Please refer to this corrected version of the November Newsletter. We had an incorrect date for our November Program. The correct date is November 19. Hope to see you there!--Maurine Killough, CWC Newsletter Chair
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San Francisco Peninsula Writer
November 2016
Writers Helping Writers Since 1909
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President's Message
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound
they make as they fly by." --Douglas Adams
Dear San Francisco Peninsula CWC,
The holiday season is creeping up on us so quickly, I can barely catch my breath. But before I tell you about the great events coming up, I first want to thank those who attended the Building Better Branches -- NorCal CWC Leadership Conference with me: Bette Houtchens, Lisa Meltzer Penn, Ann Foster, Michele Jessen, Darlene Frank, Dildar Pisani and Pratibha Kelapure. I believe we all came back with very worthwhile ideas to implement in our branch for your benefit.
We are hoping to offer more members-only events, which will not only encourage others to join, but give more value to your own membership. In that vein, we are looking at an annual author launch separate from the
Fault Zone launch, a Writers' Retreat, a Writers' Round Table the hour before the general meeting, and the opportunity for members to attend our executive board meetings. We will also begin posting volunteer opportunities in this newsletter, as we are always wanting your insight and ideas.
At the first of next year, we may begin a salon for new members, to be held in a private home, and we hope to enlist long-time members to help integrate the new with the old. Speaking of new members, we had between eight to ten new people attend the October general meeting, and we want to encourage more to come and join our efforts.
Maybe you noticed that we have started the Think Tank, a 45-minute gathering which follows our monthly general meeting. Geri Spieler has been instrumental in orchestrating this as a way to help writers learn more about writing. Monthly topics will be announced in the newsletter and at the meeting. This is another benefit for members only.
Also, we started to gather your feedback about what you like and don't like, changes you would like to see take place, and ideas you think may take root. Changes are already being made based on your feedback! Thank you!
Coming up in December, as Bill Baynes announced at the October meeting, is a tremendous opportunity he has pulled together for our published author members! We will be displaying and signing our members' published books at Barnes & Noble in Hillsdale Shopping Center for one day -- December 3
rd. And we will be able to promote those books during one six-day period from December 3
rd until the 8
th. See the special announcement about this event elsewhere in this newsletter. And make a note to use voucher
#
12030052 for any B&N book purchases you make during that period!
Then, on Sunday, December 4
th, we will hold our Holiday Party! In addition to enjoying plenty of hors d'oeuvres, canapés, wine or punch, we will be asking you to contribute creatively to the afternoon. Want to do a book reading? Perform a skit? Polish up a comedy act? Bring your talents and share them. Also, book tables will be set up so you can sell your books. Be sure to volunteer to help out with this event by contacting our Hospitality Coordinator, Michele Jessen, at
[email protected].
--Carole Bumpus, SF Peninsula Branch President
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November 19 Program
Creating an Effective Marketing Strategy
for Your Book
From Book Signings to Social Media
Your book is published. Now what? THE ANSWER IS MARKETING! Effective book marketing uses a variety of methods to maximize exposure and profits, and many are FREE! In this comprehensive talk, you will learn many ways to market your book, including social media, blogging, obtaining reviews, and book signings.
LeeAnne is an adjunct online Professor of Publishing for Harvard and more than 1,000 other facilities worldwide, and is a nationwide speaker on the topic. She is also a former journalist, editor, and managing editor of newspapers, as well as an author of countless magazine articles and several books on business and publishing, some of which can be found on Amazon. She has also recently authored a screenplay that Hallmark has expressed an interest in, and has also started representing other writers as an editor and agent. The inspiration she gives to others has even been compared in writing to Oprah!
Click here for more information.
November 19, 2016
10 a.m.
California Writers Club
FREE to first-timers. $10 members. $15 nonmembers.
$10 students with ID.
