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April 2012

Mary Jessamyn West [19021984] In her short stories and novels, Jessamyn West wrote about rural life and human nature, especially with realistic female characters in their transition into womanhood. She is best known for a series of short stories The Friendly Persuasion [1945]. These stories set in Indiana, using details from her family heritage, include the moral atmosphere of values learned during her childhood in a Quaker community in southern California.

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking. ~Jessamyn West

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April 2012 contents
Presidents message Featured Speaker PR News Poetry Page Guest Column Member Profile Marketing Workshop SF Writers Conference April Literary Birthdays Social Media Workshop March Survey Results Volunteer Corner Member News & Tidbits The Last Word 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13

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Presidents Message

View from the Mountain Top

Linda Brown

Write every day is the first writing tip I learned from a veteran California Writers Club member when I joined four years ago. I write thoughts, quotes, narratives, and dialogue that I want to remember for practice or inspiration. Last month I wrote quotes for this column from an interview with Gloria Steinem, who spoke during Womens History Month. Steinem, a writer, creator (with others) of Ms. Magazine, lecturer, and feminist leader greatly influenced my life. I noted how writers influenced her. She said that her earliest role model was the writer Louisa May Alcott and how living writer Alice Walker transforms people with her writing. I wondered: what writers have inspired our members in the past and today? Who among our 1,500 members throughout the state inspire others? With April being National Poetry Month and April 8-14 National Library Week, I thought about how Ina Coolbrith, Californias first poet laureate, Oaklands first librarian, and an early founder of the CWC, mentored Jack London. She did not do it alone. Johnny Heinold, then owner of Heinolds First and Last Chance Saloon, gave a young Jack London a big, fat dictionary and a place to study it. The picture of young Jack, then about 10 years old and poring over that book, is just inside the door and often in my mind.

Write Anges upcoming Write Anges events

April is Poetry Month!

April Script Frenzy 4/84/13 Natl. Library Week 4/15 Speaker: Janell Moon Poetry Alive with Change! 4/23 World Book Night 5/20 5th Grade Story Contest Award Ceremony 6/30 Annual CWC dues deadline 7/21 CWC Annual Picnic Our monthly meetings are free and open to the public and feature a speaker, an author event, or both.

As you read this issue of Write Angles in April, please join your board in recognizing our member-poets and the librarians and others who support our writing. The Club will send a thank you letter to the Oakland Library, thanking the librarians for the space for our group at the Rockridge branch and for the help they give our writers. We also thank Barbara Ruffner for her work as editor of the Write Angles poetry page, and we welcome her successor, Alysa Chadow. I hope you will take a few moments this month to read poetry, encourage published and aspiring poets, tell them about Ina Coolbrith and the CWC, thank all the librarians you know for the work they do, and remember these words from Gloria Steinem:

Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before.
Oakland Main Library Bradley C. Walters Community Room 125 14th Street 94612 Entrance on Madison Street (wheelchair accessible)

Remember to check out our website: www.cwc-berkeley.com

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April Speaker

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WORDS THAT SURPRISE US

David Baker

Paying more attention to my natural surroundings, I noticed how many things seek light. The experience helped me realize Id been repressing unhealthy emotions that needed to be let out. Doesnt grab you? Try this: Almost everything I know lifts itself up to light. That was the beginning of noticing my difference and my doubt. I saw the vines race to the sun, families stay where they were planted winding themselves like beans around a stake. I watched kittens climb to rooftops for winters sun but my fascination was in the dark where sacks filled with greed and rage were stored. My suffering began to ease when I opened the rain cellar door and let the living thing crawl out. The prose poem above, What Rages by Janell Moon, demonstrates how poetic imagery can benefit all forms of writing. Moon, our featured speaker for the April 15 meeting, invites us to create art as if from a dream and trust the symbols to tell a story of their own. What about logic, analysis, definitions? All have their place. But texture, Moon writes, is another way to view the world. Through the layering, varying surfaces, and nuances of images unfolding, I find a fascination with what is revealed and what is concealed. As we learn to share Moons fascination, we should follow guidelines she uses when editing poetry for publication, all of which apply to prose: 1. Use fresh language. No jargon or common phrases. 2. Dont teach, preach or explain. Paint a word picture. 3. Take out repetition, and dont use two words when one will do. 4. Provide a clear narrative the reader can follow. Heeding her own advice, Moon creates word combinations that provoke surprise and bring out feelings. We all need to do this. Come to the April meeting and find out how.

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PR News

WHAT IS DOING P/R DOING?

