Write Angles 11-09

November, 2009

Write Angles Write Angles OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the BERKELEY BRANCH of the CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB

The View From the Helm

TABLE OF CONTENTS The View From the Helm...........2 Do You Really Need an Agent to Get a Publisher?........................3 Who Knew Nouns Could Be Exciting?....................................4 The Beauty of Brevity ...............4 Marketing Corner.......................4 California Writers Club and the Active Role Women Took From Its Early Years II..............................5 Our New Look............................7 Member News.............................9 100 Years, 100 Members.........10 Member Marketplace...............10 Midyear Membership Drive.....10 Buddy System..........................11

ON THE COVER:

Distinguished Writers of California Joaquin Miller, 1841-1914 Oakland’s colorful American poet, essayist and eccentric, known in England as “The Byron of the Rockies,” gathered California writers at his home in “The Hights.” His poem, “Columbus,” inspired CWC’s motto, “Sail On.”

On November 8, Anne Fox, along with winners from other Branches, will be presented with the Jack London Award at the meeting of the delegates to the Central Board. The award, presented by the president of the California Writers Club, honors members who have made exemplary contributions to their Branch. My first encounter with the Berkeley Branch was as a dropin at a 3rd Saturday support/critique writers’ group. I arrived with 10 copies of the first half of the first story I had written in a long time. I left with 10 very marked-up copies and some words of encouragement. I remember one person from that day’s group, and Anne’s words have stayed in my memory in the years since. Some months ago I asked the membership for nominations for the Jack London Award. Imagine my pleasure when I saw Anne’s name appear on every ballot. Although the award will be officially presented on November 8, Anne will be honored again by her fellow Branch members when the Berkeley Branch holds its annual holiday luncheon on December 12. Mark your calendars. Also on the luncheon program, winning writers of the WestSide Story Contest will read their stories. See results on pages 5 and 8. For your luncheon reservation, please send a check for $22 to CWC-BB, P.O. Box 6447, Alameda, CA 94501. For a year, Write Angles has been produced by Caroline Abasta. From the first issue, Caroline elevated the look and feel of our newsletter. She made all of us who contribute to Write Angles want to do our jobs that much better. Every issue since brought a complimentary note from a member or an officer or newsletter editor of our sister Branches. Caroline stepped down from her job on Write Angles with our gratitude for a job well done. We are fortunate that another club member, Kristen Caven, was available to step in. We apologize for the delay in getting the newsletter out to you as the transition involved Kristen’s update of our newsletter’s design. All of us who work with the newsletter and contribute to it look forward to working with Kristen. This month we initiate another new feature in Write Angles, a page where members can offer their writer services in businesscard format. Patronize them and offer your own writer services. —AL Levenson, CWC Berkeley President

“All honor to him who shall win the prize,’The world has cried for a thousand years;But to him who tries and fails and dies,I give great honor and glory and tears.” —Joaquin Miller NOVEMBER 2009

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NOVEMBER’S SPEAKER:

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

KATHY BRICCETTI

Do You Really Need an Agent to Get a Publisher?

December 12, 2009 Annual Luncheon, Winners of WestSide Story Contest Read

You’ve proofread your manuscript for the last time. It’s ready. But you don’t have an agent. Writhe in despair? No. Come to the November 21 meeting and listen to our featured speaker, Kathy Briccetti. Heyday Books will publish her memoir, Blood Strangers, in the spring of 2010. The book, she explains on her Web site, is a search for place “among the tangles of three generations of adoption and absent fathers” in her family. Sounds interesting, an acquisitions editor must have concluded. Let’s assume the editor also appreciated that Kathy’s manuscript had been excerpted in Dos Passos Review, San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, Hip Mama, flashquake, Unbound Press, and in the anthologies: The Maternal Is Political (Seal Press), Herstory (Adams Media), and Who’s Your Mama (Soft Skull Press/Counterpoint). One excerpt was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Kathy writes and edits fiction and nonfiction (essays, memoir, and criticism). Her MFA is from the Stonecoast creative writing program at the University of Southern Maine, and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology is from the Wright Institute in Berkeley. She works as a school psychologist and teaches writing classes in the Bay Area. Her current project, appropriately titled A Bus(wo)man’s Holiday, is, in her words, “a memoir about working with children on the autism spectrum while raising a child with Asperger’s Syndrome.” It’s a “nontraditional memoir made up of personal and lyric essays, prose poems, and haiku.” Once again, we have an interesting description, and, as we might expect, Kathy has already found an anthology and a journal eager to publish excerpts from her manuscript. Come to the November meeting and find out more. (kathybriccetti.com) —David Baker

