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Apply by April 1 for the Individual Artists Fellowship grant, supporting emerging, established, and legacy artists through unrestricted grant awards ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.
Application Online |
THE WRITERS COLONY AT DAIRY HOLLOW Two-week residency fellowship—Apply by February 22nd. Eureka Springs, Arkansas $35 application fee Application Online |
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FEBRUARY 21st 3:00 p.m.
JODY GEHRMAN Keep Me in Suspense Adding more tension to your work, regardless of genre. Whether you're writing fiction, memoir, drama, or poetry, we could all use more suspense in our work. How do we craft scenes and images that maximize the reader's involvement in the moment? How can we get our characters into emotionally dangerous situations, then ratchet up that tension even more? Playwright, novelist, and professor Jody Gehrman will discuss techniques to help you maximize the drama and keep the pages turning regardless of your genre or style. This talk will be formatted as an interview, followed by a question and answer period with the audience. Jody Gehrman is a native of Northern California, where she can be found writing, teaching, reading, or obsessing over her three cats most days. She is also the author of twelve novels and numerous award-winning plays. Her Young Adult novel, Babe in Boyland, was optioned by the Disney Channel and won the International Reading Association's Teen Choice Award. Her plays have been produced in Ashland, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and L.A. She and her partner, David Wolf, won the New Generation Playwrights Award for their one-act, Jake Savage, Jungle P.I. She is a professor of English and Communications at Mendocino College. MARCH 21st 2021 3:00 p.m.
MEMBER READINGS FROM 2021 ANTHOLOGY, EROSION Members Reading In This Order: Aron Lee Bowe (S. Bowers), memoir, Girls Going Places Notty Bumbo, fiction, Unfolding Liza Saenz-Bernard, memoir, The Detriment of the Family Unit Barbara MacKay, poetry, I No Longer Can Molly Dwyer, fiction, Odessa Phillip Zwerling, fiction, David Katherine Brown, fiction, Dear Silver Top Matches Maureen Eppstein, poetry, Cliff Face Nona Smith, memoir, Creamy or Chunky? Norma Watkins, fiction, Eat Shirin Leos, fiction, More Than You Can Know THERE WILL BE NO NEED FOR REGISTRATION The meeting link will be sent via email in the announcement to be sent March 14th, and on the morning of March 21st. If you haven’t “zoomed” before, you need not have a Zoom account. A few minutes before the meeting, click the link given in the email announcement. If you don’t have a mic and a camera on your computer, you’ll need to phone in. Phone numbers will also be sent with the Zoom link. READING LIMIT 5 MINUTES NOVEMBER 21st 2021 3:00 p.m.
LINDA WATANABE McFERRIN We don't have details on her talk, but she has a workshop coming up in March at the Mendocino Art Center. MAKING A SCENE: IN PRINT AND ON SCREEN March 27, 2021 Saturday, 10am–12pm (lecture/writing exercise) & 2pm–4pm (reading work produced and discussion) Two 2-hour Zoom sessions—All levels Registration deadline: March 23, 2021 Current MAC Members: $126 Non-members: $140 https://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/classes/making-a-scene GUALALA COMMUNITY WRITING PROJECT
Mark Gross has started a writing initiative, KGUA Writers, in Gualala in collaboration with Peggy Berryhill's KGUA-FM, 88.3 radio program at 9:00 a.m. on Monday mornings. There is a Facebook Group Page KGUA Writers, and a website The Town That Started Writing. This week's prompt for written submission of 200-300 words and recorded pieces of 2 to 2:30 minutes length by February 19th, midnight, to air Monday, February 23rd. Send a new message with the subject of "Episode #43 Rules of Using Social Media," with opinions, points of view, to KGUAWriters@gmail.com. Some of the episodes are online. 2021 SMATCHUP, "Last Night..."
Signup slots have filled Starters have until March 31, 2021, midnight to send their page to Katherine Brown [email protected]. Finishers will have until April 30th. GUIDELINES SmatchUp readings at our May 16th meeting CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO
DRAMA ANTHOLOGY WMC member Phil Zwerling and his colleague, Robert Moreira, are working on a Drama in the Time of CoVid-19 anthology to be published in 2022 by FlowerSong Press. They seek dramatic works: short plays, performance pieces, monologues, etc. that speak to the deaths, isolation, social, political, and economic upheaval that have followed in the wake of this pandemic. Go to the SUBMISSIONS PAGE for all the details. Send any questions to Philip Zwerling [email protected]. http://www.philipzwerling.com 
GOT A MINUTE?
See the current schedule. Mendocino Theatre Company's One-Minute Radio Theatre is a two-minute spot broadcast bi-weekly on KZYX. Collaborate by submitting an original one-minute radio play. All voices to be heard! Plays can be in English or Spanish. No fee for submission nor cash award if your play is chosen; all actors and directors give their time free of charge. Submit your one-minute play* (app. 150-170 words, for 1-3 actors) in the body of an email (no attachments) to [email protected] with the subject MTC One-Minute Play: [Title of your play]. Include your full name, contact information, and a brief, 50-word bio. You may submit as many one-minute plays as you wish, but only one submission per email, please. *NB: Play may not contain the "seven dirty words", which are prohibited by the FCC. Play must be totally original and the author's own work. 
