Admin, Author at Women's National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter

January 15 – 5 Tips to Win as a Writer in 2021

Goal-Setting Simplified

We have a brand new year to make things happen! Whoo hoo!

To get what you want, you need to know what you want. And then make a plan to achieve it.

Is this the year you get to finish your book? Find an agent? Get published? Or maybe you have other writing aspirations.

Whatever your goals, Debra Eckerling is here to help!

To set yourself – and your goals – up for success in 2021, join Debra Eckerling, founder of the D*E*B METHOD® and author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals, for a Lunch N Learn for the Women’s National Book Association – San Francisco Chapter, on January 15 at 12pm PT.

During this workshop, Deb will discuss how to:

Hone in on Your #GoalTopia
Create Your Mission & Motto
Map Out Long- and Short-Term Goals
Create Rules and Rewards
Set Yourself up for Success
And more

Title: Goal-Setting Simplified: 5 Tips to Win as a Writer in 2021
When: January 15, at 12pm PT

Where: Zoom (link provided via email when you register)

About the Book: One of the biggest reasons goals fail is that people often don’t put enough thought into what they really want before diving in. Your Goal Guide by Debra Eckerling starts with that first, crucial step: figuring out your goals and putting a plan in place. Eckerling presents readers with her own tested and proven method: the D*E*B METHOD®, a brainstorming and task-based system, which stands for: Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path. Through a combination of writing exercises and systems, Eckerling provides readers with a process for making and setting goals that is stress-free, easy-to-manage, and even fun.

Debra Eckerling is the author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals (Mango Publishing, January 2020), as well as the self-published Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog and Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages.
A goal coach, project catalyst, and founder of the D*E*B METHOD®, Debra works with individuals and businesses to set goals and manage their projects through one-on one coaching, workshops, and online support. Note: DEB stands for Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path. She is the founder of Write On Online, a live and online community for writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs, as well as host of the #GoalChat Twitter Chat (Sundays at 7pm PT) and the Guided Goals Podcast.

Holiday Storytelling for Children by Kate Farrell

By Admin

This holiday season many families will celebrate with relatives miles apart. Though we may gather online in group video conferencing calls, we won’t see one another face to face. Even if some live close by, many families will prefer to visit outdoors with safe and limited social distancing for a brief interaction or to exchange gifts.

This year, children might find the holidays strange and unsettling, but we can make this a holiday to remember with simple, creative, storytelling activities. Use the quality time we do have during the holidays to share stories, playful make-believe stories with puppets, or tell stories about the good old days when you were young.

PUPPET STORIES

Young children have their own stories to tell. When creating original stories, their unique imaginations will often communicate what they cannot say—if we listen. Providing a safe space and time for the children’s story making, not only develops oral language, it offers an insight into their own points of view: What characters and situations do they create in their make believe world?

You might guide them with a story starter, like “Once upon a time,” or “One day.” But once they begin their open-ended story, listen with acceptance and enjoyment. You might encourage them to continue by asking, “What happened next?” And they may need help ending the story with a stock phrase, such as “And that’s the way my story ends.”

Wooden spoon puppets can create holiday magic. You may think that wooden spoons are only for stirring gingerbread dough, but they can just as easily stir up a good folktale or creative drama. With a handful of inexpensive, wooden spoons and a selection of non-permanent color markers, decide on the characters needed to enact a favorite folktale, like “The Gingerbread Man,” “Three Little Pigs,” or “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Then draw the facial features and color the skin of the creature or character. Read the folktale over a few times for its basic action, but once the wooden spoons take off, the story might stir up a different kind of trouble in your children’s hands.

Create a series of stories using action figures, telling in tandem with your child. A special holiday gift this year might be action figures from a movie or TV series. Enter into the fun by pretending to be one of them and act out a story with your child.

For example, when my son was in pre-school, he became captivated by the wildly popular ad campaign of the California Raisins, based on a make-believe rhythm and blues band with the popular song, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The Raisins promoted a healthy snack in a series of Claymation TV commercials with fantastic, but hip adventures. We did have a few of their action figures and enjoyed eating raisins.

One night at bedtime, we started to tell original stories about the California Raisins getting into scrapes of one kind or another. The Raisins were definitely on the wild side: car chases, catching ghosts, and mountain climbing. My son and I would take turns trading Raisin episodes, some of them outrageous.

The same can be true for a favorite puppet. Ask the young child to describe the puppet’s personality, maybe its unique voice, or special powers. Give the puppet a name and ask it to tell its story. If there is another puppet, they could develop an action story together.

