WENATCHEE — The organization Write on the River has a new and returning board president in Lorna Rose-Hahn of Wenatchee. Her plans for the organization include building the board up from five people, transitioning to more in-person or hybrid events, increasing community partnerships and improving communication with members.
Write on the River was founded in 2005 after founding board member Kay Kenyon was teaching a creative writing course at Wenatchee Valley College and the cohort chose to continue meeting after the class was over. About 70 current writers participate as members for a $35 yearly fee.
Conferences were hosted by the group for 10 years, which brought agents and editors for small-group workshops.
“A keynote speaker would come in and talk for about an hour with a lot of enthusiasm, with love for the writing life and inspirational talks,” said Rose-Hahn.
Rose-Hahn’s first three-year term as board president was from 2018-2021.
“I was proud how quickly the board pivoted to doing online events during the pandemic,” she said of that time. She became president again in October after outgoing board president Stacy Luckensmeyer stepped back from the role for personal reasons.
Write on the River’s conferences were “popular, but it was also a lot of work and required a lot of funding,” said Rose-Hahn, so the conferences went on hiatus four years ago so the group could re-focus on year-round workshops. Virtual workshops were organized online during the pandemic. Program Coordinator Holly Thorpe is technologically able to continue to deliver these hybrid events, especially for remote members.
“There are a lot of fiction writers in this town,” said Rose-Hahn, “but we really do have something for everyone” who might write in genres such as poetry, science fiction and memoir. This includes beginning writers and those who are published with more experience.
To submit writing to publications “takes tenacity,” said Rose-Hahn, who has recently completed a 170-page draft of a memoir. She also has poetry recognized by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and the Oregon Poetry Association.
In the summer, she will begin a low-residency Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN.
“The memoir’s themes are healing from sociopathic abuse, serving in AmeriCorps … and finding yourself,” said Rose-Hahn, who had never camped before going to Alaska in 2005 for trail work with AmeriCorps. “I was an LA party girl,” she said, while also being a native Midwesterner.
“I was always a writer,” said Rose-Hahn, who won her first awards for two books she wrote in 3rd and 4th grade. “When I got older, I put it away because the encouragement wasn’t there,” she said, but she began writing again during her first pregnancy to explore themes of motherhood. Accessibility is another big theme that she advocates for.
After attending her first workshop with Write on the River, Rose-Hahn said her craft improved “just by identifying, like, ‘Yes, I am a writer. Yes, I write. Yes, I submit to magazines. Yes, I get lots of rejections.’” She said reading work by colleagues also improves her own craft.
Rose-Hahn said, “I like bringing writers together,” and describes one of her mentors as being like a cheerleader while offering constructive feedback in an uplifting and energetic manner, which she wants to “pay forward” to other writers.
The next Write on the River event is on March 11. Theresa Monsey (pen name Trish McCallan) will present on the topic of indie publishing.
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