In This Issue

From Our Chapter President

WNBA-SF News

Member Profile: Bookworm talks to...

WNBA-National News

Member News

From Our Literacy Liaison

Announcements

Link to Renew Memembership

WNBA-SF News

Silent Auction & Annual Author Showcase
On Nov. 3, 2-4:30pm at the historic Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco, WNBA-SF will host our inaugural Silent Auction and 13th Annual Author Showcase. Along with our accomplished Author Showcase, we will be conducting a spectacular silent auction offering prize such as:

• A furnished apartment in Paris
• Consultations with agents
• Professional manuscript review
• Publicity and marketing consultation
• Distinctive wines
• Dinner gift certificates
• Signed copy of the autobiography of Rosa Parks
• Free advertising with Bay Area Business Woman Bay Area Business Woman
• And much more!

Registration is $15 in advance; $20 at the door. Click here to RSVP via PayPal.

Participating WNBA-SF authors will include:

Amy Gorman, Aging Artfully: 12 Profiles of Visual and Performing Women Artists 85-105 www.agingartfully.com

Joan Gelfand, Seeking Center: A Collection of Poems

Ruth Silnes, Keeping Ahead of Winter: 4100 Nautical Miles Inside America www.ruthsilnes.com

Glenda G. Ewing, Mirror of My Soul G.G. Bliss Publishing

Rita Lakin, Getting Old Is To Die For, Getting Old Is Criminal, Getting Old Is the Best Revenge, and Getting Old Is Murder www.ritalakin.com

Teresa LeYung Ryan, Love Made of Heart www.lovemadeofheart.com

Shyne, My Human Heart www.shynespoems.com

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga, Midori by Moonlight www.wendytokunaga.com

Cheryll W. Crane, Lady Lazarus www.cheryllwcrane.com

Luisa Adams, Woven of Water http://rp-author.com/Adams

Martha Alderson, Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple www.blockbusterplots.com

Micky Duxbury, Making Room in Our Hearts: Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption http://mickyduxbury.com

Need to renew your dues or Join WNBA? Click Here!

October 10, 2007: Beth Lisick brightens up work week at WNBA-SF Literary Salon
Several members, including WNBA-SF founder Effie Lee Morris, kicked off National Reading Group Month by attending the WNBA-SF hosted Literary Salon on October 10th.  Like kids in a classroom, attendees enjoyed the down-to-earth, comedic stories of San Francisco Literacy Laureate Beth Lisick.   As suggested in last month’s newsletter, she did indeed tell us all how we too can land a book deal without writing up a proposal or pitching an agent.  Her advice: simply follow your heart, write what you know, and have a bit of luck and a ton of patience (she also mentioned that dressing up like a banana makes the entire process more fun). 

Along with these words of wisdom, the audience had the pleasure of hearing chapter one of her soon-to-be-released self-improvement guide, Helping Me Help Myself, due out in December.  As Beth read, laughter from the diverse audience filled the comfy/cozy space of the BookStop in West Portal followed by friendly conversations over wine and appetizers.

WNBA-SF would like to send a warm thank you to Beth Lisick and all of the members who were able to make it out for this event.  Our next Literary Salon will be held after the New Year and will be announced in next month's Bookworm.  We hope to see you there!

Beth Lisick is the author of Everybody into the Pool, a New York Times Extended List Bestseller and Entertainment Weekly's List of Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2005.  A more thorough introduction to Beth’s work can be found at www.bethlisick.com. 

  

Beth Lisick, Effie Lee Morris, Adele Horwitz, and Mary E. Knippel at Oct. 10th Literary Salon.

October 13, 2007: WNBA Panel Inspires Mills College Alumnae

WNBA members Linda Lee, V.P., SF Chapter; Martha Alderson, SF Chapter, and Joan Gelfand, Secretary SF Chapter, and VP, WNBA National) were invited to speak to Mills Alumnae at the annual reunion on campus Saturday October 13. The group included current and graduated MFA students, aspiring and established writers from the Mills Community. The three panelists spoke on “Turning Challenges Into Success” covering several critical aspects and strategies such as creative ways of using the Internet; hiring consultants to help craft and hone your plot and story line, and developing the discipline and a strong constitution for submitting work on a regular basis. Mills Alum gratefully engaged in a lively discussion after the presentations which also included an introduction on the importance of networking and learning about what WNBA has to offer.

Monthly Board Meeting

The next meeting of the WNBA-SF board will be held Thursday, Nov. 1 . All members are welcome to attend the monthly meeting at the Museum of Modern Art Café in San Francisco, 6-8pm, on the first Thursday of each month. Contact Mary to add agenda items or if you have any questions about the board.

