A place for members of Willamette Writers to tell the world about your achievements.

Edna Kovacs, author of In A Place Called Sanctuary~Writings From A Healing Garden, recently had a poem and two photographs published in Voices de la Luna. Edna, who is an adjunct professor at Linfield College and certified journal instructor, offers journal writing and creative writing workshops online. For more information on her books and workshops, go to www.PoetinEden.com.

Linda Ferguson's poem "A Walk in the Park" will be in the July 20, 2010 edition of Four and Twenty. www.4and20poetry.com/

Samantha Ducloux Waltz is the grand prize winner of the Your Love Story Contest co-sponsored by Redbook magazine and Adams Media. Her story, Super-Sized Love, will be the lead story in A Cup of Comfort for Couples and will be excerpted or published in the January 2011 Redbook magazine.

Alaina Smith announces the publication of her latest short story, "When Denise Created Barney," in The Mystery of Fate: Common Coincidence or Divine Intervention? available now, including on Amazon.com.

Oregon police chief and author Ken Lewis was named the First Grand Prize winner in the national Public Safety Writers Association 2010 writing competition for his 2009 crime fiction thriller "Little Blue Whales" during the PSWA annual conference June 17-20 at The Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

Rosemary Douglas Lombard has been busy with presentations and readings, most recently a lecture-demonstration for the Lewis and Clark College Alumni College about her research in turtle cognition, as featured in her book-in-progress, Diode's Experiment: A Box Turtle Investigates the Human World; a reading of her turtle and frog poems on stage at the Hillsboro Tuesday Marketplace; and an all-ages program about turtles coming up at the Hillsboro Main Library, 2850 NE Brookwood Parkway, at 2:30 on Saturday, July 10.

B K (Bob) Mayo's novel Tamara's Child was recently named a Finalist in the "Popular Fiction" category of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards (see www.indieexellence.com/results). For more information about the novel go to www.tamaraschild.com.

Jennifer Chambers is pleased to announce that her ghost story "The River Shack," will be published in the horror anthology Haunted (Pill Hill Press). Haunted, an anthology of supernatural, suspenseful short stories that take place in or around a haunted house, is scheduled for release Summer/Fall 2010.

Linda Ferguson's poem "Riding the Rails" is in the May 2, 2010 edition of Pure Francis. www.purefrancis.org.

WW member Ellen Notbohm was tapped for three April interviews, on WUML 91.5 Boston’s "It’s Your Health," http://www.itsyourhealthradio.org/archives.html, Holistic Wellness Podcast with Michael Casals, http://holisticwellnessshow.com/autism-food-for-thought/, and Stan Goldberg’s Autism Briefing Room at http://srdad.com/SrDad/Autism/Entries/2010/3/16_Ellen_Notbohm_visits.html. Her new book, 1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism or Asperger's, 2nd edition co-authored with Veronica Zysk, holds the #4 spot in Amazon's rankings of books on the subject of autism. Notbohm also holds the #1 and #9 spots.

Murr Brewster's essay "Give and Take" was published in the Boston Globe Magazine 4/19

Melissa Beal M.D will be reading from her book of poetry, In Her Eyes: Healing Poetry for Living in the Moment, at North Bend Bookshop on June 12th at 1:00 P.M. She has held events throughout the Pacific Northwest that have been warmly received by her audiences. Dr. Beal speaks from the heart about her personal struggles with sexual child abuse, a "near-death experience", ovarian cancer and alchohol dependence. She tempers these subjects with soaring reflections on the beauty of Nature. Her book is available through her website at www.melissabeal.com.

Annie Blooms will be hosting the PNBA Book Award presentation for Naseem Rakha's The Crying Tree on Thursday April, 29th at 7:30 PM. The event will feature Dana Haynes, the Public Affairs Manager at Portland Community College and Naseem in a question and answer session about her book and her role as a journalist. The Crying Tree has sold to Russia and Turkey. This makes eleven foreign sales for The Crying Tree.

The Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement, Vol. 5 (2010) has reviewed Kilong Ung's Golden Leaf. From the review, "I would strongly recommend Golden Leaf to anyone interested in the Cambodian refugee experience, or, more broadly, to anyone interested in good autobiographical writing. This is a book that tells us a great deal about the Cambodian genocide. It also tells us much about America." — Carl L. Bankston III, Ph.D., Tulane University. (Full review at http://jsaaea.coehd.utsa.edu/index.php/JSAAEA/article/view/79/70)

Alaina Smith announces the publication of her latest short story, "The Real Santa Claus," in A Cup of Comfort for A Better World, available now in bookstores. The book makes a great gift for the kindhearted giver in your life--perfect for Mother’s Day!

Sally Petersen has published her second book, Tea Pie, Love and Reality, a collection of memoir essays she wrote over the last half-century. These miniature form essays, many only a page long, encompass the breadth of human experience, love, loss, friendship and the many quirks that make up a full life. Part memoir, part story, miniatures are like tapas or small plates; they're sufficient when sampled alone, or make a full meal if you want several. Her book is available now through Amazon.com and Petersenpublications.com

Samantha Ducloux Waltz' story "My Running Partners" will appear in the anthology The Ultimate Runner out in bookstores this May. If you like running, or you like cats, this story is for you.

Two days after being laid off her Register-Guard reporting job, L.J. Sellers signed a three-book deal with Echelon Press for her Detective Wade Jackson series set in Eugene. THRILLED TO DEATH will be released this August and the next two will be published in 2011.
The first two books in the series, THE SEX CLUB and SECRETS TO DIE FOR, are available now.

"You Always Call on a Sunday" an essay by Jackie Shannon Hollis is in the March 2010 (# 411) of The Sun. It's available at local bookstores, to find one near you, look here: www.thesunmagazine.org/shop/find_the_sun/.

Kilong Ung's Golden Leaf, about his survival in the Cambodian genocide, is reviewed in the Foreign Policy Journal. http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/02/17/book-review-golden-leaf-%E2%80%93-a-khmer-rouge-genocide-survivor/

Wendy Maltz LCSW, DST of Eugene is pleased to announce that her highly praised book, THE PORN TRAP: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography (coauthored with Larry Maltz), has just been released in a soft-cover edition by Harper paperbacks (February 2010). For more information visit: http://www.healthysex.com/books.php.

Debby Dodds has a piece on school choice published this month in Portland Family Magazine and has a humorous essay slated to be published there next month.

Willamette Writers member Mack Lewis recently released his second title through Scholastic Professional Books, Super Sentences & Perfect Paragraphs. The book provides teachers with a kid-tested, daily approach to writing instruction. It's available through most booksellers, such as Amazon, and through Lewis' website, www.mackowiecki.com.

Kerri Buckley's poem "The Man From San Jose" has won First Prize in the Poetry Category in the Inland Empire California Writers Club Contest for 2009. The poem was included in the December issue of Fresh Ink, an online magazine.

Dave Lewis, writing as Evan Lewis, has a story in the Feb. 2010 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (now on sale). "Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" takes place in Portland and involves a man who believes himself to be the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes. Lewis blogs at evanlewis.com.

Gregory Nokes' Massacred for Gold was rated in The Oregonian's Top Ten for 2009. Visit http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2009/12/top_10_northwest_books.html for more details. It's the true story of the 1887 murder of 30 Chinese gold miners in Hells Canyon. Nokes spent a decade researching what happened.

Ed Rosney's story My First Peace Park Paddle appears in A View Inside Glacier National Park: 100 Years, 100 Stories (Glacier Association: 2009). The book is sponsored by Glacier National Park's Centennial Committee; proceeds will fund celebration activities during 2010.

Driving to Vernonia, George Byron Wright’s new novel, has been chosen by the Vernonia Public Library board of directors, as their "Community Reads" selection for 2010. Wright's website is: www.c3publictions.com.

Alaina Smith's latest published short story, "Floating Bones," appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings, released November 3. Alaina will be selling copies--below retail price!--of that book and of A Cup of Comfort for Christmas as an attendee at the December 1 Willamette Writers Writers Faire.

Bill Leslie published articles in Family Chronicle Magazine, Discovering Family History magazine, and just received approval to write a monthly column beginning in December for Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz' story, "A Village Built of Ink and Dreams," will appear in A Cup of Comfort for a Better World slated for publication mid-March 2010. If you buy this book which promises to be wonderful ( it includes several other members of Willamette Writers) you'll find that the story might sound familiar. It won a Kay Snow nonfiction second place several years ago. Thanks to all those that make the Kay Snow Awards possible and encourage us writers to do our very best.

M. Thomas Cooper's one-act play, Cue, received Best of Festival honors at Chameleon Theatre’s 2009 New Play Festival. Those interested in listening to it may do so at http://chameleontheatre.org/newplay/NPF10-audio.html.

Also, his first novel, 42, is now available on Kindle through Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/42-ebook/dp/B002IT5SC6/ref=tmm_kin_title_0/188-9880477-2495319?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2.

Willamette Writers member Marian Pierce has won the 2009 Wordstock Short Fiction competition. Her story, The Grocery Store Cart, is in the October, 2009 issue of Portland Monthly magazine: http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/grocery-store-1009/

Samantha Ducloux Waltz is thrilled to announce she won first place for a True Story in the Oregon Writers Colony writing contest. Winners will be reading from their work November 23rd at 7:00 at the Looking Glass Bookstore, 7983 SE 13th Ave., Portland.

Michele Longo Eder's Salt in Our Blood won the 2009 WILLA award for Creative Non Fiction from Women Writing the West. The Award Ceremony was held in Los Angeles, CA on September 12, 2009.

WW member Tom Larsen has won the p:ear noir flash fiction contest sponsored by p:earmentor.org, an organization that assists at-risk youth. The contest was judged by Kevin Sampsell, editor of the Portland Noir anthology. On Wednesday October 7th at 7:00 PM, Tom will read his winning entry entitled "One Night in July" at a special event at Pear Mentor's headquarters located at 338 NW 6th Avenue.

Jerri Wolfe's novel, No Regret, is now available through Amazon as a Kindle book.

No Regret is a family saga about Bertha, a child abandoned by her parents in the turn-of-the-century booming Missouri town of St. Louis who is eventually reunited with her mother. But all the opportunities to be a family may be lost when the twisted heart of a step father comes between them.

Portland-based writer Lisa Alber was invited to write a short story for New York Time's bestselling author Elizabeth George's anthology, TWO OF THE DEADLIEST, NEW TALES OF LUST, GREED, AND MURDER FROM OUTSTANDING WOMEN OF MYSTERY. This wonderful anthology features stories from some of the best writers in the business, all centered around the theme of lust and greed, and all edited by Elizabeth George. You can find Lisa Alber online at www.lisaalber.com and http://lisaalber.wordpress.com (her blog).

