"Trust your own instinct.

Your mistakes might as well be your

own, instead of someone else's."
September —Billy Wilder

2010 Screenwriter Billy Wilder (1906–2002) came to Hollywood from Germany during
WWII. He and Charles Brackett wrote many classic films we love today: Sunset
Boulevard, The Apartment, and The Seven Year Itch, starring Marilyn Monroe.
 Did you miss a Write Angles? Read back issues on Scribd.

The President's Message September 2010

Greetings for the second year In this Issue:

of the second hundred years
of the California Writers Club. The President's
Young or old, black or white Message
or in between, famous or
wannabees, we are all Changing of the Guard
dedicated to the written
word. Or spoken. The field is September Speakers
so wide open at the moment
that the categories of novel, Club News
short story, or biography
barely begin to cover all the Member News & Tidbits
ways we are communicating
with each other in the year Next Meeting
2010. Blogging, twittering, screen writing—humor, politics, Sunday, Sept 19, 2010
romance, mystery—books, radio, magazines, television, 1:30 to 4:00 p.m.
Internet. The Berkeley Branch will help you make sense of
the bewildering array. Our plans for this year include the Upcoming Speakers
following:
September 19:
1) Monthly meetings on the third Sunday of the month with Michael Larsen &
speakers on a wide variety of topics emphasizing writing Elizabeth Pomada of the
and publishing. Marketing know-how is discussed each Larsen-Pomada Literary
month at 1 p.m. before the featured speaker at 2 p.m. Agency
2) Workshops to help with the craft of writing. October 17:
Theresa LeYung Ryan
3) Critique groups of like-minded souls to stimulate, Build Your Name, Beat the
motivate, and improve writing skills in small settings. Game, Be Happily
Published
4) Special events such as the picnic in Joaquin Miller Park
on July 10 to commemorate our founders. November 21:
Ann Seymour
5) Story contests for 5th graders in the spring and for The Art of the Interview,
adults in the fall. and the writing of an
historical memoir
You are invited to join in any activity or event, and
friendly people will answer your questions. See you soon!

—Barbara Ruffner, President

Upcoming Events
Changing of the Guard
Oct 1
At the June Board Meeting, a new format was announced Deadline for Write On!
for the presidency for the coming year and the election of Story Contest
new officers. (Details on Web site)

Elected by acclamation for president for July through Sept 12

October is Barbara Ruffner. Vice-president Lloyd Lofthouse Workshop—Charlotte
will succeed as president for November through February Cook
2011, followed by Linda Brown, March through June 2011.
Oct 14–16
The board decided to change the way it operates. There NCIBA Annual Trade
will be an executive committee consisting of the President, Show
two Vice-presidents, the Secretary and Treasurer. They
will be the only voting members of the board. The rest of December 12
the board will consist of chairpeople of important Holiday Luncheon
committees and others without portfolio. Their role is
advocacy and advisory.
Contacts
Several committee appointments have been made
recently. Clifford Hui will serve as chairman of the CLUB OFFICERS
Membership committee, which will also include Barbara President: Barbara Ruffner
Ruffner and Matt Martin as database manager. Barbara Past President: Al Levenson
Gilvar signed on to put together and administer a new- VP/Marketing: Lloyd Lofthouse
member orientation program. Barbara Ruffner has Secretary: Jane Glendinning
succeeded Risa Nye as workshop coordinator. Matt Martin Treasurer: Madelen Lontiong
has also accepted the role of webmaster. The webmaster
job is one of coordination of pages managed by those COMMITTEE CHAIRS
responsible to install and maintain the variety of Membership: Clifford Hui
information, announcements, and archive of the Web site. New Member Orientation:
Barbara Gilvar
The Web site, www.CWC-Berkeley.com has been to the Publicity Chair: Linda Brown
Kristen Caven’s Makeover Parlor and is sporting a whole Program Chair: Jane
new wardrobe and hairdo. Worth a look. Glendinning
Workshop Chair: Barbara Ruffner
Tanya Grove has agreed to be editor of Write Angles, and Write Angles Editor: Tanya Grove
Anne Fox will continue in her role as copyeditor. Copyeditor: Anne Fox
Web/database manager: Matt
Please welcome and support all the people who have Martin
stepped up to positions of leadership and service to the Delegate–Central Board: Lloyd
CWC-BB community. Lofthouse
Delegate–CWC-Norcal: Linda
Brown
Story Contests
5th Grade: Lucille Belluci
Write On!:Tatjana Grenier
Communications: Kristen Caven

send comments to
writeangles@gmail.com
About Us Oakland Public Library
West Auditorium
The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB, founded in 1909, is a 501(c) (3)
125 14th Street
educational nonprofit dedicated to educating members and the public-
Entrance on Madison Street
at-large in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work. Our between 13th and 14th Streets.
monthly meetings are free, open to the public, and feature a speaker,
an author even, or both!

v
Visit us at CWC-BERKELEY.COM
ARE YOU IRRESISTIBLE?