 2008 National Meeting & WNBA-SF 40th Anniversary Party
WNBA-SF is hosting the 2008 WNBA National Board Meeting, but it won't be all business. We're having a party! WNBA-SF is celebrating our 40th Anniversary on Sunday, June 8.

Our kick-off celebration will be the 12th Annual Effie Lee Morris Children's Lecture on Friday, June 6, 3:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Main Library. The business meetings will take place in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, Sunday all day and Monday morning (June 7-9, 2008); WNBA members may attend non-voting sessions. All of the sessions are full of varied discussions, but every agenda item pertains to furthering our mission of world wide literacy and fostering professional development of women in the book industry.

We'll love your help to plan the WNBA National meeting as well as a spectacular 40th Anniversary Party. Join us on Sat., Dec. 1, 10 a.m. (SF location TBA) to discuss the weekend's festivities. Please send RSVP to Mary.

National Book Group Month
Last month WNBA celebrated National Reading Group Month (NRGM) to mark the 90th anniversary of the association's founding. "Part of WNBA's mission is to promote reading and the value of books, so we are proud to organize the first-ever National Reading Group Month. Reading groups inspire, transform and educate. They foster community and instill an appreciation for the written word," says Laurie Beckelman, national WNBA president of the Women's National Book Association. "The launch of National Reading Group Month is a perfect way to celebrate our 90th anniversary, one that will create a legacy that grows richer year by year, as more and more friends of the book step up with new and creative ways to support reading groups."

WBNA-SF held their own literary saloon with author Beth Lisick to honor National Reading Group Month. Click here to read event review.

From Our Literacy Liaison

Dear WNBA-SF Chapter Members,

We'd love to hear about how you're promoting literacy in your community. Email me your story and I'll share it with fellow members so that we can further promote you and the organization you're helping.

This month we profile Sara Cassella, our new Newsletter committee member who says:

I discovered Project Read through the September issue of the Bookworm.  After perusing the material at Project Read, (which I encourage everyone to do), I was astounded that one out of every five people in our city is illiterate.  Unfortunately, this statistic seems to be the standard for the entire American population meaning that 20% of our nation's population cannot sit down to read a newspaper, magazine, or book!  I am proud to be an American; however, I am not proud to be part of a nation with such a high level of illiteracy.  The organizers at Project Read feel the same way, and have developed a way for us to help.  Working one-on-one with an adult who has made the choice and commitment to learning to read will be one of the most rewarding aspects of your life.

Thank you, Sara, for taking on this major commitment to help another community member.  I hope you'll report back in a few months.  Keep inspiring us. 

For members who live or work in SF and are interested in helping adult-learners through Project Read, their training schedule is below.

• November 2007 Tutor Training:
  Saturday, 11/3 – Tutor Orientation & Training Pt. 1 (10:00 – 4:00)
  Saturday, 11/17 – Tutor Training Pt. 2 (10:00 – 4:00)
• January 2008 Tutor Training: TBA

Sincerely,
Teresa LeYung Ryan
LiteracyLiaison@wnba-sfchapter.org 

WNBA-SF Chapter Board

President: Mary E. Knippel

president@wnba-sfchapter.org

Vice President: Linda Lee

vicepresident@wnba-sfchapter.org

Secretary/Past President: Joan Gelfand

secretary@wnba-sfchapter.org

Treasurer: Allegra Harris

treasurer@wnba-sfchapter.org

Literacy Liaison: Teresa LeYung Ryan

literacyliaison@wnba-sfchapter.org

Membership Chair: Mary "Shyne" Lunning

membership@wnba-sfchapter.org

Newsletter Editor: Sara Cassella

newsletter@wnba-sfchapter.org

Publicity Chair: Barbara Whittaker

newsletter@wnba-sfchapter.org

Founding Member: Effie Lee Morris
WNBA National

President: Laurie Beckelman

lbeckleman@aol.com

SF Chapter Correspondent, National Book Woman:

Joan Gelfand

bookwoman@wnba-sfchapter.org

From Our Chapter President

WNBA-SF member Mary Anderson Parks is the author of They Called Me Bunny (November 2006, Livingston Press). Mary’s novel follows the ingenious amateur sleuthing of Bunny who at age 12 dyes her hair to look more like her adoptive parents and at age 16 sets out to find her biological mother and father, certain that she was stolen from them.

Mary was born in Ohio on Dec. 13, 1938. When she was 6, her family moved to San Francisco and she became a city girl - only returning to Ohio for summers. She married at 19, while majoring in English at U.C. Berkeley. Living in Berkeley from 1956-66, Mary says, was an amazing, life-changing experience.

