Join us for our annual MEMBERS Appreciation Day
Sunday, June 14
Cucina Verona - Ft. Bragg
Enter at Cucina Mercato - 353 No. Franklin Street
Details to follow.
April - May 2026
Please Note:
This site is under
construction and remains a work in progress.
Artwork by Janis Porter
Smatch Up!
Was a Smatching Success
You shoulda' been there!
We had a great turn-out -- 36 members
and friends -- at our May 17 Smatch Up!
This was storytelling with a twist.
Members told stories -- not unusual, right?
Because that's what writers do.
The difference here is that one writer
started the story and another writer finished it.
Neither knew the identity of the other,
and the second writer was free to
take the story wherever she or he chose.
The results were at once funny,
dramatic,and points in-between.
This is your invitation to participate in our
2027 Smatch Up!
Watch for an announcement of the date.
Thank you for making Dine Out a success!
We raised $475 for our scholarship fund.
And a hearty Thank You! to the folks at the Harbor View Bistro and Bar for their hospitality and generosity.
* Time For Something New...
* We've added two special features to our monthly meetings. Come by a
little early -- say, 1:30pm -- and see for yourself. We think you'll enjoy these.
Let's Talk About Writing
We'll sip a beverage, enjoy fine Stanford Inn snacks, get to know one
another, and talk about our writing in a small-group setting.
The Little Free Library
Members, lend a book you've written. Borrow one,
too, then return it with comments for the author.
Our Meetings Are Held the Second Sunday of Every Month
Everyone is Welcome
You DO NOT Have to Be a WMC Member to Attend
(With one exception: Our June meeting is members only)
Can't get to the meeting? Join us live on our Facebook page! Just Log into Facebook
to Like and Follow. We are also on Instagram! @writersofthemendocinocoast
Members, please check your Bio, above. If you aren’t featured, just jot down a bit about yourself in 50 (or thereabouts) words, then email your bio and (if you'd like)
a headshot to Webmaster@writersmendocino.org. If you are featured, and your information needs to be changed, please send necessary updates to writersmendocino@aol.com
Thinking of joining Writers of the Mendocino Coast?
Please see our Membership tab, top of page
LOCAL EVENTS
Writers of the Mendocino Coast
Presents
Creative Writing at the Fort Bragg Library
Second Wednesday of Every Month
Free and Open to the Public
499 East Laurel Street - Fort Bragg
2:00 - 3:30pm
Next Creative Writing Meeting
June 10 -- Non-Fiction
With Kailyn McCord
Telling True Stories
and Other Impossible Tasks
Kailyn teaches several writing classes at
Mendocino College Coast Center in Ft. Bragg.
Her stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Literary Hub, Brevity, The Believer, The Cincinnati Review, The Master’s Review, Alta Journal, Pleiades, and New York Magazine, among others. She holds a BA in English literature from Reed College and an MFA in fiction from the University of New Orleans, where she was the editor of Bayou Magazine.
Learn more at https://kailynmccord.com/.
MEMBER NEWS
You’re Invited to Join
Led by Ericka Lutz
· Open to members of Writers of the Mendocino Coast only.
· Every Thursday from 9am-11am via Zoom.
Writing can be lonely. This new event, a virtual write-in and guided workspace, is an opportunity for WMC members to add consistency and community to their writing practice.
Every Thursday from 9 to 11am, you’re invited to join Ericka and other WMC members in the Zoom room for guided (muted) writing sessions.
Follow this link for details.
Members! Do you have newly published writing? Have
you received a nomination, award or other notable exposure?
Send a short announcement and we’ll add it to our Website to
help spread the word! president@writersmendocino.org
CONGRATULATIONS
to these WMC Members
Join WMC Member, Board Member, and award winning author Ginny Rorby for the
release of her ninth book,
Time After Time
Sunday, June 7 -- 1:30 p.m. at the
Stanford Inn.
The book is set at the Point Cabrillo Light Station in 1934 and the village of Mendocino in 2012. The two main characters -- Theo, a lighthouse keeper's daughter, and more modern-day Daniel, who is neurodivergent become friends.
Rorby, who volunteered in a number
of capacities at Point Cabrillo Light Station for
two decades, says royalties from the book
sales will be donated to the
Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association.
For more information, see GinnyRorby.org
Upcoming Creative Writing Meetings
At the Fort Bragg Library
July 8 - Memoir
Writing the Hard Stuff
With Norma Watkins
August 12 - Romance
Making Them Sweat:
How to Write the Steamy Stuff
With Kailyn McCord
Famous Last Words of Equally Famous Writers
"My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go"
- Oscar Wilde
Writers of the Mendocino Coast
Anthology Submission Guidelines 2027
Theme: Boxes in the Attic
(This may be interpreted loosely.)
Prose/Poetry submission dates:
June 1 through August 30 (midnight)
Photo/Cover art deadline:
September 15 (midnight)
Who can submit: Any member of
Writers of the Mendocino Coast,
in good standing at the time of submission.
Prose/Poetry entry rules:
What to Submit:
-
Prose (fiction, nonfiction) or poetry, two pieces maximum. The two pieces, combined, may not exceed 4,000 words.
-
Send only publishing-ready pieces. Edit yourself for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and development before you submit.
Writer's block? Not feeling motivated? Muse go on vacation? If you're looking for a reason to start writing, here it is: Submit your work to the
Writers of the Mendocino Coast 2027 Anthology
The submission deadline for poetry and prose runs June 1 through midnight August 30, and you have through September 15 to submit your vision of a cover. As noted above, the theme for the
2027 edition of our anthology, chosen out of the dozensreceived, is Boxes in the Attic.
