Tomorrow I'm departing for Portland, Oregon, to speak and take appointments at the Willamette Writers Conference. Lots of frenetic energy and familiar faces at Willamette, and I'm very much looking forward to catching up with authors new and old. The WD-related highlights:

My Session: The World of Sales (Or: It's All About the Numbers)
Once again I deliver the facts about how books are sold (and returned) on a national level.

"Never a Better Time to Be a Writer"
WDB author Christina Katz is Friday's lunch speaker! I'm finishing up production on her book for this fall, Get Known Before the Book Deal. She's also presenting "Your Roadmap to the Nonfiction Book Writing Process."

"Writing a Killer Mystery" and "Plotting Crime Fiction"
WDB author Hallie Ephron (Writing & Selling the Mystery Novel) demystifies the art and artifice of mystery writing. Her Killer Mystery workshop is so popular and helpful it's being offered twice during the weekend. She's also participating on a panel that I've seen her organize at other conferences, "Why I Stop Reading," which is not to be missed!

"Toning Your Poetry for Power and Precision"
WDB author Sage Cohen (Writing the Life Poetic, forthcoming in 2009 from WDB) offers tips on poetry revision.

"Getting at the Gold in Your YA Novel"
WDB author Laura Whitcomb (Your First Novel) offers advice in the young adult genre and marketplace. Laura is at work on a second book for WDB, due to release in 2009: Novel Shortcuts: Ten Techniques That Ensure a Great First Draft.

"Fiction's Balancing Act" and "Corpses, Cliffhangers, and Other Remedies for Pacing"
WDB author Jessica Morrell (Between the Lines and the very new Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches) offers her always enlightening and in-depth fiction writing wisdom.

Finally: WD's very own Chuck Sambuchino (editor of Guide to Literary Agents) will be in attendance, delivering manuscript critiques and presenting two workshops, "Everything You Need to Know About Agents" and "Building Your Freelance Portfolio."

Always love to meet people who are reading this blog, so say hello when you see me wandering the halls of the Sheraton in search of coffee, chocolate, or an evening nightcap.