Tips for Telling: It’s important is to honor story characters your child finds interesting, whether they originate from a folktale, cartoon, or other media. Accepting the child’s imagination is one way to bridge the cultural gap between generations. Telling a fantasy story, back and forth, is a way for you to enter into your child or grandchild’s world as a co-creator.

YOUR CHILDHOOD HOLIDAY STORIES

Telling your own childhood memories can be among the most important stories you tell. Children love to hear about your adventures and how they turned out. It deepens the bond of shared experience, since the child identifies with you and is vicariously involved. He may ask you to tell certain stories again and again—a clue to how he/she most clearly connects with your life.

The personal story is excellent device for bridging generations and reaching out to other family members. Ask grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, caregivers, and siblings to participate.

Tips for Telling: Set aside a quiet time to reflect on a real life incident from your childhood. Close your eyes and pinpoint an age, perhaps the current age of your child or grandchild. Focus on a time during the holidays. As random images and fragments rise to the surface, choose one that is a real story with a beginning, middle, and end.

These questions might help trigger a memory:

What was your favorite holiday gift as a child?
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions and why?
What are some of the different places you have spent the holidays?
What do you like to eat the best during the holidays and why?
Did you have a holiday adventure?
What was the most memorable holiday in your childhood? What happened?

When you have found the story incident, live through it again and open your eyes. You may want to replay the event more than once. As you do, recollect all sense impressions vividly. Hear, see, smell, taste, feel all the sights, sounds, objects of your experience. Feel the emotions once more. Rehearse the dialogue. Find a quiet time to tell the story with a special setting or time of the day.

Make this a holiday to remember!

Kate Farrell, storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. Recently, Farrell presented workshops for adults on the art of storytelling at the San Francisco Public Library, Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Writers Conference. Kate is now offering virtual workshops for libraries and writing groups, as well as performing virtually as a storyteller.

Website: https://katefarrell.net/

Blog: https://storytellingforeveryone.net/

Pitch-O-Rama PLUS 2021!

By Admin

**** SOLD OUT ****

You’ve polished your manuscript, now polish your pitch! Pitch-o-rama, hosted annually by the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association is a great opportunity to not only practice your pitch with coaches and fellow writers, but also try that pitch on publishing professionals who can provide advice, direction, and next steps for your writing project.

On April 10, we will hold our second-ever virtual Pitch-O-Rama. We have learned a lot from last year to make it even better for you and are greatly expanding our great group of fiction editors, agents, and publishers. You gave excellent feedback last year, we listened and are excited to have fab new folks to hear your marvelous book ideas. Although this is the second year we have had a virtual Pitch-o-rama, we have been holding the Pitch-o-rama successfully for almost 20 years. The feedback we received for last year’s Pitch-o-rama was fantastic, most said they preferred pitching virtually for many reasons.

Join us for Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2021! Click here to see a full list of agents and publishers.

Saturday, April 10, 2021
8:00 am – 1:00 pm Pacific Time (San Francisco)

It’s Pitch-O-Rama PLUS – now Virtual!

Includes pre-pitch coaching.

Registration:
$65 WNBA members, $75 Non-members, Men Welcome!
Limited to the first 60 ticketed attendees.

Come join the fun – register here!

Pitch-O-Rama delivers the 4 Ps that lead to publication.

POLISH. You’ve polished your manuscript. Now polish your pitch with our pre-pitch coaches

PITCH. We’ve assembled top agents and publishers for all genres

PROMOTE. Power up with social media

PARTICIPATE in a Q&A Panel. Secrets to Successful Book Marketing

= PUBLICATION

Family Storytelling for the Holidays by Kate Farrell

By Admin

This year, more than ever, as we gather around a tree, table, or screen, we can comfort one another with fond memories—a gift of continuity and hope.

Often, however, the memories we share with family members are fragmented and fluid, without a clear purpose in their telling. We might ignore significant family stories from the past or neglect to add more recent experiences. Over time, family tales can become random, superficial—their meaning lost.

Yet our family stories, once shaped into memorable forms, can still be saved and passed down through the generations. Just as pre-literate tribes shared a common sense of identity, history, and values in their stories, so we can discover exciting, new ways to both preserve and create a family tradition of storytelling.

Family stories matter. Family stories directly impact how we see ourselves because they give us an idea of where we come from and where we’re going. Each family story is a pattern in a patchwork quilt of many colors and fabrics. Like the all the pieces in a multi-colored, homemade quilt, our family stories are a combination of the cultures, histories, and traditions we’ve inherited.

