BOOKTALK! Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Women's National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter

Join Us for the Holiday Storytelling Fest & Early Bird Special for Pitch-O-Rama 2025

Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2025
Saturday, April 5, 2025
8AM to 1 PM PDT
SIGN UP HERE
Zoom link provided upon registration

Are you developing a concept for a new book? Do you have a manuscript in progress? Have you always wanted to publish that book you’ve been working on for years? If this sounds like you, we would love to invite you to Pitch-O-Rama 2025!

We are happy to announce we will be hosting the next Pitch-O-Rama as a virtual event on April 5th, 2025, where writers will be given the opportunity to pitch their works to agents and editors for publication.

Everyone is welcome to participate!

Register below to pitch your book idea to agents and publishers!

New to Pitch-O-Rama? Pitch-O-Rama is an annual event where we bring in a set of publishing professionals to share their knowledge of the publishing industry. During the event, you will be able to practice your pitch with coaches and fellow writers, and then share that pitch with an expert who will provide advice on taking your writing project to the next level.

A chance like this is an invaluable learning experience that could put you on the path to publication. We hope to see you there!

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

Holiday Storytelling Fest: True Stories of Grace and Gratitude
Thursday, November 21, 2024
5pm – 6pm PT
SIGN UP HERE
Zoom link provided upon registration

All are welcome to the WNBA-SF Chapter’s virtual storytelling fest to celebrate the holidays as only book women writers can! Five brilliant, talented writers will share their personal stories of grace and gratitude to bring us cheer during this wonderful season of thanksgiving and joy.

After our five presenters tell their true 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 in the spirit of deep gratitude this year.

Celebrate with us in sharing joy and gratitude with stories for the holidays. Bring a glass of wine or cup of tea and gather ‘round our virtual fire. Bring a friend!

Featured storytellers include Karen Wang Diggs, Kate Farrell, Mary Mackey, Ellen McBarnette, and Sheila Smith McKoy!

To register, please visit the event page!

You’re Invited! Post-Election Call for Community with Poetry

By Admin

Social Justice Poetry
Thursday, November 14, 2024
12pm – 1pm PT
SIGN UP HERE
Zoom link provided upon registration

Poetry gets at the truth more so than any other form of the written and spoken word. And, of course, it is those poetic truth-tellers who help us see and hear what is so often hidden from us and what we must know. This event is timed and designed to be on the other side of the election, after what is likely to be a brutal political season, when we will need social justice poets and their vital truths, more than ever. Hope you can join us for this special night of community!

Featuring poetry by Zoë Flowers, Christopher Marmolejo, Granddaughter Crow (Dr. Joy Gray), and Joan Gelfand!

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

Join Us! Early Bird Special for Pitch-O-Rama 2025 & Upcoming November Events

By Admin

Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2025
Saturday, April 5, 2025
8AM to 1 PM PDT
SIGN UP HERE
Zoom link provided upon registration

Everyone is welcome to participate!

Register below to pitch your book idea to agents and publishers!

A chance like this is an invaluable learning experience that could put you on the path to publication. We hope to see you there!

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

Social Justice Poetry Event
Thursday, November 14, 2024
12pm – 1pm PT
Zoom link provided upon registration

Featuring poetry by Zoë Flowers, Christopher Marmalejo, Granddaughter Crow (Dr. Joy Gray), and Joan Gelfand!

To register, please visit the event page!

Holiday Storytelling Fest: True Stories of Grace and Gratitude
Thursday, November 21, 2024
5pm – 6pm PT
Zoom link provided upon registration

Celebrate with us in sharing joy and gratitude with stories for the holidays. Bring a glass of wine or cup of tea and gather ‘round our virtual fire. Bring a friend!

Featured storytellers include Karen Wang Diggs, Kate Farrell, Mary Mackey, Ellen McBarnette, and Sheila Smith McKoy!

To register, please visit the event page!

You’re Invited! Early Bird Discount for Pitch-O-Rama 2025 & Other Fabulous Fall Events

By Admin

Virtual Pitch-O-Rama 2025
Saturday, April 5, 2025
8AM to 1 PM PDT
SIGN UP HERE
Zoom link provided upon registration

Everyone is welcome to participate!

