2016 Mid-Columbia Rivers of Ink
The 2016
Mid-Columbia Rivers of Ink Writer’s
Conference met on October 7th and 8th in Richland,
Washington. The venue is very popular with writers, agents, and publishers from
all over the Pacific Northwest. Laura
Kostad attended the conference this year and her very complimentary
impressions with Jeff Bailey.
The hosts of the Rivers
of Ink describe the conference on their web
site:
“Welcome to Rivers of Ink, the Mid-Columbia’s only
professional writers’ conference. We are pleased to announce that Rivers of Ink
has transitioned into a full two-day writers conference featuring opportunities
and workshops in Honing your Craft, Publishing & Marketing, and Genre
Specific. Join us October 7-8, 2016 for this exciting event. Gain knowledge.
Network with local authors. Meet publishing professionals. It’s all right here
at Rivers of Ink!”
This was Laura’s
first writer’s conference, and she was enthusiastic about how much fun and how
encouraging it was. As Laura said. “Everyone was so nice and down to earth. I
was especially impressed with how open everyone was to talk to me about the
writing business. I felt like I was among a gathering of old friends.” The
hosts of the Rivers of Ink Writer’s
Conference, The Wordherders Writers
Development Group, have a knack for presenting the most interesting and
engaging guest speakers
 |
| Terry Persun |
 |
The Killing Machine |
Laura had the opportunity to meet and spend time with keynote speaker, Terry Persun. Terry Persun is a general writer of everything from poetry to Sci-Fi, but with a common philosophical thread of questioning the status quo. He has been writing for thirty years, plus. As a retired scientist, I particularly appreciated that Terry Persun is an engineer by trade. He might be an engineer, but he is as well spoken as a diplomat. Terry is a member of Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Laura was impressed with Persun’s use of quotes during his presentation. The quotes seemed to add a depth of understanding to the information. Laura told me how much she prizes her signed copy of Persun’s latest novel, The Killing Machine. I look forward to reading Laura’s review.
Laura particularly enjoyed Suzanne Selfors’ presentation and was struck by how genuine she was. Suzanne describes
herself on her home page as, “a national
best-selling author who lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest where rain
falls like music and slugs frolic beneath ferns.” Suzanne’s discussion on the
eliminating the guilt associated with multimedia marking hit home with us first
novice authors. There’s just too much multimedia to deal with. Suzanne suggests
that we do what we can and release the rest of it. No one can do it all. If we
fall into the trap of trying to do it all, we never get time to write. We both
identified with Suzanne Selfors’
One of the highlights of any writers’
conference are the workshops and Rivers of Ink didn’t disappoint. Laura said
that she developed a valuable tool in Michelle Hanen’s workshop. Michelle guided the participants of her workshop through the
process of developing a 30 second, ‘Elevator Pitch.’ As Michelle said, ‘we
never know when or where we will be called on to ‘pitch’ ourselves or our
books.’ We don’t want to sound like a stumbling idiot if we’re put on the spot.
Oh, so true. I would find it interesting to hear some of the more interesting
locations that authors have been accosted. I myself have been caught in a post
office express line and in a health club swimming pool. We plan to practice our
‘pitch’ at the next writers guild meeting. We’ve heard good reviews of Michelle
Hansen’s novel, Painted Blind.
 |
| Laura Kostad and Jeff Bailey |
We give five stars to the Rivers of Ink and their conference. Each writer’s conference that we attend seems to have a unique personality. Each seems to have material targeted to us, personally. The Rivers of Ink was no different. Maybe, by applying what we learn at from any given conference, we are more open to the new ideas of the next conference. I know that I learned a great deal from the 2016 Rivers of Ink conference and am looking forward to learning all new material at the Rivers of Ink in 2017.