NOVEMBER MEETING: Saturday, November 21, 2009 Social Hour: 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Meeting and Program: 10:30 a.m. - Noon Event Loft, Barnes & Noble Book Store Jack London Square, Oakland Note: This will be our last meeting at the Jack London Barnes and Noble, which is closing! Watch for our new location.

NOVEMBER 2009

January 16, 2010 Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, on how to get an agent. February 20, 2010 Seth Harwood, on creating free serialized audio books. March 20, 2010 Becky Levine, on critique groups and revision techniques. April 17, 2010 Robert Pimm, intellectual property attorney, on copyright protection and “fair use” of the work of others.

THE MARKETING CORNER The marketing group met for the second time at Barnes & Noble (Jack London Square, Oakland) on October 17, following the general meeting. Goals and expectations were the topic. We discussed social networking, creating a media kit, how to work in teams to secure author events, possible exhibitions at trade shows, and networking to pursue media opportunities. It was proposed that a buddy system be organized (small groups of two to four) for more integral support within the group. The buddy system would include commitments to set measurable, attainable goals toward promotion. Before the meeting adjourned, small groups already started to form. The group agreed to create a continued on page 11...

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WHO KNEW NOUNS COULD BE EXCITING? The first of the CWC-BB’s workshops, “Art of the Noun,” facilitated by Professor Marianne Rogoff, was an unqualified success. A baker’s dozen of us gathered in a round- table format to examine how scene can be created by starting with nouns. Nouns, enriched by adjectives, placed in a context, joined by activating verbs, are a basic descriptive tool. Moreover, nouns, when serving to anchor symbolic meaning or philosophic perspective, can carry much of the descriptive lumber of a story. Rogoff made it all easy by the use of simple examples. Over the course of three hours, her ten-minute craft talks ended with writing prompts. The group then dove into concentrated silence for a few minutes, after which we read our writing aloud. Three hours flashed by as we escalated from the simple jump-start prompt of a topical noun list to a paragraph prompted by an abstract theme. Risa Nye, workshop coordinator, remarked that the first workshop set a high bar for future sessions. She has three workshops scheduled on facets of memoir writing. She also elicited an offer from Rogoff to do a workshop on travel writing on a date to be determined in the spring.

—AL Levenson

NOVEMBER WORKSHOP:

MARILYN ABILDSKOV

The Beauty of Brevity: Autobiography Distilled

At this month’s workshop, we’ll read short published essays to learn how various writers pack a punch in a small space. We will write our own mini-memoirs to read aloud in a supportive environment, responding with an eye to strengthening the work through revision. This workshop will give you ideas about how to better use the little time you have in your busy day to write. Marilyn Abildskov is the author of The Men in My Country, a memoir set in Japan. Her short stories, personal essays, and poems have appeared in such magazines as Puerto del Sol, Quarterly West, Bellingham Review, Ascent, and Southern Review. She lives in Emeryville and teaches in the MFA program at Saint Mary’s College of California. Sunday, November 15, 2009, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., followed by brownbag lunch and further discussion. Space is limited—Pre-Registration is required! Mail your check to CWC-BB, Box 6447, Alameda, CA 94501. $9 for CWC members. $29 for nonmembers. Questions?  Email to [email protected].

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

January 10, 2010 FEELING TO FORM: A Memoir Workshop introducing elements of form with Writer/Professor Marilyn Abildskov March 14, 2010 TBA April 11, 2010 Marianne Rogoff on Travel Writing May 9, 2010 Wesley Gibson, Writing effective dialogue

Marianne Rogoff and student in a light moment during break

NOVEMBER 2009

To recommend or request a speaker, contact Risa Nye at [email protected].