Register below to pitch your book idea to agents and publishers!

A chance like this is an invaluable learning experience that could put you on the path to publication. We hope to see you there!

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

Stranger Fiction: The Art of Crafting Speculative Fiction and World-Building With Words
Thursday, September 12, 2024
6-7:30PM PDT
Mechanics’ Institute Library
57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
4th Floor, Chess Room

The Women’s National Book Association San Francisco Chapter is thrilled to present this exciting member panel at the Mechanics Institute Library! As our home planet Earth grows ever hotter, crowded and more polluted, we look to other realms for new hope and relief from our terran concerns. Thankfully, brilliant minds and bold thinkers have already created places and spaces to which we can journey in books and take armchair travels to new worlds beyond our wildest imagining. These creative writers—Ellen McBarnette, Mary Mackey, Sheila Smith McKoy, and Vanessa MacLaren-Wray—will discuss their craft and the art of world-building through fiction.

To register, please visit the event page!

Cooking & Food Writing Panel
Thursday, September 19, 2024
12 to 1 PM PDT
Zoom link provided upon registration

Join WNBA-San Francisco for an upcoming food and cookbook writing panel, where writers/podcasters/food professionals will delve into the art of blending culinary expertise with captivating storytelling. This includes articles, cookbooks, and social media.

During this Lunch N Learn, you will:

Explore how to craft irresistible recipes that resonate with audiences online
Gain valuable tips on creating engaging content that goes beyond the plate
Make new food-loving friends

Whether you’re an aspiring writer, seasoned chef, or food enthusiast, this virtual event is your gateway to the intersection of food, writing, and social media. Join us and our panel—Katie Chin, Dianne Jacob, Faith Kramer, and Amy Kritzer Becker.

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

How to Get a Book Deal
Thursday, September 26, 2024
12 to 1 PM PDT
Zoom link provided upon registration

GET A BOOK DEAL WITH A PUBLISHER
There’s the book you want to write and the book a publisher – and readers – will buy: Are they the same book?

Literary agents receive 1500+ manuscripts a month. Publishers receive 10,000+ manuscripts a year. If you want to get a publishing deal and more readers, you’ve got to know what publishers (and readers) buy and how to make your book stand out from the pack.

Publishing coach, Randy Peyser, pitches books to agents and publishers after her company edits or ghostwrites them through her company, Author One Stop, Inc.
(www.AuthorOneStop.com)

Randy will tell you exactly what you need to know to get an agent or publisher to offer you a contract.

You will find out:

What topics are hot and what’s not.
The most essential sales tool you need in order to sell a manuscript to a publisher.
The quickest way to get an agent or publisher to stop in their tracks.
The 1 thing to absolutely not do if you are serious about getting a publishing contract.
How to get cover endorsements when you don’t know anybody who’s famous.
The biggest mistakes authors make.
The things you absolutely must do to make your book stand out.
Details about your writing that publishers always look for.
The biggest questions publishers ask before they make a buying decision.
How to title your book to maximize your sales potential
The pros and cons of traditional publishing versus self-publishing
Converting a book to a screenplay that actually gets considered

To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!

Writing Brings Comfort While Grieving: A Letter to My Mother

By Admin

by Emily Thiroux Threatt

My Parents were married on Mother’s Day 80 years ago, so my thoughts keep drifting toward them. I facilitate The Grief and Happiness Alliance gatherings every week where we get together on Zoom, do some writing and sharing and learn happiness practices, and one of their favorite exercises is to write letters, so I decided to write a letter to my Mother in celebration of her wedding and anniversary. I haven’t written a letter like this to my Mother before, and there are so many things I could say. I’ve been thinking about ideas to focus on. Here are a few:

I could pick out a few memories and reminisce with her, like the time when we were cleaning out her garage together, we found her mother’s love letters to her first husband who died young.
Or how when I was writing my book, she would sit in a chair behind me so she could watch me write over my shoulder. She was fascinated by my computer which was a new thing at that time.
Or how we shopped together to buy blue sotted Swiss fabric for my bridesmaid’s dresses, then we shopped together again to buy the ivory raw silk for my daughter’s wedding dress. And how I made all those dresses.
I could write to her about how I discovered how much she must have loved me as a baby when I was rocking my infant son in the middle of the night feeling overwhelmed by my love for him, She wasn’t one to express emotions, but at that moment, I knew how she must have felt when she held me.
I could thank her for what she did for me throughout my life remembering how hard she worked to help me get into college, and how hard it must have been to let her 18-year-old daughter to move so far away.
Or I could write about how she let my best friend move into my bedroom when her new husband was sent off to Vietnam.
And I would write for sure to tell her how grateful I am that she chose to come live with us during her last year and all the amazing adventures we had during that precious time.

