Back in our freelance days, Seattlest was happy to get 50 cents a word. So imagine the triple cherries that flashed before our eyes when we learned that down in PDX you can get 250 writers for three measly bucks!

This literary super value menu is Wordstock, a three-day confab that kicks off today through Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center. In addition to local folks Charles D’Ambrosio and Garth Stein and omnipresent indie publisher Kevin Sampsell (Portland), you can sample lo-pro poets and zinesters alongside more "marquee" literati: Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida, David James Duncan, Mary McGarry Morris... Note the Ira Glass finale is sold out, but it's no problem, since you can’t chuck a Chuck Taylor in that town without hitting some hipster who looks and sounds just like him (or tries to).

While in PDX, we plan to stock up on cruelty-free Fluff at this cool vegan grocery, swing by the table run by indie publishing peeps IPRC, get in our long run in Forest Park, and then hit St. Honore for a little après. Word.