Past Roundtables

February 21, 2012
Speaker: Margaret Chang
Reading, Living, and Writing Cross-Culturally

February 29, 2012
Speaker: Marcia Rudoff
Know Your Characters

March 20, 2012
Speaker: John Marshall
Reflections from the Seattle P-I Book Beat

April 17, 2012
Speaker: Frances McCue
Reading and Writing Poems That Startle Us

May 15, 2012
Speaker: Michael Overa
Saying the Unsaid: Subtext in Fiction

June 19, 2012
Speaker: Langdon Cook
Food, Foraging, and Finding an Angle

July 17, 2012
Speaker: Carol Tice
20 Steps to a Money-Making Blog

August 21, 2012
Speaker: Jeannie Ream
Online Research for Writers: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies

September 18, 2012
Speaker: Richard Jesse Watson
The Up-Close, Far-Out World Of Kids' Books

October 16, 2012
Speaker: Judith C. Tingley
The Writer As Speaker: Get Ready for a Reading

November 20, 2012
Speaker: Holly J. Hughes
The Pen and the Bell: Poetry As Practice

December 18, 2012
Open Mic Reading with You

January 18, 2011
Speaker: Jeanne Matthews
Using Myth in Creating Story and Character

February 15, 2011
Speaker: Brenda Peterson
From Life to Story: The Art of Memoir

March 15, 2011
Speaker: Wendy Call
The Art of Research: How Everything from Archives to Interviews Can Feed Your Personal Nonfiction

April 19, 2011
Speaker: Susan Rich
Ecstatic Poetry: Non-Religious Poems Lifting Us Beyond the Everyday

May 17, 2011
Speaker: Jennie Shortridge
The Art of Arc: Getting Those Flabby Middles in Shape

June 21, 2011
Speaker: Indu Sundaresan
Weaving Fact, Fiction, and Gossip in a Novel: History Through the Fabric of Fiction

July 19, 2011
Speaker: Peter Bacho
Creating the Star: How an Interesting Protagonist Can Survive a Conventional Plot 

August 16, 2011
Speaker: Randall Platt
Acting on Paper: What Acting Can Teach Us about Writing

September 20, 2011
Speaker: David Rocklin
The How of Where: Thoughts on Setting As an Additional Character in Historical Fiction

October 18, 2011
Speaker: Janée J. Baugher
Visual Arts in the Literary Arts: How and Why We Write Ekphrastically

November 15, 2011
Speaker: Bob McAllister
Moon Under Cabbage Leaves: What Is Poetry?

December 20, 2011
Speakers: Field’s End Team -- Barbara Clarke, Sherill Leonardi, Margaret Trent, Lin Kamer-Walker, and Kristy Webster
Books That Inspire and Keep Us Writing

January 19, 2010
Speaker: Barbara Winther
Collaboration: Are Two Heads Better Than One?

February 16, 2010
Speaker: Erica Bauermeister
Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir: How Do You Choose?

March 16, 2010 - Cancelled due to a power outage.

April 20, 2010
Speaker: Kelli Russell Agodon
What Constitutes a Good Poem?

May 18, 2010
Speakers: Carol Cassella and George Shannon
Ways to Make Your Writing Group Really Work

June 15, 2010
Speaker: Midge Raymond
How to Be Your Own Editor

July 20, 2010
Speaker: Dinah Manoff
Stand in Your Character’s Shoes
 
August 17, 2010
Speaker: Tamara Sellman
Sharpen Your Pencils for National Novel Writing Month

September 21, 2010
Speaker: Tom Tyner
The Ins and Outs of Writing a Weekly Column

October 19, 2010
Speaker: Tim Vandehey
The Entrepreneurial Writer

November 16, 2010
Speaker: Anthony Flacco
From the Screen in Your Mind to the Page in Your Hands

December 21, 2010
Speaker: The Field’s End Team
Starting, Finding, or Caring for a Writing Group

January 20, 2009
Speaker: Jonathan Evison
How Do You Make Your Words Sing?

February 17, 2009
Speaker: Judith Tingley
How Do You Query Nonfiction?

March 17, 2009
Speaker: Michael Lisagor
How Can You Share the Words You Live By?

