January’s Presentation
Memoir Author & Coach Linda Joy Myers at Fremont Area Writers
How many times have you reflected back on your own life experiences and thought “Wow! I could write a book!” But how? What would you leave in? What would you be better off not mentioning? Do you want to sell your story or leave it as a legacy for your family?
Memoir writing expert and coach Linda Joy Myers Ph.D., MFT,will help you deal with these and other issues when Fremont Area Writers hosts her at its January 26th gathering.
” For the last twenty years I’ve taught the “Turning Point and Timeline Method” she explained. “It’s a powerful tool for sorting out a lifetime of memories. It helped me as I wrestled with my first (book) and I’ve have used it ever since to help others complete theirs.”
An expert in this field, Myers has far too many writing credits to list here. Her first memoir, Don’t Call Me Mother: A Daughter’s Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness,was a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year Award and the IndieExcellence Awards, and a BAIPA Gold Medal award winner. Her new memoir Song of the Plains is a finalist in the Best Book Awards and the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Author of The Power of Memoir—How to Write Your Healing Story, Journey of Memoir, andBecoming Whole.
With Brooke Warner, Myers co-authored Breaking Ground on Your Memoir, and The Magic of Memoir.
So, if 2019 is the year you’re finally going to write that book, a good starting place is the January 26th Fremont Area Writers gathering at 2PM at “42 Silicon Valley”, 6600 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont CA 94555. , room 115.
This event will be held at 2PM on Saturday January 26th. Admission is free to the public ($5 donation is requested from members) and will take place in Room 115 of 42 Silicon Valley (formerly known as DeVry University), 6600 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont CA 94555.
Book Signing at Half Price Books
Fremont Area Writers is now partnering with Half Price Books in Fremont to present “Meet Your Local FAW Authors” monthly readings by FAW published authors on the second Saturday of each month. Readings will be scheduled from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. A different author will be featured each month. Authors will have the opportunity to read and answer questions about their work, as well as sign and sell their books.
This “free” opportunity is available to FAW members who are published authors with books to sell. Time slots for the year are filling up—so act now. Keep an eye on your email for more information or contact Nancy Guarnera
President’s Message
Terry Tosh – January 2019
FAW’s Guest Speakers for 2019
Information supplied by Knuti VanHoven
January 26- Linda Joy Myers on The Art of Memoir
February 23- Kelley A Way, Atty at Law: On Copyright Laws
March 23- Lee Ann Krusemark topic TBD possibly Motivation
April 27- Tish Davidson & Andrew Pino selecting Poet for National Poetry Month
May 25- Andrew Benzie on Self Publishing &, Marketing Your E-Book
June 22- Shelley Bates on Planning and Plotting Your Own Book Series
July 27- Potluck , No Speaker
August 24-
September 28-
October 26-
November 23-
December 28- Potluck, no Speaker
Pending Offers:
Shelley King :the Joy of Writing Sex Scenes
Lisa Rosenberg, 2017-2018 Poet Laureate of San Mateo County and
Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford.
News!
Collected by Knuti VanHoven
Jan Small is Planning another Local Authors Event at NewPark Mall
Jan needs to know if you want to sell your books!
Jan has been negotiating for New Park Mall to host another Authors’ Event, with FAW Members displaying and selling their wares in the corridor outside the food court. People are passing by on a regular basis and last October we did make sales, while learning a few lessons: 1) Splitting the cost of a table so that one person would be selling in the morning and the other will sell in the afternoon makes for a much less tiring day. 2) Since pedestrians don’t expect to see authors at Malls, having signs about what kind of book you’re selling on the front of your table is a good thing!
The Mall’s charge for a table last time was $25, which can be split by two or more authors.
Interested? Contact Jan Small right away.
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!
Get Involved with FAW
Fremont Area Writers has lots of great volunteer opportunities!
If you’d like to to make a positive contribution to these projects please, contact our President.
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!
Contest Judges Needed
The League of Women Voters has asked us to sponsor (run) Jr Hi or High School writing competition. We need Judges who’ll volunteers to read and kindly rate the entries. Having judge credits on your resume, by the way, can be a good credit. Interested? Email Us.
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
Elevator-Speech-Polishing Event, at every FAW Meeting
FAW has a 45 minute membership meeting. 15 of those 45 minutes are set aside for up to thirty members 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! At Every FAW meeting 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!
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.
Joyce Cortez Steps down as FAW Secretary!
Joyce Cortez took minutes at our November meeting. They were her last before stepping down as FAW Secretary. She’ll be sorely missed. Her Board Meeting minutes have kept FAW on track for years. These meetings go by pretty fast and without her to keep us on track, recording committee accomplishments and making sure that no agenda item was brushed past until it was either referred to the General Membership Meeting, or a decision was made, actions and deadlines decided upon and volunteers chosen.
We’ve owed much of our productivity to her. Joyce will be sorely missed.
This is a vital Board position that must be filled right away.
We need someone to step into Joyce’s job. Of course we expect that you’ll need time to learn the process, but if you think this might be right for you, please contact our President, Terry Tosh.
Kudos…
In this area we record writers’ awards and successes. Keep your eye on this page as awards are received all the time.
KUDOS to FAW Members
Shirley Ferrante won 3rd place for her piece “Togetherness” in the Half Price Books Flash Fiction Contest held on the 22nd 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 1st and 2nd place in the Half Price Books Flash Fiction Contest held on the 22nd of September. Her “Home Coming” took 1st place and “Three Times” took 2nd 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).
The following authors who participated in the FAW Book Signing at the Newpark Mall on Saturday, July 14th : 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.
Chris Dews has recently published a new book – Antler Jinny and the Raven, and has revised and republished his previous book, The Druid and the Bracelet. His books will be 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.
An Open Mic for writers to read their work is held from 7-9 p.m. at Suju’s Coffee and Tea, 3620 Thornton Ave., in Fremont, on the fourth Monday of the month.
