Events

Succeed with creative nonfiction, win literary prizes, and converge with other writers. Don't hesitate to check out these upcoming events:

Beyond Story: What Creative Nonfiction Can Do
September 14-16
Where: Colonyhouse, Rockaway Beach
Limit size: 6
Price: Oregon Writers Colony Members only $125. Non-members may register if they enclose a membership registration form and payment ($35) for membership in addition to the class registration.
Dorothy Blackcrow Mack, award-winning author, will lead a creative nonfiction workshop.
Click here for additional information and to reserve a spot: http://www.oregonwriterscolony.org/Writer-in-residence.htm

The Writer Mama Back-to-School Daily Giveaway
September 1-30
Christina Katz, author of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, is giving away a writing tool a day through her blog, The Writer Mama Riffs.
Check this link for more information on daily giveaways and how to participate:
http://thewritermama.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/wmbts-giveaway-station-identification/

Join the editors of Poetry Northwest at the magazine's September Happy Hour
Friday, September 21, 5-7pm
Where: The Press Club, 26th & SE Clinton
Cost: Free
Meet other local poets and aspiring writers.
For further details, call Franny at 282-6957 or e-mail frannyfrench@gmail.com or visit www.poetrynw.org

Upcoming Classes at Ink & Paper Group

Check out these upcoming classes offered by Ink & Paper Group:

FROM WRITE TO READ: A Book Marketing and Promotion Guide for Authors
Saturday, September 8, 10am-4pm
Price: $300 (includes lunch)
Lake Boggan will teach you all there is to know about book marketing and promotion. http://inkandpapergroup.com/class_descript.html#from_write_to_read

WRITING ABOUT PLACE
Monday, September 10, 1-4pm
Price: $75
Debra Gwartney will discuss the use of place and how it adds to the overall meaning and experience of the story.
http://inkandpapergroup.com/class_descript.html#writingaboutplace

SELLING FOREIGN RIGHTS FOR YOUR BOOK
Wednesday, September 12, 6:30-9pm
Price: $55
Sylvia Hayse, a well-known foreign rights agent, will advise you on how to sell the foreign rights for your novel.
http://inkandpapergroup.com/class_descript.html#sellingforeignrights


To register for classes:
Call: 503.232.0103
Or mail a check and contact information to:
Ink & Paper Group
1825 SE 7th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214

New Release Spotlight: BedTimeStories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter

BedTimeStories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter by Barbara Worton

Do you ever experience nights when you’re ready for a deep, restful sleep but find yourself tossing and turning and your mind running? So did writer Barbara Worton, and one day she decided to act on it. In BedTimeStories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter, Worton takes her readers on an adventure through a compilation of nightly thoughts that develop into short stories as she processes them in her mind, searching for clarity and a good night’s sleep. Each night at bedtime, Worton grabs a pen and paper, listens to her neurotic mind, and writes freely of the stories it tells her. But don’t let the title fool you; with each passage equaling roughly one page and a few being two to three pages in length, Worton’s stories are full of the honesty, insecurity, and humor that will have readers wide-eyed, intrigued, and wanting more with each story.

In “Enough,” the author shares her deep desire to be complete—physically and mentally—for the one she adores. In “Merci,” readers get insight into Worton’s deep desire to hear from a lost loved one. And in “My Dinner with Barbara,” the writer sits down to a lovely dinner with two other writers who have more in common with her than a love for the well-written word.

BedTimeStories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter will not only take readers on a whimsical journey through the author’s nocturnal thoughts, but will also inspire them to get out their own pen and paper, release their creative writing talents, and explore what their minds are telling them. As I did find the book uniquely entertaining, I do think the suggested $14.95 price tag is a bit high for the small paperback. The book is scheduled for release in October 2007.

Review by Jennifer Fields, Indigo Editing, LLC

BedTimeStories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter
Publisher: Great Little Books
ISBN: 978-0-97-906610-8
Paperback, $14.95

New Release Spotlight: The Best of Friends

The Best of Friends
by Sara James and Ginger Mauney

Sara James’s and Ginger Mauney’s lives in The Best of Friends are at times so outrageous—spontaneously moving to the African bush with no more than $2,000 or reporting live from Iraq—that it’s hard to believe they’re real. Yet, witnessing these women’s journeys from back-to-back prom queens to trendsetters with little money and big dreams to renowned reporter and filmmaker, respectively, is inspiring and compelling to say the least.

Sara and Ginger were polar opposites when they were kids—one brainy, the other flirty. At a slumber party one night, they found their connection: the thirst for adventure and the fear of taking life for granted. But neither knew how far their friendship would go.

After high school, when Ginger loses herself in a man she thought would be her adventure but who turned out to be her heartbreaker and Sara is climbing the news channel ladder on her way to network television, Ginger looks to Sara’s independence for guidance. And the two jump into their mid-twenties with nights out on the town, guiltless dating, and ambitious job pitches. While Sara is getting settled in New York City, Gin hears an unexpected calling—to move to the African bush and make films.

Now on two continents with careers on opposite sides of the camera, Sara and Gin continue to support each other through broken relationships, job challenges, international travels, marriages, babies, war, and illness. While Gin nurtures a baby elephant back to health in Namibia, Sara reports on the conflict in Somalia. While Gin sells her films to National Geographic, Sara interviews Steven Irwin. And while Gin stares into a tiny TV screen to see the twin towers fall on the other side of the world, Sara watches ash descend on New York City.

The intertwining chapters of these awe-inspiring women break the frame of traditional friends down the street and juxtapose the city with the bush, art with news, and sweet with bitter. The characters come to life because they are life, and Sara and Gin invite us to share in their adventures and their friendship—the kind of adventures and friendship we should all hope to obtain in our lifetimes.

Review by Ali McCart, Indigo Editing, LLC

The Best of Friends

Publisher: William Morrow

ISBN: 978-0-06-077948-1

Hardcover, $24.95

Local Events

Monday, September 3
Lyricist Sage Francis Presents the Spoken Word
Where: Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Avenue
When: 8pm
Cost: $15 adv., $17.50 dos

Tuesday, September 4
Sheldon Culver Presents Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion
Where: Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
When: 7pm
Cost: Free

Wednesday, September 5
OSU Writing Teacher Ehud Havazelet's novel Bearing the Body
Where: Powell's City of Books on Burnside, 1005 W. Burnside
When: 7:30pm
Cost: Free

Thursday, September 6
A Show of International Illustrators: The Awesome but True Electrical Institute in Outfits
Where: Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak St.
When: 6pm
Cost: Free

Thursday, September 6
Local Painter William Rihel (First Thursday)
Where: Powell's City of Books on Burnside, 1005 W. Burnside
When: 7pm
Cost: Free

Thursday, September 6
Local Poet Penelope Scambly Schott Presents A is for Anne
Where: Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy.
When: 7:30pm
Cost: Free

Friday, September 7
George Saunders's The Braindead Megaphone Essays (On Literature, Travel, and Politics)
Where: Powell's City of Books on Burnside, 1005 W. Burnside
When: 7:30pm
Cost: Free