Board of Directors
Roger Lubeck
,
President
Robbi Sommers Bryant
,
Vice President
Marilyn Lanier
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Vice President
Malena Eljumaily
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Treasurer
Adele Layton
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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
Deborah Walton
, PR/Newsletter Editor
Chairs and Editors
Elspeth Benton
, Registration Team
Les Bernstein
, Poetry Anthology Editor
Skye Blaine
, Newsletter Poetry 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
, Historian
Margarite Olmos
, PR Internal
Linda L. Reid
, Writers Circle
Deborah Taylor-French
, Author Support
Deborah Walton
, PR/Newsletter Editor
Tommie Whitener
, 2019 Anthology 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, JANUARY 13
2:00-4:30 pm
Pitch Yourself as a Guest on Radio or TV
Joey Garcia
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, February 10
2–4:30 p.m.
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BOARD NOTES AND NEWS
New Year
New Opportunities for Writing
by Roger C. Lubeck, President
The prospect of a new year is always exciting. The opportunity for new experiences, meeting new people, writing and publishing new stories.
In 2019, Redwood Writers has
an array of events
planned for its members, including:
- a new list of monthly speakers
- a new poetry anthology to be launched in June
- a new prose anthology that will be available for the Sonoma Fair in August.
In addition to our monthly speakers, member panels, and hot topic round tables, we are planning
three half-day Redwood Academy workshops
focused on marketing, publishing, and craft. Also, in the late spring and fall, we will offer
two short story contests each with a half-day craft workshop
. Finally, to encourage writers reading their works, we will offer six salons, six writers circles, and our own Author Launch in July.
In total, 2019 looks to be another excellent year to be a Redwood Writer -- and that is only what is planned so far!
As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions to make our meetings and our club more relevant to you. Just email
president@redwoodwriters.org
. See you on Sunday!
Board Meeting Agenda for January 13, 2019
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
- Speakers committee: Linda Reid
- Academy / workshops: Judy Baker
1:15 p.m. New Business
1:30 p.m. Adjourn
General Meeting Agenda for January 13, 2019
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Author Support
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Genre Support Table:
- Editing - Robbi Sommers Bryant)
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
- Other chair announcements
- Prose Anthology 2019 & workshop: Tommie Whitener
2:55 p.m. Member announcements
3:00 p.m. Break ~ Snacks, Networking & Book Sales
3:15 p.m. Presenter: Joey Garcia -
Pitch Yourself as Guest on Radio or TV
4:15 p.m. Final announcements:
Next Meeting February 10, 2019
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On December 9 the Board of the Redwood Writers honored retiring Board member, Sandy Baker (second from left), for her many years of work on behalf of the RW membership. Thank you, Sandy, for everything you've contributed!
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IMPORTANT DATES
See more details below
Sunday, Jan 13
Redwood Writers Board Meeting 12:30-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
Redwood Writers Author Support 1:00-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
MONTHLY MEETING
Pitch Yourself as a Guest on Radio or TV
2:00-4:30
Flamingo Hotel
Saturday, Jan 19
Redwood Writers 2019 Anthology Workshop 10:00-12:00
Flamingo Hotel
Saturday, Jan 26
Writers Circle 10 am - 1 pm
Home of Linda Reid
Sunday, February 10
Next Monthly Meeting
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Sunday, January 13
2 - 4:30 p.m.
Flamingo Hotel, Empire Room
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Pitch Yourself as a Guest
on Radio or TV
Want to learn simple yet effective methods of being an on-air TV or radio guest who creates a buzz that inspires media to invite you back again and again? The word “author” is rooted in “authority.” If you’ve published an article, essay, or book—congratulations! You are now an expert.
Television and radio shows need experts to interview. But writers who land an on-air segment often struggle to make the most of their 3 – 8 minutes. Juicy talking points are key. Garcia will teach you how to build a following; proven methods that work equally well for all writers, including fiction, nonfiction, memoir and poetry.
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Endeavor: Stories of Struggle and Survival
Saturday, January 19
10:00 - noon
Flamingo Hotel, Santa Rosa
Online fee: Members $25.00 - Nonmembers $30.00
STORY SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS MARCH 15!
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Join Anthology Editor Tommie Whitener and his team for this informative workshop:
- Discuss the "Endeavor" theme and pick up some grammar guidance from Tommie Whitener
- Daniel Coshnear will draw forth your creativity
- Discuss character development with Linda Reid
- Build plot with Barbara Cottrell
- Get tips from Laura McHale Holland on creating story conflict
- Review the submission process for the anthology
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SATURDAYS 9:30 - NOON
STARTING FEBRUARY 2
Flamingo Hotel Meeting Room
The 2019 Redwood Writers Academy series starts
Saturday, February 2 from 9:30-noon at the Flamingo Hotel, 2777 4th Street, Santa Rosa. Cost is $25 for members, $35 for non-members. Seating is limited and we expect to sell out. Don’t delay in making your reservations at
redwoodwriters.org/workshops.
WORKSHOP I
PR FOR WRITERS:
Getting Noticed Like the Big Kids with
Deborah Walton
Saturday, February 2
9:30 - noon
WORKSHOP II
CROWDFUNDING:
Connect with Funders and Your Fanbase with
John Sheehy
Saturday, April 20
9:30 - noon
WORKSHOP I
SIN AND SYNTAX:
How to Craft Wicked Good Prose with
Constance Hale
Saturday, June 15
9:30 - noon
If you have questions, contact Academy Chair,
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JANUARY WRITERS CIRCLE
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26
10:00 - 1:00 p.m.
at Linda Reid's home
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Congratulations to our Young Adult/Middle Grade Contest Winners:
1st - Lisa Manterfield
(not present - represented)
2nd - Kitty (C.M.) Baker
3rd - Betsy Miller
Chair Natasha Yim
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BETTY LES
Profiled by Tommie Whitener
No doubt one of Redwood Writers “greenest” members, Betty Les explains her life-long affinity for trees and nature by the fact that she spent her early years growing up in an old farmhouse in San Antonio, Texas, under the canopy of a huge live oak tree.
