California Writers Club, Sacramento Branch

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Meeting Archive

Please note that the following material is for the benefit of members of the California Writers Club. If you are a visitor to our website, please ask permission to download material.

Send requests to CWC Sacramento, sacramentowriters@gmail.com


Lisa Montanaro – Video Presentation

Handout


 

Teri Lown – San Francisco Writers Conference 2025

Teri’s visit to San Francisco Writers Conference 2025

PowerPoint Slides.

Video.


Jenifer Rowe – Madam Pantaloons, Gold Rush Pioneer

No recording was done. PowerPoint slides are below. The presentation by Andrew Laufer will also be in the April 2025 newsletter.

Notes

Madam Pantaloons PPT


Blank.


Larry Mandelberg – Setting Goals and How to Achieve them

No recording was done. Notes for the presentation will be in the January 2025 newsletter.

Issue Organiser


Michele Drier – Adding Tension to Your Work

No recording was done. Notes for the presentation are in the December 2024 newsletter.

Handouts


Shawn Langwell – Demystifying Book Marketing for Self-Published Authors.

Video Recording 

Slides of Presentation


James Auld – Lessons from the Grind.

Video Recording 

Handout


Lois Buchter – The Perils of Screen Writing.

Video Recording 

Handout


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

Video Recording – camera is behind due to technical limitations.

Handout


Brooke Warner – Memoir Mojo, Tips for Writing a Memoir that Sells.

Presentation Slides


Melissa Hart – How to Write & Submit Short Personal Essays to Magazines & Newspapers.

Video recording

Presentation Files.


Kathy Marshall – How to bring research to life in your novels.

Video recording

Presentation Files.


Larry Mandelberg – My first-hand experience with a hybrid publisher and the pitfalls to watch out for.

Video recording

Presentation Files


Karen Phillips – Presentation is Everything, book cover design and formatting.

Video recording

PowerPoint Slides


Norman Plotkin – Writing in the age of artificial intelligence.

Video recording

PowerPoint Slides


Bernard Wozny – delivers the Keynote Speech at the Elk Grove Writers Conference, September 9th, 2023.

Video recording – Introduction by Loy Holder, Elk Grove Writers Guild president. Note that screen is not in view, but questions can be heard at the end.

PowerPoint Slides


A joint presentation:

Bernard Wozny – Build an Author Website. And Alysse Adularia – Market your website.

PowerPoint Slides


Elaine Faber – You Don’t Know what you Don’t Know. See the link below for her talk. Use the other links as they come up in the talk.

  • Elaine Faber – Do’s & Don’ts of writing

The turquoise Clip is an example of how NOT to write, see if you can count all the bad bits.

  • The Turquoise Clip

Three elements to construct a scene – See, Think, Act. Any written character who enters a scene should follow these rules.

  • Scene Characteristics

Eileen Hook – What’s Special About Eliza.

  • Watch Eileen Talk about Eliza

Anna J Stewart – Tell Me Why: Creating Realistic & Believable Motivation for your Characters.

  • PowerPoint Slides
  • Worksheet – Tell me why (Motivation)
  • Anna’s Bio

Judith Starkston – Mastering Deep Point of View.

  • PowerPoint Slides
  • Handout

Pete Cruz – Why emotions are significant to telling a story.

  • Pete’s Recording.
  • PowerPoint Slides
  • Handout

Jordan Bernal – Pitching to agents or publishers.

  • Jordan’s Recording.
  • Handout

Brina Patel – Copy Writing.

  • A recording was not made.
  • PowerPoint Slides

Stephanie Chandler – Creating a community of followers.

  • A recording was not made due to technical issues.
  • PowerPoint Slides

Andrew Laufer – Author, Storyteller, Poet.

  • Recording
  • PowerPoint Slides
  • Soulful Needs, a poem written by Andrew Laufer during the Poetry Summit.

Somadhi Kakwasi  – Author, Storyteller, Writing Teacher, explains how to create Braided, Creative Non-Fiction.

  • Recording
  • PowerPoint Slides
  • Example Essay “The Future may be Bleak”.

Michael Brandt – talks about creating a writer’s bible to help develop your character, your plot and your book.

  • Recording
  • Writers Bible Template

Jill hedgcock – Using the context of travel writing, Jill talks about creating Muse boards to help you to develop your plot and story content while writing your book.

  • PowerPoint Slides

Gini Grossenbacher M.Ed. – Building characters from the inside out, Gini explains how to build believable characters for your story. Using ideas developed by Lisa Cron, Gini explains how the brain follows characters through simulation.

  • Recording – Building characters from the inside out
  • PowerPoint Slides

Claire Booth – Making a Good Mystery: Pacing, Clues & Character.

Claire takes the elements of a good mystery — pacing, dialogue, and character development—and transfer them to any genre of fiction.

  • Claire’s Recording – Making a Good Mystery

Paul Zeidman – talks about writing screen plays for film and television. Paul is the author of the three GO AHEAD AND ASK screenwriting books. He explains the structure of a screen play, what it is and what it isn’t, importantly how it differs from novel writing.