September speakers: Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada

by David Baker

Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, whose literary agency is the oldest in northern California,
will be our featured speakers at the September 19 meeting. Since starting their business in 1972,
Michael and Elizabeth have sold hundreds of books to more than one hundred publishers. They are
also co-founders of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the Writing for Change Conference.
We’ll have a chance to ponder valuable lessons they’ve learned during their long careers.

To make the most of this opportunity, let’s prepare by going to www.larsen-pomada.com. We’ll
start with “Three Ways to Make Yourself Irresistible to Any Agent or Publisher.” Part One,
“Understanding How Agents and Publishers Work,” provides a detailed look at challenging realities.
Did you know, for example, that “the average investment a major publisher makes in a book is
more than $50,000”? It follows that publishers “try to protect their investments by holding down
advances and royalties, and by keeping as many subsidiary rights as possible.” Enter the agent in
our defense.

Part Two, “Develop Your Craft,” has useful how-to-write advice, including “write what you love to
read.” In other words, improve your skills by analyzing how your favorite authors accomplish the
effects you admire. Part Three, “Make a Commitment to Your Career,” focuses on knowing yourself
and your goals. Among the suggestions offered: “Start thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur, a
self-employed professional running a small business.”

No-nonsense material this. But spiced with humor. At one point Michael and Elizabeth feature an
Elmore Leonard character asking what kind of writing makes the most money. Another character
answers: “Ransom notes.” As we confront our literary tribulations, perhaps we should adopt our
speakers’ motto: “Life is short. Laugh first.” Come and enjoy on September 19.

CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB FALL WORKSHOP: “The Final Edit”

CHARLOTTE COOK

Sunday, September 12, 2010, 1 p.m.

Delve into the real differences between developing a manuscript to completion and polishing
the manuscript for an audience of agents and publishers. This practical, interactive and
entertaining workshop explores the differences between what peers suggest and when that
works, and what an industry professional advises and when that’s important. Charlotte gives
a balanced accounting of what drives an editor to keep reading, stop reading, or ask for more
pages.

Charlotte Cook, MFA, has extensive experience as a publisher and story editor, bringing six award-
winning novels to publication for KOMENAR Publishing (Writers Digest, February 2008). She’s a
popular conference presenter, successful teacher, and workshop facilitator. In 2010, Charlotte
judged four fiction categories for the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She will be faculty
at the Willamette, Redwood, and California Central Coast Writers Conferences. She has led special
events for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Southern Oregon Rogue River Writers, and California
Writers Club. With award-winning screenwriter Jon James Miller, she’s developed Adapting
Sideways, a book and workshops for screenwriters to write publishable novels. An article and
excerpt can be found in the September-October issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and the
two will be presenting at the Fall LA EXPO and Big Bear Lake International Film Festival.

To Register:
Send a check to the CWC for $9 (members) or $29 (nonmembers) to Madelen Lontiong, Treasurer,
PO Box 6447, Alameda, CA 94501. Hurry, space is limited!

Bring first two pages of your novel, short story, or inquiry letter for Charlotte to critique.

Membership renewal
by Clifford Hui, Membership Chairman

The time remaining to renew your membership is diminishing. Join now and reserve your front row
seat to the all lineup of programs beginning with Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, literary
agents, as the featured speakers at the September 19 meeting. Also in September, Charlotte Cook
will reprise her valuable workshop, "The Final Edit."

If you haven't renewed your membership, please do it today. And think about whom you know who
would benefit from membership. Invite them to apply.

Renewal Amount: $45

Payable to: CWC-BB
Send to Clifford Hui, Membership Chair; PO Box 6447, Alameda, CA 94501

Club Picnic
A hundred-year-old CWC tradition was revived on July 10 when sixty members of several of the
NorCal branches of the CWC met in the majestic setting of Joaquin Miller Park for food and
fellowship. Organized by Bob Garfinkle, newly elected president of the CWC, of the Fremont
Branch, youngest of all CWC branches. Bob had substantial assistance from Linda Brown of the
founding Berkeley Branch.
Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Annual Trade Show October 14–16

Lloyd Lofthouse, co-chair of the Marketing Group, reports that plans for the Berkeley Branch
exhibit at the NCIBA show are proceeding. Berkeley will have a significant presence, with three
tables supported by nine authors. This commitment also entitles us to fifteen complimentary
badges. As the date draws near, members may request these passes.

