Board of Directors
Roger Lubeck
,
President
Robbi Sommers Bryant
,
Vice President
Marilyn Lanier
,
Vice President
Shawn Langwell,
Vice President
Malena Eljumaily
,
Treasurer
Adele Layton
,
Secretary
Judy M. Baker
, Membership Chair
Skye Blaine
, Newsletter Poetry Editor
Joelle Burnette
, Website Editor
Pamela Heck
,
Historian
/
Conference Volunteers
Shawn Langwell,
Conference Chair
Marilyn Lanier
, Speaker Chair
Jeane Slone
, Author Launch
Deborah Walton
, PR Director/Newsletter Editor
Tommie Whitener
, Member at Large/ Policies and Procedures
Chairs and Editors
Les Bernstein
, Poetry Anthology Editor
Fran Claggett-Holland
, Poetry Anthology Editor
Robbi Sommers Bryant
, Hot Summer Nights
Tina Deason
, Contests
Sher Gamard
, Writers Salon
Marie Judson
, Critique Groups
Jeanne Jusaitis
, Author Support
Crissi Langwell
, 2020 Prose Anthology Editor
Linda L. Reid
, Writers Circle
Deborah Taylor-French
, Author Support
Monthly in-person meetings
will resume when we are given the all-clear by the CDC and our local health department.
At that time, we will move to the Finley Center,
2060 W. College Ave, Santa Rosa.
Board meetings take place beginning at 12:30
before the general meeting. You are welcome to join us at any time.
IN PERSON MEETINGS
CANCELLED
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An easy way to support Redwood Writers. . .
BOARD NOTES AND NEWS
Roger Lubeck, President
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Stephen King wrote,
“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference.” At Redwood Writers, we believe in you!
Redwood Writers and the California Writers Club provide numerous opportunities for a writer to develop and publish. The branches also provide a welcoming social setting for writers to meet and share their questions, ideas, and achievements.
April marked the first month in years that the club had to cancel a monthly meeting and a Writers Salon. Based on California State directives and the best medical advice, we have decided to cancel all May events--our Sonoma County Writers Conference, the monthly meeting at the Flamingo, and the Writers Circle. Our primary focus is on keeping our members healthy and safe during this difficult time.
Virtual meetings in May and June
The board is committed to creating new ways for club members to meet together and share. Therefore, we are planning to have a
virtual monthly meeting in May and June and a June Salon.
The May Zoom meeting will be on Sunday, May 17 from 1:00-2:30 PM. Chris Fox will speak on Craft and World Building (Sci-Fi and Fantasy). Club and member announcements will be at the end of the meeting. The number of attendees will be limited to 100. The special registration fee for this virtual session is $5.00 for members and the public. Express members are free; however, they will need to register online. Details on registration are on the website and will be e-mailed to all members.
And Yet, 2020 Poetry Collection
In April we released our new poetry collection for 2020,
And Yet,
edited by Les Bernstein and Fran Claggett-Holland.
The anthology is available on Amazon.
We haven’t decided on the best date for our authors to read their works. Until then, buy the book and send copies to friends. If you want to order five or more copies at a club price, these will be available when the club has physical meetings. Until then, this is one of our best collections of poetry to date. Make sure you support the club and by a copy.
(SEE THIS MONTH'S POETRY COLUMN BELOW FOR ONE OF THE COLLECTION'S FAVORITE POEMS.)
Going forward
Beyond these formal meetings, I encourage everyone to call other members and friends and talk about your day and any writing you are doing. Don’t just e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook. Get on the phone or go online and talk to friends. Call an old friend from your school days or work. Mental health is part of your physical health.
Poetry
If you like, write a poem that expresses your life, thoughts, or emotions in these unusual times and send it to our newsletter poetry editor, Skye Blane, by the 15th of the month (the guidelines are in the monthly newsletter).
Toot your own horn
Whatever you do, stay healthy, safe, and sane until we meet again, and keep writing.
VOTING FOR CLUB
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Shawn Langwell, president
Judy Baker, vice president
Marilyn Lanier, vice president
Jeane Slone, vice president
Malena Eljumaily, treasurer
Crissi Langwell, secretary
Other nominations may be made in writing to the committee with the consent of the nominee. The election will be held at the June 14 virtual meeting. To nominate or for more information, contact Jan Rowley or David Ramirez
May 17, 2020
Board Meeting via Zoom 11:00 - 12:30
(Board meetings 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.
Board Meeting Agenda
Call to Order – Roger Lubeck
- Approval of minutes from the prior meeting
Board Reports
- Treasurer’s Report: Malena Eljumaily
- Membership Report: Judy Baker
- Website: Joelle Burnette
Committee Reports
- RW and CWC Monthly meetings: Roger Lubeck
- Speakers: committee: Marilyn Lanier
- Contest: Robbi Sommer Bryant - 20 submissions
- Hot Summer Nights: Robbi Sommers Bryant
New business
- July Meeting
- Nor Cal / CWC rep
Adjourn
General meeting via Zoom 1:00 - 2:30
Speaker: Chris Fox,
Craft & World Building (Sci-Fi & Fantasy)
Board and Member announcements at the end of the meeting
- Future Meetings
- 2020-2021 slate of officers for election in June
- Helene Barnhart Award
- The Long and Winding Road Contest winners
- Other
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SUNDAY, MAY 17
1:00 PM
Sign on to ZOOM*
*WHAT IS ZOOM?
