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    • Charter Minutes 09 07
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  • 2025 Anthology Submission Info
NO NEED FOR WMC MEMBERS TO PREREGISTER FOR ZOOM EVENTS
Each month a new meeting link will be sent to your email address.
The public is welcome to send an email to [email protected] to request the Zoom link. All meetings are recorded.
At the close of the presentation, the Zoom session will remain open half an hour for chatting.


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September Speaker Ericka Lutz
Sunday, September 18, 3:00 p.m. Zoom

Self-Editing Techniques to Ease Your Writerly Journey
 
Like a sword that cuts but cannot cut itself;
Like an eye that sees but cannot see itself.
–      Zenrin-kushu
 
The difference between an amateur and professional-level writer often comes down to willingness to revise. But editing your own work can frustrate. How do you know when, where, and how to make changes? How do you know when to stop? In this fun self-revision workshop, we’ll talk about specific techniques to make your prose and poetry clearer, more concise, and more beautiful. Optional: bring a printed page of fresh-ish writing to play with.
 
Ericka Lutz is a WMC member, retired UC Berkeley writing teacher, book mentor, and well-published novelist, poet, and creative nonfiction writer. She hangs her virtual hat at erickalutz.com.


2023 Anthology Submissions Guidelines      Theme: Common Ground  (This can be interpreted loosely). NOTE: Dues must be renewed by August 31st in order to submit your work for consideration.

Prose/Poetry Submission dates: June 1-midnight, Aug.31
Photo Submission: June 1-midnight Sept. 22                      Link to more information.


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EKPHRASIS RETURNS

Sunday, October 16, 3 p.m. Zoom


This annual event reveals the secret pairings of WMC writers with artists from The Artists’ Co-op of Mendocino. Individuals created artwork for authors to respond to, while others wrote stories or poems that inspired artistic responses. Final results will be revealed as authors read their work and corresponding artwork is unveiled. Join us for this fun afternoon.



Renew Now: Membership Dues Expired June 30th

Current members send a $45 check made out to Writers of the Mendocino Coast.
Mail it to: Treasurer,
California Writers Club, P.O. Box 762, Fort Bragg, CA 95437.

Your chapter dues include copies of the annual WMC anthology and the CWC Literary Review (plus the opportunity to submit your writing for consideration to both publications), emailed copies of the quarterly CWC bulletin, participation in Ekphrasis and SmatchUp (on a first come basis), and a membership bio on our website. Support your local writing community by renewing today.


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RECORDINGS OF MONTHLY MEETINGS  Go to the YouTube channel for all the videos.

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/.

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HAVE 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 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. 
*Play may not contain the "seven dirty words" prohibited by the FCC. Play must be totally original and the author's work.
​Listen now:
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


POETRY
Virtual Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry

To receive an invitation to the Zoom reading, please email blake more: [email protected]. Third Thursday Poetry Zoom is made possible by the Arena Theater and continues to be supported by Poets & Writers Magazine. 

47th Anniversary Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration, KZYX&Z, ​Sundays, 3 p.m.
Featuring fifty-three poets, including WMC members
Karin Uphoff, Clare Bercot Zwerling, Elizabeth Kirkpatrick
Vrenios, Marilyn Motherbear Scott, Lynn Kiesewetter, and
Rowan Hawthorn.
To listen live: https://www.kzyx.org/#stream/0
For playlists: http://www.outfarpress.com/rrr.html

Michelle Blackwell's "Upwelling" (Episode 3)
airs on KZYX August 31 at 9 am.
Guest Emily Lloyd Jones will read from her two latest novels, Drowned Woods and Unseen Magic. Georgina Marie Guardado, Lake County's Poet Laureate, will read and talk about her  poetry.
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POETRY
​Cartwheels on the Sky ~ Poets, Poems & Discovery
First Saturday of the Month, 7:00
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 [email protected]

FORT BRAGG LIBRARY
Poetry Open Mic

Open Mic on Zoom and In Person
First Thursdays, 7 p.m.
- To request a Zoom invitation, contact Dan Hess: [email protected]
Or 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.


UKIAH LIBRARY
     Loba Poetry Series       
Zoom last Thursday of the month 7 p.m.
- To register and receive a Zoom link, contact Melissa Carr (she/her/they): [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

The 2022 California Writers Club's Literary Review has accepted poetry and prose from the following members:

Priscilla Comen ("Traditions")
Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios ("Consider Disaster")
Jonathan Pazer ("A Country Most Dear")
Nona Smith ("Claudia")
Holly Tannen ("The Vulture and the Raven")
Karin Uphoff ("Dad's Ashes")
windflower ("We Were Once Wild Horses")

Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios' poem "Ravens as Gifts" appears
in the MockingHeart Review (mockingheartreview.com). She also has two additional poems in The Inflectionist Review (www.inflectionist.com): "We Know a Thing by its Hunger" and "As if the World were Made of Nothing but Hunger."

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     Drop in to the library site for the list of recently added books and 228+ reviews by WMC member​ Priscilla Comen.


Do you have a topic on the craft of writing to teach at an upcoming meeting for forty-five minutes?
​Contact [email protected]


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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.​
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MENDOCINO WRITERS MEET 
​ONLINE ON THE THIRD SUNDAY 3:00
Members Receive Link via Email
​Public May Email a Request  [email protected]

​Welcome New Member
Matthew Long

​​MEMBER COUNT 87

Writers of the Mendocino Coast
PO Box 762 Fort Bragg, CA 95437
​
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

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SUBSCRIBE TO THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Email [email protected]
Your email address will never be shared or sold. 

MEMBERSHIP 
NEW MEMBERS  See information on the Membership page.

YEARLY RENEWAL, June 1 - August 15th, $45 plus a one time enrollment fee of $20. If registering after January 1st, the total fee is $42.50, until renewals are due again July 1. It's $15 for students. $25 for dual memberships when a member of another 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
Read Sallie's biography on the Member Bio page.
Contact her through [email protected].

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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].


 SMATCHUP 2014    SMATCHUP 2015  
SMATCHUP 2016    SMATCHUP 2017   SMATCHUP 2018
SMATCHUP 2020   SMATCHUP 2021

 YouTube Videos of Monthly Meetings
See Archives tab above for details. Videos from
previous years can also be found on our YouTube channel
JANUARY 2022
SF Writers Grotto

​JD Beltran, Xandra Castleton, and Po Bronson
Link to the recording
MARCH 2022
Borders anthology
First half of readings
Link to the recording
FEBRUARY 2022
Jody Gehrman
​"Playwriting Techniques That Rev Up Your Fiction"

Link to the recording
​APRIL 2022
​
Michelle Penaloza
"How Poets Render Emotion"
Link to the recording

MAY 2022
Borders anthology
Second half of readings
​Link to the recording

JUNE 2022
SmatchUp

Readings from members
Link to the recording
   JULY 2022
    Honoring Doug Fortier
Link to the recording


AUGUST 2022
Spotlight on Poets
Link to the recording

Welcome to opportunities to publish your writing, whether or not you live on the Mendocino Coast. 

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