Welcome to FAW 2025!!!
Join FAW
Want to join Fremont Area Writers? Click here or the “Join Us” link on the menu bar above.
New Event
See the Contests and Submissions page for non-FAW events. Just posted is a talk by poet Alison Luterman at Banter Books, October 21 at 7 PM.
FAW Display at Fremont Main Library now Open
Books from many FAW members are now on display at Fremont Main as part of National Writers Month.
Congratulations to Terry Tosh on the 2025 Jack London Award
Here are pictures from the award ceremony for the Jack London award for service to FAW, won by Terry Tosh for his long service as President of FAW. Congratulations, Terry!
Congrats!
Congratulations to Samuel Rodriguez, whose award winning flash fiction contest entry, “The Inspirational Ghost” can be read in the October Ink Spots.
New, New, New!!!
The Contests and Submission Page is available at https://cwc-fremontareawriters.org/contests-and-submissions/
Or click the sublink under the Writer Resources Menu Item at the top of the page.
The most recent entry is about a Scary Story/Poem contest at the Fremont Wellness Center, due October 20.
Send Scott email if you want to be informed of new entries to this page, otherwise I won’t clog up your inbox.
President’s Message – October 2025
Welcome to October. I’ll start by blowing your mind by not mentioning either Halloween or pumpkin spice anything. I will mention the Contests and Submissions page here here on our website at https://cwc-fremontareawriters.org/contests-and-submissions/ This page has new places to send your writing, both submission requests and contests. Most of them will appear in InkSpots, but you can get a start on some without for the next issue. I’ll send you new entries, but on an opt-in basis. I know your mailbox is full enough. If you are interested, drop me a note at scottfrombayside@yahoo.com, or just respond there to one of my emails.
Unless you’ve taken to hiding in a hole (and I couldn’t blame you these days) have seen an ocean of articles about AI. Jane Cleland, our August speaker, talked about it. I’ve been following AI since my first AI class in 1971. That class discussed research projects which are now things you use every day, like route generation in Google Maps. The AI we have today seems (but isn’t) a lot more intelligent. And it affects writers a lot. I’ve received AI-generated books to judge (awful) as well as AI-generated technical papers (even worse.)
If you are interested in or worried about AI, I encourage you to try it out. Go to chatgpt.com. It is free for the basic plan, and all you need to do is type what you want the AI to do for you. (This is called the prompt.) For instance, you can type “write a story about a yeti meeting the Loch Ness monster.” See what it comes up with.
What can you get out of this? Bragging rights – you can tell your friends “I used AI.” You won’t get a story worth sending anywhere but the bit bucket. But the story is useful for something. Reading bad writing helps in teaching yourself what not to do. AI generated writing is bad. I bet it will seem bad to you, so it will be educational to analyze it and see what is wrong. For instance, the story it created about the yeti and monster was shallow, unlike Loch Ness. Cute, but definitely first draft.
One excellent thing – there is no one there to feel bad when you say their writing is not the best. So, give it a shot.
Keep writing and thinking,
Scott
The October 2025 Ink Spots Newsletter is now available on the Newsletter Page.
You can submit your Shout Out to Ink Spots on the Newsletter page also, using a handy form. Have a story you’d like to submit to Ink Spots? You can submit it using the Shout Out form too! Don’t worry about formatting, Ink Spots will take care of it.
All FAW members will receive Zoom information the Tuesday or Wednesday before the next meeting. Our next meeting is Saturday, October 25 and will feature Lindsey Ellis speaking on “Point of View.” Information is below. Not a member? You can join FAW today on our Join Us page. But anyone can attend by requesting Zoom information from Scott Davidson.
Our meetings are 2 – 4 PM, PDT or PST. The current CWC Bulletin has it wrong.
Want to join FAW? You can also do it on-line, at our Join Us page. Fill out the form and then pay using PayPal or your credit card.
See books by FAW Members on the Bookshelf page. Updated 3 April with books by Cherilyn Chin and Amber DeAnn
What is the Writers Salon?
From Tony Pino
Every fourth Monday evening, the Fremont Area Writers Group holds a Writer’s Salon. Yet the word “salon” is not used in the daily vernacular of ordinary Americans like you and me—with one exception: the neighborhood beauty salon.
So, what does salon mean in our monthly context?
In response to this question, I am reminded of the film, Midnight in Paris, in which prominent artists of the Post-World-War I era—Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali et al—met at midnight to share and exchange artful ideas and commentary. The protagonist of this film, Gil Pender, is a Hollywood writer who becomes a time-traveler when he is invited into this bygone era by no other than T. S.Eliot. The imagined venue of this film—the sumptuous apartment of Gertrude Stein—can be a metaphor for our writers’ group meetings, where we meet online, share ideas, and support each other in our efforts to achieve “clarity and grace”* whether it’s story-telling, essay-, technical- or report-writing, poetry, or any other communication we might consider. We don’t purport to be Hemingways, Steins or F. Scott Fitzgeralds—we’re just friends trying to get to the next paragraph.
Please consider joining us on the fourth Monday of the month at 7:00-PM and listening or commenting on our colleagues’ work. BTW: If you haven’t already done so, see Woody Allen’s film, Midnight in Paris. It’s worth the time.
The next Salon is Monday, September 28. All FAW members will get notified.
2025 FAW Picnic
The 2025 FAW picnic was held July 12 at Newark Community Park. A good time was had by all.
Attendees gathered around. Photo by Ken Reed. Thanks, Ken.
Cake thanking Terry and Knuti for many years of service on the FAW board.
See more pictures at the Past Events page.
New!: The FAW Bookshelf is now available. See the books FAW writers have published. If you are a member and your book is not there, send a jpeg of your cover, a link to where the book can be bought and a one sentence summary to Scott Davidson.
Come to the Zoom Write-in, second Saturday of Each Month.
Our next write-in will be Saturday, October 11, 2 PM. The flyer is below. All FAW members will get Zoom information. Not a member? Get Zoom information from Scott Davidson
See all the Shelter in Place (SIP) notes here. Click on the one you want, or scroll down to see them in reverse order.
We made it up to SIP Note 55!!! Since we’re not sheltering any more, we’re done! (Hooray!)
Send questions and comments about the FAW Website to Scott Davidson
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Now Held Online
fourth Monday of the month.
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