Her passion for nature took her to the University of Texas at Austin where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Zoology. While there, she is proud to recount, she co-chaired the university’s first Earth Day commemoration.
Following graduation, she joined the Peace Corps and served as a biologist in Colombia and Ecuador, where she was able to spend what she says were two “heart-opening” years working with local biologists studying large river ecosystems. While in South America she traveled to the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon Basin. She describes these excursions as having been made on a shoestring budget, but some of the most awe-inspiring of her life.
It was in the Peace Corps that she met and married her husband, Anthony Les, a landscape architect and fellow volunteer. Obviously their marriage of forty-six years testifies to what a shared love and reverence for the natural world can help create.
After the Peace Corps, Betty and Anthony settled in Madison, Wisconsin, figuring that any place built around four large lakes must have a lot going for it.
Betty put her training to work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where she stayed for more than thirty years, leading the Natural Heritage Program, an international network of programs dedicated to preserving and enhancing natural areas. The highlight of her career was working with The Nature Conservancy to found a nonprofit organization located in Washington D.C. to coordinate this network and share data.
While in Wisconsin and not engaged in professional activities, Betty and Anthony spent many happy moments camping, hiking and canoeing with their two daughters; so much so that the girls are fond of saying that they were raised by wolves. Notwithstanding all the time in the woods, one daughter became a biomedical engineer with the University of Michigan and the other a physician. Proud parents, indeed!
But, California beckoned. In 2010, leaving their now-adult and accomplished daughters to pursue their own careers, Betty and Anthony moved to the Golden State. Enthralled by the beauty of Jenner and the Pacific, they initially lived there while they indulged their creative sides as writers and painters. They later bought a home in Santa Rosa, a 1935 garden cottage where Betty’s writing perch looks out on (what else) a yard filled with trees and plants.
One of Betty’s first actions after arriving in California was to join Redwood Writers and begin to enjoy what she describes as the “the contagious warmth and encouragement of the group.” Thus far, she has served on the Registration Team and helped in various ways with the Pen to Published conferences.
Asked about her love of poetry, she recounts: “I’ve been writing poetry most of my life, although I didn’t always know it. Something would strike me a certain way and out came a poem or the gist of a poem. I jotted these thoughts down and threw them in shoe boxes. When I had time, which wasn’t often in the thick of my life, I crafted poems out of these thoughts.
“When life slowed down, I began to study poetry, and began a poetry writing practice, which has grown to be the center of my life. For the last two years, I have been a member of the Blue Moon Salon, a poetry critique circle that meets weekly in Fran Claggett’s living room. Meeting Fran and becoming part of the Salon was a life-changing event, transforming my poetry and teaching me how to critique the work of others.
“The natural world is the center of my poetry, in particular the intersection of science and the mysteries of nature. I write about extinction, time crawling out of the ocean, the resiliency of birds and insects, the life of trees, and the deep consciousness of rocks. I also explore themes of the human condition. Growing up in Texas—where the South meets the West and people live wide—gave me good grist for this type of poetry. Themes of home landscape, memory, injustice and redemption populate these poems. My goal for 2019 is to pull together a chapbook.”
Her previously published works, of both poetry and creative nonfiction, have appeared in the anthologies of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and Redwood Writers. She says she takes particular pride in having her poetry included in “Reverberations,” a recent exhibit of art and ekphrastic poetry at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, and in having been selected as a Redwood Writers Award of Merit poet in 2018.
Saying that she considers fiction truer than nonfiction, she lists her favorite authors as Isabel Allende, Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, Rudolfo Anaya and Wallace Stegner, while among her favorite poets are Gabriela Mistral, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson and e.e. cummings.
As to her lifelong wanderlust, a recent trip took her to Tanzania, fulfilling a dream to experience the Serengeti and to witness firsthand the large mammals that grace the earth. Her iPhone still contains her favorite photo of the trip, an elephant seen close up, from the side, its tiny, wise eye protected by a thick mat of lashes.
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between the pines
by Patrice Deems
a trio of pelican feet
skim the ocean
a few stragglers trail
I stare down at the beach path
where yesterday carriage whips
sensually slithered through sea grass
and stealthy tortoise
gave herself away
sounding like bigfoot
crunching leaves by the gate
I imbibe this surf and turf
inebriated with wonder
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No Doubt Whose Land
by Leiah Bowden
My friends John and Lyn
bought a bit of Katie's land
and with great respect for the land
they love the way it is
plunked down a tepee
built a decent outhouse
a sturdy storage shed
a picnic table
six Adirondack chairs,
and a pavilion
(which some kind of ant is slowly,
mandibularly trying to reclaim)
and we all think of it as
John and Lyn's camp.
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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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Sunday, February 10
2–4:30 p.m.
FLAMINGO HOTEL
Marketing 101 -- How to Better Market YOU!
Shawn Langwell
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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Video for Authors - Free Webinar
Judy Baker and Judy Reyes, the team at Book Marketing Mentor, is offering a
free webinar at noon on Monday, January 14, 2019.
We will share tips and demonstrate how authors can use video to engage and grow their audience.
For more information, click on the flyer at left. To register, go to
bookmarketingmentor.com
where you will see a link and more information right on the home page.
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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
a
5
01(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 2:00 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 © 2019 Redwood Writers. All rights reserved.
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