Northwest Bookfest

Ah, the glamorous life of a grad student.

I know I’m really behind on the blog.  Like, two weeks or something.  But it’s not for lack of things to say – actually, I have so much to talk about right now, I can’t fit it all in one post.

These past few weeks have been very writing-filled.  And by “writing-filled” I mean “filled with tons of stuff relating to writing but not really including any actual writing.”  I’ve been preparing for NaNo, posting like a fiend on some writing forums I just discovered, made a few mind-breaking revelations about my own stories, made a new writer friend and had an outlining session, rekindled an old short story project…

But what I’m going to talk about right now is Northwest Bookfest 2011.

Northwest Bookfest is a new event in Kirkland WA that included author panels, writing workshops, tents for local booksellers and editors and publishers and writers, etc.  And it was free.  It can’t get much better than that.  Seriously.  Best idea ever.

I work on weekends, so I missed most of the festival.  Their event lineup was pretty impressive and I’m sad that I didn’t get to attend a lot of the workshops.  I had some time after my Sunday shift though, so I put together a tight schedule of workshops and panels I was going to attend, and drove as fast as I legally could to Kirkland as soon as my shift ended.

I didn’t end up going to any of the panels or workshops.

Really, I’d meant to, but it turned out to be more valuable to me to spend my time just viewing all of the tents and talking with people.  I met a number of writers and editors, all of whom were willing to chat and offered great advice for pursuing the craft.  It turns out that Washington and Oregon have huge writing communities, and there are a lot of resources and support for aspiring and published writers in the area.  I’d known about some of it, but the full story didn’t really hit me until the festival.

I’ll give you a quick overview of what I found.  There are some great resources out there.

Writing (workshops and groups):

Pacific Northwest Writers Association http://www.pnwa.org/ The PNWA looks really awesome.  There are workshops, contests, critique groups, an online magazine, and all sorts of fun stuff.  The price was discounted for the festival so I signed up.  I’ll let you know if it was worth.

Cascade Writers http://www.cascadewriters.com/ This is an annual writing workshop in Vancouver, WA.  I spoke with some of the people involved in organizing it.  No way I can afford it, but maybe in future years.

Seattle Free Lances http://seattlefreelances.wordpress.com/ For published and aspiring writers in the Seattle area.

Women’s National Book Association (Seattle Chapter) http://www.wnba-books.org/seattle This is as much about having a love for reading as a love for writing.  Apparently they have a monthly magazine called The Bookwoman.

Publishing:

PublishNext http://publishnext.com/ Professional services for preparing your book for publishing and getting it out there

Hydra House Books http://hydrahousebooks.com/ Publisher of Pacific Northwest science fiction, fantasy, and spec fiction

Pullar Productions www.pullar.com Services for writers looking to be published

Authors:

Bruce B. Taylor http://brucebtaylor.com/ I haven’t read any of his stuff yet, but I think I’m going to, simply because he was so great to talk to.

Tiffany Leahy http://www.annadyomene.com/ This is pretty awesome.  She was published at 16 years old.  I spoke with some of her family and friends at the festival and they were so excited about it 😀 It was super cute.

Seattle 7 Writers http://www.Seattle7Writers.org/ Nonprofit collective of Pacific Northwest authors.  Really great folks to talk to.  Well, the ones I talked to were.  Still, support your locals, etc.

Book Publishers Network http://www.bookpublishersnetwork.com More resources for getting published.

Other:

The Bushwick Book Club http://www.thebushwickbookclubseattle.com This is so wonderfully nerdy.  They write and perform songs based off of well-known books.  They had a show at the festival and I got to listen for awhile.  So cool!

I found all of that in the 2.5 hours I spent at the festival.  I got to talk one-on-one with a bunch of authors and publishers.  It was completely worth it. If you get an opportunity like this, take it.  You won’t regret it.