You may well ask. In fact, the definition of public relations has changed with technological advances. Fifty years ago, it generally meant publicity and press agents. More recently, it extends to engagement and relationship building. In 2011/12, the Public Relations Society of America led an international effort to replace a definition adopted in 1982 by the PRSA National Assembly with: Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. Interestingly, the PRSA mentions marketing and fundraising and also implementing the organizations efforts to influence or change public policy. Exercise caution in this respect. The CWC cannot, for instance, tell members how to vote. For the CWC and its branches, public relations new or old boils down to not just informing the community about what you do but making clear why it should matter to them. Do you offer a scholarship? Run a contest? Hold events they can attend? If you do, get the word out. Avail yourselves of current technology as well as tried-and-true handouts and posters. Above all, never miss the opportunity to network. Speaking of networking, consider saving Saturday afternoon, July 21, for some face-to-face socializing at our annual potluck picnic that, in the words of CWC president Bob Garfinkle, continues the glorious tradition that Jack London and his literary pals began over 100 years ago with informal outdoor literary salonsa blanket and a basket of chow on the lands that are now Oakland's 500-acre Joaquin Miller Park. We gather at the Fire Circle. Details follow. Good luck and sail on! Donna McCrohan Rosenthal, PR chair pr@calwriters.org

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Poet Profile

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YEHUDAH AMICHAI
Alysa Chadow

Considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) was as beloved internationally as he was in his native country. Amichai, born Ludwig Pfueffer in Wurzburg, Germany, immigrated to Mandate Palestine (present-day Israel) in 1936. He served in Palmach, the strike force of Hagunah, Mandate Palestines Jewish Defense Force. He became a school teacher after Israeli independence, and later studied Bible and Hebrew Literature at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

THE REAL HERO The real hero of The Binding of Isaac was the ram, Who didnt know about the collusion between the others. He was volunteered to die instead of Isaac. I want to sing a moment now, about him About his curly wool, and his human eyes, About the horns that were so silent on his living head, And how they were made into shofars when he was slaughtered To sound their battle cries Or to blare out their obscene joy. I want to remember the last frame Like a picture in an elegant fashion magazine: The young man tanned and pampered in his fancy suit And beside him the angel, dressed for a formal reception In a long silk gown, Both of them looking with empty eyes At two empty places And behind them, like a colored backdrop, the ram Caught in the thicket before the slaughter, The thicket his last friend. The Angel went home. Isaac went home. Abraham and God had gone long before. But the real hero of the binding of Isaac Is the ram.

Amichai was the first Israeli poet to write in colloquial Hebrew. He published his first book of poems in 1955, after being influenced by the work of contemporary British poets such as Ted Hughes and Dylan Thomas. He won numerous prizes for his work and was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. Like Seamus Heany (see March Write Angles), he was a visiting professor of poetry at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1970s.

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Some of Amichais meaning was lost in the course of translating his work from Hebrew to English. Nonetheless, his poetry has been translated into 40 languages. He once said, I want to confuse the Biblethat is, infuse the sacredness of the Hebrew Scriptures with secular language. In The Real Hero he blends some modern and even improbable imagery with Isaacs binding by Abraham.

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Guest Column
Susan Bearman

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Embracing the (Whole) Writing Process, Part II

QueriesNothing to Fear
Writing a pitch or query letter seems to be the most hated job writers face, but Ive never understood all the angst. Youre a writer. This is just another form of writing, a chance to sell your work (first) and yourself (second) to people who want a good read. If you dont believe your work is great, no one else will either. If you dont know what its about or who the target audience is, neither will an agent or a publisher. But if you have written a great story (youll know), if you have polished it until it shines (if not, go back), if you have done your research and know your target audience, then writing a query letter will be a snap. Keep it short, drop the adjectives, and stick to the plot. A query letter should make an agent want to read more of your writing. Keep in mind that queries are almost always written in the present tense and third person, even if the story is not. Use your best writing to: Introduce your main characters. In one or two sentences, make an agent want to meet them. Outline your plot. Dont leave an agent guessing; summarize the beginning, middle and end. Show why you are the only person who can tell this story. Include only relevant writing credits. Say thank you and sign off. Write to a real person and spell his or her name correctly. Follow submission guidelines to the letter (many are available online). BIG WARNING: If you pitch to more than one agent, be sure to change the name on your salutation. This is a major faux pas when copying and pasting a query, and a great way to get an agent to hit the delete key. If you have done your job, the query should practically write itself. necessary. Pretend you have a top agent in the lift with you and that you have only the time it takes to get to the eleventh floor to grab her attention. The pitch should be a truncated, inverted version of your query that answers: What is the genre? Who is your reader? Who is your main character? What is the conflict? Why do we care? Practice this pitch. Out loud. You never know when you might need it. If youre overwhelmed by the idea of creating an elevator pitch for your own manuscript, try writing one for your favorite book first. Remember, all you need is two or three lines, but each word has to count before those doors open on the eleventh floor.