Samantha Ducloux Waltz's story "On Probation" will appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned From the Cat to be released September 22, 2009.

Fathers at Birth: Your Role in Bringing Your Child into the World by Willamette Writer member, Rose St. John, is featured in the CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professioinal Associatioin) QUARTERLY, online at http://www.cappa.net/quarterly/2009-july.pdf.

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant's article "Bumper-sticker Wisdom for Writers" (based upon her keynote presentation at the Willamette Writers Conference a few years ago) appears in the August 2009 issue of The Writer.

Jan Baross' opera, Mata Hari, for which she wrote the libretto, based on her play of the same title, will open July 21 in Java.

Katrina Baxter's article, "A Father's Influence," appears in the June 2009 issue of Portland Family Magazine, www.portlandfamily.com. In it, five notable Portlanders--Trailblazer Channing Frye, Award-winning Multi-disciplinary Artist Marie Watt, Emily Powell of Powell's Books, Award-winning Production Designer Michael Curry, and Award-winning Ghanaian Master Drummer and Musician Obo Addy--share the influence of their father on their life. A link to the article is also available at Katrina's web site, www.katrinabaxter.com.

Eugene Nordstrom's Reflections In Gold (iUniverse), is now available. Previous novels are: The Honeymoon Car and The Road To Glory Land. Reflections In Gold has won two literary awards -- Editor's Choice and Rising Star. Our members can obtain more information at his website: www.read-nordstrom.com.

New member Gene L Gillette writes a humor column for the Springfield News. He's also won many film awards as a music editor. His film and TV credits are listed at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0319046/.

John Edge, Salem poet and publisher, is pleased to announce the availability of his third book, LOOK BOTH WAYS: Poems of Wonder and Reason, released on April 21 to join his first two books of verse: In My '60s: Poetry From a Decade of Change, a selection of his poems written between 1959 and 1968, examining his life and experiences in San Francisco's North Beach, and elsewhere on the Pacific coast, and Snapshots and Other Souvenirs, a time-trip to the Wisconsin of his childhood, 1943 to 1957. If the three books are not available from your favorite independent bookstore, e-mail Portmanteau Publishing for information: portmanteaupublishing@q.com For a sample, link to: http://www.uniquevoices.blogspot.com/.

Lois Ruskai Melina's essay, "Putting on Airs" has been published in the anthology Borne on Air: Essays by Idaho Writers, edited by Mary Clearman Blew and Phil Druker (Eastern Washington University Press). This is the third collection in a series focusing on the four elements and includes the Pushcart Prize winning essay, "Eleven Ways to Consider Air," by Brandon Schrand, along with contributions by Robert Wrigley, Kim Barnes, Buddy Levy, and William Johnson.

Melina's essay, "Wild Places" was included in the anthology Forged in Fire: Essays by Idaho Writers (University of Oklahoma Press, 2005).

T. L. Cooper's poem, Trapped, was published on Protest Poems on April 25, 2009. Go to www.protestpoems.org to read it!

Naseem Rakha's debut novel The Crying Tree (Broadway Books, July 7th, 2009) has been chosen for BookExpo America's Emerging Voices series. Naseem will be reading from and answering questions about her book at this year's expo in New York City on May 30th.

Rick Ludeman co-authored an article about Question Mapping, a technique he developed for framing issues, that appears in the Spring 2009 issue of Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

Lake Oswego screenwriter Steven Dexheimer has been named the winner of the February, 2009 MoviePoet competition for his short script The Last Few Minutes of Sunlight.
Steven was also recently announced as a winner in the coWrite Screenplay Competition. CoWrite, in association with respected production company Benderspink (A History of Violence, Just Friends), is utilizing social networking and the "wisdom of the crowd" to create a community-sourced screenplay. One of eleven winners in the competition will be hired for a complete rewrite of the script, with Benderspink attached to produce.

Terry Brix's poem "What Day?" will appear in the March issue of The Rattlesnake Review and "So Many Things Forgotten" will soon appear in Lucid Rhythms.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz' story "Kenneth" will appear in The Ultimate Teacher (HCI Press) in April. This book would be a great gift to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day May 5. "Kenneth" won a Kay Snow nonfiction third place a few years ago. Samantha finally sent it out and is delighted to see it in print. Also out in April is her story "Of Their Own Design" in A Cup of Comfort for New Mothers.

Meg Jensen's novel Through the Corner of Circles has reached the quarterfinal stage of Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest.

WW member Teresa Bergen was a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. Amazon accepted 10,000 entries into the contest and now has whittled that down to 500. Excerpts from each novel are posted on Amazon now for customer reviews.

Debby Dodds is now officially a published author in a new anthology that just came out. Here's the link: http://www.mylittleredbook.net/ Her piece, on page 149, is: Me and the Von Trapps.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz' story, "All In The Family," will appear in A Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers II. Look for it this June.

Cynthia Gregory is pleased to announce that her story, "Melting at Both Ends," was a first prize winner for very short fiction by Glimmer Train, and will appear in the Summer 09 issue of Glimmer Train.

With a novelist's eye and a historian's devotion to accuracy, Arthur Mokin recreates the early days of the Civil War. The Union army is stalled and the Navy in a shambles when Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles learns that the Confederates are completing an "invincible" iron vessel. In desperation he turns to Captain John Ericsson, a brilliant but eccentric engineer, for an ironclad response. The confrontation between the first ironclads proves crucial to the survival of the Union. IRONCLAD: The Monitor & the Merrimack explores this turning point in the Civil War.

Michele Longo Eder's book, Salt In Our Blood: The Memoir of a Fisherman's Wife, recounts her life as the wife of a commercial fisherman, while balancing responsibilities as mother of two boys and maintaining a career as an attorney. Set against the sudden loss at sea of Eder's oldest son, Ben, the book is a tale of indescribable sadness but also one of resilience and courage.

Local writer and Willamette Writer, Kym Croft Miller, has been featured in a recent book called Knowing Pains: Women on Love, Sex and Work in Our 40's. This collection of 32 essays covering everything from motherhood to obsession brings together fresh female voices to form a true picture of how women not only survive their 40's, but thrive with dignity, courage and laughter. All net proceeds donated to breast cancer research."

T. L. Cooper's essay, Common Values, tied for first place in the 5th Annual Be the Star You Are Contest. Common Values explores the commonalities of the role of women in the world through T. L.'s experience visiting her in-laws. T. L. read Common Values on the StarStyle - Be the Star You Are! radio show and the essay appeared in the StarStyle - Be the Star You Are newsletter. It can be viewed at www.bethestaryouare.org/NewsFeb2009.htm.

Lois Jean Bousquet's story "Sweet Nectar" will be included in Familia Books' anthology, "Wisdom Of Our Mothers." The non-fiction piece portrays a coveted interaction with her mother during an ordinary summer afternoon. Lois Jean has been a member of Willamette Writers since 2005. Her work was included in the Oregon Writers Colony's 2006 Anthology "In Our Own Voices."

Caren Cote's short story Schadenfreude is now available in the Winter 2009 issue of Ink-Filled page .

Samantha Ducloux Waltz is thrilled to be featured on the Cup of Comfort editor's blog: http://blog.cupofcomfort.com/

BJ Bateman's short story Keep Shootin' 'til It's Empty will appear in Perceptions magazine in June of 09.

BJ Bateman's essay Exa will appear in Ultimate HCI Books' edition of The Ultimate Mom in April of 2009.

Hear Maureen McQuerry's middle grade/ YA fantasy Travelers' Market read as the featured novel on Cover to Cover beginning January 13th at http://www.catholicradiointernational.com/covertocover.php Download chapters and listen at your convenience.

Cornelia Becker Seigneur's first book, Images of America: WEST LINN, was released Jan. 19, 2009 by Arcadia Publishing and will be available at major book retailers as well as Costco and online. The pictorial history book covers life in the Portland suburb from its 1840 start through today, and includes a chapter on the world famous Willamette Meteorite, discovered in West Linn in 1902. Visit the website www.ImagesOfAmericaWestLinn.com or contact Cornelia at corneliaseigneur@comcast.net for more info.

Ann Shorey is pleased to announce her debut novel, The Edge of Light, launched on January 1, 2009. The Edge of Light is Book One in the At Home in Beldon Grove series, published by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. The Edge of Light is available through online booksellers and at local bookstores. For more information, visit www.annshorey.com.

George Byron Wright's "Oregon Trio" has been reviewed in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly, a scholarly journal of northwest history published by the University of Washington. Wright's novels "Baker City 1948", "Tillamook 1952" and "Roseburg 1959" were reviewed by Tony Wolk, Ph.D., Professor of English at Portland State University.

Terence M. Shumaker has a personal essay titled "Cry for Happy," in A Cup of Comfort for Military Families, published by Adams Media, and is available now. The book is a collection of stories that celebrate heroism on the home front.

Gigi Rosenberg has two pieces in the glossies this month. When you're at the newsstand, check out the January 2009 issue of The Writer, page 10, for "Co-working spaces attract writers" to find out where some writers are working now. Flip to page 140 in the Dec/Jan 2009 issue of Parenting to read "What a feeling!" a short on how to help toddlers name feelings. For more Gigi Rosenberg, visit www.gigirosenberg.com.

Kevin Conder has poems coming out in the new international literary journal Quiddity and will read those poems on National Public Radio. He has also launched a web site http://www.onbrokenground.com and a blog with movie reviews and commentary http://www.onbrokenground.com/blog.

Kerri Buckley has a poem published in this month's edition of Four and Twenty at http://4and20poetry.com/, and one forthcoming in the next edition, plus a weekly feature.

Mary Jane Nordgren has a poem in the current issue of 4 and 20 Poetry. See 4and20poetry.com.

In the December issue of The Writer magazine, contributing editor Chuck Leddy, also a reviewer for The Boston Globe, cites Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford, a 368-page book by Elizabeth Lyon, as among the "10 great writing books from '08." He writes: "Perhaps the most comprehensive book yet written on the process of revising fiction."

FOOL ON THE HILL, the second book of Ashland mystery author Morgan Hunt, has won the 2008 National Best Books Award in the Gay/Lesbian Fiction category!

From Seaside, Dan Johnson announces the second printing of the locally popular book titled Writing Down the Words. This book is an anthology of prose and poetry written primarily by residents of the Seaside/Astoria area. It is also filled with fantastic photography of the coastal area. Writing Down the Words is a project sponsored by Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District, designed specifically to be a fund raiser for the new 13,000 sq foot Seaside Library. All proceeds from the sale of the book go directly to the library.

Harley Sachs, who spends summers in Michigan, won first prize for his short story "My Enlistment" in the UP OF Michigan Writers annual contest and was again declared "Writer of the Year." Each summer he returns to Michigan to work on another project. This year's is his 1958 novel, "Queer Company" about his military basic training company. He wrote the book while on the GI Bill in Sweden but couldn't market it from there (B.C. Before Computers and BX, before Xerox). The original typescript has now become a book available at www.lulu.com.