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October Program Recap: The Purpose of Writing, with Speaker Kendra Lubalin
by Audrey Kalman
At the October 15 monthly meeting, coach Kendra Lubalin asked everyone to think about why we write. With that in mind, she took attendees on a journey (in the form of a visualization) to talk with our future selves at the end of our successful writing careers. We asked questions of these older, wiser selves about what led to their (our) success. Some of the messages that came back:
- Write every day to let it out.
- Clear the clutter, clear the clutter, clear the clutter!
- Just show up and keep at it.
This exercise demonstrated the power of staying connected to why we write as a motivation -- something that's available to us always.
Coaching is mostly about helping individuals uncover what will work for them and then holding them accountable so they can take action. But Kendra shared a few thoughts about writing that resonated with attendees:
- You can't establish a writing practice that doesn't align with who you are; i.e. if you don't do anything else every day, there's no reason to think you'll be successful writing every day.
- Writing is like giving birth: You don't get to choose your children (stories); you don't get to choose how they'll be born (how you'll write them). Birth happens the way it happens -- as does a writing practice.
- Recognize the difference between the writer in you and the editor in you. Ask the editor for permission to write first. Creativity is a process of discovery, while editing is a process of refinement. They can't happen simultaneously.
- Give yourself the freedom to get out of your own way.
She ended by asking everyone to pick one concrete action that would deepen their writing practice and move it forward. Then she went one step further and asked us to make ourselves accountable by sharing it with someone.
If you're interested in one-on-one coaching, Kendra offers a trial 30-minute phone call for free to see if her services would be a good fit. Get in touch at gettherecoaching.com
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CWC SF Peninsula Calendar
LeeAnne Krusemark on
Creating an Effective Marketing Strategy for Your Book
Sequoia Yacht Club
November 19 - Think Tank
FREE. MEMBERS ONLY. After the November program:
Kirstin Weiss on "Fast Writing/Slow Editing." Max of ten members will meet after the main program.
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Upcoming Meetings
December 4: Save the Date
Branch Holiday Party: FREE!
3 to 6 p.m. at the Sequoia Yacht Club
Appetizers and no-host bar.
Book and poetry readings and any other talents welcome. Authors' table will be set up for the sale of members' books.
More details to come.
January 21, 2017
Joel Friedlander presents: Kickstart Your Year by Getting Published: Author Platform, Branding and Monetization
SF Peninsula Branch now meets at:
441 Seaport Court
Redwood City
$10 members. $15 nonmembers.
$10 students with ID.
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SUPPORT CWC AUTHORS
at the Barnes & Noble Book Fair
December 3-8, 2016
We're holding a Book Fair in conjunction with Barnes & Noble during the first week of December.
The SF Peninsula CWC branch will receive 10 percent of the proceeds from any book purchased at any Barnes & Noble store or online at www.BN.com between Saturday, December 3 and Thursday, December 8.
But there's a catch. Buyers must use a special code --
12030052
-- for our club to get credit for the purchase.
Club members will staff a welcome table and sign books on Saturday, December 3, at the Barnes & Noble at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo. See the "Wanted" note below for more information.
TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
BUY YOUR GIFT BOOKS EARLY THIS YEAR
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WANTED! ELIGIBLE AUTHORS
to sign books at the B&N Book Fair
CWC SF Peninsula is looking for club members to staff the CWC table and sign their books at the Barnes & Noble Book Fair on Saturday, December 3.
To be eligible for the signings, you must have published a book that Barnes and Noble can order and can return.
The table at the Hillsdale B&N store is the kickoff for a six-day CWC Book Fair. Our club will get at least 10 percent of all purchases at any B&N across the country or online between December 3 and December 8. Buyers must use a special CWC code at the time of the purchase (12030052).
Please notify Bill Baynes NOW if you are eligible and/or you'd like to take a turn at the welcome table on December 3. When we've assembled a list of eligible and interested writers, we'll send you more information. We will need your ISBNs immediately.
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San Mateo Critique Group
2nd and 4th Friday each month, 10:30 to noon.
