Got wheels?Tell us where you’ve been.

The Writers’ Workshoppe seeks submissions to the "Writers on the Road" writing contest.

   All ages are welcome to enter. Entrants may submit either a poem or an essay of no more than 750 words in length using “road trip” as the theme. Excerpts from longer work are admissible. The deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010.

   Winners will be notified by Monday, Sept. 6, 2010. Submit manuscripts with this Entry Form to The Leader; 226 Adams St. ; Port Townsend, WA 98368 or to arts@ptleader.com with “Writers on the Road” in the subject line and the requested information on this form in the body of the email. Include the title of your piece on the manuscript, but DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE MANUSCRIPT. All entries will be judged by blind submission. Judges are Bill Curtsinger, Anna Quinn and Jordan Hartt.

   The first-place winner receives $100 and a copy of The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs: Revisiting the Northwest Towns of Richard Hugo (University of Washington Press) by Frances McCue; second-place winner receives a copy of McCue’s book, five 1-pound bags of Sunrise Coffee and a coffee mug from the Writers’ Workshoppe; third-place prize is a copy of McCue’s book, three 1-pound bags of coffee and a coffee mug from the Writers’ Workshoppe.

   Winners will be asked to read their work at a book reading and signing by Frances McCue, author of The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs, on Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Rose Theater in Port Townsend at 1 p.m. The first-place essay/poem will be published in The Leader, Port Townsend’s weekly independent newspaper (www.ptleader.com), the week prior to the reading.

   McCue’s book is a series of 13 essays about the Northwest towns, “triggering towns,” that inspired the writing and poetry of Richard Hugo. Most of these towns are small and dusty, places many have never heard of. Part travelogue, part memoir, part literary scholar­ship, The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs traces the journey of McCue and renowned Northwest photographer Mary Randlett to the towns that inspired many of Hugo’s poems.

   Hugo (1923-1982) was an American poet born in the White Center area of Seattle . His work reflects the economic depression of the Northwest, particularly Montana. Hugo received his bachelor’s degree in 1948 and a master’s degree in creative writing in 1952 from the University of Washington , where he studied under Theodore Roethke. The Richard Hugo House, a center for the literary arts located in Seattle , is named for him.

   The Writers’ Workshoppe, Sunrise Coffee, The Leader and Bill Curtsinger sponsor the contest and reading. For more information, call Anna Quinn at The Writers’ Workshoppe (www.writersworkshoppe.com) at 379-2617.

The Writers’ Workshoppe Fall Schedule will be out August 12th. We are pleased to have the following authors participating in this next series:

Richard Jesse Watson

"This shop is for anyone who wants to write, has to write, aches to write, can't write, wishes they could write, is scared to write. It's for those who don't know where to start. Or where to end. It's for anyone interested in developing the craft of writing."

 “A writer’s spirit deserves time and space.  Whether you are a journal writer or published author, The Writers’ Workshoppe is here to celebrate the sheer joy of writing.”

              Anna Quinn

            Proprietor

August 14th and 15th: Two Day Poetry Intensive w/ Gary Lilley

Saturday and Sunday, August 14 and 15, 10am - 4:00pm, $150


In this workshop you will follow the path of the poem.By allowing it to lead you, by getting out of the way of the creative self, the poem will generate its own resonate heat.  Gary will provide you with a literary tool-bag of elements, the tools that are most important in developing personally satisfying, richly detailed, poetry.    This workshop is for writers of all levels. This workshop is craft oriented, utilizing the close read, the analytical process, and discovery within your own work in a fun, non-competitive and supportive setting.  If you are creating new poems this workshop will help you to start the process with stronger drafts, and if you consider yourself a higher level writer this workshop will move you towards achieving a more dynamic overall quality in finishing your poems.

Gary Copeland Lilley is a North Carolina native and earned his MFA from the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers.  His publications include four books of poetry of which the most recent is Alpha Zulu from Ausable/Copper Canyon Press. He currently lives and teaches in Port Townsend, WA .

Plotting Your Novel In Two Days w/ Mary Buckham, Sep 11th and Sep 12th, 9-5, $250

Have you hit the point where you’re stuck in your story?

Do you need to find a more efficient way to create strong stories in a timely manner? Do you want to write a bigger, more complex, character-driven story?
Do you need a simple way to find plot holes? Would you like lots of one-on-one time over a two-day period with a multi-published author/writing craft instructor to make sure your plot is as strong as possible?

Author Mary Buckham is a national speaker who teamed up to create the highly successful Break Into Fiction® Template Teaching Series, which is now out in a book, Break Into Fiction: 11 steps to Building a Story that Sells. Join Mary as she shows you how to plot a strong story in two-days that will hum with potential.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Jon Franklin, who participated in a two-day Plotting Retreat with Mary, wrote a cover comment for their new book: “These writers know their business and, what¹s more, know how to explain it. Break into Fiction® is solidly grounded in storytelling fundamentals, but then goes much farther into the practical detail that determines whether your book will bring a check or a rejection slip.”

 Richard Jesse Watson

Kate Dwyer

Gary Lilley

Carol Fischbach

 Ross Anderson

 Sylvia Bowman

 Nick Reid

 Jason Squire

David will read from his second work of creative non-fiction; The Antiracism Trainings.

"David Reich has written a funny, incisive novel about race, religion, and office politics. He's fearlessly unpious, observant, and witty, but he's also fair to his flawed and often enjoyably irksome characters. His gift for finding nuanced humanity in their semi-good intentions gives warmth and life to this quietly ambitious satire"--Carlo Rotella. "David Reich's thoughtful satire about a faithless Jewish editor of a magazine published by a post-Christian secular religion depicts a world where orthodoxy has replaced belief, where ideology has supplanted intelligence--a world easily mistaken for our own"--John Biguenet.

Some of the readers at our last Four Minute Reading at the Upstage Restaurant. Thanks to Myron Gauger for the great photos.

 Richard Jesse Watson

Kate Dwyer

Gary Lilley

Carol Fischbach

 Ross Anderson

 Sylvia Bowman

 Nick Reid

 Jason Squire