And just like an embracing quilt, our stories bring us comfort: They give us a sense of belonging and create a core identity that can be a great source of empowerment. Sharing family stories can give our children an emerging sense of self, both as individuals and as members of a family. Family members overall can enjoy higher self-esteem and greater resilience—because they are able to draw from a deep, ancestral identity and contribute to it.

If we don’t preserve our family legacy through its central narratives, we will lose it by default. Each generation will be defined by the mainstream media—and given a superficial group identity: boomers, millennials, Gen X or Z.

Family Folklore

Family folklore is a ragbag collection of true stories and traditions gathered from the remembered experiences of generations—past and present. It is transmitted through the art of storytelling, either in person or recorded. Storytelling is the main difference between family folklore and the study of genealogy or family history—those record data and information of the past. Family folklore is the age-old custom of passing down stories by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Since family folklore exists as part of the day-to-day life of a family, it is always changing and growing.

Family folklore is both traditional and evolving. It belongs to the entire family, to all the branches in the family tree, and everyone participates in it. Each generation forgets or changes the stories told by the previous generation and, at the same time, adds new stories and lore. In our modern times, with its rapid social and technological change, we might believe the previous generation lived in an entirely different historical era. Yet the lessons of their stories can have as much or greater value to the newer generations.

Collecting family folklore can be a daunting project that could require direct and wide-ranging family engagement. To be practical, you might want to collect, frame, and tell stories from limited sources to share with your closest family members. Even so, preserving past stories is only half the picture. You’ll need to keep your eyes, ears, and mind open to record the stories and lore as they are unfolding.

New traditions are as valid as those that existed for generations. So, even if your focus is just your branch of the family tree, and limited to those family members who live nearby, you’ll need to develop a manageable approach: how to organize lore from the past as well as new traditions and stories from an ever-changing present.

As you reflect on your own family memories and how to retrieve them as stories, you’ll increase your ability to recall them in greater detail. You’ll develop a sense of remembered place and people, enhanced sensory images, and clarity of dialogue. Once you connect to the story making process, you’ll be more able to guide other family members in interviews and recordings.

Unavoidably, you’ll develop your unique point of view, your historical perspective of family events. But be aware that your impressions are only the starting point. Family members can often have an entirely different take on the same event and widely divergent opinions of a family member. Invite members to tell their versions.

Nevertheless, continue to begin with your own memories and refine them in an ongoing process:

Stretch your family memories into past decades
Open your mind to new perspectives
Test your information or interview relatives to verify
Identify your gaps in information
Collect new generational stories
Become aware of new traditions today

Make this a holiday season to remember!

Website: https://katefarrell.net/

Blog: https://storytellingforeveryone.net/

Join or Renew: The WNBA-SF Has Your Back!

By Admin

Join or Renew Membership today for Awesome Benefits!

Agents have told us that writers who belong to organizations like WNBA are more attractive because they demonstrate a commitment to the literary community.

So if you’re a writer trying to get published, joining WNBA-SF Chapter makes you more attractive to agents!
If you’re not a writer, but a lover of the written word, joining WNBA makes you more interesting because you become part of a community of amazing women who are writers, editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, librarians, publicists, bloggers and more!
As a member of WNBA-SF Chapter, you can meet some of your favorite authors and get to know women who are on the cusp of being published and will soon join that list of your favorites! You’ll have interesting discussions about beautiful writing, share the challenges of finding an agent, learn about the current state of publishing and get tips on how to promote a self-published book, or how to pick the right read for a book club.
Joining WNBA-SF Chapter really does make you more attractive and interesting!

NOW is the time to join (or renew if you are already a member) so that you can take advantage of these great benefits:

Meet publishing professionals face to face at WNBA mixers, readings, writers’ conferences, educational events and at our successful Pitch-O-Rama where many local authors met agents that led to publishing contracts!
Promote your book or business: For $30/year a published author or publishing professional member can have two book covers or logos on the WNBA/National home page and link to their business blog and website.
If you use @WNBA National, the national organization will often favor or re-tweet your tweets, increasing your following.
As WNBA member, you are eligible to submit an article for consideration in the Bookwoman – the national newsletter that goes to all 11 chapters and every member. And you can list your recent news in Member News.
Link your blog or website to the SF chapter. Attend as many in person meetings and events as possible to get to know people. Then there’s a good chance that you will make some really great connections.
Having WNBA on your resume is a plus, as it has helped many women move their careers forward, and agents like to see that you are part of the local literary community.
Discounts on WNBA events such as Pitch-O-Rama and opportunities to participate as a volunteer at the San Francisco Writers’ Conference and San Francisco Writing For Change and showcase your book at local book festivals and bookstores.
Ability to promote and sell your book or expertise at specified events.
Teach a class or present your book at one of our events in 2021 for fantastic visibility to the public.
Participate in our Reading Group or Litquake readings or book fairs (when we get to congregate again!).
Great way to network!!!!