I could write a whole book about her. I only wish I would have talked to her about so many things while I still could. We didn’t communicate well, and I am sure that’s one of the reasons I became a writer. I want to leave nothing left unsaid. In our writing group, after we write a letter to a loved one, we take a breath, then we write another letter from our loved ones back to us. When I wrote that letter to my Mom, I wrote a letter from her back to me. These letters aren’t planned. We just let whatever comes to us to flow out on to the page. We have received beautiful, meaningful answers.

I’m sure we could debate on where these answers come from; however, what matters most is the peace and joy those responses bring.

I encourage you today to write a letter to your mother, or maybe your grandmother. You may want to write it in your journal or find a special place to save what you write. Then you can go back and read it when you can use some mom time. And if your mom is still here, be sure to put that letter in the mail.

After the deaths of two husbands, as well as the many family members and friends, Emily Thiroux Threatt has much experience in the grieving process and has learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy.

Her books include Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief and The Grief and Happiness Handbook. She created The Grief and Happiness Cards and is the host of Grief and Happiness Podcast. She also hosts weekly online gatherings of the Grief and Happiness Alliance where people dealing with loss write together and learn happiness practices.

The Why Behind the Words: Discovering Purpose in Your Writing Journey

By Admin

by Christina Vo

There are countless reasons why people write. Some individuals know from a very early age that they are destined to be writers. Others, like myself, might arrive at writing later in life, and not necessarily because we dreamed of becoming published authors. For me, writing was a way of understanding myself, the world around me, and my relationships with others. In my younger years, journaling in the morning became a method to grasp the thoughts and emotions swirling in my mind.

I believe it’s crucial for people to understand and reflect on why they write. If you’re determined to become a published author with one of the big five publishers, that’s an admirable and worthwhile goal. However, you might fall into another category where you enjoy writing but weren’t formally trained. Perhaps you used writing as a life tool and later decided to publish some of your works. Whatever your reason for writing, it’s important to remember that ‘why’ and let it be a guiding principle as you delve deeper into your craft.

For those like me, it’s also vital to understand that some of the rewards of writing are not solely external (e.g., publishing in a prestigious journal or securing a great book deal). Many rewards are internal, and these lessons are invaluable.

Let me share a personal example. Earlier this year, I published a book, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam, co-written with my father. It’s a dual-perspective memoir about Vietnam, with chapters alternating between my father’s story and mine. I crafted the book by pulling pieces from a book he published in 2000 and my earlier writings on Vietnam. Through this process, I gained a deeper understanding of my father’s story and the challenges he faced throughout his life. It brought me a newfound respect and compassion for his journey. While I was delighted to have the book published by Three Rooms Press, more importantly, I am pleased that it deepened my understanding of my father.

This is just one example of how writing has benefited me beyond publication. In many ways, writing can be an art of being present (and we know we could all use more presence in our lives). The benefits can simply lie in the process of writing, in getting your thoughts out on the page, and in developing a deeper understanding of the world around you.

It’s important to remember this so that we don’t get lost in the business of writing and publication. The joy of writing can be found in the moment, in the art and craft itself. And who knows — you might find that you do your best writing when there’s nothing at stake, and when you’re writing simply because you’re committed to it.

By keeping sight of your personal ‘why,’ you can maintain a balanced perspective on your writing journey, appreciating both the external achievements and the internal growth it brings. Remember to never lose sight of your ‘why’ and that ‘why’ might be different for all of us.

