July 15, 2009     Pre-charter formation activities- -Mendocino Coast Branch of the California Writers Club

Present at Molly Dwyer’s home:
Molly Dwyer
Doug Fortier
Jay Frankston
John Fremont
Jacqueline Hewett
Catherine Keegan
Malcolm Macdonald
Nancy McLelland
Pauline Rusert
Nan Walter
Norma Watkins

Molly began by welcoming new participants.
She described events of the first meeting, June 18, 2009, and repeated many of the major requirements by the California Writers Club (CWC) to form a chapter on the Mendocino coast.

She distributed copies of "BYLAWS of the Redwood Branch of California Writers Club" and suggested their document is a starting point for the preparation of our bylaws.

Molly reviewed some of the major requirements of forming a chapter of CWC. She emphasized the importance of a higher proportion of active (published) members to associate members. What defines "published" was discussed.

Catherine Keegan reported on her investigation of web site hosting. Mendocino Community Network (MCN) appears to be the cheapest. MCN will require a document on letterhead to initiate the services.

Molly discussed the benefits of a fully functioning chapter of CWC, which included: the potential of group health insurance for at least some members, writing conferences with guest speakers, agents, editors, etc., the organization of writers and related networking that could lead to writing and critique groups, other less formal events such as talks by local writers, readings, and open mic, as well as a a web site to provide visibility of the member's works, and the potential to publish anthologies of member's works.

Molly provided copies of a working statement of purpose, "To identify and establish the requisite activities and procedures (as required by CWC Central Board) for the establishment of a Mendocino Coast Branch of the CWC."

Also included with that statement were items for the agenda of this meeting, a discussion of minutes from the meeting of June 18, 2009, and related tasks identified by the individuals assigned:
 
a. Public Service Announcements (PSA) - Pauline Rusert & Malcolm Macdonald
b. Website, etc - Catherine Keegan
c. Graphic design (flyer, letterhead, logo, etc.) - Nan Walter
d. Investigation of potential meeting places - Nancy McLelland
e. Membership & chapter requirements - Molly Dwyer

Molly itemized the potential MCCWC Board of Directors
Voting Members:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
CWC Representative
Non-voting Members:
Publicity Chair
Newsletter Editor
Web Master
Membership Committee Chair
Programs / Speaker Coordinator
Salon Events Coordinator
Writing Group Coordinator
Networking / Hospitality Committee Chair
Historian

John Fremont brought a package of instructional DVDs on sentence structure from The Teaching Company as an example of resources that could be aggregated into a lending library for members.

John Fremont also volunteered the use of P.O. Box 504, in Mendocino, as a contact address to be included on a flyer to be prepared by Nan Walter from text provided by Pauline Rusert and Malcolm Macdonald. Nan agreed to check with Charlotte Gullick if a flyer could be put into the packets for the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference starting July 30th, 2009.

Molly spoke of her conversation with Linda McCabe, the membership chairperson for the Redwood Branch in Sonoma County, who volunteered her help with the formation of our chapter. Molly agreed to contact Linda about an informal advisor from Redwood Branch to assist with writing bylaws.

It was agreed to schedule the next meeting to discuss the pre-charter formation activities on August 19th, at 1:00. The meeting place will be announced when arranged.

 

Doug Fortier
Acting Secretary


Supplement

Learn more about the California Writers Club at their website http://www.calwriters.org/html/about.html

Included on that page is a link to the CWC constitution, the policy and procedures, and the bylaws.