PNWA Christmas Party 2010

Last night, I managed to get enough of my pre-Christmas chores done in order to attend the PNWA (Pacific Northwest Writers Association) Christmas party.  The Holiday get-together was held at the newly opened Writer's Cottage in Issaquah.  I'm not sure what the head-count was, but I'm sure there was at least 30 people attending. 

The association brought in four of it's published authors to discuss their work, motivation and writing style; along with bringing a bunch of their books for members to purchase and have autographed. 

The first interview of the evening was with Elizabeth Boyle, (pictured above, center), an historical romance author.

Elizabeth's website:

http://www.elizabethboyle.com/ 

Susan Wingate, (center, above), has written books in a variety of genres, such as: Literary fiction, noir mystery, memoir and short stories, just to name a few.

Susan's website:

http://www.susanwingate.com/ 

Marcella Burnard, (above, center), a sci-fi romance author will have her second book, Enemy Games, published in May.   I purchased her debut novel, Enemy Within, which has some real kick-ass cover art:

Marcella's website:

http://www.marcellaburnard.com/ 

Robert Dugoni, an author specializing in legal thrillers, encourages the audience to keep writing.  In the 3-4 years I've been attending PNWA's summer conferences, Bob has played master of ceremonies throughout each event.  In each workshop he provides an "I've been where you're at" perspective and gives 100% of himself back to the association he attributes as the key to his success.

Bob's website:

http://www.robertdugoni.com/ 

Jason Black is a book doctor.  That is, a type of freelance editor, assisting authors in making their works-in-progress (WIC) more marketable.

I'm currently taking a Popular Fiction class, taught by PNWA's president Pam Binder.  A couple of weeks ago, Jason was our guest speaker and talked about the finer points of the "show, don't tell" concept of writing.  (A more detailed post on this workshop will be uploaded soon).

Jason's website:

http://www.plottopunctuation.com/ 



From the feedback I've been receiving so far, the party was a success and everyone enjoyed themselves.

"God bless us! Everyone!"

For more information on PNWA, check out the association's website:

http://www.pnwa.org/