2012 Roundtables

Writing your life story is a journey of self-discovery that will help you create realistic characters for whatever writing you do. Add the people who helped shape you along the way and you have a great glimpse into human nature and the dynamics that move our stories—real or fictional.

Marcia Rudoff is one of the founding members of Field’s End, a memoir-writing instructor, newspaper columnist, and freelance writer. She holds a BA from Douglass College and an MA from Sarah Lawrence College. After retiring from a career in education, Rudoff moved to Bainbridge Island, where the desire to write and teach re-emerged. The result was the creation of memoir-writing classes on Bainbridge, an assignment as columnist for the local newspaper, and an interest in freelance writing that has resulted in several published pieces and awards.

The P-I’s longtime book critic looks back at more than a decade of interviews and reviews of authors from across the country and around the Pacific Northwest. He discusses the craft of book criticism and offers his recollections of interviews with such notable authors as John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford, Elizabeth Gilbert, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tom Robbins.

John Marshall was the longtime book critic of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer until it ceased publication in 2009. His work there included in-person interviews with many major literary figures and celebrities. Marshall is the author of several nonfiction books including Reconciliation Road, an award-winning family memoir, and Place of Learning, Place of Dreams: A History of the Seattle Public Library. He is also coauthor of Volcano: The Eruption of Mount St. Helens, a national bestseller. Marshall teaches a popular memoir-writing class at Richard Hugo House in Seattle. He has lived on Bainbridge Island since 2010.

Why do great poems surprise us? Not only do they defy predictable accounts of being alive, they move language around until it says the unsayable. This interactive talk showcases some surprising, inspiring poems and offers techniques to create verse that tingles and shimmies with unexpected turns. 

Frrances McCue, winner of the 2011 Washington State Book Award for Poetry and finalist for Nonfiction, has written three books: The Bled, The Stenographer's Breakfast (both poetry), and The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs, a collection of essays about Northwest towns and Richard Hugo. She is Writer in Residence in the Undergraduate Honors Program at UW and is a freelance Arts Instigator, a catalyst for people and organizations to generate creative, innovative projects.

It's not always what is said and how it is said in our fiction, but often what isn't said. We'll look at how writers convey information by writing "between the lines." Using examples from modern short fiction and novels, we'll explore the advantages and disadvantages of leaving some things unsaid (at least in our fiction).

Michael Overa is a Seattle native and a 2010 graduate of the Hollins University MFA program. In addition to working as a private tutor and freelance writer, Overa has volunteered with 826 Seattle, Richard Hugo House, and the Writers In The Schools program. His work has appeared in the Portland Review, Line Zero, Ink Collective, and at Pindeldyboz.com, among other places. www.facebook.com/michael.overa

Narrative isn't just for novelists. Langdon Cook, who writes about food and foraging, talks about creative nonfiction and writing what you know. He also discusses how he transformed a hobby into his subject matter—and the publishing adventure that ensued.

Langdon Cook is the author of Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21^st Century Forager, which the Seattle Times called “lyrical, practical and quixotic." He writes a popular, award-winning blog of the same title. Cook formerly worked at Amazon as a Senior Books Editor before moving to a cabin off the grid with his family. He is now a columnist for Seattle Magazine and a frequent speaker about wild foods and the outdoors. Cook’s writing has appeared in Sunset, Outside, and other journals. A graduate of Middlebury College and UW, where he earned an MFA, Cook lives in Seattle.

Why do some blogs become cash cows while most languish in obscurity? Learn how to get your blog noticed, draw a crowd, and then make blogging pay.

Carol Tice has earned a full-time living from writing since 1995, with clients including Entrepreneur Magazine, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Costco, Sound Transit, and many more. Her blog, Make a Living Writing, was named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2011, and she has guested on Copyblogger, Write to Done, and other top blogs. Tice also helps writers earn more in her membership community, Freelance Writers Den. She was a staff writer at Puget Sound Business Journal for more than six years. http://www.caroltice.com

Search like a librarian! Learn how to locate the information you need from a variety of online resources. With so many choices, what’s credible and what’s not? Librarians use many strategies to help them zero in on information that is reliable. Ream highlights the best resources and demonstrates searching techniques to help improve your online research. Bring your laptop, connect to the library's wireless, and follow along. 