WMC's new anthology editor, Ericka Lutz, is enthused about the theme. How enthused? Once the Board of Directors made its selection, she sent the members an email. Here's part of it:
"I think [the theme is] evocative: Things stuffed away, old, dusty, but also things to be revealed. What does it mean to be in the box? What does it mean to be out of the box? To think out of the box? Or, boxes, the verb: Who is boxing in the attic? What’s in your boxes?"
As Ericka takes the helm of Boxes in the Attic, we wish her well in what promises to be a busy several months. At the same time, we offer our sincere thanks to Elizabeth Vrenios, whose untiring devotion to editing our anthology for the past three years has resulted in three of our most popular publications. We're pleased that Elizabeth will stay with us as a member of our Board of Directors for the upcoming year.
Questions? Comments? Like to Subscribe
to our free monthly newsletter? Email info@writersmendocino.org or write
WMC, P.O. Box 762 - Fort Bragg, CA 95437
We will never share or sell your personal information.
"In a different time and place, Daniel
finds a safe haven and a friend, but when her life is in danger, he ricochets through
time trying to save her."
Time After Time is the exciting ninth novel from author Ginny Rorby. Learn more at GinnyRorby.org, and buy the
book at Gallery Bookshop.
On May 28, Gallery Bookshop's Author's Showcase will feature readings from three fine authors, one of whom is WMC member Marianne Villanueva.
What Kirkus Reviews says about Dot Brovarney's Mendocino Refuge: "[She] deftly mixes regional history, ecology, and character studies of people who shaped and were shaped by the land, writing in lucid … prose dotted with flights of vivid lyricism." The book is available at Gallery Bookshop
Residents of the Deep is the latest book by Marianne Villanueva.
Maria Ashford of Book-Shelfie.com says this book is "A gripping yet at times unsettling collection of short fiction that moves fluidly between myth and history ... a work that feels like a chorus of fractured, forgotten voices."
Residents of the Deep is available for purchase at Gallery Bookshop.
Fran Schwartz' new novel, Mina,
is the riveting story of a young woman just
beginning to learn the shocking truth
about her family and herself.
Mina is available for purchase at Gallery Bookshop, and online at Amazon.
Elizabeth Vrenios' poem
AT THE OPEN WOUND
OF THE WORLD
has been published in the
Vallejo's Poets Laureate Anthology
A New Season: Poems for a World in Flux
You can find more of Elizabeth's work at
Those "relics of the past" have never gone away. Typewriters continue to be big sellers around the world, as you'll see in this PBS video from 2024.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-typewriters-are-having-a-renaissance-in-the-digital-age
Comments About Writing...
From Writers, For Writers
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out.
But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
― Stephen King
California Writers Club’s
Vision & Verse: A Fusion of
Art, Photography, Prose and
Poetry is available on Amazon.
Seaworthy
All members receive one complimentary copy of our 2026 anthology; additional books are $12.00. If you need them mailed, contact Elizabeth Vrenios at evrenios1@gmail.com.
Writers of the Mendocino Coast
Policy Regarding Use of Artificial Intelligence
The WMC Board of Directors has established an official policy regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in members' writing. It is as follows:
Writers of the Mendocino Coast does not and will never accept work that was written, created, or developed, in whole or in part, using generative AI. This includes prose, poetry, and all mediums of art and photography. The policy extends across all our activities including our annual anthology, Ekphrasis, Smatchup, and public readings and workshops.
AI may have its place, but that place is not within the creative fields. At Writers of the Mendocino Coast, we value human creativity and expression, abhor plagiarism, and are keenly aware of--and deeply concerned about--the writers, artists, editors, and other creators whose copyrights and livelihoods are increasingly compromised by the use of artificial, non-human, intelligence.
By submitting your creative work and/or participating in our club activities, you pledge that no AI was, or will be, used.
Listen now to our members read their one-minute plays!
i am from the ocean by windflower Townley
I Could Not Stop for Covid by Holly Tannen
Something New & Murder She Wrote by Philip Zwerling
Do You Have Your Copy of
WRITING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR MEMBERS?
Do you have a topic on the craft of writing to teach at an upcoming meeting? Contact info@writersmendocino.org
THE
KELLEY HOUSE
NEEDS YOU!
There are so many stories yet to tell, and they welcome your voice. Articles of 400 to 700 words can be paired with photos or illustrations from the Kelley House database of 10,000 images.
Contact Kelley House curator, Averee McNear, at 937-5791 or at curator@kelleyhousemuseum.org.
Ongoing Events
The Ukiah Branch Library offers a
Walking Any-Book Book Club for Adults 21 and Older
Contact carrm@mendocinocounty.org or 463-4490
Poetry at the Cobalt Art Gallery
Second Sunday of the Month
430 Main St Fort Bragg 5:00-7:00pm
Open mic follows.
Fort Bragg Library
First Thursdays Open Mic 6:00 - 8:00pm
Dan Hess: hessd@co.mendocino.ca.us
Rhythm Running River (Poetry) on KZYX&Z
First and third Sundays 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Dan Roberts: outfarpress@saber.net
Cartwheels on the Sky
Poets, Poems & Discovery
Saturdays 7:00 -7:30pm KGUA FM Gualala
The CWC website includes a calendar of monthly meetings for all state branches. Any of our members can attend the meetings of any other branch for free or for the same fee as their membership pays. To view their meeting topics (many are still on Zoom), click on
https://calwriters.org/events/.
Writers of the Mendocino Coast
is Proud to be a Branch of the
California Writers Club
The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB is a 501(c) (6) educational nonprofit dedicated to educating members and the public-at-large in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work.
California Writers Club: https://calwriters.org/
California Writers Club calendar for other branch's events:
https://calwriters.org/events-month
Website Copyright 2026 Writers of the Mendocino Coast