by Nate Hoffelder | Jan 27, 2026 | Events
CWC Marin, Left Coast Writers, and Book Passage present
LOCAL AUTHOR BOOK FAIR
Celebrating National Independent Booksellers’ Day
April 25, 1:00 – 3:30 pm
Book Passage, Corte Madera
$25 entry fee
Don’t miss the chance to showcase your books with Book Passage, Left Coast Writers, and California Writers Club of Marin cheering for you!
LCW, CWC Marin, and Book Passage will donate a portion of the proceeds to 10,000 Degrees, a non-profit providing scholarships to deserving students across California.
Show your support for independent bookstores and college-aspiring students, mingle with the local writer community, and sell some books!
Reservations for table space open March 1 @ 8 am and close March 30 @ 5 pm or as soon as the spots are filled.
INSTRUCTIONS
Step #1: Pay your $25 fee.
SORRY! We have twenty registered authors now!
Payment button has been removed
Step #2: Look for the Consignment Form in your email inbox (ensure marin@cwcmarin.com is added to your Contacts so the email doesn’t get sent to your spam folder). Don’t panic if you don’t immediately receive your Consignment Form. Just ensure that your payment went through (look for your PayPal or credit card receipt with date/time stamp). That will hold your place in line.
Step #3: Complete and submit the Consignment Form to Book Passage (mailto:consignment@bookpassage.com) by 3 April to hold your spot.
Step #4: On 25 April, bring your books (up to 3 titles and 60 books) to Book Passage Corte Madera starting around 12:00 pm. Take away any you don’t sell. Confirmed authors will have one-half of a six-foot-wide table on which to showcase book(s). Depending on weather, tables may be inside or outside, so dress accordingly.
THE FINE PRINT
- Limit – 20 authors per Club. First come, first serve.
- Current Club members only (CWC members from other branches are welcome, but Marin members get priority). If you belong to Left Coast Writers, sign up with them, don’t use this form. If you belong to both clubs, choose one to register with.
- If you don’t wish to use PayPal, bear in mind that you can choose to pay by credit card using that payment link. Sorry, we cannot accept cash or check.
- Book Passage (Corte Madera) is offering a 50-50 consignment deal.
- Light refreshments will be served and a guest author will do a short reading in the event space.
- Questions? Contact CWC Marin ( marin@cwcmarin.com ), or Deirdre at Book Passage (dkidder@bookpassage.com).
by Nate Hoffelder | Jan 12, 2026 | Events
Your Path through Today’s Publishing Labyrinth
March 29 (Sunday)
1:00 – 2:30 pm
MVPL Creekside Room
This workshop will coach participants to consider what they want out of publishing, and which of today’s many paths is best suited for their personally defined success. As any journey to publication is long, even beginning writers will benefit by learning how to set themselves up early for success; and advanced writers who are ready to submit will benefit from being able to take away focused and actionable next steps. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the complex but exciting state of today’s publishing industry.
RESERVE MY SEAT
About the Presenters
Shirin Yim Leos, Retreat Leader and Writing Mentor
Shirin has been leading writing retreats and mentoring writers for more than a dozen years. Once the Head Goose of Goosebottom Books, she is the Ezra Jack Keats Award-winning author of 21 children’s books. The sale of her adult historical fiction, OF WIND AND DUST, to The Dial Press last year was a Publisher’s Weekly Deal of the Week, and the launch is scheduled for early 2027. Shirin likes to help writers with her perspective from both sides of the desk.
shirinyimleos.com
Lisa Manterfield, Author and Book Coach
Lisa is the award-winning author of five novels, two works of non-fiction, and five non-fiction eBooks. As a developmental editor and book coach, she has guided many writers through the process of drafting, revising, and publishing a novel or memoir. She teaches writing and publishing through Stanford Continuing Studies and in her small group workshops. Her superpower is coaxing writers to “The End.”
LisaManterfield.com
RESERVE MY SEAT
by Nate Hoffelder | Dec 10, 2025 | Events
Perfect Pitch!
Elevator Pitch Workshop with
Brenda Knight
Feb 3 & 17, 2026
6:00 pm
Mill Valley Public Library
Creekside Room
An elevator pitch is a key component to selling your art, whether it’s a novel, a play, or other written concept. Crafting an elevator pitch requires you to think critically about your message and distill it to its core elements. This process helps you gain clarity on your goals, values, and what makes you or your offering unique.