Lauren Kessler's Dancing with Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers just won the Oregon Book Award. Earlier this year, the book won the Pacific Northwest Book Award.

Anne Marie's New Melody, the latest novel by Jo-Brew, is now available. Anne Marie, a musician, gourmet cook and a woman of the senses retires to spend more time with Robert. She had been widowed once and does not want to miss the opportunity to enjoy a traveling companion or more time for the activities she enjoys. Without experiencing children of her own, she was unprepared to contemplate assuming a parental role for Robert's grandchildren. Nor was she prepared to give up her relationship with Robert. It takes a Disneyland moment of self discovery for her to find the road to the life she wants.

It is the last in the series of three northwest women and the retirement choices they make. Anne Marie's New Melody is available through some independent bookstores, from Jo in person, from www.bbotw.com or from www.Jo-Brew.com. For information about appearances and sources, go to www.Jo-Brew.com or watch for announcements.

An audio-taped novel The Fattest Woman in Ireland, by Eugene member Patricia Mees Armstrong, is now in bookstores. Armstrong, an Irish citizen, reads the 4-disc novel in brogue. A printed version of the novel is being negotiated with a New York publisher. The author won first prize in fiction in the Kay Snow Contest (1997) and first prize in poetry (2006). She was won awards from Literary Arts, Inc. and Walden and Ragsdale fellowships. Proceeds from her works of poetry and fiction are earmarked for breast cancer research.
Further information: patsrichie@earthlink.net

Coast Chapter board member Sue Fagalde Lick has published "Moose in a Noose" in the new Humor for a Boomer's Heart, put out by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. The piece details the difficulties of finding formal undergarments for a middle-aged body that has never seen size 6. Sue has also been doing publicity for A Cup of Comfort for Families Touched by Alzheimer's, which includes her essay "Respite from the Storm."

Cindy Brown's original comedy, A New Leaf, will be produced by the Herberger Lunch Time Theater in Phoenix, AZ. A recent Arizona transplant, Ms. Brown has had over a dozen plays produced in Phoenix; this is the sixth one commissioned by the Herberger Lunch Time Theater.

One of Ken Arnold's short stories, "Jesus Says You're Gonna Die, Charlie," has won second place in this year's Oregon Writers Colony http://www.oregonwriterscolony.org/SecondPage.htm) competition. One of his poems, "Tree of Heaven," received an honorable mention in the poetry category of the same competition.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz' personal essay "Special Sisters" will appear in A Cup of Comfort for Adopted Families to be released by Adams Media in June, 09. Look for her stories in A Cup of Comfort for Families Touched by Alzheimers, Chicken Soup: Divorce and Recovery, The Ultimate Cat Lover and The Ultimate Horse Lover now available on Amazon or at your favorite book store.

Mike Thaler, author of The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and The Bully Brothers, takes visitors on a video tour of his work studio on a new video posted on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/oregonwritersspeak.

Sue Fagalde Lick, board rep for the coast chapter, and Samantha Ducloux Waltz of Lake Oswego, both have essays appearing in the new Cup of Comfort for Families Touched by Alzheimer's, which is coming out this month. The book, edited by Oregonian Colleen Sell, offers comfort and inspiration for families dealing with this disease. The writers are planning appearances around the state, especially in November, which is Alzheimer's Awareness Month. For information, contact Sue at suelick@casco.net or Samantha at samanthawaltz@comcast.net.

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant's hysterical new gift book, Not Guilty by Reason of Menopause (Ten Speed Press, 2008, $12.95), is now available at book stores everywhere and online. Leigh Anne says, "I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do this book if I hadn't pitched Ten Speed's editors at the Willamette Writers' Conference for three years running. Even though they rejected my proposal, they decided they liked my style and sense of humor and so they pitched me. Proof positive that the conference sometimes works in mysterious ways!"

Naseem Rakha's THE CRYING TREE (formerly Resting Place), a mother's journey toward forgiveness when the man on death row, convicted of killing her 15-year-old son, is slated for execution, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, by Laney Katz Becker at Folio Literary Management.

RC Marlen's Tangled Threads: A Family Saga (2008) completes the last novel in a Trilogy along with Inside the Hatboxes (2005) and The Drugstore (2006); all published under Sunbird Press. The Trilogy presents page-turning mysteries filled with history about St. Louis, Missouri from 1896-2000. Read more about RC Marlen (aka Rosalie Schele) and these books at www.rcmarlen.com.

Michele M. Graf's poem "Forest" and a photo are in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of The Writer's Eye, http://www.thewriterseye.com/. She's a member of the Mid-Valley Willamette Writers.

Uncial Press has published a collection of poetry by F.I. Goldhaber. By pairing poems about similar themes written in different moods at different points in time, Pairs of Poems provides a variety of perspectives on topics as diverse as nature, love, history, and politics. This collection of forty-four poems, written over a period of four years, examines various facets of our relationships with the world, and the people, around us. For more information, visit www.goldhaber.net

Veronica Esagui, DC has published The Scoliosis Self-Help Resource Book. It includes over 100 pictures on how to master the art of TESP, a protocol she devised to help patients with abnormal spinal curvature. Her website is at www.veronicaesagui.com

John Trudel is proud to announce that his novel Privacy Wars will be the subject of a featured session at the upcoming Tony Hillerman Writers Conference this November. Bios for John and his agent, Tony Outhwaite, are also posted there, http://www.wordharvest.com/index.php/hillermanconference/presenters.

Mark Ellis reports that his cover story, "Will Obama Slam the Door on Oregon's Export Economy" is now available online at the BrainstormNW link, http://www.brainstormnw.com/ Ellis: "No matter who you're rooting for in November, this story will inform you as to how both candidates could impact the important issue of Oregon global trade. I learned a lot putting it together."

Maureen McQuerry announces the launch of Travelers' Market, 2nd book in the Wolfproof Trilogy. Celebrate at a book signing and map making workshop at Barnes and Noble Columbia Center Kennewick, Aug 16th @ 2pm. Check her website, www.maureenmcquerry.com for upcoming events.

Jessica Morrell's Bullies, Bastards & Bitches, How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction, published by Writer's Digest Books, is now on sale. Topics include how to tap into reader's primal fears, the moral continuum for fictional characters, the role of adversity and evil in fiction, and a bad guy's many uses in a successful story. Categories include unlikable protagonists, antagonists, villains, sociopaths, and monsters. Morrell also explores the rise in popularity of anti-heroes and how these complicated characters reflect contemporary society.

Samantha DuCloux Waltz's story, "Royalty," will appear in The Ultimate Horse Lover published by HCI books.

Dale E. Basye's debut novel for children, Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go, has just been published by Random House. This will be the first in a series. For more information, visit http://www.wherethebadkidsgo.com

Glenda Burgess's memoir, THE GEOGRAPHY OF LOVE, is now available from Broadway Books and Amazon.

Larina Warnock's short story "Empty" appears in Issue 104 of Space & Time Magazine. This is her first fiction publication. Warnock's poetry and nonfiction is forthcoming in The Other Voices International Project and Eight Octaves Review, as well as an anthology of selected participants from PRESS: a cross-cultural literary conference where she presented on the subjects of activist and disability rights literature last May. Mark Ellis reports that his feature article, "It's Always Greener" has been accepted for publication in the post-Wimbledon issue of the national magazine TennisLife. Ellis: I've only ever played badminton, and badly, but when I was given the chance to write about the few grass tennis courts still open to the public across the U.S. for this prestigious magazine, I took on the assignment."

Ken Lewis has started NETDRAG, The Crime Fiction's Writer's and Reader's podcast for mystery and crime fiction authors and their fans. You can find NETDRAG, which debuted on June 25, 2008, by accessing the following link, http://www.wildvoice.com/NETDRAG

Hot Off The Press! Book designer Jennifer Omner (www.ALLPublications.com) created the two-color interior and coordinated printing of Slim, Sane, and Sexy: Pocket Guide to Natural, Bioidentical Hormone Balancing (www.slimsaneandsexy.com) by Jay H. Mead, MD, and Erin T. Lommen, ND.

Steve Wheeler is delighted to announce publication of his first novel called The Right of the People. Daniel Travis leads a non-violent, civil disobedience movement for national campaign finance reform that becomes a threat to the plutocrats who control the U.S. government. Aiming to derail the movement, the chairman of the super-rich elite orders Travis eliminated. The story is both political thriller and political fantasy set in 2007. Compare the fictional statesmen with those currently on the stump.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz won first place in Conceit Magazine's Mother's Day Contest with an essay about -- of course -- her mother.

New Willamette Writers member Christie Bayless Gorsline took first place in ByLine magazine's non-fiction Wildlife writing competition. Her web site is at www.christiegorsline.com.

Jim Speirs' Death in Spades has been published. It's a work that travels through three decades of mystery, involving young fighting men in South Viet Nam, and revenge for the event some thirty years later. If you've ever read Carlos Castaneda, you'll like this.

Elizabeth Lyon has a video about writing query letters on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7q15HAvp3I. The video was shot at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver.

Benjamin Parzybok's debut novel, Couch, in which three guys carry a couch across the country in an exuberant and humorous debut reminiscent of The Life of Pi and Then We Came to the End, was sold to Small Beer Press, and will be out in November, 2008. Benjamin Parzybok founded the Portland poetry journal Gumball Poetry which published into gumball machines.

Nel Rand's Mississippi Flyway is a finalist in literary fiction for ForeWord Magazine book of the year award.

Cheri Lasota has released a brand new e-book for fiction writers, OUTLINING: The Published Novelist's Secret for Success. Cheri's e-book is available for instant download as a PDF at www.stirlingediting.com/ebook1.html.

Local authors speak about writing at http://www.youtube.com/user/OregonWritersSpeak. The authors currently featured are Shannon Capps (Salmon Run), D'Norgia Price (String Beans and Candy Canes), John A Donnelly speaking about playwriting, Elizabeth Lyon and Eric Witchey speaking about the craft of writing. Bill shot and edited the videos with the help of Lisa Parsons.

Ann Shorey is pleased to announce that she just signed a three-book contract with Revell for a historical fiction series. The series title is At Home in Beldon Grove. The first book in the series, The Edge of Light, is scheduled to be released in January, 2009. Interested members can e-mail her at annshorey@msn.com to be placed on her contact list.

Gigi Rosenberg's personal essay A Signora and a Stranger: Speaking out when enough is enough appears in the Spring 2008 issue of Oregon Humanities. Check it out at: http://www.oregonhum.org/signora-and-a-stranger.php or www.gigirosenberg.com.