Christina Vo is a writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work reflects her commitment to understanding and sharing the complexities of the human experience. Christina’s debut memoir, The Veil Between Two Worlds: A Memoir of Silence, Loss, and Finding Home, demonstrates her ability to weave personal experiences into broader narratives about identity, home, and belonging. Her second book, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam, an intergenerational memoir co-written with her father, was published in April 2024 and recently selected for the Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024. She has worked internationally for UNICEF in Vietnam, the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, as well as served as a consultant for nonprofits.

WNBA, San Francisco Showcase at Hayward Lit Hop

By Admin

A full schedule of the event can be found here.

When: 4pm, Saturday April 27 at Odd Fellows Lodge 950 B Street at Mission and Main, Hayward

with WNBA-SF presenters:

Concha Delgado Gaitan

Concha Delgado Gaitan works emphasize social justice issues of unrepresented communities. In her capacity as a professor, she lectured on her books and has worked with communities including Latino, Russian Refugees, Alaskans, Native students, Hmong, and transnational populations in Mexico, Canada, and Spain. She’s written 10 nonfiction books. her latest being Wings of a Firebird: The Power of Relationships in Our Later Years–This book marks the beginning of a new direction in her writing, a focus on issues of older adults in our society. In her book Prickly Cactus: Finding Sacred Meaning in Chronic Illness she turns the lenses inward and describes the role of family and community in healing her life and health.

Maxine Rose Schur

Maxine Rose Schur is an award-winning children’s book author and travel essayist. She’s twice won the Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for excellence in travel writing. Her travel memoir, Places in Time was named Best Travel Book of the Year by the North American Travel Journalists Association and was awarded the Gold (First Place) for Travel Literature by the Society of American Travel Writers.

Sheila Smith-McCoy is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. Her full-length poetry collection, The Bones Beneath is a haunting new work from Black Lawrence Press. In addition to her poetry and fiction, Smith McKoy has authored and edited numerous scholarly works. Her books include the seminal text in understanding white race riots, When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures. She is co-editor of Recovering the African Feminine Divine in Literature, the Arts, and Performing Arts: Yemonja Awakening (2020), and editor of The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Writing Self, Writing Nation (2016) and The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Artistry, Culture and Commerce (2017). Smith McKoy has also written, produced, directed or served as executive producer for four documentary films.

Geri Spieler

Geri Spieler, the author of Housewife Assassin, is a journalist and investigator reporter who wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Westways, and Forbes. She received praise and three awards, including the Smart-Writ Best Non-fiction award at the 2010 Mensa Annual Conference for her book, which uncovered the truth behind the life of Sara Jane Moore, the woman who attempted assassination of Gerald Ford, the President of the United States, in January 2009, Palgrave Macmillan, NY.

The panel will be moderated by WNBA-SF president, Elise Marie Collins.

A full schedule of the event can be found here.

Ellen McBarnette will be presenting as part of

Afrosurreal Writers Workshop of Oakland

Dirty Bird Lounge – 926 B Street (Mission & Main) – Outside in Rear

Maria Ochoa will be presenting as part of

Women Who Submit Lit:

The Pizza House – 943 B Street (Mission & Main)

Empowering women and nonbinary writers by helping prepare to submit works for publication.

2024 San Francisco Writers Conference

By Admin

Register for the 20th annual San Francisco Writers Conference

February 15-18, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency

Since 2004, WNBA-SF has partnered with the folks behind the San Francisco Writers Conference to help offer the opportunity for ambitious writers to connect with professionals who can help pave the path to becoming a published author.

If you’re currently in the process of writing a book, getting ready for publication, or interested in promoting a book, this four-day weekend could bring you one step closer to accomplishing your goal.

What to Expect at the SFWC

100+ presenters, including over 20 literary agents and acquiring editors!
80+ sessions of lectures and classes throughout the four-day weekend
SFWC Poetry Summit and the Writing for Hollywood Summit sessions
A free one-on-one consultation with an editor, a promotional pro, and a book coach
Various networking events such as the SFWC Gala or the Sunday afternoon no-host banquet

How can the SFWC help me?

With the four-day weekend packed full of various presentations and workshops fulfilling certain niches, you have the freedom to check out whatever speaks to your interest.
This is your chance to launch your writing career! Get in touch with leaders of the industry who can help you learn the publishing game.
As aspiring writers gather at the conference, observant agents assemble to offer their services.
The opportunity to refine your work with free editorial feedback from a freelance book editor and consultation sessions with a book coach or marketing expert.
Most importantly, you are a book lover who gets to meet fellow book lovers! The San Francisco Writers Conference offers it all.

