Greetings!

Our next board meeting is on Tuesday, October 13, 6-7:30 p.m. via Zoom. Board meetings are held 6-7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month unless otherwise noted, and are open to any member in good standing. If you would like to attend a board meeting, contact: president@redwoodwriters.org to receive an invitation.

*WHAT IS ZOOM? It's the most popular online platform for virtual presentations, meetings, get-togethers, etc. Just go to Zoom.com and download the app on your phone, iPad, or computer (camera required to participate). If you can't join us live, you will be able to download the presentation for viewing/sharing at your leisure (and don't we have plenty of that!).

Our club meetings are held on Zoom. Each month, you will receive an email inviting you to attend the meeting. To register, click on the big registration button and complete your information. We have invited our sister clubs to join us for these events. When you complete the checkout process, you will receive a confirmation email with the details of how to join the Zoom event.

Please note, if you are an Express Member, you will receive a special code to use during registration. Enter the code exactly as it appears in your invitation and be sure to hit “Apply” to complete your registration.

If you are using a Gmail account, your invitations and confirmation may go into your promotions folder.

We are doing our best to send out a reminder email to all registrants 1-2 days before the meetings with the link you need to join the event. Be sure we have your email. If you make a change, notify membership@redwoodwriters.org. A follow-up email with the replay will go out to registrants within 48 hours of the live event.

Thank you,

Judy Baker

Vice President, Speaker Team

We are so happy with our 2020 poetry anthology, AND YET. We will be posting a poem from the anthology each month. Copies of the anthology are available on Amazon.

You find it difficult

to rely on humans,

but there is no wild herd

to escape to.

A harsh hand releases

your flood of fear,

a soft touch

soothes you horse.

Gentleness

usually doesn’t work,

with hyenas,

piranhas,

or wasps,

but lightness

will bring

a happy response,

from the equine

every time.

Earning your trust

is my goal,

seeing you at peace

is my reward.

Bonding with

your wildness,

fulfills

my most fervent

fantasy.

Please note: Poetry submissions for the newsletter are temporarily on hold while we feature poems from the 2020 poetry anthology, And Yet. If you have any questions, please contact our poetry editor at poetrynewseditor@redwoodwriters.org.

Submissions are now open for Beyond Distance, the 2021 poetry anthology. Members are invited to submit up to five poems in one document by 9 p.m., November 15 for consideration. We are not prescribing subjects for your poetry. Our hope is that this cover painting by artist Christine MacDonald and the title of anthology will help inspire poetry about moving from silence to word. All subjects will be acceptable. We will appreciate a diversity of responses. Click the button below for more information on guidelines and how to submit.

Co-Editors of Beyond Distance, 2021 Poetry Anthology

Fran Claggett-Holland - After a career of high school and university teaching, Fran traveled widely as an educational consultant, writing books for teachers and students along the way. After moving to Sonoma County, she taught memoir and poetry for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University. She recently published her fourth book of poems. Fran currently hosts two poetry groups in her home and has edited or co-edited four poetry anthologies for Redwood Writers.

Les Bernstein’s poetry had been published in journals, presses and anthologies in the U.S. and internationally. Her chapbooks Borderland, Naked Little Creatures  and Amid the Din are published by Finishing Line Press. She won the 2014 Nazim Hikmet award and is a 2015 Pushcart Prize nominee. Les has served as editor for three prior RW anthologies. Les lives in Mill Valley with her very large family.

Please note: This event will be on the 2nd Sunday of November. Look for invites to this event in mid-October. Seating is limited and we expect a large interest in this event, so be sure to RSVP early to save your spot.

Did you publish a book between April 2019 - Sept. 2020? If so, you're invited to present your new book at this year's Author Launch. Because of the pandemic, we will be holding this event online, but the exciting news is that it will be held on TWO dates instead of just one.

Mark your calendars for DEC. 19, 1 p.m. and FEB. 20, 1 p.m., both at the Saturday general meeting.

To participate, you must be a current Redwood Writers member, and your book must have been published between July 2019 and January 2021. Please sign up for only one of the dates, either December or February. This year, we are seeking authors who have never presented at an Author Launch. There will be a waiting list for past presenters.

Here's what you can expect at Author Launch:

To reserve your spot for this event, visit the link below and fill out the reservation form and contract. If you have any questions, contact Jeane Slone, Author Launch chair, at info@jeaneslone.com.

We're thrilled to throw the spotlight on a few of our members and their accomplishments! Over the next few months, we're highlighting those members who are featured in the 2020 Lit Review, coming out by the end of this month. Take a moment and celebrate these members who are featured in our October Spotlight.

Robin Gabbert is a lawyer who, for years, yearned to escape the world of legal writing and return to her roots as a Creative Writing Major, particularly to writing poetry. Her poems have been published in Redwood Writers’ 2020 Poetry Anthology, And Yet… and  accepted by the California Writers Club for publication in their 2020 Literary Review. Her first book, Diary of a Mad Poet, will be published this fall. 

Bo Kearns is a journalist and writer of fiction. Several of his short stories have won awards and been published. His novel Ashes in a Coconut received the 2020 Finalist Eric Hoffer Book Award and the 2020 Finalist Next Generation Award- First Novel and Suspense categories. Bo is a UC Naturalist, beekeeper, active hiker and supporter of conservation causes. He lives in Sonoma with his wife and rescue dog, Jake. 

Cristina Goulart writes in several genres including contemporary fiction and poetry. Three of her short stories have been performed on-stage and three have placed in Redwood Writer’s contests. Her work has appeared in Redwood Writers anthologies and in community papers including the Windsor Times. Her short story “At the Cliff’s Edge” will appear in the forthcoming CWC literary review. Cristina lives in Santa Rosa where she is (still) working on her first novel. 

