Join Young Willamette Writers...
Why?

• It's Free!
• You'll meet and join other students like yourself who have an interest in and love of writing.
• Share your work with your peers, and help each other grow as writers.
• Meet and learn from writing experts.
• See your best work published on this Web site and in an annual anthology.
• You'll have fun, make new friends and learn how to improve your writing!

Meetings . . .

are held at the same time and place as the adult Willamette Writers.

• Day: The first Tuesday of each month (YWWs meet only during the school year).
• Time: From 7 to 8 p.m.
• Place: "The Old Church" on SW 11th and Clay in Portland, Oregon.
• Price: Free! (Unless you want the Newsletter and other benefits of regular WW Membership.) Parents can attend the adult meeting for free while you are in the group.
• Who: Students from 5th through 10th grades who love to write. Our meetings are divided between mini-workshops led by the co-chairs of the group, and special presentations by writers, editors, publishers and other writing professionals. Students usually get a chance to read their work at the end of meetings. YWWs meet in the Victorian parlor off to the side of the reception room. Parents are welcome to stay with their students or to attend the main WW meeting at no charge.

Our next meeting...

Corey Stixrud

Welcome back! Hopefully the past few months were full of opportunities to write, to read, to experience life in some eventful way (fodder for future great writing?) or perhaps simply to carve out a few moments to luxuriate in some serious down time, to "lean and loafe at [your] ease," as Whitman puts it, "observing a spear of summer grass." Such a gift, is summer.

In June and July, I had the precious opportunity to write five hours a day amidst a group of middle schoolers for five weeks. It was a classroom, to be sure, but the beauty of the curriculum was that writing was heart and center. We had time to "do nothing" except talk, and sketch, and read, and imagine, and play with words, and write, and share, and revise, and publish. The experience was a bit like a Hollywood movie: We laughed, we cried, we struggled, we bonded...and eventually we rode (wrote?) off into the sunset, having experienced the transformative power of writing. It was a beautiful thing. I have a feeling that some of these summer school students will be joining us at our monthly YWW meetings in the near future.

I know for a fact that some of you pursued your knowledge and practice of writing as well this summer. How do I know? Because I saw you at our big annual conference in early August! I was gratified to hear of one instructor telling a precocious YWW that she couldn't have paid her to ask better and more thoughtful questions during the instructor's workshop! Nice. Some of you brought your stories, some of you brought your poetry, some of you chatted with workshop presenters and acquisition editors, but all of you who came brought your talent, your quick minds, and your obvious enthusiasm for writing to the event. I look forward to hearing more about your conference experiences at our next meeting.

Which leads us directly to our big, exciting "youheard- it-here-first" news:
our September YWW guest! I met Marni Bates three years ago at the Willamette Writers conference, and even back then it was clear that she was destined for great things. She was about to start her freshman year at Lewis & Clark College, and she had recently published her autobiography, Marni: My True Story of Stress, Hair-Pulling, and Other Obsessions. You know how some people, for whatever reason, just stand out from the crowd? Marni has a unique combination of keen talent, relentless drive, refreshing honesty, and a warm presence that makes her a rising (and muchdeserving) literary star.

Marni caused quite a stir at this year's WW Conference when it became clear that more than a couple of agents had her in their sights. Well, I'm happy to announce that Marni now has both the agent of her choice and a bright career ahead...and I'm not the least bit surprised! Please come to our meeting at The Old Church on September 7th at 7:00 p.m. to hear Marni share her journey as an amazing young writer. I'm smitten with you, Marni Bates!

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Young Willamette Writers meets at the same time and place as the adult meeting: 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Old Church (the corner of SW 11th and Clay, near PSU). Our next meeting will be on September 7th. Feel free to bring a friend. See you there!

During one of our classes, one student wrote the first line of a poem then passed their paper to the next person who wrote the second line, and so forth around the room. The students wrote the poems quickly, drawing on their instincts. Their poems are presented to honor their way with words.
Joni, joni-h@comcast.net.

Play
We play outside and
Never stand doing nothing
Trust me, I'm not bluffing
It's fun to swing
Entertaining just to run around
I cook "food" with dirt and petals
Pretend play. . .that's the thing
That makes me happy
It's fun to cook
Even without a kettle.

Flower Magic
The roses had dew on their petals
Like sprinkles on a cake
This is what only nature can do,
That man could never make
Whenever I could, I stole a glance at them
No matter how many times
My Mom told me to wait
They are true magic
That makes these roses beautiful,
As though they have wing
But they can not fly in the air
To share the clouds with birds

The Wind
Swiftly, swiftly blew the wind
As it flew across the pond
Green grass blades swayed with the wind
And they shimmered as always
But this time there were no swans
Just frogs and muskrats
And with them jumps and dives
The pond was not lonely.