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WESTSIDE STORY CONTEST RESULTS

And the Winner is... Clifford Hui for his story “Laura.” A member of the Berkeley Branch, Clifford brings honor to the Branch by earning the grand prize. How did the contest come to be, and how were the winners chosen? For the first four years the contest was owned and administered by the founder, Tatjana Greiner. For its fifth year, Tatjana approached the Berkeley Branch of the California Writers Club for partnership and sponsorship. She sought wider publicity; the writers’ club gained an additional service to provide to the writing community. And so a natural partnership came to be. With the support of the CWCBB, entries doubled over the year before. Almost 30 percent of the stories were submitted by CWC members representing nearly half the Branches. Author identity was stripped from the stories before they were shipped out to first readers, who selected the best and shipped them on to the final judge, Lucille contiinued on page 8

contest winner Clifford Hui

NOVEMBER 2009

CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB and the Active Role Women Took from its Early Years This article was adapted in three parts from Theresa Pipe’s original article for the Berkeley Historical Society appearing in The Independent Gazette’s “Berkeley History” column, dated September 5, 1982. With special thanks to Maud Volandri (deceased), Dorothy V. Benson and Ray Faraday Nelson of the California Writers’ Club of Berkeley for research assistance; and The Bancroft Library.

PART 2: THE CLUB PUBLISHES ANTHOLOGIES When the California Writers Club became involved in publishing its own anthologies with articles and poetry by its members, the women writers and poets again achieved recognition together with the men. In 1914 their first West Winds, a hardback collection of stories edited by Herman Sara Bard Field and Charles Whitaker and his wife, became Erskine Scott Wood published by Paul Elder in San Francisco. Among its contributors were Rebecca Porter, Shirley Mansfield and journalist Charles Lummis, together with Club founders Jack London and Herman Whitaker. West Winds: A Book of Verse, a 1925 publication, displayed the versatility of Club members and became affiliated with the prestigious Poetry Society of America. An impressive list of poets published here, including Ina Coolbrith and George Sterling, another Club founder and close friend of Jack London. Charles and Ormeida Keeler, Sara Bard Field and Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Anna Blake Mezquida and Edwin Markham also saw their works in this volume. Six years later, The Professional Press in Berkeley published the Club’s West Winds, Vol. III—A Book of Fiction, edited by Torrey Connor. Besides Derrick Lehmer, who wrote the foreword, some of the other contributing authors were Grace Jones Morgan, Esther Birdsall Darling, Agnes Morley Cleaveland, Ethel Cotton, Charles Caldwell Dobie, and Harry Noyes Pratt. Meanwhile, at least some of the women writers published in these anthologies as well as other women members of the California Writers Club gained local or national recognition for various independent literary achievements. Sara Bard Field, a poet suffragist and civil libertarian who continued on next page

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married writer Charles Erskine Scott Wood, joined the Club in 1928 and later published her book of poetry, The Darkling Plain. She became immersed in the movement to get out the vote for women. Rosalie Moore Brown, an active member while still an undergraduate at UC-Berkeley, later won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for her book, The Grasshopper’s Man and Other Poems in 1949. Around the 1930s, Hildegarde Hawthorne’s name appeared on the Club’s active roster. Among her books, she wrote a biography about her grandfather, The Romantic Rebel, The story of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Recognized for her many creative achievements, by 1942 Ethel Cotton continued to revise her ongoing “Home Study Course of Conversation” every six months. Her new monograph textbooks, English Grammar at a Glance and English Composition at a Glance, were being used as part of the curriculum in San Francisco secondary schools. The founder of the Speech Arts Association in San Francisco, she also served as its president for many years. In the 1940s, Maud Volandri (who lived to be 101) served on the Club’s Board together with writer Pearl Bank Steward, a member since the 1920s who remained with the Club for 55 years. When Steward’s memorial service was held in Berkeley in the 1970s, recalled Volandri, “Glowing letters from two of her earlier students at the former Williams College there were read: those of prolific writer Irving Wallace and Margery Evrenden Gulbransen.” As a rule, the women members of Hildegarde Hawthorne the California Writers Club were assertive about their literary life, a quality their spouses and friends admired. They were gracious about serving on the Club’s Board but left the job of president to the men. The first president of the Sacramento Branch, Edna Wilson Becsey (1925-1926), was elected to that office long before the Berkeley membership elected a woman. Club leadership resided in Berkeley, but it was not until the Depression years that a woman actually led the organization. Mary Roberts Coolidge, who had served her apprenticeship on the Board together with Pearl Bank Steward and others under Derrick Lehmer, set a new precedent: she agreed to become president, with Professor Rudolph Altrocchi elected as vice president in 1934-1936.

