Scroll down for the new November 2020 President’s Message.

The November 2020 Ink Spots Newsletter is now available on the Newsletter Page

New!!! 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 are now up to SIP Note 29!!!

Send questions and comments about the FAW Website to Scott Davidson  

New!!!! See all our upcoming events on the FAW Calendar. 

The November General Meeting, November 28, 2:00 pm, features poet Lucille Lang Day.

See details below.

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The Literary Open Mic is Canceled until further notice

                             due to COVID-19 Concerns

News! 

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Jan Small is our winner Jack London Award 2019

Congratulations to Jan Small, who won Fremont Area Writers nomination for the CWC’s highest honor for local group accomplishment: The Jack London Award.

Jan has been searching out sites for FAW book-signings and organizing everything from setup, take down, author recruitment  and publicity.  She’s even designed the promotional posters.

The Award recognizes outstanding service to a CWC branch and will be presented at the regional meeting later this year.  

Thank you, Jan, from all of us!

The purpose of the Jack London Award is to honor a branch member whose service to the California Writers Club (CWC) and/or a branch has been exemplary. Each branch may select one award recipient biannually in odd-numbered years. The award is presented at the July annual CWC meeting of statewide representatives.

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Remember to bring your used books to the Book Exchange Table at FAW Meetings.

 Books you bring are free to members.  Take any you like, but at the end of the meeting, if yours have not been selected, please take them home and bring them back next month.

If you especially recommend a book, put a marker in it with a brief note to let folks know why it’s special! 

Members  can save a fortune by recycling books instead of buying news ones!

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Send your Book Cover jpgs to webmaster@’this website URL’ for our Members’ Book Display, then check out other members books and if you can give them a 5 star rating, go online to Amazon, Goodreads or other websites and post your review for them.  This is one of the most important ways that we can help each other out! 

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Shutterbug Alert!  We have an on-going need for active, in-focus Photos of FAW speakers and events for Press releases and Ink Spots & this website.   Faces should be as large a portion of the photo as possible with expressions of active interest in the project that’s depicted.  If you get a  good shot, send it to webmaster

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Elevator-Speech-Polishing Event frequently

Frequently, visitors and new members get an opportunity to practice their 30-second “elevator speech”, introducing themselves and their projects. 

An elevator speech isn’t social chit chat or  a biography.  It’s a quick teaser to use at professional events, like conferences, where agents and publishers are looking for product to sell.  Each of them is looking for specific types of product that they have a market for.  If they don’t need what you have to sell, you need to move on and keep moving until you find your possible connections. 

Once you’ve each introduced yourself with your name and role (Author, Agent, Publisher) you have 30 seconds to let them know what you have to offer: Your book’s genre, target audience, plus a couple of interesting details  and what support you’re seeking.

IF that’s what they’re looking for, you exchange more information.  If not, you exchange quick pleasantries and move on until you find a more suitable match.

You may need to present to many, many people before you meet one who’s after exactly your project.  with the right needs.  While it’s important to be congenial, it’s not time for normal socializing .

After thirty seconds, if you haven’t already moved on, your contact will either be interested or be scanning the room for their next prospect.

THIRTY SECONDS!  You can polish and refine this vital skill and get feedback afterward, at  break.  Going over that time at a conference  risks losing your new contact’s interest or creating a situation where they feel like they can’t get away from you. 

Going over that time at an FAW meeting will only get you buzzed, because, though we love you,  we have other agenda items and only if everyone sticks to thirty second introductions, afterwards we’ll only have 30 minutes of meeting time left! 

So start planning your next elevator speech now.  Time it out, and we’ll see you at the next meeting!

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Anyone have a productive Agent that would be a good speaker for an FAW meeting?  We need someone who’s current and can give productive tips to our members about how to choose the right agent, then how to work with them.  Please email Knuti

Kudos! 

                                                   
Kudos…

In this area we record writers’ awards and successes. Keep your eye on this page as awards are received all the time.

(Please send shout-outs and Kudos to the webmaster.)

Shout-outs from FAW Members to Other Members

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we are all very proud of our members for participating in the current opportunity to have their short story included in the CWC annual anthology, The Literary Review.

