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HEY...
Have you renewed your membership? Renew today to receive the next WRITE ANGLES!
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In Every Issue
HOME BASE
(Branch News)
#AMWRITING
(Member News)
THE STATE OF THINGS
(CWC Statewide)
THE WRITING LIFE
(Articles by and from members)
OPEN MIC
(Features by members)
Members Only
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Upcoming Events
- September 16th: "The Arc of My Career" with Marty Nemko
Invite friends on Facebook
- September 29th: CWC Leadership Conference
Ask a Board member if you would like to attend!
- Board of Directors meetings: First Saturdays 10:30am. All members welcome, RSVP to berkeley.cwc@gmail.com
Writers Wanted!
Now seeking Club reporters & editors for Write Angles... Apply today!
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One member describes our club as "a great home base for all kinds of writers." This is what's happening in our branch.
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~ CLUB EVENTS ~
Future & Passed
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Kick off Speaker! Marty Nemko, “The Arc of My Career” on September 16th.
The East Bay's best known career coach talks about the path HE chose, the one we are all on!
Career guru Marty Nemko has learned a few lessons and acquired a few scars from his big writing career. In this entertaining, edifying, and honest presentation he’ll tell tales: the protagonists are editors, agents, and surprisingly, trolls. As he describes his writing career arc—including how the hell he has managed to write 11 books, (including the just published, Careers for Dummies), 3,400 prominently published short pieces while having a full-time career counseling practice, producing and hosting a radio show for 29 years, and playing a lot of piano gigs, including a one-man show—we can all reflect on our own career arcs. Marty also loves answering questions, so feel free to bring ’em!
Marty Nemko’s books have been published by Ten Speed/Random House, Avon, Barron’s, and Wiley, including the just published Careers for Dummies. He’s written 20 articles for TIME’s Ideas section, a column for The Atlantic, an eight-part series, “What’s the Big Idea” for the Washington Post‘s Innovations section, 100 pieces for U.S. News, 1,240(!) on PsychologyToday.com, plus five years as columnist on the front page of a section of the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle before going national. That’s all while being a full-time career and personal coach (the SF Bay Guardian dubbed him “The Bay Area’s Best Career Coach” and being in his 29th year as host of Work with Marty Nemko on KALW 91.7 FM (and NPR San Francisco).
 Our CWC speaker is new member Pat McBroom! At one time in her illustrious career, Pat wrote about women changing careers. She will be reading about the divine feminine and gender equality.
Invite some friends on Facebook
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CWC Group Reading at ALT BEAST 10/6
New voices in new spaces
 Beast Crawl, Oakland's answer to LitCrawl, has been a showcase for all of Oakland's literary collectives for years, but has yet to welcome CWC as a group onto its stages. This year that may change. In lieu of a full festival there is a gathering at Mosswood Park called "Alt Beast." Six of our writers will be invited to read, but we hope everyone will come support them and listen in on the many other writing communities in our milieu! From 12 to 5 on October 6, say you're coming on FaceBook!
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~ CLUB BUSINESS ~
What's happening now
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It's Time to Renew your Membership!
Renew now for the future...and beyond!
It's time to re-up our membership dues for another year of working with words together. Whether you joined in fall, or with the half-year special, it's time to re-up. (If you joined in May, you're good to go.) Membership gets you access to all of our benefits (including this awesome newsletter), like member rates at events. Speaking of discounts, you can now pre-pay your meeting fees!
Take a minute to review our benefits and membership categories.
Renew your membership today!
Or send a check to CWC Berkeley P.O. Box 11269 Oakland, Ca, 94611
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Meet your 2018-2019 Board of Directors
We have seven board members this year, four of whom are elected (executive*) officers and three who are appointed. Most of our board members take on more than one responsibility, and all of us (especially me Kristen) would like an assistant or apprentice this year! Board meetings are the FIRST Saturday of every month at 10:30am. All members are welcome, just be sure to rsvp for the address.