It's the most popular online platform for virtual presentations, meetings, get-togethers, etc. Just go to
Zoom.us
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!).
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NOT an in-person meeting, but...
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Join us on Sunday, May 17 at
1:00 PM on Zoom* for our
monthly meeting!
WORLD BUILDING
FOR AUTHORS
How do you create a fantastic world that readers will fall in love with?
Learn the secrets of creating rich worlds from Amazon bestselling author Chris Fox. If you build it, they will come.
Chris Fox lives just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in beautiful Marin County.He has published over 25 novels, and has a series of non-fiction books that teach writers how to duplicate his success. His
Write Faster, Write Smarter
series is hugely popular, and he has spoken all over the country about writing to market, making your writing a habit, storytelling, worldbuilding and most importantly quitting your day job to become an author. His true love, he says, is science fiction and fantasy.
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SONOMA COUNTY WRITERS CONFERENCE IS
CANCELLED
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HOT SUMMER NIGHTS CANCELLED
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The World of dew
is the world od dew,
And Yet, and yet—
Haiku” (1819) by Issa
And Yet,
edited by Les Bernstein and Fran Claggett-Holland, is the 2020 Redwood Writers Poetry Anthology. The collection includes poetry by 70 members with 5 poets of merit. The collection depicts the rich and varied aspects of life in Sonoma County. In this volume, enhanced by our cover artists Linda Loveland Reid and Rebecca Smith, you will find poems that express the heart and talent of our community. True to the process of constantly trying to improve our work, we are proud to present these poems, saying as Issa did in his haiku, “and yet.”
We hope to see the book at future meetings and to have an event where our authors can meet together and read their poetry. Until then we will feature one or more poems in our newsletter each month. Also, we encourage our poets to share their work in the upcoming salons (virtual for now).
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We are so happy with our newest poetry anthology,
AND YET
. We will be posting a poem from the anthology each month. Copies of the anthology are available on Amazon.
Just click here.
We are so excited to begin with “Dust: by Marlene Augustine-Gardini. We hope you enjoy this wonderful poem. With love, Fran Claggett-Holland and Les Bernstein
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DUST
by Marlene Augustine-Gardini
They thunder into the yard like extinct dinosaurs
Filling up the space
Huge, heavy laden blocks of
metal and rubber and dust
Always dust....
My cousins emerge from either side
jumping from the head of the beast
slamming the doors
as their feet hit the ground
And the dust
always that dust haloing around them
Black shadows
against the sun
blocking out the light
The coal trucks are back
The boys are home
They make their way into the basement
to shed their clothes like snake skin
Their clothes
Their faces all black with coal dust
Only their eyes smile out
Brown on white orbs
I wait outside that basement door
A fresh picked tomato for each
A salt shaker
And a beer
Each thing is covered with a cold, black coal colored dust
clinging like peach fuzz
The constant dust we eat
no matter how hard we try to clean
Or mop
Or rub
Or scrub
They come out
my cousins
laughing
shaking their heads
like the hunting hounds baying in their pens
They are wet and clean
They rub my head with one large hand
and reach for the cold, dusty beer bottle with the other.
I wait every day for them
I wait for their transformation
from coal dusted blackened men
to the stark tee shirt white of these two
who slide into the dark womb of the earth
as easily as my feet into my slippers
I wait with that fierce child faith
As if death was not the back drop of this mining town
Where we know
We will, one day
Be a part of
This dust we live in
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Submission guidelines:
single-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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Heather Chavez
Mystery Writing
Online via Zoom Sunday, June 14
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NEWS OF INTEREST TO OUR MEMBERS
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The High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club
announces that it will conduct a short story contest with cash prizes open to all CWC members in good standing.
The theme of the stories will be about pandemics, past, present or imagined in the future that affects characters in your story and their involvement in and reaction to those disasters. Maximum word length is 5,000. Two submissions per member will be allowed with a non-refundable fee of $15 per submission. Pre-published entries are okay as long as you fully own the right to publish it.
Deadline for submission is June 30, 2020. Winners will be notified on, or before, December 1, 2020.
For details, click here.
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Join in on the stories, words, and lives of some of the best writers around committed to supporting independent bookstores. Just a few scheduled for May include Adam Hochschild in conversation with Isabel Allende, Eric Larsen in conversation with Michael Krasny, and Kelly Corrigan.
For details, click here.
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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
When physical meetings resume, the general membership meetings will be held on the
third Saturday of each month at the Finley Center located at
2060 W College Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Meeting times to be determined.
Copyright © 2020 Redwood Writers. All rights reserved.
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