Online Poetry
Workshop for Youth Professional poets from throughout California offer creative poetry writing lessons for youth and families. Lessons are free to everyone and require no prep. This online workshop is growing and lessons will continue to be added throughout the pandemic. Click to start writing! POETRY
Rhythm Running River 1st Sunday, 3-4 p.m. and 3rd Sunday 3-5 p.m. on KZYX public radio To listen live: https://www.kzyx.org/ For playlists: http://www.outfarpress.com/rrr.html To receive emails from Dan Roberts with links to listen or download, contact Dan at [email protected] POETRY
Cartwheels on the Sky ~ Poets, Poems & Discovery Saturdays 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Live on KGUA FM Gualala and live streaming online KGUA.org with host Blake More Show Archive: https://www.bmoreyou.net/musings/ Highlighting a new poet in conversation each week, the show offers fresh, intelligent, living poetry and lively discussions. To be considered for future shows, contact blake@snakelyone.com FORT BRAGG LIBRARY
FIRST THURSDAY OPEN MIC POETRY 7 P.M. Use this link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9748647159 Readers should limit themselves to eight minutes, for one to four poems. For more information, contact Dan Hesse, Branch Librarian at [email protected] or 707 / 961-2625. And see FortBraggLibrary.org. SEEKING NONFICTION WRITER
PAID ACCOUNT OF AN ARTIST'S LIFE Seeking writer to produce a nonfiction account of an artist’s life, a contemporary and friend of Dorr Bothwell and Emmy Lou Packard. The artist's son has his artwork and tons of organized reference resources, every story that ever appeared in print about him. Everything is in print on paper—nothing has been scanned. Contact retired Gallery Bookshop bookseller, Katy M. Tahja at [email protected] or 937-5854. 
KELLEY HOUSE CALENDAR
Call for Writers There are so many stories yet to tell, and they welcome your voice. Articles are 400 to 700 words and can be paired with photos or illustrations usually discovered in their database of 10,000 images. Call the Kelley House curator, Karen McGrath, at 707/937-5791 or email her at [email protected]. |
COVID-19 UPDATE From our branch President:
Until further notice, WMC meetings will be held via Zoom on the third Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. There are more than two dozen free Xfinity WiFi hotspots in Fort Bragg. At wifi.xfinity.com, type in an address, city, state, or ZIP Code to find where to access the internet. WELCOME TO THE
CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB - FOUNDED in 1909 - The Mendocino Coast branch is proud to share in this legacy. Our intention is to expand the network and provide publishing opportunities for writers. 
MENDOCINO WRITERS MEET
ONLINE ON THE THIRD SUNDAY 3:00 Members Receive Invitations Public May Email a Request [email protected]
Writers of the Mendocino Coast
PO Box 762 Fort Bragg, CA 95437 The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB is a 501(c) (3) 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/ CWC Northern Branches: http://cwcnorcalwriters.org/ NorCal Events: http://cwcnorcalwriters.org/events/ 
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Email [email protected] We will never sell or share your email address.
MEMBERSHIP
NEW MEMBERS $65 includes $20 initiation fee. More information on the website's Membership page. YEARLY RENEWAL is $45. $25 for dual memberships when a member of another CWC branch. Membership includes a copy of the club's recent anthology, copies of our state organization's Literary Review magazine, space for member biographies, and opportunities to see your writing in: -The annual anthology -The Literary Review published by our parent, California Writers Club. More info at www.calwriters.org -The yearly collaboration, Ekphrasis, with the Artists Co-op of Mendocino -The annual SmatchUp blind matching of two writers on a theme, each writing a single page. SPONSORED MEMBERSHIPS
Financial aid is available for membership [email protected] INTERESTED IN A WRITERS' GROUP / PARTNER
WMC MEMBER SALLIE REYNOLDS After thirty-five years of magazine editing and teaching writing (Long Island University-CWP), I am, at 81, concentrating solely on my own work. Between 2006 – 2014, I published three novels, two in a small press, one self-published. In the mid-1980s, a number of my short stories came out in the journals Prairie Schooner and Confrontation. Three were listed in Best American SS and Pushcart, 1985, 1987. During the lock down, I finished a long novel about two families in the rural South in the days of Jim Crow, and am now working on both a short novel and a series of short stories. Writers’ groups have ever been a necessary part of my development. My last group dissipated last year, and while I can always write without an audience, in order to develop, to gain both perspective and the confidence to submit stuff, I need a group. I also love to see (or hear) other writers working and share ideas and skills. I learn new things, I gain new perspectives, I grow. Contact me through [email protected]. M E M B E R N E W S
Writing newly published, receives a nomination or award, or other notable exposure? Please send a short announcement to writersmendocinocoast@gmail.com 
WMC member Clare Bercot Zwerling's poetry has recently appeared or is in these forthcoming publications:
— Lamar University Press - Odes and Elegies: Eco-Poetry from the Texas Gulf Coast “Recuerdo” — The Good Life Review - Issue #2 Winter 2020 “Mirror:Madonna de la Playa” — Poetry South - Issue 12 “1945” — The Oakland Review - Volume XLV “The Committee” — Beatific - Winter 2020 “Gemstones” 
WMC member Nancy Wallace-Nelson performed "Married to Dogs – for Better or Worse" at the online venue, TheMarsh.org on Dec. 15th.
See the performance online, #4. ROLLING RECAP OF MONTHLY MEETINGS
See Archives tab above for details
B R A N C H N E W S
STATEWIDE ANTHOLOGY NOW AVAILABLE The High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club collected and compiled fictional stories of pandemics, real or imagined, and has now published its state-wide anthology, SURVIVAL: Tales of Pandemic, which is available at amazon.com as of November 1, 2020. This volume of tales written by members of the century-old California Writers Club is the first anthology of its kind published by the High Desert Branch. |
Drop in to the library site for the list of recently added books and reviews by WMC member Priscilla Comen.
Welcome to opportunities to publish your writing, whether or not you live on the Mendocino Coast.
