Board of Directors
Roger Lubeck
,
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
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, FEBRUARY 10
2:00-4:30 pm
Marketing 101 - How to Better Market You!
Shawn Langwell
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, March 10
2–4:30 p.m.
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PLEASE JOIN US!
Membership and Volunteering
This is a not-so-subtle reminder that participation in Redwood Writers is one of the best things you can do for your writing career or pleasure. Monthly meetings present some of the area's most outstanding speakers and a chance to mix and mingle with like-minded wordsmiths.
The other reminder is that everyone on the Club's Board of Directors is a volunteer and we hope that you might become one too. From coordinating events to "personing" a table at the Sonoma County Fair to finding speakers for our meetings, there are lots of small and big jobs that make this organization work. We need you!
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BOARD NOTES AND NEWS
A Writer's Valentine's Day
by Robbi Sommers Bryant, Vice President
Did you know that Valentine’s Day was not manufactured by greeting card companies and does have a legitimate place in history? That’s right. Centuries ago, Valentine’s Day came about when St. Valentine from the Christian calendar and Eros, the mischievous god of love, became tangled up in the name and observance of one day each year. February 14.
Before the days that valentines could be purchased in stores, lovers had to construct their own special cards. And if you weren’t a poet, yet wanted to compete, you had to have access to a chapbook called “a Valentine Writer.” These pamphlets were prepared for those unable to write their own poetic words of love and desire. All one had to do was scan through a booklet to find something that suited their purpose.
Some publications included verses for the gentlemen to send as well as replies for the ladies to send in return. These little books were published annually by enterprising booksellers with titles as alluring as the poems inside.
Ladies were provided a valentine writer especially designed for women. Pleasant sonnets on love, courtship, marriage, and beauty filled the pages. There was also an array of witty valentines to choose from. Chapbooks for ladies also had written responses to send to the men.
Tradesmen had chapbooks that applied to their trade or profession—from bricklayers to fishmongers—verses professed undying love. Play on words and puns were often included.
Imagine if you lived before the 1800s when valentine cards first made their appearance. Think about a valentine or an answer you would write.
Valentine
Would you be my love this day?
With your heart I will not play.
Flatter me with one sweet wink,
And then, my love, our hearts will link.
Reply
Although the gesture is so sweet,
I’m sorry, sir, we cannot meet.
A beau I have who loves me fine
Is sure to be my Valentine.
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 February 10, 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 February 10, 2019
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Author Support (Deborah Taylor-French)
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
- Salon: Sher Gamard
- Academy: Judy Baker
- Prose Anthology 2019 reminder: Tommie Whitener
- Other chair announcements
2:50 p.m. Member announcements
3:00 p.m. Break ~ Snacks, Networking & Book Sales
3:15 p.m. Presenter: Shawn Langwell,
Marketing 101 - How to Better Market You!
4:15 p.m. Final announcements:
Meeting March 10, 2019 Presenter: Nora Profit
Emotion Crafting: What It Is, and Why It Should
Be The Focus for Every Writer
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WINNERS of the Short Play Contest
(Pictured left to right)
Samantha Alban, Laura McHale Holland, Jean Wong, guest Hilary Moore of Off the Page Readers Theater, Natasha Yim
(Not pictured)
Paul McCormick, Harry Reid
Six Winning Plays will be presented by Off the Page Readers Theater on the following dates:
March 22 and 23
– Copperfield's in Santa Rosa – 7:30 (tickets sales 7:00)
March 24
- Abacus in Sebastopol – 3:00 (tickets sales 2:30) Tickets - $15 general; $10 students
No reserved tickets. Arrive early to buy tickets. Limited seating.
Thanks to Hilary Moore and Jeff Savage from Off the Page Readers Theater, and Contest Chairs Linda L. Reid and
Malena Eljumaily.
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IMPORTANT DATES
See more details below
Saturday, February 2
Redwood Writers Academy
PR for Authors
with Deborah Walton
9:30-12:00
Flamingo Hotel
Sunday, February 10
Redwood Writers Board Meeting 12:30-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
Redwood Writers Author Support 1:00-2:00
Flamingo Hotel
MONTHLY MEETING
Marketing 101: How to Better Market You!
with Shawn Langwell
2:00-4:30
Flamingo Hotel
Wednesday, February 13
Dine with Local Authors
6:00-8:30 at Gaia's Garden, Santa Rosa
Sunday, February 17
Redwood Writers Salon
1:00-4:00 in Sebastopol
Sunday, March 10
Next Monthly Meeting
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Sunday, February 10
2 - 4:30 p.m.
Flamingo Hotel, Empire Room
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Marketing 101:
How to Better Market You!
with Shawn Langwell
5 keys to building your personal brand and confidence from the inside out.
Do you struggle with marketing? Would you rather everyone just buy your books? Marketing requires effort and getting out of your comfort zone. Join Redwood Writers on February 10, 2019, for an entertaining and practical afternoon when Shawn Langwell offers tips on "How to Better Market YOU!"
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PR For Authors:
It’s Not Just Free Advertising
with Deborah Walton
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019
9:30 a.m. – noon
Cost: $30 for members; $35 for non-members
(discount for all three workshops)
Who cares about your new book?
They do, they do!
But who are they and where do you find them? Those are the secrets we will uncover in this hands-on, practical workshop on public relations.
