Terrior 2010

This weekend McMinnville hosted the first Terrior writing conference. Ursula K. LeGuin was the opening speaker, who presented a rather funny take on storytelling, and why it's better to make things up as opposed to stick to the facts.

"Fact is hard to come by, and is very controversial. You are more likely to connect in a shared reality with your reader if you write Fiction."

She went on to liken life expeience to compost. "You never know what will come up. You think you're planting a petunia, and up pops an eggplant. This is good. Go with your eggplant."

On falling book sales: "The majority of people have never read for pleasure and never will. That's OK. There are more readers than writers, and it's your job to find a way to write and get paid for it."

There were many other speakers and workshops, and I took away useful ideas from each one I attended. The offical site: http://artsallianceyamhillco.org/pages/programs.html#Anchor-Terroi-29856