Hello Vancouver Writers,

Spring Brings lots of changes. Out with old grey of winter and in with bright colors and new life. Speaking of new life, venues are changing for both the Paper Tiger Poetry reading and Writing Pearls Workshop series.

We would like to thank Pop Culture and Happy Tiers Bakeshop for being the new homes of the Writing Pearls endeavors.

May 17 – 7-9:30 Third Thursdays.

Writing Pearls Poetry open mic with Valerie Stein as feature. Come enjoy the makeover of the open mic with three times the space of the old venue and a lot more drink and food selections. Including our new coffee brand Northwest Coffee Roasters. Pop Culture is conveniently located downtown on 20th and Main St. For all you google maps and GPS lovers the address is
1929 Main Street Vancouver, WA 98660.

May 19 – It’s that time again for the Writing Pearls Write-in. Bring pencil, paper, appetite to write t This beautiful new venue Happy Tiers Bakeshop has bright colors, delicious pastries, and awesome coffee. This is located on Mill Plain by the big Colombia bank building. The address is 316 E Mill Plain Boulevard Vancouver, WA 98660-3242 US.

Come see the new venues and enjoy the writing community of Vancouver.

Look forward to seeing you.

Jessica

Write in the New Year – A Free Workshop for Aspiring Writers
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 7 PM
Paper Tiger Coffee Roasters: 703 Grand Blvd, Vancouver, Washington
Did you make a New Year’s resolution to finally put pen to paper and begin that story, novel or poem you always wanted to write? Are you unsure of where or how to begin? Then let four of Vancouver’s premiere writers inspire, motivate and guide you in the process! Please join us for this free informative workshop. Seating is limited, so please come early!

The evening’s topics will be:
Identifying and accepting yourself as a writer – Toni Partington
Toni Partington is a poet, editor, and life/career coach. Her poetry has appeared in the NW Women’s Journal, Selected Poems of the River Poets’ Society, The Cascade Journal, VoiceCatcher (editions 3 and 4), OutwardLink.net, and is a regular contributor to Sage Cohen’s Writing the Life Poetic E-Zine (http://www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com). She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Jesus Is A Gas (2009) and WIND WING (2010). She also served as Co-Editor for VoiceCatcher6 (2011), an annual Pacific Northwest anthology of women writers. Toni is co-founder and editor, with Christopher Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing and small press service.

As a life/career coach, Toni loves to work with writers and artists interested in exploring ways to integrate lifestyle and work. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work from Chapman University, an MA in Humanities with a major focus in Literature and Literary Editing from the California State University, Dominguez Hills, and post graduate work at the University of Oregon to become certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator. Before embarking on other adventures Toni spent over ten years teaching and advising women in transition returning to college. Toni began writing at age ten and has integrated writing into many facets of her life. She believes it is never too late to begin something you’ve dreamed of doing.

The importance of the writing community – Christopher Luna
Christopher Luna is a poet, visual artist, and performer with an MFA in Writing and Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Luna edits a monthly email newsletter featuring poetry events in Portland, Vancouver, and the Pacific Northwest (http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com), and is a regular contributor to Sage Cohen’s Writing the Life Poetic E-Zine (http://www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com). He is a respected creative-writing teacher, mentor, and the host of a successful open mic poetry reading established in 2004. Luna frequently collaborates with musicians and has been a featured reader at bookstores, nightclubs, libraries, and coffee shops across the nation. Luna’s poetry has appeared in publications including Chiron Review, Full of Crow, The Long Islander, Made Up Movement, Cadillac Cicatrix, The Lion Speaks: An Anthology for Hurricane Katrina, eye-rhyme, Gare du Nord, Exquisite Corpse, Many Mountains Moving, the @tached document, and Big Scream. His chapbooks include tributes and ruminations (Dristil Press, 2000), On the Beam (with David Madgalene, 2005), Sketches for a Paranoid Picture Book on Memory (King of Mice Press, 2005), and GHOST TOWN, USA (This is Not an Albatross, 2008). “More than we can bear,” an epic investigative poem about the aftermath of September 11, was anthologized both online (For Immediate Release) and in print (On the Way After 9/11, 2002 and Candles in the Dark, Flames for the Future, 2003, both edited by David James Randolph for New Way Media). Luna is the author of Literal Motion (Bootstrap Press, 2001), a book that features three interviews with the filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Luna also appeared in and helped shoot poet David Madgalene’s film “Cities of
the Dead,” which was featured in the Visible Verse festival in Vancouver, B.C., the Berkeley Film & Video Festival, and the New Way Media Festival. Christopher Luna’s art and poetry is available through Angst Gallery in Vancouver, WA.

The pain and necessity of revision - Mike Nettleton
Mike Nettleton is a retired radio personality who finished his career with a
16 year stint at 1190 KEX in Portland. His years as a radio gypsy took him
from the San Francisco Bay area to Albuquerque, New Mexico and points
between. Currently, along with writing, he’s involved in a tutoring and
mentoring program at several of the area high schools. He has a 40 year old
son who is an audio-video specialist at Intel.

Mike has co-written five books with his wife Carolyn J. Rose and has a solo
effort out, the hard-boiled detective novel SHOTGUN START. He’s currently at
work on a sequel with the working title THE SKINS GAME. He lives in
Vancouver and plays golf, pool, poker and backgammon in his spare time orwhen in writing avoidance mode.

To publish or self-publish? – Carolyn Rose
Carolyn J. Rose is the author of a number of novels, including A Place of
Forgetting, An Uncertain Refuge, and Hemlock Lake. She grew up in New York’s
Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two
years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years
as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in
Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She lives in Vancouver,
Washington, and founded the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her interests are
reading, gardening, and not cooking.