 Kristen Caven
President* + Write Angles Publisher + Membership Chair + Google Group Moderator + MRMS Sys Admin + CWC Featured Authors
This is Kristen Caven's second year "at the helm," where she is responsible for scheduling and running meetings, appointing a Board of Directors and a Nominating Chair, getting to know members, and helping all club leaders accomplish their goals within the overall vision and direction of the Club. As president she is also a de facto member of all committees. Kristen is also "holding down the fort" as MRMS System Administrator, Write Angles Editor, Google Group Moderator, Featured Author coordinator and Member Relations Chair, until those positions are filled by willing club members.
<< Scoot on! Photo by Tim Jollymore
 Kermit Heartsong
Vice President*
Kermit Heartsong is new to the Berkeley Branch but eager to help in his new role as VP. Kermit will serve as an advisor to the current officers and board, and be prepared to run meetings as needed.
 Linda Brown
Secretary* + Liaison + Media Outreach + New Member Orientations + Club Announcements
Linda's years of advisory leadership in the CWC continue as she steps into the role of Secretary this year to stabilize the position and be the scribe for the "story of our business," keeping detailed and timely records of our Board Meetings. As a member of the Member Relations Team, Linda is seeking a host for at least two New Member Orientations this year in October and February or March. Linda also continues in her roles as Club Liaison to Friends of Joaquin Miller Park and Media Outreach. In this role she maintains the 200 + e-mail data base she began years ago, sends out media releases about our newsworthy events. She also sends out announcements to the club from the central board and other branches. Have you seen Linda's CNBC report about the Club?
 Henry Hitz
Treasurer* + Craft Group Facilitator
This is Henry's third year as Treasurer of the CWCBB. "I draft an annual budget and prepare the quarterly reports to the state office, paying the state its share of membership dues. I also manage the PO box and do a monthly report to the local board." Henry also facilitates the Craft Support Group at 12pm on our Meeting days.
 Cristina Deptula
Speaker Chair + Interviews
Our newest board member will be managing our monthly speaker program this year, continuing her wonderful interviews of our featured speakers for the website. Do you have feedback, suggestions, or requests for our program? Write to Cristina at speakers@cwc.berkeley@gmail.com.
Karma Bennett
 Web Mistress & Workshop Chair
Past president and technology whiz Karma continues her board service and keeps our website up to date. This year she is working on a web redesign. Please let her know if you would like to help with this process, or if you have suggestions at web.cwc.berkeley@gmail.com. Karma will also be organizing workshops this year, led by our club members who have something to teach writers in the Bay Area. Contact her about that at workshops.cwc.berkeley@gmail.com.
 Francine Howard
Board Member At-Large + Group Advisor
Francine has been a board member through four or five presidents! Her calm presence and institutional memory help hold the rudder steady. Francine also gently oversees critique/support groups and collectives, and helped three new groups start last year. Finally, she is co-leader of our Voices Breaking Barriers support group.
Other Club Leaders include:
- Jane Glendinning as NorCal Rep
- Lynn Fraley as Corresponding Secretary
- Linda Zallen as New Member Liaison
- Lucille Bellucci as Head Raffler
- Therese Pipe as Historian
- Kymberlie Ingalls as Marketing Success Group Leader
- Tim Jollymore as Book Fair Outreach
- Bruce Shiguera, Leena Prasad, Wendy Sonenson, David Baker and Anne Fox as support/critique/collective group leads
- Anne Fox as proofreader
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What's YOUR "One Thing"?
In growing the culture of the CWC to one in which EVERY member helps take care of our club, we ask each member to choose ONE THING to contribute this fall! Here are the club's top needs:
- Central Board Representative (see below)
- Member Relations
- Social Committee
- Write for, edit or publish our Newsletter
- Host a New Member Orientations
- MRMS Sys Admin
- Media Outreach
- Set up snacks at Monthly Meetings
Maybe you see something else that needs doing?
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 Central Board Rep Needed!