What you have seen to love in me I do not know. What I have seen to love in thee No word can show. But word or knowledge, dear, we lay aside. We need them not for compass or for guide. By love we go.

—Sara Bard Field, from The Pale Woman

(www.sarabardfield.com)

— Therese M. Pipe

CWC In the News... On Saturday, November 7, the California Writers Club was honored at Joaquin Miller’s Abbey in Joaquin Miller Park, which is being restored to the way it looked during Joaquin Miller’s day. The California Writers Club led the campaign to have Joaquin Miller’s home turned into a park and started the tradition of planting trees to honor California writers. The redwood trees lining The Cascade in Joaquin Miller Park are CWC’s Writers Memorial Grove.

NOVEMBER 2009

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LIKE OUR NEW LOOK? THANK JOAQUIN MILLER. A note from the designer of Write Angles... Deadlines loom for the publication of my memoir and I’ve still got edits. My clients are hounding me for favicons, and I don’t know what they are yet. I’ve just been made the editor of my son’s school’s parent newsletter, and NaNoWriMo is coming up. Oh, and my dog has fleas.

Take Me Novel Away,Writing NaNoWriMo! National Month For the thirty days of November, I know what I will be doing for an hour a half to two hours a day. taking part in "Toand achieve great things, twoAfter things are National Novel Writing Month last year, I am eager to give needed: a plan, and not quite enough time."it another go with the rest of the international community hooked into NaNoWriMo.org. --Leonard Bernstein The dream of writing novels has always been with me. I’ve made many starts and, faced with this overwhelming and mysterious task, stumbled on, not always sure of what I ended up with. I sat in on a workshop given by Chris Baty at the San Francisco Writers Conference in February of 2008, and some clarity came to me. It was very simple. This system had a beginning and an ending date with a goal of 50,000 words, making the goal quantity, not quality. As NaNoWriMo’s Web site says, even if you don’t reach the 50,000 words, you rock for even trying. When I began last year, I did have an idea of the story I wanted to tell, and that was about all. I didn’t work from an outline but from a list of characters, incidents, and settings. Considering the month ahead, I thought about how likely it was for me to complete the total of 1667 words a day over the period of a month and decided to handle it the same way I handle food cravings. I knew there would be days I wouldn’t write all 1667 words. There would be days I would feel the need to go out with friends after work and arrive home too late to write. I knew I was not going to cut my life off for a month. For me, it’s like craving ice cream or pizza. I eat the ice cream. I discovered long ago that if I don’t, I am more likely to polish off bags of jelly beans, supermarket deli cupcakes and just about any convenient really bad food. The sooner I give in to a craving, the sooner I can get back on track. Starting out, I aimed to complete 2,000 to 2,200 words a day. I found that during the 30 days there were few moments

www.nanowrimo.org

continued on next page...

NOVEMBER 2009

You may be wondering, as am I: Why on earth did I say yes to AL when he asked me to take on Write Angles? The answer lies in a sunny afternoon twenty years ago. I had recently come to California (land of oceans, grapes, cable cars, and movies) from the wide west (mountains, plains, horses, deserts). I needed a horizon. I drove until I found a hill. The hill had stairs. I climbed. At the top was a beautiful Art Deco WPA building, an empty amphitheater, awaiting the sound of my applause. The oaks curved gracefully over my head. The grass smelled sweet under my feet. The view stretched out before my hungry eyes. This was my new home. On the wall an inscription reads: “A Memorial to California Writers and Artists / To inspire and advance the noblest aims of makind.” I decided that day that I would be one. I felt as if that gorgeous sunny day on that empty, contemplative hill was dedicated to me. I became captivated with the eccentric Joaquin Miller, continued on next page...