Keynote Speakers

Maia Kobabe is a nonbinary, queer author and illustrator from the Bay Area, California. Eir first full length book, GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR, was published in May 2019. Maia’s short comics have been published online by The Nib and The New Yorker, and in many print anthologies including THE SECRET LOVES OF GEEKS, FASTER THAN LIGHT Y’ALL, GOTHIC TALES OF HAUNTED LOVE, ADVANCED DEATH SAVES and BE GAY, DO COMICS.

Before setting out to work freelance full-time, e worked for over ten years in libraries. Eir work is heavily influenced by fairy tales, homesickness, and the search for identity.

Alka Joshi is the internationally bestselling author of the Jaipur Trilogy: THE HENNA ARTIST, THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR, and THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS. Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, immediately became a New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick. It has been translated into 28 languages and is currently in development at Netflix as an episodic series.

Born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, Alka Joshi has lived in the U.S. since the age of nine. Joshi graduated with a BA from Stanford University and worked in the fields of advertising and PR before starting her own marketing consultancy. In 2011, she obtained her MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of Arts in San Francisco, California. She lives on the Monterey Peninsula with her husband and Coco, the misbehaving pup.

We are looking for a few more volunteers for the WNBA-SF table at the SF Writer’s Conference, email sanfrancisco@wnba-books.org

WNBA-SF at SFWC

While you’re at the SFWC, be sure to catch up with some of our WNBA-SF members attending the conference.

Congratulations to our WNBA Members who are Presenters

Acquiring Editors/Independent Editors

How to Write About Grief and Loss | Emily Thiroux Threatt

By Admin

How to Write About Grief and Loss
by Emily Thiroux Threatt
Author of “Living and Loving Your Way Through Grief”
https://lovingandlivingyourwaythroughgrief.com/

Books and articles are being written at a faster rate than ever before. I am sure this is in part because of the pandemic. This increase also comes from more people seeking help to deal with their grief. Grief used to be something we experienced silently, not sharing thoughts or feelings with others, but now with many people seeking comfort, they are wanting to know if other people are having the same feelings they do, and they want to know what can help them feel better to help them emerge from their pain.

By working with people who are dealing with grief, I have found some common issues to consider when you want to write something about grief.

Grievers want to know that who is writing about grief has experienced or is experiencing grief. The readers who are seeking something to read about grief want to know that the writer relates to grief in a way they can relate to. You can do this by writing from the perspective of someone speaking to directly to the one person who is reading what you say at that moment.
As self-publishing has become easier to do and having a traditional publisher isn’t as essential as it used to be, lots of memoirs about the death of a loved one or grieving a loved one are showing up. If you are choosing to write a memoire in this area, be sure to have a great hook. What makes your story different and appealing? Why would someone choose to read your story as opposed to all the other memoirs out there?
I have found the people who are grieving are wanting guidance. Instead of just reading a story, they want suggestions on what they can actively do to deal with their grief. They want to know that there are people they can share their experiences with. Grief can be a lonely place.
Find a way to include the stories of other people who are grieving so that if the reader can’t relate specifically to you, they can relate to the experience of someone you include in the book. For instance, if you are writing about your experience of having a daughter who died, you may want to include the experience of a daughter who had a mother who died.
Another approach is to write about is a specific kind of grief. I have been hearing from many people who are dealing with suicide, especially the suicide of a child. This is a niche that could be filled if someone actually has a way to comfort people who are dealing with this kind of loss. The intensity of this kind of loss seems to last a long time, so things that could help over time would be much appreciated.
Grief has surged with the surges of the pandemic. This is a different kind of grief than we are used to. People are tending to look for someone or something to blame from the people who won’t wear masks, to the people who don’t get vaccinated, to the hospitals that are over filled, to the politicians who they feel didn’t do enough or don’t things fast enough. While blame seems inevitable, when you write about grief and the pandemic, it is better to focus on the people who are grieving than on the people who may be causing the grief. Give them the same love and solace as any other person grieving, and look at their situation independently instead of lumping together all the people affected by the pandemic. Their individual loss is what they are focusing on and they will appreciate you focusing on them, too.

