Category Archives: Books

The Paradise Guest House

It was great fun to hear bestselling author Ellen Sussman read from her new book, The Paradise Guest House, and discuss terrorism, book covers, doing research, how Bali has changed, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the publishing industry, at Annie Bloom’s … Continue reading

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The State of the Small Press in Portland

As a brand new small press, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to listen to some local small press gurus talk about their publishing experiences Friday night at the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Southeast Portland. “The state of … Continue reading

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ARCs!

They’re here, they’re here! We’ve printed the first round of ARCs, or advance reader copies, of Stevan Allred’s A Simplified Map of the Real World, a linked short story collection about a small, rural town. Forest Avenue Press, my small press, is … Continue reading

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My Favorite New Writing Resource

I love people who exude positivity, people who look at the world and see opportunities to grow and learn. That kind of glass-half-full outlook is contagious. Christi Krug, the founder of Wildfire Writing, brings that kind of positivity  to writers … Continue reading

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HomeWord Bound

I love attending HomeWord Bound, the annual literary themed fundraiser for Community Partners for Affordable Housing. And this year, I attended as one of the guest authors! (Well, guest editors…) It was lovely to sit with so many extremely talented … Continue reading

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Success Stories: Polly Dugan’s Big Book News

You know the dream? The dream that starts with a call from an agent and continues with a two-book deal with a major New York publisher? I’m so excited to announce that Polly Dugan, an Oregon writer I know, is … Continue reading

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The Amazing Amanda Coplin

Imagine an overflow crowd of readers, asking questions about your characters as if they were real people. I was one of the few people at Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland on Monday night who hadn’t yet experienced The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin. … Continue reading

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Giving Back to the Writing Community

I celebrated my birthday last week, and a friend asked how I was going to top last year. I thought about that comment all day and realized I don’t want to try. I had an amazing personal and professional year, including … Continue reading

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Portland’s Independent Publishing Resource Center

Last week, I toured the Independent Publishing Resource Center here in Portland, Oregon, courtesy of Justin Hocking, the executive director. As a new member, I’m excited about using one of the five iMacs with InDesign, taking publishing classes and being … Continue reading

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Finding Readers: A Series on Effective Book Promotion

Welcome to my new series, Finding Readers. There are a lot of us authors and publishers out there, and we’re all competing for a relatively small pool of passionate readers. I often hear “I wish I had more time to read.” … Continue reading

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