Greetings!

Our next board meeting is on Tuesday, September 14, 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.

RENEWAL. Membership renewal in Redwood Writers (CWC) continues through September 30, 2021.  The fee to renew for the year is $45.  

EXPRESS PASS. At the time you renew you can also purchase an Express pass for all club meetings (July 2021-June 2022). Purchasing an Express pass is a one-time fee of $45 which pays for all 12 meetings (get three free!) and the meeting recordings. Express members do not pay the $5 door fee each month to attend a meeting.

NEW MEMBERS. Applications for new membership also begins July 1. The fee for a new member joining the club is $65.

DONATIONS. When you renew your membership, consider an additional donation to the club. Hosting a monthly meeting with professional speakers, publishing two anthologies (prose and poetry), offering three cash prize contests, going to the fair and offering three workshops or a conference each year isn’t cheap. Your renewal provides the branch with $25 income per member to cover these expenses. Your donations help the club plan for new opportunities, speakers, and events. If you love the club, consider a small donation and join the donors list published in the newsletter.

Please submit poems to: poetrynewseditor@redwoodwriters.org. 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.

Submitted by John Heide:

How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me? How do I begin to move when the avalanche of circumstance has buried me, but cruelly left my head exposed?

Members who would like to attend should send an RSVP email to Linda Reid at rwcircle@redwoodwriters.org. Upon confirmation, you will receive more information.

In his latest collection of short stories, First Person Singular, the wildly popular Haruki Murakami demonstrates why writing really, really good short stories is really, really hard. Mostly continuing his familiar theme of men relating to women, the eight stories in the collection range from excellent and aspirational to obtuse and baffling to directionless and boring. The best of the lot, “On a Stone Pillow” and “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey,” fully evidence why Murakami has been translated into more than fifty languages, has been published in the most prestigious publications and has been the recipient of numerous awards.  

Because Nine Perfect Strangers, written by Liane Moriarty, is coming to Hulu as a TV series, I decided to read the book I downloaded months ago to my Kindle, and then forgot about. Told in third person, this book jumps from the POV of every character in the book. You'd think that would be confusing or chaotic, but it was a brilliant way to tell a 10-day story from many different sides. The story takes place at a health retreat, run by a corporate businesswoman turned spiritual guru. Each guest is there for different reasons, which are explained on superficial reasons in the beginning, but then evolve as the story reveals more and more about the things that have wounded them.

And then there are the smoothies they have to drink. What's in those smoothies, anyway?

Nine Perfect Strangers can only be described as a comedic suspense thriller that's hard to put down. I highly recommend.

If you have news to share about your writing, an award, an appearance, or other writing-related news, send a 100-word or less announcement to editor@redwoodwriters.org. Photos encouraged. Deadline for consideration in next month’s newsletter is the 15th of this month.

5 local poets bring you an Evening of Poetry: Sandra Anfang, Kirsten Avilla, Ernie Carpenter, Hilary Moore, Larry Robinson. Music by John Christian. Donations @ the door. Net proceeds to benefit CA. Poets in the Schools. Attendees must be vaccinated; check website for mask requirements: www.sebarts.org

Schedule your Author Spotlight at  schedule.bookmarketingmentor.com/spotlight

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.

Marie Judson keeps an ongoing list of RW members interested in joining or creating a writing group. If you would like to find a critique group, or add more members to an existing group, send your genre(s) and contact information to mariejudson@gmail.com. You'll receive an email with the subject line, "Writers seeking writing groups." You can then either reply to all or select specific writers to contact. This has been an ongoing free service for Redwood Writers members for nine years.

A huge welcome to our new members, Steve Trenam and Joe Adams! Here's a little more about both. If you see either of them at the general meeting, either on Zoom or at the Finley Center, be sure to say hello.

Steve Trenam is an SRJC Instructor who teaches a poetry writing class in their Older Adults Program. He is also a member of Poetic License Sonoma and collaborates with the Sebastopol Center for the Arts in conducting poetry readings on the fourth Tuesday of each month. His book, An Affront to Gravity, was recently published by Blue Light Press. More information about his work is available at www.sebarts.org/literary-arts and poeticlicensesonoma.com. 

I love how Shawn compared writing to tending a garden. I'd like to go a step further with this and encourage you to enjoy the messy process before the final draft. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it can feel grueling to weed out unnecessary words or fertilize the passages that need a bit more oomph. But this is also where the magic is. Don't be discouraged if your writing isn't perfect when you get it down on the page. It's not supposed to be. The first draft is when you tell yourself the story. But editing is when the story starts to breathe new life.

Also, I'm sick of tomatoes. Just kidding! But if you have any great recipes for tomatoes, send them my way!

This month we're in for a treat! I'm very excited to hear Jeff Somers speak at the September meeting about writing short stories. He will be streamed in from his location, but if you'd like to attend in person, we'd love to see you at the Finley Center. This month, we will also have our Author Support Group and RW Circle. And don't forget to renew your membership if you haven't, as registration ends this month.

All this and more is in this month's newsletter. Scroll up for more information.

Happy reading, and happy writing!

Want to be a part of the newsletter? Here's the cheat sheet to the different sections of this newsletter and the word count requirements:

Please do your best to adhere to word count limits! Send your articles and news by the 15th of the month to the newsletter editor at editor@redwoodwriters.org. Send your poems by the 10th of the month to the poetry editor at poetrynewseditor@redwoodwriters.org. Submission guidelines may apply, read section for requirements.

If you're interested in advertising in the Redwood Writer newsletter, contact the editor at editor@redwoodwriters.org for submission requirements and guidelines.