October 7 The Old Church will be taken over by the spirit of the theatre. Up and coming local playwrights, Marc Acito, and Cynthia Whitcomb, will share their inspiring success stories and let you climb inside their heads and play with all the little whirring wheels and goofy gears in there.

Marc and Cynthia have had successful careers in other writing fields. Marc is the popular comic novelist who penned How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theatre,(which won the Ken Kesey Award for the Novel) and its hilarious sequel Attack of the Theatre People which came out a few months ago. He has been a columnist (The Gospel According to Marc), a professional international opera singer, and is currently a regular contributor to All Things Considered on National Public Radio. Check out his blog at marcacito.com where he attempts to do one thing that he has never done before, every single day of 2008.

Cynthia has a long career as a screen and television writer, author of screenplay books and teacher of a popular screenwriting course. She has had nearly 30 of her scripts filmed for prime time national T.V. and has been nominated for the Emmy, Cable Ace, WGA, and Edgar Allan Poe Awards. Many stars have performed her work including Jason Robards, Ellen Burstyn, Anjelica Huston, Kevin Spacey and Martin Sheen. She also somehow finds time to be president of Willamette Writers.

Together Marc and Cynthia wrote the comedy Holidazed which will have its world premiere at Artists Repertory Theatre and run from November 21 to December 28, and, if they have their way, beyond.

Our two speakers belong to a remarkable critique group nicknamed "The Big Brain Trust." Two other group members will have original theatre pieces premiering in Portland theatres this season as well. (One at Portland Center Stage, another at A.R.T.) And two BBTs host their own television series and a third a radio show. Two front popular rock bands. And this from a group with a total of six members, so major magic has been taking place. We will share our secrets of how to create a super power writing group. (Hint: Start with the smartest people you know.)

There is a good chance at least one surprise guest will be appearing with us, depending on the whims of movie and T.V. shooting schedules and the vagaries of rock and roll. If all else fails we promise Marc and Cynthia will entertain you. We will also be giving away a few theatre tickets for their play and some gift certificates toward the Trans-Atlantic writing cruise Marc and C.W. are hosting in April, "Writing the Waves."

It is an evening and an event not to be missed.

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Our past speakers included:

"Writing Rules are Meant to be Broken"

Bestselling author Jennie Shortridge was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota and moved west to Colorado in 1969. After graduating from high school, she moved out on her own and tried various jobs, including plumber, cook, secretary and singing in bars with rock-and-roll bands, before settling into a marketing and advertising career that would last over 15 years.

In 1989 she met her Australian husband-to-be, Matt, in a band a mutual acquaintance was forming. The band didn't make it, but Matt and Jennie became an acoustic duo, playing at festivals and in coffee houses. They married in 1992.

By the time she'd become director of sales and marketing for a Denver firm, she was burned out and wanted a less stressful, more reflective life. She left her job and began to write and learn about the business of writing. Within a year or so she was getting published in newspapers and magazines in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as getting the occasional article placed in national magazines such as Mademoiselle, Glamour, Southwest Art, Natural Home, and various inflight publications. She'd also had a short story published and was working on a novel based on it.

Volunteer work has always been an important part of her life. She volunteers with a Seattle nonprofit that helps kids learn to write better, called "826 Seattle," and is an offshoot of the original "826 Valencia" organization started by author Dave Eggers in San Francisco.

In 2002, Jennie and Matt moved to Portland, Oregon. Her first novel, Riding with the Queen, was published by NAL, a division of Penguin Group, soon thereafter in 2003. After a subsequent move to Seattle in 2005, her second novel, Eating Heaven, was released. Her third novel is Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe (May 2008) and is currently #1 on the Denver Post paperback list. A fourth novel is in progress.

Join us for what's sure to be a rollicking evening as Jennie tells us which writing rules are made to be broken!

