Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

How will you travel to the conference this year?

By plane?

In your car with friends?

Maybe you’ll take a scenic train ride and let the peace of the countryside calm your soul as you prepare to immerse yourself in the 21st annual conference of Women Writing the West Oct. 8-11, 2015, in the beautiful high desert country of Redmond, Oregon, at the Eagle Crest Resort.

However you travel to Redmond, we are so looking forward to seeing you there to discover

Distinctions of the West: Writers Explore the Northwest. 

A mailing has gone out with registration forms or you can find the registration form available online here:https://womenwritingthewest.wufoo.com/forms/21st-annual-women-writing-the-west-conference/

Photo courtesy of Eagle Crest Resort

Make room reservations directly with:  Eagle Crest Resort  (866-806-4921)  The “Women Writing the West” room rate, which you must request, is $99 for double queen rooms or $119 for single king suites (condos are also available at discounted rates). Room rates are guaranteed until 9/8/15.  What a great deal - especially if you split the cost with a roomie!

Those who arrive early can take part in one of three pre-conference sessions geared to get those creative juices flowing.

Photo courtesy of High Desert Museum

Experience the history, culture and spectacular landscapes of the area with a Friday morning tour to the High Desert Museum, A6 Print Shop and Gallery, and the Old Mill District. A special screening of Heathens and Thieves will be shown Friday evening with co-director Megan Peterson present to provide historical background and take questions.

Fabulous break-out sessions and some incredible panels are planned to make your time spent at conference well worthwhile.

Photo Courtesy of the Imperial Stock Ranch

In addition, an exciting excursion Sunday to one of the oldest working ranches in Oregon is in the works. 

From the chance to win a special Pendleton Wool blanket to the opportunity to hear Molly Gloss and Anna Keesey speak, you won’t want to miss out on a minute of this years’ conference.

So whether you travel by train, plane, automobile, rickshaw, stagecoach, or bike - we can’t wait to see you in Redmond this October!

If you haven’t yet, like the Women Writing the West 2015 Conference page on Facebook to get the latest conference news.

For questions about the conference, contact Jane Kirkpatrick or Shanna Hatfield.

Mark Your Calendars for the Next Conference!

Photos courtesy Doris McCraw

 Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of posts about the upcoming conference in Redmond, OR. We will feature an article the first week of the month until the October 8-11 event.

by Shanna Hatfield

What is a conference?

The dictionary defines a conference as:

 • a meeting for consultation or discussion

• the act of conferring or consulting together

• an assembly to discuss a particular topic

A conference is so much more than that, though.

It’s an opportunity to meet new friends and connect with those already dear to our hearts.

It’s the privilege of listening to those with vast and varied experience share their thoughts and ideas.

It’s the unique moment when the combined excitement and energy of the attendees comes together to create a wonderful synergistic atmosphere that you’ll wish you could bottle up and bring home.

Once a year, Women Writing the West offers you the opportunity to be a part of this amazing exchange of ideas, information, networking, and friendship.

Plan now to immerse yourself in Distinctions of the West: Writers Explore the Northwest during the 21st annual conference of Women Writing the West Oct. 8-11, 2015, in the beautiful high desert country of Redmond, Oregon, at the Eagle Crest Resort.  

Attendees will have the opportunity to attend workshops for fiction, nonfiction, celebrating poetry, research and story as well as meet with agents and editors, network, and be inspired to write. (Details coming soon.)

Experience the history, culture and spectacular landscapes of the area with a Friday morning tour to the High Desert Museum, A6 Print Shop and Gallery, and the Old Mill District, as well as an exciting excursion Sunday to one of the oldest working ranches in Oregon. 

Winners and finalists in the LAURA Short Story contest and the WILLA Literary awards will receive recognition.

 

Molly Gloss

Keynote speakers are Molly Gloss and Anna Keesey, both internationally known and awarded distinctive writers from Oregon, who write about women in the West.

A special screening of Heathens and Thieves will be shown Friday evening with co-director Megan Peterson present to provide historical background and take questions. The film earned six Best Feature awards at various independent film festivals across the country, and a Special Jury Award at its international premiere at Houston WorldFest. It has also garnered two Best Actress awards for lead actress, Gwendoline Yeo. Join us in seeing how an award-winning film makes a distinctive story statement.                      

One lucky winner will go home with a beautiful “Female Storm” blanket donated by the Pendleton Woolen Mills. The silent auction will have many distinctive items to help the WILLA fund and make this conference memorable.

If you haven’t yet, like the Women Writing the West 2015 Conference page on Facebook to get the latest conference news.

Registration forms will be available soon!

For questions about the conference, contact Jane Kirkpatrick or Shanna Hatfield.

February Member News

Amy Hale Auker, The Story is the Thing "Uncle Bill" Morgan knew about love and loss. He had watched over the land and the people at the Benson Ranch for decades. Julia was a free spirit, quirky and fun, trapped in a marriage with hospital corners and traditional expectations. Charlie was trapped as well, but by something more sinister than tradition and, in the end, realized that it is okay to love more. Cody Jack needed more — more of everything that soothed and comforted and numbed — but he stood to lose the only good thing he'd ever known and he would hurt anyone to keep it. The old cowboy is gone, but he left his story behind. It is a story of love, loss and life lessons, of confession and absolution, a story of poetry and rescue, a story of loneliness and a story of coming together. And, after all, the story is the thing. 

J.D. Squires, Desperate Straits Hermit's Rest in the Arizona Territory is the meeting place of Irish immigrant, Sarah Ryan and veteran lawman, L.T. McAllister -- two people with nothing in common but loyalty to their newly orphaned nephew, Will. When that loyalty puts the reluctant partners squarely between Sheriff Grant Simpson and his quest for the Lost Adams Gold, L.T. and Sarah are forced into a battle for justice...and their lives. 

M.M. Justus, New Year’s Eve in Conconully is a paranormal historical short story. 

No good deed goes unpunished. In a place outside of time, the magic keeping a ghost town alive is beginning to alter. Bringing two newcomers in has caused a welcome renewal of life here. But every action has a reaction, and the consequences are far beyond what Conconully’s accidental magician ever expected. 

Sharman Russell, Teresa of the New World is a young adult novel about the fictional daughter of the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and a Capoque mother from the coastal tribes of Texas. Set in the dreamscape of the American Southwest in the sixteenth century, the story explores the turbulence of First Contact as Teresa struggles to find herself in the New World.

Articles and Podcasts

Susan Wittig Albert ,WILLA finalist for her book, A Wilder Rose, is featured in the February Writer's Digest. Susan shares interesting and helpful information in the article "Success Stories in Self-Promotion." 

C.M. Mayo's "Conversations with Other Writers" occasional podcast series features "Making Connectionswith Literature and Art: A Conversation with Rose Mary Salum." Based in Houston, Texas, Mexican writer Rose Mary Salum is founding editor of the bilingual magazine Literal: Latin American Voices. Also C.M. Mayo at the UCSD Center for US-Mexican Studies: Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, FranciscoI. Madero's Secret Book.

 Jane Kirkpatrick’s article, "Writing - and reading - stories as soul medicine" about mental health in
the west, appears in WWA's February issue of Roundup Magazine.

Congratulations to you all!