Topics will include:
- Crafting a PR plan
- Discovering what your readers want to know
- Finding your target audience
- Managing your public presence
- Putting the plan into action
Two other Writers Academy workshops in the series:
Crowdfunding: April 20, 2019
Sin and Syntax: June 15, 2019
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FEBRUARY SALON
Theme:
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night!
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17
1:00 - 4:00 IN SEBASTOPOL
Beat the winter doldrums!
Bring your stories and poems to share.
Readings are five minutes.
RSVP:
Registration, readings, directions, and our convivial potluck lunch --
Sher Gamard
gmard@redshift.com.
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Join us for an evening at Gaia's Garden featuring five new authors who will read from their books and answer questions.
Wednesday, February 13
6-8:30 PM
Gaia's Garden
1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa
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MARILYN SKINNER LANIER
Profiled by Betty Les
Since moving to Sonoma County and joining Redwood Writers, Marilyn has thrown herself into creative writing. So much so that she recounts, “I can’t imagine my life without it.”
Her debut novel
Hardpan
was published in 2015 and Marilyn is hard at work on a sequel,
Jo
. Both chronicle a family’s struggles to hold on to their ranching heritage in the midst of the traumatic shift to urbanism that followed World War II, and are based on her own family’s plight. A middle school children’s book
Clark Valley Chronicles: Timmy the Ranch Hand
is also in the works and further explores this theme. A personal essay, “Second Chance,” a tribute to her mother’s quiet determination in the face of adversity, will be published in the
Round Table Literary Journal
in April.
She also has published in Redwood Writers anthologies, relishing new genres. Her short stories appeared in
Untold Stories
and
Redemption
, and a small collection of haiku poems entitled “Nordic Impressions” will be published in the
2019 Redwood Writers
Poetry Anthology
.
Marilyn actively markets her work through readings and book tours, often arranging them herself. In the summer of 2016 she completed a book tour of independent book stores in Wyoming to promote
Hardpan
. The following year, she read at Book Passage in the Ferry Building in San Francisco as well as other venues. In March 2018, she read from her work at a Tent Talk at the Tucson Festival of Books on the University of Arizona campus. All of this while serving as Vice President of Redwood Writers and co-chairing the 2018 Pen to Published Conference. Wow!
Marilyn’s love of writing isn’t the only thing that motivates her. She has a deep affinity for the lifestyle and people of the rural West. You might say they are in her blood. Both her parents are products of Oregon pioneer families. She lived on her paternal grandparents’ cattle ranch in Jordan Valley, near the Idaho border, in the early 1950s. Her family later relocated to a larger ranch in northwest Wyoming, a move fraught with hardship and disappointment.
Marilyn reflects, “I wanted to figure out what happened to our family—why we lost the ranch that we all loved so much and ended up on a godforsaken place in Wyoming called Badger Basin.” This desire to capture the drama associated with the lives of the familial and the culture of the rural West have been driving forces in Marilyn’s writing.
Although the last five years have seen a burst of writing, Marilyn has always had the itch to write. She began her first book, a memoir, in the early 1980s while raising her first son and working full time. Unfortunately, this manuscript was lost during a move in the 1990s but it didn’t get her down. She began writing again in 2004-2005 when she took five online classes through the UCLA Extension program. Positive feedback and encouragement stimulated her to start a new book, which became
Hardpan
.
Later, after a career move to San Francisco to work as a senior administrator at SF State University, she had the good fortune to connect with the Chair of the Creative Writing Department who very generously met with Marilyn off-hours to critique draft chapters. Marilyn states, “I’ll always be grateful to her for reaching out to me during that critical period.”
Asked why she joined Redwood Writers, Marilyn explains, “I was attracted to its ties to the California Writers Club and its stature in the literary community. I especially love the diversity of genres represented by the members and the outstanding program offerings.” A firm believer in giving back, she has served the club in many capacities.
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On the Block
by Les Bernstein
in a dim-light meander
a writer's concern for precision,
compression, lyrical sound
and one simple elemental truth
goes down a very bad path
through the double lens
of imagination and memory
a flawed and flimsy
lower case moment
will be mugged
twisted turns of interpretation
coerce a deeper register of inquiry
concluding with a neat ending
and … oh, could it be ... indelibility
pending yet another bon mot
from an empty poet
the dim light of the computer cursor
blinks on and on
ready to surrender all its belongings
to a merciful delete
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Found Poetry
from Skye Blaine
“Found Poetry” is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, or whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus creating new meaning.
There are many “sources” for found poetry: newspaper articles, speeches, signs, short stories, recipes, novels,
long poems—anywhere there is language.
Here is a poem “found” from words and phrases in Annie Dillard’s essay “Death of a Moth.” Even the title comes from the essay.
Reading a Novel About Rimbaud
I think I know moths,
The flames that move light
The color of skin.
Gold cat,
Barred owl,
A spider: moth-essence.
Is this what we live for?
Is this the only final beauty?
Suggestion: Select a short piece of prose from any source and, by rearranging the words, lines, and spaces, create a found poem. You can alter placement and word order, leave out words in sentences, but must not add any words of your own. Enjoy!
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Submission guidelines: double-spaced, Times or Times New Roman, 12 point font, 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, March 10
2–4:30 p.m.
FLAMINGO HOTEL
Emotion Crafting: What It Is,
and Why It Should Be The Focus for Every Writer
with Nora Profit
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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2019 SAN FRANCISCO WRITERS CONFERENCE
at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Main Conference: Thursday, February 14 through Sunday, February 18
Celebration of Craft, Commerce and Community for Writers
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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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