The Peninsula Regent, 1 Baldwin Avenue, San Mateo, rear of the large meeting room opposite the elevator.
Bring at least 5 copies of your no-longer-than-6-page manuscript to hand out. For more info, contact Karen Hartley at
[email protected]
or (408) 315-0271.
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Building Better Branches -- NorCal CWC Leadership Conference
Members Lisa Meltzer Penn, Bette Houtchens, Dildar Pisani, Darlene Frank, Ann Foster, Michele Jessen, Pratibha Kelapure and Carole Bumpus attended the recent Building Better Branches Conference. This is a biannual conference offered to branches throughout the state. Our intrepid leaders went off to separate peer-to-peer groups where they learned and shared strategies for their various leadership roles.
They returned with creative and new ideas for our branch, having met other dynamic writers in leadership roles. Thanks for attending and being a part of CWC SF Peninsula's vibrant growth!
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Member News
Bill Baynes
reports that one of his stories, "Mrs. Spooner's Special Day," has been accepted for publication next March in
The Long Story
, a literary magazine published in Massachusetts.
Eva Barrows publishes and edits Imitation Fruit Literary Journal, an annual online publication with fun and upbeat short stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. Submissions welcome! Send up to 5 poems or 15 pages of prose. Check it out at www.imitationfruit.com.
Megan Clancy has completed the manuscript for her first novel. It is a work of literary fiction titled
chhori (the first chapter of which won the Publisher's Choice Novel Chapter award at this year's San Mateo County Fair and is printed in the 2016
Carry the Light
anthology as "The Birth of a Daughter"). Clancy has submitted her manuscript to agents.
Carole Bumpus and her Recipes for Redemption will be a part of a group of elite cookbook authors at the Literary Feast event on November 13. Click here for more information.
Lots of news for rogue writer James Hanna! "The Body in the Bay," a true tale about the banality of evil, appears in Literally Stories. Click here. Also "Exposed," a tale about a street flasher looking for the perfect pose, appears in Literally Stories. Click here. Next, "The Sicilian," a tale about a homicidal celebrity stalker, appears in Literally Stories. Click here. This story is also included in Hanna's recent anthology, A Second Less Capable Head: And Other Rogue Tales (now available on Amazon Kindle). Lastly, The Siege, Hanna's novel about a prison uprising, has been shortlisted for the 2016 Book Viral Book Award. Click here.
"I Never Said No,"
a chapter from
Mary Beth
O'Connor's memoir-in-progress, will be published in the
Noyo River Review
. This piece won First Place in Book-Length Nonfiction/Memoir at the Mendocino Writers Conference.
Geri Spieler's
article about her trip to Zambia and Zimbabwe was accepted for publication by International Travel News for their November edition.
Nanci Lee Woody reports Fear of Monkeys, a literary ezine that publishes "politically conscious writing," is publishing her short story for the second time. The story, "Nothing's Going On," is about sexual harassment during the 1960's.
Congratulations, everyone!
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Submission Opportunities
PLEASE NOTE: Submission deadline for
Fault Zone has been extended. New deadline for members and nonmembers is December 31, 2016.
Writers Digest:
Short Short Story Competition. Deadline: November 15, 2016.
Chicken Soup for the Soul. You will be paid $200 ($100 for devotionals) and receive ten free copies of the book your story or poem appears in. Several categories of books are open, with deadlines between now and January 31, 2017.
38th Annual Nimrod Literary Awards is accepting submissions January 1 to April 30, 2017:
The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry and The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction.
Nimrod submissions.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) starts November 1.
Nimrod International Journal is seeking poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction pieces that explore ideas of home--both leaving home and finding home--for their
Spring/Summer 2017 issue,
Leaving Home, Finding Home.
Imitation Fruit Literary Journal, an annual online publication, is looking for fun and upbeat short stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. Send up to 5 poems or 15 pages of prose. Submission deadline is April 1st of each year and publication is in late Fall. For more information, please see the submissions page at
www.imitationfruit.com.
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