wnba-sfchapter.org

The Women’s National Book Association

San Francisco Chapter

invites you to join us as we

welcome our featured speaker

·

Christine Comaford-Lynch

·

“How I Made My Book a Bestseller”

Tues., Dec. 2, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Sinbad’s Pier 2 Restaurant, San Francisco

(www.sinbadsrestaurant.com)

$20 WNBA-SF members/$25 guests

No Host Bar, hors d’oeuvres

RSVP by Nov. 23 at www-wnba-sfchapter.org

Bill Gates calls her “super high bandwidth.” Bill Clinton has thanked her for “fostering American entrepreneurship.” Newsweek says “by reputation, Christine is the person you want to partner with.”

Christine has led many lives: Buddhist monk, Microsoft engineer, geisha trainee, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Her triumphs and disasters are revealed in her New York Times bestselling business book: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality. In 2007 Rules for Renegades was ranked #2 on the New York Times Hardcover Advice/How To list, #2 on the Wall Street Journal Business list, #1 on the USA Today Business list, and #1 on Amazon.com overall! The author’s book will be available for sale (and signing) at this event.

The Women’s National Book Association, founded in 1917, is a national organization of women and men who work with and value books. An all-volunteer organization with nine chapters nationwide, WNBA promotes reading and the role of women in the book community. To learn more about WNBA-SF please go to www.wnba-sfchapter.org.

The event is $20 for WNBA-SF members; $25 for non-members. RSVP by Nov. 23 at www.wnba-sfchapter.org. You may pay fees on line at www.wnba-sfchapter.org, or mail fees to WNBA-SF Chapter, 4061 E. Castro Valley Blvd #193, Castro Valley, CA 94552. For questions, or more information please contact hospitality@wnba-sfchapter.org.

Whether you consider yourself a renegade or not, join us and learn!

November 16th, 2008 | Category: Women's National Book Association | Leave a comment

Nina Amir is a seasoned journalist, nonfiction editor, author, consultant, and writing coach with almost 30 years of experience in the publishing field. She has edited or written for more than 45 publications, and her essays have been published in five anthologies and can be found in numerous e-zines and Internet article directories. One of her client’s books
was self-published and then purchased and re-released verbatim by Simon & Schuster and another won the 1998 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Award (Inspirational category) and has sold over 100,000 copies to date. She also is the founder of Write Nonfiction in November.

www.purespiritcreations.com/wordpress/

November 11th, 2008 | Tags: amy tan, Award, kathi kamen goldmark, WNBA | Category: San Francisco Chapter, WNBA Awards, Women's National Book Association | Comments (2)

A resounding success is the only way to sum up the Philippa Gregory author event that we, WNBA-SF, sponsored at Book Passage in Corte Madera last evening. Philippa delivered a passionate, unique, and interesting view of Mary, Queen of Scots (The Other Queen), complete with audio-visual. The enthusiastic gathering of over 90 admiring fans loved her. They were generous with their praise for Philippa and for WNBA-SF’s fine reception-wine and bubbly water flowed, delicious cheeses and dips were consumed, and crumbs were all that remained of a tasty cake.

We do good things! Recently joining WNBA-SF is proving to be one of the best things I’ve done in this realm of all things books. It’s great to play a role in cheering others on in their writing pursuits, honoring those authors who have made or are making their marks, and celebrating reading in general-October is National Reading Group Month.

The talented and hard working members of our chapter are fun to be around, smart, and interesting. This is a terrific group of people have already allowed me to feel the effects of their whole-hearted support for my writing. Thanks, everyone for making me feel so welcome and for putting me to work.

Lynn Henriksen

October 19th, 2008 | Category: Women's National Book Association | Comments (2)

National Reading Group Month

Oct 16–
WNBA National Reading Group Month event!
Featuring Phillipa Gregory, author of “The Other Boleyn Girl” and her book “The Other Queen” at Book Passage in Corte Medera.

Philippa Gregory talks about The Other Queen ($25.95). Gregory presents a unique view of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captive years in Elizabethan England. Gregory uses new research and her passion for historical accuracy in a tale filled with suspense, passion, and political intrigue. Gregory is the author of The Other Boleyn Girl. This event includes an audio-visual presentation. Reception hosted by Women’s National Book Association at 6:30 pm.

Join us at 6:30 for time with Phillipa Gregory and a reception.
Wine and cheese and then after Phillipa shares, we will be serving some cake and good company!
2 DVD’s of the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” and autographed copy of the book
will be given as doorprizes.

Phillipa Gregory will discuss her new book

Corte Madera Store
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960
(800) 999-7909
Fax (415) 924-3838
Café (415) 927-1503

October 3rd, 2008 | Tags: Book Passage, National Reading Group Month, Phillipa Gregory, Reading and Reception, The Other Queen, WNBA-SF, Women's National Book Association | Category: National Reading Group Month, Readings, San Francisco Chapter, Upcoming Events, WNBA-SF Spotlight Author, Women's National Book Association | Leave a comment

October 3rd, 2008 | Tags: litquake, san francisco events, WNBA-SF, Women's National Book Association | Category: San Francisco Chapter, Upcoming Events, WNBA-Writers, Women's National Book Association | Leave a comment

“The Long and the Short of Writing and Editing an Award-Winning Novel”

