfed in crud, One scuffed-up elbow oozing blood.

Soon, she moves back in— preferring to tote old baggage.

Long, tangled, ropy flaxen hair Falls over eyes that vacuous stare. Blind but not blind. Dense or dumb? She rubs her crusty eye with thumb.

Barb McMakin

Her azure satin dress, a wreck, Hangs slack and filthy from her neck. Mid-calf it falls, ripped at the waist. Stained pilgrim collar trimmed in lace.

Second Place Winner Indescribable Things Blessed is the concave of your wrist, sharp plane of your shoulder blade, blessed are the equations of emptiness in the hollows of elbow and knee, the sinusoidal dip and curve of each vertebrae resolving itself upwards. Blessed is the soft vector of your hair sweeping across your face, the freckles graphed across cheekbones, blessed is the bow of your lip describing lower lip. Blessed are the words they speak, sign and symbol. Blessed is the uprush and pause of air into lung, the rhythm of heart, cathode flash of electrical flash sparking nerve to fingertip, blessed are the clockwork constructions of bone, joint fitted into joint, blessed are your eyes, that color, that infinity, the long bright fall

Our teacher sits her by the grate, No punishment for being late. She smiles at us. Our hearts are stone. We do our math, leave her alone. At recess time she wants to play. We laugh at her and run away. Confused, she chases us. Stops. Stands, But we ignore her outstretched hands. Ghosts like her leave soon, we know. We hoard our love, dispense more woe. She is not there, nor her despair. Our hearts on hold, she turns to air. Karen Keltz

Morgan Azinger

Oregon Writers Colony

Board of Directors Sarah Gilbert, President Marlene Howard, Vice President Rae Richen, Treasurer Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Norgia Price, Secretary Brad Bortnem Kerry Cohen Linda Leslie Judy Massee Martha Miller Judy Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill Tom Snethen Cowli Villiardos Bob Zimmer

Staff

James Bernard Frost, Executive Director Laurel Hermanson, Communications Coordinator Gloria Harrison, Director, Mentor in the House Program Alexis Smith, Director, Oregon Book Club

Resource Council Val Brooks Larissa Brown Carol Cole Frank Galea Dian Hilliard Lori Lake Rachel Uris George Wright

Masthead

Erica Steckl, Editor Olivia Croom, Designer Asher Craw, Illustrator

Oregon Writers Colony P.O. Box 15200 Portland OR 97293-5200 Messages: (503) 714-5374 Email: info@oregonwriterscolony.org