Give Yourself Time

Dont rush the process. Between each stage, let your manuscript percolate for a bit. This doesnt mean you should stop writing. Never stop writing. It just means that its pretty hard to shift gears on the same project. Many writers find it useful to work on different stages of several projects.

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For example, say youve just finished that SFD of your new novel. Put it away and go back to a piece youve already drafted and begin revising. Then write a query for a piece youve already polished. Or take out that short story you loved that was rejected last year and resubmit it. Then start outlining something new. The key is to have lots of work in the pipeline. There are more steps to the process, of course: submission, rejection, revision, acceptance, publication, marketing it never ends. Embrace each step with enthusiasm, and you will become the writer you want to be.
This piece was written by freelance writer/editor Susan Bearman. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and her blog, Two Kinds of People. It was originally published online on Write It Sideways: Writing advice from a fresh perspective.

The Elevator PitchShort and Sweet

Every book needs a knockout elevator pitcha brief, marketing-oriented synopsis of your story. You can write it at any stage of the process and revise as

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Member Profile

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Writer or Philosopher?
Jake Keenan

And the answer could be neither. I have been writing for over 20 years but have yet to publish anything. Philosophy gets closer to describing my fast and furious search for meaning since the sixties, but I have no credits there either. I am one of those people who have done a million things but apparently not what I aspire to do. I am a polyglot from working and studying and traveling for many years since the Peace Corps in Chad; Ive even been employed in French, Spanish, and German (interpreter, teacher, translator). And then there have been the usual writerly job assortment of carpenter, farmer, lobster fisherman, pot sailboat smuggler, secretary, consultant, and now a real job of construction scheduler. There was also the study track that lead to many programs after the bachelors degreespecial student in physics at the big Boston schools in the seventies, abstract math in Berlin in the early eighties, psychology at CIIS in San Francisco in the mid eightiesbut never, after the BA, in a degree program.

always too dense; it was more a product of my working out ideas than of presenting them to others. This was fixed by, in the year 2000, buying a small RV, christening it the Epistemology Express and touring US and Canadian universities for three years to provoke and trade ideas. The website at www.epistemologyexpress.com is still my little pulpit. Living in the RV parks improved my writing, but contact with so many inspiring people deepened my ideas faster than I could present them clearly. Since then I have wavered between wanting to write in book form to a wider audience or condense my arguments to write for an academic journal. Each year and each outline has gotten me tantalizingly closer to that piece of gold. As with any philosopher, the subject is the nature of reality in all its proverbial triteness. In my case it is the angle that evolution plays on reality, on how environments have evolved, going through successive changes to the wildly complex and mindentangled environment of humans. The excitement comes from the place of biology as the young science that has yet to come to terms with the conditions of the birth of sciencenamely, that infamous split of mind and matter. As a writer, I hope to bring the precision of the threads of my quest closer to the joy that I experience in speaking and learning other languages. Its content-pushing versus the delight of words probably as for all of us.

Along the driving quest for meaning, there was the mental-over-the-edge track that lead to four ecstatic surrender cage-rattling visions, which got me in trouble with authorities and into a few mental institutions. And then I began writing in the late eighties. The writing through the nineties, in retrospect, was

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Mt. Diablo Hosts Marketing Workshop

Author Maria Murnane will present a marketing workshop, Sell Your Book! Tons of Tips from a PR/Marketing Pro at the next meeting of the Mt. Diablo Branch of the California Writers Club (CWC) on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at Zio Fraedos Restaurant, 611 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill. She will discuss how to prepare a marketing campaign, tap new and existing networks to build a fan base, spread the word to a larger audience, and how to avoid costly mistakes. Murnane is the author of a self-published novel, Perfect on Paper, which was picked up by Amazon Publishing due to her creative marketing strategies. Amazon published her second novel, Its a Waverly Life. Check-in is from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., breakfast from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m., and workshop from 9:30 to 12:30. The cost is $35 for CWC members, $40 for guests. Reservations are required, and must be received no later than noon on Wednesday, April 11. Contact Jean Georgakopoulos at jeaniegpops@comcast.net or phone 925-934-5677. Expect confirmation only if you e-mail your reservation. The CWC Mt. Diablo Branch web address is: http://cwcmtdiablowriters.wordpress.com/

