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Holiday Storytelling Fest!Wednesday, Dec. 9th, 6:00 – 7:oo 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. Contributors to Story Power who are also WNBA members will present in an informal, roundtable sharing of stories. Welcome to the table!
Other WNBA contributors to Story Power also invited to tell in the roundtable sharing, include: Ellen McBarnett, Beatrice Bowles, Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, Joan Gelfand, Linda Joy Myers, 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) Comfort and Joy: WNBA-SF Holiday Mixer
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 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 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! Brave Women: Revelatory Memoirs – A Conversation with Marlena Fiol and Nita SweeneyFriday, 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.
Where: Zoom –Zoom (link provided via email when you register) |
Dear WNBA-SF Members, We hope to see you at least twice this holiday season, on Zoom of course! To that end, we are issuing not one but two invitations. First, our wonderful Past President Kate Farrell is hosting a holiday story telling fest on December 9th which will be memorable and meaningful; you can rsvp here. Second, we just set our holiday mixer and would dearly hope to see you at our virtual party. We are going to use our new-found Zoom skills to have games, breakout rooms where you can have a good conversion, catch up with an old pal or make a new friend. Read all about it and rsvp here. We are still in our membership renewal mode we’d love to have as many renewals in December as possible so we can continue our good works and contribution to the community. As you’ll see in the holiday mixer invite, we are donating to underserved families, children who need books folks who lost everything in the fires, and food banks to feed those affected by the pandemic. Our chapter also has opportunities on the board where you can really have an impact in the literary community with event programming, Zoom events and much more. If you would love to get more involved on any level, please let us know! You can contact President Elise Marie Collins at the email below. And, don’t forget to enter our Effie Lee Morris Writing Contest which has wonderful cash prizes and an accolade to add to your trophy cabinet. Our agent and editor colleagues are always reminding us that awards can help you get published. Find information on the contest, the prizes and a link for submitting your fiction, poetry and nonfiction HERE. Thanks for your support over the years and hope to share some cheer at our holiday mixer! If you have questions or suggestions, please let us know. Many thanks and keep the pages turning, Elise Marie Collins, President Brenda Knight, Immediate Past President A gentle reminder to renew. 2021 Effie Lee Morris Literary Writing Contest!![]() Effie Lee Morris We honor and celebrate women authors and diverse writers and hope to include YOU with our 2021 Effie Lee Morris WNBA-SF Literary Contest, running through March 31st, 2021. For full information, rules, and to submit your work starting October 1, 2020, please go here: 2021 Effie Lee Morris Literary Contest!The Women’s National Book Association San Francisco Chapter is pleased and proud to continue the Effie Lee Morris WNBA Literary Awards in honor of our founder. Ms. Morris was a pioneering Black librarian and the founder of this chapter of the Women’s National Book Association in 1968. She became the first female chairperson of the Library of Congress and was the president of the National Braille Association for two terms. She was dedicated to literacy for children as well as children in underserved communities, and those who learn differently. ENTER the 2021 Effie LeeMorris Literary Contest – HERE!And now, meet the distinguished judges!
ENTER the 2021 Effie Lee Morris Literary Contest – HERE! |
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Featured Member Interview –
by Nita Sweeney Mental health is close to my heart… Nita Sweeney (NS): I must dive right in and ask what drew you to work with psychology and wellness professionals and what keeps you leaning toward people in that field? Featured Member Interview – Geri Spieler Interview by Nita Sweeney
The members of the Women’s National Book Association of San Francisco come from a variety of backgrounds and careers. I’m grateful for the opportunity to ask questions of smart, successful authors like Geri Spieler. Every interview provides splendid takeaways. I hope you enjoy the ones I heard in our conversation. Nita Sweeney (NS): What draws you to the type of writing you do? Geri Spieler (GS): I’m strictly nonfiction. Fiction is much too difficult for me. I’m sure it has to do with being a newspaper reporter and total political junkie. My book, Taking Aim at the President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford, was written in the creative nonfiction genre. It was very difficult for me to write it the way I wanted–like a novel but, entirely nonfiction. I took writing courses to understand things like “scene.” I hired a number of editors along the way. NS: Your publication credentials are impressive. Please tell us how you got started and what helped you land those projects.
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10 Goals for Writers for 2020
It’s an opportunity to jump into new writing projects … and perhaps revisit some old ones. Whether your long-term goal is to sell a manuscript, get an agent, or break into a new publication, start by setting some short-term writing goals. I’ve made it easy, and listed some goals to get you started. Keep the ones that resonate, tweak the ones that don’t quite hit the spot, and add new ones that will help you reach your long-term goals. Here are 10 goals to set you up for writing success in 2020.
The Power of the “To Write” List: List-Making as a Writing Prompt Toolby Nita Sweeney, award-winning wellness 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
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:
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WNBA-SF 2020-2022 BOARD President: Elise Marie Collins Mailing address: 4061 E. Castro Valley Blvd. The Women’s National Book Association has been a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) member of the United Nations since 1959. A NGO is defined as “any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group that is organized on a local, national or international level.” |
The Women’s National Book Association, established in 1917, before women in America had the right to vote. The WNBA’s founding idea—that books have power and that those involved in their creation gain strength from joining forces—reaches across the decades to now serve members in 11 chapters across the country and network members in between. Check out: NEW NATIONAL DIRECTORY! DIRECTORY HOME | DIRECTORY LOGIN You must be an ACTIVE MEMBER to be listed in the new directory and have login access to your personal profile and all other members.
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