You may not be ready to make a formal pitch to agents and publishers, but you should always be ready to talk about your book with clarity and confidence. You never know who you will meet. The time to practice your pitch is before you find yourself sitting on a plane next to a publisher. This special two-part event will get you ready!
Part 1: Create Your Elevator Pitch. Tues. February 3rd, 6:00-7:30 pm. Pitch-O-Rama veteran publisher Brenda Knight will coach us through the basics of a great elevator pitch: what do publishers and agents want to hear? What will turn them off, and what will pull them in? RESERVE MY SPOT (https://millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/15421513)
Part 2: Now, Practice It! Tues. February 17th, 6:00-7:30 pm. Stand up before a friendly, informal audience and deliver your 3-minute pitch. If you wish, the audience can provide feedback. CWC Marin Board Member Daniel Bacon will be the moderator. RESERVE MY SPOT (https://millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/15421514)
About the Coach: Brenda Knight is a twenty-year publishing veteran, starting at HarperCollins. She authored American Book Award-winning Women of the Beat Generation, Rituals for Life and Wild Women and Books. She is President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association, which hosts the annual Pitch-O-Rama. Knight has worked with many bestselling authors including Mark Nepo, Phil Cousineau, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, and Paolo Coehlo. She is founding editor of Viva Editions, a division of Cleis Press.
Want to know more about Pitch-O-Rama? Check it out here:
https://wnba-sfchapter.org/register-for-virtual-pitch-o-rama-2026/
by Nate Hoffelder | Nov 14, 2025 | Events
Unlocking Voice on the Page
Writing Workshop with Jordan Rosenfeld
Jan 11, 2026
1:00 – 3:00 pm
Mill Valley Public Library
Creekside Room
RSVP HERE
Ideal for any writer who wants to polish prose and write vibrant characters and improve sentence level writing.
Your characters are sassy or stern, enthusiastic and effusive, and they’re waiting to leap off the page into readers’ minds. This confab unspools the essentials of voice, from character’s secrets and fears, their attitudes and personality, and teases apart the mysteries of syntax and sentence structure in ways that will not remind you of high school English class. You’ll come away from this confab with an overarching sense of what comprises voice and how to wield it more confidently in your own work. This class is for:
We’ll Cover:
- Essentials of character voice, like experience and attitude
- Essentials of tone, like imagery and mood pieces
- Key elements of syntax and sentence structure (not dull grammar!)
- And more….
Jordan Rosenfeld is author of the novels Fallout, Women in Red and Forged in Grace and six books on the craft of writing, including the Sound of Story: Developing Voice and Tone in Writing, How to Write a Page-Turner, the bestselling Make a Scene, Writing the Intimate Character, A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, Writing Deep Scenes and Write Free. Her freelance writing has been published in hundreds of publications, including: The Atlantic, The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Scientific American, Writer’s Digest Magazine, and many more. She is also an editor, writing coach and teaches online classes. Jordanrosenfeld.net
RSVP HERE
by Nate Hoffelder | Oct 15, 2025 | Events
CWC Marin Members-Only Holiday Party
Sunday, Dec 7, 2025
4 to 6 pm
Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera
Come celebrate our 2025 accomplishments and toast the New Year with us! Our ranks have swelled this year: CWC Marin is now too large to fit into anyone’s home, so we’re graduating to Book Passage. It’s free, but let’s show our love for Book Passage by buying something on the way in.
- Current CWC Members (any branch) and their guests (one per member) are welcome
- Potluck – please bring a drink or hors d’oeuvres to share
- Book Exchange! Details below.
- Can you help us with clean up or break down? Please specify in the RSVP form.
How the Book Exchange Works
- Bring a book (unwrapped) — It can be your book, or even better, a book you just bought at Book Passage. It should be a book you love. We’ll lay them out on a table for everyone to admire.
- Everyone will be given a chance to introduce his/her book — thirty seconds — (I chose this book because x. I love this book because y)
- Everyone takes a number from a hat
- The person with #1 goes first. He/she chooses a book.
- Person #2 can either choose a book from the table or steal the book from #1.
- If stolen, #1 goes back to the table and chooses another book.
- #3 goes next. He/she can choose a book from the table or steal one.
- * No ‘steal-backs’. A book can only be stolen twice.
- When stealing, you must address your ‘victim’ by name.
- Nobody ‘has to play’. Feel free to just watch!