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Mixed Feelings about the SF Writers Conference
Jing Li

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When I told Write Angles copyeditor Anne Fox I planned to attend the San Francisco Writers Conference, she asked, Why are you going to the Conference? I guess to get ideas and be inspired, I said. This would be my first writers conference. I had made the hard choice between my beloved 3rd Saturday support/critique writers group and the Conference because the $595 Id paid for the Conference, and the closed Bay Bridge for the Presidents Day weekend made it a might-as-well sacrifice. The Conference was held on Nob Hill at the magnificent Mark Hopkins Hotel, with its red entry carpet and crisply uniformed doorman. In the three-story-high Peacock Court, we were served exquisite artsy-looking hot-plate luncheons on tables set with white linen. A thick floral Persian carpet lay underfoot, and hanging from ceiling to floor were drapes of dark red velvet lined with bright yellow silk. I laughed heartily along with hundreds of other enthusiastic attendees during the humorous keynote speeches of the New York best-seller authors, Lisa See and Lolly Winston. The hotel boiled with excitement because President Obama was staying across the street at the Fairmont Hotel. But I must say, for me the tedious bus ride home after the Conference hours was less exciting because of streets blocked off by blaring sirens to make way for Presidents limo.

During the breaks, it relieved me to find that others echoed my feeling. I was not the only one with selfdoubt. One woman threw up her hands, rolled her eyes in confused desperation, and exclaimed, "I thought I was writing fiction. Now I think I have to change it into nonfiction. Or do I? Oh, dear God!" Then she shook her head. We all smiled in sympathy and nodded. My greatest highlight of the Conference was to social-network with accomplished professional women. Everyone had an amazing story to tell. We all gave each other encouraging words of support. Remember, its the content of your writing that counts, one presenter reminded the eager pitchers and wantto-be authors. I immediately thought of my 3rd Saturday 5-page critique group. Cant wait to get back. The Conference was officially over on Sunday by 1 p.m. but continued with several remaining workshops on Monday, February 20, 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 to 5 p.m., for an extra $129 per session. I took the afternoon memoir-writing class from author Katherine Friend, who presented a good one-hour teasing session during the Conference. I had come to the Conference to be inspired, and I did learn things sporadically here and there from all kinds of workshops. Mainly, however, by meeting other writers from all over the United States, I gained self-confidence from the encouraging feedback about my writing in a second language and my life story as an unwanted child in China. I gained more from the understanding viewpoint of colleagues and less from the technical angles about writing. Such social networking was really my major gain through the Conference. Therefore, I am conflicted about going next year. I enjoyed and benefited greatly through the social networking, and some through the workshops. One woman attendee said it best: If your car doesnt start, you dont go shopping for a fancy paint job, you go basics. Thats exactly how I feel: If I dont even have my writing together, Im bound to feel inadequate again at such a Conference. But then again, Ill miss the great social networking, too. Ah, tis lifenever a perfect answer.

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The prelude Conference on Thursday evening was a maddening rush, with people frantically getting lost going up and down the stairs, in and out of the elevators. I discovered with disappointment that one of the authors did not at all bear the amazing good looks of her book-cover portraits and was about 25 years older than she looked in the photos. The 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. all-day workshops and sessions on both Friday and Saturday were overwhelming, with a tremendous amount of information on book marketing, writing, cyber space takeover, dos and donts. Sunday mornings three-minute speed-date with the agents (for extra $50) was an ego-bruising, humbling, high-pressure insanity for the majority of us who dont have a whole book completed. At times I felt like an eighth-of-an-inch tall.