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As a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, Christine Fletcher spent her days reading, drawing animals, and at the age of seven, dreamed of inventing veterinary medicine. Crushed that the profession was already in existence, she went on to become a veterinarian, and though the drawing fell by the wayside, she never stopped writing.

Though she claims she hadn't thought of becoming a writer, after reading a particularly badly written novel she came to the conclusion that she could do better. And apparently reviewers have thought so as well, with high praise for her first young adult novel, Tallulah Falls, from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, School Library Journal, and many more. Tallulah Falls was named a 2007 Book for the Teen Age by the New York Public Library.

Tallulah Falls is the coming-of-age story of seventeen-year-old Tallulah Addy, who drops everything when she gets a frantic message from her best friend Maeve, and sets out from Oregon to rural Tennessee to rescue her. But a few days later it's Tallulah who needs help after she finds herself abandoned and penniless.

Fletcher's most recent novel is Ten Cents a Dance, published by Bloomsbury Children's Books. The setting is Chicago 1941, where fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski has dropped out of high school to support her family when her mother becomes too ill to work. Ruby's dull factory job makes life one long dead end until she meets neighborhood bad boy Paulie Suelze. Soon, Ruby learns how make lots of money by getting paid to dance with lonely men. Ten Cents a Dance opens a window onto a little-known world and the passions of a young generation on the eve of war.

Today Fletcher lives in a 100-year-old house in Portland that she says is constantly in need of repairs. Her companions are her boyfriend of many years, two dogs and two cats, and a hognose snake named Snappy Tom.

Join us July 1st when Christine Fletcher will share her insights and experiences in writing for young adults.

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Irene Radford has been writing stories ever since she figured out what a pencil was for. Combining a love for Medieval history and a fascination with paranormal, Irene concentrated on fantasy writing. Under her own name she is author of the prolific Dragon Nimbus series, and the Merlin's Descendants series, Daw Books. Under the name P.R. Frost, she writes for people who like their fantasy a little edgier. Hounding the Moon and Moon in the Mirror are two such exciting volumes, also from Daw.

A native Oregonian living in Oregon, Irene is a member of an endangered species. As a service brat, she lived in a number of cities throughout the country until returning to Oregon in time to graduate from Tigard High School. She earned a B.A. in history from Lewis and Clark College, where she met her husband, Tim. Irene and her husband currently make their home in Welches, Oregon where they share their back yard with deer, coyotes, bear, raccoons, and too many bird species to mention.

The Willamette Writers is extremely proud to have Irene give a workshop on "Writing a Synopsis", for the June meeting. While reading materials submitted to a writer's workshop for a con, she realized that most of the beginning writers, and some experienced ones, had no clue as to the purpose and format of a synopsis. A synopsis is a vital marketing tool and can assist the author in planning a book.

An editor needs to know that the author understands the novel has a beginning, middle, and an end. The synopsis must show this. Some editors require a synopsis be submitted along with a complete manuscript to verify that the author has control of the story. The two documents need to match. Once you have sold one or more books with a complete manuscript, you will sell on partial manuscripts consisting of a synopsis and the first three chapters. Again, your synopsis needs to demonstrate a beginning, a middle, and an end as well as a flow of action. Irene will explain all this in detail at the June meeting, including how you must never keep secrets from an editor. Reveal the ending as well as the solution to any mystery in your plot. Writing a synopsis for yourself, sometimes several different ones through the course of completing a book, helps keep you focused on the action/reaction and consequences.

Synopses need not be boring. Keeping it interesting and concise is an art form that requires practice. Irene has been known to take as long on the synopsis as she does to write the first three chapters or thirty pages of the manuscript. Sometimes longer. Irene will share a format that works for her that we can adapt to our individual needs. Included in this will be explained the various stages of putting an exciting synopsis together, from the hook, through the protagonist and the antagonist, to the climax and resolution. Irene promises that with a little practice, writing a synopsis becomes a familiar and comfortable part of the process of creating a novel.

See Irene's website for information on her available titles and appearances: www.ireneradford.com