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when the words came to a halt, when I didn’t know what to write next. Through the month, the desire to quit never hit me. There was so much good feeling about the project, about the community that NaNoWriMo eases into the consciousness of the participants by giving many pep talks and supportive emails. Take a look on NaNoWriMo’s Web site, and you get an idea of the whimsicality of the task at hand, instead of another thing in life to take too seriously. Further exploring the Web site, you may count the 35 authors whose NaNoWriMo novel made it into print. Undoubtedly, the most familiar is Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. My guess is that Sara didn’t wing it the way I did last year. I bet she was pretty clear about her novel, with research complete and an outline in hand. During Chris’s workshop in 2008, he held up a pile of pages held together by a large clip and told us, “This is my novel. It’s kind of a mess, but it’s mine.” I knew then that this was something I could do. This is how by about 6:00 p.m. on November 29, I reached my goal of 50,000 words. And though my first draft of 175 pages was something I wasn’t ready to go back to immediately, I was ready to celebrate and even brag about the birth of my own mess. It is the month of the muse, and the critic can wait until December. To paraphrase Jane Smiley from her keynote address at the 2009 San Francisco Writers Conference, every first draft is perfect. —Jane Glendinning

Watch for this sign in coffee shops, libraries, and bookstores that welcome writers to work this month.

STORY CONTEST WINNERS,

who reminded me of my own grandfather. I read Miller’s book and climbed his pyramid. I wrote a song for school kids about him, and skipped my college reunion so I could sing it for the Historical Society right there in the amphitheater. Then I found a writers’ club founded by people who knew him. Just waiting for me to arrive. Even in a hundred-year-old group, we’re all still figuring out the writing life as we go along. I said yes to AL because I’m a California Writer and a history buff, celebrating 100 years of the CWC. In the spirit of the WPA, I want to embrace my community and help build something of beauty. And I’d like to “inspire and advance the noblest aims” of other writers... to help take the CWC into its next century!

—Kristen Caven

CONTINUED....

Bellucci. Lucille has published six books, countless stories, and was herself the grand prize winner of the WSS contest in 2008. Many thanks to Tatjana Greiner, Ken Frazer, Joanna Graham, and Charlie Russell, who read manuscripts and forwarded selected finalists to Lucille. Other winners include: Second-prize story, “Pathway to Paradise,” by Arthur Carey, of the Fremont Branch; Third-prize story, “How Big Red The author surveys her domain Got His Name,” also by grand-prize winner Clifford Hui; First Honorable from Joaquin Miller’s pyramid. Mention, “The Pink Letter,” by Jack Muss, current member and recent past president of the Mt Diablo Branch; Second Honorable Mention, “A Cat in a Man Suit,” by Dirk Wales of the Berkeley Branch; Third Honorable Mention, “The Adaptation,” by Patricia Bacon of the Tri-Valley Branch; Fourth Honorable Mention, “The Armed Deposit,” by Gary Jones of Omaha, NE. Congratulations to all, and thanks to everyone who submitted. We enjoyed reading your work. Please come to hear Clifford Hui, Art Carey, and Jack Russ read their stories at the Berkeley Branch Holiday Luncheon on December 12! See The View from the Helm, page 2, for reservation info.

—AL Levenson

NOVEMBER 2009

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100 YEARS, 100 MEMBERS 1. AL Levenson 2. Alex Campbell  3. Alice Wilson-Fried 4. Alon Shalev 5. Anjuelle Floyd 6. Anne Prowell 7. Anne Fox 8. Aphra Pia 9. Arline Lawrence 10. Arue Szura 11. Barbara Ruffner 12. Barbara Burton 13. Barbara Gilvar 14. Bill Roller 15. Bruce Shigeura 16. Carlene Cole 17. Carol Newman-Weaver 18. Caroline Ahlswede 19. Caroline Abasta 20. Caryl Hansen 21. Charlie Russell 22. Charlotte Cook 23. Clifford A. Hui 24. David Sawle 25. David Gray 26. David George 27. David Baker 28. Debby Frisch 29. Dirk Wales 30. Dorothy V. Benson 31. Edward S. Dean 32. Ele Quinn 33. Ellen C. Graebe 34. Emery Garriott 35. Evelyn Washington 36. Faith Darling 37. Frances B. Spencer 38. Francine Howard 39. Gail Travers 40. Gary McIntyre 41. Gloria Reid 42. Gurnam S. Brard 43. Jane Glendinning 44. Janell Moon 45. Janice Armigo Brown 46. Jeff Kingman 47. JoAnn Smith Ainsworth 48. Joanna Graham continued on next page...