Recently, WNBA-SF members Alice Wilson-Fried and Laurel Anne Hill were the program speakers at the California Writer’s Club Peninsula Branch meeting I attended and their presentation was outstanding. The material was incredibly informative about their individual paths to publication, but their delivery was professional as well as fresh and entertaining. I must admit that when Laurel passed around a bright red boat anchor I was more than puzzled about how this would fit into the presentation. She kept us guessing until the very last five minutes when she explained that she used it as an exercise on how to describe your characters with human characteristics whether they are inanimate objects, or extra terrestrials. Alice’s gift for story telling was very apparent when she was talking about the difference between preaching and teaching. Congratulations to both of them on a job well done! I can’t wait until we can have them bring their expertise to a WNBA-SF program.  Oh, by the way - Alice’s path to publication was seven years and Laurel’s was seven months. We can learn a great deal from these award winning writers! I look forward to hearing more from them soon.

Mary E. Knippel

co-president, WNBA-SF

member, California Writer’s Club

September 29th, 2008 | Category: WNBA-Writers | Leave a comment

Serving the Women’s Book Community

When Carolina Loren read a novel about a woman who survived for three weeks by hiding in a bathroom during the Rwandan massacre she wondered why no one had heard about this powerful book. The idea for creating a cooperative marketing program for women authors began to come into focus for Loren over the next year. Now, after competing with over 2,000 other women business owners, she will launch Booksbywomenforwomen.com at the Maria Shriver Conference for Women on Oct. 21st in Long Beach. Carolina found me through her coach who urged her to align BBWFW with WNBA. Generously, Carolina has agreed to feature my book at her launch. The conference is sold out - 21,000 women will attend!
Joan Gelfand National President WNBA

September 11th, 2008 | Tags: Empowering women across the board | Category: Women's National Book Association, Women's forums and support | Comments (1)

I work on websites, blogs and all things computer all day.
This can be such drudgery at times.
Like today when I viewed our WNBA blog using Internet Explorer.
I discovered I could not see the entire right side of this blog layout.
This is just one of many problems with Internet Explorer as a browser.
You may be asking, what exactly is a browser anyway?

A browser is a just a program that allows you to view the web.

It is like a telescope or a pair of glasses. It is simply your viewfinder.

Many people think their browser is their computer system.

It isn’t. Windows XP or Vista or Mac’s OS is your operating system.
Internet Explorer comes as the default browser with your PC.
The browser you use is up to you.

You cannot uninstall IE, so if you want to use it for some reason it will still be there.
Over the years Internet Explorer has been proven to be full of security holes and
many viruses and slow downs happen because of IE.
I recommend that you install Mozilla Firefox your PC.
Firefox is very user friendly , displays websites much better and is much more secure.

When you install Firefox, it will ask you if you want to import your settings
from IE—say yes and you will keep all your bookmarks and favorites in
your new browser!
Safe download of Firefox here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Join the millions of people who safely surf the web using Firefox.

Linda Lee
askmepc-webdesign.com

September 9th, 2008 | Tags: better browser, browser, faster browser, firefox, IE, mozilla firefox, safe browser, Technology, Tips, Tools | Category: Technology Tips/Tools | Leave a comment

Author Spotlight- Patti Breitman

When did you start writing?
In 1988, when the AIDS epidemic was making headlines, and major magazines were hailing condoms as the solution, I kept yelling at the magazine articles, “Nobody wants to wear a condom!” So I wrote my first book, about why and how to persuade your lover to use a condom. The persusasive arguments are still valid, but the statistics, sadly, are out of date. And the book is out of print now, too.

Why did you choose your particular genre?
I have always worked with prescriptive nonfiction, first as a publicist, then as an editor and finally as an agent. Many of these books had a huge, positive influence in my life and I hoped that mine might influence others for the better as well.

What inspired you to choose your subject matter?
The condom book was inspired by the headlines of the time. My next project, How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty, was the answer to a question my co-author Connie Hatch and I had been playing with: What did we wish we had known when we were in our twenties and thirties that we finally knew in our forties. My new book is a response to people who enjoy vegetarian meals when they eat in restaurants or when I prepare them, but who say, “I’d eat this way more often if only it didn’t take so much time.” I set out with my co-author, Carol J. Adams, to show that it does not take so much time to prepare delicious and nutritious food from the plant kingdom.

How difficult/easy has your experience been as a published writer?
Having co-authors has made the writing process a delight for me. I work alone most of the time, and I love the collaborative process of creating a book. The hardest part for me is to think organizationally. My co-authors have always been good at organizing the books and brainstorming the best ways to communicate the information. Also, they have been very good writers, and that has made the books accessible and fun to read.

What advice would you give other aspiring authors?
Don’t let the nuts and bolts of getting the book published in the way of the writing. Write the best book proposal you can, and then focus on finding the best agent for the book.

Anything else you would like to share with the WNBA?
I would like to thank the WNBA for its steadfast focus on books and reading. As the industry changes and even what we call a book is redefined to include electronic formats, the WNBA keeps reading front and center and celebrates books with robust enthusiasm. It has been a pleasure to be a member.

Would like to be featured as our Author Spotlight?

Please email our newsletter editor, Sara Cassella
newsletter-@-wnba-sfchapter.org.

September 8th, 2008 | Tags: WNBA-Sf Author Spotlight | Category: WNBA-SF Spotlight Author, WNBA-Writers, Women's National Book Association | Leave a comment