Click the map for an interesting look at our state
"I’ve found being a CB representative one of the most enjoyable volunteer activities. It takes attendance at two meetings a year in Oakland and the ability to use the online Forum for discussions on topics that interest you between those meetings. I hope you will consider filling this position. Meanwhile, please consider becoming a www.calwrtiers.org and Bulletin content provider, and if you have or want to learn technical skills, the Forum moderator. You do not have to be the Branch’s CB representative to make these contributions." —Linda Brown
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Member Survey is Coming!
Member Relations Team
 Sometimes people ask, "How many memoirists do you have?" "How many poets?" We have a lot of information about our members on our wonderful MRMS system but it's not searchable like that. Linda Zallen, Francine Howard & Kristen Caven will be creating a member survey this fall and could use ONE more volunteer on our team. Does this sound interesting to you? Hit us up at the meeting or shoot an email to members.cwc.berkeley@gmail.com.
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Growing Our Club
Our history is just the beginning.
 Let's expand our club! Are you a member of another writing or literary group? Here are some things you can do:
- Share Linda Brown's wonderful news report about the CWC! (It's on our FB page.)
- Ask for speaker recommendations.
- Invite group members to the CWC.
- Put leaders in touch with workshops.cwc.berkeley@gmail.com to discuss co-sponsoring workshops.
- Share links to CWC events on your Facebook Feed, and invite your friends to come to our public events.
Do you have more ideas? Email berkeley.cwc@gmail.com and come to our next board meeting! We have been working together for over 100 years.
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"How To CWC"
This new column will explain some of the "mechanics" of our club each month.
About our Calendars
The club has two calendars, one for events open to the public and one for members-only events, both on display on our website's Calendar page. There are instructions at the bottom of the page how to add these to your own calendar programs, so that you can see them anywhere and don't have to go to the website. Here are the links:
Member events:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=berkeley.cwc%40gmail.com&ctz=America%2FLos_Angeles
Public calendar:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=web.cwc.berkeley%40gmail.com&ctz=America%2FLos_Angeles
On the public events calendar, we share both club events AND member events that are open to the public. To get on this calendar, you can send an iCal link to any event on your own calendar to berkeley.cwc@gmail.com. If you have a separate calendar for your public events, send the iCal url! That way we can see your events from the club calendar and copy them to our public events.
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Contribute to our Raffle!
Get your book SEEN! Every month!
Donate a book from your frontlist or backlist at our next meeting ("hurt" books are fine). Raffle proceed allow the club to purchase "the first copy" of our member's new books. Everyone gets one free raffle ticket, but please PURCHASE them too, it's a fun way to help the club. Only $1 each or 6 for $5. We also welcome donated bottles of wine and gift certificates.
Please bring one of your books to the next meeting...and purchase a ticket to win one!
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Do you know any amazing writers who would be great speakers for our club?
Please send suggestions or make introductions to speakers.cwc.berkeley@gmail.com.
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Have you got news? Let us know! Send a short description with particulars, plus links and images if you have them, to writeangles@gmail.com!
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Fighting Climate Change with a Camera
Historian Therese Pipe throws bring witness to rising seas
 Recently Therese Pipe has become proactive about Climate Change -- by inviting non-members to attend the League of Women Voters meetings in their Environmental Speaker Series in Berkeley, CA. In 2018, she became proactive personally, participating first in a Rally and March at the Sacramento State Capitol to object to Offshore Drilling in California and other States; and later helping to record a flag-carrying demo that encouraged attention to sea-level rising at the Albany shoreline (sponsored by Citizens for East Shore Parks, or CESP). Some of Therese's photography illustrates this activity and her travels, found currently in a photo exhibit at the El Cerrito Community Center Lobby Gallery, 7007 Moeser Lane, sponsored by the El Cerrito Art Association that runs until September 30. For details, contact Therese at tpipeln@jps.net or (510) 841-5493. Finally, she continues work on the Editing Team for the Robert K. (Bob) March Oral History, to be published by the Berkeley Historical Society later in 2018.
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Repurposed for Art
Art by writer Bobbie Kinkead
'Repurposed,' an art show with art pieces made from recycled art papers, baskets plates, yarns, threads, beads, small boxes, and dried plants or whatever looked interesting for art, is up for viewing September and October. The pieces were done while the artists-in-residence, Bobbie Kinkead worked on Thursdays to create at the FREE Oakland UP, Thrift Shop and Art Gallery. The pieces in the show are for FREE for those visitors who sign-up for them. What fun is that!
