Will We See You at the 2016 Chuckanut Writers Conference?
Dear Writers:
I’m delighted to once again be involved in the Chuckanut Writers Conference right here in Bellingham WA! And further pleased to introduce conference intern Helen Pendergast, who will tell you more about this year’s event. Write On!
What is the first thing you think of, when you hear rain? Is it the pitter-patter of your footsteps out in the morning air, letting your rambunctious retriever mix pull you into shallow puddles, or is it staring up at the magnificent pine trees littering the horizon line? These are just a few of the things that can inspire the writing and stories that you have to share with a community of writers in Bellingham. That is why the Chuckanut Writers Conference (http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/) is back again for another year!
Imagine eighteen incredible authors, industry experts, and agents (http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/speakers/) from all over the Pacific Northwest right at your fingertips, helping inspire your writing into action.
The conference will be held at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, WA on June 24th and 25th. This experience benefits all writers of any stage in their craft, helping to develop each and every unique voice and story. Whether you are interested in knowing why sitting in coffee shops or on a park benches with a notebook glued to your lap is so satisfying— or you have published four bestselling novels already; there is still vital knowledge you will take away from this conference. Most people leave with new practical knowledge, ideas, contacts, lifelong friends … oh, and an incredible swag bag too!
In its sixth year, the conference is featuring unforgettable master classes that hone in on your craft just a little closer. This year our Thursday master classes include, “Ventriloquism on the Page” from Fairhaven author and lover of the big city, Sara Donati, “The Wilderness of Revision” from Elaina Ellis, poet and Associate Editor of Copper Canyon Press, and “Creative Non-fiction: Doing Somersaults on the High Ridge” from Robert Michael Pyle, a full-time biologist, writer, teacher and speaker.
These classes fill up fast, so be sure to register as soon as possible! (http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/register/)
Thursday holds our pre-conference events in the afternoon, followed by the Chuckanut Radio Hour (http://www.villagebooks.com/event/CRH-rejections-6/23/16) featuring a Seattle-based band– The Rejections (and Trailing Spouses) kicking off the conference with great music and conversation.
The conference continues with multiple breakout and plenary sessions from the esteemed faculty, check out the schedule (http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/program/) to see what you don’t want miss. There is a ton going on, so I wish you luck narrowing in on just a few! If you are finding that you have a few projects going on already, I suggest signing up for an agent pitch session (http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/agents/), to help keep your projects moving forward, and your ideas out of your own already cluttered head.
What’s great about this conference is that there are plenty of opportunities to mingle at our Friday night reception over food, approach faculty during book signings, get your voice heard between conversations with marketing experts and other attendees– but my favorite part? The fact that this community opens its doors to let you in, and makes you a part of the family that is now my own Bellinghome.
The conference is coming in 23 days, 17 hours, and 6 minutes… (not that I’m counting or anything!). So please, register now to secure your spot in a conference that is quite possibly the way to start sharing your story again. I know I’m getting stoked to meet you all, but I also get to invest time around a wonderful literary community, celebrating what it means to be part of a collective body of Pacific Northwest writers who love to write, even in the rain!
Before you go, let me entice you with this… This conference is going to better you for the work you have ahead of you, but it will also share a community of people that will make you feel heard, and feel loved for being completely you.
“Opportunity is missed by people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison
Best,
Helen Pendergast
Chuckanut Writers Conference Intern
Helen Pendergast is a recent graduate from WWU; she received her Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and is continually intrigued to meet new people all over the world in hopes to understand more about their stories. She is a poet, a lover of reading, and loves to be out in nature, preferably a thick grove of trees. It might surprise you but she is an avid billiards player too.
Dear Writers 
I know I said this last year, but I’m sayin’ it again. I wish I wasn’t 2500 miles away.