Went to Willamette Writer's meeting

On Tuesday, March 1st, I went to the Old Church to listen to screenwriter Randall Jahnson talk about why he moved away from L.A. to Portland.

He says P.O. is the perfect place to reinvent yourself as a screenwriter. And he should know. The author of "Slaughter Alley," "The Doors" and "The Mask of Zorro" talked about his early days and aging in tinseltown.

He talked a lot about Portland, which he didn't need to sell me on, heck, I live here and love it too. But he also spoke about the new "digital culture" and making friends with Code Monkeys.

At first, I thought it wasn't so nice to be referring to people as "monkeys" but then I talked to my son, who writes code. He explained to me that it's not an offensive term at all. Programmers call themselves "code monkeys". I had no idea.

So, I learned a few things.

Randall said, "I was drawn to Portland's creativity and quirkiness."

Aren't we all?

The city is rife with the arts. And, one perfect example is Willamette Writers. They host these wonderful writers and have them share their words of wisdom with all us wannabe writers for $5 to $10 per month. So, the price is 'write' and the bargain is even better. So, if you're in Portland on the first Tuesday of the month, you might want to check out what's going on at the Old Church.

All Willamette Writer guest speaker meetings are held at the Old Church, SW 11th and Clay (1422 SW 11th). Doors open at 6:30 pm; the speaker or panel starts at 7 pm. Meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and students; guests of WW members are $5. Non-members pay $10 to attend meetings. Refreshments are served.

WANNA FIGHT?

Well, if you're a writer you should want to - or at least have a lot of conflict. That's what makes a story interesting.

Tuesday night I went to Willamette Writer's mini-seminar at the Old Church in downtown Portland to listen to Elizabeth Engstrom talk about the structure of a good story. She said that we want to live vicariously when we read. Most of us have calm lives but that's not what we want to experience when we read. So, as writers, we need to provide some excitement for the reader. Let them live through our characters. And they have to connect with them too.

So, we need to create a world of conflict and then amplify it even more. Now, I'm off to my WIP to ratchet up the conflict. I have to tell myself I wanna fight.

When I Was Elena

I went to a lecture hosted by Willamette Writers to hear one of their guest speakers at the Old Church in Portland, Oregon. I wanted to hear Elena Urbani-Hiltebrand talk about her Memoir When I Was Elana.

She was a brave girl even at 22. The year was 1991, when she left college to go in the Peace corps and spend two years in rural Guatemala, armed only with her dog, and a fluency in Spanish, she managed to make a difference in the world--something so many of us would love to do but rarely have the courage to do. She saved children in her village by hiding them when army troops came to steal them away from their families. It was a rough time when children were taken and forced to join fighting units of revolutionary guerrillas.

She spoke of her time in Guatemala and why she wanted to write the story of the women she met while she was there. She also talked about her writing process and why she chose to write in multiple voices.

I thought she was fascinating and an inspirational young woman.