Grief can be a tricky subject to write on. What I have seen in the reactions to all the writing I have been doing shows me that when I focus on providing support, comfort, and love in what I write as well as showing my readers how they can find happiness while they are dealing with grief, they are grateful that you care enough to lighten their burdens some and give them something positive to think about. Just show them that you care.

***

Emily Thiroux Threatt is the author of Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief: A Comprehensive Guide to Reclaiming and Cultivating Joy and Carrying on in the Face of Loss, winner of the Bookauthority Best New Grief Book and the Silver Medal for the Living Now Book Awards.

Emily has much experience in the grieving process and has learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy. Her mission is to comfort and support those dealing with grief and loss focusing on happiness.

Interview – Ruth Weiss

By Admin

WNBA-SF Past President Brenda Knight interviewed Ruth Weiss in 2017. Now that we near the first anniversary of her passing, we wanted to bring you this interview of hope and writing…

Beat poet and jazz spoken word innovator Ruth Weiss started writing as a teen and, at the age of 88, has not stopped. A contemporary of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg, Weiss is one of the most important voices of the Beat Generation whose work remains fresh, relevant and more modern than ever. A holocaust survivor, she urges writers to “be truth tellers in your work and in your words.” Below is an interview of Weiss with WNBA-SF President Brenda Knight, author of Women of the Beat Generation, and includes a discussion of Weiss’s advice to young writers and scribes of all ages.

BK: How did you come to America?
RW: My family was on the last train out of Vienna before the Nazis put the Jews in the camp. Most of our family died in the concentration camps. We knew we had to get out of Europe if we were to survive. We were silenced. I will not be silenced.

BK: When did you know you were a writer?
RW: I think I always knew it; Vienna was a center for the arts before the war. Inspiration was everywhere. In America, everything was wide open. You could do anything, be anything.

BK: Is it fair to say you hit the road way before Jack Kerouac?
RW: Yes, and he and I talked about that. He liked the idea of a girl with green hair hitchhiking back and forth across America. I’ve been dying my hair different colors almost as long as I’ve been writing poetry. Jack and I really connected over haiku and would spend hours talking about the beauty of that form and would read and write haiku together.

BK: Are you particular about your writing desk you tools and environment for composing?
RW: I still use an Underwood typewriter and make sure my writing space is in good order. I never know when inspiration might strike and can sit down, put in a sheet of paper and write a new poem.

BK: Did you experience any problems as a young woman in the San Francisco poetry scene?
RW: Oh, yes. Most of the other poets were very accepting and encouraging, but a few wanted control. Allen Ginsberg was very competitive and even tried to keep me from reading sometimes and physically blocked me from the stage once. I know that will shock some people but it is the simple truth. For the most part, all the poets on the scene over time have been beautiful, peaceful, loving people. I have gotten a lot of support over the years and count these poets as my friends.

BK: What is the story behind your decision to keep your name lower case?
RW: Every time I sign my name, it is a revolutionary act, my way of standing up to the control of the “law and order” Germans in the ’30’s whose demand for control led to WWII and Nazis murdering millions of people, including my family. My name is a form of resistance.

BK: We have a so-called “law and order” president of the United States now; what do think about that?
RW: I take it as a warning and I have also noted that writers, artists and poets are sounding the calls to action.

BK: What is your best advice for writers, particularly women and young people?
RW: Many writers suggest you write every day at a certain time and I know that works for a lot of people. My advice is “less is more.” Never overwrite or just keep writing. Spare use of language, only using the right words will lead to better work, get you closer to greatness. Tell the truth in your truest voice and your work will be pure and beautiful.

Following in an excerpt from one of Ruth’s poems upon moving to San Francisco:

i’m 22.
don’t think i’ll make it to 30. don’t think. write.
words are my friends. words are wings. protect.
i have a room of my own. i shall always have a room of my own. that i will. this cancer girl gotta have a room of her own.
one by one the ones who must play—enter.
the search for that note—that only one. it’s a jam for the
heartbeat. no feet tapping. no hands clapping.
i walk slow through daybreak-blue. back to north beach.
my lids fold around my whole being.

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