Willamette Writer's member, Judi Blaze, a Vashon Island author, has just had an excerpt for her fourth novel, Orchid Island, accepted by the Chick Lit Review, an online magazine. It will be featured on their site, www.chicklitreview.org during April.

Carl Casanova's What Every Successful Person Knows! is now available. Carl's message is geared to inspire personal and professional development. As well as founding THE CENTRE, a school for executive training, personal development, and coach certification (ICF), he is an adjunct college professor teaching communication and business classes. Order at AdvantageBookstore.com or anywhere fine books are sold.

Michael McCormick's essay entitled "Teacher of Grace" appeared in Survivors Review, December 2007 issue; his essay entitled "A Bogus Divide" appeared in Babel Fruit, April 2008 issue.

Barbara Corrado Pope's first novel, Cezanne's Quarry, will be published by Pegasus Books in June. The historical mystery is available on Amazon.com.

In a rare "three-peat," Portland author Ellen Notbohm's latest release, The Autism Trail Guide: Postcards from the Road Less Traveled (2007, Future Horizons, Inc.), has been named a 2007 finalist in ForeWord magazine's prestigious Book of the Year Awards competition. The nomination marks Notbohm's third in as many years. Her previous books, the widely-praised Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew and Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew, were finalists in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

B.J. Bateman is pleased to announce her essay Generation Gap placed sixth in The Write Helpers Dead of Winter Nonfiction Contest 2008.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz is very pleased to announce that her story "Driving Lessons" will appear in A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women to be released by Adams Media in October 2008.

C.S. Cole's short story, "Bumblebee Theory," recently received an Honorable Mention in the First Quarter 2008 Writers of the Future Contest. It is her first story acceptance. More about C.S. Cole can be found at her blog at http://cscole.livejournal.com

Phil Hahn, former TV comedy writer and still and always author, will be a Presenter at this weekend's Gold Beach Writers' Conference. His two workshops are called "Humor 101, Remedial Risibility for the Unfunny Writer."

Mark Ellis' feature article "Life After Law: Five Legal Expatriates Take Roads Less Traveled" has been published in BrainstormNW and is on newsstands throughout the metro area now. Ellis: "I've pretty much made a lifestyle out of avoiding attorneys, so this was an interesting assignment. It goes to the idea of becoming highly qualified at something, then opting to pursue another calling."

T. L. Cooper's short story, Connection, about a woman seeking to re-establish her inner connection to the people and things she loves, is now available on Amazon Shorts. You may link to the story through my website, www.tlcooper.com or go to amazon.com to find it.

Wendy and Larry Maltz's forth-coming book, The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornographyhas been selected for the First Look program at HarperCollins.com. Wendy's web site: http://www.healthysex.com/porntrap.html

D'Norgia Taylor's novel String Beans and Candy Canes is now available from Publish America. String Beans and Candy Canes is a science fiction marvel full of twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge of his seat. Set in the twenty-fourth century, the story revolves around two life-long friends who travel through time weaving in and out of each other's lives. Themes of friendship, love, and patience keep the flow of this novel and influence discussion among readers.

Christina Katz's GET KNOWN BEFORE THE BOOK DEAL: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform, to Jane Friedman at Writer's Digest Books, by Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency. To sign up for the forthcoming zine of the same name, please visit: http://www.getknownbeforethebookdeal.com

Steve Patterson's Bosnian War play "Liberation," which premiered at Portland's Stark Raving Theatre in 1999, is being published by Original Works Publishing. You can check it out at: http://www.originalworksonline.com/liberation.htm

John Ochwat's novel, Between Clubs, was recently selected as a semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. Excerpts from the semifinalists are available for free download until March 2. Amazon users who post reviews are eligible for prizes, and the finalists will be chosen partly by user reviews. For more info, visit www.amazon.com/abna. The excerpt of Between Clubs is in the general fiction category, on the first page.

Mark Ellis' personal essay "Taboo Topics: Politics, Religion, and...Toys?" has been published in the December issue of BrainstormNW. Complimentary copies are on newsstands throughout the metro area now. Ellis: "It's about the talking Dr. Laura Schlesinger doll I bought for my mother last Christmas, the doll's debut on Christmas Eve, and how alternative values can humorously co-exist on the same family."

Lakshmi Jagannathan has been selected by The Oregonian to write about her opinions for a blog. Her articles can be found at blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianopinion/

Debra Murphy's article, "John Paul the Great: The Misunderstood Pope," first published on Godspy.com in April 2005, is being reprinted in a collection of articles on the late Pope's legacy to the Catholic Church, to be published by Word Among Us Press in Fall 2008. The working title of the book is, JOHN PAUL II AND HIS GIFT TO THE CHURCH.

Jack Everett Johnson's To Rise Above It All, based in part on the life and times of three famous musicians of Portland, Oregon, is now available from stores.lulu.com/studio57a

Dorothy Mack took second place in OWC 2007 contest for "Sixteen in the Badlands," a chapter from her reservation memoir about learning to butcher. Her poem "Moon-set" is included in the forthcoming Bridge book edited by Sharon Wood Wortman.

The Oregon Book Awards' Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature was presented to Willamette Writers member Shannon Riggs of Salem, for Not In Room 204 (Albert Whitman & Company).

Alison Clement's second novel, Twenty Questions (Atria, 2006), won The Ken Kesey Award for the Novel from the Oregon Book Awards.

Naked in the Rain, by WW member Eowyn Wood, has been named Winner in The National Best Books 2007 Awards from USA Book News in the Gay/Lesbian Fiction category. Naked in the Rain also received an Honorable Mention in the 15th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards in the Mainstream/Literary Fiction category. www.eowynwood.com or www.crookedhills.com Member Patty Somlo's short story, "Bird Women," published in Her Circle Ezine, has been nominated for the 2007 Pushcart Prize.

Kelly McCrady's short romance story Sweet Cicely will be available beginning December 5, from e-publisher The Wild Rose Press www.thewildrosepress.com More about the author can be found at www.kellymccrady.com

Willamette Writers's member and former TV news reporter S.W. Capps is releasing his gripping new novel, Salmon Run, which partially takes place in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon Run is available in hardback and paperback at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver and on-line at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and InkwaterBooks.com. For an excerpt of the book, a calendar of events or more ordering information, readers are encouraged to visit Capps's Web site at www.swcapps.com.

Lizanne Southgate has a story in the Christmas Chicken Soup for the Soul, "A Christmas Doll." This is her sixth story in one of the Chicken Soups.

Caren Cote's story Welfare-kid Lies is included in VoiceCatcher 2007 & will be available at Powell's and other local bookstores or online by Nov. 5th. For more information visit the PDX Women Writer's web site at www.pdxwomenwriters.com.

Candy Davis has two articles in the 2008 Guide to Literary Agents (a Writer's Digest publication): With an Agent's Eye: Edit Your Work Like a Pro and Querying Hollywood: Know Your Target and Pitch that Script. Also, she won an honorable mention in the 76th Annual Writer's Digest competition in the mainstream/literary category with a short story entitled The Guerdon.

Lisa Parson's article, "New York/Portland," was awarded Honorable Mention in the Feature Article category of the 76th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. This year's contest attracted over 19,000 entries.

Naked in the Rain, by WW member Eowyn Wood, has received an Honorable Mention in the 15th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards in the Mainstream/Literary Fiction category. www.eowynwood.com or www.crookedhills.com

Ruth Spiro has stories in 3 Chicken Soup for the Soul books that have just been released. "The Shell" appears in Chicken Soup for the Beach Lover's Soul; "Sometimes, Babies Get in the Way" appears in Chicken Soup for the Child's Soul; and "Just One Gift" appears in A Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas. When it rains, it pours chicken soup!

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant has an article in this month's Writer's Digest. Entitled "Blinded by the Light: Don't let your creativity get in the way of your productivity," the article features tips from other Willamette Writers members, Melissa Hart and Wendy Maltz, along with tips from other writers such as Dr. Christiane Northrup and Susan Reinhardt.

White Quill Publishing is pleased to offer Warrior Sunset by Cheri Duhamel. Reserve your copy by October 25 and receive a personalized, autographed book delivered to you in time for Christmas--guaranteed. Visit www.whitequillpublishing.com for a description, an excerpt and ordering details today.

Want to finance your next major foreign trip by freelancing? We did. It's chronicled in Chilly-Chilly BANG! or How We Freelanced Through Europe's Coldest Winter in a VW with a Kid by Harley Sachs, a seasonal member of Willamette Writers now back in Portland for the winter. One reader wrote this about the book, "I downloaded Chilly-Chilly BANG! and loved every word of it." Sachs has been a freelance since 1957. His account with tips for freelancers is available as a cheap download or as a paperbvack from www.lulu.com.Visit the web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs where you can listen to two stories, read a third, read reviews, and find links to the publishers of my books.

Sage Cohen hosts the Lloyd Center Barnes & Noble Reading Series in Portland. Held on the third Wednesdays of every month (except November) at 7:00 p.m., the series features some of the Pacific Northwest's finest poets and writers. To learn more about the series and find out who's reading each month, visit: http://sagesaidso.typepad.com/sage_said_so/barnes_noble_reading_series_hosted_by_sage_cohen/index.html

Sage Cohen has joined forces with Writer's Digest Books to create Writing the Life Poetic. A creative companion overflowing with ideas and inspiration for beginning poets, Writing the Life Poetic is expected to be published in February 2009.

Amy Goodpaster Strebe held a book signing for her new book, Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II, at The Museum of Flight in Seattle. The book signing was part of an event at the museum titled "Flying for Her Country: The Women Aviators of WWII." Several Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and Soviet women veterans from World War II were in attendance. For more information on Strebe's book, please visit www.AmyGoodpasterStrebe.com.

Carolyn Sarver's screenplay WHALE SONGS won a Calypso award at the 2007 Moondance International Film Festival. It also placed third in the screenplay category in the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association 2007 literary awards and was a finalist in the Washington State Screenplay contest. This was Carolyn's second Calypso award and the second year in a row of placing third with a screenplay at Pacific Northwest Writer's Association.

L.J. Sellers' new novel will be out next month! The Sex Club is a provocative mystery/thriller that readers say they can't put down. Help jumpstart sales and order a copy now. Call your favorite bookstore and ask for it, or order it online from http://www.amazon.com. To read an excerpt, see http://www.spellbinderpress.com.

After 11 years, George Byron Wright will release the final novel of his Oregon Trio series this fall. Roseburg 1959, (C3 Publications, ISBN 978-0-9632655-4-8, paper, 272 pages, $15.95) which is influenced by the explosion of a powder truck in 1959, will be launched on October 6 in Roseburg at the Douglas County Museum of Natural & Cultural History. The other books in Wright's trio are Baker City 1948 and Tillamook 1952. Visit George's website to learn more about his work: www.c3publications.com/.