NOVEMBER 2009

Member News

CWC BERKELEY BRANCH MEMBERS: Please send Write Angles all the news about your life in the world of art, letters, and literature, however it expresses itself. Your efforts and accomplishments inspire courage in others. [email protected] David George, supporting member of the Berkeley Branch and member of the Mt. Diablo Branch, had a laughter-provoking Real Life piece in the Bay Area News Group newspapers on Saturday, October 3—“The thumbs have it, son’s got it, and I’ve had it.” (For the Real Life column, contact or send submissions of 450 to 700 words to [email protected]/) In addition, David won first place in the Peninsula Branch Short Story and Novel Contest for “Frog Song,” his short story. Lucille Bellucci’s poem, “The Deed,” appears in the stunning publication Carpe Articulum, Fourth Quarter, Vol. 2, Issue 14, October 2009/January 2010, (Theme—“Longing”), accompanied by artwork that merits a double take. Investigate the Web site www.carpearticulum.com/ Charlotte Cook conducted workshops at two more writers’ conferences—Colorado Gold Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers in Denver and the 25th Annual Central Coast Writers Conference in San Luis Obispo. Her workshop “An Acquisition Editor Polishes Your First Pages” attracts ongoing enthusiasm, as does her “Author Boot Camp.” See her new Web site www. fictionwriteideas.com for information and pdf’s of handouts and articles to download from her workshops and other literary adventures.  Laura Shumaker reports that her book, A Regular Guy, Growing Up With Autism, is being represented by April Eberhardt, literary agent with Kimberly Cameron Associates. W. E. Reinka’s personal essay, “For All I Know,” appears in this year’s annual Chrysalis Reader, Kaleidoscope: Lenses on Reality. This is Bill’s fourth contribution to the Chrysalis Reader, which has a different theme each year. Micky Duxbury’s article, “Racial Bias Exists. Can We Train Cops to Deal with It?” appeared in the September 9 issue of the East Bay Express. Her particular interest is in social justice issues for the paper. In 2007 Routledge published her book, Making Room In Our Hearts: Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption.  AL Levenson’s haiku, “Haiku for Eve,” is in the Boston Literary Magazine, Winter Issue. In the Berkeley Camera Club’s End-of the-Year 2009 Print Competition, Therese Pipe won honorable mention for her color giclee 18x24 print, “Crystal Cave Marble—Sequoia National Park.” Therese also participated with one 11x14 color print— “Crystal Cave, Sequoia National Park”—in the Berkeley Camera Club Print Exhibition at The LightRoom in West Berkeley, August to September 2009 German poetry translated into English by Tatjana Greiner will be published in the October issue of the biannual continued on next page...

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49. Joanne Sandstrom 50. Jody Weiner 51. Joy Maliwawa 52. Judith Field 53. Julia Epstein 54. Karren Elsbernd 55. Kasian Klute 56. Kathleen L Orosco 57. Ken Frazer 58. Kristen Caven 59. Laura Shumaker 60. Linda Brown 61. Liz Waegle 62. Lloyd Lofthouse 63. Lois Kadosh 64. Lucille Bellucci 65. Madelen Lontiong 66. Marc P. Kaplan 67. Margaret Wesson 68. Marianne Lonsdale 69. Marianne Rogoff 70. Marilyn Abildskov 71. Michael Larsen 72. Mickey Weiss 73. Micky Duxbury 74. Monica Conrady 75. Natasha Borovsky 76. Nicole Bazan 77. Nonnie Thompson 78. Phyllis S. Smith 79. Ray Faraday Nelson 80. Richard Mutter 81. Risa Nye 82. Sarah Clark 83. Sasha Futran 84. Tanya Grove 85. Tatjana Greiner 86. Therese M. Pipe 87. Thomas Burchfield 88. Tina M. Stinnett 89. Van Moore 90. Vernon Dolphin 91. W.E. Reinka 92. Wendi Lelke-Wallway 93. Willie Rose 94. 95. ...ALMOST! 96. 97. Invite a friend 98. to join today! 99. 100. NOVEMBER 2009

international and multilingual journal Serena: Poetry, Art and Criticism, Johns Hopkins University Press (http://www.press.jhu. edu/journals/sirena).This issue features Günter Kunert (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Günter_Kuner.) Tatjana has also translated into English work by the German poet Bas Böttcher, who knew Kunert. —Anne Fox  