Jeannie Ream was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She earned her MLS from UW’s Information School. She has provided research assistance, technology support, and readers’ advisory to library users all over Kitsap County. Ream also enjoys teaching patrons how to use the library’s resources. One of her favorite workshops is Learning to Use KRL's Downloadable Media Collection, which connects library users with e-books and audiobooks for transfer to devices such as the Nook or the iPod.

Author/Illustrator Richard Jesse Watson leads an interactive discussion about the making of children’s books. Watson examines how writing and illustrating for kids requires looking through both ends of the telescope. Children stargaze by reading books. Bring your pointy hat and join one alchemist in a look beyond the mists to re-enter the dream that was childhood.

Richard Jesse Watson loves his job. As a writer and illustrator of picture books he has snooped around Egyptian tombs, sipped python soup in a Malaysian jungle, chewed the fat with chimpanzees, and shared breakfast with an orangutan. He has hung out of an airplane over Port Townsend, pulled rabbits out of hats, dinked around with petrified dinosaur dung, and been wounded by his T-Rex maquette—real blood. Watson’s version of The Night Before Christmas was a New York Times bestseller. The Lord’s Prayer received a Kirkus starred review, and Kirkus also proclaimed The Magic Rabbit, “exuberant.” http://richardjessewatson.com/

Readings are high-level marketing tools for writers in the new world of publishing. Learn the basics: how to be an engaging, accessible, and subtly self-promoting public speaker when you’re the author in the spotlight at your local bookstore.

Judith C. Tingley is a psychologist and author of four books of nonfiction. She lives on Bainbridge Island and spends time as a freelance writer, blogger, and community volunteer. She has worked as a professional speaker and corporate trainer, with 25 years experience as a toastmaster helping her to continuously improve her public speaking skills. Tingley has also written about the writer as speaker for the American Society of Journalists and Authors Magazine, and speaks on the topic of eliminating fear of public speaking. http://intelligentwomenonly.com

Poet Holly J. Hughes explores how writing and contemplative practice can support each other in creating more space for creativity in our busy lives. We’ll look at poems that focus on careful seeing and effective use of concrete details, reminding us how the simple act of paying attention hones the skills necessary for authentic creative work. We’ll do a brief mindfulness meditation and see what words emerge; no meditation experience necessary.   

Holly J. Hughes is the editor of the award-winning anthology Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease. Her Boxing the Compass won the Floating Bridge chapbook contest in 2007. She’s spent more than 30 summers working on the water in Alaska, most recently as a naturalist. In the winter, Hughes teaches writing at Edmonds Community College, where she co-directs the Convergence Writers Series and the Sustainability Initiative. She has also taught writing workshops at the North Cascades Institute, Rainier Writing Workshop, and Fishtrap.

Please join us for a special evening of writers reading their work. Whether you’re writing a picture book or the Great American Novel, whether your work is published or still in progress, come share your writing with the Field’s End community. Sign up to read when you arrive; readers will be limited to five minutes each. Field’s End Core Team member Margaret Nevinski moderates.

How do writers shape and inform stories depicting a culture other than their own? Margaret Chang, who married into a Chinese family, offers insights based on her experience as a writer, teacher, critic, librarian, and member of a supportive community that advocates for cross-cultural understanding.

Margaret Chang, a former children’s librarian, holds an MA in Children’s Literature and for 17 years taught college courses in children’s literature. With her Chinese-born husband, she has published four children’s books set in China, and an introduction to the Chinese language. A longtime reviewer for School Library Journal, she served on two American Library Association award committees: the 2005 Caldecott and the 2007 Batchelder. Chang was also a judge for the 6th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards. She is now on the Board of Directors for USBBY, an organization promoting international understanding through children’s books. Her most recent book is Celia’s Robot. Listen to a podcast with Margaret Chang.