From over 2000 members that could enter, only 28 were selected for inclusion, and our FAW branch had 5 that made the “shortlist”, and 2 that were included!

2019

WAY TO GO, Anita Tosh and Art Carey (included), and Chris Dew, Evelyn De La Torre, and Nancy Guarnera!

you made us PROUD.

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Respected recipients-  

I’d like to post a shout-out for Nancy Guarnera’s inspirational work in infusing energy and innovation into the FAW organization, in particular, her transitional affiliation with Half-Price Books, where she has founded second-Saturday Local Writers Reading meetings, as well as her work on renovating the FAW logo, webpage and public persona. 

Tony Pino 

KUDOS to FAW Members 2019

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Tish Davidson has been selected to judge the historical nonfiction and regional nonfiction categories for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. This is an international competition sponsored by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group. Books written in English from small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors are eligible. Winners are recognized with cash awards and review by a literary agent at a ceremony in Washington, DC during the American Library Association Conference in June.

Penelope Anne Cole has had three pieces published in the Tri-Valley Writers Anthology: Voices of the Valley.  Her published pieces are a poem, “Captive of Love,” a memoir, “Escape from Honolulu,” and a short story, “Roamer’s World.” She is most proud to have been so honored.

Jan Small was nominated by FAW board for the Jack London Award on January 26.

Shirley Ferrante won 3^rd place for her piece “Togetherness” in the Half Price Books Flash Fiction Contest held on the 22^nd of September.  (Check out Shirley’s contest winner in the FAW Writers’ Corner of the October2018 issue of FAW’s newsletter Ink Spots.)

Nancy Guarnera won 1^st and 2^nd place in the Half Price Books Flash Fiction Contest held on the 22^nd of September.  Her “Home Coming” took 1^st place and “Three Times” took 2^nd place.   (Check out Nancy’s contest winners in the FAW Writers’ Corner of the October2018 issue of FAW’s newsletter Ink Spots.)

Art Carey’s modern, tongue-in-cheek version of Jonathan Swift’s classic satire, A Modest Proposal, appeared in an August issue of The Satirist, America’s Most Critical Journal (Since 1999).

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The following authors who participated in the FAW Book Signing at the Newpark Mall on Saturday, July 14^th  2018:  Art Carey sold 1 book; Penelope Cole sold 11 books; Paul K. Davis sold 1 book; Chris Dews sold 3 books; Jo Ann Frisch sold 5 books; Urmila Patel sold 4 books; Jan Small sold 2 books and 1 art print; Dave M. Strom sold 1 book; Anita Tosh  sold 1 book; and Helen Vanderberg sold 3 books.  A total of 32 books and 1 art print were sold for total sales of $402.  Sales per author ranged from $2 to $95. 

**note: prior to his passing, Chris Dews had  published a new book – Antler Jinny and the Raven, and had revised and republished his previous book, The Druid and the Bracelet.  His books are available at Coastside Books and Ink Spell Books in Half Moon Bay. You can also find them online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Evelyn LaTorre, an FAW founding member, will have her memoir titled, No Guardrails, From Montana to Machu Picchu, A Peace Corps Romance, published in 2020 by She Writes Press. 

Clevermag.org has notified Evelyn LaTorre that her piece about her recent trip to Ireland, “Is Ireland Really Heaven,” will be published in the Fall 2018 issue of their e-zine.

Dave M. Strom recently updated his book, Super Holly Hansson in Super Bad Hair Day to roughly 120 printed pages of stories, audio scripts, and Super Holly artwork.  At Worldcon, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) recently held at the San Jose Convention Center, Dave shared a table with authors from the South Bay Writers branch of CWC.  He sold nine paperback copies and one Kindle eBook.

A long-awaited anthology about the life of a dollar bill has been published by South Bay Writers. FAW’s Dave Strom was an editor and has a story in it.

Tish Davidson’s non-fiction piece “Miss Tish and the Okree Ladies” has been published in the 2018 California Writers Club Literary Review.

Evelyn LaTorre’s non-fiction piece “The Potato Caper” has been published in the 2018 California Writers Club Literary Review.

Judy Taylor’s poem “A Trail of Pap Crackers on the Beach has been published in the 2018 California Writers Club Literary Review.