Mark Meierding has lived in Sonoma County for forty years. He enjoys writing both poetry and fiction and is a member of Redwood Writers and the Marin Poetry Center. He has completed one novel for middle graders: The Seven Diamonds of Sawalon. His most unusual work to date is a sing-along oratorio for people who don't read music, based on Bret Harte's short story The Luck of Roaring Camp.

Because of social distancing, most events are now held virtually. This presents a unique opportunity to attend events, workshops, and meetings held by other CWC branches that would have been difficult to attend in person. To keep up to date with upcoming events, be sure to check the CWC NorCal calendar at the button below.

Fran Claggett-Holland is being published in the magazine section of the Sunday NY Times on October 4th. This is such an honor and so richly deserved. The poem that will appear is On Taking the Measure of Your Work.  This is especially noteworthy as Fran turns 93 in October, a model for all of us to never stop creating.

My flash memoir "Hope Against Hope" appears in the Sunset Sunrise anthology. "Politeness Will Not Protect You" was a recent essay contest finalist, published at Hypertext Review. “Fallen,” a New Millennium Writing Awards finalist, is published online at The Rumpus: Voices on Addiction. “Case Management” will soon appear in Sonora Review’s special online issue on gender-based violence. “The Nature of Beginnings” is forthcoming at Under the Gum Tree.

Read more at www.nicolerzimmerman.com.

See details at napavalleywriters.net. 

The statewide California Writers Club has an excellent publication that is produced three times a year: It's the CWC newsletter called The Bulletin.

Actually, this high quality document is, surprisingly, produced by just one person: Editor in-Chief Rusty LaGrange. Readers who inquire are sometimes amazed that she has no “staff” and does this all by herself.

The CWC is appealing to our statewide membership for a volunteer to help in the production of this Bulletin. Here is what that person would do:

Total time is estimated to be four to eight hours per edition, which is three times per year. Anyone willing and able to help us in this position should contact Bob Isbill at risbill@aol.com with CWC Job Volunteer in the subject line or, if you have any questions, you can phone him at (760) 221-6367.

If you have news to share about your writing, an award, an appearance, or other writing-related news, send a 50-word or less announcement to editor@redwoodwriters.org. Deadline for consideration in next month’s newsletter is the 15th of this month.

Redwood Writers extends a warm welcome to our newest members! Since we can't meet in person, we're sharing a little about each new member here in our newsletter. Be sure to say hello at our next general meeting!

Brittany Sweeting is a California and New York based artist and writer, soon to be author of her first book. She has a professional history in the wine and culinary industries on both coasts and has shifted to writing professionally. Her genre of writing is both poetry and fiction thriller.

Corlene Van Sluizer is a family woman, a grandmother, an artist, a poet, a journal keeper, a world traveler, a lover of the global family.  Corlene self published her poetry book “Resurgence.” Each poem is illustrated with her art.  She has been published in a variety of journals: The latest publication is in “The Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices.” She is presently working on her memoir.  

A freelance writer for twenty-five years, Liz Abess engages in multiple writing genres. Reporting for the River Valley Times led to writing copy for businesses. Liz then founded Reminisce Life Stories in 2012 to write other people’s stories, which led to writing community stories for Sacramento Magazine. She’s currently pursuing her MFA for creative writing nonfiction at Sierra Nevada University and writing her memoir about losing her older brother to addiction and overdose.

He collected a Master’s degree from SSU where his thesis, American Ethos in 19^th Century Alaska, a study of cross-currents in American and Tlingit cultures, can be found at Princeton and other major university libraries.

When asked in an interview, how he kept his fingers on the keys, Harry said, “We’re all blessed with creative skills. Writing is my strongest skill. As to passion, it is about a delight with human innocence. At the age of eighty-eight, one is reminded of human mortality; a sense of deadline sits upon the horizon. Our natures are teased by immortality. Maybe, in a century or two, a hominid will come across something I’ve written and show it to other hominids as an example of its curious 21^st century mental activity.”

I'm honored to have been the editor of this year's anthology, Sunset Sunrise: A Collection of Endings & Beginnings, which has been an absolute labor of love. Throughout the year, I worked with some truly magnificent writers and editors.

After many, many, many months of working on this anthology, it feels good to hold the finished product in my hands. I feel so grateful and fortunate I was invited to be a part of something this wonderful. I think you'll agree, the 2020 Redwood Writers anthology is a wonderful representation of the writing talent within our club.

Click the link below to purchase your copy through Amazon.

Crissi Langwell

Anthology Editor

P.S. If you have purchased Sunset Sunrise, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. As writers, we all know the power of reviews, and this is no exception! Thank you!

We are so fortunate in Redwood Writers to have so many interesting and inspiring presenters at our virtual meetings, as well as the other virtual events we have throughout the month that allow us to convene with other writers.

But why stop there?

This pandemic may have changed the way we can socialize and meet with others, but it's also presented a fabulous opportunity to attend events we normally wouldn't be able to attend because of the distance. Now it's easy to attend a meeting in Napa, Berkeley, Mt. Diablo, and more, all from the comfort of your own home. I've been taking advantage of this unique time to attend a few of Napa's meetings, and I plan to check out a few other branch meetings and events, as well.

Above, I shared about the CWC NorCal events calendar, which provides easy access to all of the CWC events happening around our region. Here are just some examples of upcoming events from other clubs:

Find the CWC NorCal calendar at cwcnorcalwriters.org/events.

And, of course, don't miss everything Redwood Writers has to offer, which is all in this month's newsletter! In case you missed it, here are some of the events and information we shared:

P.S. If you have something you'd like to share with the membership, send me a short note about it and I'll include it in the newsletter. Deadline is the 15th of this month.

Also, when you're not writing, join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Happy writing!

Crissi Langwell

Redwood Writer Editor