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April Literary Birthdays

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Heres a chance to learn more about some of the great writers born in April. Just click on a name to link to a site about that author. Have fun! Information collected from http://librarybooklists.org/literarybirths/bmar.htm Apr 2 Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen Apr 3 American writer Washington Irving, author of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Apr 4 Missouri-born (Arkansas-raised) novelist poet, dramatist, and performer Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Johnson Apr 5 Virginia-born essayist, biographer, and educator, Booker T. Washington, born into slavery, author of bestselling Up from Slavery Apr 7 English romantic poet William Wordsworth Apr 8 Annapolis-born novelist Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible Apr 9 Charles-Pierre Baudelaire French poet, essayist, and art critic Apr 10 Massachusetts native, travel writer, and novelist Paul Theroux Apr 12 Children's book writer Beverly Cleary American adventure and espionage novelist Tom Clancy Chicago native, writer of legal thrillers Scott Turow Apr 13 American writer Eudora Welty, winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize Irish poet and 1995 Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney Apr 15 American novelist Henry James, whose novels include Daisy Miller and The Portrait of a Lady Apr 17 Wisconsin-born playwright and novelist Thornton Niven Wilder, who wrote the play Our Town Apr 21 English novelist Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre Apr 22 English novelist and playwright Henry Fielding, author of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling Apr 23 William Shakespeare Apr 24 Pulitzer Prizewinning poet, novelist, and first U.S. poet laureate, Robert Penn Warren Apr 27 Madeline creator Ludwig Bemelmans Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright August Wilson Apr 28 Alabama-born [Nelle] Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird

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Happy Poetry Month!

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BB Workshop

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Facing the Book of Twitter

Kymberlie Ingalls

Social media is the bane of every writers existence these days, it seems. Which is ironic if we were to realize that it is the perfect platform to express ourselves beyond our books; but it aint for sissies. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google AdWords. And the blogs! Dont forget the blogs! The possibilities are endless, but so is the information on how to get thereso where to start? A workshop with Beth and Ezra Berany is a great place to start. Ezra is a best-selling Kindle author (The Torah Codes), while Beth specializes in creative coaching and is an author as well (The Writers Adventure Guide: 12 Stages To Writing Your Book). This past March, the California Writers Club had the good fortune to work with this dynamic, bright couple as they guided our writers through the murky waters of social media.

make ourselves as accessible as possible to our audience. Statistics were explained, our time was well balanced between instruction and interaction something to learn in the use of our own social media tactics.

Beth Berany

Linda Brown, CWC Berkeley Branch President, had this to say about her experience: Beth has the passion for her subjectcreativityit shows in her published work and writing consulting business. From Ezra, I learned that best-seller lists are based in part on the number of book sales per day. Outreach to fans and friends (especially through social media), encouraging them to buy a book on a specific day, is an important marketing plan element for our published and soon-to-be-published members. Roger Ingalls, contributor to the blog LeftCoast Voices.com, says that he found the workshop helpful in the area of defining his future brand. Its important to know who you are, who youre speaking to. It made me think sharply about how to narrow that down and how to present myself in a nutshell that others will succinctly understand. The number of published authors is growing every day if we consider print, e-work, and Internet blogs. To be noticed is to be more educated in rising to the top. Consult with Beth and Ezra Barany they are flexible with their rates as well as their friendship. Their passion for the written word is contagious, and even if you dont enlist their services, the connection is a valuable one.

In todays literary wind tunnel, it is nearly impossible to publish without selling yourself on the Internet. Publishers now demand that authors pick up the main portion of their own self-marketing, and it can be a daunting task. The simplest way is via Facebook and Twitter, but thats a lot of pressure to be on all the time. Then there are blogs, which allow for more coherent thoughts, but still, one has to lure readers to the blogs, so that brings us back to Facebook and Twitter, and that brings us back to Its an endless merry-go-round, and there is no set formula to catch the brass ring. Beth and Ezra provide what we as writers desperately need: hope. By directing us through written exercises, questions, and sharing their experiences and insights, the authors give a well-rounded offering of services to get your book precisely where it needs to be, based upon your individual needs. We were shown how to work searchable key words into our titles and bodies of work, tighten up our goals, and fine-tune our focus, all in the effort to

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Sites: www.BethBarany.com, www.TheTorahCodes.com , and www.WritersFunZone.com. Find Beth and Ezra on Twitter, Facebook, and Meetup.com.