The Power of the “To Write” List: List-Making as a Writing Prompt Tool

By Admin

by Nita Sweeney, award-winning author of Depression Hates a Moving Target and coauthor of You Should Be Writing

You’ve heard of the “To Do” list, but what about the “To Write” list? It can be a powerful tool in your writing kit.

• The Back of the Writing Journal

I learned about “To Write” lists from best-selling author Natalie Goldberg, of Writing Down the Bones fame. As I sat in the classroom at Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico, I watched her pick up her writing journal, flip to the back, and show us a list of scrawled topics she’d penned on the final page. She carried a notebook everywhere and jotted ideas on the back page as they occurred to her. “If I’m stuck, I look at these,” she said.

While I’d read about these lists in Natalie’s books, to see the real thing left quite an impression.

I began to do as she did and still carry a notebook at all times. When I’m at a loss for a writing topic, I flip to the back, pick one, and go!

• List-Making Exercises

But what really stuck with me were the list-making exercises Natalie led.

In her strong Brooklyn accent, Nat might say, “Tell me every lunch you’ve ever eaten. Ten minutes. Go!” Off we would jump, deep into the pages of our writing journals, pens flying as we wrote about chicken cordon bleu, pasta primavera, and French fries with ketchup.

To the fiction writers, she suggested writing these lists from the point of view of a character. “Tell me everything Hester Prynne ever ate.”

The topics Natalie offered varied, but here are a few of my favorites:

The things I carry (a spin-off from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien).
Write the name of every place you’ve ever been
List every member of your family
Make a list of everyone you’ve ever met
Write the names of all your pets
Describe every car you’ve ever owned and tell what happened to it
Write a list of every home in which you have lived
List all your loves
Tell me everything you know about the color blue (or the sky or a rock)

• Now Dive!

In the next writing session, Natalie would ask us to choose one thing from our list and drop into that.

“Go as deep as you can,” she would say, reminding us that specificity and sensory detail is key to painting a picture in the reader’s mind.

• Be Flexible

When you begin, you might fill your allotted writing time with the list itself. But as you grow more comfortable with the list-making process, you might allow your mind to naturally land on one thing, perhaps related to your current project, and delve into that. Either method works.

• Priming the Pump

The point of these exercises is to bypass the anxiety many writers face. Call it writer’s block or procrastination or sheer terror. Regardless of the name, the solution is the same—get the pen moving.

Making a list tricks that part of the mind that fears writing is too complicated or exhausting into just starting. It primes the pump. You begin by jotting down “Fido, Rover, and Spot,” and before your brain has time to panic, you’re writing about how your mother carried three black and white rat terrier puppies in a wicker basket around your family farm.

• Other Benefits

Even if you don’t face the dreaded writing paralysis, list-making can help you access new material or provide insight on subjects you thought you had already covered in detail. Any new angle to enter the mind will prove useful.

Do you use “To Write” lists? I’d love to hear how they work for you!

An earlier version of this post appeared on Nita’s blog, Bum Glue.

Nita Sweeney is co-author with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration and Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving. Nita’s running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, won the Dog Writers Association of America Award in the Human/Animal Bond and was short-listed for the William Faulkner—William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award. Nita’s articles, essays, and poetry have appeared in many magazines, journals, books, and blogs. She writes her own blog, Bum Glue, publishes the monthly e-newsletter, Write Now Columbus, and coaches creatives on writing and meditation in Natalie Goldberg style “writing practice.” Nita has been featured widely across media outlets about writing, running, meditation, mental health, and pet care. When she’s not writing or coaching, Nita runs and races. She has completed three full marathons, twenty-seven half marathons (in eighteen states), and more than one hundred shorter races. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and biggest fan, Ed, and their yellow Labrador running partner, Scarlet, the #ninetyninepercentgooddog. You can contact Nita via her website or follow her on your favorite social media channel.

