I’ve just returned from a brand-new writing conference, held at beautiful Corban University, nestled in hills outside Salem, Oregon. The birdsong coming from the canopy of majestic firs was worth the price of admission. But what really impressed me was the quality of the conference.

Beautiful Corban University campus

 Gina Ochsner and Linda

Writing Tip for Today: The organizer and dreamer behind this fab new conference is Gina Ochsner, who I’ve featured here before. This soft-spoken Russian Lit prof is a powerful writer herself, and she dreamed of putting on this conference which would energize, inspire and maybe even teach a thing or two about writing. The result was PORTALS. I predict that in few years this conference will be one of the most sought after. 
Colette Tennant and me.
The keynoters, Jane Kirkpatrick and Native American writer Diane Glancy, were terrific and the conferees and the staff were serious writers–but not afraid to have fun too. Each night Corban English prof and wonderful poet Colette Tennant held poetry slams and ran silly contests. How many violent verbs that are related to eating can you work into a couple of paragraphs?
Here are few more pics–I hope you’ll all consider putting PORTALS Writing Conference 2013 on your calendars. A magical weekend.

 

Jane Kirkpatrick, Keynote Speaker

                               Yvonne Kay and me.