Bobbie's writing is online at Bobbiestoryportfolio, BobbieTales Art Page, Gallery of Line Drawings and BobbieTales for Bobbie Kinkead hosts what I call my ‘round-about’. AS IS Productions published Rhyonna’s Fright in 2014. bobbie@bobbiekinkead.com
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3 members read at Bay Area Generations #60
Joyce Gordon Gallery 8/27
 after the lights blink
and decay of evening buzz
– fog in my glasses
—Amos White
Fred Dodsworth, Sheryl Bize-Boutte and Amos White read at Bay Area Generations #60 on August 27th, the 5th Anniversary of "the finest literary salon of curated works and word workers in the San Francisco Bay Area." Amos White was honored for his leadership with a collection of haiku poems by all the participants.
CWC writers are invited to submit with a partner at least 10 years older or younger, deadline is the first of each month. Guidelines are here.
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Tim Jollymore on Tour
Appearing more and more in MInnesota.
During August, in appearances throughout Minnesota, Tim Jollymore visited readers and booksellers reading his work, playing the guest author at book clubs, hosting a table at a farmer's market, meeting at bookstores and coffee shops, and greeting at Scandinavian boutiques promoting his oeuvre (Listener in the Snow, Observation Hill, The Advent of Elizabeth, and Lake Stories) and introducing all to the forthcoming 2019 title PEOPLE YOU'VE BEEN BEFORE.
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Writing Prompt:
What I Wrote on Summer Vacation
Summer's not over yet! You can still submit your links for next month's issue!
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 Did you know the CWC-BB website hosts a list of published members? Check under the "Our Members" tab on the website!
If you have published books, short stories, articles, etc. and are a current member of CWC-BB, you are eligible for a listing. Especially if there are links to your work!
To be included, fill out this form.
ALSO send a headshot (100dpi width min.) to jsa@joannsmithainsworth.com.
— JoAnn Ainsworth, PM Page Webmaster
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Here's what's happening at the division and state level, and/or in other branches.
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"Building Better Branches" CWC Leadership Conference
Saturday, September 29 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
The CWC-NorCal Group Building Better Branch Conference on September 29, 2018 will be a gathering of fellow writers, kindred spirits who come together to share ideas and challenges, to celebrate writing successes, and to support each other in our efforts to advance the branches of the California Writers Club.
The meeting venue, National University East Bay Campus, is warm and inviting. The conference price ($25) includes morning coffee/pastries and lunch. The meeting will be insightful, and the guest speaker and work sessions will inspire you to get back to your branch to make the shared ideas your own. Look at What We’re Packing into One Day:
- Peer-to-peer sessions – meeting and sharing ideas with CWC members from other Northern California branches who have jobs similar to yours.
- “The (Relatively) Small Branch That Roars”– keynote address by Deborah ‘Jordan’ Bernal. She will share the
- secrets for the many successes achieved by the Tri-Valley Branch. Deborah is a Past President of the Tri-Valley Branch and was instrumental in starting many new and successful branch programs.
Following the keynote will be three concurrent, break-out sessions designed to share ideas, brainstorm solutions, and set up connections with new friends who can help you in your all-important role in the branch. Topics for the concurrent break-out sessions include:
- Volunteers. “Keeping Your Volunteers Committed and Motivated” Kymberlie Ingalls – Napa Valley
- New Members. “Attracting New Members”– Laurie Sheehan – Central Coast
- Contests/Workshops. “Guide to Conducting Contests and Workshops” – Roger Lubeck – Redwood Writers
- Following lunch, there will be four concurrent, peer-to-peer sessions:
- Presidents and Vice Presidents
- Treasurers, Secretaries, and Membership
- Programs and Conference
- Publicity and Communications
At the end of the day, you will go home bursting with new ideas to try out at your branch. Ideas to make 2018-2019 the best year ever! The is an example of the CWC-NorCal Group’s commitment to developing stronger branch leadership through collaboration, communication, and making available to all the best from a few.
