Our critique group gave ourselves a challenge to write a story based on an object and a place. We gave ourselves a year and planned to read the stories at our December meeting. As the deadline approached, Julie Royce found herself enmeshed in a story that would not behave itself. She wrote the following poem […]
Twas two months before Christmas by Julie Royce Read More »
Building a world is more than paragraphs of description of a prairie town or the mean streets of steampunk London. It’s how your character sees your story world and how it in turn reflects him. It’s how the environment influences and changes your character-and how your character changes her environment-during the events of the plot.
Adina Senft, World Building Through Your Character’s Eyes Read More »
Julaina Kleist, CWC Tri-Valley member, was selected by the Downtown Oakland Senior Center to emcee at the December 9th anthology launch. In addition to Julaina, Tri-Valley readers were Sheila Bali and Neva (Janie) Hodges. Jan Davies and Linda Todd were among the hundreds of listeners at this fifth annual event. Fourteen Tri-Valley members published
Tri-Valley Writers in Tapestries Read More »
Stacey Gustafson has a column on Pleasanton Patch. Enjoy her humorous writing
Stacey Gustafson, Sherry Weaver Smith, and Hector Timourian published Read More »
One of my critique groups held a story challenge in 2011. We drew slips of paper with the names of an object and a place, and had to create a short story around them. This year one of the suggestions for the challenge is to start with the same first line. As I scan my
First Lines, Last Days by Lani Longshore Read More »
December stirs nostalgic reflections of yesterday and brings dreams for tomorrow. This season demands choices. Tall tree? Small tree? No tree? Mall shopping or online? Stay home or travel? If you’re a writer, you could be juggling these cold-weather options while you pen warmhearted Mother’s Day stories. Perhaps you’re curled by a glowing fireplace, editing
December 2011 President’s Message from Violet Carr Moore Read More »
Twelve CWC Tri-Valley members crossed the 50,000-word finish line in the National Novel Writing Month contest. This annual contest founded by Chris Baty, Executive Director of the Office of Letters and Light, concentrates on producing a first-draft novel in November. NaNoWriMo winners certificates have been awarded to Vee Byram, Paula Chinick, Pat Coyle, Lynn Goodwin,
The participants of NaNoWriMo (and congratulations to you all, whether you hit 50,000 words or not) now have the editing to do. Like childbirth, getting the new creation out is only the first part of the job. Next comes the sorting and training, the snipping and shearing, dressing up and dressing down. For those of
Treasure by Lani Longshore Read More »
Ready to take your writing to the next level by learning from and networking with experts? Want to get your dream book published? Legendary West Coast literary agents Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada (www.larsenpomada.com), who are members of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, will spend a humor-filled day with writers and others wanting to tell
It’s official – everyone is writing now. Six classes of elementary students in San Jose are officially part of NaNoWriMo, and there are 2000 classrooms across the country participating. Forget about being smarter than a fifth-grader – are you more disciplined than a sixth-grader? Given that I didn’t actually sign up for NaNoWriMo, I have
NaNoWriMo and me (not) by Lani Longshore Read More »
