Recent Recordings
Sebastopol Writers Guild & Support Group
Having a daily writing practice doesn't come easy to everyone. Meet other established and intentional writers.
Stay close to your own residential community
Keep a focus on your writing projects.
Be inspired. Get it done!
Meetings are held every other Wed, 2pm-3:30pm.
Any level of writer and genre welcome.
INTENTION OF THE SEBASTOPOL WRITERS' GUILD
We bring writers together in a group to help each other keep momentum and focus on individual writing projects. We have a “buddy system” to handle individual needs offline from the group.
The group is more a “status, commitment, and options” meeting. Here are examples of what we bring to the group:
- “I wrote this much since our last meeting.”
- “My commitment was to write a certain amount, and I succeeded.”
- “In the next few weeks, I am committed to writing a certain amount, and I will be using the following discipline to do so.”
- “My project is written, and in the editing phase. I would like to work with a buddy(ies) to help me through this next phase.”
- “I am finished with the editing and I am trying to connect with a proper publisher.”
- “I critiqued the writing of my buddy. The work is moving along nicely.”
WHAT THE SEBASTOPOL WRITERS' GUILD IS NOT
- We do not do the “work of writing” in the group meeting.
- We discuss specific projects if the discussion helps everyone. We bring “forward movement” energy to the group; we leave “muck/mire” with our buddy or at home.
- While the group may help point you to resources, it is not intended to provide resources except a framework to cultivate buddies & associations.
- We do not spend time in the meeting organizing, structuring, formatting, or changing the purpose of the meeting. That would be done outside the meeting itself.
- We are not a “feel good group” – we are a conscientious group of task/project-oriented individuals.
BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE SEBASTOPOL WRITERS' GUILD
Any person who considers themself a writer is welcome. You may be already published, or starting your first project. Your genre can be poetry, non-fiction, fiction, magazine, commercial, ad-copy, etc.
17 Writing Secrets
by Steven Goldsberry
One author shares his tried-and-true principles for making good writing better.
1. Never save your best for last. Start with your best. Expend yourself immediately, then see what happens. The better you do at the beginning, the better you continue to do.
2. The opening paragraph, sentence, line, phrase, word, title—the beginning is the most important part of the work. It sets the tone and lets the readers know you're a commanding writer.
3. The first duty of a writer is to entertain. Readers lose interest with exposition and abstract philosophy. They want to be entertained. But they feel cheated if, in the course of entertaining, you haven't taught them something.
4. Show, don't tell or editorialize. "Not ideas about the thing, but the thing itself."—Wallace Stevens
5. Voice is more important than image. "Poetry is not a thing, but a way of saying it."—A.E. Housman
6. Story is more important than anything. Readers (and publishers) care a lot less about craft than content. The question they ask isn't, "How accomplished is the writer?" but, "How good is the story?"
7. These rules, pressed far enough, contradict each other. Such is the nature of rules for art.
8. All writing records conflict. Give the opposition quality attention and good lines. The power of the the antagonists should equal that of the protagonists.
9. Shift focus often. Vary sentence structure and type; jump back and forth in time and place; make a good mix of narration, description, exposition and dialogue.
10. Be careful of your diction. A single word, like a drop of iodine in a gallon of water, can change the color of your entire manuscript.
11. Provide readers with closure. The last sentences of the novel echo something that happened earlier. Life comes full circle. "If I have a pistol in my first chapter, a pistol ends the book."—Ann Rule
12. By the end of the work, the conflict should reach some satisfactory resolution. Not always a "happily ever after" ending, but something should be finalized.
13. Revise, revise. You never get it on the first try. Art shows up in rewriting.
14. Avoid excessive use of adjectives and adverbs; trust the precision of your nouns and verbs. Verb form: the shorter the better. Avoid helping verbs and progressives. Avoid passive voice. Avoid cliche and stock phrases.
15. Be interesting with every sentence. Be brief. Hemingway's first editor at the Kansas City Star gave him this style sheet: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative." Hemingway later referred to that list as "the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing."
16. If you can be misread, you will be.
17. There are no rules for good writing. Those who break the "rules" successfully are the true artists. But: learn, practice and master the rules first. "You cannot transcend what you do not know."—Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Novelist Steven Goldsberry is a professor of English at the University of Hawaii and an instructor at the Maui Writers Retreat.
