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LIFE WRITING RULES

Rules for life writing: Get a life. Pay attention. Find a favorable form. Then what?

WRITING ROOTS: HOW DEEP DO THEY GROW

Writing roots are reading roots. Everybody knows that from their first grade if they had a teacher as good as Mrs. Baker. I recall her saying, ‘Our writing is a reflection of our reading.’ I believed it then as I believe it now. (Folding a corner to mark my place in Patrick DeWitt’s novel The […]

OLD LESSON PLAN FOR NEW TIMES

An old lesson plan? From Aristotle? Who needs one with new lessons every day? More like who doesn’t? Sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in.

HOBBY BLOGGER EXPLAINS: WHY BOTHER WRITING?

Hobby blogger here, busy counting vanity metrics. Google analytics reports traffic from Seattle, not so much from Portland. West Coast readers show up more than any other region in the country. Call me a West Coast hobby blogger? I’ll take it, but . . .

Johnny Shaw In The House (Old Church)

Once a month on the first Tuesday, Willamette Writers meet in Portland, Oregon. The Old Church near Portland State plays host. Eleven times a year a guest speaker takes the stage. The missing month is August because of the Conference. Johnny Shaw, author of Dove Season, spoke to the gathering for September. One part industry insider, one part […]