It all starts at the CWC-NorCal Group . Saturday, September 29 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. National University, Pleasant Hill ® 100 Ellinwood Way Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 (925) 467-6000
Get a registration form from NorCal Rep Jane Glendinning at our meeting on Sunday! Want to go but can't afford $25? Our board is giving some scholarships!
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Read the Bulletin!
Great articles & news from branches around the state
Berkeley Branch news is on Page 22
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Submit to the Literary Review!
Submissions for 2019 open on September 1, 2018
2019 California Writers Club Literary Review Submission Guidelines
 We’re looking for your best work—fiction, poetry, memoir and essay—for publication in the 2019 California Writers Club Literary Review. Submissions are open to current members of California Writers Club and will be accepted from September 1 through November 30, 2018. Works will be reviewed and selected for possible publication by a panel of acquisition editors through a blind judging process. You will be notified by email as to whether your piece will be included in the 2019 Literary Review shortly before publication in May/June of 2019.
Though this publication has “literary” in its title, we’re looking for good writing of any genre, style or topic. Romance, mystery, sci-fi and fantasy will be given the same consideration as more “serious” works. Lighter themes and humor are always welcome. The important thing is to polish your work and make it the very best you can. The only things we will reject outright are pieces that proselytize, are libelous, or contain gratuitous vulgarity. For more advice on what we’re looking for, and helpful tips on enhancing your chances, see the FAQ below.
By submitting to the Literary Review, you are granting the editors the right to do light editing to correct grammar, spelling and typos, to preserve historical accuracy, and/or to maintain consistency with the Literary Review style guide.
New This Year:
The $10 fee covers ONE prose piece (not two as in previous years). For poetry, two submissions of up to 30 lines each may be made for each $10 payment. Limit of three prose pieces at $10 each, or six poems ($10 for each two poems).
Critiques will not be given. We encourage you to workshop and polish your writing before submitting it to the Literary Review.
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Submit articles about craft, business, opportunities, or writing advice to writeangles@gmail.com!
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An inspiring TED Talk by former CWC member Brooke Warner:
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This section honors Oakland's lively literary scene with clips of fresh writing by members. Send a short short (500 words max), an excerpt and a link, or a poem to writeangles@gmail.com!
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"announcement"
by Stephanie Polanco
ATTENTION, GENERATION OF THE SEVENTH
I AM HERE TO APOLOGIZE TODAY
FOR THE SINS OF OUR LIARS, OUR CONVOLUTED PLANS
TO SHOCK YOU ALL INTO THROBBING CONVULSIONS
AND WAIT FOR YOU TO BURN TO OLD TAR BEFORE
SHATTERING YOUR REMAINS WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER
I DEDICATE OUR FUTURE TEXTBOOK THAT HAS NEVER FORGOTTEN YOU
AND WILL SCAR THE PEOPLE OF OUR YOUTH INTO SCREAMING THEIR LUNGS DRY,
ENSURING THAT OUR ELEMENTS WORK TOGETHER TO CARVE A HOLE IN THEIR CHILDREN’S HEARTS, SO THE COPPER AND THE OXYGEN WILL LIVE AS ONE.
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We all know we have human rights but what are they?
Berkeley is known for free speech and activism, and many of the Berkeley Branch's founding members were all powerful literary figures for women's rights, human rights, and creative freedom. In these troubled times, more than ever, we are all called to use our voices for a greater good.
 So I invite you ALL to join me in hopping up on a soapbox for half an hour on Friday, September 21, for a reading of our Universal Human Rights at Frank Ogawa Plaza around noon. Yes, we all know we have human rights but what are they? Say you're coming to "KNOW YOUR RIGHTS," A community reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
It includes a minute of silence at noon, as part of the Peace Day observance that takes place around the world. You can do that anywhere!
Also. Here's a video about one scary word.
And speaking of socialism, there's a call for papers at the Jack London Symposium in October.
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