2013 past speakers
Aura Imbarus
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Dec. 14, 2013
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Aura Imbarus, educator, professional speaker, and the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, a Pulitzer Prize entry and Amazon best-seller, Out of the Transylvania Night: A Story of Tyranny, Freedom, Love and Identity.
Born and raised in Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania –or more precisely in “Dracula’s county Transylvania," Ms. Imbarus attended Lucian Blaga University, earning an MA degree in American and British Studies and a Ph.D. in Philology with the distinction Cum Laude. From 1990 to 1997, she worked as a journalist for Radio Contact, The National Journal, and Gallup Poll in Sibiu, Romania. Aura's Book Trailer for
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Laura Hoopes
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November 9, 2013
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The November speaker was Pomona College Professor Laura Hoopes. Her topic was Seven Surprises for Memoir Writers.
Laura earned a certificate in Creative Writing from UCLA Extension and an MFA in Fiction from San Diego State University. She is the immediate past president of CWC-Inland Empire. |
Lynne Spreen
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October 12, 2013 |
Ms. Spreen is a freelance writer, webmaster, computer teacher, blogger, speaker and novelist. Her blog, AnyShinyThing.com, celebrates middle-age and beyond. She is the author of the award-winning novel, Dakota Blues.
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Mike Foley - Dialogue and POV
September 14, 2013Our guest speaker was Mike Foley, former editor of Dream Merchant Magazine. He grew up in Long Beach, CA and earned bachelors degrees in both business and creative writing from California State University—Long Beach. A full-time writer since 1980, he worked as a staff writer for three newspapers and two magazines, as well as freelancing more than 750 published stories and articles.
Mike focused his talk on how writers can improve their characters' dialogue:
"I hate you back," he said happily. "You're both hateful," their mother said sagaciously.
ask answered replied
no contractions contain back story metaphors over use of dialect
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Mike Foley
You can sign up for Mike's monthly letter providing pointers about writing and his upcoming classes by sending an email here: [email protected]
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Projects, Awards, Open Mic & our club president's vision
August 10, 2013The club had a fantastic turn out. The Apple Valley library was closed for renovation and we met at the Hesperia library. The first order of business after announcements, was a photo session of the Dorothy C. Blakely Memorial Memoir Project instructors, published authors, and the club's Jack London award recipient. |
Dorothy C. Blakely Memorial Memoir Project Participants
Charlotte Wilmeth-Street from the Academy for Academic Excellence, Rusty LaGrange, Davida Swisa James, Dwight Norris, Bob Isbill, Mary Thompson, Jennifer Bayless, Holly LaPat, Denny Stanz, Jenny Margotta
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Jack London Award Recipients - Past & Present
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Every other year, each CWC branch nominates one member to receive the Jack London Award in recognition of outstanding service to the organization. The award honors a member whose service to the CWC and/or a branch has been exemplary. The 2013 HDCWC recipient of the Jack London Award is Roberta Smith. Past recipients are George Gracyk, Bob Isbill, and Carol Warren. |
Carol Warren, Bob Isbill, Roberta Smith, George Gracyk
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Open Mic - Members Share Their Work
James Elstad shared a chapter from his second novel, soon to be released.
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Jennifer Bayless shared a short story.
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Jenny Margotta (yes, we know her name - you had to be there!) shared a short story.
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Freddi Gold shared a chapter from her upcoming novel.
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Robert Kirk shared from his second book.
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Dwight Norris shared a short story.
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From President Dwight Norris - The club's mission
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Dwight Norris is the HDCWC President 2013-2014. He is a gifted speaker who knows how to infuse inspiration and humor into his message for members.
In keeping with the mission statement/bylaws of the HDCWC, Dwight pointed out that order is better than chaos for what we try to accomplish at our club meetings. We need to respect each other and our speakers by holding our comments or thoughts to break time, not shouting out to the speaker and not having conversations (whispered or not) with each other during program time. Dwight shared a story about a librarian and how she touched the life of a little boy who would grow up to be Jack London, a founder of the CWC. Dwight pointed out that we never know how we might inspire someone else with our words or actions. He is looking to have exceptional speakers address our club at future meetings, but wants to encourage members to attend meetings even if the speaker does not appear to be someone whose topic is of personal interest. Meeting with each other and the speaker's words may just be what anyone of us needs to hear. |
Globalization and the quest for success
July 13, 2013Dr. Catherine Feher-Elston, an internationally-acclaimed author, archaeologist and historian, spoke about reaching for success. She spoke about the need for talent, the need to be knowledgeable about your topic and the marketplace for it, and the need to be persistent to be a successful writer.
Feher-Elston works extensively with environmental, wildlife and indigenous rights issues. She wrote the Naturesong book series which includes Wolfsong: A Natural and Fabulous History of Wolves and the award-winning Ravensong: A Natural and Fabulous History of Ravens and Crows. Her book, Children of Sacred Ground, analyzes land, religion and water rights in the Great Southwest. As a result of its publication, she is now an advisor on human rights to the United Nations. She has lived and worked among many of the world’s indigenous peoples, including North African Berbers, Greek Vlachs, the Hopi and Dineh of Arizona and Montana’s Northern Cheyenne. She chaired the Chief Dull Knife College Social Sciences and Communications division and founded the Little Wolf Writing and History Center. Dr. Feher-Elston supports wildlife, the Endangered Species Act and the rule of law in the United States. Her involvement with wolves started in the 1990s, when her work in journalism brought her to the Mogollon Rim country of Arizona and New Mexico. She covered Mexican wolf reintroduction. Among her interests is wildlife rehabilitation. As Fate dictated, a wolf cub with a defective liver came into her life. She cared for Mowgli for two years before his condition took his life. As a result, she wrote Wolfsong, in an effort to share the facts about wolves with the world. Research for Wolfsong included spending time in the Yellowstone Country. Currently, Feher-Elston is working on a book about the United States Marine Corps Mustang Color Guard. She works to support environmental sustainability, museum programs and historic preservation. She is the director of The Ravensong Group, a development, grants and communications outreach organization. |
Dr. Catherine Feher-Elston
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Ekphrstic Poetry / Pitches / Election
June 8, 2013Ekphristic PoetryPoet Mary Langer Thompson taught us a new word: Ekphrstic. Ekphrstic Poetry means poetry inspired by art.