Member Marketplace Kristen Caven

Thomas Burchfield www.kbc-design.com 510-534-1415 [email protected] Send a scan of your business card to [email protected]

Editing & Writing Services Tel. (510) 547-1092 • Cell (510) 541-1991 Email: [email protected]

SERVICES FOR WRITERS Saturday Literary Salons * Weeklong Themed Writers Studio Retreats Community Ed Classes: Memoir, Fiction, Travel Stories, Griefwriting Writer Coaching: Approaches to Starting, Overcoming Obstacles, Finishing Manuscript Editing: Developmental Feedback, Hands-On Line Editing, Proofreading Writer/Professor Marianne Rogoff * [email protected] * 415.455.0781

MIDYEAR MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Our membership cycle traditionally begins and ends in mid-summer. Typically, members who join between January 1 and June 30 pay the $20 initiation fee plus half-price dues ($22.50) for the balance of the Club year (through June 30). This year only, we are offering our midyear special early so we can reach a membership of 100 in our 100th year! For more information, visit the club Web site at www.cwc-berkeley. com. Remember, youth members (21 and under) always pay reduced annual dues of only $10! Tell your friends—or offer a membership as a unique holiday gift! There’s no better way to say, “I think you’re a real writer!”

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THE MARKETING CORNER,

CONTINUED FROM P.3...

communication forum designed for support and education. This might include Facebook, a Web site page, a listserv, and/or an open or closed blog. The group explored bringing marketing experts to speak to the group. Some of the topics might include viral marketing, how to optimize social networks, preparing a media kit, etc. The third meeting will focus on a communication structure that the group will use to grow in the future. Come and take part in this exciting process. The next meeting will be from 9:05 to 10:00 a.m., immediately prior to the general monthly meeting on Saturday, November 21, at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. Join us!

BERKELEY CWC

BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: AL Levenson Vice President: Dave Sawle Secretary: Jane Glendinning Treasurer: Carlene Cole Membership: AL Levenson Publicity Chair: Linda Brown Program Chair: Laura Shumaker Workshop Chair: Risa Nye Newsletter Editor: AL Levenson Copyeditor: Anne Fox Newsletter Production: Kristen Caven Webmaster: AL Levenson Delegate to Central Board: Linda Brown

—Lloyd Lofthouse

The Buddy System Writing is a solitary pursuit... but sometimes a buddy is better. With this issue we experiment with the Write Angles version of Match.com™. Do you need a partner for something that is not (yet) offered by the Berkeley Branch? A writing buddy? A small group to critique a genre not served by our existing groups? A marketing partner? A collaborator for a project? Send a brief ad to [email protected] with “Buddy System” in the subject line.

Delegate to CWC-Norcal: Lloyd Lofthouse 5th Grade Story Contest: Lucille Bellucci WestSide Story Contest: Tatjana Greiner

Do you ever wonder... “How can I help the club?”

WANTED: Marketing Buddies Four or five authors to share work and costs for book readings, tours, and other forms of promotion, such as putting our books in a section together at bookstores, taking promotional road trips, or sharing a stall at a Farmers’ Market. Contact Alon at alshalev@yahoo. com.

Help is needed in the following departments:

WANTED: Drinking Buddies Even though you don’t have to be an alcoholic to be a great writer, it’s still fun to share a Bloody Mary now and then. Where: Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, of course! When: Sunday, November 21, 1 pm. - KBC

-Facebook page/group

NOVEMBER 2009

-Membership chair -Database -contributions to WA -Web site (Word press) -Buddy System editor -Write Angles co-designer Contact calwritersclub@ gmail.com if you can help!

The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB is dedicated to educating members and the public-at-large in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work. For more information, visit our Web site at cwc-berkeley. org. Copyright © 2009 by the California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch. All rights reserved. Write Angles is published 10 times a year (September-June) by the California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch on behalf of its members. CWC assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, process, product, method or policy described in this newsletter.

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