April 21, 2009
Speaker: Angela Fountas
What Are the Pros and Cons of an MFA?

May 19, 2009
Speaker: David Korten
How Can a Writer Change the World?

June 16, 2009
Speaker: Ann Lovejoy
Can You Write Nonfiction for All Readers?

July 21, 2009
Speaker: Shannon Evans
How Can You Turn Your Passion Into Print?

August 18, 2009
Speaker: Katherine Grace Bond
The Actor's Art: Do Writers Care?

September 15, 2009
Speaker: Jennifer Culkin
How Does the Journal Feed the Memoir?

October 20, 2009
Speaker: Anjali Banerjee
When Is Your Novel Ready for an Agent?

November 17, 2009
Speaker: Ann Bauer
Can You Write Your Story Without Losing Your Friends?

December 15, 2009
Speaker: Greg Atkinson
How Do You Make Readers Devour Your Words?

January 15, 2008
Speaker: Matt Smith
How Can Improv Improve Your Writing?

February 19, 2008
Speaker: Paul Hanson
How Necessary Are Truth and Reality in Speculative Fiction?

March 18, 2008
Speaker: Lynn Brunelle
How Do You Go from an Idea to a Pitch?

April 15, 2008
Speaker: Dia Calhoun
How Do You Write Fantasy Using the Hero’s Journey?

May 20, 2008
Speaker: Wendy Call
How Do We Render Other People’s Stories? Tales from Mexico

June 17, 2008
Speaker: Sheila Rabe
What Makes a Book Funny?

July 15, 2008
Speakers: Four Local Writers
What’s the Best Way to Get Your Words on the Page?

August 19, 2008
Speaker: Carol Cassella
How Do We Find Time to Write?

September 16, 2008
Speaker: Carolyne Wright
How to Move from Poetry to Prose (and Back Again)

October 21, 2008
Speaker: Robin Simons
So Much Material, Where’s the Real Story?

November 18, 2008
Speaker: Warren Read
How Do You Go from Vignettes to a Meaningful Memoir?

December 16, 2008
Speaker: George Shannon
Does Size Really Matter? Age of Reader? Length of Book?

January 16, 2007 –  Cancelled due to snow. 

February 20, 2007
Speaker: Jennifer Louden
How Do You Romance Your Muse and Nurture Creativity?

March 20, 2007
Speaker: Charley Pavlosky
How Can You Get Out of Your Own Way?

April 17, 2007
Speaker: Michael Donnelly
When Do You Give a Book the Hook?

May 15, 2007
Speaker: Mary Buckham
How to Craft Believable Characters of the Opposite Sex?

June 19, 2007
Speaker: Gary Kinder
What Is the Secret to Writing Clear and Compelling Sentences?

July 17, 2007
Speaker: Jim Whiting
Compelling Nonfiction

August 21, 2007
Speaker: Brent Hartinger
How Far Is Too Far? The Limits of Teen Lit

September 18, 2007
Speaker: Suzanne Macpherson
How Do We Create Snappy Dialogue?

October 16, 2007
Speaker: Kristin von Kreisler
How Can a Writer Handle Criticism and Rejection?

November 20, 2007
Speaker: Suzanne Selfors
What’s the Path from Writing Student to Published Author?

December 18, 2007
Speaker: Ann Roth
Opening Pages: What Grabs? What Drags?

January 17, 2006
Speaker: Jonathan Evison
What Factors Define a Great Character?

February 21, 2006
Speaker: Nancy Blakey
How Can a Writer Find a Personal Voice?

March 21, 2006
Speaker: Tamara Sellman
How Does a Writer Work Online?

April 18, 2006
Speaker: Tom Kelly
How Do You Wrap Creative Nonfiction Around Facts?

May 16, 2006
Speaker: Jordan Harrison
How Can You Write for Both the Reader and the Stage?

June 20, 2006
Speaker: Matt Briggs
How Can Fiction Compete with Blogs and Reality TV?

July 18, 2006
Speaker: Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
Who Would Want to Read My Memoir?

August 15, 2006
Speaker: Susan Plunkett and Krysteen Seelen
Can You Stay Creative in a Writing Team?

September 19, 2006
Speaker: Kathleen Alcalá
How Do We Write Meaningfully in the Wake of Disaster?

