by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 26, 2020 | Classes and Workshops, Craft
Thank you for joining us Sunday for Rewrite Right: 22 Ways to Make Your Book Better, our first monthly meeting on Zoom.
It was wonderful that so many of you were able to participate — about 40 of you, think. I hope you learned something that will help you face your rewriting challenges. I very much appreciate your patience as we navigate our brave new world.
Here are the slides from the presentation:
I’m also sharing a video clip of the meeting. It starts just as I’m introducing myself.
Hope to see you April 26 for David Corbett. Visit our website for updates.
— John
P.S. You can learn more about me and my books at johnbyrnebarry.com.
by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 16, 2020 | Classes and Workshops
We’ve never hosted a meeting online before, but this is a time of doing things differently.
Author and CWC Marin webmaster John Byrne Barry will present “Rewrite Right! 22 Ways to Make Your Book Better” this coming Sunday on Zoom, a video conferencing host.
We know this is a challenging time for all of us so this meeting will be FREE for all attendees — members and non-members alike, so spread the word.
To join the video conference, click here — https://zoom.us/j/806061116.
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to make the experience as positive as possible.
1. We ask you to RSVP, so we have a general idea of how many people will be participating and we can reach you if there are changes.
2. Please join us a few minutes early so you can address technical issues.
3. When you click the link, you will see a screen something like this:
4. Click on “open zoom.us” or if you don’t get that dialog box, click where it says “click here”
5. If you have trouble getting in, we have two CWC Marin board members who will be co-hosts who can help you. (Contact information to come.)
6. Once you’re in, you should see a screen something like this.
Click “test speaker and microphone.” You’ll be able to tell quickly if you’re connected correctly.
7. We will start with the audience muted by the host, but there will be opportunities to ask questions via chat at any time, and we will unmute as well for questions at the appropriate times.
8. Because you may not be muted the entire time, please do what you can to be in a quiet space.
9. Be patient. We’re all learning how to navigate our brave new world.
Thank you. Check back as we get closer to Sunday. We may have updates and more tips.
by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 2, 2020 | volunteer
What has the Marin Branch of CWC meant to you? We’ve heard members tell us how wonderful it is to connect with so many writers who can share their expertise, humor and general companionship — writing can be such a solitary experience. Others have been thrilled at how much they’ve learned about the writing craft, publishing and literary marketing from talented presenters. If the Marin Branch has meant something to you, we need you to read on because we need your help. Whether you can contribute one or four hours a month (seriously, that’s all it takes to help us thrive), we are asking you to step up now.
Two years ago people stepped up to prevent us from losing our chapter. Since then, we’ve continued to grow by hosting compelling presentations that are attracting larger crowds and reaching out to the community through social media — and our membership is up from 25 to 44.
While today we are one of the smallest of the 22 California chapters, a decade ago, this was a totally happening scene. And it can be again. We have a lot of new members now, and we need new volunteers and new leaders to keep improving.
What’s the difference between leaders and volunteers? Well, we’re all volunteers, but some of us might sign up for one thing, like staffing the registration table for the meetings or bringing refreshments. (We’ll pay for them.)
And then there are the board members, who lead the organization, and, as appropriate, assign tasks to volunteers.
We need both, but especially leaders, because we can’t continue without them.
These volunteer and leadership roles are not generally time-consuming, but they are a responsibility. Collectively, we, the board, decide who the speakers are, deal with finances, promote the events, keep track of members and email lists, and so on. We’re like a small business, but very small, with no employees. Only volunteers.
We’re solvent — we have enough members and money in the bank to pay our expenses. What we’re lacking is in the people who will help us keep going.
Here are some of the roles we are seeking to fill:
- Treasurer — track income and expenses, and forward our share of the membership dollars to the state organization. If you can balance a checkbook, you can do this.
- Membership Chair — meet our members, track membership, promote new memberships and renewals.
- Webmaster — update the website with new events, blog posts.
- Social Media Maven — post events and other items of interest on Facebook, Meetup, NextDoor, and elsewhere.
- Writers — write posts for the website and/or Facebook. (For example, we’d love for someone to do an interview with David Corbett to help promote his event.)
- President — chair the member meetings and board meetings, and serve as the public face of the organization. Other duties as required, such as attending regional meetings.
- Program Chair — recruit speakers for meetings.
We will train you, and be there to answer questions.
We look forward to hearing from you. Contact us at marincwc@gmail.com.
Thank you.
— Mike Van Horn (president), Mary Krefting (treasurer and program chair), Diane Vickers (membership chair), Jett Walker (secretary), John Byrne Barry (webmaster), Allison Marshall (at-large board member)