When their daughters were 5 and 10, Mary and her family moved to Toulouse, France for two years, where her husband did physics research.  Here, she studied French as the only American in a school with students from 33 countries. The next family move was to Seattle, where Mary finished college and then went to law school. She worked as an attorney for the Puyallup Indian Nation, the Seattle Indian Center, and in her last years as a lawyer, the foster care and adoption program of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

The Indian community taught Mary a lot about love, survival, and humor - as did her husband, who is Korean and Chinese and was born and raised in Shanghai. Currently, Mary and her family reside in Berkeley.

When did you start writing?

I started writing at the age of eight. I hoped to grow up to be a writer, maybe because I loved reading so much. However, I got distracted from writing between the ages of about 20 to 50. Life intervened!

Why did you choose your particular genre?

I was in a short story writing class in 1992 when the teacher, Robert Ray [author of "The Weekend Novelist"], suddenly had us start a novel, using his "five key scenes" method. I guess he was testing it out. I found that I loved the novel form. It gives you much more time to develop characters in depth, to really go inside them. Also, novels are what I like to read, and one good piece of advice I've heard is to write what you like to read.

What inspired you to choose your subject matter?

The inspiration for my two published novels came mostly from my work with Native American people. That and being in an interracial marriage for close to fifty years has given me some understanding of other cultures, and passionate feelings about racism. I think the most exciting thing about writing is seeing what comes up, especially when using Natalie Goldberg's "keep your hand moving" method.

How difficult/easy has your experience been as a published author?

The hard part was getting published. (And then getting people to notice that the book is there!) I sent a query letter and two-page synopsis to more than 150 publishers before getting an acceptance for my first book, The Circle Leads Home. With the second book, I pared the list down to about 80, because I learned from the rejection slips the first time around which publishers do only non-fiction, deal only with agents, specialize in horror stories, or whatever.

What advice would you give other aspiring authors?

Not to give up! Persistence plays a big part in writing and also in getting published and marketing your work. Try letting your characters talk to you. Become the character and say aloud whatever comes up. It was Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones that got me writing again. I recommend it.

Anything else you would like to share with the WNBA?

I am very grateful for the support we as members give one another.

Are you a WNBA-SF member and published author? Would you like to share your story with WNBA-SF? Contact newsletter editor Sara Cassella about being featured in the Member Profile section of the BookWorm.

Congratulations goes to Joan Gelfand, Secretary SF Chapter, and VP, WNBA National, who had two poems accepted for publication in October: "War Rant" in Kalliope: Women and War (Spring 08) and "Ghazal for Baiji - Goddess of Chiang Yang" on newversenews.com. Also just out, "Fourth River: Place, Space and Identity" from Chatham University in Pennsylvania which features "Music/Dream 14." Joan Gelfand's collection "Seeking Center" may be found on Amazon.com and in bookstores everywhere.

Beloved WNBA member Luisa Adams celebrates the publication of Woven of Water.

Luisa Adams collection of short stories and whimsical drawings in Woven of Water inspires the reader to discover meaning amid the loves and losses of growing up, growing old, and all the events in between.  By taking this book in hand, you will create time for a personal retreat with the exquisite beauty of nature as your host. The reward, the splendor of grateful living, is priceless.

Luisa, the award-winning writer, educator, workshop leader, licensed Brain Gym® consultant, and author of Woven of Water says: "I give my deep gratitude to everyone over the last ten years who reminded me that it took courage, not perfection, to offer the world a written expression of love." More information can be found at Robertson Publishing.

Luisa will be one of the showcasing authors at our Nov. 3rd fundraiser. Come by and congratulate her in person!

Welcome Sara Cassella, our new Newsletter Editor
(Interview questions posed by Mary E. Knippel, President, WNBA-SF to Sara Cassella, WNBA-SF Newsletter Editor)

How did you find out about WNBA-SF?

I found out about WNBA through a google search of "book associations." From the national link, I found the regional chapter website.  Once at the link, I was grabbed at how involved and personal the association seemed.  I had been hoping to find a organization where I could embrace my personal love for writing, while encouraging a similar love in others.  The WNBA-SF looked like a perfect fit.

What appeals to you the most about belonging to the org?

As a teacher, I see reading and writing as two indispensable ingredients for individual happiness and success.  The WNBA-SF shares my goals and actively pursues them, so I instantly wanted to join.   Additionally, the members are incredibly kind, supportive, smart, successful role-models to the outside and each other.  There is a sense of camaraderie not often found in today's professional world.

