Board of Directors
Roger Lubeck,
President
Sandy Baker,
Immediate Past President
Robbi Sommers Bryant,
Vice President
Marilyn Lanier,
Vice President
Malena Eljumaily,
Treasurer
Adele Layton,
Secretary
Judy M. Baker
, Membership Chair
Skye Blaine
, Newsletter Poetry Editor
Joelle Burnette
, Website Editor
Pamela Heck,
Conference Volunteers
Linda L. Reid
, Speaker Chair
Jeane Slone,
Author Launch
Chairs and Editors
Elspeth Benton
, Registration Team
Les Bernstein
, Poetry Anthology Editor
Skye Blaine
, Newsletter Poetry Editor
Robbi Sommers Bryant,
Anthology Editor
Fran Claggett-Holland
, Poetry Anthology Editor
Pamela Fender
, Hot Summer Nights
Sher Gamard
, Salon Coordinator
Marie Judson
, Critique Groups
Jeanne Jusaitis
, Author Support
Susan Littlefield
, Historican
Margarite Olmos,
PR Internal
Linda L. Reid
, Writers Circle
Deborah Taylor-French
, Author Support
Deborah Walton,
PR Director/ Newsletter Editor
Natasha Yim
, Contest Chair
Redwood Writers Meetings
are held the second Sunday of the month at the
2777 Fourth Street,
Santa Rosa
Board meetings take place before the general meeting, beginning at 12:30. You are welcome to join us at any time.
THIS MONTH'S MEETING
SUNDAY, SEPT 9
2:00-4:30 pm
Hot Topic Roundtable -- Marketing, Facebook, NaNoWriMo
Arrive at 2 p.m. to register and network before the general meeting, which runs from 2:30-4:30 p.m.
We ask for a small fee of $5 from members and $10 from non-members to cover costs.
NEXT MONTH'S MEETING
Sunday, October 14
2–4:30 p.m.
Self-Publishing
SEE FLYER BELOW.
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BOARD NOTES AND NEWS
In August the Redwood Writers Board of Directors held a one-day annual planning retreat. Those who attended in addition to board members were committee chairs and a number of other club members.
To start, our parent CWC/NorCal group asked us to identify two or three things that everyone is most proud of about the club and two or three areas for improvement. The group consensus was friendliness, support and the range of opportunities offer by the club were our most important features. In terms of improvement, the group noted the desire to increase attendance at monthly meetings and create written (notebooks) procedures for running contests, anthologies, etc. To those ends, we
identified a dozen great ideas for increasing attendance at our meetings and
outlined a work process for future contests and workshops.
The Redwood Writers Board of Directors is committed to making our monthly meetings educational, entertaining, and fun. We want the meeting to add value to our members as a regular way to learn about craft, develop friends, and promote and reward achievements.
Starting in September we will add a series of new features during the meetings; features designed to encourage and reward attendance and participation at the meetings and in the club. At the Sunday, September 9 meeting we are offering three speakers in our Hot Topics Round Table -- see the information below. In addition, there will be door prizes and other surprises during the meeting.
As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions to make our meetings and our club more relevant to you. Just email
president@redwoodwriteers.org
. See you on Sunday!
Board Agenda for September 9, 2018
As a reminder, our board meets from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. just before our monthly meetings. Members are always welcome to sit in on a board meeting.
12:30 p.m. Call to Order – Roger Lubeck
- Approval of minutes from prior meeting.