Autumnal 2020 WNBA-SF Chapter Member News

By Admin

We are so proud of our members and what amazing work they bring to the [crazy/unbelievable/who wrote THIS?] world.

cover image for Bend in the Circle Suzanne Pederson released Bend in the Circle in October 2020. A women’s fiction/contemporary romance about an American military couple in Germany who navigate the aftermath of rape in the 1980s.

Jennifer Griffith launched her podcast, About Your Mother, that explores the influence our mothers have on the trajectory of our lives.

https://www.byjennifergriffith.com/about-your-mother-podcast/

Vanessa MacLaren-Wray, author of All That Was Asked, discussed “Who Will Own Space?” in a panel at the November 7th BayCon miniCon.

Jill Bronfman’s poetry and photography is featured in a new book, The Very Edge, https://www.amazon.com/Very-Edge-Polly-Alice-McCann/dp/1970151234.

On November 30, Sheryl Bize-Boutte reads her story, “The Last Collard Green” for Colossus: Home Anthology; benefit for Oakland’s MOMS4Housing

Her debut novel, Betrayal on the Bayou was reviewed by Story Circle Network as

“This is a book to read, to re-read, to take into your heart, and to always remember…”

November 19 is the official launch date for Marylee MacDonald’s SURRENDER, a memoir of nature, nurture, and love. For fans of Philomena and The Girls Who Went Away.

WNBA-SF past president Kate Farrell is teaching a virtual two-part storytelling workshop at the Mechanics Institute, February 27 and March 6, 10:30 am – Noon. Registration limited.

https://www.milibrary.org/events/stories-pandemic-storytelling-workshop-two-parts-feb-27-2021

Joan Frank’s new novel, The Outlook for Earthlings, has just been published by Regal House Publishing. Watch her recent Zoom launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCBxmAnHIpQ

R. Read released a new book titled How to Save a Life: Answer the Call. Available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Save-Life-Answer-Call/dp/B08H6RWCCJ.

With members achieving so much, don’t forget to support your fellow WNBA-SF peers and purchase one of their books. Connect with the author via social media and review their work.

While this time of year can be a period of reading, reflection, and promoting your work, it is also a great time to plan for the New Year. What events will you be attending? What writing goals do you have? Will you be starting a new manuscript?

As you begin to plan for a strong finish to the year, keep in mind the WNBA-SF can help you to achieve your goals.

Enjoy the fall and best of luck to you in the New Year!

Friday Dec 18 – Brave Women: Revelatory Memoirs

By Admin

A Conversation with Marlena Fiol and Nita Sweeney

Friday, December 18, 2020 at 12:00 Pacific

How do we overcome life’s challenges? What prompts us to initiate change? And what makes some of us choose to reveal all of this in writing?

In each of their memoirs, authors Marlena Fiol and Nita Sweeney speak candidly about depression, childhood abuse, parenting issues, and inequality, and the transformation each experienced in facing these difficulties.

Join these two authors for a conversation about what motivated them to take the initial steps that led to overcoming these challenges, and a discussion of other brave women who have risen up despite seemingly “invincible” life barriers.

The two will also discuss writing memoir, why they chose to reveal themselves so fully in their writing, and the impact that vulnerability has had on their lives.

Bios:

As a consultant and professor of strategic management, Marlena Fiol, PhD, has guided her students and clients in visualizing their dreams and bringing them to reality. Over half of her 85 published articles and books relate to identity and identity change. Today, as a blogger, essayist, novelist and memoirist, Fiol is still engaged in a similar mission. Every blog, essay, book or workshop provides an opportunity to explore who we are and what’s possible in our lives. Her new book Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary’s Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness (to be released by Mango Publishing on 10/27/20) is a vulnerable and inspirational tale of personal transformation. She was raised in Paraguay on a leprosy station, and today lives with her husband Ed in Eugene, Oregon.

Nita Sweeney is the award-winning author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and coauthor of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing. Nita coaches creatives in writing and meditation, blogs at Bum Glue, and publishes the monthly email newsletter, Write Now Columbus. She lives in central Ohio with her husband Ed, and their yellow Labrador retriever, Scarlet.

Where: Zoom –Zoom (link provided via email when you register)

Wednesday Dec 9 – Holiday Storytelling Fest!

By Admin

Holiday Storytelling Fest!
Wednesday, Dec. 9th, 6:00 – 7:00 pm PST

FREE – Bring your own drinks and snacks

Join WNBA-SF Chapter in a virtual storytelling fest to celebrate the holidays as only book women can! We will share jolly, charming personal stories to make up for live holiday parties and family gatherings.