Alison Clement's essay, "Brandon at the Airport," has been published in the most recent edition of Thirty Thousand Day: A Journal of Purposeful Living. (http://www.todoinstitute.org/30kdays.html)

Sage Cohen's poetry collection, Like the Heart the World, published by Queen of Wands Press, is now available at www.sagesaidso.com. Sage will be reading from her recently published work in Cup of Comfort for Writers in various locations throughout Oregon and Washington in September.

Deanna Mather Larson's assigned article, "Rx 911:Home Remedies", appears in the July/August 2007 issue of Hobby Farms magazine. Larson has written feature articles for a diverse selection of magazines including Mother Earth News, The Chronicle of the Horse, Applied Clinical Trials, Dog & Kennel, and others. Currently she is finishing a nonfiction book proposal for a memoir with a working title of Menagerie Ranch: The Miracles and Mishaps of Animal Rescue. She will begin marketing the book this summer.

Amy Goodpaster Strebe's new book, Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II, will be published by Greenwood Publishing Group on August 30, 2007. You can read a description of the book and several prepublication endorsements (including one from Chuck Yeager) at http://www.greenwood.com/psi/book_detail.aspx?sku=C9434 Strebe's first book, Desert Dogs: The Marines of Operation Iraqi Freedom, was published in 2004 by MBI.

Shari S. Forbes announces the publication of her third novel, Cracking Heads, which she co-authored with her husband John Benson under the pen name of Benson S. Forbes. In this not-so-far-fetched high tech thriller, the National Security Agency has already discovered how to download a person's memory and is just a microchip away from the ultimate invasion of privacy: the ability to read minds. Published by PublishAmerica, the book is available online and in traditional bookstores and libraries. The couple, who reside in the country near Sherwood, are also the authors of two other novels, The Bottom Five and Mad Cows Come Back To Bite, published in 2002 and 2004 respectively by Xlibris.

Ken Lewis' crime thriller Little Blue Whales has been named "one of the top 10 mystery novels by a northwest author in 2006" by the Portland, OR based Friends of Mystery literary group. Lewis' book joined the group's annual Spotted Owl Awards top picks along with northwest literary notables J.A. Jance and Patrick McManus, with first place going to Kris Nelscott for Days of Rage. In Little Blue Whales the new police chief in a small southern Oregon coast town is forced to confront a dangerous secret about himself after he finds both new love there, and a deadly remnant from his past. For more information about this Willamette Writers member please go to: www.kennethrlewis.com

The 11th annual Independent Publisher Book (IPPY) Awards recently announced that Willamette Writer Rita Stanley, Ph.D. and her co-author, Trish Yerges, are bronze medal winners for their book, Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us published by The Mitre's Touch Gallery in La Grande. The book won its award within the health, medicine and nutrition category. Information about the book is available at www.confrontinglyme.com. The book is also available for sale at Amazon.com.

Christina Katz has been invited by Writers Digest Books to present her session, "Get Known Before the Book Deal," at the BookExpo America/Writer's Digest Books Writers Conference, alongside such authors as Donald Maass, John Warner, and Sharlene Martin. Christina's book, Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (Writer's Digest Book, 2007), has been a top-three bestseller for WDB for over a month. Editor Jane Friedman says that the book shows excellent staying power and used it as an example of what the company is looking for in a recent interview with Rachel Kramer Bussel on MediaBistro.com.

Heather Sharfeddin, Sherwood novelist whose books Blackbelly and Mineral Spirits were selected by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association as "Best of the Northwest" titles, has signed with Bantam Dell for a two book deal. The first title, Windless Summer, will be released in 2008. Bantam also picked up the paperback rights to Sharfeddin's first two novels, which will be release in late 2008.

Samantha Ducloux Waltz has good news to share. She will have essays in Cup of Comfort for Writers and Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers coming out this September, and Cup of Comfort for Single Parents coming out next spring. She will also have essays in Chicken Soup for Tea Lovers and Chicken Soup for Chocolate Lovers coming out this November.

Sue Sherman, free lance journalist, has a free lance article scheduled to appear in the coming issue of THE GAITED HORSE MAGZAZINE. Sherman has written free lance articles for equestrian publications specializing in the area of military horse history. In addition she has contributed to LAW ENFORCMENT TECHNOLOGY, publication for trainers of police personnel. That article is an overview of horse mounted security units in the nation. Sherman has been in the greater Portland area for the past year.

Chuck Bolsinger, columnist with East County Gazette, reports two hits and a near-miss: High Country News, Paonia, CO, accepted his essay, O' Bigfoot, Where Art Thou, and MARY, published by St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA, accepted his essay, "Lightning Lukens," for the 2007 issue. Chuck's essay made the finalist list in Oregon Quarterly's 2006 Northwest Perspectives contest, but failed the final cut.

Kay Snow Award winning writer Beren deMotier's rollicking non-fiction tale of getting to the church on time in Multnomah County, The Brides of March: Memoir of a Same-Sex Marriage, arrived just as the Oregon senate passed domestic partnership rights for same-sex couples. This PNWA award winning memoir of a giddy leap through a legal window, straight onto the barbeque pit of public debate was published on April 19, 2007 by iUniverse, and is available on Amazon.com, Powells.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and TwoLives.com. For prepublication reviews and more information, go to www.thebridesofmarch.com.

Steve La Montagne's screenplay Gorgeous George won first place in the A/Exposure Screenwriting Contest sponsored by WriteMovies.com and Warner Bros.Gorgeous George is also in the top three dramas at Worldfest Houston. Another of Steve's screenplays, The Lost Coast , is also one of the top three thrillers.Steve will be flown to Houston for the awards dinner to find out if his scripts have won 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize and be handed prize money checks.

Patty Somlo's memoir piece, "My Sinking Lei," has been published in the just released anthology, Bombshells: War Stories and Poems by Women on the Homefront (www.bombshellsbook.com). Bombshells is available at Powell's Books on Hawthorne. A portion of the proceeds are being donated to the Fisher House Foundation, which assists wounded soldiers. Patty Somlo's short story, "Lap Swim," was recently published in Dispatch, and her story, "The Chalk Birds", appears in Issue Two of Ugly Cousin (uglycousin.com).

New member Bill Leslie, of Sandy, Oregon just sold two articles on family history to Family Chronicle Magazine, a national genealogy magazine. He was previously published in RN Magazine.

Florence Hardesty, a former nursing professor, writes about her students with affection and humor in her book I Always Faint When I See a Syringe: Nurse Student Tales. She introduces the reader to her favorite patients, the ones whose struggles with mental illness, inspired and illustrated her lectures for a quarter of a century.

Carolyn Harris spends her winters touring New Zealand in her motorcaravan, and shes written a book about her adventures, RV in NZ: How To Spend Your Winters South and Way South in New Zealand.

Member Veronica Yates' poem, "Wake Me Extra Crisp", has been published in the spring issue of ROSEBUD magazine. Veronica also was selected as a poetry finalist in PNWAs 2006 literary contest. Veronica lives in Eugene, OR.

LouAnn Edwards has been named the 2007 Global winner of the Erma Bombeck humor writer's award. Her winning essay "Mom On The Sauce" can be found at humorwriters.org and was chosen from over 1300 entries. This is the second time Oregon has claimed the first place award--- in 2003 Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant held the title, another WW member!

Wendy Maltz's award-winning poetry anthology, Passionate Hearts: The Poetry of Sexual Love, has just been released in a special ten year anniversary edition by New World Library. Culled from classic and contemporary works these poems reveal the mysterious power and beauty of sexual sharing. Highly praised, it won the Amazon.com #1 Best Seller award in the Sex and Literature Category. (For more info visit Wendy's website: www.healthysex.com)

Carla Perry's essay, "Inadvertent Blazermaniac," and a dozen of her previously unpublished photographs taken during National Championship Blazer games have just been published in Red Hot and Rollin.: A Retrospection of the Portland Trail Blazers' 1976-77 Championship Season, edited by Matt Love. A series of readings will take place in Portland, and then around the state, in June. www.nestuccaspitpress.com

Jeff Manthos has recently published his service memoir titled Steel Beach: My Life As A Naval Aircrewman 1972-1976. Jeff deployed twice to South East Asia and points beyond aboard aircraft carriers, flying over 300 missions in helicopters. His story is one of coming of age during the end of the Vietnam War and the vortex of the Cold War. For more information please visit www.steelbeachthebook.com.

New member Bill Leslie, of Sandy, Oregon sold two articles on family history to Family Chronicle Magazine, a national genealogy magazine. He was previously published in RN Magazine.

Betty Grant Henshaw was a Finalist in Non-Fiction for the Oklahoma Book Awards for her memoir, Children of the Dust, about a family leaving behind the dust bowl and driving down Route 66 to work in the cotton fields in California. Betty attended the conference and signed books, and also spoke on a local radio program.

Will George was awarded a 2006 Oregon Literary Fellowship from Literary Arts in nonfiction for his manuscript River Soul: A political and spiritual journey along the Arkansas River in Southeastern Colorado. It's a narrative nonfiction story and memoir about water politics, hope despite the worst drought in modern history, and spiritual transformation through water.

Maureen McQuerry's YA fantasy novel, Wolfproof, published in October with Idylls Press, has received a 5 star reveiw from the MidWest book Review. "This adventure fantasy for young readers is a superbly crafted entertainment that will engage the attention of children from beginning to end. "Wolfproof" is especially recommended for school and community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections."

Her poetry chapbook, Relentless Light, is now available for pre-publication orders through Finishinglinepress.com. Books are available April 6th.

C. Lill Ahrens' manuscript, Seoul Survivor - or - Where are They Going with My Kitchen Sink? A Humorous Memoir of Serious Culture Shock is with her agent Rosalie Siegel, International Literary Agent Inc.

Sixes and the One Eyed King, co-written by member Patricia Snyder and by director Ray Nomoto Robison, has been accepted into the Miami Underground Film Festival, which is set for March. The independent feature was shot by Bison Motion Pictures primarily in Medford and premiered in Los Angeles at the DancesWithFilms festival in July. In September, it won the audience's choice for best film award at the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Information about the film, which is currently seeking distribution, is available on the Web site www.oneeyeking.com.

Sharon Sassone was named the 2006 Literary Arts Award recipient for Drama.

Margie Lee's book KINFOLK: Tracing the Footsteps of my Scandinavian and German Ancestors from Minnesota to Washington, Two Totem Press, is now available. It is part history, part travel journal and part family stories. Margie was born and grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where logging and fishing attracted a large immigrant Scandinavian population. She went on to a career as an artist for many years, living in various parts of the country, including New York, Boston, and San Diego. Currently she lives with her husband, author, Robert May in Portland, Oregon, where she is an artist, writer, and videographer. Margie has a MLA in English Literature from Harvard University where she did a Master's thesis with Scandinavian scholar, Dr. Einar Haugen on two Norwegian American immigrant writers. This inspired Margie to research and write about her own heritage.

