The November 2019 Ink Spots Newsletter is now available on the Newsletter Page
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President’s messageDEC, 2019
Whew! What a whirlwind year we’ve experienced. I’m glad we have a break from Board and General meetings this Month. You have all been very good this year to help out as needed and to get your membership renewals in…some a bit sooner than others, but we really appreciate the efforts, and please invite a friend or two to check out our group this coming year, we really want to grow and help others to learn and to find their niche. A lot of work went into the 10th Anniversary year, for which we are eternally grateful, thanks to all who sacrificed your time and energies into making it a fun and active year. I can’t begin to start naming names, for fear of missing some, as there are lots of efforts that go on behind the scenes. Just suffice it to say that you are appreciated. We are ready to move forward now with more exciting events and ongoing opportunities for book-signings, readings, critique groups, panel discussions, special speakers on an array of topics, and any other suggestions that will help in our goal of Writers Helping Writers. If you have a special talent ( or several), please step up and share your experiences and lessons learned with others. We want to use our members more this year to spread and share the lessons of success and failures, whatever will make us stronger and move us forward in our endeavors. My apologies for some issues that arose in our first time program of honoring our long term members. We are tweaking the system and learning from our mistakes so that the upcoming year will be less chaotic and work out smoother in this endeavor. Please let us know as soon as possible if your certificate needs to be corrected, or if you should have received one and didn’t. We have some very iffy data that we have to work through, so the more you help us with the updates, the better. By the time you read this, we should have had our Holiday Party (thank you, Bob and Kathy!) as well as our December HPB event (how did it go, Jan?} I hope you all had a great time, and that your Christmas and/or other Holiday events are a wonderful success. I’ll see you in January. Happy New Year to all! 2020!!! Wow. Sincerely, Terry FAW’s Guest Speakers for 2020
Information supplied by Knuti VanHoven December – No meeting. Watch this space for holiday party information January 25- Lisa Rosenberg San Mateo County Poet Laureate |
News!
Thank you
Sue Curtzwiler for stepping up to chair Volunteer Coordinator!
Anita Tosh for accepting Membership Chair!
Anita Tosh for NorCal Rep!
Evelyn LaTorre for your years of service as NorCal Rep!
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Jan Small is our winner Jack London Award!
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.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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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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.
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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!
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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
KUDOS!
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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!
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 FAWG 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 FAWG logo, webpage and public persona.
Tony Pino
KUDOS to FAW Members
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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 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.