Writers Groups
http://www.keepwriting.com/allwriters/wgroups.htm
If you belong to a writers group or are starting one, and want to place notices here, or want us to hot link to your site, please contact us. Your ideas and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it are welcome.
Alameda Writers Group supports, educates, and develops over 150 current members. They hold large meetings and also meetings for Special Interest Groups. Altadena Writers Group meets on Tuesday nights. Call Rino at 323-276-8984. Aspiring Writers Group This is a brand new online writing group where aspiring writers can come to meet other writes, find tips to combat writers block, get feedback on their work, read or post a book review, and more. Central Valley Writer's Workshop hosts weekly critique sessions designed to educate and help fellow writers polish their skills. Contact Glenna Jarvis at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
';
document.write( '' );
document.write( addy_text78501 );
document.write( '<\/a>' );
//-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. International Interactive Communications Society, P. O. Box 6211, Malibu, CA 90264. An organization for people in multimedia and interactive technology. The International Women's Writing Guild's Austin, TX chapter is now forming a monthly writing group... Open to all genres and no portfolio is required, however dedication and persistence are! For people interested in attending, please contact IWWG Austin Regional Rep. Michelle E. Sheetz by sending e-mails to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Please include Writer Group in the subject line! LAwritersgroup.com is both an online and physical community of writers. The website welcomes and supports writers of all genres by offering free online writers groups, as well as a forum to post upcoming events in any city, submssion requests an contests, and weekly exercises to jump-start the muse. National Writers Association, 1450 S. Havan7a, Suite 424, Aurora, CO 80012. 303/751-7844. Provides reports, editing help, local chapters, and other services. New York Hunter College Alumni chapter Writers Group A new fiction critique group in new York City. No fee.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. NYC Gay Narratives is an intimate writing workshop for gay men in New York City. Meets twice monthly at Manhattan apartment...no cost or fee. Exercises with on-the-spot composition, read afterward to the group, plus voluntary assignments between meetings. Online Collaborative Fiction Brainstorming Workshop and bull session. For common projects and resources. Online -- Review Fuse is currently free and offers guaranteed peer critiques of any author's work. We have developed review frameworks that make it easy for reviewers to give excellent reviews. We also host a blog that has great writing tips. Online Writer's Group. All writers can feel welcome. E-mail
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Group will be run through a blog. Orange County, California Well-established group. San Jose Willow Glen Writers Group has been meeting for ten years at the Willow Glen Bookstore on Lincoln Avenue. Tuesday evenings at 7:15 p.m. Limited to 7 serious writers.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. San Jose Writing Group Poetry and fiction writers welcome. Membership limited to five to ensure extensive feedback for every member's work at monthly meetings. Serious, committed writers only. Contact:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. South Carolina, Island Writers Network Group in Hilton Head, SC. Meets first Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Heritage Lib. by Sea Pines Circles. Also a critique group the third Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m. All genres welcome. See website at http://hometown.aol.com/islandwritersnet/myhomepage/writers.html Spoon Bar and Café Spoon is an online writers group. A community of writers on the interwebs since 1996. We’re here to share stories about our lives, about our travels, about the people we come across. We’re telling tall tales andreading our journals, even telling some fiction. We’re giving away bitsof ourselves and seeing through others eyes. Twin Cities Gay Men's Writers Group. For gay male writers of all ages, levels of experience, and writing genres. Meets Monthly. Contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Utah -- WRITING STUFF -- This is a wonderful group for all walks of writing. Anyone is welcome. The first meeting is Thursday, May 4, 2006 and will be held once a month on the 1st Thursday @ 7pm @ Sugar House Barnes & Noble which is 2100 S 1103 E. Feel free to contact Holly for more info @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Virginia -- Nonfiction Writer's Group. Meets every three weeks at the Arlington County Central Library, Quincy Street, on Sunday at 6-8 p.m. E-mail host: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Write Away Writing Group, every Tuesday 12 noon - 2:30PM, Community Room @ Fairview Library, 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, CA. Writing exercises and workshop format.
Dickson's Workshop Schedule
| Going Deeper with the Enneagram | FALL-WINTER Sep 15, 2010 Wed Oct 18, 2010 Mon Nov 15, 2010 Mon Dec 8, 2010 Wed |
| Massage 101 for Couples | Feb 2011 |
| Deep Pain Relief 101 | Sep 2011 |
| Massage 102 for Men | Oct 2011 |