  • Recording – Writing Screenplays
  • PowerPoint Slides

Cheryl Stapp – The pros & cons of using a pen name plus, the advantages of creative specialization.

  • Recording – Using a pen name

ML Hamilton – Crossing Genres. In this video, ML Hamilton discusses the pros and cons of writing is different genres using her own experience as background.

  • Recording – Crossing Genres
  • PowerPoint Slides

Chris Hennessy Story Telling Crossover – How he turned his video story telling abilities into book writing, filmmaking and speaking opportunities.

  • Recording – Story Telling Crossover

Scott and Tish Davidson, August 2022

  • Recording – From Fatal to Acceptance in the First Five Pages

Kymberlie Ingalls, July 2022

  • Recording Note: this meeting has some minor edits to remove an unwelcome intruder to Zoom. You may want to have a copy of her handout while watching her presentation.
  • Create a Relevant Marketing Plan handout

Susy Flory, July 2022

  • Handout Beginnings & Endings

Amy Rogers, June 2022

  • Recording – Write a Thriller

Frederick Foote, May 2022

  • A Short Story on Publishing

Linda Townsdin, May 2022

  • Handout All Stories Need Mystery 

Michael John Sullivan, April 2022

  • To host podcast: https://libsyn.com/
  • Free podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/magical-books-for-kids/id1543975967
  • To reach out and see prices to join: http://podcastguests.com Jessica @ PodcastGuests.com 
  • A link to an article about why podcasts are becoming popular: https://thevarsity.ca/2021/11/13/what-are-good-podcasts/#:~:text=Since%20they%20can%20be%20easily,of%20all%20tastes%20and%20preferences

Lani Longshore, March 2022

  • PDF: Story arc synopsis
  • PDF: Story arc slides

Kathy Kanika Marshall, February 2022

  • PDF: Techniques For Writing Your First Book

Michael Larsen, January 2022

  • Handout PDF:  The Guerilla Way

Denise Pate, December 2021

  • Slides: Grant Process

Chrissi Villa, December 2021

  • Picture Book Basics

Scott Evans, November 2021

  • Plot Springs From Character handout

Jenifer Rowe, October 2021

  • Point of View slides
  • Point of View notes

Dara Marks, October 2021

  • Handout:  The Power of the Transformational Arc

C.S. Lakin, September 2021

  • Handout: The Six Stages of the Hero’s Transformational Journey

J. Scott Coatsworth, June 2021

  • Handout: Writing Queer SciFi/Fantasy
  • Handout: Being Your Own Writer Boss
  • Handout: OWI’s Little Black Book: Marketing Your Queer Fiction

Roger Lubeck, State CWC Vice-President, May 2021

  • Professional Presentations

Dave Fox, Travel Writer

  • Travel Catastrophes for Fun and Profit

Andrew Benzie, Mar. 2021

  • Self-publishing slides

Mike Larsen, Jan. 2021

  • Query letters outline
  • Book proposal

Stephanie Chandler, Nov. 2020

  • Building Your Book Marketing Plan

Susan Spann, CWC Marin, Nov. 15, 2020

  • Travel Writing

Gerald Ward, I Street Press, Nov. 6, 2020

  • I Street Press Brochure
  • I Street Press details

Grant Faulkner, Microfiction, Oct. 2020

  • The Art of Brevity

Kakwasi Somadhi, Writing Flash Stories About Living History, Sep 2020

  • Writing Flash Fiction
  • Flash Fiction One Search
  • Flash Fiction Online Mags

Nanci Lee Woody, How to Take Criticism, September 2020

Diana Pho, Theater Strategies to Improve your Novel , June 2020

Tanya Egan Gibson, 10 Things Your Editor Might Not Tell You , October 2019

Stephanie Chandler, Build Your Online Book Marketing Plan  , September 2019

Valerie Fioravanti, Writing Across Genres, September 2019

Michele Wogec: Resources for Writers , June 2019

Brittany Lord: Free Fiction Websites, June 2019

Kathy “Kanika” Marshall: Leaving a Written Legacy of Family History, May 2019

Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 2019

Dorothy Rice on memoir:

  • Writing Your Page Turning Memoir
  • Selected Quotes
  • Nonfiction Markets

Great First Paragraphs  compiled by Emily Boyd and Marcia Ehinger

Dana Wilberg on Using Screenplays to Improve Our Writing

Brooke Warner, publisher, She Writes Press

  • Hybrid Publisher Criteria
  • Partial List of Hybrid Publishers
  • Published Book Checklist

Lee Foster’s Tips for Making Money from Your Writing

Ted Witt’s Tips for Developing a Pitch to Literary Agents

Stephanie Chandler’s Ideas for Getting Book Reviews

ML Hamilton Talks About Crossing Genres

Pump It Up! Writing Workshop by Michele Drier

P

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