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary. ~Jessamyn West

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March Survey Results

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Its grown over the years and helps me expand my thinking when Im trying to describe something in a new way. With my Kindle, I can highlight phrases and transfer them to a Word document, which I then break down into categories to add to my writing references. Much easier than underlining and turning down pages and then typing them into a document. So the next survey asks this big question: What are some of the ways you have learnedand are still learningthe craft of writing? It would be helpful if you responded with how you learned when you first started to write and all the ways you have added to that knowledge. For example, from classes on writing; from critique groups or writers workshops; from the progress of your own writing; from reading other peoples writingeither good or bad and with examples, if possible; or from books or periodicals on writing, also with examples, such as Strunk and Whites Elements of Style. Besides my writing references files, I have a small library of books about writing, including How Fiction Works by James Wood, The Art of Fiction by David Lodge, Home Ground: Language of an American Landscape edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwortney, and several thesauri. Another resource that has helped me organize my writing in the historical fiction genre is the computer program Scrivener. This program is helpful when your writing incorporates reams of research on everything from historical timelines, locations, and multiple characters to clothing and hairstyles, language, including slang, cultural references, and the everyday life of people living in the period. It also provides a variety of writing templates as well as all the tools that Word has, such as spelling and grammar checks, thesaurus, and formatting choices. I hope my examples will get you to thinking about how you might answer this survey. Your answers may provide helpful information to other CWC members, including me! The Last Survey Due to dwindling responses, the survey published in the June Write Angles will be the last of its kind in this series. So it seems fitting that this final one will encompass writing resources as a whole, since it will be your last chance (in the newsletter) to share with other members what works for you. Please send your responses no later than Friday, May 4 to akutger@berkeley.edu.

Do You Read Writers Journals?

April Kutger

The answers to Marchs survey were interesting. The survey asked if CWC members read periodicals for writers and which, if any, they would recommend to new writers. The majority of responders do not read writing magazines. One writer used to subscribe to Writers Digest, but didnt really learn much about the writers craft from it and did not trust the advertisements for agents, workshops, and contests. Although she doesnt generally read periodicals for writers, another responder does read Romance Writers of America magazine and would recommend it to authors who write in the romance genre. She reports that she does learn about the craft of writing from Romance Writers but learns more from online classes. She says the magazine helps her understand the world of publishing and what publishers and agents are looking for, but she also learns about trends from Publishers Marketplace http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/, which is free, and from Yahoo writers groups. One member reads The Writer magazine and reports that it has helped her understand the world of publishing and publishing trends. She enjoys the articles and interviews with successful authors and says it has helped her improve her writing. But her advice for learning the craft is to write, write, write. Barbara Gilvar doesnt read periodicals for writers, but rereads writers she likes, as a learning experience. This leads me to announcing our next survey, which will skip a month. (There wont be a survey in May because I will be on vacation for the second half of April.) Similar to Barbara, among other resources, I learn about the craft of writing from reading. And I keep a file of what I call writing references. In it I record phrases from books Ive read descriptions of appearance, mood, weather, nature, time of day, etc.

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Volunteer Corner
Madelen Lontiong

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There are volunteers, and then there are VOLUNTEERS. Yes, volunteers in capital letters. Volunteers in capital letters are those people who sign up for the big, overarching jobs, the jobs with a title like President, CEO, CFO or some other lofty title, and who have the capacity to handle what the job entails. Every organization needs a leader. There is simply no way to efficiently run any group or club without an incharge person. In the Berkeley Branch of the California Writers Club, that person is Linda Brown. A leadership position brings substantial work and responsibility as well as substantial opportunity. The opportunity comes in the form of a blank slate, to develop and pursue an agenda the leader envisions.

Linda has a special interest in the history of the club. Her interest was the driving force behind her research that led to the Oakland connection with Joaquin Miller Park. Linda brought to light the story of how the CWC worked with the WPA to build Woodminster Amphitheatre and the Cascades and plant the redwood trees now known as Memorial Grove. Over the years, the link to CWC was forgotten. Through Lindas research and publicity efforts, she worked with various groups to ensure our club is mentioned on permanent plaques now mounted in Oaklands most enchanting and most visited park. Linda remains active as secretary on the board of directors for Friends of Joaquin Miller Park. I cant think of an area of club business that Linda does not dip or has not dipped in a toe. It comes with the territory. To name a few: Linda oversees committee activities to ensure quality functioning. She reminds all of us of upcoming events, meetings and activities. She keeps us informed of events at the state and Northern California level, i.e., Nor-Cal and CB (Central Board). She chairs board of directors meetings, where we discuss issues affecting the club that require a decision of officers. During Lindas tenure, decisions have been made regarding budgets, technology, membership, critique groups, publicity, contests, website, to name some. Volunteer organizations work best when all the volunteers, officers and others, understand and respect the jobs of each other. They work best when decisions of the officers are respected, even if not always agreed with. Our branch is fortunate to have officers and committee chairs who abide by Lindas and/or the boards decisions. This makes for effective volunteer governing, without the rancor that sometimes can afflict a club. It would not be possible to list all the things that Linda has done and does. In addition, during her term, Linda had to cope with health issues along with her duties. This is a small attempt to express gratitude for Lindas involvement. We take our hats off to you, Linda Brown, for your time as president of CWC-BB. Some acknowledgments from fellow CWCBB Members:
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Linda in earlier days Lindas specialty is outreach. She has many contacts in the local community, and our branch benefits in a number of ways from those contacts.