12:35 p.m. Board Reports
- Treasurer’s Report: Malena Eljumaily
- Membership Report: Judy Baker
12:50 p.m. Committee Reports
- Website: Joelle Burnette
- Summary from the fair: Sandy Baker
- Summary from board retreat: Roger Lubeck
1:30 p.m. New Business
1:45 p.m. Adjourn
Meeting Agenda for September 9, 2018
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Author Support
2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Networking
2:30 p.m. Welcome - Roger Lubeck
2:35 p.m. Chair Announcements
- Membership - Judy Baker
- Writers Circle - Linda Reid
- YA/MG Contest - Natasha Yim
- Other chair announcements
- Member Announcements
3:00 p.m. Break ~ Snacks, Networking & Book Sales
3:15 p.m. Hot Topic Round Table (20 minutes per topic)
- Marketing Your Nonfiction Book - Judy Baker
- Using Facebook Effectively - Crissi Langwell
- NaNoWriMo and How to Do It - Roger C. Lubeck
4:30 p.m. Adjourn
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IMPORTANT DATES
See more details below
Saturday, Sept 8
Redwood Writers Table at WRITER’S WORLD 2018 - 9:30am – 4:30 pm
Guzman Hall, Dominican University - 50 Acacia Ave, San Rafael
Sunday, Sept 9
Young Adult/Middle Grade Contest open for submissions
YA/MG Contest Workshop 10:00-12:00
Flamingo Hotel
Redwood Writers Board Meeting 12:30-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
Redwood Writers Author Support 1:00-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
MONTHLY MEETING
Hot Topics Round Table
2:00-4:30
Flamingo Hotel
Saturday, Sept 15
Writers Circle
See details below
Saturday, Sept 22
Poetry Anthology open for submissions
Poetry Anthology Workshop 9:30-12:30
Flamingo Hotel
Sunday, Oct 14
Redwood Writers Board Meeting 12:30-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
Redwood Writers Author Support 1:00-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
MONTHLY MEETING
Panel on Self-Publishing
2:00-4:30
Flamingo Hotel
YA/MG Contest closed for submissions
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Sunday, September 9
2 - 4:30 p.m.
Flamingo Hotel, Empire Room
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THREE, THREE, THREE
TOPICS
IN ONE MONTHLY MEETING!
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Facebook!
with Crissi Langwell
Use this social media platform effectively to draw readers in and gain lifelong fans.
NaNoWriMo!
with Roger C. Lubeck
Write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days!
Marketing!
with Judy Baker
Grow your audience by being relentlessly generous, memorable, discoverable, and branded.
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Short Play Contest
Submissions are
open now
.
Deadline is November 15.
- 10-minute play
- One scene
- Two submissions per entrant
- Submission fee $10 members; $15 non-members
- Open to all residents of Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino, Lake and Napa counties.
Six winners receive three performances in mid-March 2019!
For complete details on submission requirements,
click here.
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YOUNG ADULT AND MIDDLE GRADE FICTION CONTEST
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Workshop:
Sunday, September 9
10 a.m. – noon
in the Alexander Room, Flamingo Hotel
Submission dates:
Open: Sunday, September 9
Close: Sunday, October 21 at 9 p.m.
Open to all members of CWC (California Writers Club)
Entry Fee:
Members: $10
Non-members: $15
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First prize:
$100 plus...
A 10-page manuscript critique by literary agent Jennifer March Soloway, Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Second Prize:
$50 plus...
The complete set of the Accelerati Trilogy written by Eric Elfman and Neal Shusterman
Third prize:
$25 plus...
A copy of "The Lost Celt" by A.E. Conran
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ANNOUNCING...
2019
POETRY ANTHOLOGY
Something to Crow About
in the Light of Day
in the Dark of Night
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DATES:
Workshop:
Saturday, September 22
9:30-12:30
Alexander Room at the Flamingo Hotel
REGISTER HERE
. COST IS $25 for RW members; $35 for non-members..
Submission:
Open:
now
Close: Wednesday, October 31
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SHARE, ENJOY, RECEIVE PRAISE
(IF WARRANTED!)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
10 AM to 1 PM
Location: Private home in Windsor
Bring your stories and poems to share.
10:00 – 10:45 Meet, greet, and enjoy snacks
10:45 – 11:45 Readings (
5 minutes max
)
11:45 – Noon Break (more greeting and eating)
Noon – 12:40 Readings
12:40 – 1:00 Flash Education
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Linda Stamps
By Natasha Yim
Essayist, poet, fiction writer—football player? The term usually conjures up images of beefy, muscled men crouching in gorilla-like stances ready to mow down the competition. But in her early twenties, Linda Stamps, who holds a B.S. in Social Work and a law degree, played linebacker for five years for the Columbus Pacesetters in the National Women’s Football League.
“I was one of five team owners and one of two team captains. We played full tackle football by NFL rules,” says Linda.
Playing football has been just one of the many metamorphoses in Linda’s life. She has carved out careers as a lawyer, journalist, community organizer, and as Vice-Provost at California State University, Monterey Bay, from which she retired. As a journalist, Linda wrote sports and feature articles, and several pieces for the Time Warner publication, “Out in All Directions,” an LGBTQ almanac. Her poems have recently been published in “PHOENIX, Out of the Silence…And Then.”
It was teen angst that initially brought her to writing. A junior high school crush led her to write a poem or two, allowing her to say in writing what she could not say verbally.