Local author Deborah Donnelly's latest Wedding Planner Mystery, BRIDE AND DOOM, is a December release from Bantam Dell. This is the sixth title in the series starring Carnegie Kincaid, who runs her business from a Seattle houseboat and has a flair for cakes, gowns, and mysterious deaths. In BRIDE AND DOOM, Carnegie is planning her own wedding while managing the extravagant nuptials of a major league baseball star and a Goth rocker named Honeysuckle Hell. When a corpse crashes the engagement party, all hell really breaks loose! Read an excerpt at www.deborahdonnelly.org.

Willamette Writer's member Judi Blaze has just released her third novel, BEACH PEOPLE. The novel follows her two other books, award-winning novel, On Indian Time, and Riding on a Rainbow.

Beach People takes place on the Oregon coast where fishermen, loggers and artists make up the sum of the three villages. It is the story of two friends connected by love, deception and fear - a slice of life that evokes memories of past loves, rocking boats on a silent bay, and friends who remain in hearts forever.

Blaze's short stories have appeared in anthologies and she was 1st place winner in fiction at the Willamette Writers conference three years ago.

Beach People can be purchased at www.infinitypublishing.com or soon on several other online sites.

Betty Grant Henshaw's Children of the Dust: An Okie Family Story has been published by Texas Tech University Publishing. Betty was born into a large family of tenant farmers in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl era. Her family finally moved to California, traveling down Route 66.

Local author Eowyn Wood's edgy debut novel, Naked in the Rain, follows the journey of two teenage boys who run away from their abusive homes. Love and loss of innocence are explored as the runaways are lured to a high class brothel in Los Angeles. Naked in the Rain is being published by Crooked Hills Publishing in January 2007. For more info or to order, go to www.crookedhills.com.

Willamette Writer Maryka Biaggio recently placed 2nd for her submission, "In Eden We Shall Meet" in La Belle Lettre's Holiday-Theme Contest. Ms. Biaggio's entry, a novel exerpt based on the true story of Michigan's Utopian Experience, won this honor for its engaging opening chapter wherein the book's protagonists birth the idea for such a community. La Belle Lettre invites Willamette Writers to submit to its Romance Contest with a February 1 deadline. Guidelines can be found at: www.labellelettre.com.

Mary Jane Nordgren, a prize winner on the IndigoEditing web site, has just had a reading of her one-act play Water and The Word in honor of WWII veterans.

Barbara Lauderdale Hearn had her poem, "Mom's Multiple Missions," published in Lone Stars Magazine in San Antonio, Texas. Also her poem, "Just Hanging Around," was recently published in the Long Story Short e-zine.

Local author Ted Magnuson's first novel, Moses Probe, is now available through on-line retailers such as powells.com and amazon.com. Ted began work on the novel some time ago after attending a Willamette Writers conference. Moses Probe is the story of Jac, an astronaut, and Cheryl, a cosmologist, who are the first to travel to Protos, the planet at the center of the Universe, a place of power and danger. The death of Ted's sister Laura inspired him to begin this project.

Local author Doc Macomber has published his second novel, Wolf's Remedy, about a group of war veterans trying to right a wrong during World War II by returning a cache of treasures to Holocaust survivors. Macomber's day job is working as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle mechanic, but he has been writing for 20 years, including several screenplays. He published his first novel, The Killer Coin, three years ago and has already completed a rough draft of his third book, Snip.

The 2006/2007 Best of Eugene award for "Best Local Writer" went to Willamette Writers member Sally Sheklow for her monthly humor column "Living Out." Story appears in the October 26, 2006 issue of Eugene Weekly (www.eugeneweekly.com).

Shura Young's 2005 First Place Kay Snow Award Nonfiction story, "Turning Point on a Key," has been published in VoiceCatcher, an local anthology of women writers, and will be available in November. Several anthology author readings will be held. For information contact emily@pdxwomenwriters.com.

In addition, Shura's artwork and a poem related to domestic violence is included in the YWCA Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Art Exhibit, 1111 SW 10th Ave., Portland. Opening reception is Wed. Oct.18, 4:30-8 pm, and continues Mon-Fri, Oct. 18-30, 11 am to 3 pm. 503-294-7458 for information.

Also, Shura was a finalist in the Marylhurst 2006 M Review online journal contest. Her nonfiction piece, "Obsessive Compulsive" can be read online at www.marylhurst.edu/mreview, click on creative nonfiction. She also won an honorable mention in the OWC 2006 contest for nonfiction.

D.H. Bleything announces his new chapbook, Perfect Mistakes, from Traprock Books.

Sonja Herbert won the Eaton Literary Award, a $2,500.00 award for the best book length manuscript for the year 2006, for her manuscript, Tightrope! Tightrope!,a biographical novel about her mother's survival in a circus during the Nazi regime in Germany. Check out further details on her website, German Writer, under Awards and Publications.

John Cooper has posted a collection of his short stories on his blog site, http://jckgw.blogspot.com. He welcomes any comments, pro or con, from members to his e-mail address: cobbcooper@msn.com. His novel The Gesture, originally published by Harper, is still in print. It can be ordered from Second Chance Press, Noyac Road, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant has taken her funny writing to the air in a new radio program called Women Under the Influence of Laughter, which airs on KOPT 1600 AM Saturdays at 9 a.m. from Eugene.

George Byron Wright's newest novel, Tillamook 1952, was released recently (C3 Publications, ISBN 0-9632655-3-9, paper, 288 pages, $15.95). The novel is the second of what Wright is calling the "Oregon Trio". His award-winning novel Baker City 1948 came out in 2005 and Roseburg 1959 will be published in 2007. Tillamook 1952 is set against the backdrop of the infamous Tillamook Burns of the 30's, 40's and 50's. Visit George's website to learn more about his work: www.c3publications.com/.

A reading of M.J. Nordgren's one-act play "Water and The Word" (premiered this past summer at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha) will be performed to honor WWII veterans on Tuesday, October 3, at 7 P.M. at Forest Grove United Methodist Church, 1726 Cedar Street, Forest Grove, Oregon.

Helen Crowley Cheek's essay "Si Por Cuba: Dr. Cabrera's Choice" was awarded First Place in the 2006 M Review Creative Non-Fiction writing competition. M Review is Marylhurst University's Journal of Literary and Visual Art. The essay is drawn from her experiences delivering medical supplies to Cuba and describes the everyday life of a doctor and his family.

Helen Crowley Cheek is a Marylhurst Alumni. Her essays have been published in The Sun and On Point: the Journal of Army History. She is the author of the yet to be published historical fiction East Eleven: Episodes from the Home Front, which chronicles the experiences of a family during World War II.

Phil Park was featured in an article about Korean Americans published in the KoreAm Journal, an English language magazine published in Southern California, in the June issue.

Heather Sharfeddin has published an article on the changing face of Westerns on NewWest.net, a website dedicated to current affairs in the interior west. The article explores the differences and similarities between traditional and contemporary Westerns. You can read the article at: http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/11161/C39/L39

Willamette Writers and Oregon Writers Colony member David D. Levine has just won the Hugo Award for the best science fiction short story of 2005. The winning story, titled "Tk'Tk'Tk," was published in Asimov's magazine in March 2005, and the award was presented at the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles on August 26. The Hugo is science fiction's most significant popular award, and is voted on by the members of the Worldcon each year.

Eugene author Tom Arnold announces the publication of his debut novel Checkpoint Charlie, an action/coming-of-age story set in Cold War Europe in 1966. Three young expatriates befriend two dissident East Berliners and devise a dangerous scheme to help them escape to freedom. For further details, including the story outline, Chapter One, and instructions for ordering a signed copy, visit the author's website www.tomarnold.us.

Claire Krulikowski has scored two summer releases. Her newest book, the inspirational and daring Living A Radical Peace: Creating Life Anew (ISBN: 1-4241-2279-1 ) has been released through Publish America. Renown authors such as best-selling John Randolph Price, Terry Hershey, Lenedra Carroll, and Contact Radio hosts Cameron and Lucia-Monetta Steele are among those providing stellar advance endorsements. Meanwhile, Krulikowski's India travel memoir, Moonlight on the Ganga, has reincarnated and is now back-in-print (new ISBN: 0-595-39655-0 ) thanks to The Author's Guild "Back-In-Print Program." Jean Houston, Lynn Andrews and others praise Moonlight's poetic prose and insights.

Barbara Lauderdale Hearn recently had two articles published in the Working Writer Magazine in Libertyville, Illinois. The articles dealt with the importance of organizational skills in writing poetry, and connecting with other writers. One of Barbara's articles dealing with ways she has down time from raising her teenager was published in AMomsLove e-zine. Her poems, From Mom's Point of View, Frequent Feelings, and Hats Off to Moms were published on MyMommyCentral e-zine. Also, Barbara's poem, A Tribute to Mothers, was published on AwesomemomsNetwork e-zine.

Heather Sharfeddin's second novel Mineral Spirits (Bridge Works Publishing), due out this October, has received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Mineral Spirits follows Sheriff Edelson through a murder investigation in Mineral County Montana that uncovers drug dealing, incest and an abandoned boy. To learn more about it, visit www.sharfeddin.com.

Robin Layne won the April 2006 contest at AuthorsbyDesign.com. Its theme was young adult. Her short story, "Blood Ties," based on her novel-in-progress, Blood of the Willing, can be read in the May 2006 Museletter, at http://www.authorsbydesign.com/newsarchive1.php. The story appears on Page 6.

Shura Young was a Finalist in the 2006 Marylhurst University M Review contest. Her Creative Nonfiction story is published in the online journal at www.marylhurst.edu/mreview.

WW member Dr. Philip Shapiro was interviewed for an article in the July 5th Oregonian titled "Adventures in Bliss." Dr. Shapiro is quoted about the benefits of meditation for physical healing. The article has been posted on OregonLive.com.

Mary Jane Nordgren's creative nonfiction essay "Morning Caller" will be published in Releasing Times Magazine in July.

Charles Brashear's long poem, The Making of Poetry (seven pages) has just appeared in an anthology, Present at the Creation, published by the Healdsburg Arts Council in Sonoma County, CA. Two shorter poems, On the Possibility of Aesthetic Judgment and Poetry is a Little Crutch also appeared in the same anthology.

My short story, "What is the Cost?" (Which probably should be called "The Enemy") won first prize in the Dickens Short Fiction Contest, sponsored by Copperfields Books in Sonoma and Napa Counties, and was published in their yearbook, The Dickens, Vol 8 (2005) 1-3. I have also posted the story on my website: www.charlesbrashear.com.