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Ms. Brown not only fanned the spark started by AL, she has made the CWCBB a force of some renown. On a personal level, Linda has gone way above and beyond to help this fledgling VP of Marketing. Her patience and guidance have been immeasurable in helping me figure out which way is up in this VP business. I owe her B a great debt of gratitude. Francine Howard Your energy level leaves me in a covetous state! Barry Boland Linda was the person who GOT IT two years ago when I said I came to the club because of Joaquin Miller, inspired to be a "California Writer" by the plaque on the Woodminster Amphitheater. She's so smart, so skilled, so lovely, such fabulous energy. She built a bridge from the club back to the park. She has stretched her comfort zonesometimes to the breaking pointto build a digital behind-thescenes foundation for this complex club, shepherding it into the information age. (I think I only had to explain Google Docs about thirty-one times.) Thank you for your sparkling leadership, Linda... now GO WRITE THAT BOOK! Kristen Caven

I do think Linda is one of the hardest-working volunteers I've ever seen of any organization. She gives a lot of herself to a cause she believes in and in support of those who rely on her. She has shown tremendous patience with me and has tried to work with not only my strengths but my shortcomings as well. Kymberlie Ingalls We can always count on Linda to do her part and then some. Her mind easily generates ideas for the betterment of CWC-BB. JoAnn Ainsworth In February, due to a change in library policy, suddenly the club was without a podium and microphone for the Sunday speaker meeting. What to do? Linda contacted me to see if I had anything available for temporary use. An arrangement was made to use my peeve amp, mic stand and microphone, thus saving the club an unnecessary expense. Linda jumped in and took care of the problem. David Simmons As former PR director and as president, Linda carries a lot of responsibilities and always has a lot weighing on her shoulders in the more metaphorical sense. But when I think of Linda, I picture her literally pulling her little cart of files, papers, flyers, posters, scissors, markers, tape, and who-knowswhat, ready for anything. I half expect to see her pull out a rabbit one day! Tanya Grove

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Eva Merrick, Shereen Rahman, and Karren Elsbernd were three of the volunteers who were recognized for their outstanding contributions at the February meeting.

Write Angles
Member News
Risa Nye asks Whats writing got to do with it? in her February 29 craft piece, Reading between the lines in Someone Like You for Hippocampus Magazine. Think appoggiatura.

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Charlotte Cook will teach Structure in Novels, Memoir and Film, 6 meetings, Monday, 4/9 -5/14, 7:009:00 p.m., Piedmont Adult School, 800 Magnolia Ave., Piedmont, CA 94611 Phone: (510) 594-2655 Tatjana Greiner reports that the German translation of her short story, "A Doctor in La Paz," is now published by e-publisher Untreed Reads and available for any ereader. French and Spanish translations of the story will be published by Untreed Reads shortly. Untreed Reads is also going to publish the e-version of her German novel Spring, Baby! Release date to be soon David Baker's suspense novel, Three Against the Rising Storm, has reached the quarter finals in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest.

Deb Frisch reads from A Mango for the Teacher at her book launch party at Talavera Ceramics in Berkeley.

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Sacramento Branch Hosts Plot Workshop

Write Angles welcomes letters to the editor, book reviews, and articles of interest to writers. Submit to writeangles@gmail.com. If you are a member and want to share news, please write Member News in the subject line. Deadline is the 15th of the month.

April 7 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson workshop, Plot Intensive: Transform Your Writing Through the Universal Story Plot at the Overall Story Level, hosted by the California Writers ClubSacramento Branch. Fee range: Early Bird by March 31, $85 for CWC members / $99 for nonmembers; and after March 10, $95 for CWC members / $109 for nonmembers; includes coffee and lunch buffet. Dante Club of Sacramento, 2330 Fair Oaks Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95825. For more info, visit www.CWCSacramentoWriters.org or contact Margie Yee Webb at Margie@CatMulan.com or 916-213-0798 Therese Pipe helped to research the list of Berkeley past and present elected women and will assist in the celebratory final event commemorating Berkeley's and California's 100 years of the women's vote. The final event celebrating Berkeley's and California's 100 years of the women's vote is on April 18, from noon to 6 pm. In the atrium and auditorium of Berkeley City College, at 2050 Center Street, will be a film about suffrage, two panel discussions and a reception for Berkeley's elected women. For schedule update, consult lwvbae.org or BerkeleyHistoricalSociety.org. Free, open to the public. The new Literary Review was shipped the week of March 12 via UPS. If you have not received your copy, please email berkeley.cwc@gmail.com and put the omission on the subject line. Please, too, consider donating your copy to your local library or Friends of the [Local] Library.