“I was smitten,” Linda recalls.
These days, she is more likely to be smitten by nature, meditation, the human spirit, and the love and power of words, all inspiration for her work. She tries to write at least a poem or a short story or essay a week, letting ideas and dialogue permeate organically. Linda typically writes in the afternoon, and is a self-proclaimed “pantser”, diving right in and seeing where the story takes her. She likes to begin with pen and paper, then transfer her writing to the computer once she has a first draft. Linda discovered Redwood Writers online, attended a meeting, and signed up as a member shortly after. She is currently working on a novel that started as a short story about a woman who attends funerals because she loves them, and over the course of the story, discovers why.
She enjoys reading books and seeing the world through the multicultural lens of writers like Sandra Cisneros, Abraham Verghese, Chitra Divakaruni, and Ruth Oseki. She has read all of Ghandi’s writings and multiple interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita.
“The human condition may be universal,” Linda says, “yet, when experienced through different cultural and spiritual lenses, I find more depth and richness in the telling.”
Linda is a fairly recent transplant to Sonoma County, having moved to Sebastopol in 2012 with her spouse, who was somewhat familiar with the area.
“I can’t quite tell you why we moved here,” she says, “but we’re pleased we did. The climate, natural beauty, proximity to San Francisco, and the region’s commitment to local, sustainable, organic food are some of the reasons why we intend to stay. We quickly discovered a vital art and writing community and so many friendly and caring neighbors in West County. There is, for us, a true sense of community.”
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Ideas
by Ellie Portner
An idea came
As a sudden thought
I asked it to stay
That I will have time for it later
When I am not so busy
When I can turn it this way and that
As if I am holding it tenderly in my hands
When I can watch it fill with words
Words I will try to remember
For later...when I have time
To get to know them better
But ideas are strange and prickly
Demanding my whole attention
In the exact moment they arrive
They are not satisfied to hang around
After my superficial acknowledgement
Instead they quickly move across my mind
And are then gone...
And I am left with a feeling
Of having missed something important
It is a small emptiness
Still, I long to have it filled...
As an ice cream carton I take from the freezer
And open it to find only the tiniest bit of ice cream
Still remains
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Submission guidelines: double-spaced, Times or Times New Roman, 12 point, sentence case: (no all caps, please). Poems are reviewed by a team of poets. We will acknowledge receipt of your work, and let you know if your poem is going to be included, or if we are requesting minor edits prior to inclusion.
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More and more books are self-published every year as large publishing houses consolidate and retreat from the marketplace. Find out all the hows and how-not-tos from the experts.
Sunday, October 14
2–4:30 p.m.
FLAMINGO HOTEL
PANEL ON SELF-PUBLICATION
Please join us.
Redwood Writers is for everyone, whether you're an accomplished author or poet, or just wondering if writing is right for you.
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Writers News from Around the Bay
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September 12, 7-9 pm
Napa Valley Writers Presents
Copyright Protection
Napa Valley Writers will host Kelley Way, a lawyer who will teach us about copyrights and how they can protect our work as authors.
Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists Church Sanctuary, 1625 Salvador Avenue, Napa. Cost at the door: $8 for guests, $5 for CWC members. Students with ID, free. For more information, contact publicity_nvw@outlook.com or see
napavalleywriters.net
.
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MENDOCINO HOTEL
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Thursday, September 20th, 6:00 p.m.
JOSH WEIL
"The Long Short"
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Sonoma County Writers Camp
Limited space -- sign up ASAP!
October 10 – 14, 2018 | Scene Making: The Essence of Storytelling
Scene is what hooks us: what happened? Who did that? Scene makes the reader lean into the story, refuse to put down the book, dream the tale we put on the page. This camp will explore what “show, don’t tell” really means in the books we love–and in our own writing. Create unforgettable scenes that pull your reader into the story and don’t let go.
www.sonomacountywriterscamp.com
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If you have news of interest to our members, please submit copy and a photo if you wish by the 15th of the month prior to
editor@redwoodwriters.org
.
Editor reserves the right to accept and/or edit. Thank you.
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Our mailing address is The Redwood Writer, P.O. Box 4687, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
Redwood Writers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Redwood Writers Meetings
General membership meetings are held on the second Sunday of each month (moves one week ahead if a holiday) from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Flamingo Conference Resort and Spa, located at
2777 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95405.
Registration starts at 2 p.m.
Copyright © 2018 Redwood Writers. All rights reserved.
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