What kind/s of professional development/support are you seeking from WNBA-SF?

In terms of professional development/support, I hope the WNBA-SF plays a myriad of roles.  For starters, I am excited to learn from the experience and wisdom of the prolific list of members.  I am new to the world of writing, and have found that there is so much to learn.  Although there is plenty of reading material on the subject, they can not compare to the personal stories and guidance offered through the WNBA-SF.  In many ways, it is a mentoring program offering "behind the scenes" experience.   Lastly, the WNBA-SF is an up-to-date resource where I can find information about local and national happenings in the writing industry. 

What is your profession/area of interest?

My interests mainly lie in writing for children (fiction and non-fiction picture books to young adult), while I am also working on a "How to" for various job opportunities within the field of educational enrichment.  Additionally, I enjoy writing website content, creating brochures and information packets, and, on a totally different note, collaborating on articles for academic journals.  I also have a passion for language development and disorders, and hope to produce works such as: parental guides, trade books, and therapy approaches targeting involved populations.  Last but not least, I hope to bring writing instruction to a more prominent place in our educational system and use my career to promote literacy worldwide.

What should members submit for inclusion in the newsletter and how should they contact you?

I would love to receive submissions related to member experiences within WNBA-SF, information on upcoming events individuals feel our members would benefit knowing about, as well as any questions, concerns, and suggestions members may have related to the newsletter at newsletter@wnba-sfchapter.org.

Announcements

Hands-on Travel Writing 101 Workshop
Instructor: Diane LeBow, Ph.D. is an award winning travel writer published in national newspapers, magazines and travel anthologies. She has taught writing for many years in Paris, Holland, NYC, and the Bay Area. She won the 2007 Travelers’ Tales Gold Award for Best Story of a Romance on the Road and her photography of Afghan women the BATW Silver award. Her work appears in Salon, Via, Skirt, Seal Press, Travelers’ Tales, and many other publications. Diane gives popular lectures and slide shows throughout the country. See more about Diane and her work at www.dianelebow.com.
When: November 4, 2007, 10am - 2pm
Cost: $65, $70 with lunch (15% discount on any books)
Where: Books Inc. Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Ave, SF
Registration:Space is strictly limited, please RSVP today
(415) 776-1111 or wordplay@booksinc.net.
Details: Bay Area Travel Writer's Association President Diane LeBow teaches Travel Writing 101. A hands-on workshop, this is the nuts and bolts for budding travel writers. From notes to rough drafts, from photography to publication, we'll cover it all.  Being a travel writer makes your travel adventures even better!

EDITCETERA: An association of freelance publishing professionals, presents the following workshops in November:

• So You Want To Be An Editor? What Editors Do, From Entry Level To Top Management
Panelists: Zipporah Collins, Barbara Fuller, Sheryl Fullerton, Marilyn Schwartz, and Melissa Stein
When: Monday, November 5, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley
Cost: $75 on or before October 29; $85 after
Registration: www.editcetera.com; 510-849-1110; also learn about correspondence courses and freelance editorial services.
Details: Join a panel of distinguished editors to learn about the different types of editorial careers available in book publishing.

• Copyediting Fiction
Instructor: Zipporah Collins
When: Thursday, November 15, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley
Cost: $75 on or before November 8; $85 after
Registration: www.editcetera.com; 510-849-1110; also learn about correspondence courses and freelance editorial services.
Details: If you already know the basics of copyediting, learn how to become the kind of fiction copyeditor that authors praise in their acknowledgments.

• Building Your Editorial Career: Opportunities And Strategies
Instructor: Barbara Fuller
When: Monday, November 26, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley
Cost: $75 on or before November 19; $85 after
Registration: www.editcetera.com; 510-849-1110; also learn about correspondence courses and freelance editorial services.
Details: Learn where to find editorial work, how to market yourself to clients, and what to do to ensure repeat assignments.

WNBA-SF member Micky Duxbury, author of Making Room in our Hearts: Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption, reminds folks that she is starting a nonfiction women writers' support group in the East Bay. The goal is to meet with other published women authors who are actively working on writing projects. Anyone interested would meet once a month for support, guidance and sharing resources. For more details or to join the group, please email Micky or visit her website, www.mickyduxbury.com.

Monthly Board Meeting
The next meeting of the WNBA-SF board will be held Thursday, Nov. 1 . All members are welcome to attend the monthly meeting at the Museum of Modern Art Café in San Francisco, 6-8pm, on the first Thursday of each month. Contact Mary to add agenda items or if you have any questions about the board.