After a few presenters model their holiday stories, we’ll open it up to our virtual audience—that’s you! We want to encourage the sharing of stories during the holidays with friends and family, and provide basic techniques to enhance our skills.

We have invited contributors to Story Power who are also WNBA members as presenters in an informal, roundtable sharing of stories. Welcome to the table!

Kate Farrell is our host and facilitator. Kate is a storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. Farrell has presented workshops for adults on the art of storytelling at the San Francisco Public Library, Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Writers Conference. She is now offering virtual workshops for libraries and writing groups, as well as performing virtually as a storyteller.
Website: https://katefarrell.net/ Blog: https://storytellingforeveryone.net/

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is a Pushcart Prize nominated author who has been described as a “Talented multidisciplinary writer whose works artfully succeed in getting across deeper meanings about life and the politics of race and economics without breaking out of the narrative.” Based in Oakland, California, the diverse bay-side city often serves as the backdrop for her always touching and frequently hilarious works. Reviewers praised her first book, A Dollar Five-Stories from A Baby Boomer’s Ongoing Journey calling it “rich in vivid imagery”, and “incredible.” Her second book, All That and More’s Wedding, is a collection of fictional mystery/crime short stories. Running for the 2:10, a follow-on to A Dollar Five delved deeper into her coming of age in Oakland and the embedded issues of race and skin color. She is a contributor to award-winning author Kate Farrell’s book Story Power. Betrayal on the Bayou, published June 2020, is her first novel. Website: https://www.sheryljbize-boutte.com/

Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, speaker and Afghanistan Cultural Consultant. Humaira opens the world to Afghan culture and cuisine through her wildly popular blog, Afghan Culture Unveiled. She shares the wonders of Afghanistan through stories of rich culture, delicious food and her family’s traditions. Humaira is a member of Women’s National Book Association, the MENA Theatre Mares Alliance Network, and a reader for the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She’s currently working on her first novel, Unraveling Lives, which is set in San Francisco and Afghanistan. Humaira’s writing has been published in Encore Magazine, Mataluna: A book of 152 Afghan Pashto Proverbs, and the Medium. Humaira is a contributor to Story Power, sharing her tips on writing and a family story. Website: www.humairaghilzai.com FB: @afghancultureunviled

Mary Mackey is an award-winning novelist and poet with fourteen novels including The Village of Bones, which won a 2018 CIIS Women’s Spirituality Book Award from the Department of Diversity and Inclusion; The Year The Horses Came; and A Grand Passion, that was translated into 12 foreign languages and made the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle’s best seller lists. Mackey is the author of eight collections of poetry including Sugar Zone, which won the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, which won the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for the Best Book Published by a Small Press. Mary became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, dodging machine gun fire, being swarmed by army ants, making catastrophic decisions about men, and reading. Website: https://marymackey.com/

Other WNBA contributors to Story Power also invited to tell in the roundtable sharing, include: Ellen McBarnette, Beatrice Bowles, Joan Gelfand, Bev Scott.

Bring your favorite holiday drink and a 3-minute holiday story to share!

Where: Zoom –Zoom (link provided via email when you register)

Saturday, December 12- Comfort and Joy: WNBA-SF Holiday Mixer

By Admin

Saturday, December 12
5:00-7:00 PM
Zoom link provided upon registration

The holidays are right around the corner and our most fervent wish for you is a very healthy and happy season. This year has been one for the record books but we have been gladdened that, in many ways, 2020 knit us closer together as a community.

We have enjoyed excellent Zoom events with our talented members and publishing pros in our circle as well as pulling off our first-ever virtual Pitch-O-Rama which was complicated but thrilling in that it brought so many writers closer to their book publishing dreams and even resulted in a few deals!

We are grateful for all of you and hope you can join us for some comfort and joy and a good deal of relaxing fun. We will have holiday games, and also create breakout rooms for conversations with fellow members and friends.

It’s a MIXER, so share this post to bring a literary friend or two to join the virtual fun. We appreciate our members! We’d love for you to join us so we can hear your about how this most challenging of years went for you, and your hopes for the new year to come.

Holiday Donation: We are organizing a donation to children and family who lost all their books
in the fire. Contact us to receive an address to send your book donations. We especially welcome children’s books for underserved kids.

UPDATE! Contest Prizes: We will have a contest for the most literary libation you can sip in style at the mixer. The top three cocktails will win $100. Merry mixology!

Cheer: While I think we can all agree that this is the strangest year ever, we still have each other! Let’s toast each other, the holidays, our chapter, and a brighter future in the coming New Year!

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