October 17, 2006
Speaker: Anjali Banerjee
How Do You Take Your Writing Seriously?

November 21, 2006
Speaker: Mark Trahant
Why Write Every Day?

December 19, 2006
Speaker: Larry Karp
Writing Fiction and Nonfiction: What Is the Big Difference?

January 15, 2005
Speaker: Skye Moody
Heroes and Villains: Where’s the Conflict?

February 15, 2005
Speaker: Irene Wanner
How Does Travel Trigger Fascinating Literature?

March 15, 2005
Speaker: Joe Upton
How Does a Writer Get Started Writing?

April 19, 2005
Speaker: Kris Henshaw
How Writers Can Tap into Life’s Metaphors 

May 17, 2005
Speaker: Sheila Bender
What Does Writing It Real Require?

June 21, 2005
Speaker: Tamara Sellman
Is Online Publishing a Viable Option for Creative Writers?

July 19, 2005
Speaker: Darryl Ponicsan
The Pros and Cons of Writing in the Present Tense

August 16, 2005
Fall Class Preview

September 20, 2005
Speaker: Kristin von Kreisler
How a Writer Can Gain Confidence

October 18, 2005
Speaker: Susan Sloan
Why Write?

November 15, 2005
Speaker: Greg Atkinson
Translating Personal Memories into Savory Prose

December 20, 2005
Speaker: Mary Guterson
How Writers Keep Going

January 20, 2004
Speaker: Annette Moser-Wellman
How Do Writers Discover Their Creative Genius?

February 17, 2004
Speaker: Sheila Bender
Why Write the Personal Essay?

March 16, 2004
Speaker: Natalia Ilyin
What Is Creative Nonfiction?

April 20, 2004
Speaker: Sheila Rabe
What’s So Funny: How Does a Writer Tickle the Reader's Funny Bone?

May 18, 2004
Speaker: David Korten
How Does a Writer Awaken the Reader’s Sense of the Possible?

June 15, 2004
Speaker: Terry Brooks
What’s the Importance of Dreaming Your Story?

July 20, 2004
Speaker: Suzanne Macpherson
How Do You Get in the Mood to Write?

August 17, 2004
Field’s End Organizers, Volunteers, Instructors, and Writers Celebrated the Conclusion of Field’s End’s Second Full Year and Previewed Fall Classes

September 21, 2004
Speaker: Susan Sloan
What Makes a Page-Turner?

October 19, 2004
Speaker: Fred Moody
How Does an Author Know What Questions to Ask in an Interview?

November 16, 2004
Speaker: Sharon E. Svendsen
What Is a Poem’s Story Arc?

December 21, 2004
Speaker: Anjali Banerjee
How Does a Writer Use Specific Detail and Imagery to Express Universal Emotions?

January 22, 2003
Speaker: Ann Lovejoy
How Does a Writer Develop a Voice That Works?

February 18, 2003
Speaker: Kathleen Alcalá
The Research Behind the Story: How Much Is Enough?

March 18, 2003
Speaker: Greg Atkinson
How Can Personal Memories be Translated into Savory Prose?

April 15, 2003
Speaker: Kris Henshaw
Sound and Sense: How Can Writers Tap into Life’s Metaphors?

May 20, 2003
Speaker: Kristin Hannah
Descriptive Detail: How Do Good Writers Choose What to Include?

June 17, 2003
Speaker: Jack Swanson
Speak Up! What Makes Effective Dialogue and Quotes?

July 15, 2003
Speaker: George Shannon
Keeping a Writing Journal: Does It Help or Hinder a Writer?

August 19, 2003
Field’s End Organizers, Volunteers, Instructors, and Writers Celebrated the Conclusion of Field’s End’s First Full Year and Previewed Fall Classes

September 16, 2003
Speaker: Barbara Winther
Making Characters Come Alive: How Do Writers Do It?

October 21, 20033
Speaker: Kristin von Kreisler
What Does It Mean to be Authentic As a Writer?

November 18, 2003
Speaker: Joe Upton
A Passion for Place: How Do Writers Create a Powerful Sense of Place or Setting?

December 16, 2003
Speaker: Brian Herbert
Writing a Life: What Makes Biography and Memoir Resonate with Readers?