Member News
CWC BERKELEY BRANCH MEMBERS: Please send Write Angles all the news about your life in the
world of art, letters, and literature, however it expresses itself. Your efforts and
accomplishments inspire courage in others. —Anne Fox

Tatjana Greiner is a playwriting mentor of Each One Reach One, a Bay Area Organization dedicated
to mentoring imprisoned youth through theater arts. The program has just been selected a 2010
Coming Up Taller Semifinalist by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Kristen Caven (www.kristencaven.com) launched her unique memoir, Perfectly Revolting: My
Glamorous Cartooning Career, at a historical event at Mills College this spring. In addition to her
author event at the May CWC meeting, Kristen did book signings at Oakland's Laurel Bookstore and
Montclair's Great Good Place for Books, and was featured in an article in the June 4, 2010 issue of
the Montclarion/Mercury News/Marin IJ. (Note errata.)

Nonnie Thompson, currently a Montana resident, reports that an agent asked to represent her
after the ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors) conference in April. Nonnie is now
under contract for her memoir, Time It Was: Memoir of a Modern Pioneer. Learn about a
remarkable life and help Nonnie to develop her platform by going to her blog, www.timeitwas-
nonniethompson.blogspot.com/ (And What a Time It Was—Alternative Living Today) and to her Web
site www.nonnie-thompson.com/

Charlotte Cook and Jon James Miller are showcased in Creative Screenwriting Magazine's
September/October issue with an interview and excerpt from Adapting Sideways: How to Turn Your
Screenplay into a Publishable Novel. The book, their methodology and information on how to make
a novel appeal to an agent and publisher, debuts September 8 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon
now. Primary audience is screenwriters and intermediate and advanced novelists. (A proposal for a
longer book is with their agent.) Creative Screenwriting has invited Charlotte and Jon to be
presenters at the annual LA EXPO. For Charlotte’s workshop, “The Final Edit,” on September 12,
see Events/Workshops at www.cwc-berkeley.com/. See animation on YouTube www.youtube.com/
watch?v=86smAU4YY-U.

W. E. Reinka, Berkeley Branch member living in Oregon, has had his nonfiction piece, "Landfalls,"
accepted for the statewide CWC anthology, West Winds, expected to be published this fall.

Anne Fox’s story, “It Comes to This,” has also been accepted for West Winds.

Amos White, CWC-BB member and member of Alameda Island Poets, emceed in July Alameda’s
first Summer Site Write literary series, with Webster Street as the subject.

Poet Alysa Chadow, her guide dog Ellen at her side, read about people of the West End, seen and
unseen. Her poem, along with the other works and photos, were on display at the Alameda
Multicultural Center on Lincoln Avenue during August.

Therese Pipe, who coordinates the oral history collection for the Berkeley Historical Society,
reviewed and discussed the contents of the Berkeley Co-op oral histories with Greg Patmore,
Research Professor from the University of Sidney, Australia, in August 2010. Currently, Therese
continues her involvement with oral histories, awaiting publication, of such noteworthy Berkeley
figures as Ying Lee, Berkeley’s first and only Asian city council member, and the late Professor
Kenneth H. Cardwell, of UC Berkeley. A current photo exhibit sponsored by the Berkeley Camera
Club, with a reception on September 10 at Red Oak Realty Co on Solano Avenue, includes Therese’s
work. More information is available at tpipeln@jps.net.

Tidbits
Submit announcements to Write Angles with "Tidbits" in the subject line.

Tanya Grove has written a charming children's story/poem. Watch a less than two minute video of
the story read by an engaging child.http://www.smories.com/watch/blue/

Amos White has taken on the task of expanding our public outreach to include Internet postings.

Barry Boland, himself a former talk show host, is reaching out to radio and television stations.
The CWC-BB bought an 89-page Bay Area Media List with contact information for over 1,100 Media
Outlets that Publicity Chair Linda Brown and Barry are reviewing now.

Linda Brown, Publicity chair, would like to hear from members interested in contributing skills and
knowledge or learning more about media.

Kristen Caven would like to invite members of the club to a write-in about climate change as part
of a Global Work Party on 10/10/10. The CO2 in the atmosphere is currently 390 parts per million,
far beyond the maximum sustainable number of 350ppm. (Throughout human history it has been
272.) As writers can help spread understanding about this fact wherever and however we write.
Visit Write-350 on FaceBook, Redroom, or 350.org to learn more. Please pass the word on.

"Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles isn't a realist."

—Billy Wilder