June 2nd Speaker, Author Andrea Beard

Andrea Beard defines herself as a midwife, helping each student give birth to their natural creative voice. She has always been interested in exploring the territory where art and insight intersect. Her teaching is informed by the belief that creativity is innate; all it needs to flourish is desire, intention, and opportunity.

Andrea encourages her students to tune in to how they think and feel about their own lives and the context in which their lives are unfolding. She emphasizes the value of participating in the creative process itself as a meditative and restorative experience.

She coined the expression, “Be the author, the witness, and the scribe of your own life.”  This reflects her observation that many of us have the freedom to chart our own course (the author), and we benefit from pausing on a regular basis to see where our decisions are leading us (the witness). Recording our reactions, experiences and perceptions (the scribe) takes on another dimension when we participate with others in her writing workshops.

When her students come together and write from a common prompt, it is a constant source of astonishment how the same topic can be pulled in so many different directions. There are also synchronicities that occur between pieces that ignite curiosity and wonder.

When asked about how she manages to keep the atmosphere in her workshops fresh and stimulating, Andrea says it is incumbent upon her to live an inspired life, and credits her students as the source for much of that inspiration.

“There is a dance that occurs between me, my students, and Life, a weaving of energy that has endless manifestations.”

Join Andrea Beard for a hands-on exploration of the creative process in her Creative Life Writing Workshop. PLEASE NOTE: THE PROGRAM WILL BEGIN AT 10:30. BRING WRITING MATERIALS! You’ll find more information on her web site: www.creativelifewriting.com

April 7th Mary Rose Betten - Workshop

Mary Rose is a published playwright, poet, stand-up comic and actress of stage, screen and television. She has won three CLIO awards for her comedic work in TV commercials. (That’s her under the ice bag!)

As a playwright she's written "The Bar Off Melrose," "Mary M.," "People Of The Passion," "Hildegarde, 2000," "Terrible Is This Place," "Is Anybody Home?" and "Becoming Alleluia." Mary Rose's poetry chapbook, Hanging out with Loose Words contains work that appears in anthologies, RATTLE, and The Writer Magazine, where she was the winner of their Poetry Spotlight series.
As a stand-up comic she appeared with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," and the "Merv Griffin" and "Mike Douglas" shows. The “Dean Martin Comedy Hour” chose her to appear at the Las Vegas MGM Grand as the year's best young comedienne in 1969.
Her stage credits include "The Madwoman of Challiot" at Los Angeles' Odyssey Theatre, "Guys & Dolls" with Milton Berle in the Music Center, and a drama desk recipient for the musical "Three."  
Mary Rose traveled the United States and Europe with her one-woman show on Mary Magdalene and recently taught lecturing for the archdiocese of Los Angeles, where her book and video Proclaiming God's Word is considered a classic.

Come hear this multi-talented woman and strengthen your skills for public readings, thus expanding your diversity as a writer.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered are both award-winners. Her fiction, nonfiction and poems have appeared in national magazines, anthologies and review journals. She speaks on culture, tolerance, writing and promotion and has appeared on TV and hundreds of radio stations nationwide. She is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program and has shared her expertise at venues like San Diego State's world renowned Writers' Conference and Call to Arts! EXPO. She was recently awarded Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by the California Legislature; her home town's Character and Ethics Commission honored for her work on promoting tolerance and the Pasadena Weekly named her to their list of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen" for literary activism. Her nitty gritty how-to book, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER won USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award. Her chapbook of poetry, TRACINGS, was named to The Compulsive Readers Top 10 Best Reads for 2004 and was given the Military Writers Society of American Silver Award for Excellence.

Carolyn's newest book is The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success . Cheryl Wright of Writer2Writer.com says, "The Frugal Editor will become a well-used reference for writers around the world."

Howard-Johnson loves to travel and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, UK: Herzen University in St. Petersburg, RU; and Charles University in Prague.

Carolyn is the founder of Authors' Coalition http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com and editor of their newsletter as well and a blog ( http://redenginepress.com/chjohnson ) that helps authors turn a dull book fair booth into a sizzling success. Her website is: http://carolynhoward-johnson.com

Author M.L. Malcolm on “Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story”

M. L. Malcolm’s first book, Silent Lies, has been raking in rave reviews.  From The Midwest Book Review: “Silent Lies is… a phenomenal achievement.”  From The Road to Romance: “Malcolm writes with skill and passion….”  And from Jack Valenti, former President and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America: “Silent Lies is a bold narrative, immensely readable from first page to last. I confess I was mesmerized…."

M. L. (for Mary Lee) Malcolm has traveled a colorful life path to her first book.  Malcolm graduated summa cum laude from Emory University and then earned a law degree with honors from Harvard Law School.  She has lived throughout the US and also spent a significant year in France where seeds were planted for her later writing work.  She has won several awards for short fiction, including special recognition in the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story competition. 

Following her time in Europe and while building a post-legal career as a journalist, Malcolm was moved to explore the rich landscape and possibilities of historical fiction.  Inspired by the history of her own family, and based on actual events from the Communist takeover of Budapest in 1920 to the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937, her book, Silent Lies, offers a moving adventure along with fascinating details about life between the two World Wars. 

Malcolm, who now lives in Los Angeles, will bring some of these same creative inspirations to the February 3rd California Writers Club San Fernando Valley meeting.  Her presentation is titled "Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story: Turning Family History into Sellable Fiction."  In addition, Malcolm will shed light on what agents currently consider "sellable" in the memoir-versus-fiction market, and share ideas about how to turn a good "true" story into a great book. 

December 2nd Critique Technique :

A workshop in writing transformation with Scott Alixander Sonders.

Join us on Saturday, December 2nd for a very special presentation from California Writers, SFV.

From 11AM - 2:30PM, members & guests will close out 2006 with an interactive, hands-on happening, a distinctive workshop in Critique Technique.

Let's come together and rock this wordsmith world.
Discover how to form a master crafted critique group. Learn the art of Literary Criticism in one whiz-bang three hour session. After this, you'll have the skills to kick your writing group into overdrive - and save the big bucks (you'd typically pay $100-200 for a similar one-on-one, two hour session).

Grab this one-time opportunity to create your toolbox of Critical Thinking: build exciting characters, evocative narratives and keenly foreshadowed plots.

Bring your questions and get answers. From those who submit a first two-pages writing sample of their fiction or creative non-fiction, many will be chosen for a free critique from Scott Sonders, Debra Zednik - and their blue-pencil pundits.

Scott Sonders will collaborate with the amazing and talented Debra Zednik.

Both of these literature gurus graduated with a Masters in Writing from CSUN. Debra is a published, adjunct writing & literature professor in Santa Clarita and will easily help you hone your critical craft. Scott has presented at a dozen writer's conferences, garnered a Ph.D. in Writing Pedagogy, has one and a half published novels, was nominated for a Pulitzer in poetry, has short stories available on Amazon.com - and teaches writing at various Los Angeles venues.