Cindy Hiday's contemporary romance, HER PHOENIX HEART, is now available in paperback and Ebook at Booklocker.com. A story about renewal of the human spirit and a second chance at love. Is Elizabeth Heart ready to risk her hard-earned independence and possibly her very identity, again? Does Tyler Stone have what it takes to heal the emotional scars that keep her phoenix heart from soaring? Read more at www.cindyhiday.com. Third place winner of the Maumee Valley RWA Chapter's "He Said/She Said" contest. Cindy Hiday teaches the Professional Novel & Memoir Writers Workshop program at Mt. Hood Community College.

Cecelia Haack's children's short story "The Singing Mountain" won first place at Moondance International Film Festival 2006.

Victor Sharpe's new collection of short stories, The Blue Hour, has been published by www.lulu.com The thirteen tales contained in the collection include elements of the supernatural and the uncanny as well as stories that explore the human condition and the twists and turns of fate. All end in unexpected ways.

Victor was born and raised in England and has traveled extensively throughout the world. He came to the United States in 1981 and now makes his home in Portland. He has had many articles published on the web and in various publications in the US and Britain.

Victor is also an accomplished Jazz musician and, when not writing, can be seen and heard playing throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Lizanne Southgate's script "The Master's House" (a psychological paranormal thriller) has been purchased by Adryenn Ashley at 21st Century Pictures Group and goes into production as "Larkin House" in August. The cast includes William McNamara, Holly Fields, Dana Barron and Adrian Zmed.

Ellen Notbohm's book, Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew, is a ForeWord 2005 Book of the Year Honorable Mention winner, as announced at the BookExpo American convention in Washington, D.C. on May 19.

ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards recognize the literary achievements of independent publishers and their authors. A jury of librarians, booksellers and reviewers selects winners based on editorial excellence and professional production as well as the originality of the narrative and the value the book adds to its genre. This year more than 1,500 titles were submitted in 55 fiction and nonfiction categories. Each category awarded a gold, silver and bronze medal, with less than half the categories also awarding an Honorable Mention.

Ken Perinchief has had three short articles published in "Prairie Times" of Colorado this year, with a fourth accepted. His memoirs about "Spare Parts" and "Perseverance" have been printed. "Chainsaw As an Art Form" will appear in June, while "Bagpipes and Burials" showed up in the May issue.

Cheri Lasota, writer and freelance editor, has recently published the premiere issue of Writers Finders newsletter on her Web site www.stirlingproductions.com. The second issue is coming out June 1st. Please contact her at stirlingproductions@hotmail.com to get on the E-mailing list.

Jessica Morrell's Between the Lines is the main selection for the Writers Digest Book Club for May.

Leigh Anne Jasheway Bryant's story, Breaking the Chains, is included in Marlo Thomas's new book The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2. After being featured in Parade Magazine, Sunday, April 16 (including quotes from Leigh Anne's essay), the book moved to #3 on Amazon.com's Movers & Shakers List and sales overall surged 6000%.

Kenneth Lewis's novel Little Blue Whales, a crime suspense novel, has been published by iUniverse. Set in the fictional southern Oregon beach community of Cutter Point, Little Blue Whales is the story of one small town's political hierarchy having run completely amok in the course of attempting to further personal agendas, fueled by greed and power-even to the point of trying to cover up the murders of two young boys. Little Blue Whales will appeal to all mystery and suspense readers of regional fiction set in the Pacific Northwest. ISBN 0-595-39000-5. For more information, visit the author's website, www.kennethrlewis.com

Cynthia Whitcomb has created a web site at http://www.cynthiawhitcomb.com. The site has information about her classes, workshops, books, successful students, and scripts she has sold.

Bob Welch's new book, My Oregon (AO Creative), has been released. It's a collection of 100-plus columns Welch has written for The Register-Guard in the last six years. Welch's previous book, American Nightingale (Atria Books), was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.

Mary Jane Nordgren's one-act play Water and The Word has been selected for reading at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha late in May.

Sandy Carter's "Letters from Bob--A GI Re-entering Portland Life in 1945" made the Winter 2005 issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly, representing the Quarterly's "Oregon Voices" selection for that issue. The non-fiction article was derived from Sandy's large WWII-era family letters collection, which is providing her ample material for two larger literary non-fiction projects.

Rita L. Stanley, Ph.D., and co-author Karen P. Yerges announce the publication of their new non-fiction book, Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us.

Lyme disease is among the most rapidly growing epidemics in the nation with as many as a quarter million new cases each year. Delayed and inadequate treatment can lead to chronic suffering and disability. In advanced illness, a patient stands about a one in three chance of cure using standard treatment regimens. Fourteen patients reveal how their lives were changed by debilitating illness and by unanticipated medical obstacles in this newly released book. These individuals, from all walks of life, find themselves caught in the middle of a medical controversy fighting to regain the lives they once took for granted.

Please visit the official website at www.confrontinglyme.com . The book is also available at Amazon and through Booksurge Bookstores.

A new stand alone from C. Lill Ahrens' nearly finished memoir, Seoul Survivor , placed 2nd in the Soul Making contest. Originally titled "Like a Mother to a Flame," the story entered the contest as "Trial by Fire" and is now titled "A Simple System."

Ken Rand's new short story collection chapbook, Through Wyoming Eyes, is now available. For details, visit www.sfwa.org/members/Rand/ or the publisher: www.yarddogpress.com.

Eugene Nordstrom's The Honeymoon Car has been published by Xlibris and is now available at Amazon.com and other book sellers.

THE HONEYMOON CAR is a love story about two couples - decades apart - who are drawn together in an extraordinary way. Out of the mists of time, a pristine Packard Super 8 pulls up to the main entrance of a fashionable lakeside resort. How could curious onlookers know its young passengers have come from a wedding that occurred fifty-three years earlier? From their own tragic experiences with loss, Larry and Molly Hill have learned how love can heal. Now, possessing a revelation powerful enough to even survive death, they have returned with a message that can change troubled lives forever.

As a mental health professional, Dr. Eugene Nordstrom worked thirty years for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Northwest Region. During that time, he practiced clinical psychotherapy with children and adults, marital therapy and served as Assistant Director of the Mental Health Department.

Jacqueline Joseph's article, "Handwriting Forensics: The secret world of signature disguises", was published in The Oregon Trial Lawyer Association's Trial Lawyer, Fall 2005.

Mark Ellis's second collection of short stories reached the semi-finals in the 2005 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction.

Mark Ellis's second collection of short stories was a semi-finalist in Eastern Oregon University's 2005 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction contest. William Kittredge was the final judge. Mark is author of the story collection Dumbarton Ghosts www.markellisdumbartonghost.com Ellis: "When I began seriously writing fiction about nine years ago, I chanced upon Kittredge's story, "Phantom Silver," wherein he creates his own version of the Lone Ranger saga. The story set a standard for writing that is amazingly high. It was gratifying to show in this competition, a little recognition goes a long way

R.L. Kienbaum's horror script, "The Unseen" was a top 5 Finalist again at the 2005 SCREAMFEST LA Film Festival (judges included Jeff Katz of New Line Cinema, Stan Winston - Terminator 2, Pearl Harbor, A.I.). "The Unseen" has garnered the interest of several respected producers.

Robert is a former student of Cynthia Whitcomb and a member of both WW and OFS (Oregon Fellowship of Screenwriters).

Tom Cantwell's first young adult novel, The Seminole and the Slave, won Honorable Mention in the 13th annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards contest and will be listed in the March issue of Writer's Digest magazine. Described by judges as "brilliantly written, with terrific descriptive passages and dialogue," the historical novel is set in Florida during the Seminole Wars of the 1830's. The book is available at Tom's website: www.cantwellbooks.com.

Ellen Notbohm's 1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, co-authored with Veronica Zysk, won the Learning Magazine's 2006 Teacher's Choice Award. Ellen writes columns for the Autism/Asperger's Digest, Children's Voice, and the Portland Family Magazine. Her articles have appeared in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, LA Family, The Writer, and many other magazines.

Linda O'Neal has written a stunning and heartbreaking true life account of the notorious Ward Weaver, accused murderer of two teenage girls in Oregon City, Oregon. O'Neal owns her own private investigation firm and works for a dozen defense attorneys in the Portland area. The title of her book is "Missing: The Oregon City Girls, a Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder." The book is available through New Horizon Press. The book tells the story of the disappearance of Ashley Pond, 12, and Miranda Gaddis, 13, leading eventually to the arrest and conviction of Ward Weaver for their murders.

Nikki Arana reports that her first book of the Regalo Grande series, The Winds of Sonoma, has received 2 Christy award nominations, a Gold Medallion nomination and has been named one of the Top 20 Best Book for 2005 by ChristianBook.com. The second book of the series, In the Shade of the Jacaranda, will be in bookstores in February.

Karen Coates's essay, "Painting Cambodia for Judy," has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The essay, published in issue #61 of Kyoto Journal, is an adaptation of the introduction to Karen's book, Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War (McFarland & Company, 2005).

Katherine Glen and Publish America announce the February 2006 release of This Sort Of Thing set in Eugene, Oregon. For anyone who loved Olivia Goldsmith's "First Wives Club", Ms. Glen's murder mystery is full of lies, infidelity and intrigue with an atypical ending.

Ms. Glen draws upon her own nursing career to craft a tale of Jill McCord, hospitalized for the trauma of witnessing - while trying to prevent - the murder of her husband, Martin McCord. As the story unfolds, we see Martin has been the focus of extortion, Jill the victim of deception, and Martin's double life has culminated in his murder. But is Jill hiding something? Is she truly the traumatized victim of a crime or did her career as a nurse help her act the clever patient?

This is the first novel by Katherine Glen, a penname for Jacqueline Fowler RN who has previously published her non-fiction work in magazines, journals, and newspapers. She is currently working on "Fifty Years of Roaring," a non-fiction tribute to the Depression-era generation.

Craig English's and James Rapson's Anxious to Please: 7 Revolutionary Practices for the Chronically Nice, unveils seven powerful practices - a synthesis of personal and clinical experience, psychological theory, Buddhism, and gender studies. These seven practices are designed to heal the chronically nice person, transforming a life of anxiety into one that brims with self-confidence, serenity, and passion.

For more information about the book, as well as workshops presented by the authors, please visit their website at www.anxioustoplease.com.

Michael Donnelly's first novel, Awakening Curry Buckle, is now available.

Set on a Northwest island, high-schoolers Curry and Darwin unravel the secrets of a Tibetan amulet and decipher a Sanskrit inscription on a drum--a drum that seemingly wants to be played by no one but Darwin. Darwin goads Curry into exploring his emerging powers, and they set up a swami booth at a school bazaar. However, their good intentions attract the wrong people seeking the wrong kind of help.

