right here, write now

Conference Registration Now OPEN!

The moment has finally arrived!  Our esteemed and inspiring faculty is booked, stellar and stimulating workshops are scheduled, and it is nearly registration time at last!  Join us May 18, 19 and 20th for North Central Washington’s only writing conference.   Literary agent appointments and workshop spots are on a first-come, first-served basis, so register now and don’t miss out on any part of our best conference yet!  Early Bird Registration (with reduced registration rates!) has been extended to May 8…register now to save money on this year’s fantastic Conference! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR MAIL-IN REGISTRATION FORM! To view this year’s full slate of workshops, click here. To read about our incredible faculty of presenters, click here.

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The Practice of Writing

I sit across from my patient telling her that we are going to try a new medication. I tell her that I have waited about a year after its release to try it, just to make sure there was not some unanticipated disaster when it was used in the general population. I look it up on my Epocrates app and discuss how to use it and the side effects. I tell her that the treatment is new to me and to let me know if anything unexpected happens.

And that’s when she says it… I know she’s going to say it… they all do: “I guess that’s why they call it ‘practicing medicine’!” And we both smile at the joke. It’s funny, but then every good joke, just like every good novel has a spine of truth running through it. And every good writer must practice as well.

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Gone Fishin’

I think a lot about why I write, how I write and and what I write. I don’t very often think about when I started, but I did this weekend, on a traditional fly fishing outing with my friends of the feathered lure.

Many authors tell stories about their launch into a career of writing. There are tales of authors that started scribbling their first lines in crayon on the bedroom walls. Other authors bloomed in their fifties, sixties and even later after other lives and careers.

I would have to classify myself as a hybrid of these. My writing began early, went deep and was pulled out of the water on a fly-fishing line.

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First Ever High School Writers Competition Winners Announced!

We were thrilled with the number and quality of the entries we received in our first ever High School Writers Competition (generously sponsored by 2011 Keynote Chelsea Cain).  Nearly thirty teens from our region boldly threw their hat in the literary ring and we were blown away by their talent and enthusiasm.  Truly to all: kudos, congrats and thank you! We would like to further congratulate this year’s Grand Prize Winner and Honorable Mentions: Grand Prize Winner of the 2012 High School Writers Competition: “Hypernormal” by Alexandrea Nessi of Eastmont Jr. High (Ninth Grade).   Judges’ Top Picks For Honorable Mention: “The Night” by Kassandra Leighton of Cashmere High School (Twelfth Grade) “It Was You Who Found Me” by Morgan Olsen of West Side High School (Twelfth Grade) “Bea: A Cinderella Twist” by Carissa Climer of Wenatchee High School (Twelfth Grade)

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Early Bird Registration Extended!

Write On The River’s “Early Bird Registration,” with its reduced registration fees, has been extended to May 8!  Register before then and save money on this year’s Conference!  Don’t miss your chance to enjoy three days of inspiration, networking, and skill-building at North Central Washington’s only Writing Conference!  Click here to register for Write On The River 2012.

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Getting it Done

Well here goes. Every great suspense novel has a timer ticking. Kay Kenyon mentioned recently that she thought I should not be spending more than a half hour on the blog each week and that I should be writing directly in WordPress. Otherwise it would be taking too much of my writing time. I have had a blast doing the blog but have been thinking about that very issue.

So, instead of thinking, writing, thinking, , editing, cutting, pasting and repeating the whole process over and over, I am taking her advice. I am sitting in front of the Word Press screen and the timer is running…let’s see what we get.

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