Category Archives: Writing

Minutes, poetry, Writing

Minutes April 2025

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Writers’ Mill Minutes, April 27, 2025

Cedar Mill Library, Beaverton and online Zoom

Ten participants attended online, and eight were present in the library meeting room, for a total of eighteen. We welcomed four newcomers to the group. Ron led the meeting in Sheila’s absence from the meeting room (she was present online.) Matthew assisted Librarian Christine Wong with technology. Jean took Minutes. Our guest speaker Carolyn Martin greeted everyone, and Ron introduced this month’s contest/ezine host Mary B to announce the awards.

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dialog, emotion, Guest Speakers, Writing

Dramedy with Ria Russell, March 2025

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Ria Russell attended a dramedy class given by two Hollywood writers at a writing conference, and brought the experience to us all through a news article (ironically an NBC (peacock) article about a “therapy peacock” and it’s owner being refused permission to fly). We all had access to the article before the meeting and everyone had read it, so we were able to go straight into the “writers’ room” to plan our script.

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announcements, inspiration, Writing

Two Writing Classes with Ruth Leibowitz

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Ruth gave a talk on Writing Prompts https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/17/the-world-abounds-in-prompts-using-prompts-to-stimulate-and-deepen-your-writing-by-ruth-leibowitz/ back in 2023. She is a very active member of the Writers’ Mill, and also of the writing community at large. This February she will be leading two writing classes over zoom. Highly recommended:

Cats Who Write, with Ruth Leibowitz

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childrens, help, middle-grade

How to Check the recommended reading age

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During the meeting in Jan 2025, Sheila read from “A Win for a Child and His Cat” and asked if the story would be suitable for children but also enjoyable for adults. The group seemed to think middle grade readers over age 9 would be right. Readability checkers online were  recommended, but some of these require you to create an account or pay after a certain number of uses. They also have lots of banner ads, so users should be careful where they click. : 

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bilingual, Book design, Guest Speakers, memoir, Research, self-publishing

Erika Giles on Memoir, Research, Publishing and more – Jan 2025

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Nora introduced our speaker, Erika Giles, who is a Writers’ Mill member and author of Becoming Hungarian, a Memoir. Amazon described this book as “a fascinating story of resilience and discovery that will inspire anyone who has struggled with their identity and tried to come to terms with the past.”

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