She gave everyone at the meeting a small picture of one of Van Gogh's paintings along with an observation worksheet. The worksheet had us list words that came to mind when looking at the artwork. We jotted down what was happening in the artwork, who or what the subject was, what the mood was, what sounds, smells, feelings or tastes came to mind, and how the artwork connected with us personally. After we completed the worksheet, we each wrote our own poem. Several members of the club shared what they had written and the results were fantastic. Some poetry was sentimental, some dark, some funny, some rhymed, some didn't. All of it was great. So much fun. |
Mary Langer Thompson holds up an image of "The Scream."
New Board Elected
Newly elected board members for fiscal year 2013 - 2014 are:
Dwight Norris - President,
Jenny Margotta - Treasurer,
Anita Holmes - Secretary,
Mike Raff - Vice President
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Members pitched their work
Mike Raff - "Scare Tactics"
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Fran Savage - "The Journey Continues"
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Joey Miller with his mother Patricia - Joey wrote about how he handled being bullied while growing up.
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Andrea Willow - "The Whole World Is Naturally Curly"
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING IN STORY
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May 11, 2013Author Madeline (M.M.) Gornell shared insights (she called them nuggets) and experiences from her writing journey. She led a discussion on the topic of Setting/Location in story.
Panel members included Jim Elstad, Anne Fowler, Freddi Gold, Davida Siwisa James, and Roberta Smith. Each author elaborated on their unique perspective on the importance and development of settings—both as readers and authors. |
AUDIO BOOK & VOICE-OVER
Michael Welte
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April 13, 2013Michael Welte, a thirty year Apple Valley resident, shared his expertise in audio books narration. He is one of the top one-hundred audio book narrators, and Michael brought his passion for oral narration and interpretation of the written word. |
March 9, 2013
PITCHING PRACTICE
CRITIQUE GROUP DEMOS
JACK LONDON AWARD
CRITIQUE GROUP DEMOS
JACK LONDON AWARD
Two of the club's critique groups demonstrated how they conduct a session.
The Darkside Critique Group
Shown: Mike Raff, Steve Marin, Rocky McAlister, and Freddie Gold
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Eclectia Critique Group Shown:
Jenny Margotta, Rusty LaGrange, Linda Cooper, Virginia Hall, and Diane Neil
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Eclectia brings work the day of their meeting and reads each piece aloud. Critique members give their impressions of the work. Members who participated in the demonstration were Jenny Margotta, Rusty LaGrange, Linda Cooper, Virginia Hall, Diane Neil, and Anthony J Enriquez.
The Darkside sends work to their members ahead of time and each member shares a written review of the work. Members who participated in the demonstration were Curt James, Mike Raff, Steve Marin, Rocky McAlister, and Freddie Gold.
Four members pitched a book
Rusty LaGrange
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Tawana Ellison
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Ann Heimback
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Virginia Hall
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The books were either just published or still being written. These members had not pitched to the club before. They were Rusty LaGrange, Tawana Ellison, Ann Heimback, and Virginia Hall.
Jack London Award
Nominees for the Jack London Award 2013 for the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club were presented with certificates and the winner of the award was announced. The award is given every two years to a member whose service to his or her branch is deemed outstanding. The HDCWC had ten worthy nominees: Anthony J. Enriquez, Anne Fowler, Anita Holmes, Rusty LaGrange, Jenny Margotta, Mike Raff, Marilyn Ramirez, Mary Scott, Roberta Smith, and Mary Thompson. A committee of four club members selected Roberta Smith to receive the award.
Anthony J Enriquez
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Anne Fowler
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Anita Holmes
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Rusty LaGrange
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Jenny Margotta
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Mike Raff
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Marilyn Ramirez
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Mary Scott
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Roberta Smith
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Mary Thompson
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February 9, 2013
Tania Ramos spoke about POV mistakes that writers make
Club member Tania Ramos, author of Be Still (a novel) and Surviving the Writing Apocalypse (content help for new authors), discussed head hopping, author intrusion, foresight, and more. Her presentation will soon be on our Tools for Authors page.
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January 12, 2013
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS FOR WRITERS
The January club meeting was a great success. Interactive, informative and a lot of fun. There was no speaker this month. Instead, members and guests shared and gained knowledge about writing through round table discussions. Here are the topics and the moderators who guided the discussions:
Topic Moderator
1) Fiction & Story-Telling Madeline Gornell
2) Everything You Want To Know
About Journalism, But Were Afraid to Ask Rocky McAlister
3) Marketing What You Write Denny Stanz
4) What Actually Constitutes "literary" writing
Critiquing our own work Davida Siwisa
5) Poetry and Variations of Poetry Mary Thompson
6) Getting Started Writing Anything Jim Elstad
Thank you to our members who moderated and to everyone who participated.
Topic Moderator
1) Fiction & Story-Telling Madeline Gornell
2) Everything You Want To Know
About Journalism, But Were Afraid to Ask Rocky McAlister
3) Marketing What You Write Denny Stanz
4) What Actually Constitutes "literary" writing
Critiquing our own work Davida Siwisa
5) Poetry and Variations of Poetry Mary Thompson
6) Getting Started Writing Anything Jim Elstad
Thank you to our members who moderated and to everyone who participated.
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