Info, www.donnellybooks.com

Carolyn Sarver's children's story SPRINGER, ORPHAN ORCA OF PUGET SOUND won a Calypso award at the 2005 Moondance Film Festival in the short story for kids category. It was second place this year in the Kay Snow awards in the juvenile category!

Juleigh Howard-Hobson has an article up at writer2writer.com (http://www.writer2writer.com/slump.htm), a screenplay vignette accepted for a Portland based independent film (http://love.mullrahe.com/), a formalist poem out in "Idunna" and a piece in the 'Jettisoned' issue of "Product Syndicate". She has a formalist poem forthcoming in The New Heathen's Almanac, 2006.

Her work has also appeared in the New York Times Bestseller Nesting: It's A Chick Thing (Workman), ExPat (Seal Press), Bare Your Soul (Seal/Avalon), and The Knitter's Gift (Adams Media) ...just to name a few places.

Gloria Morris received an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Stage Play/Script category of their 74th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. WD Editor Kristin D. Godsey said there were almost 18,000 entries. Morris participated in Cynthia Whitcomb's Scriptwriting class last year.

Mary Andonian won Honorable Mention in the annual Writers Digest competition. The competition received almost 18,000 entries. Her story, Better Ways, is an excerpt from her book, Mind Chatter, and won in the Inspirational category.

Regina Patton sold her first short story to AlienSkin online magazine. "A Speck in the Universe" will be featured in AlienSkin's August/September 2005 Anniversary issue which can be found at http://www.alienskin.com.

Nikki Arana's first book, The Winds of Sonoma, has just been released. (356 pages, Revell, October 2005) It tells the story of a young woman, Angelica Amante, a rising star in a prominent law firm. She has everything money can buy. Then she meets a poor Mexican, Antonio Perez, who has crossed the border illegally and come to work on her wealthy parent's Arabian horse ranch. He has an inner strength, integrity, and peace that she longs for. And soon she is drawn to him in a way she cannot deny.

The book is the first in a three book series and was edited by fellow Willamette Writers member Carol Craig. For more information visit www.thewindsofsonoma.com.

Dr. Philip Shapiro's book, Healing Power: Ten Steps to Pain Management and Spiritual Evolution, is now available. Dr. Shapiro is a practicing psychiatrist and a devotee of raja yoga. He uses his understanding of the Eastern method of transcendence and the Western method of understanding to guide readers to deal with pain using practical and spiritual methods. For more information about the book, visit www.philipshapiro.com

Bert Krages' fourth book, Photography-The Art of Composition was released by Allworth Press at the beginning of June. It introduces a new approach to photographic composition based on applying modern cognitive science to the development of basic perceptual skills. He coauthored the fourth edition of The Law (In Plain English) for Writers with Leonard DuBoff which was released in April by Sourcebooks.

Linda Kaplan's memoir My First Crush, Misadventures in Wine Country--the story of how Linda and her husband unexpectedly came to own a high-profile winery when Linda didn't know the difference between Pinot noir and Pinot gris--will be released by The Lyons Press on May 1. Read an excerpt on panthercreekcellars.com.

Bill Klausman's first book, The Amacon Cover, is set for official release this Mothers Day, 2005 by American Book Publishing. From his many years as a covert operative in the shadowy world of Corporate Espionage, Klausman leads his readers through the streets of Portland, New York, Washington DC and Frankfurt Germany, as he delivers a tale of intrigue and suspense that is chilling in its plausibility. Alan H. Crowe, renowned Portland-based legal investigator, lecturer and author, writes this: "One of the most talented investigators in America, Bill Klausman captures the spirit of his dangerous, true-to-life case in The Amacon Cover."

Melissa Hart's humorous essay "The Politics Beneath My Little Red Dress" appears in this issue of Citizen Culture, and her essay "Pomography" appears in this issue of Adbusters. Windstorm Creative has just re-released her memoir, The Assault of Laughter: A daughter's journey back to her lesbian mother. Details at www.melissahart.com

Elaura Niles, the former agent-editor coordinator of the Willamette Writers Conference, is pleased to announce that her new book, SOME WRITERS DESERVE TO STARVE: 31 Brutal Truths About the Publishing Industry, is now available in bookstores. Chosen by Barnes & Noble as an "Impulse Buy" for the month of February, it will displayed near the registers at B&N locations nationally.

Kristin Kaye has sold her work of literary non-fiction, The Celebration of the Most Awesome Female Muscle in the World, to Thunder's Mouth Press to be released in Fall 2005. The book chronicles Kaye's real-life exploits plunging into the world of womens bodybuilding as the playwright and director of a one-night-only, theatrical extravaganza celebrating female strength and featuring twenty-five of the world's strongest and most muscular women at New York City's Roseland Ballroom.

Wrestling With Charlotte, an offbeat comedy about death, guilt and theatre, has won Portland dramatist Doug Baldwin a second-place award in a national playwriting contest held by Writer's Digest magazine.

Baldwin's script was honored in the "Stage Play Script" category of the 73rd Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. He received a cash award and recognition in the magazine's November issue.

Lori Stephens and Unlimited Publishing announce the release of Deep Structure, a speculative science mystery. Fans of The Da Vinci Code's symbology sleuthing and the quantum questions of What the #$*! Do We Know will enjoy this meta-linguistic story that will send you down the rabbit hole of perception and scramble your paradigm of reality.

Robin Catesby's stage adaptation of the classic children's book The Velveteen Rabbit played at the Keller Auditorium in April 2004. Originally commissioned by Oregon Children's Theatre in 2000 (with a World Premiere in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall), this adaptation features book and lyrics by Catesby and music by Michael Allen Harrison.

Long Road Turning, the first book in Irene Bennett Brown's critically acclaimed Women Of Paragon Springs series, is now available in trade paperback from Five Star and in audiobook format from Books In Motion. Her newest novel, Haven, set in 1890's Oregon in the Snake River Canyon, was a December 2003 release in hardcover from Five Star.

In Writing Your Screenplay, successful screenwriter and teacher Cynthia Whitcomb shares her extensive knowledge on writing for the screen. This book will teach you her proven techniques. Cynthia Whitcomb has sold more than 70 feature-length screenplays, 25 of which have been filmed.

In Providence of a Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds Chris Chester's heartfelt, warm, and entertaining memoir, Chester describes in minute detail the changes that a tiny English sparrow has imposed on his living quarters, his daily routine, and, most significantly, his emotional life.

In Riding with the Queen by Jennifer Shortridge, Tallie Beck is a 34-year-old washed-up, self-centered, rock-n-roll singer who has never grown up. Now she has to go home and face the music on several fronts. Her career is in tatters, her bank account is nonexistent, and the only job her agent can offer is in a piano bar in Denver, her hometown. Scornful but desperate, she buckles down - albeit with frequent rebellions - to a job where limits are set but where, paradoxically, she has the opportunity to grow.

Shari S. Forbes has published her first novel, The Bottom Five, which she co-authored with her British partner John Benson under the pen name Benson S. Forbes. Although it's a "new novel about an old war," it is of timely interest given the current world situation. Based on historical fact and firsthand knowledge, the novel centers on five English lads who come of age during World War I. Readers can find more information about the book and author at www.xlibris.com/BensonSForbes.html.

If you hate shopping, Marlene Moore's humorous book Hunting for Mr. Good Bargain will tell you how to enjoy shopping. If you are a collector this book gives tips on how to expand your search without leaving town. Hunting for Mr. Good Bargain is full of personal anecdotes that will put you at ease with your shopping woes, offer you a few laughs, and eliminate your embarrassment about that bargain that was not a bargain after all.

Margie Rikert and Carol Cowan are authors of The Portland Handbook. A second edition of the book has just been released.

Mark Ellis' Dumbarton Ghosts is a collection of short stories about the Oakland bridge and the lives it impacted. The characters in this collection include a middle-aged couple trying to create a child on the bridge as they struggle with infertility and a young boy who discovers the secret of his grandmother's secret boarder. This collection is available at barnesandnoble.com and PublishAmerica.

Doris Colmes' memoir, The Iron Butterfly, A trip through the twentieth century, is now available through PublishAmerica.com and Amazon.com. Information about Doris' memoir is available at her web site, www.doriscolmes.com.

Classic Liqueurs: The Art of Making and Cooking with Liqueurs, by Cheryl Long Riffle and Heather Kibbey, is a Benjamin Franklin Silver Award Winner. Here are the famous, heritage and hard-to-find recipes with clear directions you need to make the very best home-made liqueurs year round. Create great liqueurs from fruits, herbs, spices and other natural ingredients at a fraction of their store price.
"The bible of liqueur-making." - Kitchen Kaboodle

Award winning author Lenor Madruga Chappell continues to move readers with her latest book,The Next Leg of My Journey. Lenor engages the reader with the intimate and heart wrenching details of the painful demise of her marriage, admitting that "losing her husband was worse then losing her leg." Committed to enjoying life, no matter what it brings, her remarkable story of learning to love again is uplifting and achingly honest.

Willamette Writer's Office Manager Bill Johnson's A Story is a Promise offers a fresh new model for mastering the elusive art of writing dramatic and engaging stories. To illustrate its major principles, the book includes reviews and analyses of over a dozen popular films, novels, and plays. Complete with prompts at the end of each chapter, A Story is a Promise can be used as a workbook to help writers internalize the principle that underlies all well-told stories: that a story should be a promise and that a promise should be kept. The inclusion of familiar examples makes this book accessible and useful to all writers of fiction, play, and screenplays.

Marili Green Reilly reports that her mainstream short story "Getting Caught," won the Graverson Award, which is First Place in the 7th Annual Garden State Horror Writers' Short Story Contest. She also had an essay accepted by The Sunday Oregonian for the First Person Singular feature. It ran December 5th. Two of her articles ran in The Freshwater News in July and September 1999.

Sybilla Cook, a new member Roseburg, OR reports that her book, Walking Portland, was published by Falcon Publishing and has received many good reviews, including one in the Oregonian.

Jane Kirkpatrick has just released a fourth novel in her series based on the lives of real, "Dream catching" frontier couples. Mystic Sweet Communion is set in the steamy water-milieu of south Florida and is the story of Ivy June Cromartie, Boward County's finest teacher one hundred years ago. Published by Multnomah.

Richard Seidman met with several agents and editors at a Willamette Writer's conference to pitch a project, Aleph Beit Cards, The Guidance and Meditation. Two editors expressed interest. A few months following the conference, Barry Nevill of St. Martin's Press made an offer. Lake Oswego literary agent Naomi Reichstein then helped negotiate the contract. The book is now published.