Write Angles
The Last Word
Tanya Grove

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of today who may continue to be writers in the coming decades. Perhaps one day I will be able say of a famous author, I read her way back when she entered the CWC 5th Grade Story Contest! But I think my favorite moments have been listening to the young authors read their winning stories aloud at the award ceremony. Seeing the pride on their faces and hearing it in their voices is more than worth the few hours it took to read a pile of 1000-word stories. Being a reader for the contest is participating in a celebration of writing, one that might be the tilting point that encourages some young person to consider a career in writing. Who knows how many great writers we have lost because nobody supported their early efforts? The 5th Grade Story Contest promotes young writers and rewards their hard work with recognition. Last years winning stories are up on our website (www.cwc-berkeley.com). Take a look. And please join us for the award ceremony at our May meeting where fifth graders, their families, and maybe some of their teachers will all celebrate what we in CWC all have in commona love of writing. Who knows? Maybe youll get to hear the Jack Londons or Ina Coolbriths of tomorrow.

I thoroughly enjoy being the editor of Write Angles, but I also love another responsibility I have in the club: being one of the readers for the 5th Grade Story Contest, which is in its 26th year and a trademark of the Berkeley Branch. The deadline to submit entries was March 15, so contest chair Deb Frisch and her stable of reading judges are already making their way through the entries, looking for the best stories to recognize. First place wins $100, second place takes home $75, third is awarded $50, and several fourth place prizes of $20 apiece will be given at the judges discretion. This will be my third year to read stories written by fifth graders from around the Bay Area. Ive read fantasies, mysteries, adventures, comic pieces, and fables. Some certainly could have used a little development; some would have benefited greatly from some basic copyediting; some just needed a solid endingbut reading all of these stories has been a lot of fun. And I have been duly impressed by several entries, particularly our prize winners. So what do I get out of this? I get to see into the imaginations of bright, creative, 10- and 11-year olds. I have a rare opportunity to read young writers

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Write Angles
Editor Copyeditor/Member News/Tidbits Cover Author Contributor Presidents Message Speaker Profile Poetry Page Editor Member Profiles Survey Analyst/Reporter

Tanya Grove___ Anne Fox ______ Karren Elsbernd Linda Brown____ David Baker____ Alysa Chadow___ Thomas Burchfield April Kutger______

Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. ~Jessamyn West

Page Poetry Alive with14 Write Angles

Change!
with

JANELL MOON
CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB
BERKELEY BRANCH
Emeryvilles poet laureate Janell Moon will show by example the varying forms in which poetry is now written, including poems from her lyrical-narrative collection, Riding Free in a Blue Studebaker (Main Street Rag), and her poetryprose memoir, Salt and Paper (RAW ArT PRESS). Also, considered will be the fascinating work in the forthcoming book of Pat Hughes, Until the Eye Opens. Examples may also include prose poems, poetry shorts, and poetry rant or slam. Topics of discussion: How to Choose a Form for Your Work How to Let Poetry Affect Your Work How the Use of Poetic Elements Benefits All Writers

April 15, 2012

2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Bradley C. Walters Community Room Oakland Public Library 125 14th Street (94612)
Entrance also on Madison St., between 13th and 14th Streets. wheelchair accessible Our monthly meetings are free and open to the public. Each month we typically feature a speaker and an author event.

Sunday,

Learn more at

www. janellmoon.com

Meeting Schedule:
A graduate of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Moon is a San Francisco Bay Area poet, counselor, memoir editor, a poet of seven volumes of poetry, writer of a memoir, and author of four spiritual nonfiction books with publishers such as Charles Tuttle and Elements (UKHarperCollins). Moon taught for the College of Marin Community College and San Francisco City College for many years. She lives in Emeryville, California, where she is poet laureate for her bayside hometown. 1:00 p.m. Library doors open, Marketing Group Meets, Meeting Setup Registration Refreshments & Networking CWC Featured Author Featured Speaker

Find out more about our contests, workshops, writing groups, and more at www.cwc-berkeley.com
The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB is a 501(c) (3) educational nonprofit dedicated to educating members and the public-at-large in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work.

1:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 2:30 p.m 2:45 p.m

Come write with us!