California Writers Club, Sacramento Branch

Dedicated to Educating Writers of all Levels

Lisa Montanaro – Ready, Set, Launch! Developing a Successful Book Launch Plan

CWC-Sacramento Network Meeting

Friday, May 3rd from 9 am to 11 am at

CH Cafe & Grill 6215 Sunrise Blvd (just off Greenback)

Lisa Montanaro
Lisa Montanaro

Are you ready to get out there as an author and launch your book? Discover tips and strategies for a targeted, successful, and sustainable book launch!

The months (or years!) after landing a book deal are an exhilarating, yet stressful, time. Whether you’re traditionally or indie-published, launching and marketing your book is time consuming, but a necessary part of the author journey. Smart authors recognize that a book launch is a marathon, not a sprint, and spread activities over three phases: pre-launch, launch, and post-launch. Launch activities and possibilities are abundant, both online and offline, including book clubs, bookstores, libraries, podcasts, webinars, radio and TV, social

Lisa Montanaro is the author of the book The Ultimate Life Organizer, and the chapter, “The Brand Called You! Personal & Professional Branding for Authors,” featured in Launch Pad: The Countdown to Marketing Your Book. Her debut novel will be published by Red Adept Publishing in fall 2024. Lisa serves as Webinar Host for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 854 8155 1153
Passcode: 227171

Jordan Rosenfeld: How to Write a Page Turner – Mastering the Art of Tension

Jordan Rosenfeld will be presenting at Arcade Library

2443 Marconi Ave, Sacramento, CA 95821

on Saturday April 20th, 2024 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

To keep a story taut, and to hold readers’ attention, you must learn to write with tension. Tension in novels, stories, and even memoirs is like the connective tissue that allows muscles to attach to bones, and thus flex their might. It’s the heart of conflict, the backbone of uncertainty, the hallmark of danger. It requires opposing forces, danger, conflict and a whole lot more at the scene level, and at the plot level. Learn to understand essential kinds of tension to write page turning stories.

What attendees will learn:

  • Four key “elements” of tension.
  • How to work with character goals and flaws to create inner tension.
  • How to insure you’ve got a tense inciting incident.
  • How to tighten the tension of your plot’s energetic markers.
  • Ways to balance scene elements for maximum tension…and much more.

Jordan Rosenfeld
Jordan Rosenfeld

Jordan Rosenfeld is author of the forthcoming novel Fallout (Running Wild Press), as well as the novels Women in Red and Forged in Grace and six books on writing craft, most recently How to Write a Page-Turner. Her freelance articles and essays have appeared in hundreds of national publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American and more. She is a freelance manuscript editor and writing teacher. Jordanrosenfeld.net.

Crystel Patterson – Inspired to Write: A Journey into Diverse Children’s Literature

CWC-Sacramento Network Meeting

Friday, April 5th from 9 am to 11 am at

CH Cafe & Grill 6215 Sunrise Blvd (just off Greenback)

Krystal Patterson
Crystel Patterson

Crystel Patterson shares her unexpected journey into diverse children’s literature, where inspiration ignites creativity and storytelling.

Award-winning author and mother, Crystel inspires children with her “Inspired to Be…” series, amplifying positive narratives of Black people and teaching valuable life lessons in an engaging way. Her stories, rooted in motherhood and empowerment, encourage children to dream big, celebrate differences, and make a positive impact.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 854 8155 1153
Passcode: 227171

Brooke Warner: Memoir Mojo – Tips for Writing a Memoir That Sells

Brooke Warner will be presenting at Cattlemens Restaurant

12409 Folsom Blvd, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742

on Sunday March 17th, 2024 from 12:00 pm to 3:30 pm

Memoir is a much-beloved genre, but it’s notably hard to sell to publishers. One of the reasons for that is because too many memoirs fall into the trap of being a story about what happened rather than the meaning that the memoirist infuses into events that shaped or changed their lives. In this session, Brooke Warner will cover three qualities of memoir that you’ll want to consider and understand if you want to write a story that will impact your readers’ lives. Covered in this session will be:

  • Your story’s universal relevance or resonance.
  • Storytelling (ie, “showing”) and scene-building.
  • Writing a book that holds deep meaning for your reader.

What attendees will learn:

  • How to write a meaningful memoir.
  • What publishers are looking for in a memoir.
  • Common mistakes memoirists make when they’re first starting out.
  • How to write in “scene” and be a good guide to your reader.
  • How to think about “why it matters” over “what happened” as you tell your story.

You can reserve your tickets here

Brooke Warner
Brooke Warner

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author  of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What’s Your Book?, and three books on memoir. Brooke is a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (of “Write-minded” with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at brookewarner.substack.com. Brooke is the former Executive Editor of Seal Press and writes a regular column for Publishers Weekly.

In addition, our very own Gloria Perrot-Dyer, will be holding an additional fundraising talk.

Historical Fiction:  The Marriage of Fact and Fancy

Gloria Jack London Award
Gloria Jack London Award

Gloria is a 2023 awardee of the Jack London Award, for her contributions to the California Writers Club, Sacramento Branch.

Gloria has published her first book in 2020 entitled Allensworth: Two Tales of Triumph. She will be sharing elements of the process that she used in conducting the extensive research necessary for writing this book.

Some of the areas she will cover are the following:

  • choosing a time period in history
  • authenticity in setting, plot, characters, dialogue and historical issues
  • how to conduct the needed research
  • authentic language of the time period
  • authentic clothing, transportation and necessities for daily living.
  • building a world in the historical context of the time period.

A discretionary club fundraising donation is requested and very much appreciated, $10 suggested.

Karen Durham – Ina Coolbrith

CWC-Sacramento Network Meeting

Friday, March 1st from 9 am to 11 am at

CH Cafe & Grill 6215 Sunrise Blvd (just off Greenback)

Karen Durham
Karen Durham

Ina Coolbrith—whom she was, and tougher than we

So fair the sun rose yester-morn, begins Ina’s poem, “The Mother’s Grief.” She was born into a time and place where there was no use for such a poetic expression of maternal sorrow. How did she make the transition from daughter of a frontier and most paternalistic family in which schooling was a luxury, to woman of independent financial and intellectual means?

Ina’s biography is intriguing, if written a bit inconsistently over time. The sources I’ve found agree on most aspects of her life: Ina Coolbrith was California’s first poet laureate. She was the first librarian for the newly incorporated Oakland Public Library. She was a founding member of the California Writers Club and San Francisco’s Bohemian Club. She was one-third of the, “Golden Gate Trinity.” Along with Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard, she was considered a premier judge of good literature. She influenced several famous California writers, including Joaquin Miller (to whom she suggested this nom de plume) and Jack London (who referred to her as his literary mother).

She meant to write a memoir, according to one source, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire put that idea to rest. Such dead ends abound, but I’ll put her world into the context of the greater world from the beginning to the end of her life. There’s so much more than can be covered in a few minutes. If you want to really get into the weeds, here are links to some sources:

Karen Durham was born and raised in The San Francisco Bay Area of California. When she’s not writing she loves to swim, hike, and run on the coast. She came to appreciate poetry late in life, when in the late twenty-teens she attended a writing workshop at Tomales Bay. There she first heard current US poet laureate Ada Limón read from her book, “Bright Dead Things.” She was hooked. Karen’s had two poems published in anthologies. Like most poets, she doesn’t always understand what questions she’s asking when she writes, but hopes to, someday.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 854 8155 1153
Passcode: 227171